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unfinished business; Bad Girls / Judge John Deed trilogy
Topic Started: Jun 22 2008, 10:39 AM (19,806 Views)
Axiegirl21
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Out of Dorm
Well Richard what can I say, I knew Fenner would drop himself in it. What a pleasure it was to see him digging himself deeper and deeper with the jury :lol: George led him down the exact path that she wanted, and dropping that statement that they had a witness who saw him putting on the wig I could actually see the colour drain from his face. :eek I noticed John didn't tell the jury to disreguard George's statement though he did say the witness need not answer that was kinda interesting that they got that past Cantwell.

Cantwell was right not wanting to reexamine his witness only a pompous asshole would do that and I don't think he's joined the club yet, however I'm sure George will recall him as a hostile witness at some point, I mean he has so much to tell the jury about his upstanding nature and following the rule book doesn't he. :rolleyes:

Just wait till George gets Nikki and Helen up there so they to can tell the jury what a great great fellow Fenner is, especially when they find out how he broke into their home and exactly how he got into a fight with John. :lol1

Oh yeah I'm so looking forward to the rest of this trial, thank for another great chapter Richard.
The past is history.
The future a mystery.
And now is a gift thats why we call the present.



Larkhall Lovelies Rule
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hopelessromantic
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Have the lab run a CBC with differential an a chem pro plus stat
Richard I've been a stranger to this fic where feedback is concern, as I had fell behind my beta-ing duties, which thank goodness I've managed to find the time to dedicate to sorting the last half a dozen of Scenes of this wonderful tale you are spinning here.

I've told you over the course of time that you have a great way with writing these court scenes and I really enjoy reading your take on things.

Thanks always for going the extra mile and narrating where to it being almost perceivable .Thanks for your commitment to writing for this fandom. :hat

HR
>>>>>> BGEnhanced <<<<<<

One cannot expect Congeniality when one does not exhibit Courtesy, Politenes and Impartiality.

Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart... Henry Clay
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richard
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To you, Axiegirl21, You’ve lighted on John’s interesting contribution in George’s cross examination which I inserted at the very last minute. John, of course, knows George and knows damn well that George will introduce the evidence at a later date so he doesn’t rule the question out of order. In reality, Fenner has ‘answered’ the question. You’ve spotted also that Cantwell is astute enough- his problem is that he’s let down by those who should support him and keeps too much of a professional distance.
To you, HR, I’m eternally grateful for the time and trouble you’ve given to my fic and especially that you are so appreciative of my writing- this is important from a fellow writer.

In putting up the next scene which HR has kindly betaed, this puts Karen on the stand. I have borrowed a lot of dialogue from Bad Girls series 5. John is definitely back on form in cutting in on the cross examination and this takes a generalised sweep through Karen’s life. Enjoy.


......................................................................................................................


Scene Thirty-Four


Nikki and Helen’s thoughts were a million miles away from the daily work. Their computer screens stared back at them blankly. Their fingers pressed the keyboards but their minds were elsewhere. They engaged their conversational part of their minds to talk in their customary friendly fashion. Paul Williams looked on and admired Nikki for the way that she either kept up appearances or disciplined herself to keep working.


******

In the meantime, Karen readied herself for what was to come. She had felt like a disembodied person, separated from the drama that enfolded around her, that was about her but didn’t involve her. She reached out for that professional faculty to give her that facility to handle an emergency. And to think she was once desperately concerned that Jim Fenner would live after Shell Dockley had stabbed him, she thought ruefully to herself. For the first time, it occurred to her, to admire Helen’s professionalism that night. As she saw George stand up ready to begin her line of questions, she took a deep breath and her mind snapped back to the present.

“First of all, Ms Betts, can you explain briefly for the benefit of the court, your work background.”

“When I was young, I always wanted to be a nurse, to heal people, make then whole again. I joined the Women’s Royal Auxiliary Force as a convenient way to get into nursing and qualified there as a state registered nurse. I have a 20 year old son and after working in a busy London hospital, I left to join the prison service,” Karen replied carefully.

