Part Fifty
After parting company with Karen, George headed to the ladies' and stared at her face in the mirror in a way that she never had before. Something in her stopped her from rushing instinctively into arranging her face and appearance ready for the afternoon's performance in the way that she normally did but, instead, she studied thoughtfully the face that stared back at her in equal measure. After a touch of eye shadow, powder and lipstick, and adjustment of her favourite powerdressing suit she would normally pick up her papers and click into action the way she normally did. This time, she hesitated, and what did she see? Naturally, the aristocratic, perfectly poised expression on her face for the woman who always handled things perfectly. So why now, did she feel tired and not wanting to rush out towards what duty demanded of her, and that handsome fee that she normally felt was something she could easily reach out and grasp, just like everything else that came her way, just like a Cabinet Minister who, from her privileged background, was what she was expected to want. Only this time, something didn't quite fit. In fact nothing quite fitted in her life right now.
"I'm counting on you, George, to deliver on this one. You know what's at stake here." Neil had said to her talking through his newspaper.
"Oh, am I one of your Under Secretaries that you give your orders to, darling." George retorted, her voice edged with sarcasm, as the court papers on her lap slithered in front of her."I've told you what I'm up against."
Neil Houghton never answered back which infuriated George more. At least John would have given her the satisfaction of a no holds barred emotional stand up row and battled it out with her. Instead, she got moody sulking from the other side of the paper. The man was cold.
The lipstickholder between her fingers remained suspended in space just as she was by this unaccustomed introspective mood. She'd had enough of this case, especially after crossing swords with and meeting Karen as a human being. As she could not switch on her dispassionate forensic skills with words and her facility with the law and really convince herself, how could she convince others? What did she really want to do with her life, another of their parties where she would be the perfect hostess? For who and for what was she performing?
The attractive face before George's eyes dissolved into an out of focus nothingness which told her nothing and explained nothing. That gave her a moment of nameless fear that the hardness of her personality had protected herself against.
Presently, the mentally ticking clock in her head brought her world back into focus and she applied the last contoured lipstick. She was ready to do her duty not out of conviction but to uphold her self respect as a barrister, no more.
Unknown to her, Jo Mills had been an unseen shape in the doorway, temporarily frozen in position by a George that neither she nor George had seen before. Out of respect, she stayed silent and slipped off to another place where she could fix her own makeup. Something told Jo that she had been privy to a backstage glimpse of George behind the theatrical curtains that only the world knew and saw.
Karen, Yvonne, Babs, Cassie, Lauren and Roisin filed into position in their accustomed places in the gallery. It seemed to all of them that the dry texture of the air would be forever trapped in the pores of their skin and that day after day sitting on the hard benches would necessitate a week's stay in a health club, being totally pampered. An alternative of the rest of the summer lazing by Yvonne's poolside, seemed an equally lotus eating alternative. Sipping a glass of chilled white wine while the fierce sun circle through its orbit through the intense blue summer sky was a very attractive way of living which Babs had not been initiated into. It was the sheer mental and emotional focus of day after day which was the most draining, never letting them ease up from the up and down progress of the trial that took it out of them most. Karen most of all felt under pressure and she stared straight ahead into the courtroom, avoiding Yvonne's eye. Cassie, Roisin and Babs looked on in concern as it was all for one between them right now.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury." George began with a touch of unaccustomed nervousness, not looking up to begin with."The task of the defence starts from refuting the charge that Miss Pilkinton, assisted by Mr Atkins, conspired to commit arson and thereby cause the death of Sharon Wiley. One key point I would like to draw out from testimony given is that assistance that has taken place in the trial has come from a variety of quarters. There has been ample evidence that Mr Fenner," and here George's sarcastic tongue curled her way round the name," has a reputation of being very helpful indeed to female prisoners who are his favourites in his charge and that he has a record of sexual relationships with them. The two go together in the same way as does is violent antipathy to Mrs Atkins.. He has assuredly had his own motives in offering Ms Pilkinton the job in the library and Ms Pilkinton