Part Eighty Five
After talking to George on Tuesday, Jo had phoned Karen and suggested they meet outside George's office on the Friday morning at eleven. Jo briefly rolled her eyes at the directions she'd been given. Trust George to have an office right in the heart of Knightsbridge, the very centre of expensive shopping territory. Jo felt a twinge of reluctance to hand over Karen's case to someone else, but knew that George was best suited to haul area management over the coals. When she drove to George's office on the Friday morning, with a collection of files on the passenger seat, Jo just hoped that George would live up to expectation. She sat in her car for five minutes, waiting for Karen to arrive. When the green MG sports car drew up beside her, Jo got out.
"How are you?" Jo asked.
"Ready for round two," Karen greeted her. "do you think she'll give me as good a going over as she did in court?" Jo smiled.
"I'd say that's highly likely, but after what I saw in court, I suspect you can give as good as you get. George will be on your side, don't forget. She just might not always show it, that's all. I'll hand over the case files and then make myself scarce. George is far more likely to be nicer to you if I'm not there." Karen relieved Jo of a couple of the files.
"You really manage to antagonise each other, don't you."
"Force of habit more than anything else. Me and George have got under each other's skin for years, ever since I put the final nail in the coffin of her marriage," Jo said bitterly.
"You sound like you regret it," Said Karen gently, as they walked across the carpark.
"I didn't used too, but she's changed. I'm just not used to getting on with her in even the slightest sense."
"Talking of meeting people half way," Said Karen conversationally, "I spoke to Helen after you left on Tuesday."
"I thought you might. How did it go?"
"A bit awkward, but I had to do it, if for nothing else than that I owed her a year's worth of apologies."
"You are in no way responsible for what happened to her," Said Jo emphatically.
"Perhaps not," Conceded Karen, "But if I hadn't been quite so blind, she might have been able to talk to me."
When George's secretary led them upstairs, Karen was impressed at the extremely plush surroundings. Taking note of her appraisal, Jo said,
"Now I know why George does civil work." When they were shown in to George's office, Jo decided that she really was in the wrong branch of the legal system. It was a large, spacious room, tastefully decorated in soft pastels, clearly meant to put any client at their ease. The large windows gave it a light, airy feel, in contrast with the floor to ceiling book shelves that filled most of the available wall space. Spying the Munnings above the desk, Jo briefly wondered if it belonged to George or the firm. The mahogany desk was enormous, and held a computer plus numerous scattered law books, a half full ashtray and piles of postits and phone messages in varying sizes. George rose from an equally large, leather swivel chair in front of the desk and came forward to meet them.
"Hello," She said, holding out a hand to Karen, both of them remembering the last time they'd met, when George had told Karen a couple of home truths about Ritchie.
"Nice place you have here," Said Karen drily. "I'm clearly in the wrong job."
"Well, the deciding factor in my choice of career was without doubt my access to immediate retail therapy," George replied with a smile. Jo wasn't used to seeing George so genial, and privately thought it suited her more than the brash, abrasive outer shell she usually displayed. Relieving them of the case files, George asked her secretary to bring them some coffee. Glancing briefly through the Fenner file which she'd seen before, she laid it aside.
"There's at least one significant new entry in there that you need to see," Said Jo from where she and Karen were seated across from George. Flipping through all the previously viewed reports and accounts of various acts of indiscretion, George came to Yvonne's and Helen's accounts of the O'Kane debacle. She ran her eyes over each in turn and then replaced them in the folder.
"Yvonne is also in the process of hunting for any photographs her daughter might have taken of Fenner's involvement with O'Kane's brothels," Added Jo.
"An extremely enterprising woman, your girlfriend," Said George smiling at Karen, clearly impressed.
"Yes, so I'm finding out," Replied Karen drily.
"It was also Yvonne who managed to track down Helen Stewart," Put in Jo.
"After the entire staff of area management failed to find even the merest hint of her," Said Karen scornfully.
