Jones acknowledged the point with a nod. ‘But something Charles did seems to have a triggered a psychotic reaction. All three murders followed a meeting with him.’ He paused. ‘Do you have an opinion on that?’
‘Why do you care what I think if you have a Cracker on tap?’
‘You’re closer to Charles than the rest of us.’
‘Even if that’s true, it’s Jen you need to understand, and I don’t know any more about her than you do . . . except what Charles has told me.’
‘I’m listening.’
Jackson shook her head. ‘I’m a bog standard locum, not a specialist in forensic psychology.’
‘If there’s anything bog standard about you, then I’m in the wrong bloody job,’ said Jones sarcastically. ‘It’s your impressions I’m after, Doctor, not a thesis on sociopathy.’
Jackson grinned. ‘I might do that rather better.’ She raised her hands in a pacific gesture. ‘OK, OK!’ She thought for a moment. ‘The obvious trigger is that he kept rejecting her . . . but she was also excited by having a man helpless. She used the stun gun on him twice before, so she clearly enjoyed the power it gave her.’
‘He should have left her after the first occasion.’
‘Do you think Charles doesn’t know that? Everything’s so damned easy with hindsight. He’s extremely ignorant about women. The only thing his upbringing taught him was not to get into arguments with them . . . and nothing could have suited Jen’s personality better. In some ways he was the perfect partner for her.’
‘Would she have recognized that?’
Jackson shrugged. ‘Probably. I suspect her feelings for him were a lot stronger than he realized.’
‘So why attack him in the way she did?’
‘During the stun gun episode? Because he’d given her her marching orders and she wasn’t prepared to accept them.’
Jones looked sceptical. ‘And she thought ramming a knobkerrie up his backside would persuade him to change his mind?’
‘She was angry and she wanted to hurt him. Logic goes out the window when a red mist descends.’ Jackson shrugged again at Jones’s expression. ‘Look, what the hell do I know? Maybe Charles is right and her fantasies are all about humiliation.’
There was a short silence.
‘The two views aren’t mutually exclusive,’ said Beale. ‘Rage usually takes the form of putting an opponent down . . . either verbally or physically.’
‘So why didn’t she go the whole hog with the lieutenant when she had him at her mercy?’ Jones asked. ‘Why let him live?’
‘Because she loved him,’ said Jackson. ‘The dynamics of domestic abuse are as much about powerful attachment as they are about control and manipulation.’
‘You seem very convinced Jen’s feelings were genuine. Does the lieutenant agree with you?’
‘No. He thinks she saw him as a meal ticket.’
‘Why doesn’t that persuade you?’
‘Because Charles was the one who cooled. He wanted an equal partner – the opposite of what he perceived his parents’ relationship to be – and he started to lose interest when he realized how demanding Jen was. That’s when her aggression surfaced. She was more intent on keeping him than he was on staying.’
‘Perhaps her real character only came out after she had a ring on her finger,’ said Beale.
Jackson nodded. ‘That, too . . . and the drugs wouldn’t have helped. It’s possible she made an attempt to kick her habit at the start of the relationship, then slipped back when she began to understand the reality of a soldier’s life. Charles being away for long stretches of time wouldn’t have suited a woman who craves constant attention. I’m sure her visit to Birmingham was about proving to him that he couldn’t live without her. She must have believed it herself or she wouldn’t have gone. I can’t imagine hatred was the response she was expecting.’
‘He demonstrated hatred when he raped her,’ Jones pointed out.
‘You and I might think so, but I doubt Jen would. It was a sex act and that’s an area she knows well. You need to put yourself in her mindset. She’s beautiful and desirable and Charles showed he still wanted her. He wouldn’t have been able to achieve an erection otherwise.’
‘He said he paid for it.’
‘That doesn’t make her any less desirable. Some men will have paid a lot more to sleep with her.’
‘Not recently,’ said Beale. ‘We can find only one agency still advertising her through their website and they’ve had no requests for her for weeks. Word gets round, apparently, and she has a bad reputation with clients. Light- fingered and not compliant enough.’
Jackson frowned. ‘Charles said he saw her with a Japanese.’
‘We did, too . . . probably the same one . . . but it’s almost certainly a private arrangement, a man who’s employed her before. We think most of her work is coming that way at the moment. Her drug dealer says her earning capacity has taken a dive in the last six months.’
‘Then perhaps Charles is right. He’s convinced the only reason Jen went to the hospital was to get her hands on his disability compensation.’
‘Why doesn’t that persuade you?’ Jones asked again.
‘It might have done if she’d turned up in sackcloth and ashes with tears running down her cheeks, begging for a second chance. Instead, she came as her favourite fantasy, even to the extent of wearing the same outfit she wore
