Part Thirty-Two
The gallery was filling up early while the court was still fairly deserted so that they could all talk quietly together.
"Now it's the turn of that wanker to have a go," Sighed Nikki as she saw Meg Richards start to move towards the witness stand and Neumann Mason-Alan seated and rifling through his papers.
"Don't worry, Nikki. Meg is one of those utterly self-possessed women who you simply cannot shake, whatever the provocation. She stood up to Shell Dockley's trying to get one over on her and turned it straight back on her. The more he tries it on with her, the calmer she gets." Nikki was deeply impressed by this statement and Helen looked down into the court expectantly. She always had an attraction to the cut and thrust of situations and it gave her a strange feeling that it was not her speaking, either as psychologist or Wing Governor, but someone else.
George turned round in her seat and looked up the staggered line of benches at Sir Ian and Lawrence James who sat with stony disdain. She gave them her widest insincere smile and fluttered her fingertips in mock greetings to them.
"Careful, George. From the looks of them, you'll end up being turned to stone." George grinned at Karen's witticism and the affectionate way that her melodic voice expressed it. She couldn't resist giving Karen's shapely hand a discreet squeeze.
Roisin looked closely at the mild mannered woman who was now in the witness box. There was something about her stance that suggested that she was relaxed and ready for anything. That woman had the same quiet strength as herself.
"Do you wish you were down there, George?" Babs enquired politely.
"The courtroom isn't big enough for me and Jo on the same bench. We'd only cramp each other's style and I am quite sure John wouldn't let us. I'm better in sitting this one out and helping out here."
"Dr. Richards, let us begin at the start of the matter, and that is, the trial and subsequent suicide of the defendant's brother. Can you explain to the court exactly what the defendant's attitude to her brother during that trial was?" "She was hostile to her brother. She resented the fact that her brother had swindled her and her mother out of £50,000. She felt that he had betrayed her and her mother." "Yet nowhere does this very interesting gem of information appear in the psychiatric report, Can you explain this omission? It casts doubt on the statement that the defendant took the life of James Fenner as a result of her brother's dying wish." "It is perhaps an omission but it does actually add weight to my conclusion that the defendant should receive psychiatric help rather than a prison sentence." "Does it? I suggest that you have inadvertently removed an essential plank of the defence that the defendant was hostile to her brother and therefore could not have acted as she did out of some supposed wish to respect the last dying request of her brother. Such a desire would imply that she had a close attachment to him, that she loved him." Neumann Mason-Alan uttered these last words with all the confidence and conviction that he was seeing a way how he could unstitch the case of the defence by an unguarded admission which he could exploit to the utmost. Sir Ian permitted himself a thin smile of satisfaction.
"You are talking about someone with clear, unambiguous feelings of love and hate who rarely come within my professional field. If you have read my report as a whole, you will see that the defendant was subject to oscillating feelings of both love and hate for her brother Ritchie Atkins and her father Charlie Atkins. The feelings felt by the defendant during the trial that I have explained would have been violently reversed in exactly the way I have described. It emphasised just how vulnerable and guilty the defendant would have felt after her brother's suicide. I am grateful to you, Mr. Mason-Alan for reminding me of this essential fact." Neumann Mason-Alan froze where he stood, taken aback by the way that the quiet, unhurried tones of this woman had neatly dropped him into a trap. He looked down at his papers and shuffled them and he was unable to see the nearly universal grin but he could sense it.
"You have given evidence in your report that her father was a 'sadistic bully who must be obeyed unless she wanted to end up in an early grave.' I grant you that the defendant may have felt that way while he was alive, but surely he was no longer able to influence the actions of his daughter because he was dead. Dead men do not control families from the grave." "In normal situations, you are broadly right but what my report deals with is the defendant's highly abnormal situation because, without this, she would not be in the dock at this moment. In the defendant's mind, her father's presence was only too real at the time of her brother's suicide. It is highly likely that the existence of her father and brother are still very real to her to this day." A chilly silence fell on the court as Meg Richards's measured academic tones took on a life of their own. Selena was instantly struck by the remote, rigid expression on Lauren's face as she stood next to her. She was immediately sorry for the woman who had never done her any harm, who was polite enough to her despite Bodybag's moanings about the Atkins family.