“Why did you make that career move. It sounds an unusual choice.”

“I changed for a variety of reasons. I needed security and a better salary to support my son. Whatever you’ve heard of nurses’ pay is absolutely true. In one way, I got disillusioned with nursing in a way after seeing too many dead bodies but in another, I took care to update my nursing qualifications for reasons I was never sure of. I’ve found it a useful second string as I’ve successfully delivered a prisoner’s baby in a cell once. I’ve also got to care very much about the prisoners in my care, that a lot of them need serious help. The term ‘jailer’ is only a fraction of the job description of a good prison officer. I rose through the ranks, took a degree on the side, to get to become a wing governor in a women’s prison.”

“So what went wrong in your life?” George asked to Karen’s amazement at the blond haired woman’s capacity for simplicity and understanding.

“It can be summed up in two words, Jim Fenner. I freely admit that I have a weakness for smooth talking rogues- though I could use a stronger word than that. In brief, he wormed his way into my confidence and affections and set me against someone who I gather is appearing as a witness for my defence, Helen Stewart who is now one of my dearest friends. I couldn’t be everywhere on the wing and I was dependent on being told the truth. Jim Fenner was in a pivotal position, as the most senior and experienced prison officer and acting as go between to me. I was fooled by him for a long time until I finally saw through him. He raped me when I went round to see him at his bedsit as he was having a rough time at work and I felt sorry for him. He took advantage of the situation and of me against my wishes……..”

For the first time, Karen’s steady delivery of her testimony faltered as the sense of hurt and betrayal hit home as she mentally relived the horror of that night. George’s big blue eyes and steady gaze held her attention and stabilized her.

“It’s difficult to explain to a stranger how very plausible he can appear, how he can present the right face to suit the occasion. Only the very insightful can find out what a violent misogynist deceitful man he can be……..”

Karen paused at this moment as her description brought out a welter of conflicting memories of the man and she had to exercise iron self control before she could trust herself to continue. A breathless hush descended on the courtroom as her words locked into their vivid memories of seeing Fenner on the stand only the other day. What she couldn’t see was how George stared at Karen with feelings of jubilation rising up in her. Go for it, Karen, she breathed as George sensed a turning point in the case that tilted the balance of credibility in her favour.

“There was further bad feeling over the governing governor’s plans for the prison to be privatized and Jim Fenner had planned to steal my job as my humanitarian values wouldn’t be welcome in a prison run for private profit. The final argument was when it came to my attention that he had sexually harassed a young, emotionally vulnerable prisoner. It was at that point that I started preparing a file to go to the prison service area management.”

“Can you tell the court what happened on the day before the crime in question, Karen?”

“In what way?” Karen asked, temporarily confused and worrying that a mass of irrelevant detail would cloud what she had to say. She could go on all day about Larkhall and that’s what she had feared in giving evidence. She didn’t want what she had to say coming over as a hopeless clutter.
“I mean in relation to your file and associated witnesses and your experiences with James Fenner.”

“I remember the order of events in this way. Firstly, I talked to the prisoner concerned, reasoned with her to sign a statement, got her a weekend home leave with her parents so she would be out of harm’s way. I then attached a statement from a prison officer and finally took it to Neil Grayling, the governing governor. He was distinctly evasive about the matter and I got the feeling he was back pedalling on the whole thing.”

“What gave you the idea that you weren’t being supported?”

“As far as I remember he said that ‘we’ll see about this. He needed to get a report together and he said he’d come back to me.’ When I protested that ‘every minute that Jim Fenner was there, it meant another woman was in danger,’ his answer was that ‘he couldn’t send a pile of statements willy nilly.’ He asked me to ‘hang fire’ whatever that meant.”

The jury immediately grasped the kind of management speak that they’d heard in their lives. John smiled cynically as this was the kind of specious verbiage that Sir Ian and Lawrence James were wont to come out with. Brian Cantwell was only too aware how rapidly George was gaining ground and he scribbled notes for him to pick up on when it came to his turn.

