Dan was in court but he wasn’t paying attention to his client, his mind on the phone number handed over by Barbara. Andrew Porter from Brampton. He needed to call him, but he couldn’t with his client on his shoulder, telling him how badly the case would affect him. Dan wasn’t interested in listening to him, but that wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
His client was a respectable middle-aged man who enjoyed gardening in the nude. Most often, it was confined to his back garden, but on a sunny day at the end of the previous summer he’d pruned his bushes that bordered the pavement outside his house. An old lady across the road had taken exception, as had the young mother returning to her home with her children.
Dan put his hand out. ‘Look, I’ve told you to calm down. You won’t help yourself if you go in there agitated. Yes, the law matters, and it’s on your side, but sometimes it can be just about the magistrates liking you.’
‘They’ve accused me of a sex crime, Mr Grant, like I’m a pervert. How can it be perverted to be seen as the good Lord intended?’
‘And that’s what we’re saying, don’t worry. The prosecution has picked the wrong charge: exposure. The law is our friend. Don’t make the magistrates your enemy.’
‘I would never expose myself in that way, like some cheap flasher. It was a warm day, and I enjoy being natural. Where’s the harm?’
‘No offence, but some people don’t want to see all you’ve got. Let me speak to the prosecutor.’
The courtroom was quiet, the prosecutor was at the front, Pam Smith again, scrolling through the contents of her laptop. She was the only person in the courtroom and controlled the local Magistrates’ Court like her own personal fiefdom.
‘Morning, Pam. You ready for the fight?’
She looked round and smiled. ‘Hi, Dan. It should be fun. What’s he like though? Will he make my mouth water as I imagine him all naked, his body glistening in the sun?’
Dan grimaced. ‘Put it this way, he’ll never make a calendar.’
‘Shame.’
‘Are you sure you’re running it though? How can you prove he intended to cause distress?’
‘He did a shimmy with his hips when he saw the neighbours were watching.’
Dan grinned. ‘If you’ve got it, flaunt it.’
‘Some things are best kept bagged up.’ She sighed. ‘It’s going to run. If he’s acquitted, that’s just how it goes. Do you know what test I apply?’
‘Go on.’
‘Would I rather be the prosecuting lawyer or the defence lawyer? Today, it’s the prosecutor.’
Dan looked back towards the door. Through the glass panel, he could see his client glaring at him. ‘I could do without this. He paid me yesterday, even though I’ve been telling him since his case started that I don’t work for free, which means I’ve done no preparation.’
‘Ah, the satisfaction curve.’
‘That’s the one. If I lose the case, he won’t pay me a bean. Get the money up front, it’s the only way.’
‘You might just keep him satisfied. If I’m going to lose it, just make me laugh along the way. Sometimes, that’s the only joy.’
Dan agreed and then stared to the front, his mind drifting back to Nick’s case. The phone number Barbara dropped off was tucked into his wallet. He could make the call before the case started.
‘Give me a moment,’ he said and went to the back of the courtroom. He rummaged for the scrap of paper and dialled the number. A man answered.
‘Andrew Porter?’
‘Who’s speaking please?’
‘My name is Dan Grant. I’m a lawyer representing Nick Connor and—’
‘Hang on, let me stop you right there. Has that crazy woman put you on to me?’
‘Barbara Roberts?’
‘That’s her.’
‘She gave me your number.’ Dan could sense his hesitancy, so he lowered his voice to sound conspiratorial, ‘I know what you mean about crazy though. Whatever grief she gave you, she’s bugging me now. My client is accused of killing her son. What the hell does she expect me to do? Just help me out here, so I can get rid of her.’
Porter went silent for a few seconds, and then said, ‘She’s got herself fixated that her son’s death had something to do with an old murder case of mine. That’s why her son was here, bugging me about it, some book he was working on. I’m sorry he’s been killed, but he was chasing dead ends.’
‘What was the case?’ Before Porter could say anything, he added, ‘I can ask her, so I’ll find out.’
‘You ask her then, because I’m not taking part in this.’ And then he hung up.
Dan was staring at his phone, intrigued, when there was a noise at the front of the courtroom. As he looked up, the magistrates were walking in, all suits and earrings.
As Dan made his way to the front, bowing his greeting, he thought back on the conversation. Curiosity began to tickle him. Barbara might be right, because whatever her son had been excited by, no one had been able to discover what it was.
Dan remembered the old police maxim in a murder case: you should always start with the victim. Jayne might just have got herself that trip to the seaside.
First, they had a prisoner to visit.