"I don't know, Mrs. Mills," George tutted in mock disapproval. "Using nefarious means to hunt down possible witnesses, that's almost a hanging offense." Taking note of the glint of amusement in her eye, Jo replied,
"It's no more shocking than your calling in a favour from an ex-client in area management to get hold of any dirt on as many of my witnesses as possible." George grinned.
"Touché. Now, what else have you brought to clutter up my office?"
"That's a copy of Michelle Dockley's entire prison file," Said Karen, pointing to one of the folders. "I made a copy of it when she was transferred to Ashmore. She knows more about Fenner than the rest of us put together. It won't make very pleasant reading."
"Just what I needed to brighten up my evening," Commented George. Gesturing to another folder, Karen said,
"I also took the liberty of making a copy of Maxi Purvis's file. It's over a year since she died, but area management still haven't asked for it. It will show Fenner's initial leniency with her, even going so far as to suggest putting her and her sidekick up on enhanced when she hadn't been there long enough or done anything significant to deserve such a privilege. That was shortly followed by the discovery that she was one of Virginia O'Kane's killers. It's clutching at straws, but it's always possible that O'Kane's other killer, Alison McKenzy might be able to tell us something useful about Fenner's involvement with Purvis."
"Well, after our heated little exchange in court, there's no way she'll talk to me in a hurry," replied George. "But you might make some headway with her." Jo gestured to the last folder in the pile.
"That's the response I got from the CPS, plus their recommendations which they would want to see fulfilled before considering taking this forward."
"In other words, probably nothing we don't know already," Said George, her antipathy for the prosecuting establishment all too evident.
"I think that's my cue to leave you to it," Said Jo getting to her feet, for once wholeheartedly agreeing with George's dislike of those in suits who decided on the credibility and likely success or failure of a case. As she picked up her handbag, Jo caught sight of a magnificent bouquet of roses displayed to perfection in a cut glass vase on a small table under the window.
"Are they from anyone I know?" She asked, gesturing to the flowers.
"Calm down," Said George rolling her eyes. "They're not from John. They're just one of Neil's tokens of guilt. It won't do him any good though." Jo visibly relaxed. George turned to Karen. "I won't be long," She said, following Jo out of the door. As they walked downstairs, Jo said,
"You didn't need to escort me to my car, George."
"No, but I think Karen needs a moment to read the transcript of her conversation with you. I know I would if I was in her position." George was right. As soon as the two women had left, Karen picked up the thickest file from the desk and leafed through it until she came across the transcript of her conversation with Jo almost two weeks before. It is an understandable desire for those who have been severely wronged, to want to see another's interpretations of their account of such an event, and Karen was no exception. She was surprised at the level of detail contained in this document, and inwardly shrank from the noting of her crying, her ultimate lack of control. When George returned to her office, she wasn't at all surprised to see Karen reading the transcript. George simply stood and watched her for a moment, until, observing that Karen had completed her perusal, plucked it unceremoniously from her hand and replaced it in the file.
"I'm sorry," Said Karen, having the grace to blush slightly.
"It's perfectly natural to want to see how someone else has interpreted your account of something like this. But if there's anything I write on you and this case that you want to see, just ask. I won't bite." Karen smiled.
"So, where do we go from here?" She asked. George began rifling through the initial folder, the one containing all of Fenner's supposed misdemeanours.
"We need to sort out what is and what isn't hearsay evidence."
"Unfortunately, I think too much of it is," Replied Karen regretfully.
"Ah, well, with a civil case, that's not too much of a problem. If this were already going to court through the criminal or common law channels, then hearsay evidence would pose some difficulty."
"I thought all hearsay evidence was routinely dismissed at the word go."
"No. According to the Civil Evidence Act, evidence shall not be excluded on the ground that it is hearsay. However, where Rachel Hicks is concerned, we don't have any evidence, hearsay or otherwise, that he actually slept with her."
"The only other person apart from Shell Dockley who seems to know of the existence of a relationship between Fenner and Hicks is Daniella Blood, one of the other inmates. Jo spoke to her last week, and Denny certainly knows more than Fenner would like her too."