clearly did not extort that privilege from Mr Fenner under duress. It was more the skimpiness of Ms Pilkinton's dress which was the deciding factor which any reasonable member of the jury seeing Mr Fenner's performance and my client's appearance must conclude. Miss Betts was simply faced with a fait accompli which she felt compelled to accept. Mr Fenner was notoriously evasive as to who made the decision to grant her the job. So much of what was said and done around Ms Pilkinton took place behind the closed door of a prison cell and the one other person present was this same Mr Fenner, the shakiest witness of all the eight witnesses put forward by the prosecution. Yet at the same time, he had more direct and prolonged contact with Ms Pilkinton than did any other witness "
The gallery watched George's performance with mixed feelings. It was a curious fortune that placed that bastard Fenner in the same camp of prosecution witnesses to help ensure the conviction of that bitch Merriman. They could see in the sidelines in the dock masquerading at her most innocent, especially for the jury. Yvonne asked herself which of the two of them were more evil and psychopathic, Fenner, the serial abuser of woman, rapist, liar,the maggot of corruption in the very fabric of Larkhall or Merriman, the cold hearted bitch with a heart of stone who made her attempt to escape not caring if flames were burning through the library ,threatening the lives of brave women who were shut up like rats in a trap. The irony was that Fenner had to be believed for once in their lives but Karen and Yvonne's rage at his behaviour at the start of the trial was not forgotten.
"Of the other witnesses," George carried on," Mr Grayling can be exonerated of the charge of assisting the accused as he seems to have done nothing and said nothing in the running of Larkhall and so his evidence can be discounted."
Sir Ian and Lawrence James scowled to see one of their useful contacts in the outside world being lambasted by Deed's ex-wife while Karen grinned tentatively at George's gibe at Grayling's expense but she felt apprehensive for the moment when George's scathing rhetoric may be trained in her direction.
"Miss McKenzy gave rather muddled testimony as to how, in her inexpert opinion, the library display was being set out, the morning before the explosion, not to say a certain amount of choice invective. The rest of her evidence is based on the rather shaky link between a radio that belonged to Mrs Atkins and the mere fragments found in the devastated area of the explosion.
"Likewise, Mrs Atkins, who had made two failed escape attempts herself, assisted with £50,000 delivered to Mr Atkins and the motives for this, you, the jury must decide.
Miss Betts, admirable though she may be as a possible future barrister in this court, has played a somewhat ambiguous role in the affair. The jury will have to decide by what process of magic the gun , suddenly appeared in her handbag, then magically disappeared an hour or so later and then suddenly appeared in Ms Pilkinton's hand on the day that Mr Atkins was shot, if indeed it was the same gun. It is only her evidence and the that of Mr Fenner that the gun existed in the first place at that point in time. The question as to whether Mr Atkins was attracted to Miss Betts or was it the other way round, also place Miss Betts along with the gun, as someone who assisted the events of the trial to take place, whether knowingly or unknowingly."
The gallery watched George's final performance with a fascinated attention. At the start, she verbally skewered Fenner's whole credibility with an expansive relish and tried to engage the key players with eye contact. When she turned her attention to the rest of the witnesses, her eyes periodically turned to the floor and her delivery was flatter, more formal as if she were performing out of duty, not pleasure. Karen watched George's eyes drop at the very point where her past relationship with Fenner was waiting to be emphasised only a curious smile played on George's lips and for the first time, she looked Karen directly in the eye, and passed on to her finale.
"Lastly, I must emphasise that it is not part of the duties of the defence to establish who set off the bomb in Larkhall that, unhappily, killed a female prisoner and nearly burnt to death several more." At this point, George paused, not for dramatic emphasis but, that George, for the first time reflected on this fact for herself. "The responsibility of the defence is to establish that there is simply insufficient evidence that Ms Pilkinton ,with or without Mr Atkins assistance, did so. There is no evidence from information that might have been obtained about Ms Pilkinton that she possessed such knowledge. If there were such evidence, it would have been produced. I must emphasise that absolutely no evidence has been produced that a sophisticated time delay bomb, could have been constructed in secret with the limited facilities of Larkhall.You may be sure that, however negligent the authorities were at Larkhall in locating a bulky object such as a gun, they cannot conceivably had run bomb making classes for the inmates."
