by BK Duncan
Chapter Eleven
May had been sitting at her table for ten minutes waiting for the inquest to start. The courtroom gallery was full. There were more reporters than usually turned up for a non-sensational inquest and the rest of the seats were occupied by young women dressed as if for a matinee. May thought it no coincidence that Poplar Coroner’s Court should suddenly become the place to be. But how had any of them known Brilliant Chang was due to appear? Had he been bragging about his day in court? She hoped he would prove to be just as self-serving on the witness stand. It would be the one time she’d feel someone deserved the edge of Colonel Tindal’s tongue. She could see the coroner was getting close to unleashing it as he was patently ready to begin.
May issued the proclamation for the opening of the proceedings and reminded the jury of their obligations. She sat back down into the silence. Then the street door banged. No hurrying footsteps across the vestibule. He entered the courtroom with all the aplomb of an illustrious actor making his grand entrance. A ripple of female admiration shimmied down from the gallery. The late arrival was a vision in a blue overcoat trimmed with a luxurious fur collar, black trousers with turn-ups and a wide satin stripe down the sides, and pearl-grey spats. His legal adviser looked like his bag-carrier.
One quick glance up over his shoulder to his audience, and he slipped into a vacant seat. He shrugged off his coat to reveal a single-breasted jacket the colour of Indian ink. His solicitor sat beside him. They exchanged a whisper or two and then Brilliant Chang looked up and smiled at May. A flush spread up from her neck at his apparent belief every woman was half in love with him and in that moment she knew nothing would give her greater satisfaction than Colonel Tindal not instructing Jury Three to deliver a verdict of suicide. She wanted Brilliant Chang indicted for manslaughter for supplying cocaine in a negligent and culpable manner. She thought there might be a chance of the coroner complying as he stared at the sweaty baldhead of the solicitor.
‘Please instruct your client that the epigram better late than never has no currency in my courtroom. Should he need to be called again, in this or any other case, any further demonstration of contempt will be rewarded with the longest stint at His Majesty’s pleasure it is in my power to confer. Now, Miss Keaps, swear in the first witness and let us get this over with.’
Rose Flood had barely sat after taking the oath before Colonel Tindal fired his salvo.
‘Did you, or did you not - at the time or subsequently - know about the deceased undergoing an abortion? We have medical testimony that she committed the gravest of illegal acts and if you know who procured, or even performed, the child-murder you must reveal their names so they can be passed on to the police.’
Rose Flood looked terrified. May wondered how loudly the words there but for the grace of God were sounding in her head.
‘She didn’t confide anything of the sort to me. I wouldn’t say we were bosom pals as such. In fact, we weren’t really that well acquainted.’
The distancing had begun, death and transgression being viewed by many as contagious. Rose Flood was going to use this opportunity to immunise herself against both.
‘We passed the time one evening at a club. We weren’t exactly the same type. The only thing I knew was that she’d been disappointed in love. But that could be said about any girl these days.’
‘Then why, if you had nothing in common, did you tell my officer you’d been to her lodgings the afternoon following her death?’
‘There was this matter of a little money I lent her.’
‘For drugs?’
‘No, no.’ Her silly little hat wobbled with her sincerity. ‘I knew she took cocaine, of course, you can always tell one who does. The twitchy jaw for starters. She was always chewing gum to try to disguise it and everyone recognises that a dead giveaway.’
Colonel Tindal shot a glance at May. She knew he had expected her to furnish witnesses who would draw this inquest to a speedy conclusion. But could any other coroner’s officer have done any better?
‘If I may have your attention, Miss Keaps?’
May flushed.
‘I was instructing you to swear in the next witness; I only hope she can enlighten the jury a little more than this last one.’
Rose Flood virtually scuttled back to her seat. May escorted Helen Jennings across the courtroom. ‘If you were even a little fond of Clarice,’ she whispered, ‘tell us everything you know; she didn’t deserve to be remembered like this.’
Helen Jennings waited until May was back at her table before taking a deep breath and fixing her gaze on the picture of the King just above the jury’s heads.
‘I knew she had sadness in her life, but not about the baby. Four months back, a man she was crazy over up and chucked her for another woman. Just like that. Beside herself she was. She got worse as time went on instead of better; stopped eating. Then she lost her job as a dance teacher because the manageress said her sour face was bad for business. It weren’t fair; it wasn’t like she was unhappy on purpose.’
May prayed the jury had been listening as closely as she had because it was now a real possibility that it had been a carelessness in looking after herself that had caused Clarice to take an overdose. And neglect and negligence did not add up to suicide. She thought Colonel Tindal was arriving at the same conclusion because she could feel the emanation of his displeasure.
‘I think that is more than enough prattling of emotion and unsubstantiated opinions from which to draw conclusions as to the deceased’s state of mind. The next testimony, Miss Keaps, and I sincerely trust it will prove to be more informative than everything else the court has had to listen to.’
May stood and walked across to the witness stand. Brilliant Chang joined her for the last few yards. He leaned in until she could smell the spicy perfume of his hair oil.
