The trial was long and tedious. Involving lots of transatlantic lawyering. Claire had to explain most of the intricate details, and none of it sounded anything like LA Law. Months after the day Saz had first seen September she finally said goodbye to Simon James.
She had called Helen as soon as she saw James in the car park and within five minutes the place was swarming with police and he’d been arrested.
James obviously had no idea that Saz was connected with September and Maggie or he’d never have made the mistake of going to her flat. He’d just decided to check up on her as he was in England. He’d had Carrie’s flat broken into and the relevant info sent over to him. As Saz’s address was in Carrie’s diary for their lunch date the week before she went to New York and as her name was all through Carrie’s first couple of weeks there, it was easy to put two and two together and come up with Saz’s real name and London address. He’d dealt with one September, taken a couple of days off and decided to look up the other – probably to resume where they’d left off at their last meeting.
Proving he’d been in Maggie’s flat the night of the murder was easy – there were fingerprints everywhere, including on the plastic bag that had contained John Clark’s money. The autopsy proved September had died from an overdose of cocaine administered intravenously, which pretty much cleared Maggie. The police doctor said the bump on the head had knocked her out but not killed her, she’d probably woken up a couple of hours later – that would have been when she’d taken off her shoes and started to tidy up. Then someone else had come in and administered the “fatal dose”. September was in the lounge, she would have tried to get up and fallen again. No wonder Maggie thought it was all her fault.
The hard part was proving that Simon James had anything to do with it. He openly admitted he had been in her flat, but maintained that was because he and September were occasional lovers and had been for years. Maggie had to sit there and listen to it all. Using the information Saz had stolen about the other “Septembers”, the police were finally able to trace one of them and get a real witness to James’ activities. When Judith interviewed her she admitted carrying coke for him three times before she couldn’t stand it, or him, any longer and had gone to ground in Cumbria. Having been his sometime lover and having been threatened in the same way that September was when she tried to get out of the work, she was scared but finally persuaded to testify against James. She confirmed that his London business was used as a cover for smuggling, and told them about another business he had in Paris. For her and for Saz this meant days in court waiting to give just a couple of sentences in evidence, all the while the police were trying to stop James’ lawyers taking him back to America.
In the end there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him of murder, but he was extradited to the States to stand trial there on drug smuggling charges. Saz was treated to a New York trip at the expense of the United States Treasury in order to testify against him. There was a lot of fuss made about protecting Saz from any “connections” James may have had. A lot of fuss, but in the end very little was done. She was called to testify and then sent back to London. She had little choice. Having admitted to knowing much more than she should have in the first place and after “omitting” to tell the police what she knew and having worked illegally for James while she was in New York, she wasn’t exactly in much of a position to make deals with the agents from the US government. Seven months later she heard he’d been jailed for eight years on drug offences. His businesses in both New York and Europe were closed down. Saz promised herself that she’d put extra locks on all her windows and took John Clark out to tell him the news.
“Yeah, I know Ms Martin, they told me when they gave me back my money.”
“You got it back?”
“Not all of it, but quite a lot. Something to do with illegal proceeds from his business. I don’t know. I think I was lucky to get anything out of it at all.”
“How are you getting on?”
“Well, I’ve used most of the lump sum to set myself up in business – the same sort of thing I did for Telecom only freelance. Retraining work, conference kind of stuff.”
“Your wife must be pleased?”
“Yeah, we had a bit of a hard time for a while, but we’re working together on the business so it’s been good for us. We like working with each other. She feels more secure about me, and I think I owe her that. I guess I must owe you too?”
“I don’t think so, I don’t think I made a very good job of any of this.”
“Yes you did. If it hadn’t been for you, they’d never have found him and your Maggie would have taken all the blame.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t exactly find September for you, did I?”
“You did.”
“A little late.”
“Better late than never.”
“I don’t suppose her family think so.”
“No. I don’t suppose Ms Simpson does either, and to tell the truth I can’t say I’m happy about it, of course not, but the fact remains, that if it wasn’t for you, she’d still be dead and Simon James McAuley would be running free. It may only be eight years, but it’s something.”
“I ‘spose you’re right.”
“I know I am. Now here’s the money I owe you, and I’m sorry it took so long.”
“I don’t think I can take it.”
“Well, there it is. I think you earned it. I expect the drug squad do too. Goodbye Ms Martin.”
John Clark left Saz in the café with the cheque on the table. It was the same café he’d met her in nine months earlier. She picked up the cheque. Two thousand five hundred pounds. She went straight out and put it in a high interest account where she wouldn’t be able to touch it for three years.
“That’ll please my mother. And hopefully by then I won’t feel so sick about it.”
As she went into the tube she passed a young woman with dyed blonde hair and a thin puppy tied on a string.
“Spare us twenty pence luv?”
Saz reached into her pocket and pulled out a fifty pound note.
She gave her the money and went down the stairs into the tube.