Read Unravel a Crime - Tangle With Women Online
Authors: Neil Wild
He was excited when, at just
before 10 o’clock he was able to climb into the Fiat and start the 5 minute
drive to Netherfield. The estate was built on the American grid system. He
found the vertical road on which the address was situated, and managed to find
a parking space nearby.
He was relieved to see that
unlike some of it’s neighbours the house looked well maintained. The garden at
the front consisted of a lawn that needed cutting, and some shrubs.
Full of anticipation he
knocked on the front door. He could not see a knocker or a bell. He heard the
sound of running feet; the sound of chains being unlatched and the door was
opened slowly. A little black boy grinned up at him. This was not quite the
reception that he had expected.
“
Hello, is your Mum in?”
The little boy said nothing,
but looked back into the gloomy depths of the house.
“
Who’s that?” Mel shouted from
somewhere.
“
It’s me, Jonny.” he shouted
back.
“
Come in”
“
Can I come in?” Brakespeare
asked the little boy.
Still grinning, but without
uttering a word the little boy ran off to the back of the house. Brakespeare
let himself in, and shutting the front door behind him, walked to the back of
the house and to the kitchen/diner where Mel was changing the nappy of a little
girl on the work surface.
The interior of the house
looked tired. Mel’s cheap furniture looked the same way too. The kitchen was
untidy and had a smell to it that Brakespeare thought it best not to enquire
about.
“
Hiya, honey.” Mel leaned
towards him, offering her cheek for a kiss.
Brakespeare obliged. Mel
pulled up the child’s over panties, and put her on the floor.
She put a soiled diaper into a
pedal bin and went to the sink to wash her hands.
The little boy clung to her
leg and the little girl crawled towards her. As she approached the little boy
tried to push the girl away with his foot.
“
Cleveland, how many times do
I have to tell you not to do that?” Shouted Mel, shaking him by the arm. She
bent down and picked the little girl up.
“
Welcome to domestic bliss,
honey.” she said to Brakespeare.
“
So this is it?” Brakespeare
gestured about him.
“
I got my kids” Mel said
quietly.
The little boy now stood in
front of Brakespeare, staring at him arrogantly.
“
Cleveland, don’t do that!”
shouted Mel again. “This is your Uncle Jonny.”
“
How do you do, Cleveland”.
Brakespeare bent down and offered the boy his hand.
The child did not take it but
went back to his mother, clutching her leg once more.
“
You got the car, Jonny?”
“
Yes why?”
“
Could you do me a big favour.
I got my Social money. Can you take us to Sainsbury’s in Bletchley, so I can do
my weekly shop?”
“
Yes of course.”
Cleveland seemed excited about
the prospect of a ride in a car. Mel put him in the front seat and sat in the
back with the little girl.
“
What’s her name again?” asked
Brakespeare.
“
Chelsea”.
“
Nice name”, Brakespeare
muttered.
He endured three quarters of
an hour in the Supermarket with Mel and the children. Half the time he was
looking out to see if there was anyone he knew, so that he might avoid them.
The other half was spent rescuing Cleveland from various adventures. Mel’s
shouted reprimands to the boy punctuated the visit.
He drove the family back to
Netherfield. Cleveland’s excitement now involved his experimenting with the
controls on the dashboard. In the confined space of the Fiat, Mel’s shouts to
him seemed very loud.
He helped her unload the car
and stood in the kitchen while she unpacked her bags.
“
Thanks Jonny, that was a
great help.” she said. The children by now were watching the television in the lounge,
and Mel came forward to embrace him.
Brakespeare opened his lips to
kiss her and was relieved when she responded. He put his hand on her hips and
pulled her close to him, pressing her against his groin.
Mel pushed him away, giggling.
“No, Jonny, not now. The kids will hear.”
“
When then?”
“
I don’t know Jonny. When I
can get someone to look after the kids.”
He looked at her eyes. She
seemed happy. Happy with her children. The previous slightly desperate look in
her eyes had gone; her libido quenched by domesticity.
Brakespeare felt depressed. He
knew inwardly that the passionate relationship was over. The need to feel loved
and wanted that had fuelled them both, had been satisfied in Mel by her
children.
In a way he was relieved. He
just could not see himself living with her in this house with those children –
or any house.
“
OK. We’ll take a rain check.
Have you got a paper and pencil? Here’s my number.
Mel’s eyes brightened.
“
We’ll do that Jonny, we’ll do
that.”
“
Right, I’ve got things to do
then. Be in touch.”
Mel gave him a soft kiss on
his lips.
“
Be in touch, “ she replied.
“And Jonny?, “Thanks for everything.”
The rest if the weekend was
miserable for Brakespeare. He was determined not to have any contact with
Sophie. He wanted to call Lisa, but realised that he had not taken any contact
number for her.
He was more than happy when
Monday morning dawned. He realised that he had not considered how he was going
to get the car back to Worcester. He decided to leave it at the house, and
caught an early taxi to the station. He then treated himself to the luxury of
another taxi to the Court as it seemed impossible to get anywhere by Tube in
South London.
He arrived to find Lisa
already there and in deep conversation with Rosemary Lappin.
“
Good morning both.” he said,
walking up to them.
“
Ah Jonny, good morning.”
replied Lappin. Lisa smiled.
“
Anything I can help with?”
“
No, I think we’re all ready.
The Prosecution have agreed the bundles, so there are no contentious matters. I’m
not sure that any of their witnesses have arrived as yet. The two co-defendants
have sent two very junior barristers on watching briefs. I’ve let them have
copies of my skeleton argument – hope you don’t mind.”
“
No, not at all.”
