‘Come in,’ called Anni, ‘it’s open. Living room.’
Phil stepped over the threshold of Hugo Gwilym’s house once again. This time it couldn’t have felt more different.
He had been stunned, Anni’s call completely unexpected. Even more so when she told him that she was in Birmingham and that he should come and meet her. He told her he was in the middle of a case and couldn’t really spare the time. She told him that this was important, and he would have to make time. It was to do with Marina. He started to ask questions, but she told him everything would be answered when he got there. But he needed to get there right away.
And then she told him where to meet…
He walked down the hall into the living room. Anni was sitting in an armchair. She jumped up when he entered and crossed the room to him, made to hug him, stopped. Phil gave a small smile. He had thought of doing the same thing and had also stopped himself. Because he was still, technically, her boss. They settled for awkwardly shaking hands, both of them having the good grace to look embarrassed about it.
‘Anni,’ said Phil, once formalities had been dispensed with, ‘what’s going on?’
‘It’s about Marina,’ said Anni.
‘You said.’
‘And him.’ Anni jerked a thumb at the sofa. Hugo Gwilym sat in his dressing gown, his hair matted with blood, a tea towel full of melting ice held to his head. Anni looked back at Phil.
‘Is he all right?’ asked Phil.
‘He’ll live,’ said Anni, ‘unfortunately. Now, where shall I start?’
Phil shrugged. Felt that familiar tightening in his chest. ‘Wherever you like.’
‘Sit down, then. I think it’s better if you sit down.’
Phil sat in the armchair Anni had recently vacated. Anni sat on the sofa with Gwilym. Careful not to touch him.
‘Marina’s been a bit off lately,’ said Phil, before Anni could speak. ‘Withdrawn, pulling away from me. Does this have anything to do with that?’
‘You could say,’ said Anni. She leaned forward, cutting out Gwilym from her focus. Like it was just her and Phil in the room. ‘She… thought she had been raped.’ Anni said nothing more, waited for Phil to process the statement.
‘She… what? Raped? Who by?’
Anni jerked a thumb at Gwilym. He had his head down, avoiding Phil’s stare.
‘Him? He raped my wife?’ Phil was on his feet, crossing over to Gwilym, who held the tea towel in front of him like a soggy shield. ‘He actually raped my wife…’
‘No, don’t, don’t hit me…’
‘It’s OK,’ said Anni. ‘It’s OK.’
Phil stood there staring. Eyes never leaving Gwilym. ‘Did you? Rape my wife?’
Gwilym shook his head. Slowly. He winced from the pain. ‘No. I… I didn’t.’ His voice was small, broken. Like a shattered ornament dropped from a great height. It could be repaired, but it would never be the same again.
‘Then why would she think that?’ Phil and Anni both stared at Gwilym.
‘Because I… I maybe let her think it.’
‘Maybe let her think it?’
‘All right…’ Gwilym held up his hands as if surrendering. ‘I did. I… let her think I… that we’d had sex.’
‘Why would you do that, Hugo?’ said Anni, her voice dangerously calm.
‘Yeah,’ said Phil, more overtly angry, ‘why?’
‘Because I… I was jealous of her…’
Phil and Anni shared a look. ‘Jealous?’ said Phil. ‘Why?’
‘Because she… I wanted to wind her up. Get her to, to work with me. On my book.’
‘Your book?’
He nodded. ‘I’ve only ever written about deviants. Studied them. She had… Well. She’s confronted them. Faced them. First hand. And yes. I was jealous.’ His face twisted as his words became more bitter. ‘She came into the department and it was like she was a star. Yes, a star. The real deal. And I was just…’
‘A fake?’ suggested Anni.
‘That’s what she made me feel, yes. Fake. So I thought, right. Right, you bitch. I’ll have you.’
Phil felt unsteady. His vision was wavering, turning red-tinged. His anger was rising. ‘And did you?’ he asked. ‘Have her?’
Gwilym looked down. Shook his head once more. ‘No. I… I couldn’t.’
‘What stopped you?’ asked Anni.
‘She… she’d borne a child. Another man’s child. Not mine. And I… I couldn’t do that. Not when… No.’ His face twisted once more, in disgust this time.
Anni looked at Phil. Her face was as blank as her voice was calm. Both dangerous signs, he knew. ‘Hugo has been explaining his little hobby to me while I was waiting for you to get here,’ she said.
‘Do tell.’
‘He likes to groom a student, preferably an impressionable one, and have sex with her. Forcibly, if he has to. That’s why Marina contacted me. She stole a glass from his kitchen. I had it analysed. Flunitrazepam. Rohypnol, to the layman. He likes to get a girl out of it and rape her. And if she gets pregnant, that’s a bonus. Then he forces her to have an abortion. Then…’ Anni shrugged, ‘he drops her. Seduces, rapes, manipulates, impregnates, then abandons. All because he can. What a charmer.’
‘When you say it like that,’ said Gwilym, tea towel back to his head again, ‘it sounds horrible.’
‘Whichever way you say it it sounds horrible,’ said Phil. He moved across the floor so that he stood directly over Gwilym. ‘You’ve never seen a deviant, is that what you said?’
Gwilym nodded once more. Winced.
‘You never looked in a fucking mirror, then?’
Phil grabbed him so hard and so fast that he dropped the tea towel, ice bouncing all over the floor.
‘Phil, don’t…’
He grasped the front of Gwilym’s dressing gown, screwed it so tight he had trouble breathing.
‘It all makes sense now,’ said Phil, to himself as much as to Gwilym. ‘Everything makes sense. The way she’s been recently. How she didn’t want to be touched. By a man. By me. Because she thought she had been raped by a piece of shit like you…’
He twisted the dressing gown even tighter. Something ripped. Gwilym whimpered.
‘Phil, boss, please…’
Anni’s hands were on him, trying to pull him away from Gwilym’s neck. Phil blinked and, as if seeing her for the first time, took his hands away. He pushed Gwilym back down on to the sofa. Gwilym shouted out in pain as his head hit the back of it.
‘So,’ said Phil, once he had regained control of himself, ‘what’s happened? Where is Marina? And why am I here?’
‘I… I don’t know where she is,’ said Gwilym. He went on to tell him about Maddy and her boyfriend and how they’d taken his research material and his book. He seemed to be more upset by that, thought Phil, than anything else.
‘And where’s Marina?’ he asked again.
‘I don’t know. Honestly…’
‘She said she was on her way here, boss,’ said Anni. ‘Following those two. They do that to him’ – she pointed at Gwilym’s head – ‘then disappear. And Marina’s car is outside. Not good.’
‘No,’ said Phil. ‘Not good.’
He took his phone out, called her number.
‘I tried that,’ said Anni. ‘No reply.’
It went to voicemail. He left a message. Turned back to Gwilym. ‘So who are these people? You said Maddy?’
‘Maddy Mingella. My…’
‘Your ex,’ said Anni.
He nodded. ‘Yes. My ex. And her new boyfriend, I presume.’
‘D’you know him? Recognise him?’
‘He was a student. I’d seen him before. He said he’d worked on the book. One of the researchers.’
‘Name?’
Gwilym made a useless gesture. ‘I… I can’t… I don’t know.’
‘Who will know?’
‘Joy Henry. Departmental administrator. The records should be in the department.’
‘Then why are we still here?’ said Phil, moving fast towards the door.