“Did Mr. Fenner speak to you that day, Ms Betts?” George asked gently.

“Didn’t he just. Somehow word got back to him. I was in my office, and he burst in an hour or so after I saw Neil Grayling. His very charming open words were, as far as I remember ‘What are you up to, you conniving bitch- secret meetings-you’re at it big time’ I told him that ‘he couldn’t get away with all the years of lying, abuse, rape.’ The last word really set him off at the deep end after what happened to me as he told me not to ‘prick him about.’ I told him ‘I’d got it all, photos, statements, the lot.’ He told me that ‘he’d bloody well kill me.’ Things got very nasty at that moment as he grabbed hold of me. I shook him off and told him that ‘his balls were going on my mantelpiece. I’ll put everything in a big fat file for area.’ After that, I told him to get out of my office. He seemed to freeze and walked out of my office. I went into the prison officer’s room- he wasn’t there at the time- and told everyone there that I was working at home and it was important paperwork for area.”

“Was it possible that Mr. Fenner found out what you were doing and why?”

“Perfectly possible. I’m not sure if I told him where I was going but he could easily have found out my whereabouts from his direct subordinate, Mrs Sylvia Hollamby. They were as thick as thieves and he would have reason to keep her informed anyway in the normal course of events.”

Karen’s throat was turning dry and she motioned for a glass of water. Her hands were slightly trembling which was most unusual for her. What amazed her was how her overloaded mind somehow pulled all these buried details out of her memory bank.

”Can you relate for the benefit of the jury the file you set up?”

“My lord, can the jury be spared this interminable details of the defendant’s life?” Brian Cantwell challenged in an exaggeratedly bored tone of voice.
“I would be interested to see just where this line of questioning is headed, Ms Channing,” John Deed questioned.
“If it please you, my lord, I shall endeavour to show that my client’s movements on the night in question had nothing to do with this terrible death and everything to do with preparing this file,” George reasoned patiently.

“I’ll allow the line of questioning. It is material to the case. Carry on, Ms Betts.”
“Okay. I put together a copy of my original rape allegation, the statement by a prison officer, incriminating photos together with the prisoner’s statement. I wrote a long covering letter as a comprehensive explanation of where everything fitted in.”

“Finally, can you tell the court what you did that evening and the following morning up till you were arrested?”
“That’s pretty simple. I spread all the evidence on my living room table and studied it in depth. I tried to consider how an independent mind, removed from the day-to-day activity would look at it. I broke off to cook myself a meal while I turned everything over in my mind. Finally, I wrote out a lengthy report, explaining how the pieces of the jigsaw fitted together and especially covering my experience of Jim Fenner. When I’d completed it, I helped myself to a drink from a bottle of whisky on the sideboard, lay back in my chair and finally had a long shower to take away the aches and pains of the day. After that, I had an early night as I planned to go straight to area. I went down to the car park only to find my car stolen. After that, I phoned the police and gave them full details of the theft, took a taxi to area to personally gave the file to internal post team, and then went back in it to Larkhall. I naturally assumed that when the police turned up, they were wanting to get more details about the car- until I found out differently.”

“What happened to your car keys?” John intervened. George sighed to herself. That was the next question she intended to ask but she supposed that John could only be well behaved for so long.

“As far as I remember, I left them on the living room table. My priority was to get the file put together.”

“Were they in the same place the next morning?”
“I can’t remember them being there. My first thought was that I must have put them down somewhere else or temporarily mislaid them.”
“A likely story,” snorted Brian Cantwell conspicuously under her breath so that Karen hurried on to cover that obvious point.
“My first thought was to drive off to area and deliver my file and do the one thing that would stop vulnerable prisoners being sexually abused by Jim Fenner. I knew where the spare keys were. They had the spare security card together so that I could get into the car park, which was under the block of flats. I grabbed them and found that my car was gone. That’s when I called for a taxi.”

“Finally, Karen, can you explain for the benefit of the jury why you feel you couldn’t possibly have caused the accident,” George asked, finally squeezing her way back into her cross examination.

