She paused.
‘Still, I have a beautiful son – and Michael will be released in about seven years - if he gets parole. It’s not that long to wait.’ She stuffed the tissue back in her sleeve.
‘So you intend to wait for him?’ Felicity Garrard was quick to exploit what she thought might be a slip by her client. But Julia was now in control of herself. She realised she should not have said that about Doyle. She hesitated then retrieved the situation – or so she thought.
‘I honestly don’t know. For a start, there’s the question of what’s going to happen to me. I know enough about the criminal justice system to realise that the fact you’re innocent doesn’t mean you won’t be convicted. I could end up with a similar sentence.’ She took out the tissue again and dabbed her eyes. ‘I’ve already decided to hand my child over to my mother before the trial starts. I won’t be allowed to keep him in prison after he’s twelve months’ old anyway.’
Felicity Garrard, alarmed that Julia was retreating into her shell again, intervened
‘You mustn’t give up! We will do our best for you, we really will. But it’s important for us to understand how you feel about Michael Doyle. The prosecution will put the case on the basis that you were trying to help him by arranging for the judge to be pressurised into throwing the case out. And we must not overlook that they will probably allege that the termination of your relationship was a blind – a pretence to hide what you were really about.’
Julia laughed contemptuously. Her eyes flashed with anger. ‘The whole thing is ridiculous. I wouldn’t have a clue how to go about such a thing. And Savage should be able to confirm that it was he who ended our relationship – not me!’
‘That’s rather the point,’ said Everdene, quietly. ‘It’s because you wouldn’t have a clue, as you put it, that the prosecution say you turned to Grayling.’
‘But I didn’t know Grayling. As far as I’m aware, I’ve never met him.’
‘Wasn’t he involved in the mortgage fraud when Trevor Parker represented Doyle? I think that’s when you met Michael Doyle for the first time?’
‘Yes. I was working full-time for Trevor Parker then. Grayling was mentioned in the papers, but he was never charged. He never appeared in court and I never saw him. And the case against Michael didn’t get anywhere either. The prosecution threw their hand in.’
‘So I understand. But Doyle borrowed a lot of money from him subsequently. You say in your statement you know nothing about this.’
Julia sighed deeply, her frustration only too evident.
‘You have to understand Mr Everdene, Michael Doyle did not keep me informed of all his activities. I knew about some of his business dealings but he never told me he’d borrowed money from Grayling. As far as I was aware, he was a wealthy man. After all, he bought the farm in Ireland for cash. He even put it in my name. Tax efficient he called it. I admit I became aware of his difficulties with the Revenue but I thought that was concerned with tax he hadn’t paid here and he had accountants in Birmingham looking after that.’
‘Were you living together?’
‘No. We spent time together, of course we did, but I was always careful to maintain my own apartment, until he had me thrown out!’
‘Thrown out? Why was that?’
She sighed again. ‘You don’t know Michael Doyle like I do. If anyone crosses him he’s very slow to forgive. Not unlike Grayling. He likes to get his own back. When I told him he wasn’t the father of my child, he turned nasty. I received notice to quit. I could have fought it but knowing what he’s like, I thought it better just to go. I moved into my mother’s apartment in Halford Street. She’d purchased it as a buy to let, but she hadn’t had a tenant in there for over a year.’
‘Did she ever stay there?’
‘Occasionally, but if she was in the UK for any appreciable time, she would go to her house in Thrussington, on Rearsby Road. That’s where my parents lived before my father died. But we both spent the night in the apartment before she flew back to Portugal. It’s very handy for the station. I had to see Trevor Parker in Derby so we both took the train there and my mother got a taxi to the airport while I had my final meeting with Trevor. I haven’t seen her since, although we have spoken over the phone.’
Everdene looked towards his junior who nodded and took up the questioning.
‘We need to ask you about the third suitcase, the one you left in Brussels. The prosecution will be suggesting you were helping Doyle by transporting some of the cash from the Charnwood robbery to the continent after he failed to get the four hundred thousand he was caught with over there.’
Julia appeared concerned.
‘I understood that the police had undertaken not to seek to link me to that robbery? What has my suitcase got to do with this trial?’
Giles Pepper interrupted. ‘They’re not suggesting you were involved in the robbery. But they’re seeking to show that you were willing to help Doyle not only in relation to the kidnapping and blackmail but also in the transporting of some of the loot from the robbery. It’s evidence of association and intent. Or that’s what they’ll say.’
Julia had, of course, been involved in the robbery. She had driven the get-away vehicle, but she wasn’t going to disclose that to anyone. Her face was the picture of innocence.
‘That’s another piece of nonsense,’ she replied. ‘Where is the evidence that this suitcase contained the proceeds of a robbery? It was simply left behind in the rush to leave. Savage had got the time of the flight to Heathrow wrong.’ She smiled and raised her eyebrows. ‘He hates flying, you know. He was in a blind panic when we took off. He gripped my hand so hard it left a mark.’
