ANNA HAD NEVER been in a court before. She’d been surprised to be called as a character witness for Nick’s defence, and wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
She hadn’t seen Nick since his last appointment, only his photograph in the Manchester Evening News as well as several national newspapers. She suspected the trial would put the story on the front page again, locally at least.
She clutched her purse more tightly and stared up at the grand Victorian building of the Magistrates’ Court. It reminded her of a redbrick version of New York Public Library, somewhat swaggering and self-satisfied.
Belinda was already at the courthouse, waiting for her.
“Thank goodness they decided to call you,” she said cheerfully. “It was awful this morning—the prosecution lawyer interviewed the ex-fiancée and her hideous family. He had to get them off the stand as quickly as possible. What on earth did he ever see in her?”
Anna had asked herself the same question.
“And I’m sure she’s lying when she says he deliberately hit her. That man doesn’t have a violent bone in his body.”
Anna raised her eyebrows and Belinda gave an apologetic smile.
“I mean . . . well, um. But honestly, that woman! She’s already been caught in one lie. She said that the bonking was a one-off thing, but then Nick’s lawyer brought up her phone records and they’d been at it for months. Sexting, too.”
Belinda was definitely Team Nick.
“He looks so tired. Still a hunk, of course. Then the defence brought in two of his ex-girlfriends who both said that he’d never laid a hand on them and they couldn’t imagine it. You should have seen the other piece when they said that—face like a smacked bottom.”
Anna winced. Probably not the best analogy.
Belinda filled Anna in on the rest of the case that she’d been watching avidly from the public gallery, then hurried off to find a seat, “before all the good ones are taken.”
Bored, but too on edge to read, Anna sat on an uncomfortable plastic chair in the witnesses’ waiting room, wondering what the cross-examination would be like.
She’d been surprised when Nick’s solicitor had approached her, but after carefully re-reading her confidentiality contract with the Minotaurs and checking with Steve Jewell, she agreed to do it. She didn’t feel comfortable about speaking up for a man who hit women—one woman—but she could be candid about his appointments. After what Belinda said, she felt a lot better about it.
She read over the statement that she’d given to the police, barely able to understand her own words as nerves jumbled her brain.
Finally, an usher came to take her in, and Anna tried to breathe calmly. The Magistrate wore a rumpled suit and had the sour expression of a vegetarian at a hog roast.
As Anna took her place on the stand, trying to keep calm and use visualisation techniques to get her through this, she glanced across at Nick.
He was wearing a charcoal grey suit and dark blue tie, and he sat silent and stoic next to his lawyer.
He looks so lost.
His cheekbones seemed even sharper now and Anna felt a prickle of concern as she took in the dark shadows that ringed his eyes. There was a tightness about his expression and the way he held himself. His downcast eyes met hers briefly and she thought she saw a flicker of emotion before he turned his head away again.
He looked shattered.
When she glanced across at the prosecution bench, she had to look twice before she recognised Molly. The bottle-blonde hair had been dyed a more gentle dark gold, and the clinging micro mini had been replaced with a pale grey shift dress and a green silk scarf. Her nose was swollen and she had two black eyes. The man she assumed was Kenny also looked like he’d been badly beaten.
Anna swallowed and reminded herself that she was being objective and only telling the truth—until she met Molly’s hate-filled stare.
Anna was slightly taken aback, but then again she was speaking for the defence.
She studied the Magistrate’s face, but despite her expertise in body language, she couldn’t guess which way he’d go, and she knew that a clever lawyer could sway him one way or another.
She rubbed her suddenly sweaty hands against her dark suit pants and tried to appear unaffected as she stood, placing one hand on the Bible.
“I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
After she’d been sworn in, Ms. Wilson-Smith introduced her and asked her to list her credentials and qualifications.
Anna spoke clearly and authoritatively, gaining confidence as the lawyer led her through the rehearsed questions.
