Nothing Ventured

30

The following morning Sir Julian arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice an hour before the trial was due to recommence. A clerk accompanied him and Grace down to the cells in the basement, so they could consult with their client.

‘You demolished Stern,’ said Arthur, shaking Sir Julian warmly by the hand. ‘If you’d represented me at my original trial, the verdict might well have gone the other way.’

‘It’s kind of you to say so, Arthur, but while I may have landed the occasional blow, unfortunately I didn’t knock Stern out. And the fact remains, we’re in front of three high court judges, not a jury. Their lordships’ decision will be based not on reasonable doubt but on far more demanding criteria, before they can consider overturning the jury’s decision and declaring a miscarriage of justice. A great deal now depends on Professor Abrahams’s testimony.’

‘I’m not altogether sure how the three venerable Solomons will react to the professor,’ said Grace.

‘Nor am I,’ admitted Sir Julian. ‘But he’s our best hope.’

‘You’ve still got Detective Sergeant Clarkson to cross-examine,’ Arthur reminded him.

‘Stern’s sidekick will only parrot what his master has already said. You can be sure he and Stern spent last night in a pub analyzing every one of my questions.’ Sir Julian checked his watch. ‘We’d better get going. Can’t afford to keep their lordships waiting.’

‘You ran rings around my wife yesterday, BW,’ said Faulkner, over breakfast at the Savoy.

‘Thank you, Miles. But when Palmer cross-examines you, you’ll still have to explain to the jury where the Rembrandt has been for the past seven years, how you got hold of it in the first place, and why you switched the labels on the crates. You’d better have some pretty convincing answers to all those questions, and several more besides, because Palmer will come at you all guns blazing.’

‘I’ll be ready for him. And I’ve decided to make that sacrifice you recommended.’

‘Very prudent. But keep that particular card up your sleeve for the time being, and leave me to decide when you should play it.’

‘Understood, BW. So what happens next?’

‘The Crown will put up Commander Hawksby, and he’ll undoubtedly back up your wife’s story. For him, she’s the lesser of two evils.’

‘Then you’ll have to demolish him.’

‘I don’t intend to cross-examine him.’

‘Why not?’ demanded Faulkner, as a waiter poured them more coffee.

‘Hawksby’s an old pro, and juries trust him, so we need the commander out of harm’s way as quickly as possible.’

‘But that doesn’t apply to the choirboy,’ said Faulkner.

‘Agreed, but the Crown won’t be letting him anywhere near the witness box. It would be too much of a risk.’

‘Then why don’t we call him?’

‘Also too much of a risk. Warwick’s an unknown quantity, and barristers always like to know the answer before they ask a question. That way, they can’t be taken by surprise. So frankly, Miles, I need you to be at your sparkling best, because the most important thing in the jury’s minds when they’re considering their verdict will be your credibility.’

‘No pressure,’ said Miles.

‘You’ve been in tight spots before.’

‘Never this tight.’

‘That’s why you have to be on the top of your game.’

‘And if I’m not?’

Booth Watson drained his coffee before replying, ‘You won’t be having bacon and eggs at the Savoy again for some considerable time.’

‘My Lords, in the tradition of the English criminal bar, a leader may call upon his junior to conduct one of the examinations in chief during a trial. With Your Lordships’ permission, I will invite my junior to examine the next witness.’

‘Permission granted, Sir Julian,’ responded Lord Justice Arnott after a brief consultation with his colleagues. He then gave Grace the warmest smile he’d managed throughout the trial.

Grace rose unsteadily to her feet, aware that not only was everyone staring at her, but Arthur Rainsford’s fate now rested in her hands. All those years of study and training, not to mention the hours spent at the feet of her father as he interpreted the law and explained court procedure to her. Now he was passing on the baton, expecting her to run the final lap.

Sir Julian sat back, hoping it wasn’t too obvious that he was just as nervous as his daughter. It didn’t help Grace that her mother was seated between Beth and Joanna Rainsford at the back of the court, both leaning forward and looking like football fans eagerly awaiting the first goal.

Grace placed her file on the little stand her father had given her on the day she joined him in chambers. She opened it, looked down at the first page and her mind went blank.

‘Are you ready to call the next witness, Ms. Warwick?’ asked Lord Justice Arnott, sounding like a benevolent uncle.

‘We call Professor Leonard Abrahams,’ said Grace, surprised by how self-assured her voice sounded, because her legs weren’t experiencing the same confidence.

If the courtroom door hadn’t opened and closed, observers might have been forgiven for wondering if the next witness had actually entered the room. Abrahams blinked, looked around, and finally spotted the witness box in the far corner of the court. When he reached it, he was surprised to find that there was no chair for him to sit in, and that he would be expected to remain standing throughout his cross-examination. Typical of the British, he thought.