"What sort of prison record does she have?"
"Not brilliant, but far better than it used to be."
"Which means the defence would immediately discredit her as a viable witness. A written statement from her might be better."
"I'll see what I can do. She's another one who you won't get near because of Merriman."
"I can see that case is going to haunt me for ever more," Said George bitterly.
"It only will if you let it," Said Karen quietly. George stared at her for a moment, briefly wondering just where this woman's level of understanding came from. It was almost on the tip of her tongue to tell Karen exactly what ramifications the Merriman case had had on her life, but the nerve to do so just wasn't there. Turning back to the open case file, George extracted the report on Maxi Purvis's suicide, and drew forward the dead girl's prison file.
"There is documented evidence here of Fenner's leniency with Maxine Purvis," George continued. "It says here that he recommended her for a raise in prison regime. I'd have thought that should have come from the Wing Governor."
"That would have been when I was temporarily demoted," Replied Karen. George lifted her gaze from the file and stared at Karen.
"What on earth for?"
"I'd never prove it, but I suspect I was replaced by Fenner, because I was a woman." Then, on seeing George's raised eyebrow, she said, "Grayling has a preference for the boys, and found that Fenner somewhat suited his tastes." George's eyes widened in astonishment.
"How could anyone possibly find that odious cretin attractive?" Then, realising that Karen must once have found said cretin attractive enough to consider marrying him, she said, "Oh god, I'm sorry. Tact isn't something I possess in vast quantities." Karen gave her a broad smile.
"It's okay. I think I must have had a personality bypass to not see what he was really like." George returned to the file.
"The knickers that were left in your in-tray, I'm assuming they belonged to Maxine Purvis?"
"Yes, though he wouldn't admit it."
"That's no surprise. Would you say he was a compulsive liar?"
"Yes. He's got this way of convincing himself that he hasn't done any of the things he's accused of doing." Briefly thinking that this sounded vaguely like Neil, George said,
"I need to examine the recently updated Sexual Offences Act. That's one piece of legislation I'm not up to speed on because it's not something that usually applies to civil cases." George led Karen out of her office and up to the fifth floor, which was designated in its entirety to the firm's law library. Shelves from floor to ceiling ran as far round the enormous room as possible, allowing for tall, wide windows here and there to let in the daylight. As well as copies of every piece of legislation available in printed form, there were ranks of leather-bound law books and endless reams of academic journals and law reviews. George moved to the shelves that held the copies of this year's parliament approved legislation. On finding that the S's, being towards the end of the alphabet, were on the higher shelves, George rolled her eyes and stretched. Observing that George was totally unable to reach what she was looking for, Karen displayed the advantage of her extra height and took down the thick wad of paper that was the Sexual Offences Act of 2003.
"Thank you," George said, taking it from her. "I loathe being small, but there isn't much I can do about it." Privately thinking that George looked enchanting as she was, Karen followed her to a nearby table. On opening this thick, barely read tome, George was confronted by a straightforward definition of rape.
"Rape
(1) A person (A) commits an offence if-
(a) he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person (B) with his penis,
(b) B does not consent to the penetration, and
(c) A does not reasonably believe that B consents."
George looked up.
"I'm assuming that what Fenner did to you was purely vaginal?" She asked quietly, swiveling what she was reading round so that Karen could see what she was getting at. Inwardly, Karen recoiled from the brutal description of Fenner's act, but outwardly remained calm.
"Oh, yeah," She replied. "He never was one for much out of the ordinary." In spite of their talking quietly, Karen was relieved that they were alone in this cavernous volt of judicial history.
"I know I've read both what you said to Jo, and your statement to the police," Continued George, "But you did definitely make it clear to him that you didn't want what he was doing?"
"Yes," Said Karen firmly. "He couldn't have been in any doubt." Observing a couple of her colleagues appearing, George stood up.
"Let's take this back downstairs," She said, retrieving a copy of the Protection From Harassment Act on her way.