“I spent too many Friday nights and Saturday nights as a nurse on accident and emergency nursing far too many broken bodies who came in after far too many car accidents due to drunk driving to ever risk doing that myself. I’ve comforted far too many grieving mothers, fathers, husbands and wives in my time. Memories like that stay with you to the rest of your life. I simply wouldn’t do it.”

George was mentally soaring at Karen’s heartfelt words. It couldn’t make her case clearer as the scowl on Brian Cantwell’s face testified to that. She only hoped that Karen would be strong enough to stand up against the cross-examination that would fall on her.



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Andliv2laf
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Hiya Richard...sorry it's been a while...but, I can say that I am out of the woods of real life for a bit, so after this I should be back to waiting on you for the updates! Well, I really enjoyed that chapter...you know how I feel about the slimeballs of the world like Fenner, glad to see him knocked back a bit...by a well educated beautiful woman...who could care less about anything he has to offer! Again you made me smile! So, I look forward to the development of the trial...and hope to respond to 34 in the next day or so...thanks again for your dedication and sharing your talent...and I am glad to be back...I'll try to be a little more expressive next time! Gotta get back into practice..maybe I should see Emt for a training course! I'll try to catch up with her...busy as she seems to be these days!

Thanks again Richard! :girlygiggle
AND
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richard
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Hi Andlif2laf. It’s great to see your very welcome feedback at a time when just before Christmas, everyone becomes insanely busy and tired. You’ve certainly lighted on the key element of the scene, the confrontation between George and Fenner which has that real resonance. If Fenner ever thought he had problems with sharp witted women who could see through him, then George has pushed her way to be somewhere near the top of Fenner’s hate list.

I’ve got a bit of a dilemma right now as I would normally post the next scene today but I’m highly conscious that readers must be really pushed for time (Hi Emtsue) and I wouldn’t want to put you under pressure. I’ll hold the next piece back a week but I can be persuaded to change my mind
:D
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emtsue
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Hiya richard,here is a reply to ch.34...so sorry I missed replying to the last update as I've been under the weather..but feeling much better now.

I certainly would not want George Channing against me if I were on trial.She is brilliant,calm,cool ,and collected.She is systematically wiping out Brian Cantwell's case ,as well as his annoying smugness.I would be interested in seeing if Cantwell will now take a better look at the evidence hhimself instead of relying on John Wade's research,which as we know ,was less than stellar.Fenner ,being Fenner was able ,because of his street smarts and his ability to read people,to perfectly execute pulling the wool over Wades eyes.But at the same token ,it has put Fenner in a very weakened position ,which George has taken full advantage of,not only to her own delight ,but John Deed's as well.

I thought John Deed's interuption of George's questioning of Karen about the keys only showed how connected he and George really are.her thoughts of him were classic..that he could only be a good boy for so long.They were both in their element for sure.

As disembodied as karen was feeling,she miraculously gave an outstanding performance on the stand.She may get a little frazzled with Cantwell,but I think with John and George behind her ,she'll pull through.

well ,thats it for me Richard...wonderfully detailed as usual.
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richard
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Hi, Emtsue, great to see you around on this thread and I’m really glad you’re feeling better. You must be, judging from this post :D .

I’m at a bit of a loss in how to respond as you’ve so neatly got to the heart of the scene as you brilliantly draw out how the exposure of Fenner’s deceipts have rebounded on him and I love the way you have portrayed both John and George. In the TV series, you see much rolling of eyes from barristers as John sneaks his way into the questioning. He definitely behaves badly in this respect.

I’m really pleased with your take on Karen’s performance as I’d tried to get her to portray her simply and directly cutting through the whole morass of her past feelings which had once threatened to drag her down.
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JAM
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Richard,
i'm on the edge of my seat here waiting for the next scene, I usually don't pester the writer because art takes time, but your stories are always so fantastic that i just can't wait!! So, please forgive my impatience and throw me a bone. **JAM grins sheepishly** :err
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richard
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Hi JAM. I don’t mind your very thoughtful request in the slightest as posting this scene is no problem for my point of view. This last scene isn’t the best place to stop so, hoping that readers will get time to read this and hoping you get a bit of spare time before Christmas, here is Scene 35 which covers a whole range of shifting emotions and moods in court which I hope you enjoy. I can't wait to see what you make of it- well, I can but this will be a big part of the pleasure in writing.