At this point,George returned to her best theatrically sarcastic style that drew a grin from Jo Mills and a slight smile from John Deed.
"On this basis, the matter of guilt of Ms Pilkinton of conspiring to commit arson with or without Mr Atkins assistance cannot be shown by the burden of proof, beyond all reasonable doubt. By extension, the charge of manslaughter of Sharon Wiley in the fire also falls by the wayside. The final charge of Ms Pilkinton of committing grievous bodily harm I urge on you to have been merely the result of an accident as, if nothing else, you have to accept the evidence of all witnesses, defence or prosecution, that Ms Pilkinton truly loved Mr Atkins. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, neither of my clients are guilty as charged."
George was conscious of a strong taste of bile in her mouth which she thought was some stomach reaction. She drank from the glass of water at her side to get rid of the taste and sat down. There was no bouquet of flowers for this performance but for the first time in her life, something stirred in her that what she ought to do or say might be different to what she actually did and said.
John Deed, of course, had battled with this conundrum for many years and Jo Mills was his pupil in this respect. He noticed that, rather than accept the plaudits of the crows, in her victory of playing a winning hand, she sat down immediately. No fuss no nonsense, this was a totally un George approach, utterly different from the fireworks of the first week. Despite all his sympathies, John felt respect and some admiration for George for the first time for ages in the way she played what was clearly a losing hand with unusual restraint. Paradoxically, she was at her most convincing when she appeared to try the least.
"I must thank both councils for the prosecution and for the defence for the professionalism with which they have focussed on the key points in the case. Court is adjourned."
George hurried out of the court. She was out of here. Karen felt the same. Despite the delicacy of the way that George had treated her, Karen was her own worst critic and she felt guilty as she had charged herself.
After parting company with Karen, George headed to the ladies' and stared at her face in the mirror in a way that she never had before. Something in her stopped her from rushing instinctively into arranging her face and appearance ready for the afternoon's performance in the way that she normally did but, instead, she studied thoughtfully the face that stared back at her in equal measure. After a touch of eye shadow, powder and lipstick, and adjustment of her favourite powerdressing suit she would normally pick up her papers and click into action the way she normally did. This time, she hesitated, and what did she see? Naturally, the aristocratic, perfectly poised expression on her face for the woman who always handled things perfectly. So why now, did she feel tired and not wanting to rush out towards what duty demanded of her, and that handsome fee that she normally felt was something she could easily reach out and grasp, just like everything else that came her way, just like a Cabinet Minister who, from her privileged background, was what she was expected to want. Only this time, something didn't quite fit. In fact nothing quite fitted in her life right now.
"I'm counting on you, George, to deliver on this one. You know what's at stake here." Neil had said to her talking through his newspaper.
"Oh, am I one of your Under Secretaries that you give your orders to, darling." George retorted, her voice edged with sarcasm, as the court papers on her lap slithered in front of her."I've told you what I'm up against."
Neil Houghton never answered back which infuriated George more. At least John would have given her the satisfaction of a no holds barred emotional stand up row and battled it out with her. Instead, she got moody sulking from the other side of the paper. The man was cold.
The lipstickholder between her fingers remained suspended in space just as she was by this unaccustomed introspective mood. She'd had enough of this case, especially after crossing swords with and meeting Karen as a human being. As she could not switch on her dispassionate forensic skills with words and her facility with the law and really convince herself, how could she convince others? What did she really want to do with her life, another of their parties where she would be the perfect hostess? For who and for what was she performing?
The attractive face before George's eyes dissolved into an out of focus nothingness which told her nothing and explained nothing. That gave her a moment of nameless fear that the hardness of her personality had protected herself against.