When they re-entered her office, Karen took the chair she'd sat in before, and abandoning the impersonality of her desk, George took one nearby.
"One thing that the defence will do their damnedest to establish," She said carefully, "Is why you let things go as far as you did, and why you didn't report it immediately. The defence won't only do that if he ever gets brought to trial, they will also try it with this case, because yours is the strongest evidence for having Fenner thoroughly investigated by area management. It's not me personally who is questioning what you did, but I would be failing in my duty if I didn't warn you of the defence's likely line of attack."
"I know," Said Karen, regretting for the millionth time her actions on that fateful evening. "All I can say in my own defence, is that I had lived with him for some time, and I never thought he would go that far if I said no. He might be a compulsive liar, but the one thing he's always stayed resolute about is that he loves me. Ridiculous I know, but there you are. I sincerely never thought he could or would do that to me. It never even entered my head that he was guilty of what Helen had accused him of. I suppose I thought I knew him." George walked over to her desk and returned with the ashtray and her cigarettes. As she lit one, she said,
"It's funny, but we are two extremely intelligent women, but who at the same time, manage to provoke our men in to doing things we never would have previously thought them capable of, just on that one occasion, we pushed them farther than they'd ever been pushed before. Yet if either of us had ever given the slightest thought to the consequences of our actions, we could have avoided the eventual outcome."
"You're saying we, like you know what I'm talking about," Said Karen quietly, fixing George with her penetrating gaze.
"Different context and different crime, but yes, though it's fair to say that you got a far worse deal than I did. If the barrister that area management employ has one ounce of ruthlessness about them, that is without doubt what they'll throw at you. But what you have got to keep in mind if you're not going to lose your nerve, is that you are doing the right thing, and that there is absolutely no excuse for what Fenner has done to you, or to Helen or to anybody else. I know I might seem a little brash and brutal sometimes, but it wouldn't do you any good for me to treat you with kid gloves, because the defence most certainly won't."
"Actually," Said Karen, lighting a cigarette of her own, "It's quite refreshing, and as for losing my nerve, or losing it in general, I might have done that once," She said, her eyes straying to the file that held the transcript of her conversation with Jo, "I'm not about to do it again."
"Losing it, as you put it, isn't anything to be ashamed of," Said George gently, knowing exactly what Karen was referring to. "As Jo said to me a few weeks ago, believe it or not, we all do it, and the secret is not to be afraid of it." Then, at Karen's look of incredulity, she said, "I know, I didn't take much notice of it either." Karen grinned. "Yes," Said George cynically, "The thought of me and Jo having a civil conversation that doesn't involve a case is a little odd to say the least."
"In spite of the sheer antagonism between you two, Jo wouldn't have recommended you without good reason."
"Well, let's hope I can live up to expectation. I will go through the rest of the Sexual Offences Act and the Protection From Harassment Act, to see if there are any other grounds to force area management to start doing their job, but there is one thing that I think you ought to do without delay. Michelle Dockley is currently incarcerated in Ashmore secure psychiatric hospital. If you can, I think you should try to see her. She holds a lot of the loose ends to this case, and if nothing else, she could fill in a few gaps."
"They won't let me see her without a court order, I'm not a relative."
"Then your best bet would be to ask John to issue one. He won't do it for me, but he will for you. He doesn't give out the kind of complement that he did to you in court, without good reason. I'm sure if you ask him nicely, he'll issue a court order to give you access to Dockley."
"But can he do that without an official application?"
"In a civil case, yes. In section 3.3 subsection 4 of the Civil Procedure Rules, it categorically states that the court may make an order of its own initiative, without hearing the parties or giving them an opportunity to make representations, which means that we need not apply for one, and that area management need not know of its existence. It also means that we don't need to wait until they are apprised of the emerging case against them before finding out what Dockley may be able to tell us."
"When would be the best time to approach him?"
"I'm before him in court on Monday, which would be as good a time as any, the sooner the better. You could try during the lunchtime adjournment." When Karen left a short time later, she felt for the first time since deciding to begin proceedings, that they really were in with a chance.
