CHAPTER 41
It got better and better as we counted down the days to the trial, and I ended up with statements from six more of the gang’s victims. Whatever the tariff said about their sentences after a guilty plea, it would end up in pieces once we were done.

Other things were better than I could ever have dreamt of, and no, I am not talking about me and a certain large man. It was Dad. He had really clicked with Blake, and I was almost feeling jealous, as the relationship was clearly mutual, and my own father seemed to be stealing time with Blake I wanted for myself.

Sod it! Life was good, not just bearable. I just wished Blake could have talked to me about the investigation.

Things got easier between us, and though we did our very best to keep it from the rest of the team, I am absolutely sure they guessed, or at least suspected. Speaking of the rest of the team…

We were in my flat, snuggled up after a decent Chinese meal, trying to watch some stupid film or other, and he nuzzled my neck.

“Rhys, love. We said, I said, we needed to talk about him”

I paused the film. “And?”

“He’s hiding something. Sort of goes with our job, but there’s something going on with him That’s spoiling his concentration”

I chose my words carefully, as saying ‘bent’ would have been far too close to the truth.

“You don’t think he’s, you know, on the take?”

“Na, not him. Know what his home life’s like? He never lets on, not really”

I turned round in the chair so that I could see his face better, judge his tells with more accuracy.

“What are you fishing for, love?”

He was starting to get embarrassed now.

“Forget I asked, OK?”

“No. There’s something on your mind, so please share it”

“Well, I was just wondering if he had a thing for Candice, and she let drop that she’s sort of seeing someone, and I don’t do the fluffy stuff like you do, and I didn’t want to see him hurt!”

I couldn’t help it, and burst out laughing, and as I did so I realised I was about to break a confidence. Blake deserved that respect, and I owed him more than that myself.

“Blake. Mate. You are completely off plot there. He most definitely does not have a thing for Candice. Not at all”

Sod it. “He’s gay, love”

His mouth worked a couple of times, and then he just shook his head and grinned.

“I very nearly said it, didn’t I? Fuck me, that was right there waiting to come out, and…shit”

I settled back against his warmth.

“I just broke a promise there, so no gossip, please. And another thing: don’t talk such crap about not doing the soft stuff. Look what you’ve done for me, for a start, and then shut up while I watch the rest of this. Oh, and I think it’s just what we’ve been digging up that’s knocking him to one side a bit”

“Yeah, suppose so. Same with you, really. All a bit too close to home”

“Yeah, well. Now shut up”

Not the most subtle of tactics, but they worked. I didn’t really want to get into a deep discussion of a mate’s private life, so simply shut up, settled down and watched the film.

It was becoming really difficult to see him leave at the end of each evening we spent together, but I couldn’t handle anything more. He did so much for me, and one huge thing was simply leaving when I needed him to. I felt safe with him, and not just in the sense of a man being a safe person to be with but in how he kept the world outside from hurting me. Simultaneously, though, I wanted more from him, but every time I considered taking things further I felt Evans in me, the heat of his piss on my back, and my desires froze and shattered.

Bastard. His trial couldn’t come soon enough.

Blake surprised me in a nicer way a in a team night at the pub a fortnight later, when I had to slap him for staring at Rhys too obviously, and I had to whisper a warning.

“They don’t get issued with a bloody barcode, boy. Remember that you officially don’t bloody well know, aye?”

“Yeah, sorry. Had an idea I wanted to run past you—hang on. Yes, Miss Blonde?”

Candice was doing her own staring.

“You two. How long?”

He just shrugged, so I did the words, as he had said so clearly I was better at it.

“Not that long, since you ask. Not for public”

“Dead bloody right, with the trial coming. No crap about improper associations to get that sick fucker off”

I nodded. “Point taken, girl. I have some more stuff to do afterwards, should have some other victims teed up”

She snarled. “Let me guess: don’t want to risk it until they are sure he’s already banged away? In case he gets off?”

I sighed. Yeah, exactly. More girls who’ve been broken by him. You think he might get off?”

She stared at Blake for a few unspeaking seconds, before turning back to me, voice a lot softer.

“I am boing to be vague, girl, because it’s doubly awkward now, but your boyfriend here, and Alun, they’ve got some really crunchy evidence. He is going down, like a fucking lead balloon. Besides which, if he doesn’t, if there’s some dark fucking miracle of a defence trotted out, then I will deal with him myself, and cut his fucking tackle off”

Blake grinned.

“Now you are seeing exactly what the man himself did, love!”

That word, of course, was caught in mid-flight by Candice, who took me by the arm and pulled me to my feet.

