Chapter 9: The Day It Moved Forward
Grace had not been speaking loosely when she said tomorrow.
By ten the following morning, Detective Constable Adeyemi had added the recorded details of Daniel's call to me — documented by Grace as witness testimony — to the formal case file.
The non-molestation order was already active.
The phone calls to Marcus and to me constituted a breach of it.
"He contacted the protected person's family members within hours of being served," Grace told me.
"That is not a grey area."
"What happens now?" I asked.
"DC Adeyemi will be speaking with him today.
Formally.
At the station."
I thought of Daniel sitting in a police interview room with his careful voice and his patient manner and his eleven years of knowing how to open doors.
"Will it be enough?" I asked.
"The harassment case is strong on its own," Grace said.
"The breach of the order adds to it.
And the prior complaint from his former colleague — DC Adeyemi has been in contact with her.
She's reconsidering her position."
The other woman.
The one who had withdrawn two years ago.
"She's going to come forward?" I said.
"She's considering it," Grace said carefully.
"I don't want to overstate it.
But she's considering it."
I told Marcus and Nadia that afternoon.
We were in the living room — the four of us, plus Patrick, who had driven over because he said he couldn't sit at home not knowing.
Nadia was quiet for a long time after I finished.
"There's another woman," she said finally.
"It appears so," I said.
"You don't have to do anything about that.
That's between her and DC Adeyemi."
"I know." She looked at her hands in her lap.
"I just keep thinking — if she'd been believed two years ago—"
"Don't," Marcus said gently.
"I'm not blaming her," Nadia said quickly.
"I'm not.
I understand exactly why she didn't.
I just—" She stopped.
"I want her to know she's believed now.
If that helps."
"I'll pass that along to Grace," I said.
"She can decide how to handle it."
Patrick, who had been sitting quietly in the armchair by the window, said: "Is he going to try anything else?"
"Grace thinks the escalation phase is over," I said.
"She thinks the call to me was the last move he had.
He showed his hand and it wasn't enough."
"What does his hand look like now?" Patrick asked.
"Empty," Frank said.
Three days later, DC Adeyemi called Nadia directly.
I wasn't in the room for that call.
Nadia took it in the bedroom, alone, which I understood was what she needed.
She was on the phone for forty minutes.
When she came out, her eyes were red but her posture was straight.
"He's been formally interviewed," she said.
"He's been told the case is proceeding.
His solicitor has advised him not to make any further contact." She paused.
"And the other woman — she's made a statement."
The room went very still.
"Her name is Priya," Nadia said.
"She worked with him for three years.
She said—" Her voice caught slightly.
She steadied it.
"She said she withdrew the complaint because he told her no one would believe her over him.
That he had friends in the right places.
That she'd lose her job." She looked at me.
"He told me almost exactly the same things."
"Of course he did," I said.
"It's a script.
It works until it doesn't."
Nadia nodded slowly.
Then she said, "Yemi — DC Adeyemi — she asked me to pass something along to you."
"To me?"
"She said: tell your future mother-in-law that the phone call documentation was the cleanest piece of evidence in the file."
Frank made a sound that was almost a laugh.
I looked at Nadia.
"Nine-fifteen," I said.
May you like
She smiled.
It was small and tired and entirely real.
