Unravel a Crime - Tangle With Women (12 page)

"What's the figure for
his colleague Dover's valuations?"

Lisa quickly went to the
spreadsheet "50%".

50% of the valuations which are the
subject matter of the charge against our client."

"1 think that's about as
much as it's safe to say on that subject, and so let's wind up.

“We are obviously anxious to avoid
two things. Firstly the financial cost of defending our client. To get to this
stage of the proceedings has already taken ....

Did you make a note of the
time you spent on the file?"

"No, but it was a good 2
hours. "

"OK Make a note, we'll
have to tot up the hours later but at a guess I must have spent 40 hours. Put
that in, we can change it later. ... and to analyse in greater detail John
Black's valuations, and to obtain our own expert evidence is going to take as
long again. It seems to us to be a total waste of time and money for us to have
to check on the accuracy of views and opinions of the Prosecution's key witness
in this way. It is with respect, something that you should have done. "

"That's the second 'with
respect' you have used. "

"Always use it when you
are about to have a go at someone. Remember litigation like this is a fight to
the death. But it is controlled aggression, and so it has various rules of
conduct and etiquette so that it can take place in a civilised manner. "

"Right - oh, what else.
"

"Well I was thinking of
mentioning David's heart problem."

"The sympathy touch? What
after you have told them that they haven't done their homework?"

"Hmmm, yes it might
backfire. They might see it as an indication of weakness on our part; that
David might need to plead guilty rather than stand the stress of a trial. No I
think we'd better not mention the heart. Just put..

“
Secondly of course, we are
anxious to spare our client an unnecessary public trial “

“
Can you underline 'unnecessary
- in this matter. We therefore ask you to urgently consider the information
that we are enclosing, with a view to withdrawing all charges against our
client.

Now here's the crunch ...

We have to say, with respect,
that if this case does proceed and what we have said in this letter is proved
to be correct and the charges against our client dismissed, then we reserve the
right to produce this letter to the Court in support of an application for
costs personally against the Crown Prosecution Service.

Bearing in mind that our
client is the only surveyor employed by the former National Building Society
who has been charged with an offence, despite the fact as we have demonstrated
that the was involved in but a small percentage of the surveys around which this
case centres, he reserves all other causes of action open to him, should this
prosecution in any way prove to be malicious.

If you do decide to proceed,
then we shall want to make submissions to the magistrates at committal after
cross examination of Mr. Black

Then just end it, Yours
Faithfully"

"Well," said Lisa,
sitting back in her chair, "that should give them something to think
about."

"Well, I hope so. What's
the time?"

"A quarter to six. "

"Well we've missed the
post for tonight." Brakespeare stood up and stretched, “I suppose I'd
better check it before it goes. Send a copy to Newberry as well. "

"Sure, boss." Lisa
turned round in her chair and gave him an inviting smile. Brakespeare
hesitated, but then decided to seize the initiative.

"How about a drink for
all your hard work?" Lisa did not hesitate.

"I can give you half an
hour, if we're quick." she said as she began to shut her computer down.

"And after half an
hour?"

Again the smile. "I turn
into a pumpkin. "

"Well I'll just have to eat
you," he replied before he realised what he had said.

"Mr. Brakespeare, you are
a solicitor……….. " She expressed horror but was smiling.

He thought that she might be
teasing him, but thought better of assuming that. She might be very politically
correct.

"Sorry."

"I'll forgive you. Come
on we have half an hour to get to know each other. "

That was an invitation
Brakespeare was unable to refuse.

“
So where shall we go.”

“
The Farriers Arms. It’s just
across the road in Fish St. It’s as good as anywhere.

“
Right, I’ll get my coat. I
presume we have to lock up. Have….?”

“
Sure, don’t worry I’m allowed
to have a set of keys. I’ll do it.”

“
So?” said Brakespeare.

“
So?” said Lisa, and they
clinked glasses across the small table in the public house, “Whatever next?”

“
What indeed, - and what a
first week.”

“
Like something from a novel.”

“
Yes, I might write it one day
– when I know the happy ending.” Brakespeare laughed cynically.

“
Do you think that there will
be a happy ending?

Brakespeare sighed, and put
his glass on the table. He leaned back in his chair and gazed at the nicotine
stained ceiling. “Well all I can say at this stage is, I suppose, that thanks
to your work with the computer, we have at least something to cling on to.
Often in criminal cases it’s a straight argument over the facts, and who has
their facts right, and who has them wrong. In white collar crime….”

“
What’s that?”

“
Crime committed by
executives, - fraud, fiddling the books, embezzlement – that sort of thing. In
those cases, it’s the prosecution who usually have to use computers to show how
things have been fiddled, with acres and acres of paperwork; forged receipts
and the like.”

“
Isn’t that what they’ve done
in David’s case?”

“
Not really. I know that
there’s stacks of papers we haven’t yet looked at, but their case all seems to
turn on Black’s valuations. The trouble is that this valuation lark seems
wonderfully vague.

How anyone can put his hand on
their heart as Mr. Surveyor Black has, and say that a property is worth so much
now, and was worth so much less 4 years ago, seems to me the basis of a dodgy
prosecution case.”

“
So why have they brought it –
the case, I mean.”

Brakespeare picked up his
glass again and sipped slowly. It was only half a pint of shandy but he a
savoured it as if it were wine. He put it down again.