After talking to George on Tuesday, Jo had phoned Karen and suggested they meet outside George's office on the Friday morning at eleven. Jo briefly rolled her eyes at the directions she'd been given. Trust George to have an office right in the heart of Knightsbridge, the very centre of expensive shopping territory. Jo felt a twinge of reluctance to hand over Karen's case to someone else, but knew that George was best suited to haul area management over the coals. When she drove to George's office on the Friday morning, with a collection of files on the passenger seat, Jo just hoped that George would live up to expectation. She sat in her car for five minutes, waiting for Karen to arrive. When the green MG sports car drew up beside her, Jo got out.
"How are you?" Jo asked.
"Ready for round two," Karen greeted her. "do you think she'll give me as good a going over as she did in court?" Jo smiled.
"I'd say that's highly likely, but after what I saw in court, I suspect you can give as good as you get. George will be on your side, don't forget. She just might not always show it, that's all. I'll hand over the case files and then make myself scarce. George is far more likely to be nicer to you if I'm not there." Karen relieved Jo of a couple of the files.
"You really manage to antagonise each other, don't you."
"Force of habit more than anything else. Me and George have got under each other's skin for years, ever since I put the final nail in the coffin of her marriage," Jo said bitterly.
"You sound like you regret it," Said Karen gently, as they walked across the carpark.
"I didn't used too, but she's changed. I'm just not used to getting on with her in even the slightest sense."
"Talking of meeting people half way," Said Karen conversationally, "I spoke to Helen after you left on Tuesday."
"I thought you might. How did it go?"
"A bit awkward, but I had to do it, if for nothing else than that I owed her a year's worth of apologies."
"You are in no way responsible for what happened to her," Said Jo emphatically.
"Perhaps not," Conceded Karen, "But if I hadn't been quite so blind, she might have been able to talk to me."
When George's secretary led them upstairs, Karen was impressed at the extremely plush surroundings. Taking note of her appraisal, Jo said,
"Now I know why George does civil work." When they were shown in to George's office, Jo decided that she really was in the wrong branch of the legal system. It was a large, spacious room, tastefully decorated in soft pastels, clearly meant to put any client at their ease. The large windows gave it a light, airy feel, in contrast with the floor to ceiling book shelves that filled most of the available wall space. Spying the Munnings above the desk, Jo briefly wondered if it belonged to George or the firm. The mahogany desk was enormous, and held a computer plus numerous scattered law books, a half full ashtray and piles of postits and phone messages in varying sizes. George rose from an equally large, leather swivel chair in front of the desk and came forward to meet them.
"Hello," She said, holding out a hand to Karen, both of them remembering the last time they'd met, when George had told Karen a couple of home truths about Ritchie.
"Nice place you have here," Said Karen drily. "I'm clearly in the wrong job."
"Well, the deciding factor in my choice of career was without doubt my access to immediate retail therapy," George replied with a smile. Jo wasn't used to seeing George so genial, and privately thought it suited her more than the brash, abrasive outer shell she usually displayed. Relieving them of the case files, George asked her secretary to bring them some coffee. Glancing briefly through the Fenner file which she'd seen before, she laid it aside.
"There's at least one significant new entry in there that you need to see," Said Jo from where she and Karen were seated across from George. Flipping through all the previously viewed reports and accounts of various acts of indiscretion, George came to Yvonne's and Helen's accounts of the O'Kane debacle. She ran her eyes over each in turn and then replaced them in the folder.
"Yvonne is also in the process of hunting for any photographs her daughter might have taken of Fenner's involvement with O'Kane's brothels," Added Jo.
"An extremely enterprising woman, your girlfriend," Said George smiling at Karen, clearly impressed.
"Yes, so I'm finding out," Replied Karen drily.
"It was also Yvonne who managed to track down Helen Stewart," Put in Jo.
"After the entire staff of area management failed to find even the merest hint of her," Said Karen scornfully.
