Chapter 18.
“My man, Mark Forth!” Rob Shady shakes my hand firmly. “How are you this fine morning? You look tired.”
“Yeah, I didn’t sleep too well last night.”
“Ah, worried about the case. I understand. No matter, no matter. It’s absolutely fine. You just say as little as possible, do exactly what I tell you and we’ll be fine. And we’ll go and celebrate afterwards. Deal?”
“Well, I have to get back, it’s kind of…”
“Yeah, sure, of course, I understand, I’ll get you back. No problem. We’ll just have one drink, and I’ll drive you back myself, all right. Deal? Good. Now, come on, let’s get going, we don’t want to be late for our friends do we?” We turn to face the large, white, imposing building. Above the entrance door “JUSTICE” is written in stark black letters, but apart from that there’s nothing to indicate what the building is. It’s starting to rain and Rob looks up, holding his hands out to catch the drops. “Ah, a good omen. But I can’t have it raining on my two thousand pound suit.” He walks briskly towards the main steps, and I scamper to follow.
“Good morning!” Rob’s voice booms around the reception as he addresses a man, standing behind a desk, drinking coffee and looking bored. The man looks at Rob but doesn’t answer.
“We’re here for an appointment with two detectives, Mr. Maker and Mr. Dredd. At nine o’clock.” The man types something into his computer. “And you are?”
“This is Mark Forth, and I am his legal representative, Robert Shady.” Rob smiles and holds out his hand. The man ignores it. “A shady lawyer?” he smirks. “Just wait over there, I’ll see if they’re around.” There are no seats in the empty reception so we stand, close to the glass doors, looking out as the rain is starting to lash down, and the wind is blowing hard through the bushes on the other side of the street.
“You know, it may have been slightly to your advantage if you hadn’t come in the clothes you appear to have slept in.” I turn round to Rob and he’s smiling. I look down at myself, ripped jeans, dirty t-shirt, and think, yeah, maybe he does have a point. “And, just for next time, of course, if there is a next time, it may have also helped had you had a shower and even a shave.” I rub my hand over my stubble. “Yeah, erm, sorry, like I say, it was a weird day.”
“Ah! A weird day! Of course. You actually said you didn’t sleep well last night, not that it was a weird day. And no matter. We will be fine. It’s just, in this game, every little detail can help. So if you ever find yourself in this kind of predicament again, my friend, a shower, a shave and a change of clothes may be helpful. That’s free advice, I won’t charge Jason for that.” He winks at me.
“They’re ready for you” says the man, “come over here please.” Rob grabs my arm and makes sure he walks half a step in front of me. The man hands him a white plastic card, with the number 301 stamped on it. “Take the lift to the third floor, take a right. You’ll see some doors. Put that card in the key slot of door 301 and let yourselves in. Make yourselves comfortable” he chuckles, then turns back to his computer.
Rob raises his eyebrows but says nothing. The lift is clunky and slow as it ascends. The sound of the wind and the rain is so loud you can even make it our here, and the lift feels jerky, like the whole building is being buffeted by the strength of the storm. The door slides open to reveal a small corridor, painted grey, with a threadbare grey carpet. Lots of doors lead off the corridor, each with a number, and we have to walk a few steps to see the door on our right with the number 301 painted on it in black. Rob gives me a look and slides the card into the slot. The door clicks and I push it open. We enter a large, white room, and the door clicks shut behind us. There’s no slot, no key, no handle on this side and Rob raises his eyebrows. In the centre of the room is a small wooden table, painted white, surrounded by four wooden chairs, painted white.
“I guess we better sit” says Rob, smiling. “Good morning, gentlemen” says a voice I recognize. I’m not sure where they’ve come from but Maker and Dredd are standing in the corner, and they walk in unison towards us, sitting opposite us at the table.
“Mark” smiles Maker, “good to see you again. I see you’ve brought your lawyer, Mr. Shady. Probably a wise move. How have you been?” Dredd stares at me but says nothing.
“Erm” I start.
“He’s fine” cuts in Rob, quickly. “Could we have some coffee, please?”
“Hmmm. Coffee. That may be a bit of a problem this morning I’m afraid. You see, we’re a little short staffed this morning.”
“Short staffed” nods Dredd.
