‘Tim?’
‘I don’t believe this.’
‘Are you on your own?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Is Shelley with you?’
‘As it happens, no, she’s not, but if she were it would make no difference. I’m not prepared to have a conversation with you.’
‘Listen, Tim … I’m in France, and it’s a bugger of a job to get a decent signal. I can’t waste it arguing. I need to speak to you.’
‘Apparently you are.’
‘Will you hear me out?’
Tim hesitated. He was angry and insulted, but he felt he should at least hear Richard Serrailler’s side of the story. They had known one another for a long time.
‘Tim?’
‘Go on.’
‘Has Shelley said anything to you about the night we were at the ladies’ dinner?’
‘She has.’
‘I have absolutely no right to ask this but would you tell me what she told you?’
Tim was silent.
‘She wasn’t herself. That’s entirely understandable. She may well have been confused or even incoherent.’
‘No, no. We’d all had the usual quantity. I wasn’t entirely sober and I dare say nor were you.’
‘I was driving. So I was, actually.’
‘Listen, whatever Shelley has said –’
‘She told me that you’d raped her.’
Richard spluttered at the other end of the phone. ‘For heaven’s sake! My dear Tim … well, I’m quite certain you don’t believe that.’
‘Why shouldn’t I? My wife isn’t in the habit of lying and why would she lie about something as serious as this?’
‘Tim, that is an extreme – actually, it’s probably a libellous accusation. Of course I didn’t rape her – what do you take me for?’
‘To be honest, Richard, I’m not entirely sure. There are words but I wouldn’t care to use them.’
‘That’s understandable, but as descriptions, do these words include “rapist”?’
Tim sighed. ‘Well – no. It would never have crossed my mind but once Shelley had –’
‘Rapists are men who attack women not known to them. They are violent, and they do untold hurt and harm. They deserve everything the law can throw at them.’
‘Well, of course, but you attacked my wife, and whether or not you’re a stranger to her makes no odds.’
‘I wish we could talk about all this face-to-face, but there it is, I’m in France and we can’t.’
‘So why are you ringing me now? Why not leave it till you come back?’
‘I don’t know when we’ll be back, and I need to talk to you.’
‘But why?’
‘I need to put the record straight. We’ve been friends for too long to let something fester.’
‘All right, Richard. I suppose the least I can do is to hear your side.’
‘Thank you. I’m extremely grateful to you, Tim. And this isn’t easy and you won’t like what I am going to say but it will be the truth …’
He paused but Tim said nothing.
‘As I said, I’d had a few glasses – we all had. And Shelley had been flirting with me since the start of the evening – no, please don’t interrupt. Flirting – there’s no shame in that, it isn’t a crime, she’s a very attractive woman and we’ve often been flirtatious with one another – in public, always in public, you understand. I can’t believe you’ve never noticed.’
‘Well, yes. I have. And to be fair, it isn’t only you she’s flirted with. I’m afraid it’s just something she’s prone to do when she’s had a glass of wine and it’s wholly innocent of any further intent, as you should well know. Are you suggesting that my wife led you on and that when you raped her it was somehow her fault and that she invited it?’
‘There does come a moment when innocent public flirting moves up a gear.’
‘Does there?’
‘Heavens, not always – not usually – please don’t misunderstand me, Tim. But on that evening, Shelley was sending me unmistakable signals across the tables. Listen, I’m very sorry to have to tell you this –’
‘Just go on – but I warn you I’m pretty bloody angry.’
‘And there came the moment when we’d finished eating, and before the coffee and liqueurs, when we had a break … well, you know all this. It was then that Shelley gave me a look and started to go out of the room. She gave me another, she turned round as she got to the door, and she didn’t need to ask me to follow her, the meaning was perfectly clear. By then, of course, I was nicely mellow … Shelley is attractive, and between us – this is very private, Tim, and it goes no further please …’
Silence.
‘Tim?’
‘Just go on.’
‘My marriage hasn’t been – shall we say, fulfilled, for some time. These things take their toll. So, that was that. I very foolishly allowed myself to be misled by following Shelley down the stairs and into the ladies’ powder room. It’s that sort of rather louche hotel in its furnishings, have you noticed? I’m never sure why we have our dinners there – all that plush and gilding, curtains like a tart’s boudoir. Anyway – so I followed her, there was a sofa – chaise longue type of thing – and Shelley sat down on it … and … do I need to continue? This is difficult and embarrassing.’
‘I think you do, yes.’
Richard sighed. ‘Shelley made it clear that she was – how shall I put it? – wanting me to … dear God, I feel appalled now I’m recounting it in the cold light. And so – I’m afraid I succumbed.’
‘You had sex on this chaise longue – is that what you are telling me?’
‘It is.’
‘And this was my wife’s idea?’
‘Listen, I wouldn’t want to put it all onto her, of course not, it takes two, and I readily admit that I didn’t hesitate. Yes, as you put it, we had sex, and then Shelley rushed out … we’d put a chair against the door handle but people were coming down the stairs and she fled. I had to – this will sound like a French farce – I had to hide behind a rail of coats, then dash out of the door as soon as I could. No one spotted me, and by the time I got back to the banqueting hall, she was nowhere to be seen. I wanted to talk to her … but she’d gone. You had both gone. I left shortly afterwards.’
He drew in his breath and let it out slowly.
‘I’m pretty damned ashamed of myself, Tim. I had to ring you to square things … to confess, and to ask you not to let this go any further. To be frank, the reason we’ve come to France is to try and repair the breaches in our marriage. Judith hasn’t been at all well either. So you can imagine, it’s a delicate situation and the very last thing either of us needs is to have this – or a distorted version of this – get out. I’m sure I speak for you as well. What possible good could it do? None. But it could do a great deal of harm, to you, to me – and of course most of all to your wife.’
‘Why to her most of all?’
‘I should have thought that was obvious. I’m very sorry indeed if she’s at all upset.’
‘Richard, Shelley is my wife, I love her, and we are very happy and there is nothing whatsoever wrong with our marriage in that direction. You’re telling me that you had consensual sex after she led you on, she’s telling me that you raped her. So, who do I believe? How do you think it feels to be in the middle of all this? We’ve been friends for a long time, Richard, but not any more, whatever the truth of the matter. Why would I believe you rather than my wife?’
‘You’re trying to be loyal, of course, and I entirely understand that. But I can assure you, Tim –’
‘I don’t rate your assurances very highly, to be frank.’
‘Tim, isn’t it best left there? No point in making this out to be life-threatening, and let me tell you that the very last thing I want, especially at the moment, is for Judith to hear about any of this.’
‘That is one thing you may rely on.’
‘Has Shelley talked to anyone other than you? Do you know?’
Tim hesitated. Was there any point in telling him that she had talked to the police? No. There was no point, because he would persuade Shelley to withdraw her statement. On reflection, he didn’t blame her for going to the police, but if a case did come to court, he believed that she would suffer far more than she had already. Richard had gone off to France, which made Tim see that the best possible thing was to take her away somewhere, bring his holiday forward. They could well afford it. When they got back, the whole thing would have receded and she could get on with life. He owed it to her to cut off all connection with Richard and, when they had to meet, to ignore him.
That should be enough. In a few days, he would take her to the police so that she could withdraw her statement and that would be that.