"I don't know, Mrs. Mills," George tutted in mock disapproval. "Using nefarious means to hunt down possible witnesses, that's almost a hanging offense." Taking note of the glint of amusement in her eye, Jo replied,
"It's no more shocking than your calling in a favour from an ex-client in area management to get hold of any dirt on as many of my witnesses as possible." George grinned.
"Touché. Now, what else have you brought to clutter up my office?"
"That's a copy of Michelle Dockley's entire prison file," Said Karen, pointing to one of the folders. "I made a copy of it when she was transferred to Ashmore. She knows more about Fenner than the rest of us put together. It won't make very pleasant reading."
"Just what I needed to brighten up my evening," Commented George. Gesturing to another folder, Karen said,
"I also took the liberty of making a copy of Maxi Purvis's file. It's over a year since she died, but area management still haven't asked for it. It will show Fenner's initial leniency with her, even going so far as to suggest putting her and her sidekick up on enhanced when she hadn't been there long enough or done anything significant to deserve such a privilege. That was shortly followed by the discovery that she was one of Virginia O'Kane's killers. It's clutching at straws, but it's always possible that O'Kane's other killer, Alison McKenzy might be able to tell us something useful about Fenner's involvement with Purvis."
"Well, after our heated little exchange in court, there's no way she'll talk to me in a hurry," replied George. "But you might make some headway with her." Jo gestured to the last folder in the pile.
"That's the response I got from the CPS, plus their recommendations which they would want to see fulfilled before considering taking this forward."
"In other words, probably nothing we don't know already," Said George, her antipathy for the prosecuting establishment all too evident.
"I think that's my cue to leave you to it," Said Jo getting to her feet, for once wholeheartedly agreeing with George's dislike of those in suits who decided on the credibility and likely success or failure of a case. As she picked up her handbag, Jo caught sight of a magnificent bouquet of roses displayed to perfection in a cut glass vase on a small table under the window.
"Are they from anyone I know?" She asked, gesturing to the flowers.
"Calm down," Said George rolling her eyes. "They're not from John. They're just one of Neil's tokens of guilt. It won't do him any good though." Jo visibly relaxed. George turned to Karen. "I won't be long," She said, following Jo out of the door. As they walked downstairs, Jo said,
"You didn't need to escort me to my car, George."
"No, but I think Karen needs a moment to read the transcript of her conversation with you. I know I would if I was in her position." George was right. As soon as the two women had left, Karen picked up the thickest file from the desk and leafed through it until she came across the transcript of her conversation with Jo almost two weeks before. It is an understandable desire for those who have been severely wronged, to want to see another's interpretations of their account of such an event, and Karen was no exception. She was surprised at the level of detail contained in this document, and inwardly shrank from the noting of her crying, her ultimate lack of control. When George returned to her office, she wasn't at all surprised to see Karen reading the transcript. George simply stood and watched her for a moment, until, observing that Karen had completed her perusal, plucked it unceremoniously from her hand and replaced it in the file.
"I'm sorry," Said Karen, having the grace to blush slightly.
"It's perfectly natural to want to see how someone else has interpreted your account of something like this. But if there's anything I write on you and this case that you want to see, just ask. I won't bite." Karen smiled.
"So, where do we go from here?" She asked. George began rifling through the initial folder, the one containing all of Fenner's supposed misdemeanours.
"We need to sort out what is and what isn't hearsay evidence."
"Unfortunately, I think too much of it is," Replied Karen regretfully.
"Ah, well, with a civil case, that's not too much of a problem. If this were already going to court through the criminal or common law channels, then hearsay evidence would pose some difficulty."
"I thought all hearsay evidence was routinely dismissed at the word go."
"No. According to the Civil Evidence Act, evidence shall not be excluded on the ground that it is hearsay. However, where Rachel Hicks is concerned, we don't have any evidence, hearsay or otherwise, that he actually slept with her."
"The only other person apart from Shell Dockley who seems to know of the existence of a relationship between Fenner and Hicks is Daniella Blood, one of the other inmates. Jo spoke to her last week, and Denny certainly knows more than Fenner would like her too."
