Unofficial and Deniable

by John Gordon Davis

  ‘“Not really”?’ Charlie echoed. ‘And you say you’re not prejudiced? And because the deceased had died under unusual circumstances, you sent an investigator down to the Caribbean to check it out. But that is your company’s standard practice in unusual cases, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes,’ Mayton admitted.

  ‘Yes. So there was nothing sinister in Mr Jefferson, your investigator, being sent to investigate. And similarly when the defendant asked you what procedures he had to follow to claim the insurance, there was nothing sinister in that either, it was a perfectly normal question? He was far from home, he was upset – as you’ve said you would expect – something had to be done about this insurance and he simply wanted to know, as a responsible person, what he had to do about it. Not so?’

  ‘I suppose so,’ Mr Mayton said uncomfortably.

  ‘Thank you,’ old Charlie beamed. He sat down.

  Ed Vance stood up.

  ‘No re-examination, your honour. I call my next witness, Doctor Lawrence Ross.’

  Dr Lawrence Ross was a large man with thinning red hair, friendly blue eyes and freckles. Led by Vance, he told the court that he was one of the medical doctors retained by Manufacturers Life Insurance Company in New York, and that on June 6 1996 he medically examined Josephine Valentine Harker and found her in perfect health. He produced his written report as Exhibit Two. He analysed her blood and found that she belonged to Group B.

  Charlie Benson rose stiffly to cross-examine. ‘Doctor Ross,’ he smiled, ‘good morning, and thank you for coming all the way from New York to assist us.’

  ‘You’re welcome.’

  ‘Doctor,’ Charlie said, ‘just in case the jury don’t know: Group B is a very common blood group, isn’t it?’

  ‘Very common.’

  ‘In fact, possibly half the people in this courtroom are Group B, even our friend Mr Vance?’

  ‘Quite possibly.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Charlie beamed. He sat down.

  Edgar Goldman was a compact, neat, Jewish gentleman in a dark suit. ‘Mr Goldman,’ Vance said, ‘are you an attorney practising law in New York?’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘Did you know the deceased in this case, Josephine Valentine Harker?’

  ‘I did. She was a client of mine. I last saw her on the sixth of June when she came to my office accompanied by her husband, the defendant. The deceased said she and the defendant wanted to make new wills. I did hers first. It left certain small specific bequests to certain friends, the balance of her estate to her new husband, the defendant. I prepared the will there and then and she signed it in the presence of two witnesses, members of my staff.’ He opened a file and produced a sheaf of papers. ‘This is the will in question.’

  Vance said, ‘I put that in as Exhibit Three. Then what happened?’

  ‘I then prepared the defendant’s will. He left everything to Josephine.’ He produced a document from his file. ‘This is the defendant’s will.’

  ‘I put that in as Exhibit Four, your honour. Now, did you see the defendant and the deceased again?’

  ‘I did, some three weeks later. The defendant explained that he owned fifty-one per cent of the shares in Harvest House, those shares being in a holding company called Neptune, registered in the Cayman Islands, and that Josephine wished to buy most of them, namely forty-nine per cent, leaving him owning only two per cent of Harvest. They had agreed on a price. So for simplicity I drew up two contracts of sale: in the first contract the defendant sold Neptune to Josephine for two million two hundred thousand dollars; in the second, Josephine sold to the defendant two per cent of Harvest House shares.’ He held up two documents. ‘These are the contracts.’

  Vance said, ‘I put those in as Exhibits Five and Six, your honour. So the result was that Josephine now owned forty-nine per cent of Harvest, the defendant two per cent. But who owned the other forty-nine per cent?’

  ‘The defendant explained that the other forty-nine per cent was owned by a trust company called Westminster NV registered in the Netherlands’ Antilles, which as you know, is a tax haven jurisdiction that maintains strict secrecy. The shareholders in Westminster are anonymous.’

  ‘But the defendant and Josephine between them, with their respective shareholdings, controlled Harvest.’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘And now Josephine is dead, the defendant inherits her shares and he will control Harvest all over again.’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Vance sat down.

  Charlie stood up and turned to the witness. ‘Good morning, Mr Goldman. Now, as a lawyer, please explain to the jury what effect marriage has upon a will.’

