‘How are you bearing up?’ Constance sat next to Debbie in a basement holding cell early the next morning. It was a beautiful day outside, bright and warm, with a touch of a breeze. Down here, it was pleasantly cool. Debbie was wearing a turquoise suit with a pink scarf tied around her neck. She appeared pale and drawn.
‘They hid my foundation and lipstick before we left. Said I was beautiful enough without it.’
Constance gulped. Why would anyone do that? She wanted to reach out and pat Debbie’s hand or tap her on the shoulder, something to make Debbie appreciate that she was sympathetic. But she held back.
‘One of the prison officers took pity on me when I was waiting for the transport. She let me have five minutes in the bathroom and she gave me what she had in her bag. How do I look?’
‘You look great.’
‘The lipstick’s a good colour for me, I thought. I still get shadow around my chin and I don’t want to start shaving it there in the bathroom with everyone…I need the foundation to hide it.’
‘I understand. You did a good job. Do you want me to say something, about the prison?’
‘The same officer said she’d sort me out tomorrow as well, would bring some more stuff. She said we have the same skin colour.’
With a shaky hand, Debbie took a bottle from her back pocket and swallowed two tablets.
‘What are those?’ Constance asked.
‘Just paracetamol, for my head. I thought Judith did well yesterday. She showed Lynn Harris up for what she was. Rosie didn’t like her, either. She asked her to babysit once, only once, when we were desperate. Never again. She left Ben in a stinking nappy, because she’d already changed him. Rosie was livid.’
‘She gave the impression she was a close friend?’
‘Rosie put up with her. Said she was a lonely old woman. I thought she was a nosey old bag, keen to get what she could from Rosie.’
‘She said she had a key to your house?’
‘It’s possible, but Rosie didn’t tell me. She knew I didn’t like Lynn. And now we know she really didn’t like me either.’
‘It’s a shame she didn’t see you leave at 2 o’clock.’
‘But my mobile phone did! Who’d have thought it would be so useful when Ben suggested it?’
‘I need to ask you about some payments out of the joint bank account you and Rosie shared. It’s something the prosecution lawyer is interested in.’
‘OK.’
‘In 2017 there was a large payment out of £25K and, in 2018, another payment of £15K. Do you have any idea what those might have been for?’
‘Can’t the police see where the money went?’
‘No.’
Debbie opened her hands wide, exposing her fleshy palms.
‘I can’t think of any big expenses we had then. We had a new kitchen, but that was four or five years ago. And the house in Florida, we’ve had for much longer. Look, Rosie used to pay all the bills and control the expenses, so I really have no idea. Is it important?’
‘It might be. Laidlaw has flagged the payments and he’ll ask you about them. What about your money?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, most people would imagine you living a very luxurious lifestyle.’
‘Like I said, we have properties overseas, for holidays, but we never used them much. We both like…liked it here. And I don’t have much money left from my footballing days. I had some bad advice about investment. I wasn’t the only one.’
‘If you remember anything that might be connected to those payments, let me know, won’t you?’
‘Sure. One thing I do have at the moment is time.’
‘Next up this morning is Rosie’s friend, Caroline, and then Rosie’s mum.’
‘I can’t wait.’
Constance gathered up her things and then put them down again.
‘When I asked you where you went, when you left Rosie’s house, you told me that you went home to change and then on to your training. Do you remember that?’
‘Yes.’
‘The tracker on your phone says something different.’
‘Oh.’
‘It says you went to an address in Angel and that you were there from 3.15 to 4.45 and then you went to your training. Where did you go?’
‘I don’t remember.’ Debbie closed her mouth and turned her head away.
‘I can get the exact address with a little digging around, but I have so many things to do, it would be much better if you just told me.’
‘It’s nothing to do with any of this, with Rosie, anything.’
‘So why can’t you tell me?’
‘If I say where I went…please leave it alone. Trust me. It’s not important.’
Debbie’s eyes were suddenly filled with tears.