"Hey, Lauren, relax. I know what you're feeling but don't forget, you've got your friends in the gallery." Her expression softened as she craned her head round to snatch a glance at familiar faces. Fortunately, Colin was the other PO and he got the message, as Sylvia would have had a silent fit and told her to stand up straight. She knew that they must have been there since the very start of the trial even if they could barely be seen. She could swear that the female barrister who had prosecuted her brother was there, though she couldn't be sure of that from her angle of vision. She had once been there up with them and the Atkins values could not even begin to blank off that feeling of hurt that she had somehow fallen to this level. Roisin leaned over the rail to catch her eye and, in a second, she was oblivious to everything except the need to heal with her love the raw wounds that she could see on the other woman. All Roisin's tenderness went out to the occasionally and curiously waif like Lauren no matter how hard she tried to act. In that moment, Lauren unfroze and her emotions flowed over like molten lava. She breathed deeply in and out as she scrambled perilously on the cliff's edge of her emotions for a handhold. Automatic Atkins habit made her blink tears out of her eyes, nothing else.
"I know, Miss Geeson but they're so far away. It's Ritchie and Charlie that I want to keep at arms length." "I know." That same cold blast that momentarily froze Lauren's spirits could be felt in the gallery. Jo looked down and shut her eyes briefly while Neumann Mason-Alan, in his mind, scornfully denied such a pathetic excuse dressed up in typical psychiatrist's long words. His inability to react back to that point had given all of them that instant's grace.
John measured the inadvertent pause with a practised eye and carefully overlooked the discreet activity surrounding Lauren. Eventually, he found his voice, sensing a way through this very fraught situation.
"Your theory, if I might say so, was proved to the hilt only the other day. The counsel for the prosecution, who was examining the defendant insisted that she pick up the very gun before you that is exhibited in evidence, and asked her to imagine that she was pointing the gun at James Fenner. I regret not intervening as I should have done in this matter. What is your professional opinion of the wisdom of such an action?" "I would most certainly and forcibly have argued that on no account should the defendant be forced to pick up a gun. Such a foolhardy and reckless course of action could very easily have precipitated such a traumatic reaction that could trigger a psychotic breakdown in the defendant. It doesn't take a trained psychiatrist to work that one out from the first two conclusions of my report. I did not anticipate when I wrote my report, that the counsel would resort to these very crude and very dangerous theatrics." For the first time in Karen's life, she saw Meg Richards speak with a mixture of real anger and passion and she could sense her fear for Lauren's precariously balanced mental stability.
Meg Richards has done wonders in arguing my case for me, Jo Mills thought in a mixture of wry amusement and deep satisfaction. Surely Neumann Mason-Alan would not dare to argue the point, but she was wrong.
"My lord, I protest at the accusation that the witness has levelled at me, quite apart from the fact that it is not her role in court proceedings. At no time have I ever placed undue pressure on the defendant - to merely hold a gun in her hand." A collective sharp intake of breath ran round the court like lightning. Both Jo and George marvelled how crass even Neumann Mason-Alan could be and wondered if he had an unconscious death wish. Sir Ian and Lawrence James groaned inwardly and made a mental note to question whether he was such a safe pair of hands as was made out. The good intentions were there but the ability was lamentable. The boiling rage from the gallery was contained by their collective perception that John would pull the heavens down on him.
"Mr. Mason-Alan, perhaps you are handicapped by your view of the courtroom but mine is not. I can see quite clearly even from my distance, that the defendant is at the limit of what she is able to cope with of even the most sympathetic of court hearings. For the sake of justice, I do not wish there to be a repetition of last Friday's cross-examination which I was compelled to adjourn. You might not think that the defendant is on the witness stand, but even you ought to understand that her state of mind most assuredly is. I shall give you one last opportunity to redeem yourself in radically changing your approach in your examination. Or do I have to go to the extreme of doing what I have never done in my career." John hesitated a second, a little out of breath for the first time in his life and also so that he could play his pause for maximum effect. The shock sank into the court as they wondered just how a judge with his colourful record could possibly be more extreme.
