‘We don’t get on now.’
‘Is that why he wasn’t sitting outside when we arrived? To avoid you?’
‘It could be.’
‘Have you spoken to him at all about Mari’s death?’
‘We don’t speak.’
‘But after her father phoned and was so distressed, didn’t you ask Mikio if he’d heard from her?’
‘No.’ She was increasingly tight-lipped. And this interview had started so well.
‘It’s as serious as that, the rift between you? What’s behind it, Taki?’
She dipped her head.
Diamond, at a loss, glanced to his left for assistance.
Ingeborg said to Taki in little more than a whisper, ‘We need to know. It may seem personal to you, Taki, but we don’t ask questions without a good reason.’
Without looking up, she said, ‘My trouble with him has nothing to do with Mari.’
‘You don’t know,’ Ingeborg said. ‘It could be important. Did he try it on with you?’
After another long pause, Taki lifted her head and faced them, her eyes red-lidded and tearful. ‘At the end of the summer term, he got me drunk. He wasn’t dating me, or anything. We were with other students in a pub in the town and everyone was drinking. He kept filling my glass with cider. When I got up to go I was unsteady. I’ve never been drunk before. I couldn’t stand up properly. Everyone except me seemed to think it was funny. Mikio said he’d take me back to my lodgings. He had to hold me up. I remember him at the house helping me upstairs. After that, it’s a blank.’
‘Do you think he took advantage?’
‘I woke up at some time in the night feeling ill. I was alone in my bed and my head was hurting. I managed to get to the bathroom and threw up. Then I realised I was naked.’ She twisted her fingers in an agitated way. ‘I have no memory of undressing.’
‘He stripped you,’ Ingeborg said, making it more of a statement than a question. She was always alert to abuse of any sort.
‘What else can I think?’
‘Were you bruised? Sore? Do you think he raped you?’
‘If he did, it wasn’t obvious. I was too drunk to know. It’s so humiliating. I can’t believe I encouraged him, but even that is possible. You’d think I would have some memory of it, only I don’t.’
‘He could have added something to your drink.’
‘I’ve thought about that. I simply don’t know.’
‘It happens. If it was just drink, you’d probably have some recollection. Is there any talk of guys here using the date-rape drug?’
‘I haven’t heard it mentioned.’
‘As you say, you could be mistaken,’ Ingeborg said, appearing to sense that her outrage was adding to Taki’s distress. ‘Maybe you undressed yourself. Where were your clothes?’
‘On a chair.’
‘That doesn’t sound like a man intent on rape.’
Taki made a small movement with her shoulders that suggested she’d like to be persuaded, but wasn’t. ‘I didn’t see him again until the new term started and then I was too embarrassed to speak to him. In fact, we haven’t spoken since. What makes it worse is that some of the others who were with us in the pub still treat it as a joke.’
‘How does he react when they tease you?’
‘He doesn’t say anything.’
‘Does he have a reputation for sleeping around?’
‘No. I’ve heard nothing like that.’
Diamond joined in again. ‘Back in Japan, before you came here, what did the girls think of him?’
‘Nothing special. He was just another guy.’
‘Did you ever go out with him?’
‘I don’t think he was interested in me.’
‘But you said he was interested in Mari.’
‘I said they dated a few times. I doubt if it ever got serious.’
‘When she spoke to you on the phone about coming to Exeter, did she speak about seeing Mikio as well?’
She gave a nod. ‘It was kind of awkward. She asked if I saw him and I said yes because I do in lectures and she said it would be good for the three of us to meet and would I like to tell him she was coming. I didn’t want to tell her what happened with Mikio, so I said a better idea was to wait until she arrived and maybe we could fix something then.’
‘What did she say to that?’
‘She misunderstood me. I must have sounded really cool about her plan, because she jumped to the idea I was dating him and didn’t want her to come between us. I insisted that wasn’t the case, but I don’t know if she believed me.’
‘So how did you leave the arrangement?’