CHAPTER 42
I didn’t make it back to the courtroom as I spent quite a bit of time on my knees, trying to throw up my breakfast along with all the years of hate and fear. So many hackneyed images still hold truth in them, and mine was that of pushing against the locked door, which opens suddenly, and collapse is inevitable.

I could still feel his eyes on me, and the worst part of it all was that he didn’t seem to recall me immediately. I could almost read his mind: ‘Which rape was that one? Oh, yes. All coming back to me now’.

If he had glared or blustered it would have been easier, but he didn’t. I wasn’t the avenging crusader coming for my just revenge, I was simply one of a number of girls he had met at various times, in various places, but all in the same manner. I couldn’t stay on my knees with those thoughts, as it was too reminiscent of that night by the sea, and so I squirmed round to sit on the toilet and sob my heart out. At least I had plenty of tissues.

Bastard.

Someone tapped at the door of the cubicle, asking if I was all right in quite a strong North Wales accent. I muttered something reassuring.

“That is Diane in there, ah? Your crew is all a bit worried about you. Came to check”

I unlocked the door so I could see the speaker, and it was the pretty redhead that had been sitting with Elaine.

“You’re, um, Elaine’s missus?”

She nodded. “I’m Siân, aye. You look a real mess, girl. Let’s get your face washed. Here…”

I could not object to her hug, which was most welcome, and she had some cleansing wipes and other stuff in her bag to help with my sore eyes.

“We were expecting you back for the good stuff, Di, but we understand. Not an easy thing to do, so well done you for sticking it. What it did to our sister, duw!”

“She the one who was done over by Joe Evans?”

“Yes, and two of the other pieces of shit you locked up. Sarah. She ran away, ah? All the way to Dover, and we don’t, we can’t blame her for that. You, girl: you fought back. No shame in a bit of tension release, a bit of reaction. Anyway, that bastard is completely screwed now, and you missed it”

“I think I’ll cope”

“And bloody celebrate, I think. You deserve it, and so do those two boys. Come on, cuppa and chat. The others will be out in a while, so you need to be sat up and smiling for them”

The court’s café was almost empty for once, and as an indulgence I had cocoa again, Siân slapping my hand when I went to pull out my purse. We found a seat, and she started to grin.

“Your boys found a real star, ah? Janice Jeffries”

“I know that name”

“Nurse at the hospital when you were treated, after. The one who did the swabs and pictures”

“They got all that as well?”

She laughed, happily.

“Oh yes! And she’d kept the swabs in her freezer, and when it was sent off for testing, bingo! Enough of his bloody ‘spoodge’ left there to get a perfect match for his DNA, and yours, of course. Defence got nasty with her, and she bit back, you would have loved it. Then the Judge slaps down the Defence! Thing is, turned out that Janice knew one Carol, who was the nurse for our Sarah when she got the same sort of hospital visit you got, so the jury got to hear about THAT. That man is going to prison, girl, we all know that, so, once more, well done you. I am going back to my wife now, and we’ll be getting something to eat when they break, so put on your happy face, or your bloody smugly-satisfied one, ah? And we will see you out the front in a few ”

She gave me a quick squeeze and was gone, leaving me with no doubt whatsoever about why Elaine had married her. At some point, I realised, I would like to meet their sister.

They eventually trooped out for lunch and, sod it, I let Blake take my arm, as Alun linked with Elaine, and I don’t know who was doing the pushing, pulling and steering, but we ended up in the big pub on Greyfriars, where there was a crowd waiting for us. Chris, Dai Gould, his boy Scott with Omar, and Omar’s parents, one of Elaine’s colleagues who introduced himself as Wyn, even the bloody Super, Bev Williams, and Sammy, grinning away as ever.

Fuck you, Ashley Evans. You did your best to steal my life, and these people gave it back to me. I gave my man a squeeze, as I saw once more how I had a real future now.

He whispered in my ear “Jury’s retired, love. Don’t know if they’ll be back today”

“That’s quick!”

“I don’t think their brief’s got any arguments left. Cutting his losses, and I think he’s wondering if he’ll get his fee. That nurse sank him. Stroppy cow, but our stroppy cow! Tell you about it later, but now you understand why we had to kick you out. Over, aye?”

“Not quite, love. Who sorted this lot out?”

“We had people warned, and then as soon as the jury went out we put a call out so that we could celebrate”

“Not really over yet, love”

“Trust me, it most definitely is”

I squeezed his knee, before standing up after whispering “Back me up, please?”

I stood looking around the group we had gathered, real warmth in my heart. So many of them had suffered because of a few evil men, and if it hadn’t been directly, as with Omar and myself, it had been only once-removed, seeing their family and friends broken and soiled. Sod formality, sod ‘Police, professional’.

“See this, Lainey? These are survivors, these boys. How could I not do the same? Soon as the jury retired we put the call out, people awaiting the word, innit? This is all your doing, all of this. Even if the bastard walks—ˮ

On cue, my man called out “He won’t!”

I grinned back at him. “Thanks, Blake!”

I turned back to her, Siân’s hand in hers, and tipped my head in a clear bow.