"If I am pushed, I will cut short the proceedings and direct the jury to acquit the defendant of the charges laid before her, on the basis that there is no case to answer." Although John's tone of voice was pitched low, it had the impact of a double shotted broadside being fired at lethal range into the most vulnerable part of an ancient galleon. Even to the women in the gallery, who were no strangers to the art of verbal warfare, were deeply impressed by this thunderous display. In the dock, Lauren smiled warmly at the judge. Beneath his robes, Yvonne's daughter could sense how deeply stirred his very real human emotions were.
If the coloured barrister could have turned pale as chalk, he would have done. He grabbed for a glass of water and swallowed deeply before speaking.
"My Lord, can I have a few minutes to check my notes as I need to consider my position.
As Neumann Mason-Alan's strangled tones just about lasted out before petering out at the end, Meg Richards had the curious feeling as if the Red Sea had parted its waters before her, leaving a small inoffensive trickle of water to seep back. "Dr. Richards, correct me if I am wrong, but you testified in the morning that you cannot be certain that the defendant will never revert to the same frame of mind in the period leading up to the taking of James Fenner's life. Is that not so?" "Those were my very words. As I stated, nothing is certain in psychiatry." "I don't understand. Are you telling me that the very definite conclusions you draw are founded on the possibility that you may be wrong? Surely a professional of many years standing would be able to plumb the hidden depths of the defendant?" Jo could hardly conceal the deep disgust at the synthetic and crude way he manufactured incredulity when he had experience of trials to know better. After his apologetic start, he was reverting to type.
"Would that what you say is so. The profession has advanced as a whole over the decades but, despite all this, I cannot predict with absolute certainty a patient's future behaviour and his future actions." "So, it is possible that you are wrong, in fact wrong in all your conclusions regarding the defendant, and you have built theoretical castles upon sand." "I am as certain of my conclusions as to the defendant as you are that when you drive your car home, you will not be involved in a motor accident. You have equal faith in the level of probability that I describe, that you won't be afraid to drive your car." "The merits or otherwise of my ability to drive a car is hardly the point. I put it to you that, despite your attempt to dodge the question, your whole report is a matter of conjecture and supposition masquerading as fact.
"If you look through my report, it picks up Dr. Waugh's report and explains what he was unable to understand. I am unable to make cast iron predictions about the future, but I am able to say with a high degree of certainty that Miss Atkins needs help, not punishment." "Miss Atkins, I hope I am not disturbing you if the court appears to talk over your head as if you weren't here. I can absolutely assure you that my slowness to act when you were on the stand shall not be repeated. I don't make such mistakes twice." This time, tears ran down Lauren's cheeks unashamedly and her warm smile utterly transferred her to the sort of woman who didn't really appear to belong in the dock of a criminal court. It was that other woman, not her.
"If you care to read through the report and, to spare the defendant more distress, I shall repeat briefly my conclusions, that her father was a sadistic, ruthless individual who bent every person he met to his will, that her late brother Ritchie clearly and calculatingly took advantage of his sister's wavering loyalty towards their dead father and the principles of Atkins justice he and they had once stood for, that she had a love hate relationship with both of them and that she was persuaded to act as she did when she was at her most emotionally vulnerable. There is nothing in my report, which is conjectural about the past. Everything fits together. As for her future, that is for the court, a psychiatrist and the defendant to determine and that I cannot predict." Meg Richards mild reasonable tone of voice cut through Neumann Mason-Alan's bluster like a knife through soft butter, all the more deadly for it and with that open handed gesture which carried total clarity and candour. It left him speechless.
Lauren wept openly at Meg Richards description. Yes, it really did happen like that only she hadn't put it into words quite like that.
"Do you have any further questions to ask of the witness?" "No,my Lord. I could not possibly add on what the witness has said." Lauren's sharp eyes took in the way Jo's voice shook slightly with emotion. She breathed easily now. She had the strength to take anything the court could throw at her so long as she shied away from the prospect of the verdict. Take it a step at a time.
"Court is adjourned," Intoned John.
Neumann Mason-Alan, Sir Ian and Lawrence James cast their own dark shadow in their immediate neighbourhood as they slunk out of court. The rest of the players in the court started to file out slowly, feeling that their souls had been cleansed and that their sun shone on still waters after the maelstrom which time had taken them through.