‘Please remember I am a student of Confucius. I do not wish to cause you embarrassment by refusing to take the oath so please do administer the affirmation in the Chinese way.’
She clenched her fists in an effort to keep from responding. How dare he patronise her as if it were her first day in the job? She’d already placed a saucer on the floor in front of the stand but now was almost tempted to step on it and make him wait while she went to the kitchenette to fetch a new one. She settled instead for thrusting it at him as if it was red-hot.
Brilliant Chang acknowledged that he would declare to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and if he said anything contrary to the truth then may it draw down an imprecation upon him. Then he lifted the saucer to shoulder-height and brought it down on the wooden rail. There was a scream or two from the gallery as it exploded into shards.
‘That will be enough of that.’ Colonel Tindal glared the residual fluttering into silence. ‘Those present who are not appearing as witnesses are here on my sufferance and I will have all of you evicted if there are any more interruptions to the proceedings.’ He sat back. ‘Now you may enlighten the jury as to how you were acquainted with the deceased.’
Brilliant Chang looked directly at Mrs Gem. ‘I knew your daughter, madam, only fleetingly. I had seen her in my nightclub on occasion and, as a kindness, gave her a trial as a dancer. It was in the week before the tragedy of her death that she came to me and I agreed. It was true to say that I felt sorry for her. She told me that she was desperate for what she called a fresh start. Everyone deserves as many of those as they can get and I was in the fortunate position of being able to grant her one. But she turned up on the appointed evening looking most unsuitable. It is with much heaviness in my heart that I have to tell you that I sent her away with the instruction to get a good night’s sleep and to come back when she had reclaimed her pretty looks. For that I am truly sorry.’
He bent his head for a moment then looked again at Mrs Gem. She nodded once. May could feel the sharing of sentiment bet
ween them. This was no act on his part.
Colonel Tindal didn’t seem to be as impressed. ‘Were you the deceased’s secret lover?’
‘No. On my life, no.’
‘That may come to pass. If you were merely acquainted by virtue of being her potential employer then why, as my officer has seen fit to remark in my notes, did she refer to you by an inappropriately informal sobriquet?’
‘When I first left life onboard ship to settle here, I found that the English have difficulties distinguishing between one Chinese name and another. So I adopted the name that many had already begun to call me, Brilliant; they said for my smile. This some shortened to Billy. In my world I have dealings with many women - mainly singers and dancers - and most appear to have a fondness for calling me by this name. I regard it as the English do as a sign of affection, not intimacy.’
An outburst of giggling from the gallery which Colonel Tindal silenced with a look. ‘So that we do not misunderstand each other over semantics I will ask you directly: did you make it possible for Clarice Gem to undergo an abortion?’
Brilliant Chang appeared to totter slightly. As before, May was sure his reaction was sincere; the man was a curious mixture of emotional honesty and studied artifice. His solicitor leapt to his feet.
‘The coroner is well aware that such an accusation must be withdrawn unless any evidence can be produced to substantiate it.’
Colonel Tindal’s facial muscles twitched. ‘I am at liberty to make any postulations I see fit appertaining to an unnatural death. You however, sir, are permitted to speak only when I request that you do so. I suggest that you serve your client by sitting back down, and preparing yourself for such questions as I may choose to ask being repeated in a higher court. Such as this one for example: it is well-known that your race freely engages in the practice of taking drugs. Did you supply the cocaine that killed Clarice Gem?’
The solicitor was on his feet again. May had to admire his dedication, if not his self-preservation; Colonel Tindal had handed out spells in gaol for what he thought of as professional undermining of his authority.
‘My client can only tell the truth as he has sworn to do and cannot defend himself against ill-informed rumour. Needless to say, he is not - and never has been - involved in such a terrible business as trafficking drugs. He is a respectable entertainment entrepreneur.’
May was expecting Colonel Tindal to fire back a withering comment but he unaccountably seemed to have run out of steam. She sat with her pencil poised as he pulled at his side-whiskers and examined something fascinating on the wooden surface in front of him. Someone in the gallery shuffled and coughed. Eventually the coroner turned his head and focused on Brilliant Chang.
‘You may return to your seat. I feel sure that the jury has heard enough to make up their minds. I will now sum up the evidence.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Clarice Gem died of cocaine poisoning in the early hours of the morning of...’ He looked at May.
‘Monday 1st March.’
‘...Administered by her own hand. It seems she was in the habit of taking the substance on a regular basis but on this occasion dissolved it in water which, according to medical opinion, would have led to a prolonged and agonising death.’
May paused in her note taking long enough to shoot a glance at Mrs Gem. The woman must’ve become hardened to the whole ordeal because she didn’t flinch. But just because she hadn’t felt the force of the blow now didn’t mean that she wouldn’t later. In fact she would probably replay it in her dreams forever.
‘You have heard witnesses attest on the one hand that she was perfectly happy in the days prior to the incident, and on the other that she was fed up. It is up to you to decide what her mood might have been on the night in question. Further, you have heard she was involved in an unsatisfactory love affair with a man who may, or may not, be present in this courtroom. Lastly, she was a young woman with such a flagrant disregard for the sanctity of life that she, at some time undetermined, murdered her unborn child. However not content with committing one grievous sin, she ended her life with another.’
