Authors: Elle Wynne
“Totally, he’d been outed as nothing more than a paedophile and he’d been made to look totally redundant by his team.”
Quinn coughs. “But it’s correct that on some of the other occasions you’d seen him in the bar he’d also been in a bad mood? For example, the night they were knocked out of the playoffs?”
“Yeah, we did actually throw him out that night come to think of it.”
“And the time he wasn’t selected for the England squad?”
“Yeah, he was pretty evil that night too!” chortles Jenkins.
“And just as another example, how about his behaviour the nights that other, negative, stories had broken about him?”
“Yeah, he’s basically a bit of a, can I say it?”
There’s a pause and Quinn looks confused.
“Say what?”
“Well, he always acted like a total wanker to be honest.”
I bite my lip and look down. Quinn gives the witness a totally false smile. “Thank you, no further questions.”
“Thank you Mr. Jenkins,” says the Judge. “Members of the jury, I think we’ll leave it there for today and resume again tomorrow. Please be here by 11am as the coach is going to pick us up at 11:15 sharp. We will spend an hour or so at the house, then resume back here for the afternoon session. Again, please remember not to discuss the case with anyone.”
“I thought my gamble was going to backfire for a minute there Miss Chase,” says Corr quietly. “It seemed as though you had completely lost control of the witness.”
“I know, I’m sorry-”
“But, you did an excellent job in reigning him back in. I like your thinking about the champagne bottle. I expect you want me to ask the officer in charge of the investigation to do some photoshopping?”
I laugh, he’s so sharp. “Yes, and also it might be worth getting a statement from a wine merchant to say how rare that particular vintage is?”
He nods, “Yes, that’s a thought. I’ll action it right now. I’ll see you in the morning. Good work today.”
As he walks away I have to stop myself from pinching my arm to check I haven’t hallucinated the last few minutes. I stand alone in the well of the court and take a moment to reflect on what’s happened.
As people file out of court I turn and look for Serena. To my surprise she’s not in court, she must have left already. I haven’t spoken to her at all today, she’s spent every moment with Rivers, passing him notes and buying him cups of watery coffee from the court cafe. When I tried to call her last night, she didn’t pick up either.
I pack my papers away and walk out of the court. It’s surprisingly busy given the hour; normally at half four the concourse looks like a ghost town, but today it’s a veritable hive of activity. I make my way to the ground floor and out of the exit. I’d better try Serena again. As I press her speed dial number I walk back to Chambers, trying my best to avoid the gaps in the pavement. She answers after about the ninth ring.
“Hello? Lauren?”
“Hiya, just wondered what you’re up to? I have an hour or so to kill, so we can grab a coffee or something?”
“I’d love to, but I’m kinda busy at the moment” she replies. From the background noise, it’s clear she’s in licensed premises.
“Really? Anything interesting?” I ask.
“Just going through some of the case documents with Andrew. Getting ready to launch the defence, you know.”
“Naturally. Is Quinn there too?”
“No, he likes to leave most of it to Andrew and me. I’d better go, but we’ll have to catch up soon ok?”
“Sure” I say, disconnecting the call. As I put the phone in my bag I realise that Serena didn’t even mention my last minute advocacy today. I don’t bother going into the clerks room, I just head straight to my desk.
I sit and plough through the exhibits in the case, making endless notes about matters I now know inside out. Six PM comes and my phone lights up as it receives an incoming call. I know it is Rivers and for a moment consider ignoring it. Whilst my brain is contemplating this, my hand picks up the phone and answers his call.
I listen to the voice in my ear and process his suggestion that we meet in ten minutes at Blue, an underground champagne bar not far from Chambers. I make a few noises of assent and disconnect the call. I root through my bag and assemble my make up on the desk in front of me. As if on autopilot, I refresh my face with a liberal re-application of my usual products and add a slick of plumping lipgloss for good measure.
It doesn’t take me long to reach the bar and I hold carefully on to the bannister of the stairs as I make my way down to the dim room below. The bar is pretty empty and I spot Rivers straight away. He has his back to me and is drinking from a large glass of red wine. A group of girls in the corner are totally checking him out, whispering and looking in his direction, but he appears to be oblivious to this.
