A Body in the Lakes by Graham Smith (great books of all time .TXT) 📕

course as they did everything they could to discredit their account of the event, by saying the intercourse was consensual or the victim and her abuser had both been drinking. Then the CPS would have to make its judgements on the argument of consent and alcohol intake with regard to the Sexual Offences act. All of this had to be balanced against the likelihood of a successful prosecution before a decision about whether or not to proceed was made.

Nobody knew how many rapes went unreported due to the failings of the system, but as flawed as the system was, Beth believed it was better than nothing.

Of course the system had a duty also to protect accused rapists from false allegations, but the net result was cases going unreported and low conviction rates, meaning rapists potentially walking free.

Beth couldn’t miss the parallels between her own thoughts and the situation with Forster, yet she was still aggrieved at the injustice of everything. Steph’s experiences had shown her first-hand the damage that a rapist can do to a person.

Steph had laid herself bare to Beth and it had been heartbreaking to hear how her friend had felt violated, not just physically, but mentally. That the boyfriend had disregarded her protestations, and had held her down just to satisfy his own drunken needs, had scarred her as much as the forced penetration. Steph had loved him; she’d previously confided to Beth that if he’d proposed to her she’d have said yes in a flash.

That had all been blown away by a gutful of lager and a refusal to take no for an answer.

What had infuriated Beth most of all was the way the boyfriend had moved on without being punished for his actions. A week after the rape, Beth had been driving home after a late shift and had seen him leaving one of Penrith’s livelier pubs with his arm round another girl.

With Steph unwilling to put herself through the ordeal of pressing charges, and the subsequent interviews and possible court case, there was nothing Beth could do to make the boyfriend pay for his crime without resorting to vigilante action. As much as she believed the boyfriend deserved to be punished, she had a greater belief that it was her duty to uphold laws rather than break them.

Beth had been strong for her friend and had kept her own emotions private as she listened to the horrors of Steph’s ordeal. The one time she’d cried in front of Steph was when her friend had told her that she might have forgiven her boyfriend, had he not blackened one of her eyes and broken her nose when punching her into submission.

Steph’s rationalisations betrayed all Beth held dear, as, to her mind, Steph had given the punch greater importance than the rape. Beth was convinced that had Steph’s boyfriend not punched her, she would have forgiven him.

To Beth, neither action was forgivable, but the scars from the beating would always fade quicker than the ones from the rape.

Eleven

Beth followed the woman who O’Dowd was leading towards the room where witness statements were taken. This room wasn’t as sterile as the interview rooms and had once been decorated in a way that suggested it was intended to offer calmness and reassurance to witnesses.

The decor had faded with time. Lies and mistruths had polluted the room along with tears of despair and shock.

Unlike the interview rooms, the door to this room had no lock and there was a small table with dog-eared magazines that were flicked through without ever being read.

‘Thank you for coming in to see us, Miss Dereham.’

‘Please, call me Eleanor.’

Beth had only been half-listening when Eleanor had been introduced to them, but she paid the woman proper attention now.

Eleanor Dereham was a good-looking woman who had poise and style – evident in her clothes and the traces of make-up on her face. The perfume she wore wasn’t one Beth was familiar with, although if Eleanor’s clothes were anything to go by, the perfume wouldn’t be one a DC could afford on a regular basis.

‘So, Eleanor.’ To Beth, O’Dowd’s smile was obviously false. ‘You say you have come in to attest to the innocence of someone we arrested this morning. I’d be very interested to hear what you have to say.’

‘Shall I start the story at the beginning or would you like me to jump to the key point?’

‘The key point works for me. We can hear the whole thing afterwards if necessary.’

‘Fair enough. I know Derek Forster didn’t rape and murder those women because I used to date him and can tell you that sexually the man is as vanilla as they come. He wasn’t remotely interested in anything kinky, and specifically he wouldn’t have anal sex with me.’

Of all the things Beth had heard during her police career, none had flabbergasted her the way Eleanor’s statement had. She planted her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her fists. The action as much to ensure her mouth didn’t hang open as to give her time to think. From the corner of her eye, she could see O’Dowd having the same struggle she was.

Eleanor’s well-to-do appearance and the obvious class she exuded was at odds with her bold statement. Beth tried not to make predisposed opinions of people based on their appearance, but she’d experienced contact with people from all walks of life and had found that in a majority of cases, her first impressions were rarely far wrong.

Still, she’d had Eleanor down as the kind of woman who’d keep her business private and probably wouldn’t discuss sex with anyone. She’d been wrong; the brazen admission proved that, as did the amused look in Eleanor’s eyes.

‘You both seem a little shocked by what I’ve said.’ A twist of her lips added a wryness to Eleanor’s smile. ‘Well you don’t need to be. I’m a grown woman and I have needs. I like sex and from time to time, I like to