She raised her left hand and examined her wrist as if the mark were still there. ‘I’m sure I had the case put in the taxi but in the rush at the airport it got left behind. There must have been a mix-up with the driver and the porter. I was furious with Savage for leaving it behind. It turned up eventually and there was nothing suspicious inside it. Do you know, I almost think he did it deliberately. Perhaps he didn’t want to pay the charge for excess baggage? I’ve often noticed a certain meanness in people who are very wealthy.’
Everdene glanced quizzically at Garrard before he took over.
‘So, were you in any form of communication with Doyle after you told him the child was not his?’
‘No.’
‘You see, if you had no contact with Doyle or anyone connected with Grayling, where did the idea to blackmail the judge originate? That’s what the prosecution will be asking the jury to consider. It’s a fairly brazen if not bizarre scheme when you think about it. They’ll say that it was designed, at least at the outset, to pressurise the judge into dismissing the case against Doyle. There’s no evidence he had any contact with anyone. He was in custody. The prosecution has checked every phone call he made and every letter he wrote. It’s all accounted for. You, on the other hand, had he opportunity to organise things – which is essentially what Duffy is saying.’
Julia shook her head vigorously and spoke with renewed determination.
‘I don’t believe there was ever any intention of getting the prosecution dismissed. This was all designed to keep Michael inside. It was Duffy and Grayling – nothing to do with me. I was aware Michael knew Grayling from way back. That was clear from the papers in the mortgage fraud.’ She corrected herself. ‘The alleged mortgage fraud.’ She was well on top of things now. ‘I also knew that Michael was scared of him – very scared. He once told me that Grayling had people killed who crossed him.’
‘But you didn’t know he’d borrowed money from Grayling?’
‘He never mentioned it.’
‘Were you aware why their relationship deteriorated?’
‘No. All I know is that Doyle always seemed apprehensive whenever his name was mentioned. I asked him once what the problem was, but he told me
not to worry myself. He said everything would work out in the end.’
‘Who mentioned Grayling by name?’
‘Doyle did. I can’t remember the context. But he was really worried about him. Now that I know more about his reputation, I can understand why.’
‘And you had no contact with Doyle after you told him he child was not his? This is very important to our defence. If the prosecution can demonstrate any sort of link, however tenuous, it could damage us very seriously.’
Julia shook her head. ‘How many times do I have to say this? I had no contact with him until after he was sentenced and I had been arrested. I wrote him a short note admitting the child was his in October. I don’t recall receiving a reply. I also sent him a photograph of little Michael. One of the warders took it for me. No doubt it was checked by the prison authorities.’
‘Indeed it was. I believe your letter was copied before it was sent.’
‘That’s right,’ added Giles Pepper, ‘there’s a copy behind tab thirteen.’
Everdene turned to the relevant page.’ The letter ends with you writing – and I quote. “We’ll always have Paris and we’ll be there together sooner than anyone can possibly imagine.” What did you mean by that?’
Julia seemed slightly embarrassed. She smiled and looked down for a moment.
‘You must appreciate Mr Everdene, Doyle had just been sentenced to fifteen years’ imprisonment. I know he suffers from a sort of claustrophobia. Prison will be very hard on him. Much harder than it will be on me. It was just an attempt on my part to make him feel better, nothing more. And I wrote it while I was in hospital. I was feeling very low myself. I’d picked up a serious infection caused by a haemorrhage after little Michael’s birth.’
Everdene nodded and made a note in his book. Felicity Garrard took up the questioning again.
‘But why did you call your son, Michael? That may sound to the jury that you were fostering your relationship with Doyle, calling your son after him.’
‘Do you think so? I called him Michael because I like the name and he was born on the twenty-ninth of September.’
‘Is the date significant?’
Julia smiled. ‘I didn’t think so. But it turns out it’s the feast day of St. Michael. I’m not at all religious and I was not aware of that until the chaplain at the hospital told me when I was choosing a name for him. He was a kind man and he helped me with the paperwork. I had to get on with it, you see. I couldn’t pop down to the register office. They had me chained to the bed you know. It all had to be done from there and quickly. I believe there’s a legal time-limit before which a birth must be registered.’
Garrard nodded. ‘And you named Doyle as the father?’
‘Of course. Why shouldn’t I? That’s the truth of the matter. Whatever happens, Michael Doyle will always be his father. There’s nothing anyone can do about that.’
‘Did it occur to you that by naming him Michael, Doyle might well have thought you named the child after him?’
Julia looked up and replied without emotion. ‘What if he did? It doesn’t do any harm, and he is his son. If it made him feel a little less depressed, so much the better. I don’t hold any grudge against him, although I suppose if I’d never met him I wouldn’t be in here now.’
She looked away as she spoke. Everdene thought he saw a tear in her eye, but she quickly regained her composure and folded her arms. She looked directly at her counsel, her intelligent blue eyes probing him meticulously.
‘What are the chances?’ she asked, bluntly. ‘I want your honest opinion. I’ve heard counsel give unrealistic assurances to clients a dozen times or more. I don’t need to be patronised.’
Everdene was slightly taken aback but replied in a confident tone.