The clerk held up a card, showing no surprise that the witness was wearing a short white lab coat and an open-necked green shirt. Abrahams placed one hand on the Bible — well, at least the Old Testament — before reading out the words, ‘I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,’ before adding, ‘so help me God.’

He then peered around the courtroom, relieved to see that his little box of tricks had been set out on the floor between the witness box and the three judges, just as he’d requested.

His gaze finally settled on Grace, one of the brightest young women he’d come across in many years of teaching bright young women. He’d liked her from the moment they’d met at Heathrow, but it was only later that he’d come to respect her grasp of detail and her patient pursuit of the facts as well as her passionate belief in justice. He wondered if Sir Julian realized just how talented his daughter was.

‘Professor Abrahams,’ said Grace, ‘I would like to begin by asking you about your background, in order that their lordships may appreciate the particular skills and expertise you bring to this case.’ He’d become so used to Grace calling him Len, that he was taken by surprise when she addressed him as professor. ‘What is your nationality, professor?’

‘I’m an American, although I was born in Poland. I emigrated to the United States at the age of seventeen, when I won a scholarship to study physics at Columbia University in New York. I completed my doctorate at Brown, when I wrote my thesis on the use of ESDA in criminal cases.’

‘ESDA?’ repeated Grace, for the benefit of everyone else in the court, other than the two of them.

‘Electrostatic Detection Apparatus.’

‘And you have since written two major works on the subject, and recently been awarded the National Medal of Science.’

‘That is correct.’

‘In addition to which, you—’

‘I think you have established, Ms. Warwick,’ interjected Lord Justice Arnott, ‘that the professor is preeminent in his field. Perhaps it’s time for you to show us what relevance his expertise has in this particular case. I only hope,’ he added, turning to face the witness, ‘that my colleagues and I will be able to follow you, professor.’

‘Don’t worry, Your Honor,’ said Abrahams. ‘I’ll treat all three of you as if you were first-year students.’

Sir Julian held his breath, while Grace stared anxiously at the judges, waiting for a stern rebuke, but none was forthcoming. Their lordships just smiled, when Lord Justice Arnott said, ‘That’s most considerate of you, professor, and I hope you’ll forgive me if I find it necessary to ask you the occasional question.’

‘Fire away at any time, Your Honor. And in answer to your first question, about the relevance of ESDA to this particular case, I have to admit, I wouldn’t have considered taking on this assignment had it not given me an opportunity to visit my mother.’

‘Your mother lives in England?’ asked Lord Justice Arnott.

‘No, Your Honor, in Warsaw. But England’s on the way.’

‘I’ve never thought of England as being on the way to anywhere,’ said the judge, ‘but please continue, professor.’

‘To do so, Your Honor, I must first explain why ESDA is now considered by the American Bar Association to be an important weapon in its armory. That wasn’t always the case. The change took place quite recently, when a congressman whom I intensely dislike told the court during his trial for fraud that he had read every page of a sensitive military procurement document, and suspected that some pages had been added at a later date. I was able to prove he had lied to the court, which resulted in him not only having to resign from office, but also ending up in jail for a long time.’

‘But in this case, as I understand it,’ said Lord Justice Arnott, ‘you will be attempting to prove the exact opposite, namely that a sheet of paper was removed, not added.’

‘That is correct, Your Honor. And if you’ll allow me to examine the evidence in your presence, I believe I will also be able to establish whether it was Arthur Rainsford or DI Stern who lied under oath. Because they can’t both have been telling the truth.’ The professor now had everyone in the courtroom’s close attention.

‘Beyond reasonable doubt?’ asked Arnott, raising an eyebrow.

‘Scientists don’t deal in doubt, Your Honor. It’s either fact or fiction.’

This silenced his lordship.

‘But in order to prove my case, Your Honor, I will need your permission to leave the witness box and conduct an experiment.’

The judge nodded. Professor Abrahams stepped down from the box and walked across to a machine that looked like a desktop photocopier. He pulled on a pair of latex gloves and turned to face the judges.

‘Your Honor, may I suggest,’ said Grace, ‘that you and your colleagues join us so we can all follow the experiment more closely?’

Lord Justice Arnott nodded, and all three judges left the bench and descended into the well of the court, where they were joined by both counsel to form a ring around the ESDA.

‘Pay attention,’ said Abrahams, as he always did when he was about to address the students at his lectures. ‘No one has suggested,’ he began, ‘that Mr. Rainsford didn’t initial the first page of his statement that was later produced as evidence in court. The only dispute is whether there were three pages rather than two. And if I’m to prove that, I will require the original two-page statement.’

‘This has been agreed by both sides, My Lords,’ interjected Grace.

