me to go along.’
‘You went with him?’ Dan could not keep his incredulity out of his voice.
She nodded again. ‘It was a stupid thing to do, I know. I don’t think I was thinking straight.’
Dan took a deep breath.
‘So how was it?’ he said.
‘Again, at first, it was Ok. To be honest I didn’t see too much of him in the day, they work you hard out there you know, long hours. It was a nice hotel though and we had the evenings together.
‘The second night I was there though, when we were waiting for the lift to go down to dinner I saw a chambermaid looking at me oddly. She was half hiding behind a door; I quickly realised that she was trying to keep out of sight of Alex whilst wanting me to see her.
‘The next morning, as soon as Alex left the hotel to go to his meetings there was a knock at the door. It was the chambermaid. She looked so scared. She told me that she had something important to tell me about Alex, and that I had to believe her.
‘I listened. She told me that the previous year she had been working in a hotel in Abu Dhabi. Alex had been staying there and got talking to her. He told her that he could get work for her in Britain and a visa and work permits and persuaded her to come back to his room. He was nice there too at first, then he changed. He started to feel her up and when she said no and tried to leave he raped her and half killed her.’
‘Didn’t he get arrested?’
‘No. He went to the hotel management and told them it was consensual, that she let herself into his room, wanted to be dominated, wanted it rough and then she’d screamed “Rape” and asked for money. They believed him – I think he had friends in some very high places there and the hotel just wanted to hush things up.’
‘But you believed her?’
‘Totally. She was a really lovely girl, married, kids back in Mumbai living with her mother, her husband away in Saudi working on construction sites. She showed me her scars too. And, don’t forget, I’d seen his temper too.’
Dan nodded. ‘So what did you do?’
‘I packed, went to the airport and bought a ticket home on the next available flight. I left him a note to explain why I had gone, not the truth though; I just gave some lame excuse about it being too soon for me after Henry and that I wasn’t ready to be with anyone.’
‘Did you see him again?’
‘Yes. He came round to my flat – once.’
‘And?’
‘The same pattern as before; at first smooth, convincing, trying to persuade me to come back to him but then, when I wouldn’t, he got really abusive. I was really scared; I knew now what he was capable of. Luckily the phone went and I was able to answer it. He just left. I never saw him after that.’
‘When was this?’
Tess thought for a moment.
‘I guess about 6 weeks before…well, you know.’
‘Who rang you?’
‘My sister.’
‘Did you tell her what had happened?’
Tess shook her head.
‘No. I think I felt a bit ashamed about it all. I’d been really stupid, it just wasn’t like me.’
Dan rubbed his chin and frowned,
‘What is it? You changed your opinion of me?’
‘No! Not at all,’ said Dan looking surprised, ‘No, what I’m really worried about is that this is who Jenny went out with last week.’
‘Oh,’ she said, understanding, ‘Well…as long as he…got his own way, so to speak, she would probably be fine.’
Dan shook his head.
‘Tess, that was the conclusion I jumped to about her. She’s not like that, in private she’s the complete opposite of what you’d think. She’s quite shy and doesn’t sleep around.’
‘Sorry. That was a bit cheap of me.’
‘Hey,’ said Dan, ‘I should have told you.’
He leant over and kissed her.
She smiled, ‘Thanks,’ she said.
He leant back and sighed again. This was going to be difficult, he thought.
‘I need to ask you something,’ he said.
Tess nodded.
‘It’s OK, I think I know what it is. You want to know whether it was Alex who killed me.’
‘Yes. Sorry.’
She stood up and walked to the window, back to her “thinking” place.
‘You have realised that I try not to think about that night,’ she said.
‘I have. It must be upsetting.’
‘But I have to though.’
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
‘I only saw the person who attacked