Court Out - By Elle Wynne Page 0,68

Corr? I vould not lie to protect him if zat is vot you are suggesting?”

Corr smiles at him.

“You know me too well Mr. Plushenko. When you left Ghost, the Defendant was very drunk wasn’t he?”

“Yes, but zat is no crime Mr. Corr.”

Corr continues, choosing to ignore the persistent use of his name.

“When the Defendant left the club he had something with him, didn’t he?”

“No, he did not haff any Krug Mr. Corr”

The court falls totally silent. You could hear a pin drop. I hardly dare to breathe.

“What was that Mr. Plushenko?” asks Corr, very, very quietly, reminding me of a tiger ready to pounce.

“Ze champagne. Ve drank all in ze bar. There vas none left ven ve leave”

“But I didn’t mention any champagne Mr. Plushenko. What makes you think I was going to ask you about a bottle of Krug?”

Plushenko looks concerned for a moment, but his face relaxes after a brief period of thought. He fingers one of the gold chains round his neck.

“You ask me about vis last time Mr. Corr. I tell you last time, there vas no champagne.”

“No, Mr. Plushenko. I did not ask you about this last time. We all have a transcript of what was said last time and when I asked questions of you, I did not mention any champagne. So tell me, how do you know about the Krug?”

“I do not know vat you mean,” he replies, sweating slightly. “I do not understand.”

“Well I’ll make it easy for you then. As I didn’t mention any champagne last time, let alone any any brand such as Krug, why did you bring it up? How did you know that was what I was asking you about?”

Plushenko has gone a really unattractive shade of red and is fidgeting with the bible in front of him. The whole courtroom is totally captivated, waiting for his answer. When none is forthcoming, the Judge intervenes.

“Please answer the question Mr. Plushenko.”

There’s about another minute of silence before he speaks.

“I, I guess. No-one tell me.”

Corr lets this answer sink in before resuming his attack.

“So you just guessed that a bottle of Krug is now a key piece of evidence in this trial?” he asks, with a small smile on his face. I can see a number of jurors shake their heads.

“Yes. I guess. I guess!”

“Mr. Plushenko, enough of the lies. You’ve obviously spoken to either the Defendant or one of his team about this trial, haven’t you?”

“No. I do not lie. I no speak to anyone.”

“Are you familiar with the terms ‘perjury’ and ‘conspiracy to pervert the course of justice’?” says Corr with a very serious expression on his weathered face.

“No,” says Plushenko sulkily.

“Well, you will be soon” slams Corr.

I feel like jumping up and whooping. That was absolutely amazing. I cannot believe it. He’s annihilated him, shown that there is a huge conspiracy to provide Hobbs with a defence. That was such an obvious lie, it’s totally unbelievable. Plushenko is spitting in the witness box, trying to make his protestations heard. Quinn rises to re-examine. He is trying to act unconcerned about what has just happened, but is failing miserably.

“Mr. Plushenko, are you lying to protect your friend?”

“No!”

“And have you been in discussion with anyone about this case?”

“No! I haff not!”

Quinn sits down and there is silence. Mr. Justice Wynne looks around the court slowly before speaking.

“Mr. Plushenko, you may leave the witness box. Mr. Quinn, is there any further evidence for the defence?”

“My Lord yes, some excellent written character references for Mr. Hobbs.”

“Well, we’ll hear those now then take a short break before Mr. Corr’ speech. Mr. Quinn, we’ll hear from you tomorrow then I’ll sum the case up.”

As Rivers reads out a small library worth of letters from people who claim that they have known Hobbs for many years and have never seen him raise his hand to anyone. I try to suppress a yawn; this evidence is somewhat diluted by the fact he’s already admitted breaking a man’s nose.

I listen to him speak and try to suppress any thoughts that he actually has a really sexy voice. Rivers is facing the jury, relaying the contents of his documents to them. Some of them are paying attention but most are making no secret of the fact they now consider the defence case a complete waste of their time.

I quickly glance behind my left shoulder and see that Serena has stopped typing and is looking somewhat ashen at the turn of events. Rivers finishes and sits down. When