Defying the threatening glares coming from Stern, he turned to the jury.
'Exorcisms. People like my colleague, Joel Nelson, and his friends believe that people's afflictions are caused by evil spirits that possess them. We're talking about people with mental illness - depression, anxiety, paranoia, schizophrenia; sick, unhappy people in need of God's help, but not like that. It was Eva who told me it was happening. They would meet in the prayer rooms at the back of the church, the old part of the building that we're still fixing up - that's where those fibres come from, we had rolls of the stuff waiting to go in the roof. Joel and his friends would take them there to drive out the devils, in the little room at the far end where you can't be heard. It was Freddy who first told Eva about this practice. He was going along with it. He said it was making his voices go away, but it didn't sit right with her, nor with me.'
'Did you or Eva witness these exorcisms?'
'She did. She walked in on them praying over Alan Jacobs. He was crying like a child, she said, begging them to make him clean. She didn't know what to do - he was there of his own free will, but it's not the way we would pray for people, telling them they're possessed by devils. I went to the trustees thinking that as pastor they'd respect my wishes.' He dipped his head in shame. 'I was told that Bobby DeMont exorcized homosexual people all the time and that I should be grateful we were doing God's work. The next day I was called in by Mr Prince, the lawyer. He made me sign a document promising I wouldn't discuss any church business with anyone outside the organization. If I did, I'd lose my job. Eva held out for a few weeks, but eventually he bullied her into signing too.'
'When was that?'
'March. She was furious. She said Michael and Christine were running the church like a cult. I tried to talk her down, tell her we'd sort it out, but she disappeared inside herself. She would hardly talk to me.'
Jenny said, 'What was going on the night she was killed?'
Lennox shook his head. 'I came into the office about quarter to seven looking for her. Joel was making phone calls saying he didn't know where anyone was, not Eva, Michael or Christine. We had four thousand people coming and I was the only one of the team who'd showed.'
Annabelle Stern suddenly rose and stepped forward to Sullivan's vacant seat. She was brandishing her phone. With no trace of emotion, she said: 'Ma'am, I have to inform you that as of this moment, these proceedings are stayed pending full judicial review. Any attempt on your part to call further evidence will not be lawful.'
All Jenny could do was stare at her and wonder what unearthly hour she had to get up in the mornings to look that perfect.
Chapter 24
'You couldn't have done any more, Mrs Cooper.' Alison spoke quietly, hovering in the doorway to Jenny's office in Jamaica Street.
'No,' Jenny said from under a dark shroud of failure and humiliation.
'It's not even as if you wanted it to get this far. It was virtually forced on you.'
'Yes . . .' she answered, wishing Alison would leave her alone.
'I'll see you in the morning, then. You're sure you can manage?'
'I'll be fine.'
'Thank you . . . thank you, Mrs Cooper.' With one last anxious glance in Jenny's direction Alison closed the door and left the building as swiftly as she could without appearing indecent. If she had been disappointed by the eleventh- hour abortion of their inquest, she had yet to show it. Jenny worked out that she must have been on the phone to her new boyfriend, Martin, within minutes of Annabelle Stern bringing down the guillotine. She'd retouched her makeup even before they had left the empty clubhouse. It was a powerful drug, sex. Observing Alison's conscience dissolve under its spell, she could begin to understand how people could kill for it.
Jenny looked again at the order issued by Mrs Justice Delaney, a newly appointed judge, who, a little research revealed, had been instructed many times by Ed Prince and Annabelle Stern during her career at the Bar. They had been clever. They had not argued that Jenny had been biased or had mismanaged proceedings: rather