Michael Robotham - Bleed For Me

Sienna is curled up on a camp bed in Cray’s office, lying with her head in shadow covered by a thin blanket. A woman PC watches over her, sitting beneath a reading light, a magazine open on her lap.

‘Tell me if she wakes.’

A nod. She goes back to reading.

Most of the incident room is in darkness except for a pool of brightness like a spotlight on a stage. Cray hands me a transcript and tapes of Sienna’s interview.

‘We can’t corroborate her story. There are no emails, notes or phone calls. Nobody saw them together except for Danny Gardiner, and he only puts them in a car. We’ve tracked both their mobiles. Apart from at the school, we can’t put Sienna and Ellis within fifty yards of each other.’

‘Gordon made her turn her phone off. What about the chat-room conversations?’

‘We’re getting the transcripts. Even if they show Sienna was coerced, we still have to prove that Ellis created this “Rockaboy” persona. We’ve got a search warrant for his home and office but I doubt if we’ll find any computers.’

Cray’s eyes continue to search my face. ‘Tell me how Annie Robinson comes into this.’

‘I think she was blackmailing Gordon Ellis over his affair with Sienna.’

‘Evidence?’

‘Annie knew about the relationship but she didn’t tell the school or Sienna’s parents.’

‘She was protecting a colleague.’

‘It was more than that. She’s living beyond her means. Expensive clothes. Shoes. Her flat. She also lied about dating Gordon Ellis at college.’

‘And Novak Brennan?’

‘He and Ellis shared a house together at university. Brennan was supplying drugs to half the campus, according to Annie. Ellis was one of his dealers.’

‘That was years ago.’

‘They say the friends you make at university are the ones you keep for life.’

‘You think Ellis sent her the wine?’

‘I don’t know. It seems too clumsy.’

‘Clumsy?’

‘He doesn’t make many mistakes.’

‘Maybe he panicked.’

‘Somehow I doubt it.’

Cray stands, stretches her arms and rolls her head from side to side.

‘We’re running out of time, Professor. We can’t prove that Gordon Ellis groomed Sienna. We can’t prove he slept with her. And we can’t prove he got her pregnant. Unless Annie Robinson can corroborate Sienna’s story, Ellis is going to walk out of here with a spring in his step and a hard-on for more schoolgirls.’

I look at the clock. I have just a few hours to come up with an interview strategy. I need to know everything I can about Gordon Ellis - his history, his friends, his relationships . . . I need to know about his state of mind, his personality, the light and shade of his existence. I have to walk through his mind, see the world through his eyes; discover what excites him and what he fears most.

Finding a quiet corner, I sit down at a desk and begin listening to the tapes of Sienna’s police interview. Fast-forwarding and playing excerpts, I listen to Sienna explaining how she was groomed by her favourite teacher, wooed with kindness and compliments. Eventually, the relationship became a physical one and they would rendezvous in Gordon’s car after school, parking in lay-bys and quiet lanes, always somewhere different. Occasionally, he took her to cheap motorway hotels or organised for her to stay overnight when she babysat Billy. Gordon would slip into her bed during the night, getting a thrill out of taking her while his wife lay sleeping.

I was worried because I lost an earring. It was Mum’s favourite pair. I thought it might have slipped down the sofa or been in the bed. Gordon got really angry because Natasha found it in the main bedroom and accused him of sleeping with me. She wouldn’t let me babysit after that. Mum went crazy looking for the earring. She turned our house upside down. You won’t tell her, will you?

Monk tells her no. He asks if she kept any notes, photographs or gifts from Gordon.

He said I couldn’t tell anyone.

But you must have kept something - a memento.

What’s a memento?

Something to remind you, like a souvenir.

No, not really. I used to write a diary on my computer, but I used different names.

Where is the computer now?

It was stolen . . . when Daddy got . . . when he died.

The interview switched to the day of Ray Hegarty’s murder. After Danny Gardiner dropped Sienna on a street corner in Bath she waited for Gordon Ellis. He arrived with another man and they made her lie down on the back seat.

What did the other man look like?

I wasn’t supposed to see his face.

But you did.

Yes. He had black tears coming from his eyes.

Tattoos?

Yes.

Do you know his name?

No.

What did Gordon tell you?

Sienna hesitates. Faltering. He said I had to have sex with someone. I asked him why and he said I had to prove how much I loved him.

‘But you know I love you,’ I said.

‘Prove it one more time.’

‘What if I don’t want to?’

‘You’ll do it anyway.’

‘What if he’s ugly?’

‘Close your eyes and think of me.’

Monk asks her about the drive, which took longer than fifteen minutes but less than an hour, according to Sienna. When the car pulled up, Gordon told her to brush her hair and put on fresh make-up. She was wearing her black flapper dress from the musical.

Gordon took me to the door and knocked. A man answered.

What did he look like?

Old - maybe fifty - he had a red face.

What colour hair?

He didn’t have much hair. He offered me a glass of champagne. I made a mistake and told him I was too young. Then I remembered that Gordon had said I wasn’t to tell him my age. ‘How young?’ the man asked. I lied and said I was eighteen.

‘You’re shivering. Are you cold?’

‘No.’

‘Have you done this before?’

‘No.’

Then he put his hands on my shoulders and pushed my dress down my arms. I tried to cover myself, but he said I shouldn’t be ashamed . . .

Sienna began to weep and Monk suspended the interview, announcing the time. There is a pause in the recording and I hear his voice again - commencing a new session.

At that moment I catch a movement out of the corner of my eye. Sienna is awake. Sleepy.

‘What are you listening to?’ she asks.

‘Your interview.’

She lowers her eyes. Embarrassed.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘Like an elephant sat on my chest.’

I pull up a chair. She hugs her knees. ‘Pretty stupid, huh?’

‘Don’t be too hard on yourself.’

‘Are they going to arrest him?’

‘Yes.’

The WPC brings her a cup of tea. Sienna nurses it in both hands, warming her fingers. I can barely recognise the girl I first met. Her sassy, in-your-face attitude and confidence have been stripped away.

How will she recover from this? It’s possible. She’s intelligent and sensitive. With the right role models and advice she can still make something of her life. Otherwise she’s going to end up in the arms of some wife beater or abuser who will recognise that Ray Hegarty and Gordon Ellis have done all the hard work in breaking her spirit.

I ask her about the house she visited. The man she had to sleep with. She hesitates, not wanting to go over it again.

‘Remember what we did before? If you don’t want to answer a question, all you have to do is raise your right hand, just your fingers. It’s our special signal.’