Unravel a Crime - Tangle With Women (14 page)

Brakespeare shook his head. “I
can’t say that I’ve ever come across him, but then my work was concentrated in
the Magistrates Court. He was never someone we instructed.”

Margaret was firm. “He is the
man Mr. Morrison would have instructed were he here.”

Mortimer smiled. “No, I don’t
think that will be necessary. Have you any other ideas Jonny?”

Brakespeare had, but he could
see from Margaret’s determined look that he would meet with some stiff
opposition if he tried to instruct another barrister to act. Besides he might
find it embarrassing now to meet some of his old acquaintances among members of
the Bar – too much explaining to be done. He was tired of repeating his recent
history although he had enjoyed his conversation with Lisa and the reaction it
had brought.

“
No, no, not really.” And he
shrugged his shoulders.

Mortimer smiled. “Well Mr.
Breezie it is.”

“
The sooner we get to him, the
better I suppose”, said Brakespeare.

“
Now do you think that Mr.
Newberry should be told?” asked Margaret.

Brakespeare looked at
Mortimer.

“
Is that what Mr. Morrison
would do?” he asked, trying hard not to sound too sarcastic.

“
I most certainly think so,
would you like me to get Mr. Newberry on the telephone for you?”, replied
Margaret.

“
Yes, but not for a minute? Do
we have an Archbold ?”

“
Archbold’s Criminal Pleading,
Evidence and Practice?”

“
That’s the one.”

“
I’ll go and find it.”
Margaret left the room.

“
She’s right, you know” said
Mortimer, “If it’s in the Crown Court already, we need to have Counsel involved
as quickly as possible.”

“
Do you know this chap,
Breezie.”

Mortimer did not answer the
question directly.

“
Gordon uses him regularly and
often sends Margaret to sit with him as the firm’s representative in Court.
Don’t underestimate Margaret. She’s been around for years, and if she thinks
highly of him, as she obviously does, then it’s not without reason.”

“
Oh, I’m not doubting that.
It’s just that she seems to be flying the flag for Mr. Morrison; keeps me
reminded that I’m only the substitute until the king comes back.”

“
She’s very loyal, both to him
and the firm. Don’t be offended. She means well. She wants you to succeed.”

He stood aside, as Margaret
came in through the door. “Here’s the book. Shall I get Mr. Newberry now?”

“
No, just let me look a few
things up. I’ll call him myself when I’m ready.”

“
Very good. Shall I match the
rest of the post up with the files while you are busy.”

“
Yes, please do.”

“
I’ll leave you.” said
Mortimer.

While Margaret continued to
move systematically between the pile of post that she had brought in, and the
files in the filing cabinet, Brakespeare searched through the index of
Archbold; the thick tome which is the ‘bible’ of all criminal lawyers in the
Crown Court. As he found the references he was looking for, he carefully tore
off an adhesive label from the little yellow pad in front of him; wrote on it
and attached it to a page. When he had finished he smiled to himself.

Just then, Lisa burst into the
room. “Sorry I’m late….”

“
No problem, but you need to
sit down.” Brakespeare gestured to the chair in front of him.

“
Oh?” asked Lisa. Her puzzled
expression merely made her the more attractive thought Brakespeare.

“
Would you like me to leave?”
asked Margaret, a little huffily.

“
Not if you haven’t finished.
I’m just about to telephone Newberry.” Brakespeare said to Lisa.

“
No,” said Margaret. “I’ve
almost finished and there are things that I can be getting on with.” She looked
pointedly at Lisa as if to imply that there were things that she too could be
getting on with and left the room.

Lisa’s her expression had
turned to surprise. Then she looked at Brakespeare questioningly.

“
What’s happening, Jonny.?

“
Just sit tight. Can you find
me Newberry’s number from the file. It’s on the desk?”

He reached for the telephone,
and waited until Lisa read out the Malvern number.

“
Newberry”. It had taken only
a few rings before the surveyor answered the call.

“
Good morning, it’s Jonny
Brakespeare.”

“
Good morning Jonny. I hope
that you have some good news for me.”

Brakespeare paused deliberately
before he replied. “Do you want the good news, or the bad?

“
Go on.”

“
The bad news I’m afraid, is
that the Prosecution have already had the case transferred to the Crown Court.”

“
What!”. Lisa could hear
Newberry’s angry response as Brakespeare held the telephone receiver away from
his ear. ”Can they do that?”

Brakespeare reached for his
Archbold.

“
Jonny?”

“
Yes, just a second David, let
me give it you from the horses mouth. Section 4 Criminal Justice Act 1987 “If a
person has been charged with an indictable offence……”

“
Cut the crap Jonny, the
answer is that they can, isn’t it?”

“
Yes”

Lisa leant forward as if to
say something, but Brakespeare put a finger to his lips.

"I thought that I would let you know as soon as possible that.
We've had a letter in this morning.”

There was a silence, then “Is there some good news, then? demanded
Newberry.

"Well I think that there is. When I got back to the office from
after seeing you yesterday, Lisa Barnes, who is Gordon Morrison's assistant had
been looking at your papers. It turns out that she's quite a whiz kid with
computers."

"What on earth have computers got to do with my case?"
Brakespeare could tell that to Newbury was beginning to become agitated.

"Just hang on a minute and I'll explain. The prosecution case
against you is all about valuations. It must follow that valuations will
increase as the property market increases."

"Or decrease as the market falls."

