Find Them Dead

79 Wednesday 22 May

Meg, waiting to go back into court, reread the message she’d received from Laura late last night.

Back in court, Emily Denyer had finished giving her evidence after 4 p.m. on the afternoon of the previous day and due to the lateness of the hour the judge agreed that the cross-examination by the defence could begin this morning promptly at 10 a.m.

The defence counsel was on her feet.

‘Ms Denyer, would I be correct in saying you are unable to specify where this cash deposit of three point five million euros has actually come from?’

For the first time since she had begun giving her evidence, last Friday, Emily Denyer looked a little nervous.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But if we go back to Spreadsheet 11 in your bundle of documents, you will see an equivalent amount transferred from the Cayman Island Elstrom Bank account, which tallies with the amount deposited into the Seychelles Neubank account on the same day.’

‘Can you tell us beyond any doubt that this amount deposited into the Seychelles Neubank account came from the Cayman Islands Elstrom Bank account?’ Brown asked.

Denyer shook her head. ‘Not beyond all doubt, no.’

‘Are you aware that there are many hundreds of transactional deposits daily into the Seychelles Neubank account, many of which are for large amounts?’ Brown pressed.

‘It was not necessary as part of my investigation to look at every deposit made. What I have told the court in my evidence is the electronic information that shows the large movement of monies into the relevant accounts,’ the Financial Investigator conceded.

‘Really?’ Brown said. ‘But I put it to you that this was just a fishing exercise, hoping you would find my client’s name on one of these accounts. Is it correct that you did not find the name of my client on any of these overseas accounts?’

Denyer replied, ‘There was no trace of a specific name but that’s what I would have expected to find. The whole purpose of creating these types of accounts overseas is to conceal identities.’

Meg felt a flutter of hope.

Brown spent the next hour asking Denyer numerous questions regarding her evidence in chief, but it appeared to Meg that the QC was making very little, if any, progress in discrediting any of it.

Brown continued. ‘Ms Denyer, my client is facing extremely serious allegations, it is important that the jury is aware of exactly what you are saying, you understand that?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Ms Denyer, let’s be very clear, there is nothing linking these two transactions except that they are of the same amount, that’s right, isn’t it? There’s no name, company details, nothing whatsoever beyond the cash amount, is there?’

Denyer countered her. ‘That, and the account numbers match.’

‘So, your conclusion is based solely on coincidence?’

Denyer started to respond but, before she could, Brown added, ‘That’s pretty desperate, isn’t it?’

Cork immediately stood up and said to the judge, ‘I object to my learned colleague’s last comment, Your Honour.’

‘I agree,’ said Jupp, and instructed the jury to ignore it.

‘I have nothing further for this witness,’ Brown responded, and sat down.

You are good! Meg thought, privately. But then she worried, Or am I just clutching at straws in desperation?

Cork got to his feet. ‘I have only one more question, Your Honour. My learned friend suggests your conclusion is based solely on coincidence but how would you describe the evidence?’

Emily Denyer replied, ‘Strong circumstantial evidence.’

‘Thank you,’ said Cork. ‘I have no more questions.’

The prosecution case against Terence Gready had been due to finish around mid-morning and all the jurors had been eagerly anticipating the start of the defence, which would commence soon after Emily Denyer had finished giving her evidence. And there was anxiety among some of the jurors that although they’d been told the trial was expected to last a couple of weeks, there was now every indication it might run longer.

Their anxiety was compounded by Stephen Cork making a surprise announcement that he had a new prosecution witness — someone who had formerly been lined up as a defence witness. Primrose Brown had immediately requested an adjournment to give her team time to prepare their cross-examination. Richard Jupp had given her short shrift. ‘You are well aware there is no property in a witness,’ he said, sternly. ‘You know this person, you know what evidence he has. I’ll give you fifteen minutes — time to let the jurors have a quick coffee break.’ He glanced at the clock. ‘Court is adjourned. We reconvene at 11.35.’

In the jury room, while everyone else discussed Emily Denyer’s financial evidence, Meg again read the WhatsApp message from her daughter, and stared at the attached photograph, the first one she had seen of the man that Laura said was following and photographing them.

She had been anticipating some swarthy slimeball with greased hair and slick sunglasses. But what she saw was a guy in his early thirties, with South American looks and close-cropped curly hair, casually dressed in a jogging top over jeans and trainers. He looked harmless, the kind of guy who could blend into any crowd. Which, presumably, was the intention.

Jorge.

Had the photographs which had been put on her kitchen table been taken by this man?

‘The financial evidence is utterly compelling,’ droned the voice of Harold Trout. ‘I don’t see how anyone could think otherwise.’

‘Well, I can,’ Toby DeWinter announced. ‘I am completely and utterly lost — and I didn’t like that woman anyway, she’s trying to bamboozle us with figures, IMHOP.’

‘Imhop?’ queried Maisy Waller.

DeWinter shook his head. ‘In my humble opinion,’ he translated.

‘Ah.’

‘Absolute nonsense,’ Trout retorted. ‘If you were concentrating, you’d have found it all very clear.’

DeWinter bristled. ‘There’s a big difference between following and understanding. That woman,’ he said, with contempt, ‘that Financial Investigator is nothing more than a prosecution puppet. She’s spent God knows how many hours trotting out links between shell companies, board members and bank accounts all around the world, but in all these bloody spreadsheets is there one mention of the defendant’s actual name on any board of directors or on any bank account?’

‘Well, of course not,’ Trout replied, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down frantically, his voice rising. ‘That was the whole point — total obfuscation.’

‘Hey!’ Meg interrupted. ‘Can we all keep our tempers, please? Getting angry with each other is not going to get us very far. We’re not a bunch of squabbling school children. Please remember, Harold, that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, whether you agree with them or not.’

In the moment of awkward silence that followed, Meg did wonder whether she should have let the argument continue. If it had broken into a fight, what would have happened? Two jurors who couldn’t be in the same room together — would that be enough for a retrial with a fresh jury — and a safe solution for her and Laura?

Then she heard the pompous voice of Hugo Pink. ‘I’m with Toby on this one,’ he said. ‘We’ve been shown very fancy financial shenanigans, I’ll grant you. But I’ve not yet seen any conclusive link to the defendant.’

There was a rap on the door and the jury bailiff entered, announcing they were required back in.