Part Sixteen
Fenner seethed with secret rage and hatred for that Atkins bitch and that Betts cow. They're expecting him to jump when they say jump like any other dominant castrating bitch he'd met before. She clicks their fingers with those elegantly elongated painted nails, he is expected to be all meek and mild to take orders. Now that Atkins is out of Larkhall, she's twice as bad as when he could at least have the satisfaction of turning the key to the cell door and giving her the orders of the day.
He saw the way they gathered together in the domed foyer of the court all cosy cosy, the glare that that Tyler dyke stabbed in his direction and the look of disapproval on Connor's face as if he were something dug up somewhere. No welcome from them, even though he's trying to do the same as them.
If Fenner's old schoolmistress could see him now, one sharp eye would have told her that James Fenner was playing that "well, if I'm not invited to play their game, then I won't let them play mine either." Always got some grudge against some other boy and she often popped out to the back of the bike sheds to find him twisting another boy's arm behind his back while he yelled in pain and was getting obvious pleasure out of it. Till she had him after school writing out one hundred times. "I shall not bully other children" Forced against his will, the eight year old Fenner slouched at his desk, the only one there while that gimlet eye was unblinkingly watching every move. He learned to hide his rage behind an outward show of acquiescence, one lesson from school that he never forgot.
"Just popping out for a packet of fags." Fenner's midpitched voice carried across the courtroom in a muffled way while the group of women thought they heard a voice of some kind, turned round but by that time he was away.
Out in the fresh air of the street, Fenner swiftly spied a run down tobacconist and bought the cigarettes of his choice. His real purpose was to double back and look out the defence solicitor that he'd seen briefly earlier on. An evil smile creased his face, as he was sure that he had an interesting tale to tell.
Karen put on a brave face as she took the stand in the afternoon and did her best to steady her nerves. She held onto the dock rail firmly and looked the defence solicitor in the eye as he took his place. Jo Mills was out of Karen's vision but, behind her professional mask, there was more than a hint of real concern, from one human being to another. She had not grown up as John Deed's pupil and on and off lover for nothing.
"Miss Betts, "Brian Cantwell's harsh voice opened the attack,"You have given evidence this morning, have you not, that one of the defendants, Snowball Merriman, had been given a series of privileges within a week of her admission to your care, such as being given her own cell, and being appointed as librarian for the prison library service."
"Yes, Sir, this is so."
"And you also testified that all this took place in the week when you were on holiday.
"Yes, Sir, this was the case."
"And you testified that you would not have sanctioned the granting of these privileges if you had been present at the time when Snowball Merriman was admitted to prison."
"Yes," Karen said evenly. She knew what was coming and thank God this man signalled his moves in advance.
"So, if you thought that the privileges were unreasonable in any way, why did you not simply remove these privileges on your return as Mr Fenner's senior officer?"
"Because………….I am guided to a certain extent by the opinion of the Personal Officer in all matters. I interviewed Snowball Merriman as part of her induction and I found that my initial impression of her was mixed. She came over as someone who was very much different from the run of the mill prisoner but with a strong interest in old Hollywood movie stars and her own book collection in her belongings. She passed herself off as an American actress although her file showed her as Tracy Pilkinton from Wigan. The fact that she passed herself off with a false identity is not so surprising in this star struck age."
"You were asked a straight explanation of your decision, or non decision, Miss Betts." Brian Cantwell snarled."Can you come to the point?"
"I was doing just that," Karen replied fighting to keep an even strain."Snowball Merriman had hardly started to serve her sentence at Larkhall. The appointment as library 'redband' was, at the very least, premature, in my opinion with no time for her progress to be assessed for her suitability. I am not in the habit of reversing the decisions of junior officers made in my absence unless I had absolute and clear evidence as to the unsuitability. I had no such evidence prior to the explosion. Just shows you that experienced officers of many years standing like Mr Fenner and myself are not immune from being deceived. As I know to my cost."
Cassie and Roisin sat, in the front row of the spectator's gallery, open mouthed holding their hands willing strength in their thoughts to Karen as the battle unfolded. And this was the woman she had badmouthed as a jobsworth in a suit when she was desperate to see Roisin after she had been discharged from the Muppet Wing.
Brian Cantwell paced round in a small circle letting a hush fall on the court adding tension to the proceedings before resuming his stance.
"Do I understand it that you set great store by your professional integrity." He asked slowly, dragging out every syllable.
"Always and at all times," Karen rushed in eagerly, wishing to set her stamp on the proceedings. Too eagerly, thought Jo Mills who had a sudden chill feeling run down her spine.
