The tired bodies trooped into court, to take up their accustomed places and roles for one last time. George took the precaution to freshen herself up in the ladies, to look more perfect than she felt. She emerged to catch up with Jo, and was surprised to see her looking pretty alert. Either Jo has laid off the booze, she thought, or appearances could be deceptive.
"Well, George, I never thought that I'd ever get to the end of this trial a sane woman. I've you to thank for it"
"Don't think of it, Jo." Came George's self deprecating reply. "Are you ready to give Cantwell one last going over"
"It's that pleasure to come that's giving me the energy." Smirked Jo.
It dawned on both of them, that Barbara's destiny would be shortly taken out of their hands, and would lose the burden of responsibility, to make or mar. There would be only one final exchange,and twelve men and women of the jury would be left to decide her fate. By that point, they would have to wait helplessly on the sidelines. George didn't envy them, sifting through the sheer volume of evidence placed before them and the burden upon their shoulders. They saw Brian Cantwell ahead of them , oblivious to everything.
As it became near to the time when court would open, the hitherto deserted courtroom started to take life and shape as a living being. The ushers and court recorder assumed their rightful positions. Upstairs, the gallery became sparsely filled with only Greg and Amanda Hunt on the one side, and Yvonne and Roisin on the other. The two groups maintained the same chilly distance between each other, as when the trial first started.
"I can see why Babs went and clocked him one." Yvonne muttered out of the side of her mouth which made Roisin grin.
"So long as you don't get the same idea, Yvonne. You can get into trouble for something like that." Came the whispered reply.
Up in the Gods, John and Monty paced out in their stately fashion, through the door to their chambers. They peered down through bleary eyes at the courtroom below, before the moment came to commence proceedings in the final act of the grand theatre of justice.
Brian Cantwell had the inward feeling that the game was up. He was only too aware that a succession of exchanges had been weighted against him. The defence witnesses had demonstrated that steel hard determination to hold their ground, against his most severe questioning, and that Jo and George had taken maximum advantage of the patently sincere testimony. He didn't want to think of that infernal battleaxe of a prison officer, whose stupidity had done its best to wreck his case, and he regretted that the defence had managed to pick holes in the evidence given by Connie Beauchamp. Nevertheless, he resolved to think of the bill that he would shortly receive, and he was determined to go out in style, as he delivered his closing speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard character witnesses give purported glowing testimonies as to the character of the accused, but is it not significant that not one of the accused immediate family has stepped forward to testify, someone who has known the accused from an early age and grown up with her. I am not asking you to draw any untoward conclusions, only that the character evidence may not as strong, as it might appear."
While Jo was scribbling notes, George sat back in wonder at Brian Cantwell and she almost felt sorry for him. Given the circumstances, he had done as good a job in trying to convince the jury as to the rightness of his case, but what about his own feelings upon the matter? It was interesting that this question came so easily and quite naturally to her. Except when she was the government's hired legal gun, she had pursued her career with the pick of lucrative civil cases where feelings never came into it. Her role had been to grease the legal wheels of financial accommodations between two parties. This was the first time that she had taken part in a criminal trial, where she was on the right side. She wouldn't want to give way to John's rhapsodies to justice ,but she had to admit that she felt pretty good about herself if it weren't for one matter.
"Now let us come to the charges in question. You will have heard an extraordinary array of well wishers giving evidence as to the psychology, the character of the witness and indeed Uncle Tom Cobley and all. What you have to ask yourself, what does it all add up to? It might be argued that the character of the accused is such, that you feel it is safe to put out of account the possibility that the accused did take the life of Henry Mills. I urge you, the jury, to take the measure of the deceased, someone whose firm strength and Christian convictions would have not lightly voluntarily let go his grip of life, even with the extremities of his sufferings. One of the most significant points drawn out from the accused herself was to hear her describe the deceased as a 'very strong man.' That is suggestive of a man who would not lightly voluntary surrender his grip of life. Now we come to medical evidence. Amongst the multitude of medical evidence, you should not overlook the testimony of Sam Ryan of a fresh injection mark on the deceased's right thigh, which had caused the overdose of morphine. She further testified that the deceased had not the physical strength to administer the injection himself, something that the accused had been accustomed to doing herself. It is the contention of the Crown that the accused may ,for the most well meaning motives, have conceived the idea of ending the deceased's life in the most merciful fashion possible. Whatever the motivation, the law considers that such an act is a crime as defined by the laws of the land and you must find the accused guilty as charged."
To their surprise, Yvonne and Roisin weren't greatly worried by Brian Cantwell's address. They had unconsciously absorbed the knack in being able to pick out what was really damaging in a case. In Yvonne's eyes, the guy was dealing off the pack with largely sixes and sevens of diamonds with only the occasional jack. He had a great line in bullshitting, and she might have been impressed with his manner at one time. They both knew that they needed to wait to see what Jo or George would come up with. Experience and superstition forbade them in thinking that they would walk it, but there was at least reason to hope.
John noticed with surprise that Brian Cantwell had spoken in such a low key fashion. He had expected endless verbal flourishes to make the most of a weak case but, no, he promptly sat down as if he had finally dealt himself out of the game. "Thank you Mr. Cantwell." He intoned and sat back in his throne for Jo to reply.