‘A lot will depend on my cross-examination of Duffy, of course. He’s the mainstay of the prosecution case. We already know a great deal that reflects badly upon him, so the jury may not believe a word he says.’
‘He’s also a grass,’ added Julia with derision, ‘but I suppose that’s not going to help me with a jury?’
‘That he said what he did to get a shorter sentence may damage him, but there’s one little problem we have to face up to.’ He paused. ‘The others all pleaded guilty – even Hanlon - which might be regarded as some support for what Duffy says. The jury is almost bound to conclude that they pleaded guilty because of what he said in his witness statement. In other words, he’s someone who’s at least capable of telling the truth.’
‘I would have thought he could be taken apart in cross-examination. He’s been living a lie for years.’
‘Don’t get me wrong. We have a huge amount that can be put to him – and there’s absolutely nothing to support what he says, providing we can keep the intercept out.’
‘And we can do that?’
‘We have an excellent chance of doing so. The decision of the House of Lords on the point should be available before the trial begins. It may well assist.’
‘But do we want to keep it out? If they can’t prove it’s me, it may help us? It may demonstrate it was an attempt to set me up?’
‘On balance I think it’s better out than in, but we’ll keep it under review. Things may change before we get to trial.’
Julia looked at him her eyes narrowing. There was almost a hint of menace in her voice.
‘Whatever happens, I’m not changing my plea. I want that clearly understood. As far as I’m concerned, Duffy is a liar. He’s involved me to make it look better for himself. It’s as simple as that.’
Everdene smiled benignly at Julia.
‘Of course – there’s no question of our advising you to change your plea. Giving evidence against you is part and parcel of the arrangement Duffy made with the Crown. The fact that there was no trial of the others means his evidence has never been tested. Believe me, it will be tested this time.’
‘I’m pleased to hear it. If Duffy wants to maintain his arrangement with the prosecution, then he’s just going to have to give evidence against me. I concede nothing.’
She paused, then raised her eyebrows, quizzically.
‘It follows, doesn’t it, that he simply has to implicate me? His story won’t hold together unless he does. He has to have a fall guy who contacted him or Grayling. Otherwise the whole conspiracy is down to them.’ She stood up and fixed her eyes on Everdene. ‘I am nobody’s fall guy!’
Everdene bade her to sit down. She did so but reluctantly.
‘Exactly. That’s how we’ll play it. Is there anything you can add to what we already have? For example, have you ever met or spoken with Duffy?’
‘No. I’d never heard of him until after I was arrested.’
‘What about his daughter, Kelly Maguire?’
Julia did not change her position or her expression as she replied. She was, of course, telling a deliberate lie.
‘I didn’t even know he had a daughter because I don’t know him.’
Everdene nodded, sagely.
‘Very well,’ he said, looking at his watch again. ‘We’ll leave it there for now. We shall see you again before the trial. I understand there may be some more evidence on the way, although I have no idea what it might be.’
Julia looked slightly apprehensive.
‘More evidence? I don’t see what else they could have. Grayling’s dead, isn’t he?’
‘It’s very late to serve further evidence,’ agreed Garrard, ‘but it’s becoming increasingly common. I’ll come and see you when we receive it.’
She started to pack away the case papers.
‘Any idea what it might be?’ asked Julia.
The solicitor glanced at Everdene before he answered. ‘According to what I was told, it’s a further statement from Duffy and a statement from Joseph Hanlon. They should be with us by the end of the week.’
�
��Hanlon?’ said Julia. ‘What has he do do with my case? I’ve never met him or had anything to do with him.’
‘That’s what we are waiting to find out,’ said Felicity Garrard. ‘Don’t worry. If you’ve never had any dealings with him, it can’t be too damaging.’
‘I don’t like it,’ said Julia, obviously concerned. ‘And why are they waiting until now to produce it? There’s something going on here and I don’t like the sound of it.’
‘Don’t concern yourself,’ said Everdene. ‘Whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll be able to deal with it. Now, is there anything else that we can help you with?’
Julia sighed deeply. ‘Will it be the same prosecutor as in the other case? I hear he’s very good.’
Everdene smiled. ‘You mean Harold Cronshaw? We’re old friends, not that that will affect the matter, of course.’ He hesitated. ‘There is a rumour that the Attorney- General may lead for the prosecution. It seems your trial is attracting huge media attention.’
‘The Attorney-General?’ questioned Julia. ‘Why would he want to get involved in my case? I would have thought Duffy’s case was more significant than mine and according to what I read in the newspapers, Cronshaw prosecuted him and the others, before the Lord Chief Justice. I don’t recall any mention of the Attorney- General. Then again, I wasn’t allowed to stay. I was sent down to the cells as soon as I pleaded not guilty.’
‘Different Attorney,’ replied Everdene, standing up and pulling on his coat. ‘And I don’t think the Chief would have got involved if there had been a trial. Not that it’s anything to concern yourself about. Cronshaw is by far the better advocate. If the prosecution places itself in the new Attorney’s hands, it may well redound to our advantage.’
‘When will I next be at court?’
A Private and Convenient Place Page 10