‘It might help your defence.’
‘No, it won’t.’
‘It might provide another person testifying to what you were wearing that day or confirming what time you arrived.’
‘The police have already said I might have hidden the clothes somewhere and they don’t know what time Rosie died.’
‘Lynn Harris says you were wearing a coat. If someone else would say you had your tracksuit on, there wouldn’t have been time for you to clean it, not with the football and the police arriving. It would be a big plus point. Would the person you visited remember what you wore that day?’
Debbie swallowed and wiped her face.
‘Is it someone you weren’t supposed to be seeing?’
‘Just because I’m on trial, doesn’t give you or anyone else the right to dig into every aspect of my private life. I am telling you that I don’t want you to try and find out where I went and you should respect my wishes. God knows, no one else is.’
‘All right. I’ll leave it alone for now. But I can’t guarantee someone else won’t find out. Everyone is looking for a new way to make the headlines.’
* * *
The crowd outside court had swelled from the few early birds, keen to grab a pitch, to a large troop. The ‘Trans Rights are Human Rights’ contingent numbered at least fifty, possibly more, and today they had a new banner; ‘Trans-parent not Trans-phobic’. The ‘Silence Hides Violence’ group was at a similar level, but was increasing at a faster rate. The football supporters were nowhere to be seen today. Two or three journalists were taking photographs and stopping to talk to the crowd, nodding animatedly.
Constance looked out at the sea of faces, their anger simmering just below the surface. She called Judith on her mobile, her hands shaking. It wasn’t like Judith to cut things so fine; she was usually here well ahead of the start. Of course, it was always possible that Judith had gone ahead, while she was talking to Debbie downstairs. When she received no response, Constance messaged Judith make sure you come in the back way today before heading off for court.
* * *
Judith did a double-take when Judge Nolan faced her that morning; something unusual had happened to the judge’s eyebrows overnight. They appeared at least twice as thick as the day before and stood out, almost to the exclusion of everything else on her face. Judith’s hands went up to her own eyebrows, tracing a line with her finger along their length. Then she looked out into the public gallery, searching its rows systematically. Finally, when Constance tucked herself in, she gave her only a cursory nod, before turning back towards the judge.
‘I need to let you all know that, in addition to the two changes to our jury which occurred yesterday, one of our jurors,’ at this point Judge Nolan paused and stared at Laidlaw and Judith in turn, ‘has been taken ill and has been excused. We are going to continue the trial with eleven jurors. Let’s start, shall we?’
Caroline Fleming entered the court room noisily, her heels tapping their way across the floor, her pencil skirt restricting her stride, so that she had to haul herself up into the witness box. Her blond hair was cut short and her pale blue t-shirt emphasised her tiny waist.
‘Miss Fleming, you were a close friend of Rosie’s.’ Laidlaw was back, bouncing around energetically at the start of the third day of the trial. Judith noticed the ring was still absent, but he had pulled his gown up short over his arms, to expose his cuff links and a brash, gold timepiece.
‘We’ve known each other since college. I sat next to Rosie on the first day. She was wearing red shoes and I liked her straightaway.’ Caroline tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
‘What college was that?’
‘London School for Performing Arts. Rosie was good; she couldn’t dance much, but she could sing and act.’
‘And do you know her…do you know the defendant?’
‘Rosie met Danny – he was Danny then – near the end of our first year. We went out a bit together, although it was hard because he was already quite famous.’
‘Did you get on with Danny?’
‘I didn’t talk to him that much. He was really into Rosie, that was clear. He used to send her huge boxes of flowers, that kind of thing.’
‘How close were you and Rosie over the last, say, five years?’
‘Well, it’s funny. We had lost touch a bit, we were both so busy. But when she and Debbie separated, she called me and we met up and then we became much more close.’
‘What did Rosie tell you about Debbie?’
Caroline Fleming looked down at her hands. Then she stared at the camera and then the judge.
‘Do I have to answer that question?’ she asked.
