by Peter James
Laura waited a few seconds, then with her head still tilted towards her friend, her eyes safely concealed behind her sunglasses, glanced in the direction Cassie said. A man, maybe in his forties though it was hard to tell his age from this distance, wearing a blue baseball cap, sunglasses, T-shirt and jeans was sitting alone on a bench, seemingly absorbing the atmosphere. A camera with a long lens lay on his lap.
‘Blue cap?’ she queried.
‘Maybe I’m being paranoid, but I swear I’ve seen him before. And more than once. I wasn’t going to say anything, but it’s very weird that now he’s here.’
‘We’re following a pretty common tourist route, C. Maybe he’s just in sync with us?’
‘Maybe,’ Cassie said, dubiously.
‘Maybe he has two penises?’
Cassie grinned. ‘Now, that would make him more interesting!’
‘Shall I go over to him and ask him how many he has?’
‘No way!’ She hesitated. ‘Oh, shit.’
‘What?’
‘Don’t look. He’s taking a photograph of us.’
53
Tuesday 14 May
A sturdy, confident-looking middle-aged man, with close-cropped hair, was led into court by an usher. He was dressed in a navy-blue suit, white shirt and burgundy tie and had a friendly demeanour. He entered the witness stand, stated his name when requested and took the oath as if well used to doing this.
Stephen Cork stood up. ‘Haydn Kelly, could you please tell the court your professional qualifications.’
‘Yes, of course.’ He turned to the jury. ‘I was elected Dean of the Faculty of Podiatric Surgery completing a full three-year term of office. I still have supported links with the University of Plymouth where I initially qualified before undertaking and completing my Fellowship in London. I have received university accreditation as an expert witness. I was also the founding chair of a forensic podiatry group. I have contributed to book chapters and written and compiled a textbook on Forensic Gait Analysis.’
Cork remained standing. ‘And in 2000 you created Forensic Gait Analysis. It was during July of that same year when it was first admissible as expert evidence in criminal law, at the Old Bailey, London. Is that correct?’
‘Yes, it is.’
Cork continued. ‘Could you tell the court in your own words what is Forensic Gait Analysis?’
‘In the general context, Forensic Gait Analysis is the application of gait analysis knowledge to legal matters or problems. More specifically, the identification of a person or persons by their gait or features of their gait, usually from closed-circuit television – CCTV – footage and comparison to footage of a known individual.’
Kelly cleared his throat and went on. ‘We must also appreciate that all forms of identification are based on probability and this should not be misunderstood.’
‘Thank you for clarifying that with the court. Is it also the case that you have provided expert evidence on numerous occasions, receiving instructions by counsel for the prosecution and the defence, in the UK and overseas?’
Kelly answered in the affirmative.
‘And you have given expert evidence in medico-legal matters of clinical negligence and personal injuries to the civil courts for many years. Is that also correct?’
‘Yes,’ Kelly replied.
‘And this is in addition to you having treated many thousands of patients in your years of practice, with the diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of foot, lower limb and musculoskeletal-related problems, which often involves gait analysis and biomechanical assessments?’
‘Yes, that is correct.’
‘I would now like to come, if I may, to the video footage that you have studied, and as detailed in your report provided for the court. In particular, the video CCTV footage taken in Edward Street, Kemp Town, Brighton, on the morning of Wednesday November 21st of last year, which has been shown to this court. Could you please tell us what you are able to establish from this?’
‘Firstly, the CCTV footage was examined, followed by that of the custody suite video footage. Both are of a quality that is suitable for the purpose of Forensic Gait Analysis to be undertaken. The unknown person displayed on the CCTV footage is seen walking along Edward Street and stopping at the doorway to the premises named TG Law. The person rang the doorbell and some moments later entered the premises. That individual seen on the CCTV footage displays the same distinctive and unusual features of gait as seen on the comparative footage taken of the person made known to me as Michael Starr, filmed walking in and around the police custody centre in Brighton.’
