Find Them Dead

62 Thursday 16 May

The atmosphere in Richard Jupp’s chambers was tense.

The judge sat at the conference table annexed to his desk, opposite Stephen Cork and Primrose Brown.

‘We are one juror down. I have considered whether to discharge this jury and we start over — probably in three months’ time, which is about the soonest we could get everyone back together. That would be unfortunate for Terence Gready who will not be released on bail in the interim due to the severity of the case against him, not to mention time and money wasted for the State.’

Cork and Brown looked at each other. Then Primrose looked back at the judge. ‘After this trial, Your Honour, I’m due to start a very complex case which could last several months. I would rather proceed.’

Stephen Cork nodded. ‘I agree.’

‘Good,’ Jupp said and added, with only minor sarcasm, ‘We’re all on the same page, how nice.’

The two barristers left the room.

Richard Jupp wondered, privately, about the juror’s accident. Was there anything sinister behind it? In any major trial like this, judges needed to be aware of the possibility of jury nobbling. There was some history of that happening, particularly when big-time mobsters were involved. And this trial was, without doubt, high stakes. If the prosecution case was correct, Terence Gready would have more than ample resources to pay for anything he needed to secure his freedom. And he would, undoubtedly, resort to all means at his disposal. Although Gready was solely on trial for drugs offences, there were plenty of allegations floating around about his not being afraid to use violence.

But at this moment, however, he had no actual evidence to give him any grounds for suspicion. Accidents happened. He felt happy to move on.