"So when you made an allegation of rape against another prosecution witness to the trial, this was an instance of your high standards." replied Brian Cantwell softly yet clearly in the hush. "The rape allegation which you were so apparently certain of yet you withdrew of your own free will supposedly because you did not want your son Ross dragged into the proceedings.I understand that the alternative, of the Home office pressing charges never materialised. Perhaps you can explain this to the court, Miss Betts."
Karen went white when, in a hideous moment of blinding clarity, she realised that she had been sucker punched into dropping her guard in a matter that found her at her weakest. She clutched onto the rail and she felt weak and her skin felt clammy. She dropped her eyes for a second unable to look the triumphant barrister in the eye who, in this split second, seemed to be prosecuting her for the rape.
"You must answer the question put to you, Miss Betts," came John Deed's low melodious voice.
In that instant, the nightmare vice of steel that had locked its way round Karen's thoughts and paralysed them snapped and, in a moment of clarity, the words formed themselves directly from her thoughts without the conscious connection with her voice.
"I did, indeed, go to the police to press a charge of rape against Jim Fenner. I was advised by Mr Grayling at the time when I first pressed the charges that Area management were unable to press charges while the police prosecution was going ahead. In the end, I had personal reasons at the time in not going ahead with the charge."
"My Lord, the witness is verging on contempt of court in her persistent evasion of a perfectly simple question. If she was so sure in the rightness of her case, then surely she would have sought recompense by the legal channels which as a Wing governor in a prison, she must surely be aware of. If she has been found out of crying 'rape' and not following the matter through, then it surely means that not much credence can be placed on her testimony in the matter of the charges before the defendants."
John Deed saw red at this. The barefaced cheek that Brian Cantwell employed in appealing to him on a matter of law when he was guilty of transgressing the limits that barristers are allowed to go in the examination of a witness. The words 'cry rape' stuck like an arrow into his mind. Beating Jo Mills to it by a hairbreath and Cassie and Roisin who were likewise roused to anger, John Deed let rip. The fact that John Deed jumped in before Yvonne's total fury and lightning thoughts, was unprecedented.
"Mr Cantwell, I direct that this line of questioning that you have introduced be struck from the record. I shall not allow you to pursue the matter further. You have practised at the Bar long enough to be aware of the limits as to how a highly sensitive matter like the matter you have introduced should be pursued. "
Brian Cantwell opened his mouth to protest but it remained open and no words passed his lips when he saw John Deed's fury being directed upon him. In the meantime, Karen took deep breaths, in and out repeatedly out of sheer instinct in this snatched moment when the heat was off her. Sulkily, Brian Cantwell returned to his usual stand to consult his papers.
"Miss Betts," Brian Cantwell said. "Let us turn to the events involving Snowball Merriman's
escape from prison when you drove the accused to the place during the course of which Richard Atkins was inadvertently shot and the possession of the gun. When were you aware that such a weapon existed."
"I first became aware of the gun when Jim Fenner grabbed my handbag, turned it upside down on my desk and it fell out. When I came back to my office afterwards it had disappeared."
"And when were you next aware of the gun."
"When Snowball Merriman stuck the gun into my back." Karen replied with a tired and slightly irritated sigh.
"And you claim that you had no foreknowledge of it before each event."
"Yes," came the reply.
"So how do you explain the remark you made to the accused. 'You only got the gun because of me, I'm not going to risk anyone else's neck.' Surely that implies some foreknowledge of the gun which, after all is a heavy and bulky item."
"Mr Fenner showed me the card 'Don't place your Bets till the rod's in K's bag.' Before he turned out my bag. He explained that I was being set up to smuggle in a gun without my knowledge and his explanation was convincing….."
"What," Mr Cantwell raised his voice with the air of finding a sudden unexpected revelation."the man you accused of rape?"
"Mr Fenner is a professional in the Prison service of many years standing." Karen's tired and fuzzy voice yet articulated the still sharp logic which carried her through."Despite one incident, I have found him to be a professional officer and, in a situation like this, the job matters more than personal feelings. A thorough investigation from top to bottom found no trace of the gun and when it reappeared pushed into my back by Snowball, I felt morally responsible for the gun turning up in this way even though I was not formally responsible for it. Especially as that morning I was with Ritchie Atkins.That's the way I am and I don't change," Karen summoned up a faint ghost of a smile for the first time that day. A small victory but it mattered so much at that point in time."
"Do you have any further questions of the witness? "John Deed asked quietly.
"No further questions" Brian Cantwell replied and Jo Mills indicated that she had no questions to ask, at least inside court.
"Court is closed for the day."
While Karen tottered out of the court, behind the scenes, Fenner's face split into an evil smile wondering how much he got his revenge on that bitch who nearly dragged him into court on a trumped up charge of rape.
