Simon Parkin paused as he turned over a page of his notes.
He’d taken Lucy through the friendship, leading up to the night in question.
He coughed before he said, ‘I’m going to take you now to the night Mary died.’ Lucy straightened herself. ‘Did you see her during the evening?’
Lucy shook her head. ‘I saw her before she went out, that’s all.’
‘How was she?’
‘The same as ever. Happy, looking forward to her evening.’
‘Did she mention whether she had any plans to meet anyone?’
‘Just two of her friends. The other two girls in the house were away and I was staying at Peter’s, my boyfriend’s flat.’
‘Did you stay there all night?’
‘Yes. It was the weekend, so we decided to get some wine and, well, have some fun.’
She blushed when she said it.
‘When did you go home?’
‘In the morning, just before eleven. I went with Peter because I was going to change my clothes and then we were going shopping.’
‘Did you sense anything untoward when you got to the house?’
‘Yes, because it was strange. We came in the back way and the door was open. I don’t mean unlocked, but as if it hadn’t been closed properly, not quite on the latch, so that all we had to do was push it. We went inside and it didn’t seem like anyone was in, so I was pretty annoyed that it had been left insecure.’
‘What did you do once you were inside?’
‘Shouted for Mary. She didn’t answer.’ She stared at Carter. ‘Now I know why.’
Hannah leaned across to Simon and whispered, ‘Control your witness.’
Lucy must have seen Hannah, because she said, ‘I’m sorry, but, well, it’s difficult, as you can imagine.’
‘Did you go into Mary’s room?’
‘I knocked on her door but there was no answer. I was angry with her, but then I saw blood on the door, like a big smear. I was worried then, and then…’ She paused as her chin trembled. Her palm went to her chest again. There were tears this time, running slowly down her cheeks. ‘Then, it swung open, and we saw her.’
Simon paused.
Dan looked across at the jurors and they were transfixed. He could have done headstands and he didn’t think they’d notice. All their attention was fixed on Lucy.
‘Did you go into the room?’ Simon’s voice had grown softer, drawing the courtoom closer.
‘I stepped inside but couldn’t go any further. I screamed, I couldn’t move. It was, well, just horrible. We could see blood on the floor and on her arm, where it was hanging out from under the duvet. Peter closed the door and called the police.’
‘Did you go into the room at any other point before the police arrived?’
‘No, never. Like I said, I went inside, stopped, and went out.’
Simon gave a small bow to express his gratitude for her evidence. ‘I’ve no more questions at this stage.’
Lucy nodded her relief and turned towards Hannah, who had risen to begin her examination, but the judge intervened.
‘It’s been a long day,’ he said, and pointed towards the clock. It was four o’clock. ‘This seems like a good place to stop for the night.’
Hannah bowed. ‘As it pleases, My Lord.’
The judge turned to Lucy. ‘I’m sorry, Miss Ayres, because it does mean you’ll have to come back tomorrow, but it’s important that people hear what you have to say and are not too tired to pay attention.’
‘It’s fine,’ Lucy said. ‘I’m doing it for Mary.’
As Lucy stepped out of the witness box, Dan watched her go, until he saw her father staring at him again.
Dan turned away.
It had been a good day for the prosecution. They’d had the opening speech and then the first witness, who described the horror of the scene and what a beautiful person Mary had been. More than that, the notion of Carter as an obsessive stalker had become fixed in their heads.
Yes, a very fitting end to the first day.
Dan stood as the judge exited, followed by the jury, who filed out of a side door, going home with the knowledge that Mary Kendricks was an intelligent young woman, with a long career ahead of her and was loved by many. And they had seen that Robert Carter had sat through Lucy’s account expressionless, almost as if he wasn’t a participant.
Dan looked back towards the dock. Carter was staring straight ahead, his jaw set, as handcuffs were clicked on to his wrists and he was led down the tiled steps into the cell complex below.
As Hannah gathered her papers, Dan said, ‘Will the jury buy all her simpering about her special friendship with Mary?’
‘The other housemate, Beth Wilkins, will undermine it,’ she said. ‘She’ll allow us to speculate that Lucy didn’t know much about what Mary really thought of Carter, but there’s still a problem, because Beth doesn’t like Carter either. We might lose all that we gain when the prosecution re-examine her. And, of course, there’ll always be the biggest problem of all.’
‘Which is?’
‘If not him, who?’
Dan looked back at Dominic Ayres. He was leaving the courtroom, his hand on Lucy’s back as they went through the door. Mary’s parents were still in their seats, with her mother wiping tears from her eyes.
Dan looked away. It would have been a tough day for both of them, even if it had been Lucy who played at being the victim.
‘Remember one thing,’ Hannah said. ‘For the jurors, cases like this are all about playing at being detectives, their private little murder mystery, with the signposts to the killer all laid out for them like a road map. That is where the problem is, because in all the murder stories, the real villain turns out to be someone you least expect, but at least there is another villain. All we can do is untangle a few threads and ask them to release the only suspect. It doesn’t matter what the judge tells them about beyond reasonable doubt, because they’ll only let him walk away from this if they think he’s innocent. A young woman died. The burden of proof comes a poor second to that.’
Dan sat back. Hannah was telling him what he already knew, but he’d been hoping for more optimism.
As Hannah shuffled along the bench, Dan followed, until the calm velvet of the courtroom was replaced by the harsh tiles of the court corridor.
Dominic Ayres was ahead of them as they made their way to the robing room. Hannah strode confidently past them, but she didn’t have the same recent history with him as Dan had.
Mary’s parents were talking to Lucy, who was smiling her sincerity at them, but they turned their backs on Dan as he went past. Dominic glared at Dan as he got closer.
Dan looked away. The game wasn’t over just yet.