by Gill Mather
“As I said, we can use the other route of arresting you and taking you to the station now. If you wish.”
Don crossed and re-crossed his legs and folded his arms in front of him, the only physical signs of his agitation. This DI was a cool character. Don wondered what it would take to get him in a flap. Probably a major earthquake or a UFO landing in the back garden. He sighed, not realising that Norton was thinking the same thing about Don, who hadn't ranted and raved and expressed outrage, hadn't waved his arms about, hadn't insisted on calling a Solicitor immediately, as a great many people would have in his experience. Don’s voice had started to be expressionless which didn't bode well for the forthcoming interview, trying to decide if he was lying.
DS Pearce rose and grinned and asked if Don took sugar and milk. Don told him just a very small amount of milk, though no-one ever listened when you said that.
“Can I at least go and get some work to do?” he said to the DI. “We could be here for hours. And will I be back by six or six thirty when my partner gets home or I’ll have to call her and tell her?”
“You can do that later from the station,” said Norton. “I’ll come with you to get your work.”
DON HAD IN FACT spent most of the day twiddling his thumbs. Norton hadn't wanted him to take his laptop back to the sitting room to work on therefore there was precious little he could do without it. There had been a short period when the tedium of waiting about had been interrupted by the forensic officers arriving and being let in and he had shown them to Emma’s room. He’d started to walk in ahead of them but Norton had stopped him. The officers were all suited up. Even their hands and feet were covered and it had seemed ridiculous.
One of the officers, a woman, had come to the sitting room and asked very pleasantly to take a swab from Don for DNA testing. He silently let this happen. He had an idea that this meant that his DNA record would now be on a police database for years to come regardless of what the outcome was of this fiasco. The woman had also asked him very nicely for some samples of his hair. He seemed to recall that it was only if you got some of the root that it was possible to extract DNA from hair but he let her get on with it. Then he watched through the window as they left with their cases and bags. It actually looked as though they’d taken Emma’s bed linen away with them and Don had been astounded about that. They also took Emma’s letter away. And some of her college notes. So that a comparison could be made said Norton. He assured Don that the paperwork would be returned.
He was now sitting in a small room at the station, waiting to be called in for an interview and waiting for Martin to turn up. No-one in this process seemed to be the least concerned that a suspect could die of boredom sitting around for hours on end with nothing to do. He had asked for something to read and had been brought some Heat magazines and some tacky-looking women’s magazines with photos of so-called celebrities on the front. He thumbed through them. The trash in these publications was incredible. It was a total mystery to Don that people could actually get paid to write this stuff, that anyone would want to read it and that people would voluntarily submit themselves to such a degree of exposure. Some of the girls in the magazines had practically no clothes on; others were apparently happy, indeed anxious, to disclose intimate details of their lives and it was all apparently completely acceptable, and yet here he was holed up in a nick on account of something someone had told the police about him that simply wasn't true. He was starting to ponder in his seclusion in this small room what the world was coming to today, when a uniformed female opened the door and told him his Solicitor was here to see him and she let Martin into the room.
The customary shaking of hands and general enquiries between them out of the way, they sat down and Don told Martin as much as he could of what had happened.
“Have you any idea who gave this story to the police. Anyone who might want to cause you trouble.”
“Well as to the latter, I’d say that my partner Grace’s husband would be the most likely person to want to try and upset things for me. But he wouldn't have had any contact with my daughter. I just can't imagine any scenario in which he might have been able to tell the police that he had had conversations with her. She eighteen and he’s in his fifties I should say. And she’s never mentioned him or come into contact with him as far as I know. So it’s a mystery to me. And as to "another party" I haven't the least idea what they're talking about.”
"Well. To have arrested you if that's what they'd done, they would have needed some further evidence. When they get just one allegation, they always look for something to back it up. Or of course they might have had the other allegation earlier on and acted when they received the allegation about Emma. With Emma, there was the possibility of forensic evidence so they're pitching that as the main accusation, using the other allegation to support it, rather than vice versa.
“Anyway, what about the boyfriend Luke? How did you get on with him? OK you challenged him about his relationship with Emma but apart from that, was he upset with you? Did he, say, resent maybe that his mother had left his father and was living with you?”
“Luke! I mean despite my reservations about him and Emma, he seems a very nice young man. Against all the odds with a father like he’s got.”
“What do you mean?”
Don told Martin about the things he’d heard about Greg and gave some but not all details of Greg’s own visit to him.
“So did he? Luke. Resent your relationship with his mother?”
“Well yes he did. When I started on about him and Emma, he made some counter-arguments about me and Grace, and very persuasive they were too actually but I just couldn't see him doing something as extreme as going running to the police with lies and fabrications. That in itself would probably be a serious offence.”
“No doubt. But perhaps Greg persuaded Luke to do it. Or perhaps he got some sort of information out of Luke that he placed his own interpretations on and went to the police himself.”
