Spencer enjoyed the gentle flirting.
“Maybe you can. What do they mean by the heading? How old was he?”
Marshall stopped drinking his coffee and sat back.
“In the photo? He’d have been around thirty, I guess.”
“Okay, so when did the law change?”
“I’m not with you?”
“Well, the last time I checked, the age of consent to any form of sexual activity in this country was sixteen for both men and women. How is Joey considered a minor?”
Marshall heaved a huge sigh.
“They’re selling newspapers, Spence, so they need a juicy headline. If you’d read the whole article, you’ll know the reporter goes on to say that I first met Joey when he was fourteen and I was twenty-one, which is correct. I was at university with his brother, Alex, and over the summer went to visit them in their family home in Dorset. What I don’t like is the insinuation that anything happened between us back then.”
“The tabloids love their fake news.”
“Don’t they just. On that brief visit, I barely said a word to Joey apart from a formal hello. They have a large family, six of them, Joey being the youngest and Alex the oldest.”
“Is Alex gay?”
“God, no. Single-mindedly heterosexual. Back in our uni days, he was intent on seducing as many of the world’s female population as he could, if you know the type.”
“You just described my brother.”
“He’s a changed man now he’s married, a doting husband and father of three.”
“Maybe there’s hope for Garrett, then. Are you still in touch?”
“Yes. But I’m not sure how he’s going to take all this. Or his parents, come to that. We used to get on so well together. I hope they don’t believe the underage sex inference.”
Marshall looked away, clearly lost in thought. Spencer noticed customers arriving in the cafe and looked about to check nobody was settling nearby before continuing the conversation.
“When did you and Joey get together?”
“Not until much later. We met again a few years after that first meeting, when Joey turned seventeen and came out to his parents. Knowing about me, they asked if I would have a chat with him—provide some wisdom, so to speak—about what it means to be gay.”
“And that’s what brought you together?”
“No, not at all. In fact, I think Joey didn’t particularly like me. It was years later that we met at the television studio Christmas party. He’d have been twenty-seven and had just landed his role inWaterloo Lane. Back then, my career was beginning to take off as well, so I spent a lot of time working abroad. But we managed to make things work and a couple of years later he’d moved. We were together around five years.”
“When did you break up, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“A year after those photos were taken. I can’t say I blame him. I spent most of my time travelling the world, so he was left alone far too much. Those were heady days for him, too. His first taste of the spotlight. Got invited to a lot of parties while I was away. And whenever I returned from anywhere, we spent the first couple of days fighting. He said I treated him like a fisherman’s wife, left at home to wait for the husband to return to port. But the heated arguments felt a lot like what my parents had gone through and I could feel him slipping away. I used to say there would always be collateral damage being in a relationship with someone who spends so much time away and often in combat zones. He used to tell me I’m a rank outsider bet in the love and relationship stakes.”
The admission sent a wave of sadness through Spencer, but then his natural optimism bounded back.
“Don’t sell yourself short, handsome. People have been known to win big on rank outsiders.”
For all of his melancholy mood, Marshall grinned at Spencer and even laughed a little.
“What are you planning to do about the article?” asked Spencer. “Did Darcy say?”
“That’s the first question I asked, one of the reasons she wants us to meet up later. There’s not much we can do about theTributenow—”
“How about suing the bastards for every penny they have?”