The gallery was filling up early while the court was still fairly deserted so that they could all talk quietly together.
"Now it's the turn of that wanker to have a go," Sighed Nikki as she saw Meg Richards start to move towards the witness stand and Neumann Mason-Alan seated and rifling through his papers.
"Don't worry, Nikki. Meg is one of those utterly self-possessed women who you simply cannot shake, whatever the provocation. She stood up to Shell Dockley's trying to get one over on her and turned it straight back on her. The more he tries it on with her, the calmer she gets." Nikki was deeply impressed by this statement and Helen looked down into the court expectantly. She always had an attraction to the cut and thrust of situations and it gave her a strange feeling that it was not her speaking, either as psychologist or Wing Governor, but someone else.
George turned round in her seat and looked up the staggered line of benches at Sir Ian and Lawrence James who sat with stony disdain. She gave them her widest insincere smile and fluttered her fingertips in mock greetings to them.
"Careful, George. From the looks of them, you'll end up being turned to stone." George grinned at Karen's witticism and the affectionate way that her melodic voice expressed it. She couldn't resist giving Karen's shapely hand a discreet squeeze.
Roisin looked closely at the mild mannered woman who was now in the witness box. There was something about her stance that suggested that she was relaxed and ready for anything. That woman had the same quiet strength as herself.
"Do you wish you were down there, George?" Babs enquired politely.
"The courtroom isn't big enough for me and Jo on the same bench. We'd only cramp each other's style and I am quite sure John wouldn't let us. I'm better in sitting this one out and helping out here."
"Dr. Richards, let us begin at the start of the matter, and that is, the trial and subsequent suicide of the defendant's brother. Can you explain to the court exactly what the defendant's attitude to her brother during that trial was?" "She was hostile to her brother. She resented the fact that her brother had swindled her and her mother out of £50,000. She felt that he had betrayed her and her mother." "Yet nowhere does this very interesting gem of information appear in the psychiatric report, Can you explain this omission? It casts doubt on the statement that the defendant took the life of James Fenner as a result of her brother's dying wish." "It is perhaps an omission but it does actually add weight to my conclusion that the defendant should receive psychiatric help rather than a prison sentence." "Does it? I suggest that you have inadvertently removed an essential plank of the defence that the defendant was hostile to her brother and therefore could not have acted as she did out of some supposed wish to respect the last dying request of her brother. Such a desire would imply that she had a close attachment to him, that she loved him." Neumann Mason-Alan uttered these last words with all the confidence and conviction that he was seeing a way how he could unstitch the case of the defence by an unguarded admission which he could exploit to the utmost. Sir Ian permitted himself a thin smile of satisfaction.
"You are talking about someone with clear, unambiguous feelings of love and hate who rarely come within my professional field. If you have read my report as a whole, you will see that the defendant was subject to oscillating feelings of both love and hate for her brother Ritchie Atkins and her father Charlie Atkins. The feelings felt by the defendant during the trial that I have explained would have been violently reversed in exactly the way I have described. It emphasised just how vulnerable and guilty the defendant would have felt after her brother's suicide. I am grateful to you, Mr. Mason-Alan for reminding me of this essential fact." Neumann Mason-Alan froze where he stood, taken aback by the way that the quiet, unhurried tones of this woman had neatly dropped him into a trap. He looked down at his papers and shuffled them and he was unable to see the nearly universal grin but he could sense it.
"You have given evidence in your report that her father was a 'sadistic bully who must be obeyed unless she wanted to end up in an early grave.' I grant you that the defendant may have felt that way while he was alive, but surely he was no longer able to influence the actions of his daughter because he was dead. Dead men do not control families from the grave." "In normal situations, you are broadly right but what my report deals with is the defendant's highly abnormal situation because, without this, she would not be in the dock at this moment. In the defendant's mind, her father's presence was only too real at the time of her brother's suicide. It is highly likely that the existence of her father and brother are still very real to her to this day." A chilly silence fell on the court as Meg Richards's measured academic tones took on a life of their own. Selena was instantly struck by the remote, rigid expression on Lauren's face as she stood next to her. She was immediately sorry for the woman who had never done her any harm, who was polite enough to her despite Bodybag's moanings about the Atkins family.