‘You do. If we stray too far from relevant matters, I will intervene,’ Judge Nolan confirmed.
‘I just think it’s not fair to ask me. I didn’t like Debbie much, when she was Danny. I think that’s maybe part of why we didn’t stay in touch. Rosie knew I wasn’t keen.’
‘Was there anything in particular that made you dislike Debbie?’
‘It was stupid. We were just kids, I suppose. But that kind of thing you don’t forget easily.’
‘What kind of thing?’
‘We were out once in the local park, a whole load of us. And there was this cat, pretty thing, black with one white paw, it was. We were all stroking it, making a fuss. Then these two dogs came running over, no owner in sight. They cornered the cat.’ Caroline grimaced and bit her fulsome bottom lip.
‘And what happened?’
‘They killed it, tore it to pieces. It was horrible.’
‘And what did the defendant do?’
‘Danny just laughed. That’s the thing. He thought it was funny. Then he saw how horrified we all were, Rosie was almost hysterical, so he pretended he was upset too and hugged her and took her away. But I’d seen what he was really like and I never forgot.’
Laidlaw shook his head sympathetically. Constance glanced at Debbie.
‘And when you caught up a couple of years ago?’ Laidlaw continued.
‘Rosie confided in me, said Danny had left her. She said she didn’t know what to do.’
‘She said Danny had left her?’
‘She said she’d been understanding about the…surgery and everything. That she had stayed with him even though they didn’t…they didn’t share a bed any longer. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted a new life.’
‘And how did that make her feel?’
‘Used, thrown away, worthless. She felt that all those years of working at a relationship, those shared experiences…she said she couldn’t even enjoy her memories anymore.’
‘And she mentioned money?’
‘She said her money was all tied up in the houses they had bought, that Danny hadn’t paid for things, kept saying he would, but then she’d get the reminders and then final notices. She was really stressed about it.’
‘Did Rosie ever say that Danny had been violent towards her?’
‘She said that they had huge rows about what to do, that when she told him about the bills, he said she earned enough herself to pay them. And she was scared of him.’
‘She told you that?’
‘She didn’t have to. She would shake when she mentioned his name. She told me he’d changed a lot since he began his treatment...’
‘When you say treatment, what do you mean?’
‘His gender reassignment treatment, to become a woman. She said it changed him.’
There was a burst of laughter from the public gallery, which Judge Nolan silenced with a stern glare.
‘His personality, I mean. She said he used to be so chilled. Now he was always on the edge. She didn’t know who he was any more.’
* * *
Judith flicked through her notes, before finding her place and rising to her feet.
‘Miss Fleming. I wanted to clarify a few things you just told the court. Is that all right?’ Judith asked.
‘Of course.’
‘What did you do after college?’
‘I did some modelling work. Now I’m in PR.’
‘Did you want to be a performer?’
‘I decided it wasn’t for me, after all. I didn’t finish the course.’
‘Rosie stayed and you dropped out?’ Judith’s voice descended at least an octave, in sympathy with Caroline Fleming.
‘Yes, but I don’t see what this has to do with anything?’
‘Neither do I, Ms Burton, please move on.’ Judge Nolan’s newly-pencilled eyebrows reinforced her displeasure.
‘I’m interested, next, in the extent of your friendship with Rosie. You shared a flat together for a short time, before you dropped out, is that right?’
Caroline paused before answering. Clearly the term ‘dropped out’ offended her.
‘Yes,’ she replied crisply.
‘But you moved out, even before you left college?’
‘I got a better offer from some other friends, that’s all.’
‘It wasn’t because you and Rosie had fallen out?’
‘No.’ Caroline’s eyes wandered the court room.
‘Miss Fleming. You seem a little uncertain. You have told us already that your friendship had lapsed. Do you want to qualify your last answer at all?’
‘I’m fine,’ she said curtly.