"Absolutely. Well what Lisa did was to apply that rule to the
valuations carried out by Black. The result is that when you put all the
valuations on a computer spreadsheet, Black's valuations do not follow the
pattern. In fact he seems to be all over the place, and has prices rising at a
time when they should be falling.

"I told you as much."

"Well now we have the proof."

"So where is this leading us."

"I hope to your acquittal. What we have done in the meantime is to
write a letter to the Crown Prosecution Service pointing all this out and
inviting them to drop the case. We were going to send it today"

"Do you think it will work?"

"Well until this morning I thought that it might. I thought that
we could have a “live” committal hearing in front of a magistrate's court. Now
I am not so sure."

"Do you mean that now the case is at the Crown Court, we have to
have a full trial?"

"Not necessarily, because the case has been transferred, we can
apply to have it struck a out before the judge, but I've never known it done
before, and I don't know what our chances are."

"Well who does?"

"Hopefully, Philip Breezie. He apparently is the barrister of
choice had Gordon Morrison been able to run this case for you."

"So when do we go and see Mr. Breezie?"

"Well we need to sort all these papers out and then prepare some
preliminary instructions for him. It's now Friday, so hopefully we will have
this done by the end of next week."

There was a silence from Newbury. Brakespeare could tell what he was
thinking.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we can do it any quicker." he added
before Newberry asked the question.

"I know, I'm not your only client. I'm available any time."
Newbury put the receiver down.

"Well that went down like the veritable lead balloon. Now, Good
morning, Miss Barnes."

“’
Morning, I said I’m sorry I’m late.”

“
O.K. by me.”

“
- and also about last night.”

“
What about last night?” replied Brakespeare, his pulse quickening.

Lisa was awkward. Her usual direct gaze faltered and she looked at the
floor.

“
Well, I sort of rushed off, didn’t I.“ There was a silence as
Brakespeare said nothing.

“
I had to, I promised to see – a friend.”

“
I see.”

“
Do you, I don’t think so. You see I don’t get to see my friend very
often, and I said that I would last night.”

Brakespeare noted that she was choosing her words carefully; omitting
any reference to the friend’s gender, and felt his heart sink a little as he
guessed it was male. Nonetheless she looked almost guilty.

“
That’s alright. I quite understand. Now, what are we going to do with
this frigging letter?”

Lisa immediately looked up and smiled. The moment had passed.

“
It all seems a waste of time now, doesn’t it?”

“
Well, things to seem to be moving forward rather more rapidly than I
expected. However knowing how the prosecution system works, even if we had been
able to write the letter a week or so ago, I doubt if it would have made much
difference to what has happened. Don’t forget that the C.P.S. will have been
working on the file for a long time now, and their case will have a momentum of
it’s own.”

“
A juggernaut?”

“
That’s a good way of putting it. We might as well let it go. It might
just have an effect. If it works, it works…”

“
And if it doesn’t it will keep David Newberry happy.”

Jonny stood up. “That’s it my girl. Always keep the punters happy. Go
and type it out, and I’ll check it.”

As if by magic Margaret walked
through the door. Her face brightened as Brakespeare said. “Work to do,
Margaret”. In her hand she had a shorthand pad and pencil.

“
Firstly, can you ring this
man Breezie’s clerk and see when he is available to have a conference with Mr.
Newberry. “

“
Have you any idea when?”

“
Well that brings me onto the
second item. I’m going to dictate some Instructions to Breezie. They’ll be
pretty short, but we need to copy him the papers.!

Margaret’s face fell. “Do you
mean the contents of all those boxes?”

Brakespeare laughed. “No, not
all of them just the witness statements, which is about a box and a half. Then
there’ll be the computer spreadsheets that Lisa prepared, and then a copy of
the letter she’s just finishing off. If you give it priority, you should be
able to finish it today – I hope?” He raised his voice at the end of the
sentence to ask a question, to which Margaret nodded in answer.

“
So assuming he gets his
Instructions Monday, depending how busy he is, I would have thought some time
in the next fortnight, but sooner rather than later. Next week if possible”

“
I’ll see what his clerk says.
Should I see what dates suit Mr Newberry.”

Again Brakespeare laughed. “I
wouldn’t worry about him, he’s always available.”

Margaret pulled a face.

“
Sorry am I being
unsympathetic? asked Brakespeare. “I apologise. Anyway make sure that I am
free. I have no doubt that I’ll have to be chauffeur.”

“
Very good. Is there anything
else?” Margaret asked.

“
I was just trying to think.
It all seems straightforward. I’ll start dictating the Instructions, and this
lot”, he indicated the pile of files waiting his attention, “will have to wait
until later. There’s nothing urgent in the post is there?”

Margaret shook her head.

She shut the notepad in which
she had been making busy notes, and left the room.

Brakespeare reached for his
dictation mini cassette recorder and started to walk round the room. It was an
old habit of his. In his mind he worked what he was going to say about the
case; keeping it to as little as possible, so that the barrister could look at
it with a fresh pair of eyes, while at the same time being pointed in the right
direction.

He often told clients that he,
as a solicitor was the equivalent of a family doctor, and that barristers were
the specialists.

He was relieved that some of
the burden of defending Newberry had been lifted from his shoulders. From now
on all he would have to do was to prepare the case as Breezie wanted. Lisa had
found a possible weakness in the prosecution case; it would be for Breezie to
use his own forensic skills to exploit that.