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‘Tell me the truth. Did you go out looking for a fight?’
‘Not this time, no.’ He walked out before she could respond.
His eye wasn’t the only thing that was bruised, so was his ego.
She grabbed the list of queries she had written about the Norris case and followed him outside. He was already sitting in the car, already smoking a cigarette. She waited outside for him to finish before getting in. Somehow, they had gone from their previous conversation to not speaking and she wasn’t even sure why. What had she said that upset him?
She handed him his sunglasses. ‘You’d better wear these when we speak to them; you look pretty bad.’
They got to Owen Sager’s house and knocked on the door. A woman answered immediately, a haunted look on her face, hollow and empty. She was in pain and you could feel it; she was transmitting her pain to anyone who would take some of it from her, release her from this burden. Imogen had seen it before in parents who had lost their children.
‘Mrs Sager?’ Imogen said.
‘Can I help you?’ Mrs Sager replied, an emptiness in her voice.
‘We’re currently working on a case that may or may not be connected to your son’s death. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind answering some questions?’ Imogen said.
‘What do you mean, connected?’ Mrs Sager asked, visibly surprised, pulled from her trancelike melancholy.
‘His philosophy professor, Doctor Norris, was murdered yesterday, which we believe was an anniversary of sorts,’ Adrian said.
‘I found my son exactly three months ago yesterday.’ Mrs Sager looked down and Imogen noticed she was holding a small piece of fabric in her hands, like a comforter. Probably something of Owen’s.
‘I’m so sorry for your loss. There probably is no connection, but it warrants a discussion,’ Imogen said.
‘What’s left to discuss?’ Mrs Sager scrunched the fabric in her closed fist.
‘Did your son give you any indication as to what he was stressed about?’ Adrian asked.
‘He seemed happy. I thought he was OK.’ Her eyes widened, letting even more emptiness in.
‘Nothing changed in the days before his …’ Adrian tailed off.
‘Suicide,’ Imogen finished. They had been told in plenty of seminars how important it was not to mince your words around families of grieving victims. Don’t use words like passed away, say dead. Make it real.
‘Yes, he had begun to act erratically in the weeks before, but I thought it was just all the extra work he was having to do. The police told me that it was probably depression. He may have planned his suicide for some time. He never said there was anything wrong.’ She pulled at the edges of the fabric again.
‘This is not your fault in any way, Mrs Sager,’ Imogen said.
‘I wish I could help more. I’m sorry,’ she said, her eyes glassy and her voice fragmented.
‘You’ve been a great help,’ Adrian offered.
‘Did he ever talk about Doctor Norris?’ Imogen asked.
‘He really liked him, at least he did at first, talked about him all the time.’
‘That changed?’ Imogen pressed.
‘Now that you mention it, it did a little. I guess, as the time went on, the work got harder and Owen lost his shine for Doctor Norris. I just didn’t really think about it.’
‘Did they fall out?’ Adrian asked.
‘No, Doctor Norris was nothing but kind to Owen. Owen got in because Doctor Norris endorsed his application to the university even though he didn’t quite get the correct grades, and he also sent a letter recommending Owen for a full scholarship. He got turned down, but he did get a twenty per cent reduction in fees. Which was great.’
‘So, they had a close relationship, then?’ Imogen asked.
‘I know it sounds a bit unconventional, but Owen was so worried about starting at the uni, especially with his lower than average score, and Doctor Norris was really kind to him and took him under his wing. Before you say anything, there was nothing seedy going on. He was just a nice man.’
Adrian and Imogen’s phones went off simultaneously. Imogen pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen. A text alert from the DCI. She wanted them at the hospital immediately.
‘Thank you, Mrs Sager, we had best be going now,’ Imogen said. ‘Here’s my card, call us if you think of anything.’ Imogen put her card in the palm of Mrs Sager’s hand and closed both hands around it. ‘So sorry for your loss.’
‘Thank you, dear.’ She attempted to smile and stepped back into the house, closing the door behind her.
Adrian blew his cheeks out, obviously feeling the woman’s pain. ‘God, I can’t even imagine,’ he said.