"What sort of prison record does she have?"
"Not brilliant, but far better than it used to be."
"Which means the defence would immediately discredit her as a viable witness. A written statement from her might be better."
"I'll see what I can do. She's another one who you won't get near because of Merriman."
"I can see that case is going to haunt me for ever more," Said George bitterly.
"It only will if you let it," Said Karen quietly. George stared at her for a moment, briefly wondering just where this woman's level of understanding came from. It was almost on the tip of her tongue to tell Karen exactly what ramifications the Merriman case had had on her life, but the nerve to do so just wasn't there. Turning back to the open case file, George extracted the report on Maxi Purvis's suicide, and drew forward the dead girl's prison file.
"There is documented evidence here of Fenner's leniency with Maxine Purvis," George continued. "It says here that he recommended her for a raise in prison regime. I'd have thought that should have come from the Wing Governor."
"That would have been when I was temporarily demoted," Replied Karen. George lifted her gaze from the file and stared at Karen.
"What on earth for?"
"I'd never prove it, but I suspect I was replaced by Fenner, because I was a woman." Then, on seeing George's raised eyebrow, she said, "Grayling has a preference for the boys, and found that Fenner somewhat suited his tastes." George's eyes widened in astonishment.
"How could anyone possibly find that odious cretin attractive?" Then, realising that Karen must once have found said cretin attractive enough to consider marrying him, she said, "Oh god, I'm sorry. Tact isn't something I possess in vast quantities." Karen gave her a broad smile.
"It's okay. I think I must have had a personality bypass to not see what he was really like." George returned to the file.
"The knickers that were left in your in-tray, I'm assuming they belonged to Maxine Purvis?"
"Yes, though he wouldn't admit it."
"That's no surprise. Would you say he was a compulsive liar?"
"Yes. He's got this way of convincing himself that he hasn't done any of the things he's accused of doing." Briefly thinking that this sounded vaguely like Neil, George said,
"I need to examine the recently updated Sexual Offences Act. That's one piece of legislation I'm not up to speed on because it's not something that usually applies to civil cases." George led Karen out of her office and up to the fifth floor, which was designated in its entirety to the firm's law library. Shelves from floor to ceiling ran as far round the enormous room as possible, allowing for tall, wide windows here and there to let in the daylight. As well as copies of every piece of legislation available in printed form, there were ranks of leather-bound law books and endless reams of academic journals and law reviews. George moved to the shelves that held the copies of this year's parliament approved legislation. On finding that the S's, being towards the end of the alphabet, were on the higher shelves, George rolled her eyes and stretched. Observing that George was totally unable to reach what she was looking for, Karen displayed the advantage of her extra height and took down the thick wad of paper that was the Sexual Offences Act of 2003.
"Thank you," George said, taking it from her. "I loathe being small, but there isn't much I can do about it." Privately thinking that George looked enchanting as she was, Karen followed her to a nearby table. On opening this thick, barely read tome, George was confronted by a straightforward definition of rape.
"Rape
(1) A person (A) commits an offence if-
(a) he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person (B) with his penis,
(b) B does not consent to the penetration, and
(c) A does not reasonably believe that B consents."
George looked up.
"I'm assuming that what Fenner did to you was purely vaginal?" She asked quietly, swiveling what she was reading round so that Karen could see what she was getting at. Inwardly, Karen recoiled from the brutal description of Fenner's act, but outwardly remained calm.
"Oh, yeah," She replied. "He never was one for much out of the ordinary." In spite of their talking quietly, Karen was relieved that they were alone in this cavernous volt of judicial history.
"I know I've read both what you said to Jo, and your statement to the police," Continued George, "But you did definitely make it clear to him that you didn't want what he was doing?"
"Yes," Said Karen firmly. "He couldn't have been in any doubt." Observing a couple of her colleagues appearing, George stood up.
"Let's take this back downstairs," She said, retrieving a copy of the Protection From Harassment Act on her way.