“That seems a bit remote to be honest. And that fellow Norton said that the person who gave the report to them had spoken directly to Emma. I can't imagine for the life of me who it could be.”
“Well if you think about it the most likely person would be Luke. Or maybe his mother.”
“That’s just not possible. I don't believe either of them would have done that. And definitely not Grace. Why would she?”
“How well do you know her?”
“We’ve lived together for nearly four months. Before that I used to see her at church. That’s where I met her.”
“You said Greg told you she was delusional, a liar. Did he say anything else? Any history of mental illness, any criminal offences even?”
“Well….”
“What?”
Don sighed and looked down at his hands. “She was apparently prosecuted, successfully, for shoplifting about two years ago. She told me about it. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't intentional and she was very distracted by things Greg had done, but like probably a lot of people do, she pleaded guilty to get the thing over and done with. And she would have had to give evidence of Greg’s behaviour with other women and I don't think Luke knows about any of that.”
“Did she tell you herself? Or did Greg tell you?”
“Well actually Greg told me, and then when Grace learned of his visit she dragged it out of me that he’d told me that.”
“Four months isn't that long to know someone,” said Martin. “Do you know anyone who knows her well?”
“No not really. No. But the question is why on earth would she make horrible untrue allegations to the police about me. Or try to get some "other party" involved too. It makes no sense.”
“I don't know. But people do some strange things.”
“Well at this stage, I refuse to consider it. And also I need to get hold of her and tell her where I am. The police said I could telephone her when we got here but they asked me to hand my `phone in.”
“Give me her number
and I’ll give it to the police. I expect they’ll want to call her themselves.”
“Oh no! I mean what will she think! This is terrible! Look, can you see if I can speak to her myself. Or you call her at the very least and explain to her what’s happened. Then she can try to get hold of Emma.”
“Actually that may be what they’re trying to avoid. So that Emma won't be….I’m sorry to say this….won't be threatened or coerced to say nothing against you when she gets back.”
“God this is horrible. Grace has to know!”
“Well she will in due course obviously, and they can't keep you here indefinitely. Obviously you can call their bluff and threaten to just walk out and see if they’re actually prepared to arrest you. They might not.”
“Maybe but it seemed pretty certain earlier that if I didn't come here voluntarily, that they would arrest me. Maybe the DI was lying.”
“Probably not. Anyway, I’ll go and see them about it.”
“Martin, I….you know what you said to me before about the default position now being that allegations of abuse are to be believed and not just dismissed any more?”
“It does seem so.”
“Well, it worries me that those detectives are ready to believe just about anything. That whatever I say won't make any difference. For heaven’s sake, they even seemed to see some significance in the fact that I knew you and named you when asked about a Solicitor!”
“You’ll just have to tell the truth, and I’m sure you will. Anyway, I’ll go and speak to them about calling Grace, and then, if you’re ready,” said Martin, “we’d better go and get this interview over with.”
“Yes I suppose we had.”
THE FORMALITIES OVER, DI Norton was looking down at some apparently pre-prepared questions in front of him and some other paperwork alongside.
“So perhaps I could take you over the background and the things we discussed already this morning. Is that all right?”
Don agreed and Norton proceeded to do so getting Don to describe how he had met Grace, about his having looked after his ill wife for years, about how he had found out about Luke and Emma’s relationship and what Don had done about it and his conversation with Luke.
“Could I ask you Mr. Morrison about your first wife. You’ve alluded to the fact that she was ill for very many years. Did you share a bed while she was alive, did you have normal marital relations?”
At least, thought Don, this man hadn't asked to use Christian names and assume some wholly spurious familiarity with him. He replied: “Whatever this has to do with it I don't know but no I didn't. And no we didn't. She was far too ill.”
“Would you say your relationship with your daughter was close?”
“Yes I thought so, but I tried to make things normal for her despite her mother’s condition. I didn't, er, emphasise her mother’s condition to her. I didn't want her to feel different from other kids. I suppose it was closer than many father-daughter relationships because unlike most dads I didn't go out to work, I worked at home and basically I had to do everything for Emma since she was a tiny baby. Her mother was too weak and couldn't.”
"You say you tried to make things normal for Emma. Did that include her having friends to visit at the house?"
"Of course it did."
"Did you ever sexually assault any of those friends?"
"No I did not." Don wanted to say that he bloody well did not, but he stopped himself from swearing. The mere suggestion though made his blood run cold. Whatever else, he worried, was to be thrown at him? However the Inspector was returning to the main line of questioning.
“You obviously had marital relations with your wife to enable Emma to be conceived.”
“Yes we did. It was coming to an end really by then but my wife wanted to continue with normal things as long as possible. And she wanted….to be close with me. We certainly didn't expect a pregnancy to result but actually when it did we were delighted. And while Carol was pregnant her condition seemed to go into remission. We dared to hope that she might get better for good. But she didn't. Almost as soon as Emma was born, Carol started to go back to being like a ragdoll basically. It was terribly sad.”
