No Mark Upon Her

smiled and gestured at the photos. “Nice family. And I see your husband was an Oxford Blue,” she added, nodding at the oar. “You must be very proud. Do you mind if we sit?”
    “I do, actually. I told you I didn’t have much time. Why don’t you tell me exactly what it is that you want?” Abbott gave a quick glance at the front door.
    “I take it your husband’s not at home?” asked Melody.
    “No. He had to go out.” Abbott frowned at them. “Not that it’s any of your business. Aren’t you a bit off your patch, detectives? And on a Saturday afternoon?” She’d taken the lead, another error, thought Gemma, that spoke of nerves.
    “This couldn’t wait,” said Melody.
    Abbott cast another anxious glance towards the door, and Gemma wondered if she was expecting her husband—and if that was worrying her as much as their presence.
    Abbott switched her gaze to Gemma. “Are you the silent partner, then, DI—it was James, wasn’t it?”
    Gemma had no doubt that Abbott remembered her name. She was fishing, wondering what a DI was doing at her door. Mistake number three, in Gemma’s book.
    Melody answered her. “I’m with the Sapphire unit, Detective Abbott. Your name has come up in the course of our inquiries. DI James is pursuing a linked matter.”
    “Sapphire? Linked?” It was a moment before Abbott controlled the panic on her face. “I’m not working on anything related to a Sapphire investigation.”
    Melody gave Gemma the slightest nod, but it was signal enough.
    “DCI Abbott,” said Gemma, “I believe you were an old friend of Rebecca Meredith’s?”
    “Becca? Oh, yes. We were friends at uni, and we were at police college together. I still can’t believe she’s gone.” The regret sounded rehearsed, as if she had been prepared for the question, but she didn’t say the most obvious thing—that she had seen Becca Meredith just a few days before she died.
    Putting on her most sympathetic expression, Gemma said, “Then it must have been a great comfort that you saw her so recently.”
    Abbott’s eyes widened with an involuntary ripple of shock, making it clear she hadn’t expected them to know that particular bit of information. “I—yes,” she said, then went on in a rush. “Yes, yes, it was. Last Friday. Becca rang and asked me to come to her station. She said she’d run across some information she thought might be helpful to a Vice investigation.”
    “But that was just a pretext, wasn’t it?” asked Melody. She pulled some papers from her bag—papers Gemma suspected had nothing to do with the investigation—but it was an effective tactic. “DCI Abbott,” Melody continued, scanning a page as if her memory needed refreshing, “five years ago, you filed a sexual assault report after a police function in the West End. And although you said you couldn’t name your assailant, you had a rape test done, and the results of that test went on file.
    “A year ago, the same thing happened to Becca Meredith. When it occurred to her that other female police officers might have been victims as well, she started searching through the records. She found several officers who had reported rapes by unknown assailants. But only one of them happened to be a woman she knew, and an old friend. You.”
    Melody paused for a beat, to let it sink in. Then she said, “And she knew that you knew who your assailant was, as did she.”
    Abbott was shaking her head before Melody finished. “That’s absolute bollocks. I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. I think it’s time you—”
    “DCI Abbott. Please don’t take us for fools.” Gemma’s words stopped Abbott in mid-protest. When Gemma had her full attention, she went on. “It was Angus Craig. You and Becca Meredith were both raped by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Craig, who then threatened you in order to procure your silence. Don’t waste our time by denying it.”
    Abbott’s prominent collarbones rose sharply with the intake of her breath. “You can’t prove that. And he’s dead. I heard he was dead.”
    Abbott hadn’t denied it. Masking the rush of exhilaration that came with knowing she and Melody had been right, Gemma said levelly, “That hasn’t yet been confirmed. But what matters to me is that we have his DNA, and that it will match your semen sample and Becca Meredith’s sample. And it will match DCI Jenny Hart’s.”
    She was stretching the truth a bit, but they would have Craig’s DNA soon enough, and