‘So, in your professional opinion as an expert in Forensic Gait Analysis, you are of the view that the person shown in the CCTV footage in Edward Street has the same distinctive features of gait as those displayed by the defendant Michael Starr recorded on the custody suite footage?’
‘Yes.’
‘From the material provided to you, is there anything that indicates otherwise?’
‘No.’
Primrose Brown rose to her feet, turning to Kelly. ‘You expect the jury to believe that the poor-quality CCTV footage, and your analysis of it, is proof that Mr Starr went into those premises that day?’
Jupp tilted his head towards the expert.
Kelly responded calmly but pointedly, a true expert witness and impartial as always, addressing first the judge, then the jury. ‘Your Honour, I’m unable to comment on other areas of expertise beyond my own – such as the field of facial recognition. In my opinion the CCTV footage and the custody suite footage are both suitable for the purposes of Forensic Gait Analysis, as I have outlined and as detailed in my report. The report provided by the defence’s gait expert also confirms the material is suitable for such purposes.’
Primrose Brown shuffled some papers. ‘Sir, you have presented your evidence that Mr Starr entered the premises of TG Law, but referring back to my earlier statement that there are ten people employed at the firm of TG Law, in addition to the defendant, are you able to tell this court, from your Forensic Gait Analysis, which of these eleven people he might – assuming you are correct in the first place – have gone to see?’
Kelly shook his head and politely replied, ‘No, madam.’
Brown looked at the witness intently. ‘Mr Kelly, is this not really pseudo-science? I suggest you are only interpreting what you have seen to support your findings. How can you be sure of its accuracy?’
Kelly replied, ‘With the greatest of respect, that is not the case, madam. Forensic Gait Analysis has and is being used in court cases. I have no doubt that by recognizing the distinctive and unusual features of gait as those displayed by Michael Starr, he is the person entering that premises.’
As Brown sat, Cork immediately stood. ‘Thank you, no further questions.’
54
Tuesday 14 May
Meg walked home from Hove station through drizzle, beneath a sky as dark and heavy as her heart. A seriously shit day in court. Her hopes had risen after the defence counsel’s attempted grilling of Haydn Kelly and the Forensic Gait Analysis evidence, but it went nowhere. Throughout the rest of the day Stephen Cork read through a stream of witness statements made by Gready’s work colleagues from November 2018.
With each one in turn denying, all equally convincingly, that they had ever met Michael Starr, the evidence against Gready was growing increasingly strong. During the lunchtime recess, and again during a brief adjournment in the afternoon, the opinionated woman juror, Gwen, had insisted that Gready must be guilty. An alarming number of her fellow jurors concurred, despite Meg’s strenuous argument that it was still far too early in the trial to form any opinion, and that there were many more witnesses to come. The arrogant woman was a real problem, she thought. A ghastly snob but, incredibly, she had the ear of most of the jury.
It was already becoming clear to Meg – without the help of Mrs Smythson – that Gready’s defence was foundering on the rocks.
What to do?
God, how she wished Nick was around. They could have discussed this together and he would have helped her to come to the right decision. He’d always been such a positive person and so full of wise words. One of her favourite sayings of his was, ‘Stay away from negative people – they have a problem for every solution.’
That was how it felt on the jury. All but Hugo Pink, who, resolutely maintained, as she did, that it was far too soon to come to any judgement, and that they were doing the whole notion of justice a great disservice by jumping to early conclusions.
As she opened the front door, the cat looked at her.
‘What is it, what do you want to tell me? You need food? Water? Biscuits?’
Then, as she entered the kitchen, she felt a tightening in her throat and stopped, staring. At something on the table that hadn’t been there this morning when she’d left.
Another photograph. What now? She went, warily, over to the table and stared down at the print. Laura and Cassie on a park bench, in shorts and T-shirts, with iguanas all around them. The two girls had big grins on their faces but were seemingly oblivious to the camera.