‘Isn’t it true – and I can bring in some of your contemporaries if you dispute this, so I ask you to think hard about this question before you reply. Isn’t it true that you liked Danny? In fact, he approached you first, before Rosie, and that you resented the fact that they had become close? And that once their relationship blossomed, you were jealous?’
‘It wasn’t like that,’ Caroline’s voice was calm, but her eyes were wide. ‘I didn’t want to be in a house with people gazing into each other’s eyes all the time and closed bedroom doors. I preferred to live with friends. That’s all.’
‘And you say that you recently rekindled your friendship and that Rosie confided in you many personal things. Did she tell you that Debbie had been violent towards her?’
‘Not in words but, like I said, she couldn’t even mention Debbie’s name without shaking. And she said they had huge rows.’
‘Yes, you’ve said. You’ve interpreted huge rows to mean violence towards her. Is that right?’
‘Yes.’
‘I suggest that huge rows can mean different things to different people. My instructing solicitor and I are inclined to have huge rows from time to time, about professional matters, but we’ve certainly never laid a finger on each other. All we really mean by that terminology, is that we’ve had a robust exchange of views. And, in Rosie Harper’s case, she was a fiercely intelligent woman, managing a challenging workload and bringing up two children.
‘Likewise, Debbie Mallard is known to be a plain speaker. It would not surprise me to know that, if they disagreed about something – these two strong personalities, with competing priorities – then they might have had a mental tussle, a “war of words”, a vigorous altercation. That doesn’t mean that either of them bullied the other or threatened the other or raised a hand to the other, though, does it?’
‘From what Rosie said and how she said it, I believed he hit her.’
‘I see. You told Mr Laidlaw that, in your regenerated friendship, Rosie confided in you about her lack of intimacy with her former husband. That doesn’t sound like the notoriously private Rosie Harper I’ve heard about through other witnesses. I’m wondering how well you really did know her?’
‘We became close. She didn’t have anyone else to talk to.’ Caroline’s words were candid, but now her eyes narrowed into two slits.
‘What are Rosie’s children called?’ Judith stood back from her lectern.
Caroline stared at Judith and then darted a quick glance out to the public gallery.
‘Her daughter is…Laura,’ Caroline stammered.
‘And…’
Silence. Judith moved to her right to block Caroline’s field of vision and, when that didn’t work, she waved her arm to grab Caroline’s attention.
‘Did you forget her son, Ben?’
‘Yes, just nerves, Ben. That’s it.’
‘And can you describe the kitchen at Rosie’s house?’
‘The kitchen, no. Well, we always met out somewhere, for a meal or a drink. I didn’t go to the house.’
‘You went out for meals together. Was that often?’
‘Fairly.’
‘Can you tell us anything Rosie liked to eat? Did she have a favourite kind of food?’
‘She liked Italian food.’
‘Italian! Osso bucco, tagliatelle. Did she have a favourite dish?’
‘Spaghetti Bolognese…she liked spaghetti Bolognese.’
Judith paused before inclining her body just slightly towards the jury. ‘Rosie had been vegetarian for the last seven years of her life,’ she said. ‘I put it to you that you and Rosie were not at all close.’
‘We were.’
‘That you have manufactured this…re-kindling so that you can come here today and tell a load of untruths.’
‘No.’
‘This story about the cat, that Mr Laidlaw had to drag from you. It’s straight from a storybook.’
‘Your honour, Ms Burton keeps telling her own stories rather than asking questions.’ Laidlaw was crouching to deliver his remonstration, which was noticeably less forceful than his previous interventions.
‘I apologise your honour. I was carried away for a moment, with the creative elements of Miss Fleming’s narrative. I put it to you, Miss Fleming, that your story about a nineteen-year old Danny Mallard, wallowing in the dismembering of a domestic cat is a total fabrication, dredged up to make the jury believe Debbie is capable of cruelty and violence, when there isn’t any real evidence of this.’
‘No. It’s true.’ Caroline’s shoulders were thrown back and she was, again, searching the court room for reassurance.
