Faraday 02 Network Virus (6 page)

The brown eyes which observed her lacked lustre. But Charlotte could imagine that a man would find her very attractive when her face sparkled with life. Her figure seemed curvaceous from what she could see of the woman’s body underneath her enveloping cardigan and dark trousers.

“
She wants to make a complaint,” broke in Bostock. “My wife was raped in the car park of the Red Garter Nightclub after midnight on Sunday. There were no lights on. Apparently the owner, who is a Mr Martin, claims that vandals had smashed them the previous night. But nothing was done by him to repair them or to report what happened to my wife. The place is a disgrace. It ought to be closed down straight away.”

“
Wait a minute,” said Charlotte. “Before I can take any action I must hear from Marion in her own words what happened to her.”

Bostock bristled. “I’ve told you all the facts you need to know. Unfortunately my stupid wife didn’t make a fuss about it at the time, so it’s probably too late to take samples so that you can find out the bloke’s DNA. She even washed her clothes.” He shrugged ponderously. “Would you credit it?”

“
Oh, Gary. There’s no point in making a fuss …”

“
Shut up,” he shouted. “You’ve been raped. You’re a victim. You need to be compensated.” He turned to Faraday. “What are you going to do about it?”

“
Where were
you
when this happened, Mr Bostock?”

“
What? Well,” he blustered, “I was at sea, wasn’t I? I’m second mate on a merchantman. We work the China Seas. I only flew back last night.”

“
You flew back because your wife told you she’d been raped?”

“
No.” He shrugged. “She couldn’t get in touch with me. My ship put in to Macao for repairs and I flew back from there. If I hadn’t come back the silly bitch would probably have tried to forget it happened and the bloody nightclub would have got off scot-free.”

“
So how did you get to know about it?”

“
She didn’t tell anybody except the baby-sitter - and the owner of the nightclub, of course. He’s called Martin. I expect you’ll want to interview him.”

“
You had a baby-sitter?” asked Charlotte.

“
I’ve got a twelve-year-old daughter,” explained Marion. “The baby-sitter is a neighbour who looks after Tracey when I’m working at the Club.”

“
She’s called Andrea King,” said Bostock. “She lives at 32 Blandford Crescent. You’ll want to interview her as well.”

“
How many nights a week do you work at this night club?”

“
Five.” Marion sniffed. “Wednesdays to Sundays, eight o’clock till midnight.”

“
Not any more, she doesn’t. I can tell you I’ve put a stop to that.” He looked suitably outraged. “I won’t have my wife working in some scruffy sex club.”

“
It’s not a sex club,” she protested.

“
Not a sex club?” Bostock rounded on Charlotte. “You should see the bloody dress she’s expected to wear. You can virtually see her tits when she’s got it on. No wonder the blokes who go in there end up raping her. I tell you, you’re going to have to shut the place down. It shouldn’t be allowed to stay open a day longer. A night, I mean.”

“
I’m sure the club will have a licence granted to it by the local magistrates,” said Charlotte. “Of course we’ll check whether they’re keeping within the conditions laid down in the licence.”

Marion at last showed some spirit. “The Red Garter is properly run. Mr Martin is always very correct in how he treats everybody. This was partly my fault. I didn’t realise how much the man had drunk. He was upset because his best mate had been killed in Afghanistan. I was being sympathetic. I didn’t realise he fancied me.”

“
Shut up, Marion. Saying things like that doesn’t help our case.” He turned back to Charlotte. “There’s no excuse for rape, is there?”

“
There certainly isn’t, Mr Bostock.”

“
Well - what are you going to do about it?”

“
The first thing I have to do is get a clear picture of exactly what happened and you’re not helping me do that,” said Charlotte firmly. “I must have a quiet talk with Marion on her own. I want you to go and sit in the waiting room while we talk.”

“
I’m not going to do that,” said Bostock. “She’s likely to tell you all sorts of crap to get her employer off the hook.”

The Chief Inspector faced him. “Mr Bostock, the rules of evidence insist that each witness, including the victim, is interviewed independently by two police officers without any third parties present to influence their statement, other than a solicitor if they request it. Evidence obtained under any other conditions will not be accepted by a court. If we are to have any chance of convicting the man who raped your wife we must collect the evidence correctly.”

“
So when do I get a chance to have my say?”

“
After we’ve taken a statement from your wife you will get your opportunity. You may then make any allegations or claims which you wish.”

“
Oh.” He thought for a few seconds. “I want to see what she says in her statement so that I can correct any stupid things she comes out with.”

“
If the matter goes to court, Mr Bostock, all the statements which the prosecution decides to use will become public knowledge and the court will apply the proper tests to anything anybody says. That includes your statement, if it is used.”

“
Oh. Right.” He turned to his wife. “You make sure you say what I told you just now. OK?”

She ignored him.

“
Come on then. I’ll be back in a minute, Marion.” Charlotte shepherded Bostock back to the waiting room. She asked George, “Is Constable Howell in yet?”

“
Just arrived, ma’am.”

“
Can you ask her to come to interview room five? I need to take a formal statement from Mrs Bostock.”

“
Certainly, ma’am.”

Charlotte returned to the interview room. She took a comfortable chair beside the woman.

“
Now - you understand, Marion, that this is a very serious allegation. I’m not doubting your complaint in any way, but if we successfully prosecute a man for this crime he will serve a long prison sentence and will have a black mark against his name for the rest of his life. His legal team will be doing everything they can to find holes in the case against him. So it’s essential that we do everything correctly. Do you understand?”

The woman nodded. “I know. That’s why I didn’t want to make a fuss. He seemed a nice young man until he’d drunk too much.”