"Hey, Lauren, relax. I know what you're feeling but don't forget, you've got your friends in the gallery." Her expression softened as she craned her head round to snatch a glance at familiar faces. Fortunately, Colin was the other PO and he got the message, as Sylvia would have had a silent fit and told her to stand up straight. She knew that they must have been there since the very start of the trial even if they could barely be seen. She could swear that the female barrister who had prosecuted her brother was there, though she couldn't be sure of that from her angle of vision. She had once been there up with them and the Atkins values could not even begin to blank off that feeling of hurt that she had somehow fallen to this level. Roisin leaned over the rail to catch her eye and, in a second, she was oblivious to everything except the need to heal with her love the raw wounds that she could see on the other woman. All Roisin's tenderness went out to the occasionally and curiously waif like Lauren no matter how hard she tried to act. In that moment, Lauren unfroze and her emotions flowed over like molten lava. She breathed deeply in and out as she scrambled perilously on the cliff's edge of her emotions for a handhold. Automatic Atkins habit made her blink tears out of her eyes, nothing else.
"I know, Miss Geeson but they're so far away. It's Ritchie and Charlie that I want to keep at arms length." "I know." That same cold blast that momentarily froze Lauren's spirits could be felt in the gallery. Jo looked down and shut her eyes briefly while Neumann Mason-Alan, in his mind, scornfully denied such a pathetic excuse dressed up in typical psychiatrist's long words. His inability to react back to that point had given all of them that instant's grace.
John measured the inadvertent pause with a practised eye and carefully overlooked the discreet activity surrounding Lauren. Eventually, he found his voice, sensing a way through this very fraught situation.
"Your theory, if I might say so, was proved to the hilt only the other day. The counsel for the prosecution, who was examining the defendant insisted that she pick up the very gun before you that is exhibited in evidence, and asked her to imagine that she was pointing the gun at James Fenner. I regret not intervening as I should have done in this matter. What is your professional opinion of the wisdom of such an action?" "I would most certainly and forcibly have argued that on no account should the defendant be forced to pick up a gun. Such a foolhardy and reckless course of action could very easily have precipitated such a traumatic reaction that could trigger a psychotic breakdown in the defendant. It doesn't take a trained psychiatrist to work that one out from the first two conclusions of my report. I did not anticipate when I wrote my report, that the counsel would resort to these very crude and very dangerous theatrics." For the first time in Karen's life, she saw Meg Richards speak with a mixture of real anger and passion and she could sense her fear for Lauren's precariously balanced mental stability.
Meg Richards has done wonders in arguing my case for me, Jo Mills thought in a mixture of wry amusement and deep satisfaction. Surely Neumann Mason-Alan would not dare to argue the point, but she was wrong.
"My lord, I protest at the accusation that the witness has levelled at me, quite apart from the fact that it is not her role in court proceedings. At no time have I ever placed undue pressure on the defendant - to merely hold a gun in her hand." A collective sharp intake of breath ran round the court like lightning. Both Jo and George marvelled how crass even Neumann Mason-Alan could be and wondered if he had an unconscious death wish. Sir Ian and Lawrence James groaned inwardly and made a mental note to question whether he was such a safe pair of hands as was made out. The good intentions were there but the ability was lamentable. The boiling rage from the gallery was contained by their collective perception that John would pull the heavens down on him.
"Mr. Mason-Alan, perhaps you are handicapped by your view of the courtroom but mine is not. I can see quite clearly even from my distance, that the defendant is at the limit of what she is able to cope with of even the most sympathetic of court hearings. For the sake of justice, I do not wish there to be a repetition of last Friday's cross-examination which I was compelled to adjourn. You might not think that the defendant is on the witness stand, but even you ought to understand that her state of mind most assuredly is. I shall give you one last opportunity to redeem yourself in radically changing your approach in your examination. Or do I have to go to the extreme of doing what I have never done in my career." John hesitated a second, a little out of breath for the first time in his life and also so that he could play his pause for maximum effect. The shock sank into the court as they wondered just how a judge with his colourful record could possibly be more extreme.