“
Mr. Clive Masters, I expect.”

“
Clive who?”

“
The Chief Executive of the
National Bank. It’s just like him to want to nail somebody; to hang them out to
dry.”

“
You know him?” she asked
quizzically.

“
I’m afraid so. He’s why I’m
here.”

“
What; about this case?”

“
No, because he once tried to
ruin my career, in fact he did, and now it seems that he wants to ruin
David’s.”

Lisa’s eyes opened wide, but
she had the sense not to ask any more questions and allow him either to change
the subject or tell his tale. Brakespeare caught her glance, took a deep breath
and sighed.

“
No reason why you shouldn’t
know; the partners do. Are you sitting comfortably?”

Lisa nodded.

“
About 5 years ago I worked
for the Crown Prosecution Service in Birmingham. I think I did well, at least I
seemed to have my fair share of interesting cases, - murders; rapes; frauds. A
lot of them made the newspapers.” He laughed ” I had to prosecute a woman once
for fortune telling in the street under some ancient Birmingham byelaw..”

“
What’s a byelaw”

“
Laws passed by local
authorities, usually in the Nineteenth Century to prohibit things such as
spitting or urinating in the street. Anyway this woman had been taking money by
palm reading in the street or something, and the Police decided to prosecute
her. I can’t remember the detail, but I do remember that she cursed me in
Court, and that made the Daily Telegraph. It made my Mum and Dad very proud!”

“
Did it worry you?”

“
At the time no, but I do sometimes
wonder about it in the light of what subsequently happened to me.”

Again, Lisa waited for him to
continue. She could see that whatever it was, it was something he did not care
to think about.

“
Anyway, I enjoyed the work.
It was the only time in my career when I’ve jumped out of bed in the morning,
and thought ‘Yippee” I’ve got to go to work!’” He paused.

“
Do you like chocolate?”

“
What! Yes of course.”

“
But would you want to do it
all the time. I can tell you murder sounds a glamorous case to prosecute, but
the cases are never like they are in detective novels, and after you’ve dealt
with a few, you’ve dealt with the lot. The work became routine to me. The
trouble with something like the Crown Prosecution Service is that it is part of
the Civil Service. To get promoted, you have to fit in, and I’m afraid I’m too
much of a loner to fully do that, so all the dull boys get the good jobs.
Anyway you have to move around the country to get anywhere. If you don’t, it
can be like waiting for dead men’s shoes. So, when one of the bigger firms in
Birmingham offered me a job at half as much again as I was getting on a Civil
Service salary, I quit and joined.”

“
What firm was that?”

“
Hattons. Anthony Hatton was a
big man in Birmingham. Flash solicitor; owned a night club; drove a Rolls Royce
and had made his name doing criminal work. He knew everybody, went everywhere,
did everything. Thought I was “a like mind” or so he told me, and made me an
offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“
What was that?”

“
Well, to give me some street
cred, they made me a salaried partner immediately.”

“
What’s that.”

“
Meaningless really. I had no
stake in the firm; I was paid a salary and a bonus for the fees I generated. I
was not involved in any decision making. Pure window dressing.”

“
So, didn’t it work out?

“
Well as far as the job was
concerned, it was fine. Hatton made sure that the criminal fraternity, (who
probably frequented his nightclub) knew that he had acquired a gamekeeper
turned poacher, and the work poured in. My old colleagues didn’t like it
because I knew exactly how they operated, and where there was likely to be a
weakness in their case.”

“
So, did something go wrong?”

Brakespeare gazed straight
into her brown eyes, and lost himself in them for a few moments. He was
enjoying talking to her. She seemed sympathetic – well she was listening
attentively. She took in his glance, and he felt that perhaps there was
something there - some chemistry.

“
Did something go wrong?”
Brakespeare repeated the question. “In a big way. Hatton had a very large
appetite for the good life. He would have been in his early forties by then; a
bachelor, and a very big spender. I lost track of the number of gorgeous girls
who came into the office to see him. He had money in his own right, but often
muttered ‘cash flow, cash flow.’ I’m afraid that the inevitable happened as it
sometimes does for a solicitor.”

Lisa sat back and thought..
“You mean – he took clients money?”

“’
Borrowed’ he would have
said. The oldest weakness in lawyers; take money from clients to look after,
then spend it for yourself, always meaning of course to put it back. They never
do of course.”

“
And Hatton did that?”

“
In a big way. You see, he was
pally with Clive Masters. Masters liked, and probably still likes people who
seem successful. That’s why he’s always wanted to be successful himself. And
the bastard is!” Brakespeare said with some vehemence. “Masters persuaded
Hatton to open an account with the National Building Society as it was then,
and keep clients money in it. The Society paid a good rate of interest and for
Masters, it added to his investment income figures, even though the money never
stayed there for long.”

“
So instead of having a
separate Clients Account for clients money, as all solicitors have to have,
Hatton had a client account with the National?” queried Lisa.

“
Well it was a form of client
account, but in his own name.

“
Ah,” she said, immediately
grasping what had happened. “Was Hatton using this money for his own
purposes.?”

“
Yes, to fund his lifestyle.
When his “cash flow” suffered he would “borrow” from the account. He would then
put the money back when he could. It was a sort of overdraft facility for him.
It helped him fund various little businesses he had as well.”

“
How much was there in the
account?”

“
It would fluctuate, but never
less than a few million”