Presently, the mentally ticking clock in her head brought her world back into focus and she applied the last contoured lipstick. She was ready to do her duty not out of conviction but to uphold her self respect as a barrister, no more.
Unknown to her, Jo Mills had been an unseen shape in the doorway, temporarily frozen in position by a George that neither she nor George had seen before. Out of respect, she stayed silent and slipped off to another place where she could fix her own makeup. Something told Jo that she had been privy to a backstage glimpse of George behind the theatrical curtains that only the world knew and saw.
Karen, Yvonne, Babs, Cassie, Lauren and Roisin filed into position in their accustomed places in the gallery. It seemed to all of them that the dry texture of the air would be forever trapped in the pores of their skin and that day after day sitting on the hard benches would necessitate a week's stay in a health club, being totally pampered. An alternative of the rest of the summer lazing by Yvonne's poolside, seemed an equally lotus eating alternative. Sipping a glass of chilled white wine while the fierce sun circle through its orbit through the intense blue summer sky was a very attractive way of living which Babs had not been initiated into. It was the sheer mental and emotional focus of day after day which was the most draining, never letting them ease up from the up and down progress of the trial that took it out of them most. Karen most of all felt under pressure and she stared straight ahead into the courtroom, avoiding Yvonne's eye. Cassie, Roisin and Babs looked on in concern as it was all for one between them right now.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury." George began with a touch of unaccustomed nervousness, not looking up to begin with."The task of the defence starts from refuting the charge that Miss Pilkinton, assisted by Mr Atkins, conspired to commit arson and thereby cause the death of Sharon Wiley. One key point I would like to draw out from testimony given is that assistance that has taken place in the trial has come from a variety of quarters. There has been ample evidence that Mr Fenner," and here George's sarcastic tongue curled her way round the name," has a reputation of being very helpful indeed to female prisoners who are his favourites in his charge and that he has a record of sexual relationships with them. The two go together in the same way as does is violent antipathy to Mrs Atkins.. He has assuredly had his own motives in offering Ms Pilkinton the job in the library and Ms Pilkinton clearly did not extort that privilege from Mr Fenner under duress. It was more the skimpiness of Ms Pilkinton's dress which was the deciding factor which any reasonable member of the jury seeing Mr Fenner's performance and my client's appearance must conclude. Miss Betts was simply faced with a fait accompli which she felt compelled to accept. Mr Fenner was notoriously evasive as to who made the decision to grant her the job. So much of what was said and done around Ms Pilkinton took place behind the closed door of a prison cell and the one other person present was this same Mr Fenner, the shakiest witness of all the eight witnesses put forward by the prosecution. Yet at the same time, he had more direct and prolonged contact with Ms Pilkinton than did any other witness "
The gallery watched George's performance with mixed feelings. It was a curious fortune that placed that bastard Fenner in the same camp of prosecution witnesses to help ensure the conviction of that bitch Merriman. They could see in the sidelines in the dock masquerading at her most innocent, especially for the jury. Yvonne asked herself which of the two of them were more evil and psychopathic, Fenner, the serial abuser of woman, rapist, liar,the maggot of corruption in the very fabric of Larkhall or Merriman, the cold hearted bitch with a heart of stone who made her attempt to escape not caring if flames were burning through the library ,threatening the lives of brave women who were shut up like rats in a trap. The irony was that Fenner had to be believed for once in their lives but Karen and Yvonne's rage at his behaviour at the start of the trial was not forgotten.
"Of the other witnesses," George carried on," Mr Grayling can be exonerated of the charge of assisting the accused as he seems to have done nothing and said nothing in the running of Larkhall and so his evidence can be discounted."
Sir Ian and Lawrence James scowled to see one of their useful contacts in the outside world being lambasted by Deed's ex-wife while Karen grinned tentatively at George's gibe at Grayling's expense but she felt apprehensive for the moment when George's scathing rhetoric may be trained in her direction.