‘Who is she looking for?’ Constance scribbled Judith a hasty note. Judith read it and dropped it into her pocket. She had a fair idea who it might be, but she was now poised, herself, to go in for the kill and she drew herself up to her full height in preparation.
‘But there is a reason why you came up with this story, this fiction about a cat, designed to show the defendant in an unsavoury light, isn’t there?’ Judith continued, ‘Together with the rest of your storyline. You haven’t just made it up on the spot this morning.’
Caroline closed her mouth tight and the corners drooped. Jeremy Laidlaw half-stood again and gestured to Judge Nolan with a shake of his head. Judge Nolan leaned forwards in Judith’s direction and cupped a hand over her ear. Judith tried to focus, but she could already foresee a whole series of memes which would follow from the freeze frame. She opened her briefcase and took out a newspaper.
‘Your honour, I have here an advance copy of this week’s Sunday Mirror magazine. On page four there is an interview with Miss Fleming, which sets out her views on all the matters she has put forward in evidence this morning, and more. If I could approach the bench, I could share it with you.’
Judge Nolan nodded and Judith hurried forwards, with Laidlaw in hot pursuit. The judge grabbed the magazine, read through the article and her face turned purple.
‘Turn the cameras off,’ she shouted at no one in particular.
One usher came scuttling towards her. ‘All of them?’ he asked.
‘Yes, all of them! And clear my courtroom. Everybody out…except Counsel. You stay put.’
Caroline hovered halfway down from the witness box, swaying backwards and forwards, unsure whether she was included in the blanket command to leave or the more limited instruction to remain.
‘Miss Fleming, you should wait outside too, please, as we will resume once I have spoken to Counsel,’ Judge Nolan continued. ‘You remain under oath and must not discuss your evidence with any person, or you will be in contempt of court. Is that clear?’
* * *
‘Did you know about this?’ Judge Nolan asked Laidlaw, when the public had left, brandishing the magazine like a victor’s flag and breathing heavily through flared nostrils.
‘Absolutely not,’ he replied.
‘And how did you get an advance copy?’ She turned her attention to Judith.
‘I was handed an envelope containing the magazine as I arrived at court this morning. I don’t know who sent it, presumably someone who works for the newspaper, and I only had time to open it, shortly before we began.’
‘Are you saying this means Miss Fleming has perjured herself?’
‘I can’t say that for certain, your honour, although I think she has tacitly accepted, already, that some of her earlier testimony was overstated, but that may be the full extent of it. Clearly, we can give her the opportunity to explain when she returns. But it must cast considerable doubt on her overall credibility.’
‘Was she paid for this story?’
‘Undoubtedly.’
‘Mr Laidlaw. Did you not explain to your witnesses, to all prosecution witnesses, that they must not speak to the press for the duration of the trial?’
‘Of course, your honour. And I had no reason to doubt the veracity of this witness, or any other, for that matter. I expect the pressures of this particular case might have proved too tempting, on this rare occasion. It is still not, as Ms Burton accepts, evidence of lying under oath.’
Judge Nolan sat back.
‘How did you find her, this Caroline Fleming?’
‘Your honour, you know I can’t divulge…’
‘You choose this moment to remember the extent of your professional duties.’ She banged her hand down on the desk. ‘The world is watching this trial, you know that?’ Her eyelids flickered.
‘Yes, your honour,’ both Counsel nodded.
‘Everything we say or do. We were chosen as one of the first cases, to showcase the best of our justice system. Both of you, I expect you to be very careful with anyone you bring into my courtroom. I don’t want liars giving evidence or people who just want to be famous. I want witnesses who can help us get at the truth. For God’s sake, we have a dead woman here, a good woman. We owe her more than this!’
‘Yes, your honour.’
‘Mr Laidlaw, Mr Nimble is a barrister in your chambers, isn’t he?’
‘Yes, your honour.’
‘Well, I should like to see him here tomorrow morning bright and early, say 8.30am, to discuss the press coverage of this trial. Can you tell him that, please?’