“No, I’ve never had reason to worry about being alone with my client. I always found him polite and professional. No, he never exhibited any signs of anger. He was frustrated that his injury was holding him back, but that was all. We didn’t talk about his personal life in so far as I knew that he was engaged, and I also knew that he had an older sister and parents living nearby.”
Anna was careful to put her answers in context, but she wasn’t prepared for the prosecutor’s questions during the cross-examination.
“So, Dr. Scott, during this polite and professional relationship, there was no hint of anything more?”
“Excuse me?”
The lawyer smiled coldly.
“No hint of impropriety, Dr. Scott?”
Anna’s mouth fell open, and Ms. Wilson-Smith was on her feet.
“Objection!”
“Sustained.”
“Credibility of the witness, Your Honour.”
The Magistrate peered down at the oily prosecution lawyer for a long moment.
“Continue, but be careful Mr. O’Keefe.”
Anna seethed, hoping that Ms. Wilson-Smith would say something, offer a rebuttal. She stumbled on the next few questions and knew it made her look guilty.
He smiled snidely. “I’m sure he enjoyed talking to you about himself as the sole focus.”
Anna stayed silent.
“Miss Scott?”
“It’s Doctor Scott, and I was waiting for a question.”
A murmur of amusement rippled through the public gallery and Anna glanced across to see Belinda giving her a thumbs up.
“Did you like your client, Doctor Scott? After all, he’s a good looking man and you’re a single woman.” He paused then stared over his shoulder at Anna. “Did you like Mr. Renshaw?”
“I found him very pleasant,” Anna said guardedly.
“So pleasant that you escorted him on a publicity trip to a local school—wholly beyond your contracted employment—and were seen getting into a car with the accused later?”
“I didn’t get into his car; we arrived and left separately. Visiting the school was part of his therapy,” Anna said icily.
“But not yours,” the lawyer said nastily. “Am I right?”
I wanted to see him happy, wasn’t much of a defence. She remembered the mild flirtation that they’d enjoyed that day, hating that this poisonous toad was making her think of it with guilt. It was like watching a pristine white snowy street turn to slush.
Anna kept glancing at the defence lawyer, waiting for her to stop this line of questioning. So far, she hadn’t.
The prosecuting lawyer leered at her.
“Ha! I put it to you, Doctor Scott, that you became infatuated with your client and deliberately engineered meetings out of the office, plus orchestrating an occasion when he’d be with his fiancée—his girlfriend of three years, a public house that you knew he visited regularly! Did you have a relationship with the accused?”
“No! It wasn’t like that!”
“Objection! Badgering the witness.”
Finally! Anna thought shakily.
“Sustained. Final warning Mr. O’Keefe.”
But the damage had been done, and by the time the defence lawyer returned for a rebuttal, half the jury were looking at Anna as if she was some sort of scarlet woman who’d been instrumental in breaking up Nick’s engagement. It was so unfair! Was this how the justice system worked? Silver-tongued lawyers who could twist everything you said.
Anna left the courtroom close to tears. Belinda was waiting for her.
“I can’t believe that scumbag said those things!” She paused, her eyes flicking to Anna’s distraught face. “You didn’t go out with Nick, did you?”
“Oh my God! Even you don’t believe me!”
“No, no, of course I believe you, luv. I’m being silly. It’s just . . .”
“What?!”
“I know you liked him.”
“Yes, I liked him. He’s a nice man! You said so yourself! Oh my God, I can’t believe this. I haven’t done anything wrong! I haven’t been unprofessional ever.”
Although Anna knew in her deepest thoughts that she had been attracted to Nick. But she’d never acted on it. Not once.
She put her head in her hands.
“If this gets reported, I’ll be ruined.”
Belinda put her arms around her and hugged tightly.
“It won’t come to that, luv. That lawyer was just trying it on. Everyone could see that. Everyone.”
Anna stared at her helplessly. It was all so horrible and brought back bad memories of being with Jonathan.
And what a clusterfuck that had turned out to be.