The Whole Truth

‘So when you told us you’d never had sex with Professor Fisher, that was a lie?’

He hesitates, then nods. He’d dropped his gaze again and his face is flushed now. ‘I thought if I admitted it, you wouldn’t believe me about that night.’

Somer nods slowly. How many women have thought the same thing, over the years? How many rape victims decided not to come forward for exactly the same reason?

‘Go on,’ says Asante.

Morgan’s still not looking at them. ‘I told her it was over. That I was back with Freya, and her and me were finished. That we never even started.’

‘When did you tell her that?’

He flickers a look at them. ‘That night. After the dinner. I just wanted to get it over with and get out of there – but like I told you before, she was buzzing. She said she wanted a drink and she wanted sex – you know, right there and then, on the bloody kitchen table.’

Ev nods. ‘And what did you say to that?’

‘I said no – that I wished I hadn’t done it the first time and I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. But she refused to accept it.’

‘What happened next?’

The flush deepens. ‘Like I said, she just wasn’t taking no for an answer.’ He stops, starts rubbing the back of his head. ‘So, well, you know –’

‘You had sex.’

He nods. ‘I said, OK, for old times’ sake and all that. But just once. She seemed OK with it at the time.’

‘But afterwards, she changed her mind?’

He glances up, looks away again. ‘Yeah. I said to her, after we’d – you know – done it, that it was over now. Really over. That was when she turned nasty.’

GQ: You know what the school told us, don’t you, Professor Fisher?

MF: [silence]

VE: According to his teacher, Tobin’s been caught out lying several times in the last few months.

MF: [silence]

GQ: On one occasion he lied to get another child into trouble. A child he disliked.

MF: He didn’t realize – it was just a silly mistake – he was confused –

NK: Oh come on – you’re actually taking this playground stuff seriously?

MF: It’s the other children – they make things up to make him look bad –

NK: [quietly]

I don’t think we need to discuss this any further, Marina.

GQ: Was that why you kept telling us you couldn’t remember what happened to the dress? We never could figure that out. But it makes sense now. You were embarrassed to admit just how good a liar your eight-year-old son is.

MF: [silence]

GQ: Though, of course, some kids really do struggle telling lies – they find it hard to concoct stuff because their brains just aren’t wired that way.

MF: [silence]

GQ: Kids with autism, say, or Asperger’s. They have difficulty making things up, just as they have difficulty interacting with other people. If something like that applied to Tobin then, of course, it would be much easier to believe that all those incidents with the other kids really were just ‘misunderstandings’.

MF: [silence]

GQ: You thought that might be the explanation, didn’t you, back then? In fact, you went so far as to have him tested.

* * *

Morgan takes a deep breath. ‘She told me that if I wanted her help – if I wanted a decent reference – then I should do what she wanted. It was entirely up to me, but if I didn’t, well –’

‘What did you say to that?’

He rubs his hand through his hair again. ‘I don’t know – I was all over the place – my career, my research – all that work – I just bottled it – said I’d think it over. I just wanted to buy myself some time.’

‘And after that you went home?’ says Asante.

He nods. ‘Right. And I just sat there for a while, churning it all up. And eventually I went round to see Freya. I felt trapped – I didn’t know what the hell to do.’

‘She must have been angry,’ says Somer. ‘When you told her you’d slept with Fisher. Especially after you refusing to let her into the house. If you had, none of this would ever have happened.’

He makes a face. ‘Don’t think that hasn’t occurred to me. And yeah, she was pretty pissed off with me. But she was absolutely fucking furious with Marina.’

He sits back and looks at them, finally, square in the face. ‘The assault allegation – reporting it to college, to you. The whole thing. It was all Freya’s idea.’

* * *

GQ: According to the teacher, Tobin went through a full developmental assessment earlier this year, at your request.

NK: [to her client]

You never told me that.

GQ: Only it didn’t come up with anything, did it, Professor Fisher? The child psychologist concluded that he does indeed have difficulties socializing with other kids, but it’s not because he has any sort of ‘developmental issue’. It’s far more likely to be a reflection of his home environment, and in particular, his relationship with you –

MF: I absolutely do not accept that. I’m getting another opinion – I’m not about to take the word of some local authority second-rater –