I pat him on the shoulder and he turns around. To my surprise, he envelops me in a tight hug and I can feel him inhale the scent at the nape of my neck. I pull back but he leaves his hand at the base of my spine.
“Lauren. Great to see you. Thanks for coming,” he murmurs into my ear.
I pause, completely wrong-footed. “No problem. What can I do for you?” As soon as the words are out of my mouth I could kick myself. What can I do for you? Could I sound any more like I wanted this to be an illicit encounter?
“I just wanted to have a chat. Go through some bits with you. I know Corr can be a bit anti-social at times, Sam used to laugh about it actually.”
This revelation stops my thought process like a brick wall. Sam had problems engaging with Corr too? Does that mean he doesn’t think I’m a complete loser? Rivers is staring at me and obviously waiting for a response. I laugh and turn towards the bar.
“Corr? He’s a genius. Now, what bits of the case can I help you with?” I ask. I may be a clumsy, dippy excuse for a barrister but there is no way on earth I would be stupid enough to engage with my opposition in a bitching session about my leader.
A flash of an unreadable expression appears across Rivers’ face and his hand squeezes my waist.
“Let me get the drinks in and we can go through them.”
He beckons to a bored looking barman and orders a bottle of red, then taking me by the hand, leads me to a booth in the corner. The music is a slow, seductive number and across the candlelit table I can see his perfect profile as he glances out towards the room. A waitress brings a bottle of wine over with two clean glasses and I feel a stab of guilt that this would totally look to her like we are on a date.
An hour or so later we have finished the bottle of wine and have discussed most of the non-contentious points of the evidence. I glance at my watch and realise that I really have to get going if I’m going to complete the work that needs to be done by tomorrow.
“I’m going to have to love you and leave you I’m afraid,” I say to Rivers, gathering my bag and coat together from the chair next to me.
“Already?” he asks, looking concerned that I’m abandoning him.
“It’s Tuesday night!” I exclaim. “Plus, wont Lucinda be wondering where you are?”
A shadow crosses his face and I instantly regret bringing her up.
“She’s with Holly in London tonight, they’re working on table decorations,” he replies, getting to his feet to escort me out. I rise to my feet, grateful that he has drunk the majority of the wine so I can safely drive home.
“Ok, well thanks for the drink, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I say making my way to the bottom of the stairs. He follows me and I turn to say goodbye.
“Are you leaving now too?” I ask. He shakes his head.
“Not just yet, I have some papers I was planning to read here.” For a moment he looks really tired and I wonder how the stress of this case is affecting him.
“Ok, sure.” I reply, trying not to look confused at his revelation.
I smile at him and as I turn away he puts his arms around my waist and spins me to face him, pushing me back against the wall to my right. Before I can react, he pins me against the cold surface by my wrists and kisses me full on the mouth. Shocked, I register the sharp scent of his aftershave and his warm lips on mine. His body is pressed fully against me and I feel trapped under his weight.
For a disturbing second I contemplate returning the kiss but before my mind has the time to work through the consequences of such an act, my body has responded by pushing him backwards away from me. Flustered, I hoist my bag on to my shoulder and race up the stairs, not pausing to look backwards.
I manage to get back to Chambers and pack up my kit in the Audi ready to head for home, hoping that I’ve missed the worst of the traffic. My head is all over the place and I’m mentally replaying the events of the last half hour when the screen of my iPhone lights up and I can see a text has come through from Sebastian. I read the screen from where the device is holstered in the car.
‘I’ve just been called into a late meeting so I won’t be back much before midnight. Hope you had a good day in court. Love you x’
With a sigh, I put on a power ballad CD and decide that the best way to shake this is to belt out some classics. Mid-way through Total Eclipse of the Heart I realise that my passenger window is down and I’ve been entertaining a group of students for the past few minutes whilst I’ve been waiting at some lights. Oh well, at least I cheered someone up today. I start to giggle, give them a wave and accelerate away.