May moved her forearm across the table. The shorthand pad hit the floor with a dull slap. She’d had to stop him; there were too many reporters present for him to continue making such outrageously prejudicial statements. Whether he took the hint or had finished his summing up anyway, Colonel Tindal motioned for her to rise to accept her oath.
‘You shall well and truly keep this jury upon this inquiry without meat, drink or fire; you shall not suffer any persons to speak to them, nor speak to them yourself, unless it be to ask them if they have agreed upon their verdict. So help you God.’
Knowing their cue, the jury stood up and followed May to the coroner’s chambers.
***
It was less than half an hour before they were all back in their places in the courtroom. It felt to May as if everyone was holding their breath as the jury foreman stood, tucking his fingers into his waistcoat pockets.
‘We find that the deceased, Clarice Gem, killed herself while unsound of mind.’
Colonel Tindal’s jowls turned puce and his face seemed to be melting with sweat. ‘This is the verdict of you all?’
‘It is.’
‘The coroner’s officer will enter your decision. But the court will hear why I feel it is an erroneous one. There is no doubt that the deceased was an habitual drug user which is in itself an illegal act. Furthermore, she took her life via a proscribed substance. Therefore on both counts she was guilty of self-murder and the only verdict according to the letter of the law is felo de se. Jervis is quite clear on the definition: he who deliberately puts an end to his own existence, or commits any unlawful act, the consequences of which is his own death. It is a direct and deliberate purpose of self-destruction. I do not hold with this modern notion that people who kill themselves are blighted with insanity. Before long it will be said about all murderers too and then the laws of retribution - an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth - will be nothing but a hollow mockery.’
His previous lethargy seemed to have left him completely. May could almost believe he’d been helping himself to some of his brandy in the recess if she hadn’t been standing outside his door keeping watch over the jury. He pointed at Brilliant Chang.
‘As for you, I have seen too many cases pass through this court where a craving for cocaine has led to white women cavorting with foreign devils who, with their wiles, succeed in transforming them from innocent, to tainted, prey.’ He looked up at the gallery. ‘I hope the men of the press present will take the opportunity to pillory this perjurer in their newspapers; when the law’s hands are tied for lack of evidence, then let the voice of public opinion take over. If I had my way, all those connected to the foul trade of selling drugs would be flogged.’
He stood up and left for his chambers to a chorus of booing from the women in the gallery. May was too stunned to leave her seat and watched as some of them leaned over the rail to wave at Brilliant Chang. The reporters were falling over each other to be the first to file their copy. She felt sickened and cheated that Clarice’s death had been turned into such a sideshow. Mrs Gem seemed to be the only person in the courtroom - apart, she had to admit, from Brilliant Chang - to be comporting herself with any dignity. May went over to her and, once more, offered her condolences. Mrs Gem stared at her with tight lips, grunted, and walked away.
***
May finished typing up the report. She was about to take it through for Colonel Tindal to sign when she sat back down and scrolled a sheet of headed notepaper into the typewriter. There hadn’t been a whiff of justice in the entire life of the case. She couldn’t do anything about the verdict but she could try to do something to make sure Brilliant Chang didn’t get off scot-free for his part in Clarice Gem’s final misery.
The letter she typed was to Scotland Yard stating that the corone
r requested they take action to put a stop to the cocaine trafficking he had reason to believe was operating out of the Palm Court Nightclub in Gerrard Street. She hammered in the last full stop. There, nothing like a bit of police harassment to wipe the self-satisfied smile off Brilliant Chang’s face. May pulled the letter out with a flourish. Colonel Tindal would be anxious to get off to his club and if he did bother to read her words he’d probably assume he had asked her to type them; he was forgetting so many things these days.
She had got her signatures and was back at her desk when Jack Cahill popped his head around the door.
‘Hello, busy lady. Seems I missed a treat. There’s a real buzz in the pressroom; d’you think I could have a copy of the coroner’s closing speech?’
‘I doubt any of it was much fun for Mrs Gem.’ She opened the drawer to find a stamp. ‘If you are so interested in courtroom proceedings then you should have been there.’
He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. ‘I would’ve been if I hadn’t had other fish to fry.’ He took three paces across the room and reached the window. ‘So this is where it all happens is it? More of a sweatbox than even my little cubicle. Didn’t think conditions could be any worse than for a junior reporter.’ He raised his fist. ‘Up the workers I say.’
He came back and perched on the edge of her desk. May snatched up the letter to Scotland Yard before he could read it. He didn’t seem to notice as he set about straightening a paperclip.
‘You might have to start referring to me as your partner in crime from now on for other reasons.’
‘It may surprise you to learn that I don’t refer to you at all.’ His crackling energy was beginning to grate on her frustrations.
‘Aren’t you even a little bit curious as to why?’
‘PC Collier is going to arrest you for being drunk on the evidence of wearing that jacket in public.’
Jack tugged at the lapels. ‘What’s wrong with it? Fine Donegal tweed I’ll have you know.’