GQ: You know what the school told us, don’t you, Professor Fisher?
MF: [silence]
VE: According to his teacher, Tobin’s been caught out lying several times in the last few months.
MF: [silence]
GQ: On one occasion he lied to get another child into trouble. A child he disliked.
MF: He didn’t realize – it was just a silly mistake – he was confused –
NK: Oh come on – you’re actually taking this playground stuff seriously?
MF: It’s the other children – they make things up to make him look bad –
NK: [quietly]
I don’t think we need to discuss this any further, Marina.
GQ: Was that why you kept telling us you couldn’t remember what happened to the dress? We never could figure that out. But it makes sense now. You were embarrassed to admit just how good a liar your eight-year-old son is.
MF: [silence]
GQ: Though, of course, some kids really do struggle telling lies – they find it hard to concoct stuff because their brains just aren’t wired that way.
MF: [silence]
GQ: Kids with autism, say, or Asperger’s. They have difficulty making things up, just as they have difficulty interacting with other people. If something like that applied to Tobin then, of course, it would be much easier to believe that all those incidents with the other kids really were just ‘misunderstandings’.
MF: [silence]
GQ: You thought that might be the explanation, didn’t you, back then? In fact, you went so far as to have him tested.
* * *
Morgan takes a deep breath. ‘She told me that if I wanted her help – if I wanted a decent reference – then I should do what she wanted. It was entirely up to me, but if I didn’t, well –’
‘What did you say to that?’
He rubs his hand through his hair again. ‘I don’t know – I was all over the place – my career, my research – all that work – I just bottled it – said I’d think it over. I just wanted to buy myself some time.’
‘And after that you went home?’ says Asante.
He nods. ‘Right. And I just sat there for a while, churning it all up. And eventually I went round to see Freya. I felt trapped – I didn’t know what the hell to do.’
‘She must have been angry,’ says Somer. ‘When you told her you’d slept with Fisher. Especially after you refusing to let her into the house. If you had, none of this would ever have happened.’
He makes a face. ‘Don’t think that hasn’t occurred to me. And yeah, she was pretty pissed off with me. But she was absolutely fucking furious with Marina.’
He sits back and looks at them, finally, square in the face. ‘The assault allegation – reporting it to college, to you. The whole thing. It was all Freya’s idea.’
* * *
GQ: According to the teacher, Tobin went through a full developmental assessment earlier this year, at your request.
NK: [to her client]
You never told me that.
GQ: Only it didn’t come up with anything, did it, Professor Fisher? The child psychologist concluded that he does indeed have difficulties socializing with other kids, but it’s not because he has any sort of ‘developmental issue’. It’s far more likely to be a reflection of his home environment, and in particular, his relationship with you –
MF: I absolutely do not accept that. I’m getting another opinion – I’m not about to take the word of some local authority second-rater –
GQ: According to the professionals, Tobin is highly intelligent, but extremely anxious, especially when separated from you. He has problems interacting with strangers, and coping with negative emotions, even to the point of aggression.
NK: I haven’t got a clue what you’re on about –
GQ: Oh, I think you’ll find Professor Fisher does. She knows exactly what I’m talking about.
* * *
In the adjoining room, Gislingham is staring at the screen. ‘She was so bloody convincing,’ he says, half to himself. ‘I bought the whole thing.’
‘Don’t beat yourself up too much,’ says Gow, making a note. ‘I’ve come across subjects like her before.’
‘No wonder the kid is so messed up,’ says the CPS lawyer darkly. ‘Poor little sod.’
‘’Fraid so,’ says Gow with a sigh. ‘Motherhood’s one thing even those machines of hers can’t fake.’
* * *
GQ: [picks up a sheet of paper]
‘Anxious attachment is usually the result of inconsistent, erratic or absent parenting. Such children become highly insecure and over-focused on the parent in question, which manifests itself in clinging and suspicious responses, and a willingness to do almost anything to please that parent and secure their attention.’
‘Almost anything’, Professor Fisher. Including, I suggest, a willingness to lie. If Mummy asked him to.
MF: [angrily]
Tobin was never diagnosed with that.
GQ: No, he wasn’t. Not officially. But only because you withdrew him from the assessment before that could happen. But it would certainly tally with everything our team has seen of him over the last week or so. As well as everything we’ve learnt of his behaviour in the past. Because this has happened before, hasn’t it? He’s lied for you before.
MF: What the hell are you talking about?
VE: Does the name Sebastian Young ring any bells?
* * *
‘I thought it was crazy – that we’d never pull it off – but Freya said we just had to be clever. She said Marina always assumed she was the smartest person in the room, but we could play her at her own game.’
Asante and Somer exchange a glance.
‘So what did that involve, exactly?’
‘Freya said that even if we reported an assault straight away it would be hours before the police got to question Marina. That there was no way she wouldn’t have showered by then, and I’d used a condom anyway, so there’d be no proof we’d actually had sex.’
‘And Freya helped you?’ says Somer. ‘To fabricate the evidence – preserve DNA in the right places and get rid of the rest?’
He nods. He looks uncomfortable.
‘It was a big risk, though, wasn’t it?’ says Asante. ‘How did you know Marina wouldn’t just tell us straight out that the
