‘Oh-ho! You wait and see! You’ll be surprised what that pair saw through brick walls two feet thick! And then, of course, they may call little Dorothy.’
‘They’re sure to, aren’t they?’
‘No … She’s a common prostitute, don’t forget, and juries don’t seem to believe a word they say. I hope they do call her, though – I’d like to see our counsel tear her guts out in cross-examination …’
Mr Zuss-Amor rubbed his chest with relish. I got up to go.
‘I don’t suppose you’ll believe,’ I said, ‘that Johnny Fortune hasn’t been a ponce. But isn’t it clear, from all you tell me, that these cases are sometimes framed?’
‘Oh, of course they are! Who said they weren’t?’ Mr Zuss-Amor stood face to face with me. ‘I handle a lot of cases for the defence,’ he said, ‘that they don’t like to see me get an acquittal for. So the police don’t love me all that much, as you can imagine. And believe me, whenever I get into my car at night, I look it over to see if they’ve planted anything there.’
‘You do?’
‘Well, if I don’t, I ought to. And that reminds me,’ he went on, leaning his lower belly against the desk. ‘If you can pay for it, we’ll have to get a barrister who’s not afraid of coppers.’
‘Some of them are, then?’
‘Most of them are. But one who certainly isn’t is Wesley Vial – even though he’s a junior.’
‘A Mr Vial who lives near Marble Arch? A fat, hairy man?’
‘You know him, I dare say. He’s a friend of little Alfy’s.’
‘I know him slightly. And so does Johnny Fortune. We went to a party at his house. I don’t think he likes either of us much.’
‘Oh, really? Wheels within wheels, I see.’ Mr Zuss-Amor sat down again. ‘I won’t enquire why,’ he said, ‘but I don’t think it’ll make the slightest difference. If Vial takes on the case, he’ll go all out to win it for you. Shall I ask him, anyway?’
‘What is a junior, exactly?’
‘He’s not taken silk. Doesn’t mean a thing, though. Some of the best men don’t bother, because when they take silk their fees have to go up, and they lose a lot of clients. Better six cases at fifty guineas than one at two hundred, don’t you agree?’
‘And Vial’s the best man we can get?’
‘At the price you can pay, undoubtedly. Your young friend will have to see him some time, too. And before he does, there’s something else you might as well explain to him.’ Mr Zuss-Amor looked at the ceiling, then with his mouth open at me, then continued: ‘It’s a delicate matter: one laymen don’t always grasp at once. In a nutshell: to beat perjured evidence, you have to meet it with perjury.’
‘No, I don’t understand.’
‘I didn’t expect you would. However. Let me give you an instance. Suppose you walk out of this building and the Law arrests you on the doorstep for being drunk and disorderly in Piccadilly Circus while you were really talking here to me. What would you do?’
‘Deny it.’
‘Deny what?’
‘The whole thing.’
‘That’s the point: if they took you to court, you’d be most unwise. When they go into the box – and remember, there’s always more than one of them – and swear you were where you weren’t, and did what you didn’t, no jury will believe you if you deny their tale entirely.’
‘So what do I do?’
‘You say … having sworn by Almighty God, of course, like they have, to tell the whole truth, etcetera … you say that you were in Piccadilly Circus, yes, and you had taken one light ale, yes, but that you weren’t drunk or disorderly. In other words, you tag along with their story in its inessentials, but deny the points that can get you a conviction. If you do that, your counsel can suggest the Law had made an honest error. But if you deny everything they say, the jury will accept their word against yours.’
Mr Zuss-Amor shrugged, flung out his hands, and corrugated his brows into deep furrows.
‘So Johnny mustn’t deny all their story, but simply say he never took money from Dorothy, or had sex with her.
‘Particularly the former, of course. Yes, being an African, I don’t suppose he’ll mind damning his soul to get an acquittal. A lot of Christians do it. Is he one?’
‘I believe so.’
‘You can help him wrestle with his conscience, then. But do it before he sees Mr Vial. Because