‘Yes, we know,’ Annie said. ‘But the point remains that you do know Marnie Sedgwick. You employed her to work at that party on 13 April, as you had done before, even though you weren’t present yourself.’
‘Yes, but I don’t see how you could possibly hold me responsible for anything that occurred at that party.’
‘Who said anything about holding you responsible? We’re after information, that’s all, not to apportion blame. Do you feel responsible?’
‘No. I’m just upset. You’re twisting my words. I knew this was the sort of thing you’d do.’
‘Why did you lie to us about knowing Marnie?’
‘I didn’t lie. I just wasn’t sure. It’s a bad photo. Maybe I didn’t look closely enough. I don’t know. I just didn’t want to get involved.’
‘Involved in what? Did you already know what had happened to Marnie? Did you lie about that, too?’
‘Know? About the rape? Good Lord, no. But when the police come calling, you don’t think it’s about your TV licence being overdue, do you?’
‘Is it?’
Charlotte just stared at Annie.
‘Joke,’ Annie said.
‘Does it surprise you, what happened to Marnie at the party?’ Gerry asked.
‘Of course it does. It appalls me. I organised parties for Connor, not orgies. The guests were thoroughly vetted. I know they could get a bit wild sometimes, but every one of them was a trusted—’
‘Oh, come off it!’ said Annie. ‘He invited people he wanted to be seen with, people he wanted to impress, and people who might do him some good in business, make him more money. Do you really believe he wouldn’t bend over backwards to give one of them what he wanted if it was important to him? They were no more vetted for their morality than the American president. For crying out loud, you had Petar Tadić supplying trafficked girls, and Leka Gashi brought bowls of cocaine. So who saw Marnie Sedgwick and thought she was part of the package, too?’
Charlotte sat forward and placed her palms flat on the table again. ‘I’ve told you, I don’t know. I wasn’t there. I didn’t even know there’d been an incident until you came along.’
‘Are you sure about that?’ Gerry asked.
Charlotte glanced sideways at her. ‘Yes.’
‘Blaydon never told you?’
‘I don’t even know if he knew. And if he did, he didn’t tell me. Why would he? Isn’t it the kind of thing you cover up? He’s hardly likely to tell me that something so terrible happened in his house to one of my staff, at an event I organized, even if he didn’t do it. People were always slipping off to bedrooms, as I told you. I was getting tired of it, the atmosphere was becoming poisonous.’
‘But you said you only rarely attended the parties,’ said Annie.
‘One hears things. And I popped in from time to time. Some of these things are hard to miss, even on brief acquaintance. I’m not that bloody naive.’
‘You also told us that you thought these girls were wives and girlfriends, not professionals brought in for the purposes of sex.’
‘That was certainly true in the earlier days.’
‘When did it start to change?’
‘Around the end of last year.’
‘Any ideas why then?’
‘Connor got involved in a major new development. A shopping centre and housing estate.’
‘The Elmet Centre?’
‘Yes. And that’s when he brought in Tadić and Gashi, along with a whole host of new business colleagues and hangers-on. That’s when his behaviour started to worry me, and the parties started to change in character.’
‘So you’re not too surprised that something like this might happen? The rape,’ Annie said persistently.
‘Perhaps not. Seeing as you put it like that. But I’m still shocked.’
‘Well, surely it would fall on someone to keep the girl quiet, slip her an extra bob or two, tell her it was an unfortunate incident best put behind her? Who better than you?’
‘Well, I didn’t. I knew nothing about it.’
‘Perhaps she came crying to you, and you comforted her? She told you Blaydon had raped her. One of your girls. You saw red. Maybe you killed him?’
‘That’s ridiculous.’
‘Is it? Where were you on the afternoon of 22 May?’
Charlotte seemed knocked sideways by the question. ‘Is this a trick question? I’ve already told you. I’m not sure. We were working on a book award dinner in Bradford, but I was back and forth. Where were you?’
‘We’re asking you.’
‘Bet you don’t remember where you were.’
‘We may ask you to come up with a bit more detail at some point. Something solid we can check.’
Charlotte said nothing.
‘Where does Marnie Sedgwick live?’ Gerry asked. ‘We’d like to talk to her, get her side of the story. Maybe find out why she didn’t report the rape.’
‘Lots of women don’t report rapes because of the way they get treated by the authorities.’
‘What way?’
‘As if they’re the guilty ones.’
‘OK. Point taken,’ said Annie. ‘But we’d still like to hear it from her.’
‘I don’t know her address.’
‘Come on, Charlotte. Don’t be coy with us now we’re getting along so well. She was on your books. An employee. You must have an address and phone number for her.’
‘No. I mean it. I did know. I mean, yes, I had an address for her before, along with her other details, but I heard she’d moved on after that party. Left the area. I don’t know where, honestly. And I don’t know why, though I suppose I can guess now.’
‘Where are your old employment records?’
‘With Connor’s stuff, I should imagine. I assume you’ve got it somewhere.’
‘You could save us a lot of time. I’m sure you probably kept a note of it in case you wanted her to work for you again.’
‘I could probably dig it up,’ Charlotte said.
Annie clapped her hands together. ‘Good. Now we’re getting somewhere. Soon as you get home, please. Along with that list of employees. Didn’t you ever wonder why Marnie moved on after the party?’
‘Not especially. Girls come and go.’
‘Like buses, there’ll be another one along in a minute?’
‘If you must put it so crudely. I’m a businesswoman. Marnie was one of my employees. That’s all there was to it. Now can I go?’
Annie leaned back in her chair. ‘You know,’ she said, ‘it took us a while to get this much out of you, and I’m still not convinced you’re telling us the whole story, or the whole truth. But we’ll leave it at that for the time being. You probably do remember a lot more than you’ve admitted to, including names. In which case, if I were you, I’d be very careful from now on.’
‘Oh, why’s that?’
‘Marnie Sedgwick was raped at a party held by Connor Clive Blaydon. A party you organised, no doubt attended by a number of famous faces and up-and-coming Jack-the-Lads that Blaydon had some reason to want to impress. Now, if Blaydon himself didn’t rape Marnie, the actual rapist probably has a great deal to lose if he’s caught. We don’t know who he is. Not long after this party, Blaydon and his so-called butler Neville Roberts were murdered in a particularly nasty manner. I’d worry about that, for a start. We were thinking that maybe it was Gashi’s gang, or even Tadić’s — after all, they’re both international gangsters with about as much respect for human life as Godzilla — but what if it wasn’t them? What if it was something to do with what happened to Marnie Sedgwick? Revenge? Self-protection? What if her rapist killed Blaydon? If you do know something you’re not telling us, that could put you in a rather dangerous position, couldn’t it?’