“That’s right” smiles Maker. “Big incident last night. Quite surprising. Caught us by surprise, actually. I got called in, nine o’clock. A real shame. I was just settling down to watch a movie with…”
“Film” interrupts Dredd.
“What?” asks Maker, surprised, turning to him.
“Film” says Dredd again. “It’s a film. Movie is an American word. You wouldn’t even have to know that to work it out. Only the Americans would do something crass enough to use a word like that, wouldn’t they.”
“Good point. Sorry. We were just settling down to watch a film, when I’m called in. Everyone called in. Justin as well. They needed our expertise, you see.”
“That’s right” nods Dredd.
“What happened?” I ask.
They glance at each other, and Rob puts his hand on my arm, shaking his head slightly.
“You mean you don’t know? Where were you last night?” smiles Maker. “Actually, don’t answer that, we’ll have to ask you properly later. Didn’t you see, in the sky, a massive fire? Seems like a house just, well, exploded, last night. Destroyed completely. Over on Belvoir Terrace. You know it?”
“Erm” I start
“No comment” says Rob.
“I like that” smiles Maker, “no comment, that’s good. Neither confirm nor deny. Very clever. You must be a good lawyer.” Rob bows his head slightly.
“Anyway, where was I? That’s right, Belvoir Terrace. This house, number fourteen it was, just explodes, no warning. One man inside, dead as a dodo, I’m afraid. Fried to the bone, if you can say that. Can you say that?”
“It’s an unusual way of saying things” muses Dredd. “I would say something more like fried to a crisp, that might be more appropriate.”
“Good, good, yes, well, fried to a crisp. The fire took out most of the houses on the street, actually. Spread really quickly. Looks like a war zone there, it’s quite impressive. Took a few snaps for the album, I could even pretend I was in Gaza or somewhere like that, showing it to my friends. It was that bad. If you haven’t seen it, you should drive down that way afterwards. Have a look. Get Rob to take you, he’s a lawyer, he’ll have a nice car. Do you have a nice car, Rob?”
Rob Shady looks up. “It’s Mr. Shady, actually.”
“Aaah, relax Rob, we’re all friends here. Nothing to worry about, just a police interview with a suspect. Anyway, I like your style, avoid the question, change the subject. Very good. I knew you were a good lawyer. Soon as I saw you, soon as you stepped in the door, I thought, now, there’s a good lawyer. Mark’s done well for himself. That’s good. We like people doing well for themselves, don’t we, Justin?”
“Unless they’re criminals” whispers Dredd.
“Good point. Good point” nods Maker happily. “Unless they’re criminals. In which case, we like to apprehend them.” He rests his chin on his hand. “Now, where was I? Yes, that’s right, the explosion last night. Luckily, no one else died, there were a few burns and broken arms and suchlike, but nothing too serious, nothing fatal. Wasn’t that lucky, Justin?”
“I guess” says Justin, “unless they’d been criminals”. He gets up and walks over to the far wall.
“Good point, again. My partner is very sharp. You see, if they’d been criminals, and they’d been seriously hurt, or even, died, well that would have saved us a job wouldn’t it. Taken some of
the criminal element off the street. Made lives easier for the hard working people of this town. Wouldn’t you agree?” He beams at me.
“Erm” I say. “My client has no comment” says Rob and Maker smiles. “Of course he doesn’t.”
Dredd walks back with a white tray, carrying four white mugs and a white pot. He puts it down on the table. “Justin!” exclaims Maker, “I don’t know how you managed to do that, but you’ve done us proud. Thank you, my friend. Now, I’ll be mother. How do you like your coffee? Black? Good, we don’t have anything else.” He pours four cups and gratefully I take a sip, something to relieve the headache and the hangover from last night. It tastes about the same as the hospital coffee.
“Anyway” continues Maker happily, “we don’t know the cause of the explosion, but, between us” he whispers and leans forward conspiratorially, “we don’t think it was an accident. That’s right, we think it was deliberate.” He leans back. “Now don’t tell anyone, that’s not public knowledge, but that’s what we think. You see, we have eyewitness reports of two people leaving the very house that exploded, only minutes before, and getting into a red sports car. Unfortunately we don’t have the number plate, nor do we have great descriptions of the potential murderers, but we are on the look out for them. And it would be safe to assume that they are probably looking tired, disheveled and worried right now. Wouldn’t you agree, Justin?”
