The Whole Truth

He spreads his hands as if the rest goes without saying. And it does. Especially to me.

‘Has she had relationships since?’

He considers. ‘One or two. But before you ask, I can assure you they have all been entirely age-appropriate.’

‘So men in their forties.’

‘Or older, yes. I have never, in all the years I have known her, seen Marina take any interest in a student or a significantly younger man. This whole episode – it would be totally out of character.’

I note the conditional tense. And move on.

‘What about Caleb Morgan? Is this “episode” out of character for him too?’

Reynolds folds his hands on his lap. ‘Clearly, I haven’t known him as long, given he’s been here less than a year. But by all accounts he is an honest, hard-working and – if I dare use such an out-of-favour term – honourable young man.’

‘So if I were to tell you, purely theoretically, that he may have had an altercation with his girlfriend on the night of the alleged assault – that he may have pushed her – what would you say?’

His eyes narrow. ‘I’d say I find it hard to believe.’ He hesitates. ‘That wasn’t “theoretical” at all, was it?’

I let the silence lengthen, and I see his unease rise.

He reaches for the jug and refills his glass. ‘I don’t envy you, Inspector, taking this on. We’re the other side of the looking glass here; nothing about it makes any sense.’

But then again, this is Oxford. When it comes to through the looking glass, this place wrote the book.

* * *

Chloe Blanchflower

@Whitepetal1_99_1

18.22

Anyone else heard about this #Oxford thing with a guy getting assaulted by his female tutor?

#HeToo #VictHIM

4 9 9

Carmel Piper

@NosyRosy1998

18.24

Replying to @Whitepetal1_99_1

I’ve been asking around about that since I saw it on here but no one seems to know anything. Copying @JosephAndrews2018

#HeToo #VictHIM

8 21 22

JosephAndrews2018

@JosephAndrews2018

18.39

Replying to @NosyRosy1998 @Whitepetal1_99_1

I have to be careful about what I say but let’s just say no one should behave the way this person has done – there should be no safe harbour for predators whatever their gender, and this particular person has been trawling the student pool for a while

#HeToo #VictHIM

276 551 1.75k

* * *

Alex Fawley checks her phone again. Still nothing from Adam. She knows he leaves his mobile in his locker when he’s at the gym, and he did say he might have to go somewhere afterwards, but he’s still more than an hour later than he said he’d be.

She leans over and picks up her tablet, navigates to the page and presses play. Just as well Adam isn’t here because he’d be furious with her if he knew. When they heard The Whole Truth organization were going to make a podcast about the Parrie case he made her promise she wouldn’t listen. He said they’d just be out for headlines – that whatever angle they took, digging about in the past couldn’t change it, so why torture herself going through it all again. It wouldn’t be good for her, and it wouldn’t be good for the baby. And he was right, of course he was right, but she still can’t stop herself. Because she knows what’s coming: whatever their agenda is, whatever ‘angle’ they come up with, they’ll still have to talk about her – about her and about Adam.

And what if they aren’t just digging about in the past? What if they’ve actually found something?

What if they know what she did?

What then?

* * *

Quinn’s first in the office on Tuesday. It’s almost like old times, back when he was the real DS and not just keeping Gis’s seat warm: getting set up for the morning meeting, picking up CID emails. He does another quick check (find a spare marker pen, turn the fan on – much good it’ll do), then takes a seat at the front and opens up his tablet. Next arrival is Baxter. Sweating already, and grumbling to himself about parking. He looks around and frowns.

‘Ev in yet?’

Quinn shakes his head. ‘Haven’t seen her. I think Asante’s about somewhere. Try the coffee machine.’

‘It’s too bloody hot for coffee,’ mutters Baxter, though that doesn’t stop him heading off in the same direction. By the time he gets back, Ev’s at her desk, pulling out her notebook. Baxter goes straight over to her.

‘Morning,’ she says brightly, then frowns slightly. ‘You OK?’

Baxter moves a bit closer and seems about to reply but then something changes his mind and he turns away.

Quinn turns to look: that ‘something’ was Somer, coming in from the corridor. Quinn’s eyes narrow. He picked up a bit of an undercurrent on that score yesterday, but no one actually said anything. And Somer does look more preoccupied than usual, no question. She’s keeping her head down, staring at her paperwork, avoiding conversation, which isn’t like her. He sees Ev go over and say a word or two in a low voice but she gets nothing but a brief shake of the head by way of reply.