“I don’t think so either. His counsel wasn’t exactly walking on water, was he? Funny, that, with all the money he---er---no longer has access to. Anyway, Inspector Powell, we’ve said it before, but there are movers and shakers, and you have moved and shook. Elaine Powell!”

The others repeated the toast, and we drank to the woman who had shown me a future so much better than my past. I just hoped she could cope now that her own locked door had sprung open. I needed to watch her back, as she had watched mine, but at least I now knew she had a partner we could both rely on.

‘Wife’, Diane Owens. The word is ‘wife’.

We lost our happy crowd quite quickly to their day jobs and lives, and as we settled down for a relaxed afternoon outside the horrible place that is a Crown Court, Elaine followed me into the ladies’.

“Anything I need to know?”

I knew what she meant, but my face betrayed me, and I could feel the burn.

“About three months now, seeing how it goes”

“It doesn’t go anywhere till after the verdict. Got me?”

“Yes, Ma’am”

I couldn’t help it, and my blush was overtaken by my grin.

“Well, it goes to Tunisia in a couple of months, anyway!”

She laughed, and after a mock frown swallowed me in a crushing hug. Elaine Powell was monstrously strong for a woman, and in a happy moment of mind’s eye and memories I watched her backhand swing--- No. Not now.

When she came out, she glared at Blake, and my big boy actually turned pink. Who would ever have guessed that?

“Well, jury’s gone off to their hotel, so we’re back here tomorrow, assuming they convict. Your Mam’s offered again, Di, so if you want we’ll get off to hers?”

Elaine looked worried at that.

“Remember?”

I nodded. “It’s why I’ve stayed out of touch with the team for a while, Elaine. Been on other stuff, digging out more victims”

“Really? Any takers?”

“About half a dozen, so far”

“Oh. Dear. Me. How. Sad. Never. Mind. I’ll look forward to a bit of sentence adjustment in the future, then”

Blake drove me home, and we kept everything quiet until both Mam and Dad were ready, and all my man said was “It’s over”

Mam took his hand.

“What did he get?”

“Jury should be back tomorrow, but he’s cooked. I can tell you a bit more now--- we found the nurse who looked after our girl that night, and she’d kept the rape kit she used. Didn’t trust the police not to accidentally lose it. She got attacked by the Defence, on grounds of sour grapes, commercial competition and stuff. Her old man’s a builder as well, isn’t it?”

Dad reached for my hand. “How was it, love? For you?”

I shook my head. “Not good, Dad. Had a bit of a collapse after--- no, love, Elaine’s missus sorted me out. I’m fine. What it was, Dad, was how he looked at me, Ashley Evans. I was expecting him to glare and that, and all I got was as if he was trying to remember who I was. How many bloody girls has he attacked that he can’t remember them individually? That was what hurt, yeah? I wasn’t a victim, not a person, not someone he got the lusts for. I was just one more time he’d scratched an itch”

I linked my fingers with Dad’s.

“Thank you both, yeah? Thank you for everything you’ve done, thank you for never, ever doubting me, for standing by me. Thank you”

He smiled, as gently as he could.

“We’re your parents, love. What else would we, could we do?”

“Mam, Dad, I am slowly building up a list of people who have also met several of the people we have locked up. Some of them, well, their parents aren’t exactly as strong. I have one runaway whose father was the problem, just for starters. No more on that one, OK? Just accept my thanks”

Blake took my other hand. “Our thanks, Dot, Mark. We would like to say thank you, if we can”

Dad’s smile was still soft.

“No need, son”

That one word said so much, and my big boy smiled on hearing it.

“Au contraire, as the Frogs would say. There’s always a need to say thank you, so hear me out. We were talking about a beach holiday, for all four of us, and I was thinking of Tunisia, but one of our lot warned me off on safety grounds, so I dropped that idea”

I looked at him, puzzled.

“I was actually looking forward to that, love. Camels and stuff!”

“Well, I thought of something else, one of the lads in the Central nick mentioned his own plans. It’s a holiday camp type place, like Eurocamp, yeah?”

Mam sniffed. “In a tent, is it? No ta!”

He shook his head. “No, they’ve got mobile homes, cabins, aye? With air con. This is the thing: the place is an old German holiday camp, so everything’s clean and new, two water parks, private beach and that, and all the catering is Italian”

Dad was obviously confused.

“Why Italian?”

“Because the place is in Italy. That’s the point. It’s only a short bus ride and a ferry away”

“From here?”

“No. How would you like to see Venice?”

Mam’s eyebrows went straight up.

“Ooh! Always wanted to go there!”

Blake nodded. “And this way, we wouldn’t have to pay stupid prices. Get the computer on, and I’ll show you where it is. We can fly from Bristol, then there’s a coach transfer a short one. Done my homework, aye?”

I looked at him as he paused.

“What’s up?”

“Um, if we go for this, the cabins are four berth, unless you use the kitchen area, foldaway bed there. There are two bedrooms, to a cabin”

Mam laughed. “Di, love, he’s asking whether he should look to book one cabin for all of us!”

My decision was instant.

“Well, it’d be cheaper for one, wouldn’t it? I suppose we’ll just have to share!”

I kissed him, of course. We went onto the net that evening, and they had room, and we had a holiday ahead.