Zoe arrived at court ahead of her appointed time, while Dr Leigh was still giving evidence. She hung around outside, waiting to attract interest, carrying a placard bearing the printed message ‘Revenge of the Vegetables’. She was keen to take advantage of any public appearance even when, like today, it was one to which she was not looking forward. After about five minutes, a group of tourists came past and asked if she would photograph them. She lowered her sign and obliged and, impervious to her agenda, they simply thanked her and left. Then a man walking a dog encouraged it to pee against a lamp post only centimetres from where she stood.
But she was rewarded twenty minutes later when two women approached, one of them stopped, made some welcome enquiries, asked to take her photograph and agreed to post it online, with some appropriate narrative. At this point, Zoe removed her jacket to reveal a t-shirt with a print of an aubergine, sitting in a pool of purplish liquid which could have been blood. Finally, just as she was about to go inside, a journalist, who confessed he was covering another case, gave her two minutes of film time, which he said might make it onto BBC London, so she headed for the entrance to the court building on a high.
When she had finally made her way inside, without the sign – the security staff had confiscated it at the door – she’d caught sight of a young, smartly dressed woman and approached her, to ask the way to the courtroom. It hadn’t surprised her to find out that this woman was Constance, the lawyer who had called her back in April and a couple of times since. Clearly, Fate had driven them together, an omen Zoe would be unwise to ignore.
She apologised for ignoring Constance’s calls. That seemed the polite thing to do in the circumstances, and certainly now that destiny had placed Constance in her path. Then she decided to dive right in and ask something which had been bothering her for a while. ‘If I’m giving evidence for the prosecution, does that mean I think the caterer is guilty?’
She waited for a response, doing her best to continue to look contrite for having snubbed Constance previously.
‘No,’ Constance said. ‘It means the prosecution believe your evidence will help them, but it doesn’t matter what you think. You just have to answer the questions you’re asked. Don’t worry about anything else.’
Zoe was reassured by Constance’s open smile and dulcet tones. She decided then and there that she should confide in Constance. ‘There is one thing I wanted to say, though,’ she began, ‘in case they don’t ask me about it. I think it’s important. Can I…’
But Constance cut her off. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said firmly, ‘but, now you’re a prosecution witness, it’s not appropriate for me to discuss the details of your evidence with you. Talk to Mr Chambers or the prosecution solicitor. They’ll advise you.’
This was no good. This wasn’t what Zoe had planned. OK, she was prepared to be able to talk about the stuff in her statement – what Brett ate, what happened when he collapsed. And she had prepared lots of material about her blog, just in case people were interested. Her horoscope this morning had predicted ‘Fortune will come from an unexpected source’. What could be more unexpected than a criminal trial?
But she had all sorts of other things she wanted to tell, including everything which had happened since that fateful day. Brett wanted her to tell them, she was sure of it. And now Constance was saying it was too late. Why hadn’t she talked to Constance earlier, before she became ‘a prosecution witness’? And even though Constance said that didn’t mean Zoe thought the caterer was guilty, didn’t want him to go to jail, it certainly sounded like it did.
Constance smiled at her again and Zoe sensed a connection. Maybe, with Constance at her side, she could get people to understand some of the other things she had to say? The CPS solicitor hadn’t even wanted to meet her, had asked her to write out a statement and send it by email, and that’s what she’d done. And then Zoe had a brilliant idea.
‘What about afterwards?’ she asked.
‘Afterwards?’
‘Can I talk to you today, after I give my evidence?’
She saw Constance’s puzzled look, but that just spurred her on. This was it. She knew more than ever that she had to talk to Constance afterwards. It wasn’t too late, after all.
‘If you want to speak to me afterwards, that’s no problem,’ Constance said.
‘Good. I think Brett would like that,’ Zoe replied.
Zoe saw Constance do a double-take then, her eyes narrow, as if she wasn’t quite certain what she had heard, but she didn’t scoff or turn away. Another sign that Zoe had chosen wisely – again.
By the time she was called into court, Zoe felt calm. She had practised her lines over a few times. It all happened so quickly. I didn’t have a very good view. I tried not to look. That stuff should be easy. And then she would do as Constance said, just answer the question, nothing more. She would be fine. Zoning out all those people watching her, she walked across the wooden floor and climbed up into the witness box.
‘Miss Whitman. Can you tell everyone what you do for a living, please,’ Andy smiled at her. Zoe relaxed and remembered her plan, but Andy had given her a dream start.
‘I write a blog about the dangers of eating vegetables. It’s called Meat and no Veg,’ Zoe said. She saw Judith turn in Constance’s direction and Constance nod in response and then smile at her.
Judge Linton stopped tapping away at his keyboard. ‘The dangers of eating vegetables?’ he said.
Zoe kept her head and voice very still. Slowly, slowly.
‘My Lord, yes,’ she said. ‘There is so much scientific evidence that many of the vegetables we eat are bad for us, particularly staples like wheat, rice and potatoes. I make sure I give people that information on my blog – Meat and no Veg.’
She waited. The judge was clearly mulling over her words, but he stopped short of asking more questions for now. Instead, he made a note and nodded to Andy Chambers to continue.
‘Is that why Brett Ingram wanted you at his meeting?’ Andy asked.
‘I can’t say for sure, but he knew that was what I would talk about.’
‘How well did you know Mr Ingram?’
‘I’d never met him before. We’d traded messages and he read my blog.’
‘You know that?’
‘He used to comment on some of the posts.’