“
And that’s about it really. I
don’t think that I’ve ever been ready for a case so quickly and easily. You two
have proved an excellent team.”
“
Our debut and swansong.” Said
Lisa.
“
Oh I don’t know. When you’re
called to the Bar I’m sure that Jonny will want to brief you. We’ll be in your
neck of the woods, Jonny.”
“
Pardon?”
Lappin who was more relaxed
than advocates usually are before a case, smiled warmly.
“
I’m teasing you. I’ve just
been explaining to Lisa, that we’ve decided in Chambers to open an annexe in
Birmingham. Since the death of the old circuit system, where barristers
followed judges about, work pops up everywhere. We get an awful lot in the West
Midlands and so I am relocating to Birmingham to head up the annexe. Lisa will
follow me.”
“
I shan’t have to move to
London, thank God.” said Lisa. ”In fact I could live in Worcester or move to
Birmingham.”
“
Gosh!” was all that
Brakespeare could think to say.
“
It’s a funny old world.” said
Lappin.
“
Sure is.” Brakespeare agreed.
Then, “Oh, no.” he said in desperation. In the distance was Newberry, and on
his arm was Kate Potter. Newberry caught sight of the trio and waved.
“
Can I introduce you to Mr.
Newberry’s friend, Kate Potter.” said Brakespeare to Lappin.
“
How do you do?” If Lappin was
as taken aback as Brakespeare, she was not showing it.”
“
Hello, Miss Lappin. Dave’s
told me all about you. Hello Jonny, Hello Lisa. You two all right then?”
Brakespeare looked at Newberry
quizzically.
“
I thought I’d bring Kate. You
said that there was to be no mention of her or Clearfield, so I presumed it was
OK. Besides, I need some moral support.”
“
Of course”, said Lappin
quickly. “She can sit in the public gallery at the back of the Court.”
“
Can’t she…”
“
Sit with us? No I’m afraid
not,” Brakespeare jumped in. “Only solicitors, barristers, and in cases like
this, defendants can sit in the well of the Court.”
“
It’s all right, Dave.” said
Kate. “I don’t expect that I’ll be far away.”
Lappin glanced at her watch.
“Nearly time” she announced. “I think I’ll just go and make myself
comfortable.” And with a telling look to Brakespeare, went into the Court room.
Lisa came and stood next to
Brakespeare. Was it his imagination or was she standing closer to him than she
had done of late. He felt her hand touch his. After the weekend he felt a
tingle of excitement.
“
You all right?” Lisa asked
Kate.
“
Just a little nervous”, she
replied and giggled. “I got to keep going for Dave. He’s been real bad this
weekend.”
“
In what way?” Brakespeare
asked Newberry.
“
Can’t sleep. Can’t concentrate.
Can’t do anything. It could be my imagination, but my ticker feels distinctly
dodgy.” He looked at Kate who made sheeps’ eyes at him and giggled.
“
I’m sure it must be very
stressful” said Lisa ”However, we’d better follow Miss Lappin into Court.
Brakespeare indicated the
public section at the rear of the Court, hardly a gallery, where Kate should
sit. He Lisa, and Newberry took their places at the table behind Lappin.
Brakespeare was annoyed that Newberry chose a place next between him and Lisa.
Lappin turned round to
Newberry. “Have you seen any signs of the witnesses?”
Newberry shook his head.
“
Would you recognise Black?”
“
No, never met him as far as I
know.”
“
Excuse me, Rosie,”
interrupted a tall gangly looking barrister wearing a battered looking wig.
“May I have a word?”
“
Hello, Andy. Yes, of course.”
Lappin followed him out of the
court room.
“
Who’s that?” enquired
Newberry.
“
Pass.” Said Brakespeare.
“
Prosecution Barrister?” asked
Lisa helpfully. “One of Edwards-Mitchell’s juniors, I expect”.
After a few minutes Lappin
marched back with a grim smile on her face.
“
The C.P.S. forgot to warn any
witnesses to attend. They want the case put back. Do you want to wait a couple
of hours until your two colleagues and Mr Black arrive?”
“
Well, no, not really.” said
Newberry, glancing over to Kate, who have him an anxious look back.
“
That’s what I thought, so
we’ll have to see what the Judge says.”
“
Who was that?” asked
Brakespeare.
“
Andrew Evans. He’s taking the
case. It seems that Edwards-Mitchell is not going to be here today.”
“
Really. He seemed prepared to
be last week.” Said Brakespeare.
Lappin sat down and turned
round in her seat again.
“
I expect that he has been
offered something today that is paying better. The excuse is that his clerk has
double booked him, and really this is not so serious a matter that he is
required.” she said sarcastically.
Evans looking worried, came
back and took his seat.
Two more young barristers came
in with Counsel’s notebooks in hand and sat on the bench to the side of Lappin.
Their wigs looked very new. They were followed by the two female members of the
C.P.S. who sat on the far end of the long table.
“
Oh by the way, Jonny, the
fat, dark one is Enid Crawford, your opponent.” volunteered Lappin.
“
The Court will rise.” cried
the Usher as the Judge entered. The bowing ritual over, the Judge sat down,
took out a pen and opened his book.
“
Mr Evans, I understand that
you have an application?”
“
Yes, My Lord. I very much
regret that due to an error in the office of those instructing me, the three
witnesses requested by my friend were not warned to attend today, and
consequently are not here.” he said lamely. “However, I can assure Your
Lordship that efforts have been made to contact them. The present position is
that Mr. Black, the expert prosecution witness and Mr .Dover have been
contacted and are on their way. Mr. Baines has not yet been contacted. I would
therefore ask that this matter be put back for two hours to give the witnesses
time to arrive.” He sat down.