AC05 - Death Mask Read Online Free PDF Page A

succinctly as possible. ‘I’ve just found out from the husband that his wife was druggedand assaulted on her wedding night by him and a group of his friends.’
    Mary’s eyes widened over her half-glasses. ‘I thought I’d been around long enough to hear everything.’ She quickly downed the dregs of her own coffee. ‘I’m guessing the bride doesn’t know yet.’
    ‘Nope,’ said Anya, ‘and I need your help to tell her, and to make sure things don’t turn nasty with the husband.’
    Anya made a piping hot cup for Hannah and took it in while Mary retrieved Brett Dengate.

3
    P hotographers and reporters hounded Anya and Hannah outside the court. Dakota tried in vain to protect her sister. ‘We hear there was a settlement. Can you tell us how much you were paid?’
    ‘Did your husband and the other men admit to raping you?’
    ‘Why did you take a settlement? Did you think you were going to lose?’
    ‘Can you tell us why you chose to sue for damages? The public deserves to know.’
    ‘How do you feel now the trial’s called off?’
    ‘Why aren’t you giving interviews? What do you have to hide?’
    Hannah clutched Anya’s hand and tried to escape all the attention. The large sunglasses did little to disguise her distress. Even so, Hannah had come a long way in the year since Anya had first met her. She had moved to the inner city, changed her surname and job, and bought a small apartment, which she was busy decorating. The decision to sue her husband and his friends for damages caused by sexually transmitted infections and the emotional stress they had caused had not been easy. Without physical evidence or a corroborating witness, no criminal charges could be laid. Instead, Hannah had wanted herformer husband and his friends to answer for their crimes, albeit in a civil court. It was the only way she could make any of them face up to what they had done. She wanted them to know the damage they had caused, and warn other women about their rapist behaviour. The case was sure to set a legal precedent and attract extraordinary media attention.
    ‘Who’d rape you, you fat ugly bitch?’ a male voice rasped from the crowd.
    ‘You filthy slut! You seduced my husband then cried rape.’ Anya turned to see the speaker this time, as something hard hit the side of Hannah’s head. Hannah dropped to the ground, as if a bomb had gone off. Dakota shrieked.
    Momentarily stunned, Anya looked at her jacket to see egg dripping from her cheek.
    A dark-haired man in a sports jacket moved in front of them, shielding them all from further hits.
    Mary Singer pushed through. ‘We need the police. She’s been assaulted.’
    The cameras moved in even closer to record the incident and aftermath.
    The man in the jacket was already phoning for assistance and copped an egg on his forehead for his trouble.
    Realising the projectiles were harmless, Anya pulled Hannah to her feet. Mary and Detective Inspector Hayden Richards, head of the sexual assault unit, herded the three women towards an unmarked police car. Anya looked for the man who had tried to protect them, but he had disappeared into the crowd.
    ‘Get your fucking hands off me,’ a woman yelled behind the pack. Some of the cameras gave chase as uniformed police pushed her to the ground.
    With the four women in the car, the detective screeched into the traffic, ensuring they weren’t being followed before heading for a nearby suburb. He parked off a side-street, near a café. There was little chance of being harassed at the Green Fiddler, a popular spot for police at any time.
    Anya removed her jacket and went to the bathroom, withHannah and Dakota close behind. The two women dabbed at their stained clothes with paper towels and cold water. It was Anya’s new jacket and it was supposed to last her for years.
    ‘What just happened?’ Hannah was still shaking. ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, but it’s as though what Brett and his friends did to me is still all my