"If I am pushed, I will cut short the proceedings and direct the jury to acquit the defendant of the charges laid before her, on the basis that there is no case to answer." Although John's tone of voice was pitched low, it had the impact of a double shotted broadside being fired at lethal range into the most vulnerable part of an ancient galleon. Even to the women in the gallery, who were no strangers to the art of verbal warfare, were deeply impressed by this thunderous display. In the dock, Lauren smiled warmly at the judge. Beneath his robes, Yvonne's daughter could sense how deeply stirred his very real human emotions were.
If the coloured barrister could have turned pale as chalk, he would have done. He grabbed for a glass of water and swallowed deeply before speaking.
"My Lord, can I have a few minutes to check my notes as I need to consider my position.
As Neumann Mason-Alan's strangled tones just about lasted out before petering out at the end, Meg Richards had the curious feeling as if the Red Sea had parted its waters before her, leaving a small inoffensive trickle of water to seep back. "Dr. Richards, correct me if I am wrong, but you testified in the morning that you cannot be certain that the defendant will never revert to the same frame of mind in the period leading up to the taking of James Fenner's life. Is that not so?" "Those were my very words. As I stated, nothing is certain in psychiatry." "I don't understand. Are you telling me that the very definite conclusions you draw are founded on the possibility that you may be wrong? Surely a professional of many years standing would be able to plumb the hidden depths of the defendant?" Jo could hardly conceal the deep disgust at the synthetic and crude way he manufactured incredulity when he had experience of trials to know better. After his apologetic start, he was reverting to type.
"Would that what you say is so. The profession has advanced as a whole over the decades but, despite all this, I cannot predict with absolute certainty a patient's future behaviour and his future actions." "So, it is possible that you are wrong, in fact wrong in all your conclusions regarding the defendant, and you have built theoretical castles upon sand." "I am as certain of my conclusions as to the defendant as you are that when you drive your car home, you will not be involved in a motor accident. You have equal faith in the level of probability that I describe, that you won't be afraid to drive your car." "The merits or otherwise of my ability to drive a car is hardly the point. I put it to you that, despite your attempt to dodge the question, your whole report is a matter of conjecture and supposition masquerading as fact.
"If you look through my report, it picks up Dr. Waugh's report and explains what he was unable to understand. I am unable to make cast iron predictions about the future, but I am able to say with a high degree of certainty that Miss Atkins needs help, not punishment." "Miss Atkins, I hope I am not disturbing you if the court appears to talk over your head as if you weren't here. I can absolutely assure you that my slowness to act when you were on the stand shall not be repeated. I don't make such mistakes twice." This time, tears ran down Lauren's cheeks unashamedly and her warm smile utterly transferred her to the sort of woman who didn't really appear to belong in the dock of a criminal court. It was that other woman, not her.
"If you care to read through the report and, to spare the defendant more distress, I shall repeat briefly my conclusions, that her father was a sadistic, ruthless individual who bent every person he met to his will, that her late brother Ritchie clearly and calculatingly took advantage of his sister's wavering loyalty towards their dead father and the principles of Atkins justice he and they had once stood for, that she had a love hate relationship with both of them and that she was persuaded to act as she did when she was at her most emotionally vulnerable. There is nothing in my report, which is conjectural about the past. Everything fits together. As for her future, that is for the court, a psychiatrist and the defendant to determine and that I cannot predict." Meg Richards mild reasonable tone of voice cut through Neumann Mason-Alan's bluster like a knife through soft butter, all the more deadly for it and with that open handed gesture which carried total clarity and candour. It left him speechless.
Lauren wept openly at Meg Richards description. Yes, it really did happen like that only she hadn't put it into words quite like that.
"Do you have any further questions to ask of the witness?" "No,my Lord. I could not possibly add on what the witness has said." Lauren's sharp eyes took in the way Jo's voice shook slightly with emotion. She breathed easily now. She had the strength to take anything the court could throw at her so long as she shied away from the prospect of the verdict. Take it a step at a time.
"Court is adjourned," Intoned John.
Neumann Mason-Alan, Sir Ian and Lawrence James cast their own dark shadow in their immediate neighbourhood as they slunk out of court. The rest of the players in the court started to file out slowly, feeling that their souls had been cleansed and that their sun shone on still waters after the maelstrom which time had taken them through.