Someone had been in here again.
Were they still here?
She held her breath. Listened. Looked around. Then finally called out, ‘Hello?’
Silence.
She checked every room in the house.
The burner phone rang. She jumped. Everything made her jump right now. Her anxiety was so high she felt completely wired.
ID withheld. Of course.
‘Hello?’ she answered.
The same smug, creepy voice as before. ‘Not good today, was it, Meg?’
She looked around, shaking. ‘Not great.’
Where are you?
‘Meg, you need to know there is another juror on your side. And there is one very negative juror we are going to take care of. Keep the faith.’
‘What do you mean take care of?’
‘Tomorrow Laura and Cassie are doing a zip wire across a gorge. Crazy, if you ask me. Can you imagine the wire breaking? Laura halfway across? I don’t even want to think about it.’
‘Don’t. You. Dare. Please, please,’ she implored. ‘I’m doing everything I can.’
‘I’m sure you are, but it’s not enough, is it?’
‘What more can I do?’ she asked, then broke into a scream. ‘What FUCKING MORE?’
‘We’ll give you all the assistance we can, but you have to be stronger, Meg, more assertive.’
‘How?’
‘That’s for you to figure, Meg. You know what the score is. You know what you have to do.’
There was a long silence.
‘How?’ she shouted. ‘Please tell me how, you bastard!’
But the line was dead.
55
Tuesday 14 May
Trembling, Meg put the phone down on the table, fed Daphne, then poured herself a large whisky, really worried where all this was going and how much danger she, her daughter and Cassie and God knows who else that she cared about were in.
She sat down at the table and drank a large gulp. Thinking. Staring at the photograph of the two happy girls. Feeling so desperately alone and scared. And aware that anything she said might either be listened to, live or recorded. She sipped some more, then stared in surprise at her empty glass.
Did I just drink that?
Sod it. She refilled her glass and sat back down. Feeling emboldened, suddenly, she picked up her own phone and dialled Laura. Hell. They hadn’t spoken in over a week, she was entitled to call her daughter, damn you, you evil shit.
To her relief, Laura answered almost immediately. ‘Hey, Mum!’
‘How are you, darling?’
‘Oh my God, Mum, it’s so good to hear you! I sort of shouldn’t tell you this cos I know you will worry but we were a bit freaked out. Don’t panic though, we are totally fine now, I promise.’
‘What, darling, what on earth has happened to you?’
‘Oh, honestly, Mum, chill, it’s nothing major. We just had a couple of beers and we were both out of it – I mean after just two beers. We think they were spiked – apparently you have to be really careful about that here. We’re on the lookout from now on. We both felt really strange until this morning. Thank God we got back to our rooms OK and just slept it off. Apart from that, we are having the best time!’
For some moments Meg felt in the grip of fear. She desperately, desperately wanted to tell Laura to come home. But she couldn’t, and even if she did plead, Laura wouldn’t agree. Instead, lamely, she said, ‘Please, please, be careful, Laura. It’s really important you look after each other. Promise me you will.’
‘We will, we will. We’re fine, Mum.’
And she really sounded as if she was. From her voice, she seemed so happy, so carefree. They chatted for several minutes, as Laura wanted to know how all her pets were. Then she asked, ‘So, how’s jury service? Have you got a really nasty villain?’
Meg hesitated before replying. ‘Well, I can’t really talk about it, I’m not allowed to.’
‘Is it a murder trial?’
‘I can’t say, darling. So, what are your plans?’
‘We’re going to this place tomorrow everyone says is amazing – a gorge that goes into rapids – and we’re going to do a zip wire right over the rapids!’
‘Zip wire? Isn’t that dangerous?’
‘Mum! Honestly!’ There was reproach in her tone. ‘If it was really dangerous, would I do it?’
