‘Was this by mutual agreement?’ Price leaned forward; the jurors leaned forward; everyone on the public gallery and press benches seemed to lean forward, as though Jamie was a vortex, pulling us all in.
He handled his words with kid gloves. ‘I would say unspoken mutual agreement,’ he said. ‘Maybe that was naive of me. If I’d known what was going to happen . . . but it was all so spur of the moment. We just looked at the sky; well, at the clouds. Nothing happened for a while and then it all sped up. We only saw the sky for a second, but the way it went dark was just uncanny. It’s an incredible thing to share with someone, incredibly intimate. You’ve got all these people around you, but you feel like it’s just you and the other person and there’s this darkness coming out of nowhere.’ No, I thought irrationally; this man is not allowed to be sensitive to the beauty and power of an eclipse. I won’t allow it. Jamie cleared his throat. ‘And then, when it started getting light again, I said – what I meant to say was that it was amazing or incredible but there was a sort of Freudian slip and what I actually said was, wasn’t that romantic. And I knew it wasn’t a particularly appropriate way to describe it, but it was.’ He looked at Antonia helplessly and his voice lowered in respect to her. Her face remained inscrutable but her right hand repeatedly twisted her engagement ring. I didn’t know whether to feel contempt or pity. ‘And the mood just took us over, and after we started kissing it just went from there really quickly. It was so spontaneous I couldn’t even tell you who instigated it.’
Price put out a hand to stop him. ‘This is important, Mr Balcombe. The kiss was mutual? She never pushed you away, she never asked you to stop?’
‘Absolutely not. Absolutely not. If I’d read the situation wrong, I would have stopped in a heartbeat.’
‘We come now to the mechanics of sex,’ said Miss Price. ‘Could you please clear up my learned friend’s confusion about Miss Taylor’s trousers, and how they were removed?’
‘She loosened them rather than removed them,’ said Jamie. ‘They came open along one side; I wouldn’t have known how to start. And she tilted her hips up towards me . . .’ he put his head briefly in his hands, to show what an ordeal this was for him. His dad nodded his encouragement. ‘And I pulled her knickers to one side, and that was it. It wasn’t rough, I wasn’t hurting her, it was – I’m so sorry, Antonia.’ Jamie took a few seconds to gather himself. ‘It was just . . . exciting sex. I’ve never done anything like it before or since. And then this couple, or that girl, came blundering in and the next thing I knew, I was being told I was a rapist.’ His voice rose up here, and Price shot him a warning look.
‘The witnesses, Miss Langrishe and Mr McCall.’ All eyes swivelled towards us. All eyes except Antonia’s. The diamond on her finger flashed with each rotation. ‘And how did you respond?’
‘Well, I was more trying to get Beth to say what had really happened. But she just went mute. I mean, I know it was awkward, I wasn’t exactly pleased about being caught in the act either. You’ve got to understand how belligerent they were. They, she, just decided what I’d done.’ He looked at me and I hoped the sweat that broke out on my face wasn’t visible to the jury. ‘It was surreal, it was like a farce. I even thought they were joking for a second, and then when they said they were going to the police I realised this was really happening, and they were serious. I never thought for a second that I’d come to court. It’s a bad dream.’
‘Thank you, thank you.’ Price squared off a sheaf of papers for punctuation. ‘Now we come to another moment. After the initial accusation was levelled at you, you left the scene. Why, if you were innocent?’
Jamie Balcombe sighed deeply. ‘I had a bit of cannabis in my pocket. I’d got someone to roll me a joint and bought it.’
This was news to me, and evidently to the prosecution too; Polglase passed a note to Carol Kent and a little flare of hope rose in my chest.
‘And you didn’t think to tell the others this?’ said Fiona Price. ‘After all, you were hardly at a church fete, were you?’
Jamie spread his palms wide. ‘I had some woman I’d never even seen before accusing me of rape! It was hardly a relaxed atmosphere! My thought process was, I’ll just get to a point where I could dump the drugs, because I don’t want to be charged with possession. If I’d just raped someone, do you really think I’d be worried about a little joint in my pocket? But that witness, he was right behind me.’ He nodded towards Kit, who sat up straight in his seat. ‘He’d have been able to see anything I threw out. So when I saw this big crowd all going back to the main stage, I let myself get swept up in them, and then I thought, I know, there’s that little police station set up near the entrance. I’ll go there, and say there’s this woman accusing me of something awful, and then this’ll all be sorted out. I was sure she would’ve calmed down by then anyway.’
‘How long did it take you after the alleged incident to hand yourself into the police?’
‘About an hour, I think. Well, after I’d thrown the joint away, I had a bit of time to think about a bigger issue,’ said Jamie. ‘I mean, I did not rape the complainant. I didn’t, I couldn’t. But that doesn’t mean I hadn’t done anything wrong. I’d cheated on my girlfriend, my fiancée. It was a moment of madness but not in the way he’s making out.’ He nodded at Polglase. ‘I wavered a bit because I thought, if this becomes official, even if all I do is get ruled out, the chances of Antonia finding out what I’ve done go up massively. So I went back to my tent for about half an hour and thought it through, but then I realised I had to do the right thing, and put an end to the misunderstanding. I never in a million years thought I’d be charged with rape.’