Find Them Dead

73 Monday 20 May

Meg sat in the jury box, trying to follow the Financial Investigator, Emily Denyer, as she continued to give her complicated evidence. For the second day, she was talking the jury through a mountain of spreadsheets, detailing transactions through an increasingly complex network of offshore bank accounts. She listed dates of transactions, amounts, what credits and debits had occurred, and highlighted ones that she considered to be of specific interest.

In truth, Meg was completely lost, and she could see from the expressions of some of her fellow jurors that they were, too. She was struggling to remain focused. There had been no word over the weekend from Laura. Her daughter usually responded to her calls or messages within a few hours. She decided if she hadn’t heard by the end of the court session, she would try to call Cassie. She really didn’t want to bring Cassie’s parents into this yet — that would not be a good move in the eyes of the people watching her.

On top of that, she was deeply worried that she’d said too much to Alison on Thursday night and by what the man had threatened. They’d met for a coffee yesterday morning and Ali had assured her she was keeping everything to herself. Trust me, she’d said.

Meg had to; she had no choice.

This morning, before the hearing had recommenced, several of her fellow jurors seemed to have made up their minds that Gready was guilty, based on the Financial Investigator’s evidence on Friday. Meg was becoming increasingly anxious about what was now seeming an impossible task. She noticed Gready staring intently at the jury box, and in her direction. At her? She fleetingly caught his eye and detected the flicker of a nod. She glanced quickly away, with a shock, as if she had touched an electric fence.