Babyface. Elizabeth Woodcraft

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      ‘Do you know, I think I represented him.’

      A small rattle left my throat.

      ‘He was in terrible trouble. Owed millions. Well, if I have represented him, and he is to be called to give oral evidence as a result of the way the defence wish to run their case, then I must step down at this very, very late stage, because I cannot hear this case. The case will have to come out of the list. So be it, if the defence wish to call Roger Quirk, they must pay the price.’

      ‘Rowland Quirk.’

      ‘Oh Rowland Quirk. Oh, no, not the same man. I don’t think I know him. So? Why do you need him?’ he barked.

      Roseanna rose and I sank to my seat. ‘Your Honour may remember that this witness is one of a series of expert witnesses which both defendants seek to cross-examine at trial. Your Honour indicated on the last occasion that an investigation of this area of the case was the only appropriate way to take the matter forward.’

      The judge opened his mouth but nothing came out. Ewan Phillips rose to his feet. ‘I wonder if I could be of some assistance as to the availability of prosecution witnesses.’ Judge Norman turned a beaming smile on him. ‘Dr Quirk is available to give his evidence during the second and third weeks of the trial.’

      ‘Ewan and the judge come from the same set of chambers,’ Roseanna whispered to me. ‘Ewan’s very intelligent, he’ll go far, Norman isn’t and hasn’t.’

      ‘I will say again, Miss Richmond,’ the judge’s voice boomed around the room. ‘Has there been a meeting of all the professional witnesses to see if there is any way that this matter can be shortened?’

      I knew the answer to that one. ‘Yes there has.’

      ‘And still you wish to call them?’

      ‘Yes,’ I said wildly. ‘I think that’s quite usual for a trial, isn’t it?’

      Ewan Phillips rose slowly, insolently, to his feet. ‘Of course, your Honour,’ he said, ‘as your Honour has pointed out, my learned friend for Mr Richards is from London.’ He said it as if I had just flown in from the twin towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. ‘In Birmingham, and in particular in your Honour’s court, close attention is always paid to the detail and it is pertinent at every stage of the proceedings to consider whether there is a way to save time or prevent a drain on the public purse. Perhaps my learned friend’s instructing solicitors, a London firm –’ he shuddered ‘– are unaware that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things.’

      ‘Precisely, Mr Phillips,’ the judge said. ‘Well, Miss Richmond?’

      ‘My learned friend for the prosecution may not know that, in London, matters such as this are usually dealt with outside court in order to save the court the trouble of enquiring into every small detail. In London,’ I emphasised the ‘L’, ‘in London, we ensure that the Judge is able to deal with the big picture.’ Roseanna was tugging the sleeve of my gown, hissing, ‘Shut up, sit down! Shut up, sit down!’ ‘In London,’ I ploughed on, ‘counsel have the skill and ability to ensure that a case goes forward smoothly and properly, without incurring unnecessary costs. In London, members of the Bar are regarded as professional and competent. Which they are.’

      ‘Have you finished Miss Richmond?’

      I thought for a second and then nodded.

      ‘Which chambers are you from?’ His Honour Judge Norman leaned forward, licking his lips.

      He was going to write to my head of chambers. Or he was going to report me to the Bar Council. I told him my chambers address and he made a great show of writing it all down, including the postcode.

      So there. I’d lost my career at the Bar for a client who wasn’t even mine. And I’d probably lost the client. If I hadn’t lost him when I first stood up without the papers, I’d lost him now, after he’d seen me shouting my mouth off at the judge. I sagged in my seat, taking a desultory note, while Ewan Phillips completed the last technicalities. Then we all rose, bowed and His Honour Judge Norman left the courtroom.

      And then Danny Richards hissed at me. He was being led away, between two men in short-sleeved shirts and with self-important chains on their belts. No words, just a hiss. I looked at my watch. It was ten thirty. I had so much to do, so much to read. So much money to earn before I was deprived of my livelihood. I was bruised and battered, I needed to lick my wounds, not go three more rounds with Danny Richards.

      I looked over at him. He grinned and winked. Oh no.

      He inclined his head towards the back of the dock, wanting me to go down to the cells. I walked over to the dock. ‘Have you got a minute?’ he said.

      ‘Not really. Can’t it wait? Can’t you tell Simon?’ I emphasised the word Simon, to remind him where his future lay. I was not getting any further involved in this case.

      ‘No, it can’t, this is important stuff,’ he murmured so I had to strain towards him to hear. ‘I enjoyed that, though.’ He rubbed his hands together. ‘I was right, you are.’

      I frowned.

      ‘Just like a Jack Russell.’

      

      Roseanna and I stood outside the door leading to the cells. Each of us held our wig in one hand and a pile of papers in the other. As we waited for a jailer to let us in Roseanna said, ‘I’m sorry I tugged your arm.’

      ‘I’m glad you did. I don’t know what more I might have made up if you hadn’t. What do you think he’ll do?’

      ‘I don’t know. Probably nothing, he’s too lazy. Have you got time for coffee after this?’ she asked.

      ‘I can’t.’ I pressed the bell again. ‘I’m starting an inquiry this afternoon and I’ve got to meet my solicitor who says a load more papers arrived last night.’ Chambers had rung me at Julie’s this morning.

      ‘Oh, you’re in the abuse inquiry,’ she said.

      ‘There’s more than one inquiry?’

      ‘There’s the environmental one, that’s been going a couple of weeks, and the abuse one.’

      ‘Well, then yes, I suppose I’m in the abuse one.’

      ‘Everybody from here to Leicester has been after at least one inquiry brief. All that lovely money. I thought in the end that it was mostly solicitors doing the representation in the Haslam Hall case.’

      ‘I’m representing the victims,’ I said.

      ‘Oh, you have the poisoned chalice,’ she said. ‘Good luck.’

      ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ I said.

      ‘No, no, I’m being unfair,’ she said. ‘I’m sure you’ll get on well with everyone. Are you staying up or are you commuting?’

      ‘I’m staying at my cousin’s in Selly Oak,’ I said.

      ‘Well, keep in touch,’ she said. ‘I’m at СКАЧАТЬ