Anabelle paled. Her eyes filled with tears and she grabbed hold of my hand. The inspector pulled out his phone.
“To make it easier, I’ll record it. Later, I’ll transcribe it and get your signature on it. Okay?”
She nodded fearfully.
“Right, let’s begin.”
He switched on the recording part of his phone and spoke into it. “Anabelle Rowley. Kidnap victim, Wednesday October ninth at ten AM.” He nodded to Anabelle. “Just stick to what happened. Ready?”
She took a deep breath and began to haltingly speak. The longer she spoke, the more heartache I felt. Nothing could convince me otherwise—this was all my fault. She’d endured horrible torture because of me. Finally, she got to the end then it all rushed out.
“He … he kept trying to force my legs apart, I kept screaming, kicking, anything to make him stop, but he kept laughing at me. He had hold of his … his penis and was tapping it on my leg. They…” She was practically screaming now as she raced on. “They … he said he was going to fuck me everywhere then kill me. He told Scarface to hold me down, and they kept laughing! They thought it was funny!”
Tears were pouring out as she cried loudly, “They thought it would be funny to rape me before they killed me!”
Clemson went back over a few points and asked a tearful Anabelle to clarify them. He made copious notes, all the while Anabelle sobbed. A few more questions, and then he finally switched off his phone and put his notebook and pen away.
“Thank you, Miss Rowley. We have enough. Please try and put it all behind you.”
Anabelle howled. She’d had to re-live the terrors of hell for Clemson. I knew he had to know, but at the same time I resented him, even though I could hear the compassion in his voice.
“I’m very sorry I had to put you through this. I promise you’ll never have to speak about it again unless you want to.”
She nodded as I handed her a few tissues. The inspector got to his feet and nodded at me. “Five minutes.”
He left the room and I saw him waiting in the corridor.
“Ana. Ana, I don’t want to leave you.”
I was the one practically crying now. I didn’t want to ever be parted from her.
“I know, John, I know, but you have to go. You have no choice.”
I held back a groan and kissed her on the mouth as gently as I could.
“Come back to me as soon as you can. Promise me.”
“I will, my dearest, I promise I will.”
It was the hardest thing I ever did, walking out of that room. I knew if I even glanced back, I’d cry as I followed the inspector to the lifts and then out to the waiting police car.