out of bed at any point.”
“That’s because I didn’t.” Connor’s voice was flat.
“Unfortunately, we have reason to believe otherwise,” O’Malley said, from a very relaxed pose.
There was another silence, while Connor looked momentarily at a loss. “I’m sure…I’m sure I didn’t get up.”
“So how were you seen by the fire, alone, after everyone else was in bed?” Jonah asked.
Connor shook his head. And then he sat forward, becoming more definite. “Look, that’s not something anyone has ever said to me. Back in ’83, we did a lot of talking, trying to piece things together. Why would it suddenly come up now?”
“The witness said there was a lot of pressure not to inform the police.”
Connor’s eyes were moving, either in an effort to remember or in an effort to think of some defense.
“No,” he said. “I really wasn’t up. I may have been drunk but I wasn’t that bloody drunk. I would have remembered getting up. The first I knew of Aurora being missing was the next morning, and it took a good while to put two and two together even then.”
“And nothing happened with Aurora earlier in the evening? Before you’d gone to bed? Perhaps before Jojo comforted you?” O’Malley asked.
“For God’s sake,” Connor said, putting his head down and rubbing at his forehead. “How many times do I have to say it? Nothing happened with Aurora. Not with me, and not with any of the others as far as I know.”
“Then why,” Jonah said coldly, “was your wife worried that you’d followed Aurora after she left?”
Connor started, and looked up at Jonah with an expression that was suddenly uncertain. “I don’t…Topaz wasn’t unsure….”
“She felt it necessary to check with you about what had happened,” Jonah said. “Thirty years on, she still felt that she needed to ask you what had really happened. I’d say that’s very unsure.”
Connor shook his head. “You’re…you’re misunderstanding the conversation.”
“What other reading can you give to that? I would welcome your insight.”
Connor looked down at the table and said nothing.
“So do you want to tell me what triggered Topaz’s concern?” Jonah asked.
“All right,” Connor said. “It’s not a big deal, but it could be easily misinterpreted. I tried…to kiss her.”
“Aurora?”
“Yes, Aurora.”
Jonah raised his eyebrows. “You tried to kiss this fourteen-year-old, apparently unfanciable girl?”
“Look, I didn’t…” Connor sighed, and looked up again, with an appeal in his expression. “It wasn’t about fancying her. It was about making Topaz jealous. I thought if I danced with Aurora, it would piss her off. And it did, but unfortunately she responded by trying harder with Brett. And when that happened, and she kissed him…I just…I tried to kiss Aurora, too.”
“Aurora wasn’t interested?”
“Who would be interested in someone clearly using them?” he asked with a shake of his head. “No, she wasn’t. And she told me to get off, so I did. At which point, she left the campsite, and I went and sobbed my heart out to Jojo.”
“Would you say you were angry about that?” Jonah asked, his voice deliberately harsh. “It must have been a real blow to your pride.”
“It was humiliating,” Connor said flatly. “I felt like a total idiot, and like a shit for upsetting Aurora. But the only person I was angry with was myself.”
“Not with Brett Parker?” Jonah asked. “I mean, he was off screwing your future wife.”
“No.”
“And not with the second girl who had rejected you that night?” he pressed.
“Of course not,” Connor protested. “It wasn’t her fault.”
“Because I could see you being angry about that,” Jonah went on. “I could see you waking up again, and stewing on it. Going to the campfire and brooding, and then deciding that Aurora was going to take it.”
“Jesus,” Connor said. “I did nothing like that.”
“I mean, you’d tried to kiss her in front of everyone. Maybe you’d got a little excited while dancing with her,” Jonah said, as if he hadn’t spoken. “You were a very volatile person, and your pride meant a lot to you. You probably felt you were owed a bit of a ride after everything Topaz had put you through.”
“Stop it!” Connor said, and Jonah could see that he was shaking slightly. He took a deep breath, and said, “Everything you are saying is horrible. I didn’t touch the poor kid after that. I left her to sleep. And then in the morning she was gone.”
Jonah let a silence elapse before he turned off the tape and suggested a break in the interview. Connor was still shaking by