Cambridge Blue - Alison Bruce [98]
Hayley was staring at her hands and chewing her lip. Goodhew wondered whether she was listening or had drifted somewhere else. Thompson released her hand and wrapped his arm around her instead. ‘By about ten, we were getting on fine and, when the others moved on, we decided to stay and talk for longer. I remember the bell rang for last orders, then she asked if I could take her home. I didn’t even own a car, so I walked her back, and before her house we started kissing. I honestly don’t remember whose idea that was, we just had one of those moments when we both paused and knew it was about to happen.
‘We were there for a while, and she was pressed up against me, and knew, I s’pose, that I was turned on.’ He paused to shrug in apology. ‘I’d just turned twenty, that’s what I spent most of my time thinking about.’
He paused again.
‘And then you had sex?’ asked Goodhew.
Thompson nodded. ‘Not sex like I expected. Not that I’d ever expected it. What I mean is, she had weird ideas. We went into the kitchen because she said everyone else would be in bed and no one would hear if we did it there. And it started off OK, just basic messing around. But then she took my hand and wanted me to shove it inside her, saying she wanted it to hurt.’
Hayley kept silent, her eyes turned away, but cheeks turning red.
‘I didn’t like it, so I wouldn’t do it, but when we started having sex she wanted me to fight her for it and pretend that I was raping her.
‘Now, when I say it, it sounds too weird, and it’s obvious I should’ve stopped then. But she made it seem like I was being dull, so we did do it, and it was rough, but that was what she wanted. Oh, fuck it. I don’t mean that because she wanted it rough, it was OK. I just mean it wasn’t rape, or assault, or anything done against her will.’
‘So why do you think she pressed charges?’
‘Because . . .’ Thompson’s voice was replaced by Hayley’s.
‘Because Lorna liked to make everyone suffer.’ She looked up at Goodhew and tears brimmed in her eyes. ‘When we heard she’d been murdered, I wondered whether Wayne had done it, and he even wondered whether it was me. That’s how much she still affects us.’ She sniffed and pressed away the tears with the heel of her hand. ‘I wrote to Wayne when he was in prison, and I asked him to let me visit him. And he said yes. That’s how we met.’
‘But you knew Lorna?’
‘Oh, yes. I was on my lunch break one day, and decided to go down town and grab a sandwich. I swallowed it the wrong way and stood outside Marks and Spencer’s having a coughing fit. Next thing I knew, she was banging me on the back and sorting out a glass of water. We agreed to meet for lunch a couple of days later, and before long, she’d become my best friend. We went everywhere together, told each other everything, too. She told me about the rape, the trauma she’d been through with examinations and the court case, and the fear she felt at the thought of Wayne being released. And I believed it all one hundred per cent.’
‘We went out one night, though, and somehow I ended up drunk, much too drunk for what I’d ordered. It didn’t even occur to me that I’d been drugged, and I stood at the bar happily leaning on some guy. Probably telling Lorna how lovely he was, for all I can remember. Well, that’s what she said I said anyway. She said she felt really hurt at being ignored, then went home.’
Hayley drew a deep breath, and new tears appeared and slipped silently on to her cheeks. ‘He broke my nose and four fingers, I had six stitches, an Aids test, a tetanus shot and a dose of the clap. And they never caught him. And as for Lorna . . .’
Her voice trailed off as her face screwed up with the pain. Thompson held her closer and he kissed her hair.
Goodhew wasn’t sure what to do now. ‘I can arrange for you to talk to a female officer if you prefer.’
Thompson gave his head a small shake; it didn’t just mean ‘No’ but ‘Be quiet, wait.’
‘No,’ she whispered. ‘It isn’t the man that bothers