‘Comment in a positive way?’
‘In a questioning way. If I explained, for example, that walnuts contain phytic acids, an anti-nutrient which robs the human body of essential minerals like iron and magnesium, leaving us anaemic and nauseous, he would ask me how that occurred. I would provide the science and a link to a study.’ Zoe paused. She had practised those lines over and over and they had come out perfectly.
‘I see. But Brett Ingram sold all kinds of food, including vegetables, including vegan food.’
‘And plenty of meat too.’ Zoe smiled at Andy. He smiled back. ‘When he messaged me, he said he would try out my diet.’
‘And did he?’ Andy asked.
‘He had some other products to try first and then he said he would let me know when he started. That was only maybe two weeks before he died, so I don’t think he had got around to it yet.’
‘I see,’ Andy smiled again. ‘When did you arrive at the meeting?’
Now, here was all the stuff in her statement. She’d try to stick to it, as much as she could, but taking advantage of any opportunities to talk more about her blog – obvs. ‘I think I was the first,’ she said. ‘I like to be on time. Brett was there with Diana, his assistant.’
‘How did Mr Ingram seem?’
‘Like I said, I don’t know him, but he was friendly. He asked me about one of my latest posts, about seeds and the possibility of a lectin attack. He was very interested in it.’
‘A lectin attack?’
‘Lectins are a plant’s defence mechanism. When the plant is attacked, like when we harvest it, it takes its revenge. Then, when we eat it, lectins stick to our gut wall and they prevent vitamins and other nutrients from getting through and being digested. If that’s not enough, then they make these enormous holes in the gut, allowing bacteria in. Anyway, there’s a whole load of other bad consequences which we talked about. Brett was really interested and asked for more information.’
‘What did you eat? Presumably nothing containing seeds or walnuts?’
‘If I was there first, there was no way that beef was going to anyone else. Not till after I’d had some.’
‘And Mr Ingram?’
‘He had the beef too, when we were talking. I can’t say what else he ate.’
‘And what did he drink?’
‘There were some bottles of orange juice. And beer. Water on the table. I don’t know.’
‘Did you see the defendant, Mr Demetriou, at all?’
‘Only at the end, when I was leaving.’
‘We’ll come back to that, then. So, sticking with the meeting, you all sat down at the table at the front of the hall. What happened then?’
‘We sat down. I was right next to Brett. He stood up, started to speak. He said some pretty nice things about me, about all of us. Then, he just fell onto the table. It was so quick. I…’
‘What did you do?’
Zoe hadn’t bargained on being asked a question here, right in the middle of her pre-arranged answer. Even so, she swallowed, re-calibrated. She could do this, just answer the questions, like Constance said. ‘I…I jumped back,’ she said.
‘Why did you jump back?’
‘I was scared. I’m not really sure now. At the time, he was kind of waving his arms around and I didn’t want to get hit.’ Ah. That wasn’t what she had rehearsed. Even so, it was all right, wasn’t it? To say what she’d seen.
‘And then?’
‘I called 999, waited, told them where to come.’
‘After that?’
‘Adrian, Dr Edge, he tried to help Brett. The rest of us, we gave him space. I…I didn’t really see much. It was all very quick.’
‘And then you left?’
‘When I realised it was for real, I was in shock, I suppose. I just wanted to get away.’
‘You said you saw the defendant when you were leaving?’
She nodded at Nick. ‘Yes.’
‘What was he doing?’
‘It took me a while to get out. All the people from the hall were blocking the way. Then I saw the defendant, just ahead of me, going through this other door. I thought it might be another way out. Turned out it was the kitchen.’
‘What did you see in the kitchen?’
‘There was a waitress, packing up the food. The…defendant shouted at her to leave everything and to go.’
‘He ordered the waitress to leave?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Do you know why he ordered her to leave?’
‘He just said to go quickly. To get out.’
‘And what happened then?’
Zoe sighed. She had no clue why they were interested in any of this stuff. Still, the sooner she answered, the sooner they’d be done. ‘She left,’ Zoe said. ‘She didn’t even take off her apron. Then he started tipping food into a black bag, like a bin bag. And he was talking to himself.’
‘Did you hear what he was saying?’
‘Just kind of muttering.’
‘And then what?’
‘Then I left, through the back door. That’s it.’
‘You entered the kitchen?’
‘Entered and left as quick as I could.’
‘Did you speak to Mr Demetriou?’
‘No.’
‘Did he react when he saw you?’
‘He stopped what he was doing and stared at me. He looked kind of guilty, like hands in the cookie jar, you know.’
‘As if he had something to hide? What did you do?’
‘Like I said. I walked through as fast as I could and I left. I wasn’t hanging around any longer.’
Zoe smiled at Judith. Then she smiled at Andy. She shifted in her chair and fanned herself with her hand. The usher came over and passed her a glass of water. She thanked him and opened her jacket, revealing a substantial portion of aubergine, but not the caption.
‘Thank you,’ Andy said. ‘Wait for Ms Burton, please. She will ask you some more questions.’
Zoe saw the other lawyer in the wig, the one defending the caterer, turn around and whisper to Constance, who was seated behind her. Constance crossed the floor of the court and talked to the caterer. He seemed quite excited and when Constance left him to return to her place, she wrote a note on a piece of paper and gave it to the other lawyer. Zoe wasn’t sure what any of that meant but she knew she wasn’t done yet. She had to answer more questions. She closed her eyes and took two deep breaths. And then the prickling sensation in her fingers began.