Unravel a Crime - Tangle With Women (46 page)

She gathered up her robe and
wig, and swept out of the room, throwing a sympathetic smile over her shoulder
to Brakespeare as she did so.

“
Kate Potter’s number?” asked
Brakespeare, taking his pen out.

“
I was going to let you have
it.” Said Newberry. “I think it’s going to be permanent.”

“
Oh.” Brakespeare could not
help registering surprise. “You’ve made a decision then?”

“
Yes, it’s been a long time
coming, I know, but it’s not an easy decision to make - especially when kids
are involved.”

‘
Tell me about it,” thought
Brakespeare.

Back in Worcester, the next
day, Brakespeare picked up his telephone.

“
Joe, it’s Jonny Brakespeare,
can you talk.”

“
Just a minute I’ll shut the
door of my office.” replied Gargan. “What can I do for you, boyo?”

“
Joe I was up in London
yesterday, for the directions hearing. “We’re on next week with our application
to have the case dismissed.”

“
That’s quick.”

“
Yes it is, but we were lucky
because a fixture collapsed. I thought I would let you know, and also ask how
far Durkin has got.”

“
Well we’re ready to go and
visit the solicitors. I’ve found over 100 properties which the National Bank or
Building Society repossessed, and which National Properties bought. Because the
solicitors files are privileged and confidential, and they could refuse to hand
them over, we’re making an application for a warrant. I thought that we should,
and the Boss agreed.”

“
When?”

“
Well I knew that you had your
Directions Hearing and I was waiting to see what happened there. We’re having
to tread very carefully.”

“
O.K. Look, can you go ahead
now?”

“
At your service, sir.”

“
Keep in touch.”

“
Don’t worry I will.”

“
I don’t think that there’s
anything more for us to do now.” Brakespeare told Mortimer. “it’s in the lap of
the gods.”

“
And your Miss Lappin.”

“
I think she’s confident.”

“
David doesn’t like her.”

How do you know?” asked
Brakespeare, annoyed. “Has he phoned you.”

“
Did he tell you he got told
off not only for discussing the case with Levy, his co-defendant, but with two
of his surveyors who are prosecution witnesses?! I see no harm in his talking
to Levy, although I agree it is a little unwise to talk to the surveyors.”

“
Well I’m sorry, Mr. Mortimer,
but Miss Lappin, who Newberry does not like has been told by Levy’s barrister,
that if this application fails, as part of his defence, Levy is going to blame
you for getting him into all this. You, Mr. Mortimer will be named as the
mastermind behind all this.”

Mortimer went white. “But it’s
not true.” he spluttered.

“
Just thought that you might
like to know. Did Newberry tell you that he’s decided to leave his wife. He’s
staying up in London with Kate Potter.”

Mortimer put his head in his
hands. He let out a big sigh.

“
Jonny, Jonny. For God’s sake
get everyone out of this!”

“
I’m doing my best.”

Mortimer looked up.. “Sorry.
There’s a lot hanging on the result of this case, as I’m sure you know. What
are you going to do next week as far as accommodation is concerned?”

“
Not sure. I’ll find somewhere
cheap to stay.”

“
Jonny, find a good hotel The
firm will pay.”

Brakespeare was surprised.
“Thanks, thanks very much. I appreciate that.”

“
And Lisa too.”

“
Damn, I hadn’t thought about
her.”

Mortimer looked at him coyly.
“I thought that Lisa’s company was one of the perks of this case.”

Brakespeare decided not to
rise to the bait.

“
So Mr. Newberry will not be
travelling with us”. Brakespeare explained to Lisa.

“
Well at least he’s got that
little problem sorted” said Lisa. “Will you be doing the divorce?”

“
Well, his wife will have to
divorce him for his adultery”

“
I would have thought that if
she was going to do that, then she would have done it long ago”

“
Maybe, but I don’t want too
much to do with him after this case. He’s such a self centered bastard. You’re
still coming to London next week are you?”

Lisa looked at him in an old
fashioned way. “If my charts and graphs are the key exhibit in this case, you
don’t think that I’m going to miss out for one minute, do you?”

“
We’ll have to stay overnight
of course. Mortimer has kindly said that he will pay for our accommodation,” he
added, not trying to sound too hopeful.

Lisa’s expression did not
change. She was still testing him; waiting for him to make the first move. As
far she was concerned the ball was firmly in his court.

“
That’s nice.”

“
You’ve sent everything off
that Rosie Lappin wanted, have you?”

“
All done and dusted,
yesterday.”

“
Right can you chase the
C.P.S. to see if they will agree the bundles, then I think we’re there. Oh,
I’ll travel up from Milton Keynes on Sunday. No point me coming back here. I
suppose that you ought to go up Sunday night.”

“
Sure, I suppose that’s best,
otherwise it’ll be a very early start. Are you sure that the firm will pay?”

“
Ask Mortimer.”

“
No, I’ll take your word for
it. Do you want me to find a hotel?”

Brakespeare grinned.

“
Unless you want me to ask
Margaret to do it?”

“
I’m sure she would.”

“
Your new found bosom friend?”

“
Exactly.”

“
No, you can book. Maximum
Four Stars.”

“
I’ll put it on my list. Two
single rooms at the best hotel I can find for the money.”

Brakespeare hesitated, but
thought better of it.