“Absolutely” nods Dredd. “A little like Forth here” he nods at me. Maker glances at me and chuckles. “Yes, yes, good point Justin, exactly what I would have imagined. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful coincidence? We’re here to interview you about the mutilation of your girlfriend…”
“Ex-girlfriend” interrupts Dredd.
“Sorry, of course, ex-girlfriend” laughs Maker, “and you turn out to be one of the people that murdered our poor victim last night. Well, that would save us an awful lot of paperwork, wouldn’t it?”
“Not to mention probably get us a promotion” Dredd smiles for the first time.
“You think?” asks Maker, turning to Dredd excitedly.
Dredd shrugs. “I imagine so. If we solved the case that quickly, not to mention landed it on a loser like this guy, well, the sky’s the limit, I expect.”
“Excellent point! Really excellent point. So, Mark” he says, turning to me, “were you one of the two people seen leaving number fourteen Belvoir Terrace last night, at about nine o’clock, just before the explosion that killed the poor man inside?”
“Erm” I say.
“Whoa, whoa” interrupts Rob. “That’s not what we are here to discuss. I’m afraid I can’t allow you to pursue this line of inquiry”
“Hey, hey my friend” says Maker, “no need to get all lawyer-ish on us. We’re just friends here. And it’s a simple question. Unless of course, you don’t want to answer it” he looks at me. “Unless, of course, you have something to hide…?”
I’m running my fingers into each other, I can feel the sweat on my face, I can’t even look at him.
“My client has nothing to hide” says Rob, firmly. “Only that you brought him here to discuss the circumstances surrounding his girlfriend’s unfortunate accident…”
“You mean his ex-girlfriend’s unfortunate mutilation” snarls Dredd.
“… and” continues Rob, ignoring him, “in the spirit of cooperation, we would like to discuss that. Not some other, completely separate matter in which my client is clearly not involved and appears to be solely a means for furthering your careers…”
“What’s wrong with furthering our careers?” asks Maker.
“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?” echoes Dredd.
“We’d just like to be able to afford suits like yours” says Maker
“That’s right, instead of shitty clothes like his” says Dredd, nodding at me.
“And a beautiful car each” says Maker
“With a beautiful woman” adds Dredd
“A beautiful woman each” says Maker, “Just so we’re clear.”
“Yeah, we’re friends, but not that good friends” adds Dredd.
“So” smiles Maker, looking at me, “do you have an alibi for last night? Could you confirm exactly where you were, please?”
“We are not discussing last night” says Rob, firmly. “If you want to discuss last night, get another interview set up, and then we’ll see.”
“Oh, but why can’t he just tell us where he was” moans Maker.
“I mean it” snarls Rob.
Maker shuts his eyes and sighs. “Very well.”
Dredd shakes his head. “Witness uncooperative. Lawyer unhelpful” he mutters, writing something on his pad.
“We were only kidding, don’t worry.” Maker laughs. “What on earth would he be doing there last night. We’re just overworked and over tired. You know how it is. We just like to have a little fun, is all.
“Yeah, a little fun” echoes Dredd. “We could maybe go for a drink together.”
“So… let’s talk about Vanessa” says Maker. “Unless, of course, you want to tell us…”
“Vanessa Clark” says Rob firmly. “My client has prepared a statement that he would like me to read for him.”
“Oh! Good!” Maker cheers up visibly. “This will be interesting, won’t it Justin.”
Dredd sniffs. “A pack of lies, I expect.”
“Well, yes, granted, that’s a probability, but that won’t make it any less interesting, will it?” Maker smiles. Dredd grunts. “Let’s hear it then”
Rob clears his throat, reaches into the jacket pocket of his suit and pulls out a neatly folded piece of paper. He unfolds it carefully, smoothing out the folds with his finger, and puts it on the table in front of him. From another pocket he takes out a black glasses cover, and clicks it open, putting on a pair of serious looking glasses.
“Ahem” he starts. “My client, Mark Forth, wishes it to be known that this is a fair and accurate representation of the events that took place on April 16th and 17th, XXXX, with regard to himself and his ex-girlfriend, Vanessa Clark. On the evening of April 16th, my client visited the pub, The Five Stars, by himself, because he was slightly thirsty. He arrived at the pub at about nine thirty in the evening. He was also upset because, earlier that evening, he had had a row with Miss Clark. The row had, unfortunately, culminating in the ending of their relationship, which had caused Mr. Forth much distress because he was still deeply in love with her.”