“Come on, girl. Ladies’, now”

For once, it was empty, and as she checked the cubicles she called back over her shoulder.

“It’s the shagging, isn’t it? You can’t, can you?”

She walked back to me, hands up, placating.

“Not trying to get in your face girl, just know I understand. I had an ‘uncle’ for a while, Mam’s boyfriend, aye? Leave it at that, OK? Never went beyond… No. Just understand, even with that level, that limited abuse, I DO understand. Took me ages before I could let go of it, relax with a fella, so yes, I get it. What’s Bog Boy doing?”

I reached out with one arm for a hug, and she stepped into it.

“He is being exactly as you’d expect, girl. A very, very gentle man is my Blake”

“Yeah, I know. You are bloody lucky, Di, and I think the two of you are well-suited. Just don’t make it too obvious, isn’t it? And, well, let things happen when they do. Don’t try and force anything. I should know, because I did exactly that, and it turned to a right pile of fucking shit on me. Lost a good friend that time, so patience”

I had to ask, of course.

“What if he doesn’t have enough of it? Patience?”

She raised both her eyebrows. “Then he’s not who we both think, is he? Now, get back, find out what he’s plotting”

I dropped back into the booth we were occupying, making sure my hand didn’t drop onto his knee.

“What you got in mind, Blake?”

“Summer holidays, lo—Di. Sod it, I can’t do this, Candice, drag the others over from the dart board”

Rob, Rhys, Ellen and Alun, for once no Sammy or Chris, clustered round the booth, just long enough for Alun to remark “If this is the confession that you two are loved up, then get it over with so we can finish the game. We are neither blind or stupid. Just tone it down till the trial’s over. We’ll get you a ‘happy shagging’ card later. Who’s got the whip?”

Before I stopped laughing, my hand was back on Blake’s knee. Bastards, all of them.

My own man chuckled.

“That didn’t go quite as I expected! Now, where was I?”

“Summer?”

“Yeah. Holidays. Fancy a break somewhere a bit warmer than Glamorgan?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Well, there’s a deal on an all-inclusive in Tunisia. Beach, palm trees, all that sort of thing. Might get offered enough camels for you to make the trip worthwhile. Ow! That hurt!”

Candice laughed happily.

“Done mu share of domestics, so calm it down, you two. Yeah, meant to be nice there, some big resorts and good beaches. Just be eyes-open on the politics, bit messy down there”

I wasn’t quite sure, but then he added something that answered Candice’s question earlier, and I knew I did, indeed, have the right man.

“Need to check with your Mam and Dad first, of course, find out when they’re free”

Sod propriety; I gave him a proper kiss.

That trial finally came along in March, and I spent far too long completely out of contact with the team, up until I was called into the courtroom in Cardiff.

He was just as big as my memory told me, but I now had a big man of my own, bigger in every way possible than Ashley Aaron Evans could ever aspire to. Cling to your hate, girl, but keep the heat down. Listen to the wig, answer the jury.

I looked over to the public gallery, and heat was replaced by warmth as I saw Elaine there, flanked by two women, one dark and the other red-haired. One of them just had to be her wife, and when the dark-haired one moved, and I saw the bump, I knew our leader had a thing for redheads, or at least one in particular.

They brought me the bool and the card, and I swore the oath and gave my details, and then the very, very smooth man I had talked with for an hour before the start eased into his part of the game. He asked me all the questions the jury needed to set the scene, to take away the image I was trying to project of a successful adult woman, and replace it in their minds with a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl scurrying home on a wet night after studying French verbs with another child.

“What happened on your way home, Ms Owens?”

“I saw a car stop. Thought he was lost, and when he wound his window down I assumed he was in need of directions”

“So you approached the car?”

“Yes. Leant into the window to see if I could help”

“What happened then?”

“He, the driver, grabbed me by the hair and said ‘I’ve got a knife here, you little whore. Open the door and get in or I will fucking slice your face off”, so I got in”

“Why did you get in the car, Ms Owens?”

“He said he had a knife”

“Did he?”

“I didn’t see one”

“Would you recognise him again?”

“I recognise him now, sat in the dock. The accused, that’s him”

“Please not that the witness has specifically identified her attacker as Ashley Aaron Evans, the accused.

“What then happened?”

“He made me open the door and then pulled me in by my hair. He told ne ‘Get your legs in and shut the fucking door. Do it now or I cut you’. I felt something at the back of my neck and assumed it was the knife. He told me to put the seat belt on, and made me put my hands under the lap strap. He pulled it tight, drove off, and then braked hard so that the inertia reel locked.”