Brakespeare found his stress
levels rising as Friday dawned. He had not heard anything from Milton Keynes.
If Mel had a phone in her new flat, he could keep in touch with her on a
regular basis. He wasn’t sure what he faced when he went back home. Home? Was
that the correct title. Where was he going to make his home? With Sophie and
the kids? As far as the kids were concerned there was no contest; but Sophie?

First he had to get this case
out of the way. How did he feel about that? His instinct told him that things
looked good, but he also knew that going to Court was like a game of Russian
roulette. You never knew where the magic bullet was, and sometimes it could
blow your case apart. Magic bullet? If they had let Newberry into the witness
box, that would have been letting off a loose cannon. The man was so convinced
that he had done nothing out of order that he was unable to see where he might
have gone wrong. In the witness box he would have been unable to side step any
landmines put in his path in cross examination.

It was in this frame of mind
that on Friday lunchtime he decided to go and sit quietly in Worcester
Cathedral. Somehow, and he wasn’t sure that he knew why, he had never been
inside it in the weeks that he had been parking next to the entrance door.

He walked in. It was quiet.
Someone was playing the organ gently; probably practising. Immediately he was
soothed by the calmness of the Cathedral, and sat down halfway down the nave.
The thoughts that usually raced through his mind were banished as he listened
to the gentle pulse of the organ, and took in the his surroundings. He liked
the musty smell of the Cathedral spiced by the faint residuary fragrance of
burnt incense.

He did not know how many
minutes he had sat there, when he became aware of someone coming to sit next to
him.

His first reaction was one of
annoyance. Of all the hundreds of empty seats in the Cathedral, why did they
have to choose here?

Then for a millisecond he
thought it might be Lisa, and turned eagerly, only to see Margaret settling
herself down next to him.

“
Hello Jonny.” He realised
that it was the first time that she had ever called him by his first name, and
he felt a little vulnerable. In the office there was always that degree of
formality which prevented her in getting too close to him.

“
Hello Margaret,” he replied
quietly. “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?”

She laughed. “I sometimes
think that if I was a nice girl, then I wouldn’t have to come here, but I do
regularly. I find that it helps with life’s problems. You know this Cathedral
was founded in the 7
^th
century AD, although this present building is
only 8 or 900 years old.”

Brakespeare looked surprise at
this dismissal of a few hundred years.

“
Well it’s not long when you
consider that man has been around for two and a half million years.” She added.

Brakespeare’s expression must
have set into one of surprise, because she continued.

“
I do read books, you know. In
fact I like to read books; I can’t get out, and so it’s my hobby.”

“
You can’t get out.”

“
Oh dear, has nobody told you?
My husband, Peter. I’m afraid that he suffers from multiple sclerosis, and has
done so for a number of years. Carers look after him most of the time, but I
like to look after him myself, and so I can’t really get out of the house.”

“
I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“
So you see, you’re not the
only one with problems.”

“
What makes you think I’ve got
problems.”

She smiled. “Well there’s Mr.
Newberry for a start.”

“
He’s a problem and a half.”

“
And totally undeserving too
don’t you think? I know you’re divorced from your wife, and have had a lot of
trouble with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.”

“
Who told you that?”
Brakespeare asked a little too quickly.

Margaret smiled at him as if
anticipating what he was thinking.

“
I saw your C.V. It said that
your status was “divorced.”

Brakespeare relaxed.

“
I expect that you have other
problems; wondering where to go next, and indeed who to go with. Would you like
a short stroll. We can go to the cloisters. I often walk round and round them
while I am trying to work out where my own life is leading, and what I’m going
to do when Peter dies - as he will.”

She lead him out of a door on
the southern side of the nave, and into the perfect square of the Cloisters.

“
I expect that these cloisters
are filled with the spirits of generations of people who wandered round here
trying to sort out their problems.”

Brakespeare smiled. “Do you
think that the collective decisions help.”

“
I do, I really do. I don’t
believe that we are just biological machines. I think that when we go, we leave
a little behind in the world.”

They started to walk slowly.
Brakespeare held his hands behind his back.

“
So are you going to stay with
us?” Margaret obviously knew of the partners’ offer. She probably knew
everything.

“
I don’t know, Margaret, I
honestly don’t. My children are in Milton Keyes; I don’t know anyone here?”

“
Lisa?” Margaret quickly
interjected.

“
She’s leaving.”

“
Do you have a girlfriend?”

Brakespeare looked at her.
“No. Not a girlfriend.”

“
So the children are all that
is stopping you from settling in Worcester?”

“
Yes.”

They walked on a little more.

“
Your former wife. Forgive me
for prying, but strange things do happen. Is it possible that you could get
back together?”

“
What makes you say that?”

Margaret looked at the ground
in front of her. “I don’t know. I just have a feeling. It’s the way you said
that the children would be part of any decision to stay. Most men, and I hasten
to add that my experience only comes from having dealt with divorce cases for
many years, give custody of their children to their wives, as they have to do
if they are to stay in work, and then plan their lives without children around.
They arrange contact with them to suit their own and not their children’s
lives.”

Brakespeare nodded his head
slowly. “You have a point there.”

“
And so, I deduce that there
is something happening; about to happen; or has happened – I don’t know, which
brings your children into the equation.” Margaret spread her hands, palms down.

“
Do you have psychic powers?”

Margaret stopped walking. “Are
you calling me an old witch?” She was smiling Brakespeare was pleased to note.