Left You Dead

56

‘You know what this is?’ Niall Paternoster said, tired and ragged after a sleepless night on his narrow bunk and brutal pillow. ‘It’s a stitch-up.’ He was alone with his solicitor in a small interview room at the custody centre.

‘Stitch-up? By who? What do you mean, exactly?’ Joseph Rattigan asked. ‘Are you suggesting the police are fabricating evidence against you?’

Paternoster raised his hands in despair. ‘I don’t know what to think. It’s just crazy — I mean — just crazy.’

‘The evidence against you is not looking good, you’ll have to admit,’ Rattigan said, tapping his bundle of papers. ‘I’m afraid.’

‘Not looking good? You’re my brief! I thought you were meant to be on my side?’ He pointed at the door. ‘If I’ve got that wrong then I need to find someone else.’

‘Please calm down.’

‘Oh, you don’t want to lose your fee, is that it?’

‘Would you like to know what my fee is?’ the solicitor asked.

Paternoster shook his head. ‘All you lawyers, you’re fat cats, that’s what I do know.’

‘My Legal Aid fee is less than £150. That’s for consulting with you yesterday, being present during the interviews with the detectives, meeting with you again today and meeting with you however many more times you need.’

‘Are you serious?’

Rattigan nodded solemnly. ‘That’s the value the Legal Aid Agency place on us.’

Niall did a brief mental calculation. ‘I would have earned more than you driving my cab.’

‘You would, yes. Do you still want me to leave?’

Niall shrugged.

‘So, you dropped your wife off in the car park of the Tesco Holmbush store at around 3.15 p.m. last Sunday and you’ve not seen her since?’

‘Correct. Do you believe me?’

‘If what you’re telling me is the truth, then I believe you.’

Niall looked at him, face on. ‘But you don’t believe me, not really, do you?’

Rattigan sat up straight. ‘I’m not permitted to tell lies, either to police officers or in court. If I act for a client who tells me they are guilty, then my job is to try to reduce their sentence to the best of my ability. If my client tells me they are innocent, then I have to do all I can to prevent them from being convicted. Does that help?’

Niall shrugged again. ‘Am I right that they have to release me this morning or charge me?’

Rattigan shook his head. ‘They can apply for a further extension and, with the evidence they have, they would almost certainly get it.’

Niall Paternoster looked bleakly down at the table in front of him. ‘You don’t believe me, do you? I love Eden, why would I harm her?’

‘If I had a pound for every client who’d said that, I would be a lot wealthier than I am, Mr Paternoster, believe me.’

‘What do I have to do to convince you — and the police?’

‘At this stage, we need proof that Eden is alive and well.’

‘And how do you suggest I find that while I’m locked up in here?’

Rattigan nodded. ‘As I said, the evidence against you isn’t looking good, so far, from what I’ve heard. It seems to be both clear-cut and damning. But you’re saying it’s a stitch-up. I’d very much like to hear your reasons why you feel that in light of all we’ve heard.’

Niall Paternoster told him.