I could see the blush rising to her cheek. ‘He left after two.’
‘You arrange to go out with Daniel on Friday, and you dressed like that for your gay friend, and then he left after two drinks?’
Jack interrupted. ‘Did you consent to sex with Simon?’
‘No.’ She shouted the word and burst into tears.
‘That’s all we need to know,’ said Jack in a weirdly triumphant way.
‘He spiked my drink, he must have.’
‘Lucy, I believe you were raped, I do, but there cannot be any doubt.’ I lied about believing her. If it was true, that would be my punishment, and I could not accept that.
‘I don’t want to go to the guards anyway,’ she said.
‘Why not?’ said Jack, taken aback.
‘Because they’ll never believe me. It will be my word against his. They always get away with it.’
I relaxed a little. I didn’t want her to go through that either.‘Lucy, I don’t want to upset you, but I must ask this. Did you ever sleep with Simon before, consensually?’
‘No.’
‘Okay. Were you ever in that apartment before?’
She whispered. ‘Yes.’
Jack released her hands and stood up. ‘When were you there before? Why? How many of you?’ he asked.
‘Two weeks ago, we’d been out at the Billie Eilish concert, a gang of us, and we couldn’t get a taxi, on the street or on our apps. Simon said I could come back to his place and wait there.’
I jumped in. ‘Just you, not the others who were also trying to get taxis?’
‘Just me. But, Mum, I swear to you. We had a glass of wine, and I left when the taxi came.’
‘Did anything happen between you? Did you kiss, Lucy? That time, when you were alone with him in his apartment?’
A fresh outburst of tears confirmed my suspicions.
‘Oh God,’ said Jack.
‘I was drunk. I didn’t know what I was doing. I apologized to him afterwards. And the taxi came that night. It was one stupid kiss.’
My voice hardened. ‘Why did you apologize for kissing him? You initiated it?’
‘Yes, but I thought he liked me.’ Fresh sobbing.
Jack had been silent and was holding on to the kitchen counter with his back to us.
I said, ‘You had four gin and tonics and then shared at least one bottle of wine with dinner. Is it possible that he didn’t put something in your drink? Isn’t it possible that you blacked out?’
‘I don’t know. I’m not used to so much drink.’
‘You weren’t roofied, then?’ I said.
‘Jesus Christ, Ruby, would you go easy on her?’ Jack was exasperated with me.
She shouted, ‘You don’t believe me. Why don’t you believe me? He raped me last night. I did not consent to sex. Whether he drugged me or I blacked out, what’s the difference? I wasn’t conscious.’