Fenner seethed with secret rage and hatred for that Atkins bitch and that Betts cow. They're expecting him to jump when they say jump like any other dominant castrating bitch he'd met before. She clicks their fingers with those elegantly elongated painted nails, he is expected to be all meek and mild to take orders. Now that Atkins is out of Larkhall, she's twice as bad as when he could at least have the satisfaction of turning the key to the cell door and giving her the orders of the day.
He saw the way they gathered together in the domed foyer of the court all cosy cosy, the glare that that Tyler dyke stabbed in his direction and the look of disapproval on Connor's face as if he were something dug up somewhere. No welcome from them, even though he's trying to do the same as them.
If Fenner's old schoolmistress could see him now, one sharp eye would have told her that James Fenner was playing that "well, if I'm not invited to play their game, then I won't let them play mine either." Always got some grudge against some other boy and she often popped out to the back of the bike sheds to find him twisting another boy's arm behind his back while he yelled in pain and was getting obvious pleasure out of it. Till she had him after school writing out one hundred times. "I shall not bully other children" Forced against his will, the eight year old Fenner slouched at his desk, the only one there while that gimlet eye was unblinkingly watching every move. He learned to hide his rage behind an outward show of acquiescence, one lesson from school that he never forgot.
"Just popping out for a packet of fags." Fenner's midpitched voice carried across the courtroom in a muffled way while the group of women thought they heard a voice of some kind, turned round but by that time he was away.
Out in the fresh air of the street, Fenner swiftly spied a run down tobacconist and bought the cigarettes of his choice. His real purpose was to double back and look out the defence solicitor that he'd seen briefly earlier on. An evil smile creased his face, as he was sure that he had an interesting tale to tell.
Karen put on a brave face as she took the stand in the afternoon and did her best to steady her nerves. She held onto the dock rail firmly and looked the defence solicitor in the eye as he took his place. Jo Mills was out of Karen's vision but, behind her professional mask, there was more than a hint of real concern, from one human being to another. She had not grown up as John Deed's pupil and on and off lover for nothing.
"Miss Betts, "Brian Cantwell's harsh voice opened the attack,"You have given evidence this morning, have you not, that one of the defendants, Snowball Merriman, had been given a series of privileges within a week of her admission to your care, such as being given her own cell, and being appointed as librarian for the prison library service."
"Yes, Sir, this is so."
"And you also testified that all this took place in the week when you were on holiday.
"Yes, Sir, this was the case."
"And you testified that you would not have sanctioned the granting of these privileges if you had been present at the time when Snowball Merriman was admitted to prison."
"Yes," Karen said evenly. She knew what was coming and thank God this man signalled his moves in advance.
"So, if you thought that the privileges were unreasonable in any way, why did you not simply remove these privileges on your return as Mr Fenner's senior officer?"
"Because………….I am guided to a certain extent by the opinion of the Personal Officer in all matters. I interviewed Snowball Merriman as part of her induction and I found that my initial impression of her was mixed. She came over as someone who was very much different from the run of the mill prisoner but with a strong interest in old Hollywood movie stars and her own book collection in her belongings. She passed herself off as an American actress although her file showed her as Tracy Pilkinton from Wigan. The fact that she passed herself off with a false identity is not so surprising in this star struck age."
"You were asked a straight explanation of your decision, or non decision, Miss Betts." Brian Cantwell snarled."Can you come to the point?"
"I was doing just that," Karen replied fighting to keep an even strain."Snowball Merriman had hardly started to serve her sentence at Larkhall. The appointment as library 'redband' was, at the very least, premature, in my opinion with no time for her progress to be assessed for her suitability. I am not in the habit of reversing the decisions of junior officers made in my absence unless I had absolute and clear evidence as to the unsuitability. I had no such evidence prior to the explosion. Just shows you that experienced officers of many years standing like Mr Fenner and myself are not immune from being deceived. As I know to my cost."
Cassie and Roisin sat, in the front row of the spectator's gallery, open mouthed holding their hands willing strength in their thoughts to Karen as the battle unfolded. And this was the woman she had badmouthed as a jobsworth in a suit when she was desperate to see Roisin after she had been discharged from the Muppet Wing.
Brian Cantwell paced round in a small circle letting a hush fall on the court adding tension to the proceedings before resuming his stance.
"Do I understand it that you set great store by your professional integrity." He asked slowly, dragging out every syllable.
"Always and at all times," Karen rushed in eagerly, wishing to set her stamp on the proceedings. Too eagerly, thought Jo Mills who had a sudden chill feeling run down her spine.
