Marina was speechless. So many emotions rushed around inside her. She felt numb.
‘No…’ she managed to say, ‘no, I’m not.’
Again that smug smile. ‘Oh, I think you are.’
Marina made to stand up. Her legs wouldn’t support her. She slumped back down in her seat. ‘I’m not… not going to do anything. I can’t even remember what happened.’
‘You were well out of it.’
‘So you took advantage of me.’ Her voice hardened, anger behind it.
‘Hardly. I couldn’t stop you. What winks and fucks like a tiger?’
She looked directly at him, confused. ‘What?’
He repeated the question.
‘I… don’t know.’
He winked at her. Then laughed. Marina felt her face reddening. Burning, in fact.
‘That’s what you said to me last night. In the taxi. Then your hands were all over me. So I hardly took advantage of you. In fact it took nearly all of my strength to hold you off until we got back to mine.’
Marina sat there, stunned. ‘I don’t believe you. You’re lying.’
He sat back. ‘I thought you’d say that. So I brought along a little bit of proof.’ He reached into his jacket pocket, took something out, laid it on the table between them.
With horror, she realised it was a pair of her panties. The ones she had worn last night. She quickly grabbed them, stuffed them into her bag.
The waitress chose that moment to arrive with their food and drinks. Marina knew she was being scrutinised and felt doubly ashamed and embarrassed.
‘You said I could keep them,’ Gwilym said with a blithe wave of his hand as the waitress set down plates, ‘but I’m not into all that. Trophies and stuff.’
The waitress hurried away, her expression saying she couldn’t wait to tell her colleagues about what she had just seen. Gwilym looked at Marina’s plate. ‘Tuck in.’
She sat staring into nothingness while he ate and drank heartily.
‘Oh, meant to say,’ Gwilym said between mouthfuls, ‘thanks for the conversation about my book last night. Really appreciate your comments.’
Marina said nothing.
‘That was something else I wanted to talk to you about. As one professional to another. You’ve taken a contrary stance to me on my theories, obviously; you made that clear last night. But I meant what I said. I really do want to talk to you about your… experiences. What you’ve been through, the things you’ve faced. I think we could have a lot in common.’
‘Really.’
‘Yeah.’ He began gesturing, warming to his theme now, his food forgotten. ‘I mean, some of the things I discovered when I was researching the new book you would not believe. The lengths people will go to. You remember what I said last night? About voluntary euthanasia?’ He didn’t wait for her to reply. ‘You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I’ve turned up.’
‘Wouldn’t I.’ Marina just wanted to get up and leave. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She felt that if she did, something even worse would come out of Gwilym’s mouth.
‘Doubt it. Even you, chasing your serial killers and the like. There’s almost a cult of death out there. People wanting to die, encouraging their own death, wanting to participate willingly in it. They go looking for their murderers, invite them in to their lives. Invite them to kill them.’ He laughed. ‘Isn’t that incredible? And of course that throws up the most fantastic moral dilemmas. Is it really murder? Or only assisted suicide?’ He shook his head. ‘I’m sure you would be interested in that.’
Yes, she thought, I would be interested in that. If you hadn’t just told me I’d slept with you and not remembered it. She said nothing.
‘We’ll talk about it at length.’ He wiped his mouth with his napkin, reached a hand across the table for hers. She recoiled from his touch. He smiled, like it was all part of a game. ‘We will.’
‘No,’ said Marina, finding her voice. ‘We won’t.’
‘We will.’ His voice quiet but insistent.
She managed to stand up. Her coffee cup wobbled in its saucer, spilling undrunk coffee over the table. ‘We won’t. Because this is the last time I’m going to talk to you.’
‘I don’t think so.’
She grabbed her bag, fumbled, dropped it. Bent down to pick it up.
‘Sit down.’
‘No. I’m going.’
‘Sit down.’ His voice was stronger this time, more authoritative. She looked at him. His green eyes were shot through with a hard, steely cast. There was power behind them. Power that could inspire fear.
She sat down.
‘That’s better. We are going to see each other again. Because I want you to help me with my work. And also…’ His hand snaked across the table once more. It found the back of hers, began stroking. Too tired to fight, she made no attempt to remove it this time. He gave a victorious smile. ‘Also, I want to get to know you better. Much better…’
‘There you are. I… I knew you’d be here.’
Gwilym quickly withdrew his hand. Marina, startled as if out of a trance by the voice, looked up. A woman stood there, early twenties. She would have been pretty if her face wasn’t red and puffy from crying and her hair had been washed. She looked distraught, teetering on the brink of a breakdown. She was holding one bandaged wrist with her other hand.
Gwilym spoke. ‘Maddy. What are you doing here?’ He looked at Marina. ‘One of my students.’
‘I’m… I’m…’ She looked between Gwilym and Marina, obviously wanting to say something but not wanting to do so in front of a stranger.
‘It’s all right,’ said Gwilym, indicating Marina. ‘She’s a friend.’
Maddy, clearly distressed, nodded. ‘I’m… bleeding… still…’
A look of concern came over Gwilym’s face. ‘Oh dear. Are you… are you OK?’
She shook her head, hand to her face, attempting to stop the next bout of tears.
He stood up. ‘I think I’d…’ He gestured to Maddy, looked at Marina. His voice dropped. ‘She’s been in a bad way. She needs… a lot of help.’ A lascivious smile crept on to his features. ‘I’ll call you.’
‘No,’ said Marina. ‘You won’t.’
He moved in close to her, angled his body away from Maddy so she couldn’t see his face, hear his words. They were for Marina alone. ‘I will. And you’ll answer. And you’ll come and see me when I call. Because if not…’
‘What?’
‘Well, I doubt that your PC Plod hubby would want the world to know what a little slut wifey is…’
He turned back to Maddy, a kind, solicitous expression in place once more.
Marina turned and almost ran from the café.