him, untouched and beginning to form a scum on its muddy surface.
‘Mr Milner, your daughter Helen has told us about the parties at the Mount.’
‘Oh,’ said Andrew, his face crumpling immediately.
‘She has described an incident with Graham Vernon. Your boss, Mr Milner.’
‘Yes.’
‘You know all about that incident, don’t you? I refer to the occasion when Mr Vernon lured your daughter to one of the bedrooms. From the description, it might well be considered an attempted rape.’
‘Yes, Helen told me. She was very upset.’
331
‘And how did you react when you heard about it, Mr Milner?’ ‘Naturally. I was shocked and angry. I’ve always had a good
- o ^ ^ o
relationship with Graham. I knew he had those parties, of course. Him and Charlotte. They got something out of them,
J o o
that I could never hope to understand. Different lives, Chief Inspector. Different from mine, anyway.’
‘You knew what these parties were like? But you didn’t stop Helen going when she was invited?’
‘Stop her? How could I?’ Andrew spread his hands, appealing for sense. ‘She’s an adult. She takes no notice of me.’
‘You didn’t even warn her?’
‘Well, I hoped that everything would be all right. I didn’t expect Graham would try … something like that … with Helen, with my daughter. I thought it would be all right, you see. In any case, she wanted to go. I couldn’t have stopped her. I thought it would be all right.’
‘But it wasn’t all right.’
He slumped. ‘No.’
‘Did you speak to Mr Vernon about it afterwards?’
‘Yes, I did.’
‘What did you say?’
‘Well… that I was upset about what Helen had told me. That she had complained he had assaulted her. Sexually, you know.’
‘And his response?’
Andrew twisted his hands, appealing to Tailby with his eyes for sympathy. He was reliving the moment, just as Tailby wanted him to do. In the end, Andrew sighed deeply and sagged a little further into his chair.
‘He just laughed at me,’ he said.
‘He thought assaulting your daughter was a joke?’
Andrew nodded. ‘Apparently. He said those sort of games were expected at their parties. “Games”, he called it. And then he said something like: “Never mind, she’s a big girl
o ‘ o o
now”. I didn’t know what to say or what to do. I felt so stupid. He made me feel as though I was the one who didn’t know how to behave properly. He can always make me feel like that.’
332
‘Some fathers would have known exactly what to do.’ commented Hitchens.
‘I suppose I’m not that sort of father. Not that sort of a man. I have never seen violence as an answer.’
‘Violence. Ah yes. Was that what I meant?’
‘Wasn’t it?’ asked Andrew, surprised. He looked confused now and somehow accusing, as if the detective had pulled a trick on him.
‘And, of course, Mr Vernon is probably three or four inches taller than you, a stone or two heavier, younger and fitter. It was better to show discretion, in the circumstances. Very wise.’ Andrew inclined his head, accepting the point without objection.
‘You could have reported it to us. You could have resigned,’ said Tailby. ‘Yet to choose to go on working for this man …”
‘Chief Inspector, I can’t afford to throw away my job. There are too few for a man of my age and background. I’ve got a wife, a mortgage. Things have gone badly for me in the past. I can’t have it happen to me again. I need that job at Vernon’s. Resign? No.’
Tailby eyed the man, suppressing a surge of pity, keeping his face impassive. ‘Let me ask you about Mrs Charlotte Vernon, then.’
‘Charlotte?’
‘Mrs Vernon has named you as one of her lovers.’
Andrew’s mouth dropped open, and he shook his head vehemently. ‘Oh no.’
‘Are you saying she’s lying?’
‘I was never that.’