Yes, you probably would, Meg wanted to say. Instead, she said, ‘Please be careful. Check everything, especially your harness. And if you don’t want to do it, just don’t do it, OK?’
‘I’m always careful,’ Laura said, solemnly. Then, her voice brightening, she said, ‘Mum, we saw hundreds of iguanas in a park today. A public park where you can just walk through, and the iguanas are literally all around you! It is amazing.’
Meg had to bite her tongue not to give away she’d already seen the iguanas. She had always loved Laura’s passion for animals. ‘So, I’m guessing the next addition to your menagerie here is going to be an iguana?’
‘That would be so cool!’ Then the tone of her voice changed. ‘Cassie reckons there’s a guy following us around. This creepy-looking man with a big camera taking pictures of us. We both saw him in the park this morning. She reckons she’s seen him a couple of times before. She doesn’t think he had anything to do with the spiked drinks because he wasn’t in that bar. We’ve decided if we see him again, we’re both going to challenge him.’
‘No,’ Meg cautioned, alarmed. ‘Just ignore him, don’t encourage him.’
God, she so wanted to warn Laura. To tell her to take a flight back home, today if possible. She’d happily pay for their fares. She felt so damned helpless.
‘The bus is arriving, gotta go, Mum!’
‘I love you, darling. Be safe.’
‘I love you, Mum. Cassie says hello!’
‘Hello back!’
Meg put the phone back down and sat, deep in thought. Not guilty.
How?
Gwen was having a toxic influence over the jury.
The trouble was, based on what they had heard so far, the bloody woman was right. All the evidence they had heard against Terence Gready was compelling. She sat for a long time at the kitchen table, deep in thought.
Who was the juror on her side? Coerced like herself? Pink? And who was the one about to be taken care of? Please God, make it Gwen.
And then?
The remaining nine.
Hopefully one of the witnesses still to be called, or Primrose Brown, would come up with something. Something strong and convincing enough for her to be able to persuade her fellow jurors that there was reasonable doubt.
Her thoughts went back to the voice of her caller. Then the voice of her daughter.
She shook with fear.
Zip wire.
56
Wednesday 15 May
L
aura was going to go first. But as she stood at the top, the gorge looked a long way down and she felt scared. Beautiful and sinister, it looked like an open wound slashed through the midst of the dense forest. A brutal torrent of fast-moving river, foaming through jagged rocks before plunging over rapids. It was fed by one stream of clear water, cascading in forked rivulets down an escarpment, and by another that was muddy, like brown volcanic lava, pouring from a cave-sized hole halfway down.
A packed, rickety-looking open-cage cable car was making its way across to the far side, swaying precariously. A short distance from it, a zip wire stretched out across the gorge, sharing the landing platform on the far side with the cable car station.
The two girls had been standing for some while in the searing morning heat, in the queue for the zip wire, licking their ice-cream cones and feeling grateful for the faint breeze that rose from the gorge.
‘I’m worried about Mum,’ Laura said, suddenly. ‘She doesn’t sound right when we speak.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘You know, she doesn’t sound herself. She’s normally all excited to get my news. After Dad and Will – we’ve been really close. But there’s something in her voice recently. I have a feeling there’s something she’s not telling me.’
Cassie licked her ice cream, with a studious expression. ‘Maybe she’s just missing you. First time you’ve been away on your own – apart properly – since – you know.’
Laura nodded. ‘I hope so. But she had a mammogram just before I left – she has one regularly because my nan died of breast cancer. Maybe it wasn’t good news.’ She closed her eyes, momentarily. ‘God, I just couldn’t bear to – to lose her. I love her so much. I couldn’t cope, I just couldn’t cope.’
‘You won’t lose her, L, and you’re just being morbid. Your mum probably sounds down because she’s missing you. She’s all alone. Snap out of it!’ As if to drive home her remark, she snapped off the end of her cone with her teeth and crunched the wafer.
An instant later, they were distracted by a scream.