Daniel William was living in London when he met Savannah Kingston. He was a frequent weekend visitor to the nightclub where she was hostess. It didn't take long for the two to strike up a friendship. Savannah gave him the full benefit of her charm and they would talk for hours, sharing experiences and laughing at each others' jokes. Their flirting quickly developed into a passionate relationship which would lead them both into taking ever more ludicrous risks until they ended up in prison. It was a union of two people who appealed to the other's worst character traits. Everyone who knew Daniel thought that Savannah was a bad influence. It didn’t take long for him to stop spending time with his old friends and start flashing his cash around. It was obvious that Savannah was the driving force behind his new-found recklessness.
Savannah Kingston cut a lone figure during the trial, but she seemed to actually enjoy the whole experience. She sat with her legal team every day because there was no sign of any support for her. She always appeared pleasant and smiled and chatted easily with prison officers. She greeted the journalists with a friendly "hello" and waved to photographers as she was led in and out of court. Her smiles and waves became a feature of the publicity surrounding the case as she seemed like a woman who didn't have a care or a worry in the world.
However, police investigators involved in the trial described her as a cunning and devious woman. Apart from her communications with her legal team and prison officers, her chats with the media were her only brush with people during the case. Even her boyfriend, Daniel Williams, had turned his back on her and had only flown to Ireland to give evidence against her. She did not have any defence witnesses at her disposal and did not go into evidence herself. Onlookers were amazed at how she sat back and smiled as the verdicts were delivered on the final day of the trial.
During the trial she wore short, figure-hugging skirts and low-cut tops which accentuated her curvy, petite frame. Every day she tottered into the courthouse in stiletto heels. She was always well turned out and heavily made up with her hair pinned up in a bun. She was strikingly pretty with her long blonde hair and big blue eyes which emphasised her youthful looks. Although she was in her late thirties she looked at least ten years younger. It was hard to believe that this delicate, feminine woman could be involved in a treacherous plot to kill. Despite her lack of contact with family or friends during the trial, Savannah never appeared to become despondent; what’s more she seemed to thrive under the media attention.
Savannah had been in custody since her arrest in Westport. She was granted free legal aid for the trial. She claimed that she was on holidays in the Westport area but police argued that her motives were far deeper and more sinister than a mere holiday. It was the State's case that she operated the assassin website and had conspired with Mark McNamara via email to murder the three women. However, while the jury convicted her of demanding money from Penelope to cancel the contract they could not conclusively decide on the conspiracy to murder charges against her. She was also charged with burglary and two counts of handling stolen goods.
Details of Savannah's interviews with police were introduced as exhibits during the trial. The Prosecution argued that she assumed a flippant tone during her interviews, first claiming that she'd had an affair with Mark, but later retracting the statement. She said that Daniel Williams and Mark were in regular telephone contact but that she never spoke to Mark. She denied all knowledge of the assassin website or the email addresses and insisted that someone was trying to frame her. Denial seemed to be her only form of defence.
Savannah did not give evidence in the trial, but the memos of her interviews with the police were read to the jury. Mr. Kiely, Savannah's barrister, argued in his closing speech that the evidence produced by the State pointed only to fraud and not conspiracy to murder.
"There were inconsistencies and lack of evidence in the State's case. This is a case where there are a number of possibilities which have been dressed up to look like the most important case on earth. The evidence is inconclusive and cannot be welded together by the self-serving perjury of Daniel Williams. The State was after Mark McNamara and they used my client, Savannah Kingston, in order to ensnare him. She was only ever a prop in their operation. This was a charade which was worthy of Laurel and Hardy. Do not join the dots for the State. If the judge can't do it, the State can't do it and you can't do it. Look who has been here all along; three live exhibits; because nobody was killed."
Chapter 21
As soon as Mark arrived in prison the stories started. Apparently, he was particularly choosy when it came to eating prison food. He was a fitness fanatic and was reluctant to eat the stodgy prison fare and actually insisted on a list of special dietary requirements, which were refused with some glee. Every suggestion that the ex-millionaire was getting no special treatment was seized on and splashed across the front page of the tabloids. The public were treated to a dissection of the menus he was served and the company he was keeping; a world away from the elite company he used to enjoy.
Two months dragged by until it was time to once again return to court to find out what sentence had been handed down to him. Prison food may have hung some extra weight on his previously lean, muscular frame and his hair suffered from the lack of regular trimming but Mark was in high spirits as he sat in the courtroom. His belief in his own innocence remained unwavering and he was confident in his chances of a successful appeal. He chatted animatedly to the prison officers who stood by his side. It was almost an end to the long waiting and Mark was back to his usual expressive self.
It was still difficult for him to come to terms with the fact that the jury had found him guilty but he presented himself with his head held high and greeted his legal team with a dazzling smile as they went into a last minute huddle outside the courts. He was sure in the belief that his appearance was a mere formality. The harsh reality wouldn't hit him until later.
Savannah Kingston was in equally good form; laughing and joking with the prison guards and greeting them as old friends after a long absence. She had been in prison for almost two years at that stage and knew that any sentence she finally received would begin with that time deducted. There was even some speculation that she might have served her entire sentence if a sufficiently lenient jail term was handed down.
There was a heightened sense of anticipation in the courtroom which had filled up early that morning as the interest levels peaked. Long before proceedings were due to start the public benches were being filled by the sombre suited figures of the barristers who did not have a prior engagement. The public posse was out in droves too. They gathered early to secure a decent view and the regulars waved to each other like old friends before settling in for the main event. The press was out in force, of course. Mark wore a black suit and he looked serious as he took his seat on the bench. A prison officer sat beside him; a human buffer to remind those gathered of his changed circumstances. Savannah was last to take her place. She smiled at familiar faces as she waited along with everyone else for the trial to begin.
Suddenly a ripple of excitement went around the room. Detective James Leary took the stand to run through the familiar facts of the case. “Neither of the accused has ever come to the attention of the law before. Legislation has not changed since the nineteenth century and while there are few similar cases a sample of those which have passed through the courts in recent times received sentences of about seven to ten years. Mr. McNamara had intended to kill three people so should be looking at consecutive terms for each.”
Then the victim impact statement from Penelope, Rebecca and Shona was read out.
“We have not suffered any loss of earnings or physical injuries but our lives have been changed forever. This incident has caused significant changes in our lives. The notion that we were made the subject of a contract to kill has affected us socially and emotionally. The degree of planning and the nature of the contract have exasperated the situation for us. We have become more self-conscious and are now constantly lo
oking over our shoulders and are ill at ease. The crime has impacted on our respective social and business lives. We are not as confident as we were and we feel that the respect which had existed among our peers in our business dealings is not the same. We cannot understand how we were propelled from our normal daily lives into such a drama and shudder at the realisation that had the plan been successful we could have been poisoned to death. We believe it will take a long time before we can put the incident behind us.”
Finally it was time for Mark to hear his fate. He stood facing the bench, one hand nervously playing with the middle button of his jacket. There was barely a flicker of emotion as he learnt that he would be spending the next seven years in jail. He sat down heavily while Savannah stood to hear her sentence. She wasn't smiling as the judge delivered her punishment. The maximum sentence for extortion was fourteen years and she had already heard that her demands with a threat of death were considered serious by the court. However, she too received seven years.
The judge got up to leave and the court rose with him, emptying quickly now the end was known. The press poured into the hall to separate and chase the various reactions.
“Mr. McNamara will be fighting his conviction,” Mark's barrister stated. “There will definitely be an appeal. The truth will out.”
The game was finally over for Mark McNamara. He was found out and convicted. His conniving, heartless plotting and planning, which had been driven by greed, was transparent and the jury saw right through it. At the end of a pulsating trial, Mark and Savannah were led away to prison where they would be forced to pay for their greed through prison terms. However, it was those they left behind who had to live with the devastation. Innocent lives were ruined.
Life would never be the same again for Christopher McNamara. He had changed from being an outgoing, popular young man with lots of friends and a great social life to a reclusive, devastated boy who rarely left his home. When the allegations against his father emerged he was inconsolable and his studies were affected. His whole life was ruined as the effect of his father's deviousness took hold.
Mark’s actions created havoc and heartbreak for Rebecca too. She gave him her heart but only got evil deceit in return. They built a good life together and shared a lavish lifestyle but he threw it all back in her face. Not in her wildest dreams did she ever believe that her husband was capable of plotting anything so sinister. She could hardly comprehend how he had openly discussed various methods of killing her and the other two women. However, their lives came in the way of his needs and his obsession with money. The language he used in email after email made it seem as though it was just a job, another business deal, but one that involved three lives.
All this grief brought on by an evil man, who felt he had nothing to lose but everything to gain. Yet, in the face of being found out he continued to lie his way out, presenting a story about being blackmailed by Henry Whitington-Smyth. It became obvious that Henry was nothing more than a figment of Mark's wicked imagination. Why did he not just get a divorce and walk away from it all? No, Mark was gripped by greed and revenge. He wanted his old, prestigious life back and was prepared to stop at nothing to get it.
His ambition went too far and led to devastating consequences. His selfishness, thoughtlessness and lack of compassion for anyone but himself destroyed everything. Right up until the very end he firmly believed he was invincible but the bitter truth was eventually revealed in harrowing detail. For now, Mark McNamara is paying the price of his actions, but will it be the last we see of him or just the beginning?
