You Had It Coming by B.M. Carroll (best fiction novels .TXT) 📕

say. People display grief in very different ways, but even taking that into account, Bridget is not getting the sense that the brothers were close. She tries to visualise fifteen-year-old Leo testifying back in 2007. Did he use the same flat voice, lacking in vigour and conviction? Did he tell the truth when he testified? He was in the bedroom next door. Did he really hear nothing at all?

After the service, the casket is shouldered by Leo, Joe and other male relatives. It’s hard not to imagine the mangled state of the remains within. Are the other mourners thinking the same thing? The family trails after the coffin, linking arms.

‘Such a terrible accident,’ an elderly woman sobs, and is comforted by a middle-aged woman, perhaps her daughter. ‘So young to be taken.’

The family is not seeing this death for what it is: a suicide or a murder. After the burial, they’ll consume food and drinks, sharing anecdotes and rewriting the narrative, like they did in 2007. They are old hands at fooling themselves.

The coffin has been placed in the hearse. The crowd is dispersing to drive to the cemetery, a few kilometres away. Bridget takes Sasha’s elbow and turns to leave but someone is blocking their way. Someone dressed in a black suit.

‘You’re not welcome here,’ Leo Malouf hisses in her ear.

He slides away before she can inform him that they were just about to leave.

Back at headquarters, Patrick has managed to retrieve the old case files, including the video-recorded police interviews.

‘There’s a lot of stuff here. Where do you want to start?’

‘I want to see Thomas Malouf’s interview,’ Bridget says. ‘He can’t talk for himself now – let’s see what he had to say then.’

Dave and Sasha pull up seats; everyone’s curious. Thomas and his lawyer appear on Patrick’s screen. Thomas is wearing a white shirt, turned up at the sleeves. Floppy fair hair, slight smirk, extraordinarily composed for an eighteen-year-old kid. The lawyer is more tense, fidgeting with paperwork while Thomas is read his rights and cautioned that what he says may be used as evidence against him. The lawyer would have instructed William Newson at a later point, when it became evident that the case would go to trial.

After supplying his name, date of birth and address, Thomas is asked for his version of events. He leans back in his seat. ‘Yeah, I had a party. Fifty or sixty people. Everyone had a good time.’

Thomas is questioned about Megan and Jessica’s presence at the party. ‘Yeah, the two of them were drinking, dancing, didn’t want to go home. Ended up in my parents’ bedroom, saying they were tired, but they weren’t there to sleep … Look, it was one hundred per cent consensual. Why do girls tell lies about this shit?’

Bridget watches the rest of the interview with a strong sense of distaste. Thomas Malouf is unapologetic and strangely unapprehensive. Is it because he knew he could rely on his younger brother to back his story? Pity there’s no video of Leo. All they have are his written statement and the court transcript. Leo’s evidence was pivotal. If he had heard a muffled cry or any hint of a struggle in the bedroom next door, the whole case would have been turned on its head.

Cold hard fact: Leo Malouf was almost as important to this case as the defendants and complainants. Did testifying for his brother drive them closer, or push them apart? Bridget has had two less-than-friendly encounters with Leo. Is it due to grief, or something else?

Patrick loads Dylan O’Shea’s interview next, which is in stark contrast to his friend’s. Dylan’s a mess. Blushing, quivering, apologising. ‘I’m so sorry. I can barely remember anything. I’m so sorry.’

Jesus. One extreme to the other. Bridget returns to her desk and tries to gather her thoughts. Where to next?

Patrick materialises just a few minutes later, as though in answer to her question. ‘Take a look at this. Found it in one of the old files. Sent in a few weeks after the verdict, by Roslyn Lowe. A victim impact statement – Megan wrote it as a form of therapy. Roslyn wanted the detective working on the case to see it, to keep it in mind for future sexual assault investigations by the police.’

VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT OF MEGAN LOWE: GIRL A

I thought that losing my virginity would be romantic. I imagined a boyfriend who was handsome, tender and committed. I imagined a luxurious hotel room with scented candles and background music. An occasion I’d always remember and cherish. Jess and I lost our virginity to boys we didn’t like, let alone love. We lost our virginity side by side, too out-of-it to realise what was actually happening. Instead of feeling cherished, we were bruised, ashamed, and spent weeks worrying about pregnancy and STDs. Thomas’s text suggests that I was raped by him as well as Dylan. Everyone needs to know that I was not a ‘willing participant’ for either of those boys. I did not want to lose my virginity that night; I was tired, I just wanted to sleep. I woke up to a nightmare. My trust in people, and in the world, has been shattered. I feel damaged and worthless and dirty. I find it hard to maintain focus, to see any meaning to life. The only way forward for me is to go somewhere else: another city, country, continent. A place where I can pretend that I’m not, and never was, Girl A.

36

MEGAN

Megan has been rostered with Kaz for the next few months. They’ve worked together before. Kaz is older, mid-forties, with short wavy hair and scrutinising eyes. She used to work in a high-flying corporate role but gave it up to retrain as a paramedic. Kaz lacks Lucas’s extraordinary empathy, but patients respond just as well to her honesty and authority.

Around lunchtime Megan and Kaz get called to an office building in St Ives, where a pregnant woman (thirty-four weeks’ gone)