‘Yes, your honour.’
‘Now, when we reconvene, we have the opportunity to make it clear to the jury that Miss Fleming’s evidence is unreliable. And from now on, if there is anything that you know, or of which you become aware, during the course of this trial, which you feel puts its fairness in doubt, which compromises our justice system in any way, then I expect to be the first person to know about it, in advance, in private. Not in the media and not in my court room! Is that understood?’
* * *
After a thirty-minute hiatus, the public and press shuffled back into court. Caroline Fleming was restored to the witness box, but she was pale and downcast. Constance used the cover of the noise to snatch a few words with Judith.
‘What did Judge Nolan say?’ Constance asked.
‘That we have to vet our witnesses and make sure they’re all telling the truth. Other than employing a mind reader, I’m not sure how we’re supposed to do that,’ Judith replied.
‘And are you going to make Caroline retract her evidence?’
‘I’m thinking about it.’
‘You must, mustn’t you?’
‘I have a better plan,’ Judith said. ‘Oh, don’t look so worried.’
* * *
‘Yes. Please continue Ms Burton.’ Judge Nolan reconvened the proceedings with a regal wave, as if her outburst had never occurred.
Judith looked at Caroline, then at Debbie and then at Judge Nolan.
‘I have no further questions for this witness,’ she said.
Judge Nolan raised her embellished eyebrows. ‘You have no further questions for this witness?’ she repeated.
‘No, thank you, your honour.’ Judith shook her head, just to make her point crystal-clear.
‘Miss Fleming, you are free…’
‘I have a question.’ Judge Nolan’s booming voice cut through Laidlaw’s release of his witness. Laidlaw looked at Judith. Judith ignored him. Constance shifted in her seat.
‘Miss Fleming. Did you give an interview to the Sunday Mirror, to be published this coming Sunday, in which you described matters on which you have been giving evidence today in court?’ Judge Nolan said.
‘Yes.’ Caroline’s face was now pale yellow.
‘Were you remunerated in any way for the interview?’
‘I was.’
‘How much were you paid?’
Caroline fidgeted with a tiny, diamante earring.
‘Sixteen thousand pounds,’ she said.
There was a low muttering in the court, which was silenced when the judge waved her hand over them all.
‘And when you were interviewed, were you asked, in particular, if you could “remember” and I use the word in the loosest possible sense, any salacious stories about the defendant, Debbie Mallard?’
‘I…that doesn’t make what I said untrue,’ Caroline pouted miserably.
‘But it makes you an unreliable witness in my court room and I will direct the jury accordingly,’ Judge Nolan replied. ‘And I urge the police to look carefully at what you have said here today and to draw the appropriate conclusions. I will not have people lying in my court room! Mr Laidlaw, you may now release your witness.’
* * *
‘That was a bit risky, wasn’t it?’ Constance asked Judith, once they were in the sanctuary of their breakout room.
Judith sat down and eased off her shoes, one by one. ‘I needed to show it was all made up, the money trouble, the violence, the cat.’
‘It would have been safer just to ask her.’
‘There was no reason for me to cross-examine Caroline further. I was at a high point. She said she never liked Danny, I’d dropped the hint she fancied him herself, she accepted that Rosie never said Debbie hurt her and I’d made my point, which was that she made the whole mutilated cat story up to manufacture an exclusive for the press.
‘Then the judge threw a tantrum, which reinforced for the jury that Caroline had done something pretty bad. Why would I give Caroline any opportunity to explain or come back with further negative things about Debbie? And, if I may say so, it worked even better than I planned because, first of all, Laidlaw was so shocked he forgot to re-examine, or maybe he realised what a liability his witness was and that he needed to get rid of her before she did more damage, and then the judge herself called Caroline out as an unreliable witness. I thought it was text-book, better than text-book, a masterclass.’
‘How did you know Judge Nolan would come down on her so heavily?’