"So when you made an allegation of rape against another prosecution witness to the trial, this was an instance of your high standards." replied Brian Cantwell softly yet clearly in the hush. "The rape allegation which you were so apparently certain of yet you withdrew of your own free will supposedly because you did not want your son Ross dragged into the proceedings.I understand that the alternative, of the Home office pressing charges never materialised. Perhaps you can explain this to the court, Miss Betts."
Karen went white when, in a hideous moment of blinding clarity, she realised that she had been sucker punched into dropping her guard in a matter that found her at her weakest. She clutched onto the rail and she felt weak and her skin felt clammy. She dropped her eyes for a second unable to look the triumphant barrister in the eye who, in this split second, seemed to be prosecuting her for the rape.
"You must answer the question put to you, Miss Betts," came John Deed's low melodious voice.
In that instant, the nightmare vice of steel that had locked its way round Karen's thoughts and paralysed them snapped and, in a moment of clarity, the words formed themselves directly from her thoughts without the conscious connection with her voice.
"I did, indeed, go to the police to press a charge of rape against Jim Fenner. I was advised by Mr Grayling at the time when I first pressed the charges that Area management were unable to press charges while the police prosecution was going ahead. In the end, I had personal reasons at the time in not going ahead with the charge."
"My Lord, the witness is verging on contempt of court in her persistent evasion of a perfectly simple question. If she was so sure in the rightness of her case, then surely she would have sought recompense by the legal channels which as a Wing governor in a prison, she must surely be aware of. If she has been found out of crying 'rape' and not following the matter through, then it surely means that not much credence can be placed on her testimony in the matter of the charges before the defendants."
John Deed saw red at this. The barefaced cheek that Brian Cantwell employed in appealing to him on a matter of law when he was guilty of transgressing the limits that barristers are allowed to go in the examination of a witness. The words 'cry rape' stuck like an arrow into his mind. Beating Jo Mills to it by a hairbreath and Cassie and Roisin who were likewise roused to anger, John Deed let rip. The fact that John Deed jumped in before Yvonne's total fury and lightning thoughts, was unprecedented.
"Mr Cantwell, I direct that this line of questioning that you have introduced be struck from the record. I shall not allow you to pursue the matter further. You have practised at the Bar long enough to be aware of the limits as to how a highly sensitive matter like the matter you have introduced should be pursued. "
Brian Cantwell opened his mouth to protest but it remained open and no words passed his lips when he saw John Deed's fury being directed upon him. In the meantime, Karen took deep breaths, in and out repeatedly out of sheer instinct in this snatched moment when the heat was off her. Sulkily, Brian Cantwell returned to his usual stand to consult his papers.
"Miss Betts," Brian Cantwell said. "Let us turn to the events involving Snowball Merriman's
escape from prison when you drove the accused to the place during the course of which Richard Atkins was inadvertently shot and the possession of the gun. When were you aware that such a weapon existed."
"I first became aware of the gun when Jim Fenner grabbed my handbag, turned it upside down on my desk and it fell out. When I came back to my office afterwards it had disappeared."
"And when were you next aware of the gun."
"When Snowball Merriman stuck the gun into my back." Karen replied with a tired and slightly irritated sigh.
"And you claim that you had no foreknowledge of it before each event."
"Yes," came the reply.
"So how do you explain the remark you made to the accused. 'You only got the gun because of me, I'm not going to risk anyone else's neck.' Surely that implies some foreknowledge of the gun which, after all is a heavy and bulky item."
"Mr Fenner showed me the card 'Don't place your Bets till the rod's in K's bag.' Before he turned out my bag. He explained that I was being set up to smuggle in a gun without my knowledge and his explanation was convincing….."
"What," Mr Cantwell raised his voice with the air of finding a sudden unexpected revelation."the man you accused of rape?"
"Mr Fenner is a professional in the Prison service of many years standing." Karen's tired and fuzzy voice yet articulated the still sharp logic which carried her through."Despite one incident, I have found him to be a professional officer and, in a situation like this, the job matters more than personal feelings. A thorough investigation from top to bottom found no trace of the gun and when it reappeared pushed into my back by Snowball, I felt morally responsible for the gun turning up in this way even though I was not formally responsible for it. Especially as that morning I was with Ritchie Atkins.That's the way I am and I don't change," Karen summoned up a faint ghost of a smile for the first time that day. A small victory but it mattered so much at that point in time."
"Do you have any further questions of the witness? "John Deed asked quietly.
"No further questions" Brian Cantwell replied and Jo Mills indicated that she had no questions to ask, at least inside court.
"Court is closed for the day."
While Karen tottered out of the court, behind the scenes, Fenner's face split into an evil smile wondering how much he got his revenge on that bitch who nearly dragged him into court on a trumped up charge of rape.