‘Let’s get to the hospital,’ Imogen said, knowing full well that Adrian could imagine it – his son had come close to being killed in a previous case and it almost destroyed him.
They got back in the car and made their way across town to meet the DCI. Imogen couldn’t help looking at the scrapes on his knuckles and wondering if he was telling the truth about being mugged. It certainly wasn’t the first time he had shown up to work with unexplained cuts and bruises. She reminded herself he had no reason to lie. Did he?
Chapter Eight (#ulink_acab534c-e048-58c6-8a2b-6b609eae854f)
Adrian couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Mrs Sager’s face. He remembered back to the time recently when he’d thought his own son was dead, and the visceral memory of the way he’d felt, even for the briefest of times, was enough to make him want to throw up. But to live in that state, to know that you would never see your child again – that would be too much for Adrian. He wasn’t sure he would even want to carry on.
The hospital was busy, and by the time they found DI Walsh, visiting hours had begun. DI Matt Walsh stood with his arms folded, staring ahead of him. Adrian couldn’t help but look at Imogen’s face as they approached him, to see if he could work out what she was thinking. She had seemed preoccupied with finding out more about the new DI and for some reason that annoyed Adrian. He couldn’t admit to himself that he was feeling jealous.
‘What’s going on?’ Imogen called out, getting the DI’s attention.
‘A girl has been brought in. She’s in and out of it a bit, but she’s been completely brutalised,’ DI Walsh said.
‘Sexual assault?’ Imogen asked.
‘It seems highly likely at this point; I’m just waiting for the doctor to come and give me a clearer picture of what happened.’
‘Do we know who she is?’ Adrian asked.
‘Barely. I mean, you wouldn’t know it from her face; she has a lot of swelling and several nasty abrasions.’ DI Walsh seemed to stop dead in his tracks, obviously noticing the state of Adrian’s own appearance. ‘What happened to you?’
‘I got mugged last night, nothing serious though, I’m fine.’
‘You don’t look fine. Are you OK?’
‘Yeah, seriously. I managed to swing a couple of punches, so he didn’t get anything. Really, it’s no big deal. I’ll file a report on it later on, I was planning on it anyway, but I don’t have much information at all.’ Adrian wanted to stop talking about it now. ‘Tell us about the girl.’
‘She managed to tell us her name, but her throat is pretty damaged; looks like he strangled her. My guess is whoever did this is going to be very disappointed when they realise she didn’t die. She was beaten so badly, there’s no way they intended her to walk away from that.’
‘You said she told you her name?’ Imogen said.
‘Caitlin Watts.’
‘What?’ Imogen shot Adrian a look again.
‘You know her?’
‘We had her on a B and E the other day; all turned out to be fine though,’ Adrian said, his voice catching a little as he spoke. What the hell was going on?
‘Did she say if she felt like she was in danger from anyone?’ Matt Walsh asked.
‘No, not at all. She was in yesterday and she was fine,’ Adrian said.
‘So, you saw her yesterday?’ DI Walsh pressed.
‘She knew the professor; she came in to give us more information on the Norris case,’ Imogen explained.
‘She was the witness who came forward? Do you think this attack could be linked to the murder? Did she give you any indication who she thought might have killed Doctor Norris?’ DI Walsh asked.
‘No, but she was the one who told us about the kid who committed suicide. Owen Sager,’ Imogen said.
‘I dropped her off at home at around six and she was fine,’ Adrian added.
‘You dropped her off at home?’ DI Walsh queried, and there was an element of derision in his voice that Adrian didn’t like.
‘She said she couldn’t get home. I was making sure she got back all right,’ Adrian said.
Dr Hadley appeared at that moment and Adrian was relieved to have the spotlight off him. He didn’t appreciate the way DI Walsh was speaking to him.
‘She’s awake and she’s stable; you can talk to her for a couple of minutes. The damage to her throat at this time means she can only talk in a whisper. She’s been through quite an ordeal.’
‘Was she raped?’ Imogen asked.
