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Daniel stood, holding his stomach. Kani, who d been very quiet all this time, licked his cheek to comfort him. My brother and sister. The publicity. They ve already been through so much. Your name will be kept out of the media, Detective Shah said. That s standard in a sexual assault case. What if he gets off? He s still on our radar. And he ll still have a conviction. I want this guy, Daniel. He s a rapist. Don t let him walk. Daniel turned to Zachary. What do you think? He s correct about your identity being protected. I can t promise Noble would be convicted of assault charges, but Mr Stern is certainly going to fire him. He was simply waiting for confirmation of the drug purchase. He s formally suspended without pay, and I believe the usual disciplinary proceedings will proceed quite quickly. You knew, Daniel said, staring at Spen. This afternoon, you knew what was going to happen. Yes. We had to lull him into a false sense of security. Daniel, there was no breakfast meeting. He had drugged mineral water waiting for you. He was going to do it again. He was going to attack you. He d do it as often as he could get away with it. Daniel sat again, not sure if he could prevent himself from vomiting. He shook his head as Zachary offered him the water. Perhaps we could leave it until tomorrow? Zachary said. If necessary. Noble will get bail if we do. He won t on a sexual assault charge, not without conditions. We can make sure he stays away from you and your family. Daniel chewed his lip. He d wanted to avoid all this, but maybe his objections didn t amount to much now. I ll do it, he said. But for the record, I really hate you for doing this, he said to Spen. I m sorry. Spen stood. Myko gave Daniel a strangely disappointed look, his tail drooping. Kani squeaked at his friend, but Myko s human didn t look at him. Mr Stern will want a quick word, and then I ll head off. Thank you, Zachary. You re welcome. You ve done good work. Daniel gave his informal advisor a glare for that, but Zachary didn t blink. Spen sent one last look of appeal Daniel s way, but Daniel didn t soften, so he left, and shortly after, Mr Stern came in. Daniel, I m very sorry to hear what s happened. You and I will have to talk about your future here, but for now, I want you to take tomorrow and the next week off on paid leave. I believe the police have to confiscate computers and so on, so you ll need to stay out of the way. If Noble attempts to contact you You tell us, Inspector Shah said. I have a car downstairs. Thank you, Mr Stern. Daniel felt too numb, too betrayed, to even look at his boss as the officer led them out to the lifts. Who knows? he asked Zachary. Inspector Shah was talking on his phone, paying them no attention. Myself, Julian, Leo, Spencer, his assistant, Jyoti, and Mr Stern. Mr Stern is very anxious to keep this quiet for now. If and when Noble is charged, there will likely be media coverage. A regrettable amount of gossip will inevitably follow, if my own office is any indication. Wonderful. I guess this job is toast anyway. Why would you want to continue working for a man like that? Zachary asked. I don t. But I need a job. He didn t feel like explaining all the issues involved in that need. He didn t want to be here at all. You need friends more, Zachary said, still with the stiff formality that coloured everything he d said so far. I learned this from Julian. The only friend I ve got just stabbed me in the back. The inspector turned. Apparently he had been listening after all. That friend just saved you from sexual assault, maybe even death, if Noble had got his dose wrong. He has a point, Zachary said. I believe Spencer acted from the finest motives. Daniel didn t know what to say to that. Spen had lied to him. Spen had saved his bacon, maybe his life. Spen had just lost him a job he needed to prove he could look after Dee and Alex. Spen had just saved him from a job that was ruining his life. I don t want to talk about it, he muttered. The process of making the statement was easier than he expected. He thought he d have to sit in one of those horrible interview rooms like they used on TV cop shows, but instead Inspector Shah took them all to a room with ordinary sofas, offered him tea, and took him carefully but not unsympathetically through the events of that evening, and his relationship with Tony. Zachary asked his kem to come out, and Kani s respectful playing with the lovely creature offered some welcome distraction at points of stress. The inspector was considerate about breaks too, and everyone was remarkably patient. Still, Daniel had a headache and a stomach that still wanted to turn inside out by the time he was asked to sign the statement the inspector had typed up for him. Is it enough to convict him of rape? The inspector grimaced. It s always difficult to prosecute that, Daniel, and with you being the only witness and having no memory of the event, that s not going to help. However, we do have a good deal of solid circumstantial evidence supporting your version of events and directly contradicting his, so I ll push hard for it. The drugs and the pictures are definitely going to get him into trouble. The final decision on the exact charges isn t up to me. You haven t wasted your time here, I promise you. Daniel shrugged. Can I go now? Yes, of course. The inspector turned and fetched something from the table behind him. Ah, you might want to look at this too. I ll have Victim Support contact you, and they can give you more information about counselling and so on. Medical tests as well. It was the same damn pamphlet Spen had offered him. Daniel shoved it into his pocket with a muttered thanks , and looked at Zachary. Thank you, inspector, Zachary said, getting to his feet. His kem positioned himself gracefully along Zachary s shoulders again. I ll advise you if Daniel decides to engage another legal advisor. That s fine. Thank you, Daniel. It took courage to come here tonight. No, just a pushy friend , he thought. Zachary called Julian, and then ordered a taxi. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |