by Peter Murphy
‘We have heard what has been said,’ the chairman declared. ‘As the prosecution has stated, a Huntingdon jury will be quite capable of putting any publicity out of their minds and of giving the defendant a fair trial, as we would ourselves if the case were to be tried before us in this court. The case will be committed for trial to Huntingdon Quarter Sessions. The defendant’s bail is extended until the time of trial.’
‘Well, that’s all right then,’ Barratt commented as they left court. ‘No problem with a fair trial in Huntingdon. I’m sure we are all relieved to hear that. I’m sure you all noticed the representatives of the fourth estate in court today, plying their trade.’
Ben nodded. ‘Let’s continue to keep track of their efforts. We can always renew the application at Quarter Sessions.’
‘I will make sure we have all the press reports available,’ Singer said. ‘The Diocese keeps copies of everything of that kind for its own purposes.’
‘Anything else you need us to do today, Mr Schroeder?’ Barratt asked.
Ben turned to Ignatius Little.
‘Yes. Since we are in the neighbourhood, I would like to make a short detour to St Ives and take a look at your vestry,’ he said.
17
25 February
It had not been easy for Eve to travel from Fenstanton to Bedford. The two towns were no very great distance apart. Someone with a car could have made the journey comfortably in an hour. But Eve did not have the luxury of a car, and she had to thread her way cross-country by sooty local trains and fume-filled buses. Her appointment was for noon, which had meant that she had to leave home early. She could not afford to miss a connection. The prison authorities were very clear that, if she did not arrive promptly, her visit would be cancelled. By the time she arrived at Bedford Gaol she felt tired and headachy, and she was sure that her clothes showed all the dirt she had accumulated during the journey. She had baked Billy some small sponge cakes and brought him some tobacco, but they were confiscated by the guards as failing to comply with rule so-and-so, the result of failing to complete form something-or-other not less than so-many days in advance of her visit. Eve had no comprehension of the details, but she was canny enough to suspect that the cakes would find their way to the prison officers’ tea room during the course of the afternoon. She asked several times to have the tobacco back, but a senior officer told her that it had been classified as contraband and could not be returned.
It was the first sight she had had of her brother since the officers had taken him from her living room nearly a month earlier, and she found herself deeply affected. The sight of him constrained by bars and impenetrable glass, when he should have been out of doors at his lock, by his river, was at first almost too much for her to bear. She knew what he was accused of doing, but it did not make sense to her. She had always suspected, in a dark part of her mind, that what Billy did with her, what her father had done with her, was wrong. But Billy had never done her harm. She could not understand how anyone could think of him as a violent man. She had always trusted him. He provided for her and looked after her. There was no reason not to trust him. But there was a coldness around her neck and on her chest, where Jennifer Doyce’s gold cross and chain had briefly hung. There was something not right about it. She had sensed it when the police officers had taken it away from her. Something had changed in that moment in her feelings towards Billy.
‘How are they treating you?’ she asked. ‘I think you’ve lost weight. Are you all right?’
They were in a cold, cheerless visiting cell without natural light. A single bare bulb, set high in the ceiling, provided barely adequate illumination. A small metal table and two chairs, their metal dented, their white paint chipped, were the room’s only furnishings. They had been left alone, but an officer, stationed in the corridor outside, kept them under constant observation through a dark window.
‘Yes, I’m all right,’ he replied. ‘The food isn’t too good, but I don’t expect I will be here very long.’
‘I hope not, Billy,’ she said. She paused. ‘Did you see your lawyers today?’
Billy brightened up noticeably.
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Some of them. That’s why I don’t think I will be here very long.’
Eve looked doubtful. ‘Is that what they told you?’ she asked.
He laughed. ‘No, no, they don’t say things like that. But they don’t have to, do they? They know what they are doing, that’s the important thing.’
‘Well, who are they?’ she asked. ‘I met Mr Singer, but…’
‘No,’ Billy replied. ‘It’s not Mr Singer. He doesn’t do cases like this, and besides, he’s from St Ives, isn’t he? No, these gentlemen are from London. I have my solicitor, Mr Davis, who came today, and my barrister, Mr Schroeder – both from London.’
‘From London,’ she echoed.
‘Yes, and that’s not all, either.’
‘Oh?’
‘No. Because it’s a serious case, I not only get a barrister, I get a main barrister.’
‘A main barrister? What do you mean?’
‘Well, my barrister, Mr Schroeder, does most of the work getting the case ready, with Mr Davis. But then there’s another barrister, Mr Hardcastle, and he’s a very important gentleman, and he will argue my case in front of the judge and jury. So he is my main barrister.’
‘That sounds very good,’ she conceded. ‘It sounds as though they are looking after you.’
He nodded. ‘This Mr Hardcastle is so important,’ he said, ‘that apparently I won’t see him until the trial starts, except possibly once. He’s too busy, see.’
Eve was looking doubtful again.
‘Well that can’t be right, Billy, can it?’ she asked. ‘How is he going to argue your case unless he comes and talks to you and finds out what happened, and…?’
‘That’s where Mr Davis and Mr Schroeder come in,’ Billy explained patiently. ‘It’s their job to tell Mr Hardcastle all about the case, so that he can prepare himself to argue it. That’s the way they do it in London, these important barristers.’
‘Well, all right,’ she said. She thought for some time. ‘If you say it’s all right, I’m sure it is. But did they tell you what they are going to do? I mean, you said they know what they are doing. Did they…?’
‘Yes,’ he replied emphatically, leaning forward towards her across the table. ‘I have – what did they call it? – an alibi.’
‘What’s that?’ she asked.
‘It’s a legal term,’ he explained. ‘It means I wasn’t on that boat, so I couldn’t have killed that man, or… well, I couldn’t have done whatever else they say…’
‘Well, if they know that…’
‘No, well, the police don’t know it, or they don’t believe me. So…’
He hesitated.
‘What?’ she asked.
‘So you and I have to tell the jury that I wasn’t there. Both of us. Mr Schroeder was very insistent about that, Eve, Mr Davis too. If we both tell them, it will be much better than just me telling them. So Mr Davis will take a statement from both of us when he comes next time, to show to Mr Hardcastle so that he knows what questions to ask us.’
She stared at him blankly.
‘But Billy, I don’t know where you were,’ she said quietly, as if concerned that the prison officer might overhear.
The same thought occurred to Billy. They continued to speak in lowered voices.
‘Of course you do,’ he insisted.
‘No. I don’t. Not really. I know you went out to work at the pub like you always do. But you know I go to bed early, before closing time. I know you were in your bed when I woke up the next morning.’
‘And you didn’t come to me during the night,’ she added, in the silence of her own mind. ‘And I don’t know what you do on those nights when you don’t come to me.’
‘Well,
there you are, then,’ he said. ‘I came home from work. I didn’t want to wake you. Where would I go at that time of night?’
‘Well, I will tell them what I know, Billy, but I can’t… you know…’
Billy pushed himself back into his chair.
‘Eve, look, I have to get out of here…’
‘I know, Billy.’
‘All I’m saying is, perhaps you will remember something. Perhaps you heard me come in, when I turned my key in the door, or walked upstairs, you know. Perhaps you left your bedroom door open and saw me going to my room. You could have woken up for a moment and just forgot about it.’
Eve didn’t respond – she seemed to be thinking hard.
‘Eve, you must be worrying about money with me not working.’
She nodded.
‘It’s hard, Billy,’ she said. ‘I’m worried about all the bills, and things that have to be done around the house, you know. There’s the roof needing some new slates and there are pipes that need lagging, and you’re not there, and there’s no money to pay anyone to come in and do it.’
‘Well, there you are then…’
‘And there’s another thing, Billy.’
‘What?’
‘The River Board say I wouldn’t be able to stay on in the house if you… well, if you are away a long time. They would have to find someone to take over the lock, you see.’
‘Are they seeing to it properly?’ he asked. ‘Are they keeping the lock up, cutting back the rushes?’
‘Yes, they send somebody,’ she replied.
‘Because if you let it go, if you let it get out of hand, it’s the devil’s own job to get it back under control after.’
‘Yes, I know,’ she replied.
There was a long silence between them.
‘If I did remember something,’ she said, ‘should I tell Mr…?’
‘Mr Davis. Yes. But wait until he comes to see you.’
‘All right. If I do remember…’
‘And Eve,’ Billy added. ‘Don’t tell Mr Davis anything about us, you know, you and me. It wouldn’t help the case, and it’s got nothing to do with it anyway.’
She stared at her brother for a long time, feeling the coldness around her neck. Her hand moved instinctively as she traced the outline of the missing chain on her skin.
‘Billy, you did find that girl’s cross and chain, didn’t you?’
‘Of course I did,’ he replied, a little too quickly.
She nodded.
‘And you do have… what was it? An alibi?’
‘Of course I do.’
‘All right, Billy,’ she said. ‘I’m going to go now.’
‘And you will make a statement to Mr Davis?’
‘I remember you being in bed the next morning,’ she said, ‘but I will try to remember more, Billy. I will try very hard.’
18
6 March
‘Mr Singer and I are not staying long, Ben,’ Barratt Davis said, as Merlin showed the two men and Jess Farrar into Ben’s room in Chambers. ‘We are dropping off some paperwork for you and Jess to look through and organise before we see Martin Hardcastle on Tuesday. I’ve sent copies to Martin’s Chambers, of course, but he’s not going to read it before the consultation, knowing him. So you’re going to have to explain it all to him.’
Alan, the junior clerk, in his shirt-sleeves, carried a large box into the room with obvious effort, and dumped it unceremoniously beside Ben’s desk.
‘That’s it,’ Barratt said. ‘Should be enough to keep you busy for a while.’
‘Should be,’ Ben replied, gesturing to his visitors to sit. ‘Thank you, Alan.’
‘Tea or coffee, anyone?’ Merlin asked.
‘A cup of tea would go down very well,’ Singer replied. ‘I had to leave St Ives rather too early this morning. Milk and one sugar, please.’
The others declined, and Merlin disappeared discreetly.
‘I do also want to bring you up to date with what we have been doing,’ Barratt said. ‘John has been visiting Billy Cottage at Bedford Gaol regularly since he was remanded. But we did not want to begin the process of taking instructions until we were fairly sure we understood the prosecution’s case against him. In addition, John thought he wasn’t ready…’
‘He appeared to be in shock for the first week or two,’ Singer said. ‘He couldn’t concentrate very well. It was almost as if he didn’t believe what was happening – as though he thought that any moment they would simply open the gates and let him out, so that he could go home and attend to his lock.’
‘I’ve seen the same reaction before, in other defendants in his position,’ Barratt said quietly. ‘There’s nothing you can do except wait for them to adjust to their new reality. You can’t rush it. You just have to wait until they are able and ready to talk to you.’
‘Has he been able to give you further instructions?’ Ben asked.
‘Yes. John let me know as soon as he thought we might make some progress. We have had two conferences with Cottage since then, within the last two weeks. You will find his signed proof of evidence among the papers. I am sure that, when you read through it, you will see a number of points at which his account of the facts seems rather…’
There was a knock and the door opened. Merlin entered, bearing a cup of tea for Singer.
‘Can Miss Fisk pop in just for a second, sir?’ Merlin asked. ‘She needs a book.’
‘Of course,’ Ben replied.
Harriet entered hurriedly, apologetically.
Everyone stood, and Ben raised a hand towards Harriet.
‘May I introduce Harriet Fisk? We joined Chambers together, and we share this room. Harriet has graciously allowed me to take it over to some extent today. Harriet – you know Barratt Davis, of course, his legal assistant, Jess Farrar, and John Singer, a solicitor from Huntingdonshire.’
‘Nice to meet you all. Sorry, Ben,’ Harriet smiled. ‘Must have my copy of the County Court Practice. I didn’t realise you’d started.’
‘No problem,’ Ben replied. ‘Jess and I will be on our own, poring over papers, most of the day. It’s not going to disturb us if you come and go.’
Harriet quickly selected the volume she needed from her desk.
‘Ah, the Green Book,’ John Singer smiled. ‘I’ve spent many happy hours immersed in that tome.’
‘Mr Singer doesn’t have much of a life, Miss Fisk,’ Barratt said.
‘Neither do I,’ Harriet smiled. ‘Especially when I have pleadings due.’
She left as quickly as she had come.
‘Does Miss Fisk ever do ecclesiastical law?’ Singer asked.
Jess reached out an arm and pushed him in the shoulder.
‘You would have to ask Merlin,’ Ben smiled. ‘Now, you were saying – about Cottage’s proof of evidence?’
‘He puts forward an alibi,’ Barratt replied. ‘But it doesn’t account for all the prosecution’s evidence. That is something we are going to have to talk about once you have been through all those papers. The good news is that the alibi is supported by his sister, Eve, as far as it goes. Essentially, they say, Billy was working an evening shift at a local pub. That wasn’t unusual. He did it to supplement his income from the lock. He left just after closing time and made his way home. He remained at home the rest of the night and didn’t go out until the next day. If the trial began tomorrow, I would say he would not make a great witness. His education is limited and he gets frustrated easily. It wouldn’t surprise me if he has quite a temper. But his demeanour may improve a bit once the trial gets closer.’
‘What about the sister?’
‘Barratt asked me to interview her,’ Singer replied. ‘She has the reputation locally of being a bit slow. So we thought it would be better to have someone from St Ives talk to her.’
‘Good idea,’ Ben nodded.
‘I’m not at all convinced she is slow,’ Singer said. ‘I spent a long time with her. I had to, just to gain her trust. She didn’t understand who I was or what I was doing, to begin with. At first, she seemed concerned that I had something to do with the police. I had to explain to her that I was there to help Billy. But at least that gave me time to observe her and, based on what I saw, I think her mind is fairly normal. She hasn’t had much by way of an education – neither of them did, according to local people who know the family – so she speaks in a rather simple way, almost child-like at times. But she understood my questions, and she did corroborate her brother’s alibi to some extent. She says he was at home in bed when she woke up the next morning. The only thing is…’
‘Go on,’ Ben encouraged.
‘Well… she does have a tendency to agree with what is being said to her at any given time. I would put things to her and she would agree, almost as if she felt she had to. I deliberately put one or two things to her to see if she would contradict herself, and once or twice she did, though she corrected herself when I pointed it out. I am not sure what may happen when she is cross-examined, to be honest.’
Ben nodded. ‘Well, that’s a useful thing to know in advance,’ he said. ‘We will have more questions to put to both of them when we have been through the prosecution’s papers.’
Barratt stood.
‘Ben, John has indicated that he does not wish to be involved in this case indefinitely. I quite understand that. He is busy with diocesan matters, and…’
‘And I don’t have the stomach for it, to be quite honest, Mr Schroeder. Mr Little is about the limit for me as far as criminal work is concerned,’ Singer said. ‘So Barratt will be Mr Cottage’s solicitor of record from Monday.’
Ben stood also.
‘Quite all right,’ he said. ‘Thank you for everything you have done. But I am going to ask one thing. If we need to interview Eve again, it would be best for you to do that. You have her trust, and it sounds as though that is important. It wouldn’t help if someone else had to start again from the beginning.’