Chameleon's Shadow

there a specific reason?’

She looked at him with an expression of contempt. ‘I didn’t much like being raped.’

‘I understand that,’ he agreed, ‘but you said Charlie was crazy about you . . . and rape suggests an unacceptable level of violence within the relationship.’

She started to close the door. ‘He’s not good at controlling his anger.’

Khan placed his hand on one of the glass panels to prevent her. ‘What did you do to make him angry?’

‘Nothing,’ she said coldly, ‘except refuse to give him what he wanted.’

‘Which was?’

‘Use your imagination. What do men usually want?’

Khan smiled slightly. ‘It depends on the terms and conditions. Most men expect to get it free from their fiance ?es.’

Her eyes narrowed to slits.

‘Did he catch you with a client, Ms Morley? Is that what made him angry?’

‘Fuck off!’ With a sudden surge of fury, she used both hands to slam the door, glaring at them briefly through the glass before turning on her heel.

Beale watched her re-enter her flat. ‘Great!’ he said sarcastically. ‘I play up to her movie-star image and you call her a prostitute. How did you think she was going to react?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Khan thoughtfully, ‘but she’s pretty aggressive. What do you reckon she’s on?’

Twelve

IN EXCHANGE FOR HIS possessions, Acland was asked to sign a receipt, confirming that every item had been returned. He unpacked his kitbag and checked the contents in front of DI Beale and the custody officer. The inspector felt oddly embarrassed as the young lieutenant withdrew his meagre tally of belongings. Apart from the clothes, which represented a tiny proportion of what Beale had in his own wardrobe, there was a small radio, a wind-up alarm clock, a toilet bag, a pair of trainers, some leather flip-flops, a mess tin and metal cup, a thermos flask, a spoon, knife and fork, a notebook, a couple of pencils and a paperback entitled An Introduction to Philosophy.

The super was right, thought Beale. Either there was a storage container somewhere or this lad was a monk, and the question that intrigued them all was, how had a monk ever become engaged to a woman like Jen Morley? Susan Campbell had refused, or been unable, to shed any light on it.

‘I’ve never met her and I’ve never discussed her with Charles,’ she said firmly.

Brian Jones had invited her into the side room where Acland was still being screened on the monitor. ‘Would you be willing to speculate?’ he asked. ‘This lad strikes us as being abstemious to the point of obsession, while DC Khan and DI Beale here describe Ms Morley as an aggressive, foul-mouthed call girl. What might the attraction have been?’

‘Sex.’

Jones gave a grunt of amusement. ‘As simple as that?’ He glanced at the screen. ‘He’s handsome enough on his right-hand side. He must have been quite a catch before the injury. I find it hard to believe he’d tie himself to a prostitute just for sex. Why didn’t he pay her for it?’

‘She’s not your run-of-the-mill Tom,’ said Beale. ‘More of a high-class hostess for visiting businessmen. She has a good speaking voice and probably scrubs up well . . . even if she was looking pretty rough this evening.’

‘She’s funding a habit,’ said Khan confidently. ‘She just about held it together while we were talking to her, but it was a close shave. If we’d waited outside her flat, we’d have seen her head for her dealer the minute her client left.’

Jones switched his attention back to Susan. ‘Could Charles have been hoping to save her? I wouldn’t have thought he was that naive or stupid, but he’s certainly a puritan . . . and puritans have a nasty habit of believing they can cure other people’s behaviour.’

‘You’re asking me questions I can’t answer,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what Charles was like when he was engaged to Jen . . . I don’t know what she was like. All personalities develop over time

– we tend to mould ourselves to the people we live and work with – but prolonged drug abuse is often associated with the biggest changes. If this gentleman here –’ she indicated Khan – ‘is correct, then it’s possible the Jen he saw tonight is not the one Charles became engaged to.’

‘What about him? He’s had a pretty serious bang to the head. Can that affect the personality?’

‘Of course. But in numerous different ways. How long do we have? My lecture on short-term memory loss usually takes an hour.’

Jones tapped an impatient finger on the table. ‘It’s a simple question, Dr Campbell.’ ‘But the answer isn’t, Superintendent. There are too many variables.’

‘Give me one.’

‘Depending on the severity of the injury, it’s possible that a bang on the head may lead to impaired mental function – such as difficulty remembering, confusion and loss of communication skills. As this often gives rise to irritability and frustration, then, yes, a bang on the head can be said to affect the personality.’

Jones closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Is the Charles we’ve met tonight the one who was visiting Ms Morley on a regular basis last year?’ he asked grimly.