Find Them Dead

61 Thursday 16 May

The jury bailiff, Jacobi Whyte, peered around the jury room, checking everyone was there and in place, before announcing, ‘Very regrettably, one member of the jury is indisposed. I’m informed the lady in question apparently came off her bicycle on her way home from court yesterday evening. I understand she was found lying in a hedge, unconscious, with very serious injuries.

‘The judge is now speaking to counsel, which is why you are remaining here for the moment.’

It was quite wrong, Meg knew, not to have much sympathy for her, but she wondered how many of the other jurors felt the same. Everyone in the jury room earlier had been commenting on Gwendoline Smythson’s no-show, and they’d all presumed she must have been delayed by a puncture or some other problem with her bike — or, as Mike Roberts had suggested, perhaps she had been unavoidably detained by her own self-importance. And it was ironic how the woman had told them, the first time they’d all been together, that cycling here was the best solution to the parking problem in Lewes.

Then her mind went back to the phone call she’d had at home last night.

Please, I’m doing everything I can.

Oh, we know that, Meg. And we are right with you, doing everything we can... You will see tomorrow how we are helping you in other ways, too. We have made your life easier, but so much is still down to you.

Was this bastard behind what had happened to the woman? It seemed just too coincidental. And how easy would it be to knock someone off on a country lane?

OK, so she and Gwen hadn’t exactly become instant buddies, but she didn’t wish her any ill. And if these evil people were capable of causing this accident, did they have no limits?

The eleven of them remained in the jury room. Some of them sat at the table, others stood to help themselves to drinks.

Meg poured herself some coffee, then sat back down, looking around, thinking back to the words of her caller last night.

You do have a friend on the jury.

Which of you, she wondered?

‘Anyone have any views on what we heard yesterday?’ Mike Roberts asked.

‘Yes,’ Meg said. ‘It seems we might have a huge disagreement as to whether Starr actually met Gready that day.’

‘I agree with our foreperson,’ Hugo Pink concurred.

Toby DeWinter chipped in. ‘Perhaps we should all be a lot more concerned about Gwen’s accident. She was the one who wanted us to cut short the trial and come to a “guilty” verdict — and now she’s off the jury. Doesn’t that worry any of you? It worries me!’

‘What are you saying?’ Mike Roberts looked at him. ‘That her accident wasn’t an accident? Are you worried that if we came to a “guilty” verdict you — and others on this jury — might also meet with an accident?’

‘Just saying...’

‘Just saying what?’ Roberts pressed.

Again, the words of her caller came back to Meg.

We have made your life easier, but so much is still down to you.

How have you made my life easier?

Wait until the morning, Meg. You’ll know then.

By eliminating Gwen from the jury?

Maisy Waller suddenly spoke, absently playing with her cross. ‘Don’t you think we should take a more forgiving attitude?’

All the other jurors looked at her.

‘Forgiving what, exactly, Maisy?’ Roberts asked.

‘We seem to be jumping to a lot of conclusions, before we’ve heard all the evidence from both sides,’ Waller said. ‘Should we not be considering the Christian attitude of forgiveness here at all?’

‘What period of Christianity are you referring to?’ asked Edmond O’Reilly Hyland, looking at her darkly. ‘The period in history where they went on trial by ordeal? Plunging the accused’s hand into a vat of boiling water and, if it came out fine, they were innocent?’

‘Please,’ Meg said. ‘I think we’re all getting far too emotional. Maisy is right, we are still in the very early stages of this trial and it is far too soon to jump to any conclusions. We need to hear all the evidence from both sides before we can have an informed discussion.’

‘I agree,’ Harold Trout said.

‘So do I,’ said Pink. ‘I don’t think our judgement should be affected in any way just because a silly, arrogant woman fell off her bicycle.’

‘Excuse me!’ Meg interrupted them, loudly and firmly. ‘A man is on trial for immensely serious offences, which could not only deprive him of his freedom for many years, if we come to a “guilty” verdict, but also destroy his standing in his community and end his career.’

‘Very well said,’ O’Reilly Hyland interjected. ‘We are all sorry this lady had an accident, whether we liked her or not. But we need to focus on the evidence being put to this court, and from what we have heard so far I do think we need to be concerned about the strength of the prosecution’s evidence on this point.’

‘And not the defence’s integrity?’ Roberts queried.

‘That, too,’ O’Reilly Hyland conceded.