The Warrior’s Princess. Barbara Erskine

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СКАЧАТЬ engine and shot backwards out of the gate. He drove off without looking back. Only when he was out of sight did she finally burst into tears.

      It was a long time before she stopped crying. Only then did she go to the phone and dial Dan’s number. He picked up on the third ring.

      ‘Dan! How could you! Why in God’s name did you tell him where I was?’

      ‘Hold on.’ There was a moment’s silence. She heard muffled voices, then a door banged. Then Dan came on the line again. ‘What are you talking about, Jess?’

      ‘You know damn well what I’m talking about. You told Will where I was.’

      ‘He already knew, Jess. Well, it wasn’t hard for him to guess, was it.’

      ‘But you rang him. You rang him and told him.’

      ‘No. He rang me.’

      She paused, confused. Will must have lied to her about that too. ‘Then you needn’t have confirmed it. You could have put him off. You could have told him to leave me alone.’

      There was an amused chuckle at the other end of the line. ‘You credit me with more influence than I have with him, Jess. I don’t think I could have dissuaded him. He was obviously determined to find you. I take it he has spoken to you?’

      ‘He’s been here.’

      There was a short pause. ‘I see. What happened?’

      ‘We had an argument. I told him to go away.’

      ‘And he did, presumably.’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘So, no harm done, then.’

      ‘No harm done except that you betrayed me.’ She paused. ‘I’ve been trying to ring you, Dan. I’ve been thinking about what happened to my sketchbook. Was it you who messed up the house? Was that your idea of a joke? Did you break all that glass and spill the wine?’

      ‘Whoa! Hang on! What are we talking about now? You know I didn’t. How could I have done that? Why would I have done that? Get a grip, Jess.’

      ‘It was a joke, though, wasn’t it. What was it, you said? Mass hallucination? You took me for a complete fool, didn’t you! And now you compound it by sending Will here. What are you trying to do to me, Dan?’

      ‘I’m not trying to do anything, Jess!’ Dan was indignant. ‘Pull yourself together, love.’

      ‘Don’t patronise me!’

      ‘I’m not patronising you.’ His tone was exaggeratedly calm. ‘I’m trying to make you see sense. You seem to have lost all perspective. Why are you like this? You’ve changed into an hysterical lightweight. There could be all sorts of explanations for what happened. Have you considered for instance that perhaps a bird might have flown in and knocked over the wine bottles and the glasses. Perhaps it cut itself.’

      ‘And then miraculously got better?’ Her voice was icy. ‘No, Dan, it wasn’t a bird. A lot of awful things have been happening recently. Nothing to do with birds. Your hand, for instance. How did that so suddenly heal itself?’

      There was another pause, then he gave another exaggerated sigh. ‘Poor old Will. Is all this because of what happened in London, Jess? For God’s sake, it wasn’t that bad; anyone would think a bit of rough sex and the odd slap was the end of the world. Talk about overreacting. You’ve cast him as the villain of the piece and he doesn’t stand a chance. No wonder he’s angry.’ There was a long moment of silence. ‘Jess, are you still there?’

      ‘How did you know what happened in London?’ Jess asked tautly. ‘I never told you what happened, Dan.’

      ‘Of course you did. Not in so many words perhaps, but it was easy to guess. You decided in your own mind that you didn’t like it; that it was rape or something and it has turned your head! You’ve become completely unstable.’

      Jess could feel herself growing cold. For a moment she couldn’t even speak, then at last she found the words. ‘Who said anything about rape?’

      He hesitated. ‘Well, rape may not have been mentioned, but it wasn’t very hard to work out what you thought had happened. A bit of non consensual sex! You decided to think of it as rape, didn’t you? You worked yourself up into a tizz over it because you were so drunk you couldn’t remember anything about it and then you decided to play the drama queen.’

      There was a moment of total silence as once again she visualised the arm that had held her down. The tanned skin, the fine dark hairs.

      It wasn’t Will. It couldn’t have been Will. Will was fair-haired.

      ‘It was you, wasn’t it,’ she said slowly. ‘You raped me! You’ve been so busy implicating Ash and Will that I never saw it. I never even guessed. But it was your arm that held me down. Your face in my nightmares.’ Her voice had dropped to a whisper. ‘I’ve been so stupid. I trusted you. You unutterable bastard!’

      ‘Don’t be so silly!’

      ‘No, Dan. I can remember everything suddenly. You followed Ash and me home. You sent Ash away when we got to the front door and you came up to the flat. We had some wine –’

      ‘No, Jess.’

      ‘Why? What was it you gave me? Did you come prepared? You went to a school dance with date rape drugs in your pocket!’ She paused, her hands sweating as they clutched the telephone. The receiver was slipping from her grasp. ‘Just what were you planning, Dan? Was it me you wanted, or didn’t it matter? Would anyone have done? One of the girls, perhaps? A child!’

      ‘Jess, you’re mad!’

      ‘No. I’m just beginning to see. Does Natalie know about your little hobby, Dan? I know the headmaster doesn’t. But he should, shouldn’t he!’

      ‘Jess, you’re insane!’

      ‘No. I’ve just realised what a fool I’ve been. There were signs everywhere, weren’t there. You watch the girls. You touch them. I’ve seen you!’

      ‘Jess, I warn you. This is slander –’ His voice was suddenly harsh with anger.

      ‘No, Dan. This is the truth!’

      ‘Jess, you’ve got this all wrong. Look, I’m coming over!’

      ‘Don’t bother. It’s too late.’

      ‘I don’t think so. I’m coming now. Look, I can explain. You don’t understand. You’ve misunderstood everything! You are so wrong!’

      ‘I’m not wrong, Dan. I’m going to the police.’ Suddenly she was completely calm.

      When Dan spoke at last it was in a shocked whisper. ‘You go to the police, Jess, and it will destroy me. And Nat and the kids. Surely you don’t want that.’ She could hear the panic in his voice. ‘You have misunderstood the situation. I never meant to frighten you. I thought you were willing. You were willing. You should have seen yourself. You were so drunk.’ He gave a snort of derision. ‘You СКАЧАТЬ