  Goldman turned to the jury. ‘When somebody marries, his or her will is automatically revoked. So, to avoid intestacy, people should make a new will immediately after their marriage. If he or she fails to do so they will die intestate.’

  ‘So there was nothing unusual about the deceased and the defendant coming along to you and making new wills in each other’s favour as they had just got married, was there?’

  ‘Nothing at all,’ Goldman agreed.

  ‘Nothing sinister.’

  ‘Nothing sinister at all.’

  ‘And the same applies to the question of the sale of Harvest shares to Josephine doesn’t it, Mr Goldman? There is nothing unusual in a businessman placing some or even all of his assets in his wife’s name, is there?’

  ‘No,’ Goldman agreed.

  ‘It’s quite normal for a man to rearrange his estate after marriage, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, that’s correct.’

  ‘Even,’ Charlie said, ‘if the wife buys the assets that the husband transfers to her, to enable him to do other important things with the money. Nothing unusual or sinister in that, is there?’

  ‘No,’ Goldman agreed.

  ‘And, in fact, isn’t it true that Josephine was eager to buy those Harvest shares because the defendant had decided to sell to an outsider and she had persuaded the defendant to sell to her instead because she wanted Harvest to remain in the family, as a family business?’

  ‘I believe that’s so.’

  ‘And Harvest is a very sound family business, isn’t it?’

  ‘Very sound.’

  ‘So Josephine made a perfectly good investment?’

  ‘Perfectly good.’

  ‘Nothing underhand at all about the defendant’s behaviour?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘And similarly,’ Charlie said, ‘there is nothing unusual or sinister in this offshore trust company called Westminster owning the other forty-nine per cent of Harvest. Nothing sinister in the Westminster shareholders being anonymous. That sort of thing happens all the time, perfectly legally, doesn’t it?’

  ‘All the time,’ Goldman agreed.

  ‘And if my young learned friend –’ Charlie pointed at Vance – ‘suggests otherwise he is talking balderdash and displaying his abysmal ignorance?’

  ‘Your honour!’ Vance appealed, leaping to his feet.

  ‘Thank you.’ Charlie smiled at the witness and sat down happily.

  Judge Ludman glowered around. ‘Time for lunch. Court will adjourn until two p.m. sharp.’ He added: ‘And I mean sharp.’

  ‘All rise,’ the court orderly intoned.

  Everyone stood as the old man stomped out irritably.

  Charlie and Luke took three of the Pickle Barrel’s excellent hamburgers down to the holding cells below the court-house. They ate them with Harker in one of the consultation rooms.

  ‘What do you think?’ Harker demanded.

  Old Charlie unwrapped his hamburger. ‘Harmless stuff so far,’ he said with his reassuring smile. ‘Formalities. I got rid of the bullshit, that’s all. Advance’s innuendoes that taking out insurance and making new wills was sinister.’ Charlie bit into his hamburger and continued, with his mouth full, ‘But now the heavier evidence begins. But,’ he put his hand on Harker’s wrist, ‘it won’t add up to a conviction. O
r if it does, it’ll go out the window on appeal. Luke?’

  Luke nodded as he chewed.

  ‘And what do you think of this jury?’ Harker demanded.

  Old Charlie chewed. ‘Most juries are fools,’ he said. ‘That’s the beauty of our justice system – the decisions are taken out of the hands of lawyers and placed in the hands of fools. Hallelujah! If you did the same thing with the medical profession, half the world would be dead, but we trust juries with the electric chair.’ He grinned. ‘I wouldn’t change it for worlds. It makes the practice of law such fun.’ He pointed upwards at the courtrooms. ‘Those people up there are such fun …’

  42

  ‘I call Doris Johnston, your honour,’ Vance intoned.

  Doris Johnston, a large, black woman with an enormous bosom, dressed in heavy navy-blue uniform, entered the courtroom like a galleon in full sail. She billowed across to the witness box and sat down. She took the oath.

  ‘Mrs Johnston,’ Vance began, ‘are you a superintendent in the Immigration Department of the British Virgin Islands, in Road Town, Tortola?’

