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

Bridget catches the flash of irritation on his face. ‘Detective, I didn’t know you were coming in today. Emily, you should have said—’

‘It was a surprise visit,’ Bridget interjects. ‘Just needed to see one of your father’s files.’

‘What file?’ he asks sharply, looking from Bridget to Emily.

‘The Malouf one, from 2017.’ Emily’s voice is wobbly. Suddenly she seems less self-assured and more vulnerable. Less the ultra-professional assistant and more a girl.

Joshua pushes his glasses further up his nose. Then glances, pointedly, at his expensive watch. The time seems to deter him from making further objections.

‘We have to go,’ he says to Emily, while staring at Bridget, hinting that she should also depart.

Does Emily work for him now? Is that why they’re attending meetings together? It would also explain why Emily organised those flowers for Megan.

‘I’m happy to wait here,’ Bridget says cheerfully, and sits down to prove the point.

She watches Emily and Joshua walk towards the security door leading to the offices beyond. Emily looks even tinier next to Joshua’s oversize frame; she’s half running in her high shoes to keep up. Did Joshua claim his father’s executive assistant in the same manner he’ll claim his inheritance? How does Emily feel about it? From father to son. From sexual assault cases to drug offences. From someone who made her feel valued to someone who makes her feel under pressure. Perhaps Bridget is reading too much into Emily’s body language. Perhaps she is thrilled about the job security and seems flustered purely because she’s trying too hard to impress her new boss.

Bridget opens the manila file and begins to read. Hayley Webster was a twenty-three-year-old nurse on a night out with colleagues when she met Thomas Malouf at a city-centre nightclub. Hayley admitted that she found him attractive, but she had a boyfriend and was interested in nothing more than dancing. Hayley’s friends went home about 2 a.m. but Hayley didn’t go with them; she caught a taxi to her apartment in Redfern about an hour later, with Thomas. She remembers him kissing her in the taxi, and having sex when they got back to the apartment, although she’d told him – repeatedly – that she had a boyfriend. Late the next morning – when Thomas was long gone – Hayley realised how oddly compliant she’d been about the sex. The whole night, after she’d met him, felt like a dream. Hayley called her friends, who confirmed she’d been acting strangely. Hayley, a nurse, knew the protocol: she went straight to hospital, to have her blood and urine tested, and then to her local police station.

The police laid charges, which were later dropped due to insufficient evidence to allow for a reasonable chance of conviction. The nightclub’s CCTV showed Hayley on the dance floor and at the bar. Dancing suggestively with Thomas, in between glugging back gin and tonics. A statement from the taxi driver said they’d been behaving ‘amorously’ in the back of his vehicle. The blood and urine tests showed no illicit substances, and the medical examination showed no evidence of bruising or physical harm. Essentially, it could not be proved that the victim was not consenting, and neither could it be proved that the defendant was aware that the victim was not consenting.

Nowhere in the file did it mention that this was Thomas Malouf’s second time being accused of sexual assault. Bridget knows that the sexual history of the complainant is not always admissible, but what about the sexual history of the defendant? Was this an oversight by the police, or was it – unbelievably! – deemed irrelevant when determining if there was enough evidence? William Newson knew, though. He knew that this was Thomas’s second time round. He knew that before Hayley Webster there was Jessica Foster, and potentially Megan Lowe, although Thomas never admitted to having sex with Megan. How on earth did the defence barrister sleep at night? Did he ever stop to think of future victims he was putting at risk by continuing to get Thomas Malouf out of trouble? The right to legal representation is a civil right, as is the acknowledgement that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty. William Newson might have persuaded himself about Thomas’s innocence the first time, but not the second.

Emily reappears about forty-five minutes later. She sits carefully on the armchair next to Bridget’s; her fitted skirt doesn’t allow for sudden movements.

‘Did you get what you needed?’ she asks with a weary air that’s well beyond her years.

The answer is yes, and no. Hayley Webster has reason to be very angry with both Newson and Malouf. Bridget has yet another name to add to the whiteboard; and she needs another suspect like a hole in the head.

Bridget holds up the file. ‘This was Thomas Malouf’s second time, did you know?’

‘No.’ The young woman seems genuinely shocked. ‘I can’t remember reading that anywhere in the file …’

‘That’s because it isn’t in the file. The first charge was long before your time.’ Bridget changes tack suddenly, hoping to catch Emily off guard. ‘We’ve been investigating Mr Newson’s banking transactions and found one concerning you.’

Emily’s reaction is immediate. Her face turns bright red before she covers it with her hands. ‘Oh God! I didn’t want that money! I told him I didn’t need it!’

So, the money transfer was unwelcome? What was going on between these two? ‘If you didn’t want or need it, why did he give it to you?’

‘Because I was getting married.’ She comes out from behind her hands. ‘Because he saw himself as a father figure. Because he had trouble believing I could stand on my own two feet.’

‘A father figure?’

Emily sighs rather loudly. ‘He’s known me since I was fourteen. We were part of a programme where successful business people become mentors for disadvantaged youths. I was in foster care at the time and he took me under his wing, coaxed me to study during my final years of high school. When I didn’t get enough