Find Them Dead

102 Thursday 30 May

‘Have you arrived at your own verdict?’ Meg asked the young man.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’m there. But I don’t think you are going to like this.’

Meg looked at O’Brien and felt, suddenly, very scared. There was something about the calm way he had spoken that unnerved her. His words ground into her brain like the whine of a chainsaw.

I don’t think you are going to like this.

She held her breath for a moment then said, ‘Tell us your thoughts, Rory?’

The man looked nervous, as if unused to having an audience. He stammered a little. ‘Well — um — the thing — the thing is — the d-d-d-dates — this is what I find in-in-interesting.’

He fell silent.

‘Dates of what, Rory?’ Meg asked, maintaining her gently inquisitive tone.

‘I’ve checked the dates of the classic car importations and also the large deposit transfers involving the overseas accounts and the classic car company. From these dates provided I’ve discovered that, if Mr Starr is to be believed, Mrs Gready was very conveniently abroad, judging orchids in international competitions, on each of those dates. All the competition dates were in the document bundle.’

‘And your point is?’ Meg asked.

O’Brien responded, ‘Well, it’s very simple. Is it beyond coincidence that on all twenty-seven occasions that Mrs Gready has been abroad, engaged in her judging, that a classic car, packed with Class-A drugs, has entered a British port, or a large cash deposit has been moved through the LH Classics account? I don’t think so. I would say that to consider this a series of coincidences is pretty far-fetched.’

‘You’re suggesting Gready deliberately chose the dates for when his wife would be out of the country?’ Roberts asked.

‘Yes.’

Meg felt deep, growing anxiety.

The former detective looked thoughtful. ‘That does make a lot of sense. These quantities of drugs and cash movements are enormous by any standard. If Gready was involved — indeed, the mastermind — then in the immediate hours and days following the arrivals of the shipments he would have been busy, probably around the clock, inundated with calls on burners. He might have had a problem explaining to his wife quite what the hell he was up to. Much better if she was conveniently out of the country.’

There was a palpable silence in the room.

Meg was thinking hard and fast. ‘It could simply be coincidence,’ she replied. But the moment she had spoken, she realized just how lame that sounded.

So, it seemed, from the change of atmosphere in the room, did everyone else.

‘Twenty-seven coincidences,’ Roberts said. ‘With respect, Meg, do you really think that is plausible?’

There was a long silence, during which Meg was struggling to come up with a response. Suddenly, from feeling in control, she was staring up at a seemingly impenetrable wall. ‘On the face of it, no,’ she was forced to admit. ‘But there may be another blindingly obvious explanation.’

‘Which is?’ said Harold Trout.

She felt her face reddening. Part with embarrassment and part in anger at the look of smug triumph on his face.

Pressing his perceived advantage, Trout said, in a condescending voice which angered her even further, ‘You have demonstrated that you are clearly a highly intelligent lady, Meg. Do you really expect any of us to accept that on each of the twenty-seven times that Mr Gready’s wife has been abroad, judging these competitions, it is entirely coincidental that major drug deals, allegedly by her husband, took place? Does that extraordinarily high number in any way fit the issue of innocence? I’m afraid it doesn’t for me.’

‘Nor me,’ said Mark Adams.

‘Doesn’t do it for me either,’ said Toby.

‘I’m afraid that much though I want to believe Mr Gready is indeed a nice man, this does change the landscape for me,’ Hari Singh said.

Edmond O’Reilly Hyland had been quiet for some while, but now chipped in. ‘As well as this, we need to remember the evidence found at Gready’s house and in the deposit box. In my opinion it’s inconceivable that Gready would have told anyone else about the hollowed-out bedpost. To me, his suggesting that Starr was behind this is total nonsense.’

Meg looked bleakly around the solemn faces and felt tears welling, but needed to be strong and not let it show. Only Hugo Pink met her eye, and he gave her a reluctant chin up grimace.

The jury continued with their deliberations until lunchtime, when it became apparent they would not be able to reach agreement. Meg turned to the jury bailiff. ‘Can we return to the court to let the judge know we are not close, or likely to be unanimous?’

A short time later, with all parties back in court, the judge turned to the jury. ‘I understand that you are unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the counts and that there is no likelihood of you doing so. As we are reduced to eleven members, I am able to accept a majority verdict of 10–1 or 9–2 from you. This is in accordance with section 17 (1) b Juries Act 1974.’

He then asked the jury bailiff, Jacobi Whyte, to take the jury back to their room to continue their discussions.