  ‘I am the superintendent.’

  ‘Thank you. What time do you start work in the mornings?’

  ‘Eight o’clock sharp.’

  ‘Now, where were you just before eight o’clock on seventh of September this year?’

  ‘I was walkin’ along the bayfront road towards my office, when I noticed a yacht at anchor about sixty yards off. I noticed it because it was the only vessel in the bay, all the rest being moored in the marina.’

  ‘Now, can you see the bay from your personal office in the Immigration building?’

  ‘Yessir, best office in the buildin’, your honour. An’ I continued to notice said boat at anchor during the mornin’, an’ at times I noticed a man movin’ about on her.’

  ‘What time was it when you first noticed a man moving about on her?’

  ‘About noon, sir. An’ at two o’clock I saw him come to shore in his dinghy. I expected him to walk straight to my building to check in but he didn’t. He disappeared from view. It was about an hour later, at three o’clock, that he came to my department with his ship’s documents and checks in. I asks him how come he took so long and he said he’d been sleepin’. But I notice the smell of liquor on his breath, your honour.’

  ‘And who was this man?’

  Doris Johnston pointed dramatically across the courtroom. ‘Him. The defendant.’

  ‘Very well,’ Vance said. ‘Now did he have to fill in some kind of arrival form, giving his details?’

  ‘Yessir. This is it.’ She held it up importantly. ‘Under his signature.’

  ‘I put that in as Exhibit Seven, your honour. Now, what did he give as his last port of call?’

  ‘Nassau, Bahamas. Said he left there seven days earlier.’

  ‘Did you ask him for his Departure Form, the port clearance form from the Nassau authorities?’

  ‘I sure did, sir. He said he did not know he had to have one. So, as standin’ orders require, I ordered him to return to Nassau to get aforesaid document. He appeared very surprised, then said okay, he would fly back there to get it. So I stamped him in, on his passport, but the legality of his boat was subject to aforesaid condition.’

  ‘Is this his passport, with your stamp in it?’

  ‘Yessir.’

  ‘I put that in as Exhibit Eight, your honour. Now, did he also have to fill in a form called a Crew List, providing the names of all crew aboard?’

  ‘He did.’ Doris Johnston held up another document. ‘In his own handwritin’.’

  ‘I put that in as Exhibit Nine. Read that crew list, please, and tell us the names on it.’

  ‘Just his own name, as captain. And Josephine Valentine Harker, as mate.’

  ‘Josephine was on as mate,’ Vance repeated. ‘As if she was aboard. Now, did you ask him where Josephine was?’

  ‘I did. ‘Cos all crew gotta report to me, with their passports. The defendant –’ she pointed– ‘presented Josephine’s passport along with his, for stamping. I said, “Where’s Josephine?” He said, “Must she come in person?” I said, “Yes!” So I stamped his passport and told him to bring Josephine.’

  ‘And, did he ever come back?’

  ‘No, he did not.’

  ‘He never came back …’ Vance mused softly for the jury’s benefit. ‘Thank you.’ He sat down.

  Charlie stood up to cross-examine.

  ‘Mrs Johnston, good afternoon to you.’

  Mrs Johnston looked suspicious. ‘What?’

  ‘Never mind. Now, when the defendant came into your office to report you were annoyed with him for not coming earlier, not so?’

  ‘His legal duty is first to report to me, not go gallivantin’ roun’ town.’

  ‘Quite,’ Charlie said. ‘So, when he came to check in with you, late, you were annoyed?’

  ‘Me, annoyed? Never. Why should I be?’

  ‘Because he had been disrespectful by not coming straight to you.’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘You thought he had been gallivanting around town when he should have come straight to your department?’

  Mrs Johnston snorted. ‘Of course he shoulda come straight to me! It’s the law.’

  ‘Right. Same as any airport – you have to check through Immigration first, before you go’n do your gallivanting. Right?’

  ‘Right,’ Mrs Johnston agreed suspiciously.

  ‘Especially in Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands?’

  ‘Right,’ Mrs Johnston said suspiciously.

  ‘Right. And that’s why you subsequently telephoned your cousin, Police Commissioner Joshua Humphrey, to discuss the matter in depth, when the defendant never came back to you despite your orders.’