‘Yes, she has extensive damage to both her vaginal opening and her rectal lining. She also has some cracked ribs, a supraorbital fracture and more bruises than I can count,’ the doctor said, clearly very angry.
‘Jesus,’ Imogen muttered.
‘I have done a rape kit and sent it straight to the lab,’ Dr Hadley noted.
‘Can we go in now?’ Adrian asked. Caitlin was a sweet girl, if a little misguided, and the thought of this happening to her, of this happening to anyone, was stomach-turning.
‘Sure. But be considerate; please, she’s been through a lot.’
They walked into the room and could immediately feel the heaviness in the air. The nurses were working with a solemn concentration, not speaking but still somehow comforting with their presence.
The sight of Caitlin was something to behold: her face was swollen and bandaged, and she was barely recognisable. The one eye that was on display was full of tears as she stared out the window.
Imogen went over to the bedside and sat in Caitlin’s eyeline. Caitlin blinked a tear away as Imogen gently placed her hand on top of hers.
‘Hey, Caitlin, do you remember me?’ Imogen spoke softly.
Adrian felt like an intruder. Even though they were there to get a statement so that they could find the bastard who did this, he couldn’t help thinking they should leave the poor girl in peace.
‘Hello,’ she whispered and closed her eye.
‘I know this is difficult, but can you remember any details of the attack?’ Imogen asked.
‘Yes, I can,’ she whispered, her voice rough and crackling with pain.
‘I’m sorry, but would you be able to tell us what happened?’
Caitlin blinked slowly and wheezed in a deep breath before speaking.
‘He put his hand around my throat and told me he would kill me if I called out,’ she said, tears flowing freely from her one uncovered eye. ‘I thought I was going to die. He punched me in the side of the head and I just felt the pain in my eye exploding; it was so horrible. I was dizzy. He told me to get on the floor, but I said no, and that’s when he punched me in the stomach and made me take my pants off. He got on top of me and I tried to push him away, I even hit him, but he still wouldn’t stop. I tried to fight him …’ Caitlin’s whisper disappeared into a breathy cry as she got more and more distraught. She was fighting back the tears.
How could anyone do this to someone else? Adrian never could get his head around this kind of crime.
‘Just take your time,’ Imogen said.
Caitlin nodded gently before taking another deep breath.
‘After he was done, he made me do other stuff, too.’
‘How long was he there?’ DI Walsh said.
Imogen shot him an angry look, but he ignored her.
‘A couple of hours, I don’t know.’
‘Did you know your attacker? Could you tell us his name?’ DI Walsh said.
For the first time since they had entered the room, Caitlin turned towards the men who were standing at the door. She lifted her hand and pointed at Adrian. What was happening?
‘He did it.’ She burst into tears as she said it.
‘Excuse me?’ Imogen removed her hand from the girl’s immediately as though a bolt of electricity had just shot through her.
‘After Detective Miles drove me home last night, he raped me,’ Caitlin said.
‘What?’ Adrian finally managed to push a word out of his mouth; he wasn’t even sure what word it was. His head was thumping and his ears were ringing. This was up there with his worst nightmares. This couldn’t be real. Being accused of rape was one of those unshakable accusations. Once it had happened, everyone would always wonder. Once the seed was planted, there was nowhere to hide. It would be a rumour that would follow Adrian for the rest of his life. He wanted to throw up. ‘Caitlin!’
‘Could you wait outside the room please, Detective Miles?’ DI Walsh said calmly.
‘This is not true. Caitlin, why are you doing this?’ Adrian said – he knew he shouldn’t say anything, but the impulse was too strong.
‘Just for a moment, I’ll be right out,’ Matt pressed.
Adrian looked at Imogen for guidance. She nodded that it was best for him to leave. He walked out of the room and watched intently through the glass of the door as they spoke to Caitlin. Why would she do this?
It wasn’t long before Imogen and the DI came out of the room. Imogen kept staring at Adrian, willing him to look at her; he could see her out of the corner of his eye. He kept his eyes down though. If he didn’t focus on the floor, he would be sick.
