Her gaze lights on me for a moment and then slides away. She walks over to the sofa and sits down.
`My officers specifically asked you if Michael Esmond was having problems with any of his colleagues, and you replied, `њNot that I'm aware of`ќ. Are you really telling me you didn't know about this review Esmond wrote? Because if you are, I have to tell you, I find that very hard to believe.'
She sighs. `Of course I knew. The entire thing was a complete nightmare.' She looks up at me. `I blamed myself, if you must know. When the TLS asked me if I could recommend someone to review Jurjen's monograph I suggested Michael. I had no idea he'd do such a `“ such a `“'
`Hatchet job?'
Her face is grim. `I see you've had occasion to read it.' She folds her hands on her lap. `In that case you will already know that Michael accused Jurjen of manipulating data to support his conclusions. In this admittedly rather small and self-obsessed discipline that counts as a high crime rather than a minor misdemeanour.'
`And did he? Falsify the facts?'
`The jury is still out. It would surprise me, knowing what I do of Jurjen. But on the other hand, the Michael I thought I knew would never dream of making such an accusation unless he had solid evidence.'
`And the TV series?'
She raises an eyebrow. `You are well-informed. Yes, Jurjen had been approached to present a series for National Geographic. Not quite on the scale of Blue Planet, but prestigious, nonetheless, and a good deal better paid than academic publishing. Only it all fell through after that review appeared. They must have decided it wasn't worth the risk. But if you're suggesting for one moment that Jurjen could have had anything at all to do with that terrible fire `“'
`I'm not `њsuggesting`ќ anything. Merely attempting to establish the facts. I need hardly tell someone as intelligent as you that `њfacts`ќ are even more important in my profession than they are in yours. And we've had to speak to you twice to get them.'
She flushes, flustered now. `It's no secret that academic life can be very competitive, especially these days, but this isn't an episode of Inspector Morse, you know. People in this university don't go around killing each other for the sake of one bad review or a lost TV series, however lucrative. And as for torching a house full of people, including two innocent children `“ well, Jurjen simply isn't capable of that.'
I let the pause lengthen. `What is he capable of?'
She looks up at me. `What do you mean?'
`Would he be capable, for example, of making threats?' I'm watching her face carefully. `Or orchestrating a concerted campaign of online trolling?'
Now she won't meet my gaze. `I have no idea what you're talking about.'
But she does. I can see, now, that she knows full well. I extract the printouts from my jacket pocket and hand them to her. She glances at them and sets them to one side. Her mouth is set in a hard, irritated little line: she thought the material had been deleted. And she didn't think we'd be smart enough to find it. And that really pisses me off.
`Well?'
She takes a deep breath. `He was merely letting off steam. Venting his frustration. In a controlled environment `“ relatively speaking. If you talk to him again, I'm sure he'll tell you that he realizes now how stupid that was, but that's all it was.'
I file away that `again'. She knows Kuiper's been to see us. She may even have been the one who told him to do it.
`Unfortunately for you, Professor Jordan, Dr Kuiper is unable to prove that's `њall it was`ќ. He began by telling us he was at home with his wife at the time of the fire, but when I told him she would have to corroborate that he rapidly changed his tune. He now says he was out for a drive. In the middle of the night. In the middle of winter.'
Doubt slips across her face and I know that this `“ for the first time in our conversation `“ is news to her.
`But presumably you can check `“ CCTV and so on?'
I nod. `That is exactly what we are attempting to do. But it may not be possible to prove he is telling the truth. Indeed, we may well find that this, too, is not a `њfact`ќ but a lie. And if so `“'
`If so?'
`You might want to dig out that crisis management manual your press office probably has gathering dust somewhere. I'm afraid real life is a great deal messier than Inspector Morse.'
BBC Midlands Today
Sunday 7 January 2018 | Last updated at 10:53
`A terrible tragedy': Boy, 10, dies from injuries sustained in Oxford house fire
A spokeswoman from the John Radcliffe hospital has confirmed that Matty Esmond died in its paediatric Intensive Care Unit earlier this morning. Matty's mother, Samantha, and his younger brother, Zachary, 3, were also the victims of the fatal fire at the family's house last Thursday. The spokeswoman described the death as `a terrible tragedy', and said that staff were providing support to members of the boy's family, who were with him when he died.
Neither Thames Valley Police nor Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue have yet issued a statement about the cause of the fire. Matty's father, Michael Esmond, 40, has still not been located despite a public appeal and what Thames Valley Police describe as `concerted efforts' to find him.
More news on this as we get it.
The atmosphere in the incident room is grim. It doesn't get any shittier than the death of a child. Everett tells us the Giffords are distraught.
`I was there with them when he suddenly took a turn for the worse. You know what that's like `“ alarms going off, nurses all over the place, crash trolleys. It was bloody awful.'
I glance across at Gislingham `“ Billy had to be resuscitated twice when he was in the premature baby unit. They nearly lost him. His face is grey with the memory.
`They had to take the bandages off to give him CPR,' says Everett, `so those poor bloody people saw the state he was in underneath. And now they won't be able to get that out of their minds.' She shakes her head. This job can be a bastard sometimes.
Gislingham forces himself back to the task in hand. `OK,' he says, `this is where we are. We still need to cover off the CCTV in the area round Southey Road to see if we can ID Kuiper in the area. And we need to speak to Lauren Kaminsky, who has `“ as of 10.30 last night `“ returned to Oxford. And just to get everyone up to speed, she's definitely not a suspect in any potential arson, as we've confirmed she was indeed on a flight to JFK on December 21st. Right,' he says, looking around the room. `I'm about to go to see Kaminsky with DC Somer, and Quinn's on the CCTV.'
A couple of half-hearted sarcastic whoops at that. Quinn mouths Yeah, yeah and gives the other DCs the finger when he thinks I'm not looking.
`Have we managed to track down any of Esmond's friends yet?' I ask.
`We've left messages with a few,' begins Gislingham.
`There's the neighbours next door,' interjects Everett. `They weren't at home last time I tried but I can have another go if you like.'
`Yes, do that. They may have seen something. OK, that's it for now. Everyone else gets the weekend to themselves. What's left of it.'
Gislingham goes back to collect his coat, and when he looks up he sees Somer has stopped to talk to Fawley. They're standing close together. She's saying something in a low voice and he's smiling. Gislingham realizes with a start that he can't remember the last time he saw the boss smile.
Interview with Ronald and Marion Young, conducted at 25 Southey Road, Oxford