“Pray continue”

“He drove off from Barry, and kept calling me a whore and a bitch. I remember him saying he was going to see how clean I was”

“Do you know why he said that?”

“No, and he called me a filthy whore immediately afterward”

“How did you feel under such circumstances?”

I wasn’t going to cry, not for that bastard.

“I was absolutely terrified. I remember wondering if I would actually see the sun again, be around for it to rise again. I really thought he was going to kill me”

“Could you see where he was driving?”

“No. He had one of those flexible lights, the ones for map reading, in the glove box, and he tilted it up, so the light shone right in my eyes”

“Would it therefore be fair to say that his actions seemed well-planned?”

“Yes”

“Where did the drive finish?”

“The car park by the old Dunraven place, by the cliffs”

“Did you recognise it?

“Not in the dark. The couple who found me told me where we were”

“Ah. We shall come to that later. What did you notice about the place?”

“I could hear waves, a rhythmic shush, shush”

“What then happened?”

“We stopped, and he said, ‘Don’t fucking move or you’ll feel it, bitch’ and got out of the car”

“What did you take him to mean about feeling it?”

“The knife. He got out of the car, came round to my door and opened it, then grabbed my hair again. He pulled me out of the car with it”

“And?”

“He pulled my face right into his crotch. I could feel he had a large erection. I was on my knees then, where he had pulled me. He then dragged me over to what felt like a low wall of some kind. I was wearing leggings, but they didn’t protect my knees much. I still have a number of small scars there”

He looked at me, and there was real concern there.

“Ms Owens, do you feel able to continue? If you become distressed, please do not hesitate to ask for a pause in the proceedings”

“I am fine, thank you. Anyway… He did have something still, and it was hard, and he kept it against the back of my neck after he punched me in the side of the head”

“He struck you?”

“Yes, punched me in the right side of my head. Left me groggy, and he then ripped my leggings and knickers apart. I could see the waves then, just the faintest of white from the surf. I got another wound from one of the threads in my leggings, it didn’t snap but cut into me. Then he raped me”

“He penetrated you?”

“Yes”

“With his penis?”

“I assume so. I couldn’t see”

“Ms Owens, please understand why I am asking this next question. Were you a virgin at the time?”

The Defence wig went ballistic, shouting out an objection, but our man had prepared me for that question, and as he explained to the Judge that he was simply avoiding any nastiness in the cross-examination, Defence were told to shut up and sit back down, and I answered the question truthfully.

“Yes, I was”

“Did he ejaculate, Ms Owens?”

“Yes. I felt it”

“What did he then do?”

“He pulled himself out of my vagina, and then punched me in the side of the head again, but this time it was much harder. I think I may have lost consciousness for a second, but only that. A very short time. He left me lying face down on the ground, and then… Then he stood over me and urinated on me He said it was the best way of getting the spoodge out”

“What did you take that to mean?”

“Semen

“What did you then do?”

“There’s me in the car park there. He’s driven off. Someone pulled in, a couple, they’d come for a bit of, you know, and they got me to hospital. Nurse called the police, and she did things with a swab and a camera”

“Did the police attend?”

“Yes. Two policemen”

“What did they do?”

The anger was rising just then, as I thought of the other two bastards, the two that my three bastards shared with Elaine’s trio. Focus, girl. I found myself gripping the edges of the witness box, knuckles white, and I had to work hard to release the tension.

“They told me to shut up and piss off home if I knew what was good for me”

“The policemen said that?”

“Yes, in those words”

“Do you recall their identities?”

I looked up again, sparing one glance for the bastard in the dock.

“Yes. I had to work with them later, but I don’t think they remembered me”

“Do you recall their names?”

“Oh yes. Bob Evans…”

I paused for a second, just to see what the jury would do, and yes, that was a classic ‘sharp intake of breath’.

“… and Dai Pritchard”

What a wonderfully snide grin that was from our barrister. He turned to the Judge again.

“If it pleases the court, the two men are at present serving ten years for other rapes and assaults”

Back to me. “I am aware that Evans is a rather common name in Wales. Are you aware of any actual family connection in this instance?”

“yes. Bob Evans is Ashley Evans first cousin. There were two others called Evans arrested with Bob and Pritchard, for rape and assault, and one of them was Bob’s nephew”

"Thank you, Ms Owens. I have no further questions for this witness at this time, Your Honour”

To my astonishment, and relief, the Defence cross-examination was almost non-existent. That told me one thing: whatever Alun and Blake had turned up was heavy indeed. I was discharged, and that meant I could sit in the public gallery and find out.

I had something more important to do right then though. I really needed to wash my hands.