“Bollocks” says Dredd, looking disgusted. “Unbelievable” says Maker. Rob peers over the edge of his glasses at them, and carries on. “During this row, Miss Clark had let it be known that she had been seeing someone else whilst still with Mr. Forth…”
“A pack of lies!” shouts Dredd, banging his fist on the table. “Completely untrue” snarls Maker.
“In fact, it appears, after some research, that she had actually seen several people over the course of her long relationship with Mr. Forth…”
“She’s innocent!” screams Dredd. “You’ll hang for this!” shouts Maker.
“However, in the last few months, it had been one particular person she was seeing. Mr. Forth had been suspicious for a number of months – secret phone calls, texts late at night, sudden disappearances…”
“None of it can be proven!” Dredd’s shaking with rage. “We’ll destroy you!” Maker adds, incandescent.
“However, it came to a head that day. On the afternoon of 16th April, after just having returned from a long, hard shift at the hospital, doing his best to look after and support ill people, Mr. Forth felt he had to confront Miss Clark about the reality of the situation. It was a long, difficult discussion, but Miss Clark, to her credit, did admit what she had been doing. She told my client that it was over between them, and that she was leaving. My client, completely distraught, drank heavily for the next few hours…”
“You’ll pay in hell” shrieks Dredd. Maker has laid his head on the table and is weeping openly.
“…
until he finally decided that he needed to get out of his flat, and so he walked down to the Five Stars, his local pub. He continued drinking there, drowning his sorrows. He was especially upset to meet some people he knew, and struggled to make conversation with them for a half hour or so...”
“They’ll deny it! They’ll finish you!” shouts Dredd. Maker has his eyes closed.
“… until they left. My client, Mr. Forth, continued to drink, and was about to leave, head in his hands, when he received a phone call from Miss Clark. She was in her apartment, and she was crying, clearly because she was very upset….”
“Because that bastard had left her!” screams Dredd, getting up, pointing an accusing finger at me.
“From what my client could understand, she felt that she had made a very great mistake, and that she was missing him, and she wanted to reconcile and make amends. Well, you can imagine, my client was over the moon, he wanted to kneel down and throw his arms in the air and thank the Lord!”
“Thank the Devil more like!” roars Dred.
“But he controlled himself, and, of course, because he had been drinking, he walked to Miss Clark’s flat. It took him about forty five minutes. He left the pub just before midnight and arrived at the flat at about twelve forty. He rang the bell, and Miss Clark let him in.”
“Ah, finally, he’s going to admit it” sighs Dredd. “The man does have a conscience after all” nods Maker.
“They sat up for about half an hour, talking. Miss Clark came clean about all the relationships that she had had during their time together”
“Not more lies!” yells Dredd. “I told you!” shouts Maker.
“Clearly, she had been drinking too, and she was struggling to keep control of herself”
“Because she had been cheated by that piece of scum!” shouts Dredd. “Trash not even good enough for the dump!” screams Maker.
“Having talked to a number of her friends and independent witnesses, I have established that Miss Clark has quite a violent temper…”
“More lies!” shouts Dredd. “She’s an angel!” weeps Maker.
“…which can be triggered very easily. Having also talked to a number of the people she had relationships with over the time that she was with my client, they confirm that, in the main, the relationships ended because they were scared of her…”
“I’ll burn both of you at the stake!” Dredd screeches. Maker has taken a knife out and is cutting his own left arm.
“… and, unfortunately, during the time they were talking, her temper came to the fore again. Whilst Mr. Forth was trying to reason with her, and trying to establish some common ground for them to walk on, she took out a sharp knife…”
“Like this one I’ll use to disembowel you both with…!” shouts Dredd, holding up Maker’s knife.
“… and tried to attack my client with it. Unfortunately, during the resulting fight, the knife slipped, and Miss Clark only succeeded in severing half of her left ear. My client was deeply distressed by what had happened…”
“Not as deeply distressed as he’ll be when he has no bowels left!” screams Dredd, waving the knife. “You’ll be in prison for life” screams Maker, holding his bloody left arm up.
