‘Hi, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if I can have a word?’
Angela looked up and smiled at her. ‘Of course you can.’ She shuffled her papers together and covered them with her notebook. ‘What can we do for you?’
‘It’s about Louis,’ Chloe said and Jay noticed her voice had a slight wobble. She looked up. Jay smiled at her and she continued. ‘He assaulted me in the changing area.’
‘What?’ Angela exclaimed. ‘Please, tell us what happened.’
‘When I came out of the changing room area, Louis was in the lounge,’ Chloe said. ‘He told me he found me attractive and that he’d like to take me out sometime.’ Jay noticed that Philip was frowning, but didn’t actually look surprised. ‘When I said I wasn’t interested and it wouldn’t be good to fraternise with a judge, he said it could be our secret and that it would be to my advantage for the competition if I did.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I said no again, that I wasn’t interested, and I picked up my bag and started to walk towards the door.’
‘What happened next?’ Angela asked.
‘He grabbed hold of me and tried to kiss me.’ She closed her eyes as she remembered. ‘I turned my head away and then I stamped on his foot. He was startled and while he was off balance I kneed him in the groin.’ She said the words in a rush.
‘That’s when Rav and I came into the room, to see Louis on the floor,’ Jay said.
‘So you didn’t see what happened?’ Philip asked.
‘No, but—’
Philip held his hand up to stop Jay. ‘I’m not saying that because I don’t believe Chloe — I do. It’s Louis I don’t trust, and I can imagine he’ll deny it and say it’s his word against Chloe’s.’
‘It’s a good job I’ve got proof then. Well, at least I hope I have,’ Chloe said. ‘I’ve always been wary of Louis and the way he stood just a little bit too close to me. I’d just sent a text when he came into the room, so I switched on a recording app on my phone. I haven’t listened to it yet, but I hope it’s recorded okay.’
‘Well, that’s good,’ Angela said. ‘I’m sorry you had to go through that. You won’t have to see him again in the kitchen. We’ll report this straight away and get him thrown off the judging panel. Philip and I had our doubts about him from the beginning. We reported the fact that he knew Jay from previous employment to the sponsors when Jay told us on the first day of the competition. By rights Louis should have been the one to tell us, but he didn’t. We thought the sponsors would replace him, but, for reasons we can’t go into to, they wanted to keep him. I can’t imagine they’ll be able to now though.’ Turning to Chloe, she said, ‘What you’ve described is certainly assault, so I’m wondering if you are thinking of reporting him to the police? You’ll have our full support if you do.’
‘I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead,’ Chloe said. ‘But maybe I should. I’m not afraid to hold him accountable for his actions.’
‘It’s entirely your decision.’ Angela squeezed her arm. ‘It’s not an easy thing to do, but if you do decide to report him there’s a station just round the corner.’
Chloe nodded. ‘Yes, I will. It is the right thing to do.’
‘Want some company?’ Jay asked.
Chloe nodded. ‘I’d appreciate that.’
‘And I’ll come too, if I may?’ Rav said.
The three of them smiled at each other.
Chapter Twenty
‘Thanks for helping out tonight.’ Liz sat down and eased her shoes off her feet. ‘I don’t know what I’d have done without you.’
‘No problem,’ Emma replied. ‘It wasn’t as though I was doing anything else.’ She finished making a cup of coffee for herself and a fruit tea for Liz, brought them over to the table and sat down next to her friend. ‘How are you, by the way? I haven’t had chance to ask. If you don’t mind me saying, you look shattered.’
‘I am a bit,’ Liz said. ‘It’s been a busy few weeks, especially as Jay has been tied up with the competition.’
‘Hm, not exactly great timing for you, is it?’
‘Not really,’ Liz said. ‘But it can’t be helped. And to be honest, I didn’t think pregnancy would be as tiring as it’s turning out to be.’ She paused. ‘Emma, I want to say sorry again about pretending I had a virus.’
‘It’s okay. I understand why you wanted to keep it a secret, especially with Alex’s history. How is he?’
‘He was worried at first, naturally, and very protective of me, but I’m hoping that will start to ease now that I’m a bit further down the line.’
‘I’m sure it will, but try not to overdo it in the meantime. And if you need any help, give me a shout. I’ll be there for you if I can.’
‘That’s kind of you.’
