'Yeah, I reckon I've earned a pint today.'
'Or twenty.'
'You're getting the idea.'
He watched Sally walk away, waited until she had turned the corner then staggered to a bus shelter, leaning against it with his good arm, fighting hard not to throw up as he took great gulping breaths and waited for the agony in his shoulder to subside.
Kate closed Helen Archer's file and pushed it to the back of the desk as Caroline Akunin came into the room. 'When's the trial coming up?'
'A few days.'
'Not easy for her. Having to relive that all over again in court.'
Caroline sat opposite her and took her hands. 'How are you doing?'
Kate shook her head, blinking back tears.
'He's not going to get away with it.'
Kate gestured at the blue folder. 'How confident are the CPS on this?'
Caroline shrugged. 'As confident as they can be in these cases. There is physical evidence.'
'That he drugged her?'
'Not of that. But bruising. DNA. Semen secretions on the carpet.'
'So he'll go down for it? For her at least?'
'He claims it was consensual. That she said she regretted the split. She asked him round, they drank a lot of brandy and then made love on the carpet in front of the fire.'
'You're joking?'
'No. He admits it was rough sex, but entirely consensual. It's what you would expect him to say, Kate. You know that. If he is going to deny rape, then he has to play the consensual card, given the physical evidence.'
'So it's his word against hers?'
Caroline nodded sadly. 'Always is. That's why only six per cent of them get prosecuted successfully.'
The phone on Caroline's desk rang and Kate gestured towards it. 'You better get it.'
Caroline answered the phone. 'Hello. Speaking.' She listened for a while. 'Okay, thank you.'
He face was impassive but Kate could see something was worrying her as she hung up the phone. 'Bad news?'
'It's your blood work, Kate.'
'Go on.'
'There's no evidence of Rohypnol.'
'Which doesn't mean to say there wasn't any.'
'No, of course not. Depending on the strength of whatever it was he used, it could have been flushed through your blood and out of your system before the tests.'
'I know.'
'There's something else . . .' Caroline hesitated.
'What?'
'You're pregnant, Kate.'
Delaney pulled his car into the White City car park, and, as he stepped out of it, he had to shield his eyes from a bright light suddenly shining at him.
Melanie Jones from Sky News stepped forward, smiling like an evangelist, and looked over at the long-haired cameraman who had his video camera on