“… and he tried hard to help Miss Clark recover, and begged her to call the ambulance. Miss Clark lashed out at him, instead, and shrieked at him that she would kill him. He begged and begged, even offered to try and help her stop the bleeding. But she ignored him, pushed him away, even spat at him. She then went over to the wall, and wrote ‘Ask Mark’ on it in her own blood. He tried to stop her, and vainly in his confusion tried to rub the words out. She snarled at him, and unfortunately my client remembers the exact words ‘Get out of that one, you cocksucking loser!’, at which point, scared for his own safety, my client ran out of the apartment and ran home. And that, gentlemen, is exactly what happened. And I do believe that you can’t disprove any of it.” Rob slowly, deliberately, takes his glasses off, puts them back in the case, puts the case in his jacket, and leans back in his chair. “Do you have any more coffee, please?”
Maker and Dredd don’t say anything, there’s looks of shock and disbelief on both their faces. “We have DNA evidence” mumbles Dredd, unconvincingly.
“Ah, yes, your DNA evidence. Proving what, exactly? That my client spent time in her apartment? Ok, we’ll give you that? That he touched the blood on the wall? Yes, whilst trying to stop her writing. That he handled her ear? Absolutely, in the course of trying to help her.” Rob smiles. “I guess there’s no more coffee, Mark. Perhaps we should go.”
We both get up, turn and walk back to the door. “We’ll find something!” screams Dredd behind us, “whatever it is, we’ll find something and we’ll make it stick! You’ll be sorry you messed with us!”
“Hmmm, let me add that to my list. Trying to frame a suspect. Very serious” Rob smiles as we get to the closed door. He waves his hand, it slides open and we walk back out into the corridor, the door closing behind us and shutting out the screams and shouts of the policemen.
I’m about to speak as we take the lift downstairs, but Rob gives me a look that silences me. We walk through the vast reception, and Rob says “Thank you very much” to the man at reception, who doesn’t even look up. The storm has stopped as we walk outside, but it has left its mark, trees have been uprooted, fallen onto the road, cars have been moved around and thrown against each other. I look back at the building and it has survived unscathed, the only damage seems to be that the ‘JUSTICE’ sign has been dislodged, and is hanging lopsidedly by the J, sunlight glinting on its black letters.
Rob’s car is completely untouched as we get in. “Well, that was fun” he smiles, “didn’t I do well?”
“You know, I was thinking” I start, “what if they talk to Jane and Jonathan that I saw at the pub, I didn’t say anything to them about feeling down or anything, and I think I may have even…”
“Don’t worry, my friend” Rob says, starting the engine and pulling out into the empty street, “it’s all taken care of. I talked to both of them last night.”
“You did?”
“Of course I did. Never leave a single avenue exposed. That’s critical. Jonathan was easy, he seems to rather like you. In fact, he intimated that you and he may have a …” he waves his hand suggestively.
“No! No!” I say quickly, and he laughs. “Well, whatever it is or it isn’t, he seemed very keen to say or do anything that I asked him to help you out. It may help, though, if you, maybe, went out for a drink with him or something? I took the liberty of giving him Jason’s address, so he could pop round and have a cosy chat with you.”
“Thanks” I say, closing my eyes, “and Jane?”
“Ah, Jane, yes, lovely lady. We hit it off straight away. She seemed to have, shall we say, a few more reservations about you, said that you had been acting strangely for the last few weeks. Well, who could blame you, I said, the pressure you’d been under, the revelations about Vanessa, the fights, the accusations. She was very sympathetic. Said you should have told her, she’d have understood. I told her about your interview this morning, and she was moved that you hadn’t wanted to worry her about it. She said you should take the rest of the day off, at least. Come back when you are ready, tomorrow or the next day. She’ll cover things for you. Ah, Jane, such a lovely lady. Well, she invited me out for a drink tonight, and I must say that I am genuinely looking forward to it. We have so much in common.”
“You’re going out for a drink with Jane? But how…” I look over at Rob, in his sharp suit, with his chiselled good looks. Maybe I should have jumped into his body, I find myself thinking. Not jealous at all.
“Yes, a drink, tonight, and much more, I expect” he winks at me, “I think we both understood that straight away. I really wouldn’t worry about going to work tomorrow,” he says reaching over and patting my knee, “I think she may be away with the fairies. Right, what are we going to do now? I know, I know, you need to be getti
ng back to Jason, but we should at least have one drink first, am I right? That was a very productive meeting and we should celebrate.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just one drink…”