Chapter Twelve
Sebastian got home last night just after half past one. He was exhausted when he climbed into bed and pretty much fell asleep straightaway. I lay away, curled up against his frame thinking about the case, trying not to think about Rivers and instead worrying about ways in which it could go wrong because of me.
As such, when I did finally doze off, my dreams were full of nightmare scenarios involving a courtroom, no clothes and me. This morning was therefore perhaps the only one this year when I’ve been happy to get up before midday. I’ve got a little extra time this morning given the site visit, so decide to make a proper breakfast for once.
I rummage through the kitchen cupboards and pull out a box of muesli, put on some toast and switch on the cappuccino maker. As I pour myself a bowl and take a huge, raisiny bite, I resolve that today will be a good one. After two pieces of toast topped with raspberry jam I’m feeling very positive about the day ahead. Our daily paper is full of reports about the trial, re-runs of previous interviews with his other lovers and various photographs of Hobbs in action. It’ll be so surreal wandering around his house later on today. I can’t believe he still lives there. It seems inconceivable to me that anyone would want to remain where their spouse died, was murdered, indeed. To see the pool everyday where she was found would be torture if you’d hadn’t killed her, but at best, bizarre if you had.
I wander upstairs and get dressed. One of the benefits of this job is the very little I can deviate in choices of clothing. The racks in my wardrobe are filled with black suits, white shirts and black tops. Today I pick a black crepe trouser suit and pair it with a black V-neck top and some seriously pointy crocodile-effect black heels. Shoes aside, I look like I’m about to attend a funeral, but given where I am going, perhaps that’s rather fitting.
I decide to leave my hair down for now and apply my usual layers of makeup. Satisfied with my reflection in the mirror, I walk back to the bedroom where Sebastian is still fast asleep. I lean over and give him a kiss on the cheek, but he barely stirs. He looks so peaceful I decide not to wake him and walk out, softly closing the door behind me.
I get to Chambers around ten thirty and run smack into Bill in the foyer. Literally. He drops the briefs in his arms and we both scramble around trying to pick them up.
“Darling girl!” he exclaims. “What’s this I hear about you examining witnesses in this murder?”
I laugh, “It was only one witness and a pretty uncontroversial one at that.”
“So it’s true? Scandalous!” he drawls.
“Hardly. Anyway, how did you get to hear about it?”
“Jungle drums my dear, jungle drums. The news that the great Corr allowed his junior to take a witness has spread like wildfire, pardon me for mixing my metaphors of course, but it’s practically unheard of!”
“Really?” I exclaim before I can stop myself.
“Yes! He never let Samantha ‘have a go’ so God knows what you’ve done to get in his good books!” He pauses then eyes me suspiciously. “You haven’t, have you?”
“Haven’t what?” I ask, not understanding what he’s on about
“You know, Lauren, pretty girl like you, lonely old man like him...”
As comprehension dawns I punch him hard on the arm and he yelps, almost dropping the briefs again.
“You and your filthy mind Bill. Whilst I don’t need to justify myself to a gossip monger like you, no, I am not sleeping my way to the top.”
“Calm down dear!” he splutters, “In that case, you should be very flattered. Right, I’d better get over to court. I’m already late. Toodles!”
As he walks off, rubbing his arm I feel slightly guilty for belting him, but the last thing I need is him telling everyone that we’re having some sort of sordid affaire.
Serena is waiting for me at the desk opposite to mine. I dump my handbag on the shiny mahogany between us and take my seat.
“Hello stranger,” I say warmly “All set for our class trip?”
“I’m not allowed to go,” she says forlornly. “It’s only the judge, the barristers and the jury really, plus a couple of court staff to record events. Because there’s no live evidence then there’s nothing for me to take a note of. I’m spending the morning catching up on some papers here.”
“I’m sorry, but we’ll only be gone for an hour or so.”
“Yeah, that’s what Andrew said last night,” she muses, not looking at me.
“You two seem to be getting pretty close,” I say tentatively, doodling on a piece of paper in front of me with an old biro.
“He’s lovely, we have so much in common. I feel I can talk to him about pretty much everything.”
“But you’ve only known him a few days?”