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

Forster took the papers and laid them down as he pulled a pair of reading glasses from his jacket pocket. ‘I think we should set up as regional first and then once we’ve got ourselves established and have the kinks ironed out, we should roll it out nationally on a county by county basis.’

Beth was starting to think of this charity as a partnership between the two of them, but she also needed to make her level of involvement clear. ‘I like how you’re including me in everything, but I have to warn you, I’m not a charity worker. I’m a detective and that’s what I want to be. I’m happy to be an advisor as you set the charity up, and I’ll even help you with some publicity, but there’s no way I’ll ever be able to commit to more than that. I shouldn’t even be your police liaison; there are other officers who’re way more qualified to fill that role than I am.’

‘I see. We’ll I’m glad we’ve got that out of the way at the start. I find it’s always better to know these things at the outset, don’t you?’

Beth nodded her agreement as the waitress returned to clear their empty plates. Forster had gone for a steak with home cut chips and she’d ordered the Caesar salad. His steak was cooked the way she liked hers: still pink inside with the merest hint of blood running from it.

Forster leafed through the pages of statistics she’d printed off for him. She saw his eyebrows raise when he got to the page which detailed the number of men who’d fallen victim to sexual assaults and rape.

As with domestic abuse, there were also always a number of male victims, but in most cases the men were reluctant to report the crimes that had been committed against them. Many people didn’t stop to think that a man could suffer rape the way a woman could, but it was a fact of life that they did.

Beth watched Forster closely as he got to the last page. This was the one where she’d written out what she intended to say should their discussions ever bring the charity to life.

Forster nodded as he read. When he got further down the page, his expression changed as he took in her words.

She knew it was a powerful statement: one which laid her bare and exposed her secrets for the world to see.

‘You’d say this to the press? You’d let me use it on advertising that I used to create awareness of the charity?’

‘Absolutely. The women who have the guts to report their rapes will go through far worse than I will making that statement. If it helps give them courage, then I’d be honoured to say it.’ Beth gave a humble shrug as Forster nodded in thought. ‘It’s still a bit rough round the edges and needs a little adjusting here and there once we know names and dates, but its core points will stay the same.’

‘You really are a remarkable young woman. I’m lucky to have you on my side, even if the circumstances we met in were not exactly ideal.’

Beth waved away his compliment as an elderly lady approached the table, the man behind her wearing the expression of the permanently beleaguered.

When the woman opened her mouth, her voice was large enough to carry across the whole room. ‘Excuse me, young lady. I saw you on the telly, didn’t I? You were saying how you’d stop at nothing to catch the man who raped and killed those women. Well, talk to you is quite obviously cheap. Not two hours later you’re sitting here having dinner with your father. You’re nothing but a hypocrite.’

The lady looked at Beth with defiance as she waited for a response.

‘I did indeed say that. But I’m not dining with my father, I’m consulting with a generous man who’s looking to establish a charity to help victims of sexual abuse. For your information, I have been working fourteen-hour days on my current case and I intend to continue to do so until it’s solved. In the meantime, though, I still have to eat.’

The woman strode away, her face blanching as she flapped a hand at the husband to follow.

‘Bravo. You really knocked her down a peg or two there.’

‘She was right though.’

‘Nonsense. Tell me, what do you plan to do when you leave here? Go home and watch something on the TV? Or will you be poring over your notes on the case until you’re exhausted? For what it’s worth, my money is on the latter.’

Beth pulled a face. ‘You’d win your money.’

‘And look at what we’re discussing; this is a working dinner. You even told her as much yourself. You shouldn’t let what she said get to you. You have to eat, and your involvement in my project is you going over and above the call of duty. Anyway, you think you were insulted, she thought I was your blooming father!’

‘All I’m going to say about that is: no comment.’

‘Very funny. Don’t let her get to you. She’s a bitter old woman who doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’

As kind as his words were, Beth knew she’d made a mistake dining out after making such a public statement. The elderly lady had voiced her opinion, but she wasn’t the only person in the room that may have seen the news. If she had thought that Beth was a hypocrite, others would too.

The way Derek had reassured her about the woman’s comments felt good to Beth. When she added in his impeccable manners, the unmistakable charisma and the fact that he was a classically handsome man, Beth knew that her opinion of him was changing and that her first impressions of him had been wrong.

Forster returned the subject back to the charity and they chatted about the need for male counsellor, counsellors who were multilingual, and the fact that only 40 per cent of rape trials ended in a