It’s the second-to-last day of the trial. Tomorrow the jury will decide on a verdict. I’m fairly confident that Jay is going to get some serious compensation, but there’s always the chance that things could change. Despite all of the evidence brought forward against them, Brian and Una’s legal team have still managed to salvage some of the case.

Dad is to call forward one more witness. Reporters had shown up at our house this morning, looking for statements from Dad, so we were all in a fluster to get to court on time. By contrast, Jay is cool as a cucumber. He’s wearing my favourite suit, the light grey one, and looks as handsome as ever.

There’s a peace about him, like the turmoil inside his head is all coming to a conclusion.

I’m so busy admiring his gorgeous profile that I don’t listen when Dad calls his final witness. There are shocked gasps from those in the gallery, and the men and women in the jury. Brian is getting up from his seat, running a hand through his greying hair and looking entirely discombobulated, while Una has gone pale as a ghost, her expression distraught.

“What the hell’s going on?” I ask Will, who’s sitting beside me.

“Haven’t you been listening?” he whispers animatedly. “David Murphy is the witness.”

“Huh?”

“David Murphy. Jay’s volunteer. The one Una reported had died of a heart attack.”

I swear to God, it really is too early in the morning, because my brain refuses to comprehend what he’s telling me.

“I don’t understand.”

“Christ, Matilda. Didn’t Hugh tell you?”

“No. He and Jay have actually been very tight-lipped about the particulars of the case,” I say somewhat shakily. “David Murphy is alive?”

“Yes!” says Will excitedly.

I don’t understand how this can be possible. I mean, Una might be underhanded, but I didn’t think she could be this dumb. She must have had some kind of proof of the man’s death before she decided to break her story, right? And Jay! My God. He’s been playing everyone this entire time, never once correcting anyone when they spoke of David’s heart attack.

This is fucked up. This is…amazing.

I can’t believe the sneaky, clever, trickster bastard managed to pull this off.

And now I have no words.

Finally, I manage to pull myself together enough to become aware of the fact that all hell has broken loose. Una is standing up and yelling at Jay, who’s sitting back calmly in his chair, one sardonic eyebrow raised and the ghost of a satisfied smile on his mouth.

“This is outrageous. The man sitting in the witness box cannot be David Murphy. I held his death certificate in my own two hands!” Her previously pale complexion has now turned red with fury as she points her finger at Jay.

The judge slams his gavel down hard and calls for Una to contain herself.

“Are you sure about that, Una?” Jay asks casually, flicking a coin through his fingers with expert precision. “David Murphy is a pretty common name in this country. Perhaps you were confusing him with somebody else.”

“I am not confused. I saw it! You did this. You knew all along that he wasn’t dead.”

“Miss Harris,” says the judge. “Please sit down.”

It takes another few minutes for order to be restored and for Dad to begin his examination.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I suppose I should begin by asking you to clarify who you are?”

David smiles. He’s actually quite handsome, probably in his mid-thirties, with a mop of thick brown hair. “I’m David Murphy.”

“The same David Murphy who took part in Mr Fields’ television show as a volunteer?”

“That’s right.”

“And you are alive?”

A chuckle. “I should hope so.”

Dad picks up a passport, birth certificate, and driver’s licence, handing them to David. “Are these documents yours?”

“They are indeed.”

The judge requests to see David’s identification documents before Dad can continue with his questioning.

“Have you any idea how Miss Harris might have come to the conclusion that you were dead?”

“No. Right after I finished filming with Jay, I emigrated to Australia for work but recently returned home. I haven’t been around, but I certainly haven’t been dead.”

“Thank you, Mr Murphy. That’s all I wanted to ask.”

Brian and Una’s barrister, Thomas Jenkins, rises swiftly from his seat, clearly eager to bombard David with questions.

“Mr Murphy, before my client published her article, she had collected several pieces of documentation to show that you had died of a heart attack. These documents have subsequently gone missing from the secure location where they were being stored. Even the soft copies and the original government and hospital records have vanished without a trace. Do you know anything about this?”

David leans into the microphone. “No, I do not.”

Hmm, even if he doesn’t, I’m sure Jay does. I glance at him out of the corner of my eye, my gaze narrowed in wariness and just a little bit of awe.

“Did Mr Fields recruit you to fake your own death?”

David laughs loudly now. “No, of course not. This isn’t a movie, Mr Jenkins.” I notice a couple of members of the jury try to suppress their smiles.

Thomas Jenkins’ mouth forms a thin, displeased line.

“My client, Miss Harris, was led to believe that Mr Fields paid a large sum of money to your mother for funeral expenses. Do you know anything about this?”

“Yes, I do. Jay did give my mother money, but it wasn’t for a funeral. It was a loan for home renovations that has now been paid back in full. I’m not sure where your client got the idea it was for a funeral.”

Dad steps forward and provides all the required evidence for the loan. Brian and Una’s barrister throws a few more clever questions at David, but he has foolproof responses to all of them, even slyly hinting that Una never had the documents she claims she had in the first place.

After the lunch break, Thomas Jenkins calls a witness, a guy named Blake who apparently worked as a cameraman on Jay’s show, and who Una claims has been an informant of hers for the past two years. She also claims that Blake was the one who originally informed her of David’s passing.

They all seem confident that Blake is going to prove that something was amiss and that Una had been tricked into believing David was dead. However, when Blake takes the stand, he denies all association with Una and firmly states that he never told her that David Murphy had died. Una claims that all of her dealings with Blake had been in person, so she has no proof that the meetings actually took place.

Again, Jay’s trickery is stamped all over this. I’m almost starting to feel sorry for Una. I’m also starting to wonder if Jay had been planning this entire thing since before she ever wrote a single word about him.

Which only brings forth a whole bucketful of other questions.

The judge asks the jury to retire to the jury room and consider their verdict. I have absolutely no doubt that they are going to decide in Jay’s favour. It seems like a forgone conclusion, really. Waiting for the verdict is not what has my heart pounding in apprehension. If I know anything about Jay by now, I know that there is a reason for everything he does, and what I really want to know is why he orchestrated all of this.

Why did he want to destroy Una Harris and Brian Scott?