Sophie Hannah - Hurting Distance

‘Get dressed,’ says DC Sellers.

My heart leaps up in my chest. ‘Are you taking me to see Robert?’

‘I’m taking you to the custody unit at Silsford Police Station. You can come voluntarily or I can arrest you. It’s up to you.’ Seeing my stricken expression, he adds, ‘Somebody tried to murder Mr Haworth.’

‘Tried? You mean failed?’ My eyes lock on his, demanding an answer. After what seems like an eternity, he relents, nods.

Triumph surges through me. It’s because of my lie that your house was searched, because I accused you of a terrible crime you didn’t commit. I wonder what Yvon will say when I tell her I saved your life.

11

4/6/06

CHARLIE SAT IN front of Graham’s computer, a trim Toshiba laptop, and typed the words ‘Speak Out and Survive’ into the Google search box on the screen. The first result that came up was the one she wanted—an organisation that offered practical and emotional support to women who had been raped. Once the website had loaded, Charlie clicked on ‘Survivors’ Stories’. They were listed by number. She clicked on number seventy-two.

Simon had described Naomi Jenkins’ letter as acerbic. He believed Jenkins had written it, but wanted to know what Charlie thought. He’s missing me, she thought. A mixture of pride and happiness swelled inside her. Did it matter if he was planning to meet up with Alice Fancourt? Charlie was the one he phoned in the middle of the night, when he was worried about something important.

She nodded as she read the letter ‘N.J.’ had sent to the website; it sounded like Naomi, from what little Charlie knew of the woman. Someone who objected to being called both ‘Miss’ and ‘Ms’ might well object to being labelled a rape ‘survivor’. Charlie thought she made a good point about that, actually, but she was less impressed with Naomi’s scorn for other rape victims—or survivors—and the way they expressed themselves. Charlie had only ever read official rape statements, which were always written very plainly; they had to be. Nothing at all like the lyrics of a bad heavy-metal album, which was the accusation Naomi made in her letter against the survivors’ stories on the Speak Out and Survive website. Still, perhaps she had a point. A first-person account of a rape that was intended to be therapeutic would be very different from a police statement; the emphasis would presumably be on feelings as much as on facts, on sharing one’s pain with others who had experienced something similar.

Charlie massaged her throbbing forehead. The positive effects of the four bottles of wine she’d drunk with Graham and Olivia the previous evening were starting to wear off, and a same-day hangover had lodged itself between her eyebrows, low down in the front of her head. Technically, it was a new day—Thursday morning—but it felt like the frayed end of a long, thin, washed-out Wednesday. Charlie was disgusted with herself. She’d been the one who kept insisting they needed more wine. She’d flirted brazenly with Graham, invited him back to the chalet, effectively forced her sister out. Nice one, Charlie. She’d driven the night forward relentlessly, cracking a whip behind it in her determination to have the best of all possible good times. I’m the saddest of sad cows, she thought.

Graham had been a sweetie. Understanding that it was urgent, he’d stopped making jokes, dressed quickly and unlocked the lodge so that Charlie could use his computer. His office was a small, chilly hut, just big enough for the two large desks that filled it. Behind each was a chair. At one end of the room was a dartboard, at the other a large water-cooler. Charlie had mentioned her headache, and Graham had rushed off to find painkillers. ‘If Steph comes back and finds you in here, she’ll give you a hard time,’ he’d said. ‘Just ignore her. Or threaten her with me.’

‘Why would she mind?’ Charlie had asked. ‘You’re the boss, aren’t you?’

Graham had looked sheepish. ‘Yes, but . . . the situation between me and Steph is complicated.’

Charlie knew all about complicated situations, after years of working with Simon. Never mix business with sex. Was that what Graham and Steph had done? Had it gone horribly wrong? At least Charlie and Simon still had a strong working relationship.

She thought back over what he’d told her on the phone. Naomi Jenkins had been proved right. Something bad had happened to Robert Haworth. Very bad; probably fatal. How had Naomi known? Was it a lover’s intuition, Charlie wondered, or a would-be murderer’s certain knowledge? If the latter, it was hard to imagine what Juliet Haworth’s role might have been. She, after all, had been living in the same house as the blood-soaked, unconscious Haworth for nearly a week.

According to Simon, Haworth had been to the Star Inn in Spilling last Wednesday evening as usual. He didn’t turn up to meet Naomi at the Traveltel on the Thursday, so he was probably attacked either on Wednesday after he got home from the pub, sometime during the night, or on Thursday morning, before whatever time he would have left the house to begin his day’s work.

Simon had been at Culver Valley General Hospital when Charlie had called him back. Haworth was alive but unconscious, in intensive care. One more day without help and he’d have been dead, no question. The consultant was surprised he’d lasted as long as he had, given the severity of the trauma to his head. A series of heavy blows, Simon had explained, resulting in an acute subdural haemorrhage, a subarachnoid haemorrhage and cerebral contusions. Haworth had had immediate surgery, had the haemorrhages drained to relieve the pressure on his brain, but the doctors weren’t optimistic. Neither was Simon. ‘I don’t think we’re going to be looking at an attempted murder for long,’ he’d said.

‘Any sign of what caused the head injuries?’ Charlie had asked.

‘Yeah, a bloody great stone. It was right there, on the floor by the bed, no attempt made to hide it. It was covered in hair and blood. Juliet Haworth said she and her husband used it as a doorstop.’ He broke off. ‘She gives me the creeps. She told me Haworth nicked the stone from the River Culver one day when they were out walking. As soon as I’d found Haworth, she came over all chatty. Almost as if she was relieved, though she didn’t really seem to care one way or the other. She said that the previous owners of their house had all the doors replaced with fire doors, which wouldn’t stay open . . .’

‘Hence the need for a doorstop.’

‘Yeah, there’s one in every room, all big stones like the one that caved in Haworth’s head, but all from different rivers. Haworth was keen on this idea, apparently. She trotted out these little stories, all this irrelevant information—she even listed the bloody rivers! But when I asked her if she’d attacked her husband, she just grinned at me. Wouldn’t say a word.’

‘Grinned?’

‘She’s refusing a lawyer. Doesn’t seem to care what we do with her. She gives a good impression of being determined to enjoy it, whatever we do.’

‘Do you think she tried to kill Haworth?’

‘I’m sure she did. Or I would be, if it wasn’t for Naomi Jenkins, who’s also lied. We’ve brought her in too . . .’

‘Have forensics finished with the house? What about cross-contamination? ’

‘No, Jenkins is at the custody unit at Silsford.’

‘Good thinking.’

‘She also doesn’t want a lawyer. Do you think the two of them could be together on this?’

Charlie didn’t, and she’d told Simon why not: it sounded too much like a Thelma-and-Louise-style feminist fantasy. In reality, the two women who loved an unfaithful man usually blamed and hated each other, while the two-timer emerged unscathed with both of them still wanting him.