Arnott nodded to the clerk, who handed the original statement to Professor Abrahams.

‘Now, I suspect,’ said Abrahams, ‘that we will all need to be reminded of the wording of the original statement. I repeat, there is no dispute concerning page one from either party.’ He began to read.

The professor put the first page down and picked up the second.

‘This, as you know,’ he said to his attentive audience, ‘is the second page of the statement given in evidence, although Mr. Rainsford still maintains it is in fact the third page.’ He began to read again.

Professor Abrahams stopped for a moment to make sure he still had the attention of his students. Satisfied, he continued. ‘I now want you to turn your attention to the ESDA machine — the Electrostatic Detection Apparatus. I’m about to place this second page on the ESDA’s bronze plate. Are there any questions?’

No one spoke.

‘Good. I will now cover the page with a sheet of Mylar film, before sealing it.’

The professor took a small roller from his box of tricks, and proceeded to roll it backward and forward over the Mylar film until he was confident that he’d eliminated any air bubbles. Next, he took a thin metal device from his bag, explaining that it was a corona. It made a faint buzzing sound when he turned it on. He held it an inch above the plate and scanned it back and forth over the page several times.

‘What’s the corona doing?’ asked Lord Justice Arnott.

‘It’s bombarding the Mylar film with positive charges, Your Honor, which will be attracted to any indentations on the page.’

Once he’d completed the task, the professor switched off the corona and announced, ‘I am now ready to sprinkle some photocopy toner over the surface of the paper, after which we’ll quickly discover if my experiment has served its purpose or has been a complete waste of time.’

The attentive crowd, heads down, stared at the piece of paper as the professor lifted one side of the bronze plate, before sprinkling the page with minute, pepper-like black filings that ran down its surface and disappeared into a narrow trough at the bottom of the plate. Once he was satisfied the paper had been completely covered with filings, he lowered the bronze plate back in place, and peered down at his handiwork.

‘Look at Arthur,’ whispered Grace.

Sir Julian glanced up at the defendant, who was still standing in the dock. Arthur didn’t seem to be in any doubt about what the result would be, whereas Lord Justice Arnott and his two colleagues still appeared skeptical, and Mr. Llewellyn downright unconvinced.

Professor Abrahams bent over the machine and placed a sheet of sticky-backed plastic carefully on top of the Mylar film, then deftly peeled the film from the plate. Finally, he separated the sticky-backed plastic sheet from the film, and placing a blank sheet of white paper behind it, held it up for everyone to see.

No one could have failed to observe the unmistakable impressions on the missing page.

Mr. Llewellyn still looked unimpressed when Lord Justice Arnott said, ‘Perhaps you would be kind enough, professor, to read out the words that are indented on the page, as I have a feeling you may have done this before.’

‘On several occasions, Your Honor. But I should warn you that there are bound to be some gaps. But first may I remind you of the final sentence on the first page, before I move on to the disputed second page.’ The judge nodded. ‘I later regretted that I had lost my temper with him, and I should never have...’ The professor took a large magnifying glass from his bag and studied the indented page closely before he continued.

The professor turned to the third page of the statement and continued, ‘struck him.’ One or two of those standing around the machine burst into applause, while the others remained stony silent.

‘Thank you, professor,’ said Lord Justice Arnott, before adding, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, would you please return to your seats.’

Grace waited until everyone had settled before she rose from her place and said, ‘No more questions, My Lords,’ and collapsed onto the bench.

‘Chapeau,’ her father whispered, touching his forehead with the fingers of his right hand.

‘Mr. Llewellyn, do you wish to cross-examine this witness?’ asked Lord Justice Arnott.

Professor Abrahams braced himself for the Crown’s rebuttal.

‘No, My Lords,’ said the Crown’s chief advocate, barely moving from his place.

‘We are in your debt, Professor Abrahams,’ said Lord Justice Arnott. ‘I’m only glad that your mother lives in Warsaw, and that you dropped by to see us on your way to visit her. You may step down.’

‘Thank you, Your Honor,’ said the professor, before leaving the stand and gathering up his box of tricks.

Grace wanted to hug him as he walked across the room and winked at Arthur, before leaving the court.

‘Do you have any more witnesses, Sir Julian?’ asked Lord Justice Arnott.

‘Just one, My Lords. Detective Sergeant Clarkson, the other signatory to Mr. Rainsford’s original statement. He has been subpoenaed to appear before your lordships at ten o’clock tomorrow morning.’

‘Then we will adjourn until then.’

Sir Julian bowed, and remained standing until the three judges had gathered up their copious notes and departed.

‘Do you think Clarkson will actually turn up tomorrow?’ asked Grace.

‘I wouldn’t bet on it,’ replied her father.