‘I knew Judge Nolan was all fired up, wanted to show everyone that she was in control, especially given all the criticism from yesterday.’
‘I didn’t see that.’
‘Is that because you were too busy watching TV? I read it in the Mail Online, I think. They called her the “Red Queen” like in Alice in Wonderland. You know, off with her head! because she switched off the cameras. They were really scathing. Then the Guardian got David Benson to comment that he expected co-operation from all parts of the justice system. Poor Bridget. Not sure she deserved that disparagement. But, knowing that she was likely to be more sensitive than usual as a result, I used my judgement, as I always do. God knows what they’ll say now she did it a second time.’
‘Whatever you say. You’re the boss.’
Judith paused with a shoe still in her hand. Constance didn’t usually challenge her methods so directly and especially not when things were going well.
‘You know that’s not how I see us, Connie,’ she said. ‘We are a team. And we have Rosie’s mother this afternoon. I need you onside.’
‘It doesn’t matter what I say, you just do what you want.’
‘That’s not true. I listened to you about the glove. I ran with it despite my reservations, and I’m still not certain it was the right thing to do. But I can’t go back now and ask Caroline any more questions, even if I wanted to, so let’s move on. What exactly do you want me to do next? Go on. I am listening.’
Constance pulled a can of lychee water from her bag, opened it and took a gulp.
‘All right. Here’s what I think,’ she said. ‘Go easy on Mrs Harper. She’s lost her daughter. It was acceptable with Caroline to push her around, especially once you knew about the Mirror interview, but the public will hate you if you interrogate Mrs Harper the same way.’
‘This shouldn’t be about what the public thinks of me. I’ve told you. I’m not changing my ways.’
‘Well it is now. You’ve seen that. You and Laidlaw, with Andy Chambers’ commentary. They analyse your every move – how you ask your questions, if you’re trying to trip up the witnesses, if you’re bullying them!’
Judith sighed, then she began to massage her foot. ‘I agree with everything you just said about Elaine Harper, but I can’t promise to go soft on her. It all depends what she says in the box. If she’s bland, I’ll follow suit. But if she’s poisonous, you can’t expect me to let it go. I’ll have to challenge her hard.’
‘I understand.’
‘Is there something else that’s bothering you?’ Judith asked.
Constance pouted. How could she tell Judith that she was cross that the Caroline Fleming article had been handed directly to Judith, bypassing her? Judith was the face of the defence, to the outside world, so it wasn’t surprising. Even so, it made her feel inconsequential.
‘Do you know why we’ve lost another juror?’ she asked, changing the subject, to give herself time to stifle her disappointment.
‘You mean on top of the two women who Bridget worried might get nobbled?’
‘Yes. I don’t even remember who it was.’
‘Young guy, blue shirt, second left. It seems that he had been checking the internet in all the breaks and one of the other jurors told on him. That’s why he’s gone and “now there are only eleven”. He wasn’t ill, just in big trouble. Apparently, Bridget then read the rest of them the riot act about contempt of court. I heard it from her clerk.’
‘Poor Judge Nolan. She must wish she’d taken a sabbatical too.’
‘I warned her about them keeping their devices, not that it did me any good. I suspect she’ll think I’m smug about all this and come down on us even harder.’
‘Not that you are…smug or anything.’
‘I don’t like the word smug. I prefer to say that I predicted, with accuracy, what was likely to occur.’
‘Can we move on from this to talk about the money trouble motive?’
‘I’m not one to gloat.’
‘It just doesn’t add up.’
‘What did Debbie say?’
‘She says she doesn’t know anything about the payments out of Rosie’s account, claimed Rosie looked after their finances, that she doesn’t have much money of her own, which is probably not very helpful to know.’
‘Maybe, go and see Jason Fenwick, again. See if you can find out what Rosie was paid and if he knows what those payments might have been. I’m sure he’s dying to help, in any way he can.’
Constance opened her laptop and began tapping away. They didn’t speak for some minutes.