You Against Me

‘I lifted up the duvet,’ Ellie told Detective Thomas. ‘I knew something wasn’t right.’

‘And what did you see?’

The shocking curl of pubic hair. Knickers ripped down. Legs at uncomfortable slants. Hair tangled like seaweed across the pillow.

‘Ellie?’

‘She was… she was undressed.’

‘Karyn was naked?’

‘No. Her clothes were… they were pulled up or down, depending…’

‘You’re going to have to be a bit more specific, I’m afraid.’

But her mum was listening, a tissue balled up in her hand. And the man at the laptop was listening, and this was Karyn, vulnerable. It would be written down and recorded and read out in court.

Detective Thomas tapped her pencil on the table. Detective Bryce swung on his chair. There were sweat patches under his arms.

‘Her… her knickers were down and her skirt was up and her top was pushed up as well, and she was, she couldn’t… She was…’

‘What, Ellie?’

‘She was doing this thing with her hands, like she was struggling to get up, but couldn’t, like she was in pain. I don’t think she knew… I mean, I don’t think she… I don’t think she consented.’

Detective Thomas shrugged. ‘Consented to what? Maybe she was hot and simply tried to undress herself.’

‘It wasn’t that, it was different from that. Something had happened to her.’

‘Perhaps you interrupted an intimate situation and she chose to feign sleep because she was embarrassed.’

‘No.’

‘You seem very sure.’

Because she’d given herself these same excuses for weeks and they didn’t cut it. Karyn looked like she’d crashed from the sky.

The detective tapped her pencil some more, gazing at Ellie as if she was utterly bored. ‘Have you had some kind of argument with your brother recently?’

‘No.’

‘Perhaps you’re jealous of all the interest people are taking in him?’

‘I’m not.’

‘Do you feel left out? Would you like some attention for yourself?’

‘This is ridiculous,’ Mum cut in. ‘You think what’s happening to her brother is something she wants? Do you know how crippled our family is by this?’

‘Mrs Parker,’ the detective snapped, ‘will you stop interrupting!’

‘Please,’ Ellie said, ‘you have to believe me, I’m telling you the truth.’

‘That’s what you said last time.’

‘But this time I am.’

Why weren’t they taking her seriously? This had to be worth something. The truth had to count.

‘Listen,’ she said, trying to steady her breathing. ‘There were photos. Tom doesn’t know I saw them, but he took photos.’

‘No,’ the detective said, ‘we seized his phone and laptop and there were no photos.’

‘I deleted them.’

The detective leaned forward slowly, furiously, her eyes glittering. ‘Let me get this right. You found photos of your brother assaulting Karyn and you deleted them?’

‘I didn’t want Tom sending them to Freddie… I didn’t want them on the internet. It would be terrible… for Karyn, I mean, so I deleted them and overwrote the memory.’

‘Describe these photos!’

Ellie was startled. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… I wanted to help Karyn.’

‘By destroying the evidence?’

‘I’m sorry,’ Ellie whispered into the silence.

‘Please,’ Mum said, ‘don’t talk to her like this.’

The detective slapped her hand on the table. ‘Mrs Parker, if you keep interjecting, I will have you escorted from the room, do you understand?’

Mum bit her lip, nodded.

The detective turned back to Ellie. ‘Now, I asked you to describe the photos. How many were there?’

‘Six.’

‘What were they of?’

‘Karyn in different… in different positions, you know.’

‘No, I don’t know, which is why I’m asking you.’

‘They were graphic…’

‘You’re going to have to do much better than that if you want me to believe you. Were there pictures of penetration?’

Ellie cringed. ‘No! The first one, her skirt was a bit up, then the next one, it was a bit more up and her knickers were a bit… you know, down… and then on like that, until the last one, when she was undressed.’

‘You said earlier she wasn’t undressed.’

‘She wasn’t, not completely…’

‘These photos don’t prove a thing, do they? They probably never existed, and even if they did, Karyn could have posed for them. Why not? You said yourself she liked your brother, was flirting with him, kissing him. She posed for the pictures, had sex with him, then regretted it.’

Ellie looked out of the window at the sky. None of this was making a difference, none of it was counting for anything. She thought of Karyn in her flat, just stuck there. All these weeks in a world made up of shadows.

She took a breath, determined. ‘I know you think I’m making this up now, but I’m not. I told myself my brother took a few pictures to prove something to his friends, like a dare. I didn’t say anything straight away and I should have done. I’m sorry I didn’t, but those pictures definitely existed.’

Detective Thomas looked at her impassively. ‘You found out pretty quickly that your brother did a lot more than take pictures. He was arrested the following day and admitted having sex with Karyn. He said she consented and that he had no idea about her age. If you knew she couldn’t possibly have consented, if you knew he was  aware of her age, why didn’t you tell us this when we questioned you the first time?’

‘I didn’t want it to be true.’

‘Withholding evidence doesn’t make someone i

‘I know.’

‘Did Tom ask you to lie?’

‘No. I didn’t see him again until he got bail.’

‘But he knows you lied? His solicitor has a copy of your first statement and will have shown him. So presumably Tom expects you to stand up in court and continue to defend him?’

‘I suppose so.’

Detective Thomas looked at her long and hard. ‘Do you know someone called Mikey McKenzie?’

‘Yes.’

‘How well do you know him?’

‘A bit.’

‘Only a bit? Are you sure about that?’

A beat. They looked at each other.

‘Ellie, I’m going to be honest with you. I’ve been hard on you today because when this goes to court, you’ll be cross‑examined by your brother’s counsel, who will do everything to discredit you. I actually think you’re being very brave and Karyn will be enormously grateful to you, but your evidence is not conclusive. It corroborates what Karyn has said to some extent, but it isn’t key evidence, it’s simply your word against your brother’s. First you say one thing, then you change your mind and say something else. You tell us there was physical evidence, but you destroyed it. It looks suspicious, do you see? It’s imperative you’re honest with me. You can’t tell us one thing and expect us to believe you, and then the next minute tell us a blatant lie. So, I’m going to ask you again about your relationship with Mikey.’

Ellie’s heart was pumping hard. She hadn’t thought they’d mention him. How stupid she was. Of course Karyn would have told them, of course it was all going to come out. There was nowhere left to hide.

Mum looked completely bemused. ‘Can somebody tell me what’s going on?’

Detective Thomas frowned at her to shush. ‘Ellie,’ she said, ‘how well do you know Mikey McKenzie?’

‘I know him very well.’

‘I’m going to put it to you that he asked you to change your story, that between you you’ve concocted this new version of events.’

‘That’s not true.’

‘I’m going to suggest that your original version was in fact true, that you heard and saw nothing all night, but that Mikey is pressurizing you, maybe even threatening you in order to help his sister. What would you say to that?’

‘It’s rubbish.’

‘How long have you known him?’

‘Nearly eight weeks.’

‘Is he your boyfriend?’

‘He kind of was.’

‘Was?’

‘He isn’t now. I won’t see him again.’

‘But you were intimate?’

‘Sort of.’

‘Ellie, I need yes or no answers. I’m sorry if you feel I’m being hard on you, but the defence counsel will be a lot harder, believe me. I need to be very sure that you’ll be a strong enough witness.’