When they re-entered her office, Karen took the chair she'd sat in before, and abandoning the impersonality of her desk, George took one nearby.
"One thing that the defence will do their damnedest to establish," She said carefully, "Is why you let things go as far as you did, and why you didn't report it immediately. The defence won't only do that if he ever gets brought to trial, they will also try it with this case, because yours is the strongest evidence for having Fenner thoroughly investigated by area management. It's not me personally who is questioning what you did, but I would be failing in my duty if I didn't warn you of the defence's likely line of attack."
"I know," Said Karen, regretting for the millionth time her actions on that fateful evening. "All I can say in my own defence, is that I had lived with him for some time, and I never thought he would go that far if I said no. He might be a compulsive liar, but the one thing he's always stayed resolute about is that he loves me. Ridiculous I know, but there you are. I sincerely never thought he could or would do that to me. It never even entered my head that he was guilty of what Helen had accused him of. I suppose I thought I knew him." George walked over to her desk and returned with the ashtray and her cigarettes. As she lit one, she said,
"It's funny, but we are two extremely intelligent women, but who at the same time, manage to provoke our men in to doing things we never would have previously thought them capable of, just on that one occasion, we pushed them farther than they'd ever been pushed before. Yet if either of us had ever given the slightest thought to the consequences of our actions, we could have avoided the eventual outcome."
"You're saying we, like you know what I'm talking about," Said Karen quietly, fixing George with her penetrating gaze.
"Different context and different crime, but yes, though it's fair to say that you got a far worse deal than I did. If the barrister that area management employ has one ounce of ruthlessness about them, that is without doubt what they'll throw at you. But what you have got to keep in mind if you're not going to lose your nerve, is that you are doing the right thing, and that there is absolutely no excuse for what Fenner has done to you, or to Helen or to anybody else. I know I might seem a little brash and brutal sometimes, but it wouldn't do you any good for me to treat you with kid gloves, because the defence most certainly won't."
"Actually," Said Karen, lighting a cigarette of her own, "It's quite refreshing, and as for losing my nerve, or losing it in general, I might have done that once," She said, her eyes straying to the file that held the transcript of her conversation with Jo, "I'm not about to do it again."
"Losing it, as you put it, isn't anything to be ashamed of," Said George gently, knowing exactly what Karen was referring to. "As Jo said to me a few weeks ago, believe it or not, we all do it, and the secret is not to be afraid of it." Then, at Karen's look of incredulity, she said, "I know, I didn't take much notice of it either." Karen grinned. "Yes," Said George cynically, "The thought of me and Jo having a civil conversation that doesn't involve a case is a little odd to say the least."
"In spite of the sheer antagonism between you two, Jo wouldn't have recommended you without good reason."
"Well, let's hope I can live up to expectation. I will go through the rest of the Sexual Offences Act and the Protection From Harassment Act, to see if there are any other grounds to force area management to start doing their job, but there is one thing that I think you ought to do without delay. Michelle Dockley is currently incarcerated in Ashmore secure psychiatric hospital. If you can, I think you should try to see her. She holds a lot of the loose ends to this case, and if nothing else, she could fill in a few gaps."
"They won't let me see her without a court order, I'm not a relative."
"Then your best bet would be to ask John to issue one. He won't do it for me, but he will for you. He doesn't give out the kind of complement that he did to you in court, without good reason. I'm sure if you ask him nicely, he'll issue a court order to give you access to Dockley."
"But can he do that without an official application?"
"In a civil case, yes. In section 3.3 subsection 4 of the Civil Procedure Rules, it categorically states that the court may make an order of its own initiative, without hearing the parties or giving them an opportunity to make representations, which means that we need not apply for one, and that area management need not know of its existence. It also means that we don't need to wait until they are apprised of the emerging case against them before finding out what Dockley may be able to tell us."
"When would be the best time to approach him?"
"I'm before him in court on Monday, which would be as good a time as any, the sooner the better. You could try during the lunchtime adjournment." When Karen left a short time later, she felt for the first time since deciding to begin proceedings, that they really were in with a chance.