Court Out - By Elle Wynne Page 0,54
expensive.”
“Thank you, if you wait there, there will be some questions from Mr. Quinn”
I sink to my seat, mind whirring. I flick back to the photographs taken from the scene and locate the one of the smashed champagne bottle on the kitchen floor. It’s hard to see the exact details, but I’m sure an expert could enhance the details so we could see precisely what house and vintage it was. I’d put money on this being one of the bottles from Ghost. Excitedly, I listen to Quinn asking questions of Jenkins, jovial as ever.
“You of course can appreciate why Mr. Hobbs would’ve been in a bad mood that night?”
“Totally, he’d been outed as nothing more than a paedophile and he’d been made to look totally redundant by his team.”
Quinn coughs. “But it’s correct that on some of the other occasions you’d seen him in the bar he’d also been in a bad mood? For example, the night they were knocked out of the playoffs?”
“Yeah, we did actually throw him out that night come to think of it.”
“And the time he wasn’t selected for the England squad?”
“Yeah, he was pretty evil that night too!” chortles Jenkins.
“And just as another example, how about his behaviour the nights that other, negative, stories had broken about him?”
“Yeah, he’s basically a bit of a, can I say it?”
There’s a pause and Quinn looks confused.
“Say what?”
“Well, he always acted like a total wanker to be honest.”
I bite my lip and look down. Quinn gives the witness a totally false smile. “Thank you, no further questions.”
“Thank you Mr. Jenkins,” says the Judge. “Members of the jury, I think we’ll leave it there for today and resume again tomorrow. Please be here by 11am as the coach is going to pick us up at 11:15 sharp. We will spend an hour or so at the house, then resume back here for the afternoon session. Again, please remember not to discuss the case with anyone.”
“I thought my gamble was going to backfire for a minute there Miss Chase,” says Corr quietly. “It seemed as though you had completely lost control of the witness.”
“I know, I’m sorry-”
“But, you did an excellent job in reigning him back in. I like your thinking about the champagne bottle. I expect you want me to ask the officer in charge of the investigation to do some photoshopping?”
I laugh, he’s so sharp. “Yes, and also it might be worth getting a statement from a wine merchant to say how rare that particular vintage is?”
He nods, “Yes, that’s a thought. I’ll action it right now. I’ll see you in the morning. Good work today.”
As he walks away I have to stop myself from pinching my arm to check I haven’t hallucinated the last few minutes. I stand alone in the well of the court and take a moment to reflect on what’s happened.
As people file out of court I turn and look for Serena. To my surprise she’s not in court, she must have left already. I haven’t spoken to her at all today, she’s spent every moment with Rivers, passing him notes and buying him cups of watery coffee from the court cafe. When I tried to call her last night, she didn’t pick up either.
I pack my papers away and walk out of the court. It’s surprisingly busy given the hour; normally at half four the concourse looks like a ghost town, but today it’s a veritable hive of activity. I make my way to the ground floor and out of the exit. I’d better try Serena again. As I press her speed dial number I walk back to Chambers, trying my best to avoid the gaps in the pavement. She answers after about the ninth ring.
“Hello? Lauren?”
“Hiya, just wondered what you’re up to? I have an hour or so to kill, so we can grab a coffee or something?”
“I’d love to, but I’m kinda busy at the moment” she replies. From the background noise, it’s clear she’s in licensed premises.
“Really? Anything interesting?” I ask.
“Just going through some of the case documents with Andrew. Getting ready to launch the defence, you know.”
“Naturally. Is Quinn there too?”
“No, he likes to leave most of it to Andrew and me. I’d better go, but we’ll have to catch up soon ok?”
“Sure” I say, disconnecting the call. As I put the phone in my bag I realise that Serena didn’t even mention my last minute advocacy today. I don’t bother going into the clerks room, I just head