  Mrs Johnston looked at Charlie. ‘Anythin’ wrong with that?’

  Charlie gave his perfect enamel smile. ‘And when you heard that Josephine was missing you told your cousin you were sure the defendant was guilty as sin, didn’t you?’

  Mrs Johnston scowled. ‘What of it?’ she demanded.

  ‘In fact you told many people your opinion.’

  ‘What of it?’

  ‘In fact the whole town was talking about it?’

  ‘So?’

  ‘It was hot gossip.’

  ‘Weren’t gossip – it was fact,’ Mrs Johnston proclaimed.

  ‘Ah. Your opinion was fact? And you told ’em the fact that the defendant had no port clearance from Nassau?’

  ‘So?’

  ‘Yes or no, please.’

  ‘Yes. So?’

  ‘And you told ’em, and your cousin, Joshua Humphrey, the fact that you had ordered the defendant to return to Nassau to get the port clearance document.’

  ‘Sure. That a crime?’

  Charlie smiled widely. ‘Now, turning to this crew list, Exhibit Nine: you’ve told us that he presented Josephine’s passport but you told him that she had to come in person. Right?’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘But you had also told him that he had to go back to the Bahamas to get his port clearance papers. Right?’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘Now,’ Charlie said, smiling, changing tack, ‘you said you smelt liquor on the defendant’s breath. Must have smelt strongly, huh?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Strong smell of drink. And did he not also appear exhausted? Red-eyed? Haggard?’

  ‘His eyes were red some,’ Mrs Johnston said guardedly. ‘And he sure needed a shave. Dunno about the haggard.’

  ‘Exhausted?’

  ‘Dunno. Maybe.’

  ‘Drunk? Would you have let him drive your car?’

  Mrs Johnston shifted in her chair. ‘Guess not.’

  Charlie smiled. ‘Very well. Last question. Despite your opinion of him, and your irritation that he had been gallivanting around town before checking in with you, he was polite and cooperative with you, wasn’t he, even if he was drunk?’

  Mrs Johnston looked at him
sulkily. ‘Cain’t say he wasn’t,’ she conceded reluctantly.

  Charlie beamed. ‘Thank you. No further questions, your honour.’ He sat down.

  Harker whispered, ‘How did you know Humphrey is her cousin?’

  ‘I didn’t. But everybody’s related to everybody else down there.’

  Miss Violet Huggins was a pretty girl of about nineteen in a white summery frock which set off her mulatto complexion very well.

  ‘Miss Huggins,’ Vance said, ‘are you an employee of American Express in Road Town, Tortola?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Miss Huggins said nervously.

  ‘Do you work in the front office, dealing directly with the public?’

  ‘I do, sir.’

  ‘Do you remember the seventh of September this year?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Do you know the defendant?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘How?’

  Miss Huggins wriggled, then said, ‘He came into American Express and told me he wanted to make a phone call to the US. He wrote down the number and I dialled it for him. He received the call in our sound-proof kiosk.’

  ‘Okay. What time was this?’

  ‘It was at seven minutes past two in the afternoon, sir. The number he called was Manufacturers Life Insurance Company in New York.’

  ‘What happened then?’

  ‘Then he came back to the counter and said he wanted to send a fax. He wrote it out, and I sent it for him. It was to a lawyer in New York, I think his name was Goldman or Goldstein. I didn’t read it. While I was sending it he wrote out another fax, I didn’t mean to read it but it was so short I couldn’t help it. It was to a Mr Valentine, it said words to the effect, “I regret to tell you that Josie has disappeared overboard, I will call you when I feel better.”’

  Vance repeated, pacing elegantly: ‘“I will call you …”’ He raised his eyebrows at Miss Huggins. ‘What happened then?’

  ‘Well, sir, the defendant then left. He returned the next morning at eight o’clock and asked if a fax had arrived for him from Manufacturers Life Insurance Company. I said no. He then asked for a list of flights leaving the island that day. I gave him a list and he left the office.’

  ‘Was there a flight to America that day?’

  ‘Yes, sir, to Miami. At midday.’