The Whole Truth

Zoe nods. ‘That’s what he said too. So he went to see her, to try to sort it out. I wanted to go too but he said that would make things worse. And he was probably right. I’d have just ended up screaming the place down.’

And it was never about you anyway, thinks Everett. Not really. You’re just collateral damage.

‘He went round that Friday. Took a bottle of wine. He thought it would help keep things civilized but she obviously got the wrong end of the stick because she started saying she knew he’d see sense, and he wouldn’t regret it –’

‘Oh dear.’

The girl flicks a look at her. ‘Right. It just made things ten times worse. When he finally managed to convince her that he wasn’t there to screw her she just totally flipped out. She said she’d ruin me. She’d take Tobin to the police and he’d tell them what I’d been doing to him. She actually went and got Tobin and made him repeat the whole thing, then and there, in front of him. Seb said it was terrifying – anyone hearing that would have believed it.’

‘So what did you do?’

Zoe throws up her hands. ‘We caved. What else could we do? Marina agreed to drop the grooming accusation on condition that Seb and I signed an NDA agreeing never to talk about her or share any “material” about her –’

‘Of course, the photo.’

She nods. ‘Yeah, the photo. And we weren’t to disclose anything at all about our relationship with her, either publicly or privately.’

‘And I assume that included the university authorities?’

‘And the police.’ She sits back. ‘She could sue me, just for being here, having this conversation.’

She reaches into her bag and pulls out a white envelope. ‘Here, see for yourself.’

Ev opens it in silence and takes out the document inside.

‘Now you know why I was scared to come,’ says Zoe softly. ‘I know what that woman is capable of.’

* * *

Ev gets her lie-in, but has to make do with yogurt and fruit at home rather than brunch at Gail’s. As for the walk in Christ Church meadow, that’s on permanent hold. When she turns up at Gislingham’s door at just gone 11.00 it’s his wife, Janet, who opens the door. She’s obviously been in the garden a lot lately – her shoulders are pink and the skin on her nose is a bit raw. She wasn’t expecting Ev but she smiles all the same, and Ev realizes suddenly that she’d been slightly apprehensive about her welcome. She knows how long the Gislinghams had to wait for their son, and how hard they had it in the months after his birth. There was a period when Gis was doing everything around the house and Janet was barely leaving it. So much so that Ev had been close to wondering out loud whether Janet might have postnatal depression. But then things seemed to get a little better, and then a little better still. Gis lost the grey look he had that first year; he became DS, first temporarily and then permanently, and he started talking about his wife the way he had before Billy was conceived. And now, when someone turns up on the doorstep unannounced, Janet just takes it in her stride.

‘Hello, stranger,’ she says gaily. ‘I haven’t seen you for ages! Come on in – Chris is out the back.’

Ev follows her down the hall to the kitchen and Janet gestures at the kettle. ‘Fancy a coffee?’

‘God, yes,’ says Ev with a grin. ‘I’m gasping.’

Janet smiles again. ‘I’ll bring it through.’

Janet must be watering her patio pots every day because the marguerites and geraniums are lush, but the rest of the garden looks tired and the borders are shrivelling. In the middle, on the brown grass, Gis is playing football with Billy, who’s wearing a miniature Chelsea strip with ‘Gis’ and the number one on his back. He’s nearly two now and even though he’s small for his age he’s sturdy, and more than capable of giving his dad the runaround – literally. Gis rolls the ball towards him and the little boy swings out a foot and bangs it against the fence.

‘GOAL!!!’

Gis bends over, leaning on his knees, breathing heavily, then spots Ev and straightens up.

‘Boy, am I glad to see you,’ he says, coming slowly towards her. ‘It’s too bloody hot to be cavorting about like this.’

‘Da – ad,’ says Billy, in the beginning of a whine, but Gis gives him a firm look. ‘Now, we don’t do that, do we? No one likes a whinger.’

Billy’s mouth puckers a little, but Gis tousles his hair and the smile eventually comes. ‘Now, why don’t you go and see if Mummy’s got any more of that juice, while I have a quick chat with Auntie Ev?’

‘Not sure about “Auntie Ev”,’ she says, giving him a firm look of her own.

‘Godmother’s privilege,’ he says, grinning. ‘Now, what dragged you all the way from Summertown on a Sunday morning?’

* * *

‘I mean, you’ve got to have fish at The Perch, haven’t you?’ says Caroline Asante gaily. ‘Stands to reason.’