‘Sexual power is an extraordinary thing,’ she went on. ‘Marcus knows he has always had complete sexual power over me. That is why each time I have left him I have never dared see him again. In spite of whatever I might be feeling about him, I could never trust myself.
‘I was banking on him overlooking the sexual power I have always had over him, or at least, in his usual arrogant way, totally ignoring the possibility that I might ever use it against him.’
Anna was just staring at her, mesmerised.
‘Stay there,’ said Jennifer.
She was in charge again now, even if only briefly. Jennifer left the room and returned with her little tape recorder. She put it on the coffee table.
‘When we had finished in bed this afternoon, I called Marcus’s bluff,’ she announced in a matter-of-fact manner. ‘It worked. And this is the result.’
She pushed the recorder’s play button and went back to her armchair opposite Anna. As the tape played she drank whisky steadily and watched her friend’s face. Anna appeared to be quite stunned. The conversation ended before the tape. Jennifer rose to turn the machine off. After she had done so, there was complete silence in the room. Anna leaned forwards and poured herself another whisky.
She looked at her friend. Jennifer’s face was blank, expressionless.
‘God, you took a risk,’ said Anna at last.
Jennifer seemed startled. ‘What do you mean?’ she said.
‘He could have killed you,’ replied her friend in a hoarse whisper.
‘No,’ said Jennifer, gingerly fingering her side which was beginning to display fairly substantial bruising. ‘A kick in the kidneys was as far as he could go. Marcus could never quite kill me. In any case, in the end he didn’t think he had a reason to.’
And she told Anna how she had tricked Marcus with her second tape recorder.
Anna took a swig of whisky.
‘I have never been so shocked in all my life,’ she managed to say.
Then: ‘Why haven’t you taken this straight to the police?’
‘After I turned off the tape, his last words to me were: “Half the top cops in the Met are Friends.”’
‘Oh come on, Jennifer, he’s bluffing you with that. It’s too far-fetched.’
‘Really. I’m sure he was bluffing when he said half — but I wouldn’t like to call his bluff that they don’t have anybody high up in the Met. Anyway, can you think of anything much more far-fetched than this entire story?’
Anna admitted that no, she couldn’t, not off-hand. But in that case she wanted to know exactly what Jennifer was planning to do. It seemed to her that her friend was sitting on dynamite.
Jennifer explained about Todd, the one policeman she could trust. She was waiting for him to call. Either in London or back in North Devon, she would make sure she saw him in the morning. That would be the beginning of the end of it all. What else could she do?
Anna had no fast answer to that, but still some questions to put.
‘So who are these murky ‘Friends’, do you know?’
Jennifer shook her head. ‘I’m not even sure how much Marcus knows about who they are.
‘After I’ve talked to Todd tomorrow, that will be for the police and I suppose the government to find out, won’t it? All I do know is that they are devious enough and powerful enough to have enabled Marcus literally to get away with murder.
‘He really has turned into a monster.’
Anna put her now empty glass on the table at her side.
‘Have you considered the danger you are still in?’ she asked.
‘I don’t think I am actually. I told you. Marcus does not think I have any evidence.’
‘Maybe not, but his friends may want to play safe.’
‘He thinks he has dealt with it, he probably won’t even tell them.’
‘Maybe not,’ said Anna again.
‘Are the doors and windows locked?’ she asked.
‘Anna, the place is like Fort Knox. Look, folding bars, all shut and locked. And we have a state-of-the-art alarm system. Marcus always insisted on incredible security...’
She paused, realising what she had said.
‘Ironic really,’ remarked Anna, pouring herself yet another Scotch.
Jennifer experienced a brief flash of normality. ‘Anna, you’re driving. You mustn’t drink any more.’
‘Coming from you that’s rich — but you are right,’ said her friend. She thought for a moment.
When she spoke again she sounded decisive. ‘You shouldn’t be here on your own. Look, let’s get a taxi back to Barnes, and you stay the night with me.’
‘I told you, I’m waiting for Todd to call,’ said Jennifer stubbornly.
‘All right, then I’ll just have to stay here,’ said Anna. ‘No reason to go home with Dom away in any case. Just remind me to phone him before we go to bed. He’ll go frantic if he rings home and only gets the answering machine.’
‘I love you, missus,’ said Jennifer.
‘I should think so,’ her friend replied. She added that she was starving. As usual she had fed her daughter and forgotten herself. What about getting a pizza delivered? Jennifer agreed readily enough, although she was not a bit hungry. The thought of food made her feel sick again, in fact.
But she dialled the number of the local Pizza Express and let Anna do the ordering. As she did so she reflected that she was glad Anna was staying for more reasons than one. It had not occurred to her before that she might be putting her friend in danger by confiding in her, and it was typical of Anna that she did not think of it that way either. None the less, it was reassuring that Anna would be with her now until the whole business was dealt with — because her security really was first-class. She was sure nobody could get to either of them as long as they were locked in the Richmond Hill house.
When the pizza arrived, Jennifer was surprised to find that she was hungry after all. The smell of it seemed to revive her battered senses. She opened a bottle of red Italian wine, and the two women settled down to eat and drink. While they did so they went over and over again the implications of the last few days.
‘It sends shivers down my spine,’ remarked Anna. ‘I just can’t understand how a man like Marcus could go mad like that. The first murder of Irene is just too awful on its own, but then to go on and kill two more in the same way. And don’t forget that’s just what he has told you about.’
‘Don’t,’ said Jennifer.
Anna repeated that she didn’t understand how Marcus could have allowed himself to be taken over by the same sexual behaviour again and again, when he knew how dangerous it could be.
‘There is nothing more compelling than the sex urge,’ said Jennifer, who knew what she was talking about. ‘Look at the way men in the public eye go again and again to massage parlours and knocking shops. They know they are going to get found out, and yet they can’t stop themselves.
‘Look at the way men in powerful positions come to believe that they can literally get away with anything, that the laws of the land aren’t for them, that they can get away with murder if they choose. Right back through history there are examples of men in high places believing they are above and beyond the law.’
Anna sighed. ‘The sex urge and the power complex,’ she said. ‘There is also the survival urge — and that is probably the greatest of all, whatever you say.
‘While we are citing examples of such things, did you read about that couple in America who were involved in the Mafia and killed their own daughter because she presented a threat to them?’ Jennifer shook her head. ‘Well, maybe you should look it up in cuttings... if you get the chance,’ said Anna.
‘Don’t be melodramatic’ replied Jennifer.
‘Melo-bloody-dramatic? My best friend tells me that her ex-husband is a mass murderer under the control of some secret effin’ criminal organisation, and then she says I am melo-bloody-dramatic?’