Web of Deceit
The third book in The Unfaithful Series
By Joanne Clancy
Discover books by Joanne Clancy:
Unforgettable Embrace
The Wedding Day
My Love
The Secrets & Lies Trilogy:
Secrets & Lies, Book 1
Aftermath, Book 2
Redemption, Book 3
The Unfaithful Series:
Unfaithfully Yours, Book 1
Revenge, Book 2
Web of Deceit, Book 3
Click here to purchase Joanne Clancy’s books
Prologue
Mark McNamara rose early in the morning, dodging the throng of paparazzi who had been camped outside his apartment since his release from prison the previous week. He walked briskly towards the picturesque glens, past the spiritual surrounds of the abbey and soon left the hustle and bustle of the city far below. Eventually, he reached a quiet park bench where he sat for a while to survey the magnificent views in front of him. A cluster of red-bricked buildings crowned the gentle hill which sloped down to the lake beyond. Behind the lake was a low mountain and on the other side more hills rolled away in pillows of soft red and green.
He appeared confident and in good spirits. As his shoulders relaxed, he took in the pretty scene before him and savoured his first real breath of freedom. A second chance, a fresh start; the smile on his face said it all. Until recently he had been hiding away in a small city centre hostel, except for the few trips he had chanced to the supermarket, hidden behind an oversized overcoat, dark sunglasses, and a baseball cap pulled low.
Wearing tailored trousers, a blue shirt which was open at the neck and his dark hair grown longer than he usually wore it, he looked a world away from the ashen-faced man who went on trial for conspiracy to murder three women.
The few passers-by, who were playing pitch and putt and enjoying bike rides through the glens, didn't recognise the handsome stranger as he took the time to unwind on the bright autumn day. Anyone observing him would have found it difficult to believe that he was an ex-convict; guilty of conspiring to murder three women, one of whom was his wife. It was five years later and he still continued to deny any knowledge of the conspiracy and always vehemently protested his innocence.
When approached by reporters for a comment, he became uneasy and shook his head before quickly walking away. He was determined to start going about the regular mundane tasks of his daily life and he hoped that the media would not intrude too much; at least not until he was ready to invite them into his life. Prison life had taught him a lot. He’d formed some strong relationships and gained a new perspective. He was planning to reveal everything about the evil web of deceit in which he had unwittingly become entangled, but timing was everything and Mark was prepared to wait for the perfect moment. Prison life had taught him patience and the value of biding his time and he was prepared to wait.
As the day drew to a close, Mark left the wide open space behind and slowly made his way home. Looking slightly more downbeat than when he had earlier enjoyed the freedom of the rolling countryside, he travelled to the dreary confines of the local police station where he had to sign on once a week in keeping with his early release terms. However, that would end in a few short months and then his life could begin again.
Mark had been convicted and sentenced to six years in prison and his early release had immediately led to much speculation and conjecture as to his whereabouts and intentions. The endless intrigue surrounding him was rekindled as word got out that he was free. None of this was any surprise, given the interest that his case and its eclectic cocktail of ingredients had generated. He hadn't had an opportunity to speak to the media since his incarceration but he was eagerly anticipating his moment in the limelight and his revelation of the truth behind the tangled web of lies in which he claimed to have been unwittingly trapped.
Chapter 1
“This is explosive reading, no doubt about it,” Fergus Kelly proclaimed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. He was a muscular man, with a barrel chest and a defined, square jaw, who looked more like an athlete than a newspaper mogul. He stood six feet four inches tall with a thick shock of dark curly hair framing his intense face and grey-green eyes that twinkled when he laughed. “We’re here for a good time, not a long time,” was his mantra in life and he had certainly lived fast all the way.
By the age of
twenty five he was an award-winning journalist for his fearless, front-line coverage. By the age of thirty he was editor-in-chief of the top newspaper in Ireland. By the age of thirty five he owned his own newspaper and had made his first million. He had a brilliant mind and a passion for a story and so his newspaper, The Stand, was launched. Everyone predicted failure in such a saturated market but within a few short years The Stand was growing faster than any of its competitors.
Fergus was a creative businessman and a gifted editor with a sixth sense for a story. A rebel, yet a compromiser, a sober leader and a writer with a rapier wit, he struck a precarious balance in the world of newspaper journalism that elevated him to rare celebrity status. During his long, intense periods of productivity he could spout off one idea after the next, some fantastic, others original and eminently feasible.
He told the news just the way he saw it; as an elaborately grand spectacle, hooking readers on the stories, selling them its importance by sprinkling the facts with colour and detail and by painting vivid portraits of the people who made the headlines. The way he told a story, they weren’t just staid unknown characters, they were living, breathing, flawed people, just like everyone else. He was a master storyteller with a uniquely entertaining writing style. His burgeoning national newspaper acquired a grip on the public’s imagination and an unprecedented power, the likes of which had never been seen before.
Unfaithful (The Complete Trilogy) Page 36