At that moment Bobbie Howell entered. Faraday told the policewoman to set the recording equipment working and enter the initial data.

“
Now then,” said Charlotte, “will it upset you too much to go back over the whole story of exactly what happened?”

Marion shook her head and said, “No,” quietly.

“
Very well, then. Let’s start with you serving behind the bar on Sunday evening. What was this man called?”

“
James.”

“
Do you know his surname?”

She shook her head again. “I’m sorry.”

“
No other details?” A headshake. “No? Don’t worry. What time did James come into the club?”

“
It was about nine, I think.”

“
And did he sit at the bar straight away as soon as he arrived?”

“
That’s right. I served him a double whisky and he asked for a jug of cold water to add to it. I thought he was very sensible.”

“
When did you start talking to him?”

“
More or less straight away - when I wasn’t serving other drinks. But the club was very quiet, being a Sunday night with just one or two small tables filled.”

“
Who started the conversation? - other than asking for drinks, of course?”

She shrugged. “He did, I suppose. But I often chat to single men at the bar. There’s not a lot else to do when it’s quiet. And he seemed a nice, gentlemanly sort of person, if you know what I mean.”

“
What sort of things did you talk about?”

“
He told me he was a captain in the army. Then he told me about his friend…”

Charlotte led the woman through their conversation and the subsequent events up to the time when he drove off, leaving her lying in the puddles in the car park.

“
I was so ashamed of myself,” said Marion. “It was so stupid of me. I don’t know why I put myself in that position. I suppose I’d drunk more than I was used to.” She looked at Charlotte. “I don’t usually drink much, even though customers often offer. Normally I only have the tonic without the gin, if you know what I mean.”

The detective knew exactly what she meant.

Marion studied the floor again. “He said I led him on and I suppose I did in a way. I could tell he liked looking at me. I should have had the sense to realise where it might lead. It was just that he gave me the impression that he was really interested in me and I liked that.” Her voice dropped. “My husband said that I flaunted myself.”

“
Whether that’s true or not it doesn’t justify this man’s violent behaviour,” said Charlotte. “If every man who thought a woman was showing off her good looks went and raped her we’d be back in the stone age.” She paused. “Now then. I want you to give me what help you can in trying to locate this man. Had you ever seen him before?”

She shook her head.

“
Can you say yes or no, Marion, for the benefit of the machine.”

“
OK. No.”

“
Had he been in the club before?”

“
No. I don’t think so.”

“
Have you asked the manager and the other staff if they’ve ever seen him before.”

“
Yes, but they haven’t.”

“
Do you have any idea where he lived?”

“
He said he was stationed in Germany - doing manoeuvres. He said he was here on holiday and staying with his mother who lived in a village the other side of Totnes. I think she is fairly important in the village. He talked about her going to bring and buy sales and garden parties.” She shook her head. “But he said he was going back to Germany in a few days. I expect he’s left the country by now.”

“
I don’t think it will be too difficult to track him down. The problem will be to collect evidence against him to make the charge stick.” Charlotte thought for a moment. “Now - the car he was driving. You say you didn’t see the number.”

“
No.”

“
But it was a red Ford?”

“
Yes - a Ford Mondeo, I think,”

“
Do you remember if it was right hand drive?”

“
Pardon?”

“
Did you notice which side the steering wheel was on? Was it the same side as most cars in this country?”

“
Oh. Oh, yes, I think so.”

“
So it was either hired or borrowed - perhaps from his mother. Would you say the car was new?”

Marion shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

“
OK,” said Charlotte. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t think it will be important.” She changed tack. “You said you washed all the clothes you were wearing?”

“
Yes. They were all wet and dirty. I couldn’t put them on again, the state they were in. Besides …” She hesitated. “I wanted to wash away the memory. I felt so unclean. That’s why I had a bath.”

Charlotte reached out and touched her hand. “I understand. Don’t apologise for what’s a very natural reaction.”

“
But it makes it more difficult for you.”

“
Maybe. We’ll have to see how the man reacts when we interview him.” She paused. “Now, you said that he broke your bra straps. Have you repaired them because, if you haven’t, I think we ought to have that bra as evidence. It might be useful to show the man when we interview him. I’d like to see his reaction.”

“
I haven’t got the bra any longer. I threw it away.”

Charlotte’s interest sharpened. “Did you wash it before you threw it away?”

“
No. I just chucked it in the bin. I couldn’t bear to look at it any longer. It was a pity because it was a nice bra.”

“
You threw it in your own rubbish bin. Do you know whether your rubbish has been collected since?”

“
No. Collections are on Thursdays.”

Charlotte gestured to Constable Howell to turn off the recording machine. “That’s a job for you after this interview, Bobbie. I’d like you to go to Mrs Bostock’s home after we’ve finished the interview and look through her rubbish bin. Make sure you come back with the brassiere in an evidence bag. We’ll have some tests carried out on it.”

“
Right, ma’am.”

“
OK. You can switch the machine on again.”

She led Marion through the remainder of her statement without turning up anything that would be much help to the prosecution. Then she released the two women and called in John Prendergast to back her up while she took Mr Bostock’s statement.

She decided she would use the computer to trawl data about the villages north of Totnes to try to discover the location of the mother of the rapist. However, unless the brassiere produced some usable evidence she doubted whether the CPI would be willing to proceed with the recall of the man James from Germany to stand trial.

- 7 -

It was nearly ten o’clock when Charlotte returned to the office she shared with DI Stafford Paulson. She sat down in her chair and exhaled.

“
I gather we’ve had a rape,” he volunteered, raising his eyes from the file he was studying.