"Miss McKenzy gave rather muddled testimony as to how, in her inexpert opinion, the library display was being set out, the morning before the explosion, not to say a certain amount of choice invective. The rest of her evidence is based on the rather shaky link between a radio that belonged to Mrs Atkins and the mere fragments found in the devastated area of the explosion.
"Likewise, Mrs Atkins, who had made two failed escape attempts herself, assisted with £50,000 delivered to Mr Atkins and the motives for this, you, the jury must decide.
Miss Betts, admirable though she may be as a possible future barrister in this court, has played a somewhat ambiguous role in the affair. The jury will have to decide by what process of magic the gun , suddenly appeared in her handbag, then magically disappeared an hour or so later and then suddenly appeared in Ms Pilkinton's hand on the day that Mr Atkins was shot, if indeed it was the same gun. It is only her evidence and the that of Mr Fenner that the gun existed in the first place at that point in time. The question as to whether Mr Atkins was attracted to Miss Betts or was it the other way round, also place Miss Betts along with the gun, as someone who assisted the events of the trial to take place, whether knowingly or unknowingly."
The gallery watched George's final performance with a fascinated attention. At the start, she verbally skewered Fenner's whole credibility with an expansive relish and tried to engage the key players with eye contact. When she turned her attention to the rest of the witnesses, her eyes periodically turned to the floor and her delivery was flatter, more formal as if she were performing out of duty, not pleasure. Karen watched George's eyes drop at the very point where her past relationship with Fenner was waiting to be emphasised only a curious smile played on George's lips and for the first time, she looked Karen directly in the eye, and passed on to her finale.
"Lastly, I must emphasise that it is not part of the duties of the defence to establish who set off the bomb in Larkhall that, unhappily, killed a female prisoner and nearly burnt to death several more." At this point, George paused, not for dramatic emphasis but, that George, for the first time reflected on this fact for herself. "The responsibility of the defence is to establish that there is simply insufficient evidence that Ms Pilkinton ,with or without Mr Atkins assistance, did so. There is no evidence from information that might have been obtained about Ms Pilkinton that she possessed such knowledge. If there were such evidence, it would have been produced. I must emphasise that absolutely no evidence has been produced that a sophisticated time delay bomb, could have been constructed in secret with the limited facilities of Larkhall.You may be sure that, however negligent the authorities were at Larkhall in locating a bulky object such as a gun, they cannot conceivably had run bomb making classes for the inmates."
At this point,George returned to her best theatrically sarcastic style that drew a grin from Jo Mills and a slight smile from John Deed.
"On this basis, the matter of guilt of Ms Pilkinton of conspiring to commit arson with or without Mr Atkins assistance cannot be shown by the burden of proof, beyond all reasonable doubt. By extension, the charge of manslaughter of Sharon Wiley in the fire also falls by the wayside. The final charge of Ms Pilkinton of committing grievous bodily harm I urge on you to have been merely the result of an accident as, if nothing else, you have to accept the evidence of all witnesses, defence or prosecution, that Ms Pilkinton truly loved Mr Atkins. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, neither of my clients are guilty as charged."
George was conscious of a strong taste of bile in her mouth which she thought was some stomach reaction. She drank from the glass of water at her side to get rid of the taste and sat down. There was no bouquet of flowers for this performance but for the first time in her life, something stirred in her that what she ought to do or say might be different to what she actually did and said.
John Deed, of course, had battled with this conundrum for many years and Jo Mills was his pupil in this respect. He noticed that, rather than accept the plaudits of the crows, in her victory of playing a winning hand, she sat down immediately. No fuss no nonsense, this was a totally un George approach, utterly different from the fireworks of the first week. Despite all his sympathies, John felt respect and some admiration for George for the first time for ages in the way she played what was clearly a losing hand with unusual restraint. Paradoxically, she was at her most convincing when she appeared to try the least.
"I must thank both councils for the prosecution and for the defence for the professionalism with which they have focussed on the key points in the case. Court is adjourned."
George hurried out of the court. She was out of here. Karen felt the same. Despite the delicacy of the way that George had treated her, Karen was her own worst critic and she felt guilty as she had charged herself.