“So later when you ceased to have marital relations, what happened then?
“Well I slept in a separate room. It was Carol in fact who was moved to a different room next to our room with a single bed with side rails so that she’d be safer and she had an alarm and an intercom and other equipment. Very much later shortly before she died, I of course slept in her room in a camp bed. Until she died.”
“Where was Emma’s room at that time?”
“She had the room the other side from my room with a bathroom in between.”
“So is it the case that for most of Emma’s life, you were without a sexual partner of any kind.”
“Is this really necessary?” said Don and he looked at Martin too.
“Well, I’m just trying to establish the background and the situation in your household accurately,” said Norton.
Martin nodded at Don and he replied, “Yes. I was without any sexual partner.”
“Did you find that difficult?”
“I found it necessary. She was my wife. She was ill. My primary functions were to look after her and bring up our child and earn some sort of a living. Those things took up just about all of my time and energy without worrying about not having sex once or twice a week.” He stopped. He didn't want anyone to feel sorry for him inside or outside of the judicial system but he felt that further explanation was necessary.
“My daily routine was gruelling. Looking after a sick person who could hardly move was exhausting in itself. Washing her, changing her, changing her position, changing her bedclothes, washing her clothes and bedclothes, cleaning her teeth, feeding her, getting her up into a wheelchair with a neck brace and other support. For as long as possible getting her downstairs to sit in the sitting room for the day. And trying all the time to appear cheerful while doing so. Cooking and looking after the house. Caring for a small child at the same time.
“When Emma was a baby and a small child I couldn't leave her alone for long so we spent most of the time in Carol’s room. To make it easier, I’d take Emma into Carol’s room and we’d do puzzles, and play games and sing songs and sometimes watch the telly. And then when she went to school we’d do her homework in there. But also when Emma went to school and as she got older, then I was able to bring Carol downstairs to be in the sitting room so we could all be together down there. It made Carol feel as though she was part of Emma’s upbringing, and she was. Emma adored her. I tried to make it into a happy time, and it was a happy time. I didn't want Carol to die. This was our life. It wasn't until Emma was in her teens that Carol’s ability to speak deteriorated substantially. Until then, though she couldn't do anything much physically for Emma, she played a huge role in her upbringing.” Don sighed. “And then for all those years, when I’d got them both settled for the night, I used to go to my study and work for six hours or so. Quite frankly, if someone had offered me sex, I wouldn't have had the energy even if I’d wanted to. So no actually to answer your question, I didn't find it difficult at all. The life was very hard, but I would have cared for Carol forever.”
“All right well maybe we’ll come back to that later. So in her teens at home, before she went to university, did Emma have any boyfriends?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Why do you think that was?”
“I couldn't really say. Some people just don't until they’re a little older. And she’s only eighteen now remember. She was very studious. And she seemed to be a serious girl. When she was about sixteen I think it was, she started to work in a local restaurant at weekends and during school holidays. I’m afraid I couldn't give her much pocket money. But she saved it all anyway for when she went to university. We always thought she would. We had talked about her becoming a doctor, but she didn't get the A` level grades necessary. She’d been put up a year
at school and she was already young for her year so she didn't quite make it. And of course her mother was very ill by then and we knew she would die some time soon. She could have taken them again this year but she didn't want to. So she went to university last September.”
Don thought about it. “But going back to the boyfriend question, she was younger than everyone else in her educational year. She was only seventeen when she was taking her A’ levels and applying to go to university. She was only fifteen when she was taking her GCSE’s. A lot of them would have been nearly two years older than her. No I don't think it was odd at all that she hadn't had any serious boyfriend that I knew of before she went off to university.”
“Were you pleased she went to university when she did or would you have preferred her to stay at home?”
“Oh, very pleased. Her mother was extremely ill by then and I didn't want Emma to have to witness her final decline. We had hoped that Emma would be there when her mother died but that turned out not to be possible. It happened quite quickly.”
“Yes. We’ve been reading the pathologist’s report this afternoon. Actually the precise cause of her actual death was a little inconclusive in the report. I wonder, did you hasten it in any way?”
“Absolutely not! But if you don't mind, I’d rather not have to go into detail about Carol’s death. It was the most terrible thing I’ve ever had to witness and it can't be relevant to why you’ve asked me here today.”
“Well only that you had already met your present partner and were possibly in a hurry to advance the relationship.”
“This is actually very offensive indeed. But if you want me to say any more, you’ll have to come right out with it and make explicit accusations. Your insinuations do you no credit Detective Inspector Norton.”
The DI shuffled his papers.
“Right. You said earlier that Emma’s bedroom had been upstairs the other side of your room separated by a bathroom. When did she move down to the room she now occupies near a back door of the house downstairs.”
“Soon after she came back from university this summer.”