........................................................................................................................


Scene Thirty-Five


Brian Cantwell tried to look benign as he rose to his feet but Karen wasn’t fooled by appearances. Now that she had come to see through Fenner, she had developed a sharp eye for anyone who was trying to pull the wool over her eyes. Her manner was controlled and cautious.

“You mentioned that you’ve brought up a son on your own? You’re divorced from your husband or were you ever married?”

“Yes, I’m divorced from my husband a long time ago, Dennis Betts. I met him when I was in the WRAF.”

“Have you had many partners since then.”

“A few. I seem to be unlucky in matters of the heart.”

“How can that be, an obviously attractive woman such as yourself.”

“I have had this unfortunate tendency to be attracted to men who, to put it politely, are plausible villains. I seem to want to be charmed by them and an ordinary kind-hearted man doesn’t do it for me. A fellow prison officer, Mark Waddle tried to comfort me after I was raped by Jim Fenner but he went about it the wrong way.”

“You said that you went round to Mr. Fenner’s bedsit. So where did this alleged rape, take place?”
Karen turned pale, as there were sharp, steel teeth both in the question and the way it was phrased. Brian Cantwell’s eyes glittered as he sensed what he thought was the truth.

“In …the bed. I was confused. I’d fallen out with Jim Fenner some time before and I started to go out with another prison officer, Mark Waddle. The trouble was that I hadn’t got him out of my system, though I didn’t know it. I still felt attracted to Jim Fenner. He kept plying me with drinks as we talked about his troubles. We kissed but when he wanted to go further, I didn’t want to know. He held me down and raped me.”

Brian Cantwell looked visibly smug as he sensed that he’d got the witness on the run as a shocked silence fell upon the courtroom. Karen’s embarrassment was acute and she didn’t know where to place himself. She felt horribly exposed. George went through the whole gamut of emotions, of sympathy for her client, acute awareness that she’d torn huge rents out of her credibility and anger at herself at her well-meaning delicacy to skim over this area of Karen’s past life.

“You were confused, right. So were your memories equally confused about killing the unfortunate man while driving the car under the influence of drink and not being able to face what you’d done, even to yourself? Perhaps you are not so much a liar as I first thought but simply self delusional.”

“No, that’s not true. Whatever I am, I am not a liar. Recklessly driving a car while drunk goes against my basic instincts as a nurse.”

Karen threw that retort back in Brian Cantwell’s face with enough force to make him blink. After yelling his accusations at Karen one moment, he paused and changed gear to speak in his most soothing tones.

“I can see that you have had a hard life. It hasn’t given you much chance to relax, has it?”

“I don’t know. What doesn’t get to you only makes you stronger. I finally got clear of Fenner, emotionally speaking and fought him all the way in his plans to abuse his position. I was once held hostage by a crazed HIV positive woman, holding a syringe to my neck filled with her own blood. I came through that well enough. I’ve had to learn to be strong as I’ve had no other choice.”

Brian Cantwell hid his irritation that the defendant came back at him so strongly while he pursued his next gambit.

“So all that stress must cause you to unwind after a day’s work with a glass or three every night?”
“Objection,” George chimed in at last.” If this isn’t a leading question, I don’t know what is. Yoga is a recognized form of relaxation for instance,” George said scornfully.
“I agree, Ms Channing. You should know better, Mr. Cantwell.”

“I apologise, my lord. Let me rephrase my question. Do you drink in the evening much?”

“Certainly not to excess and not at all if I know I have to drive my car,” Karen replied carefully, silently blessing George for the way her last aside had lightened the mood.

“Mention has been made in the trial of the bottle of whisky that was found in the car and that you testified to drinking when you were supposedly staying in preparing this file of yours. Care to comment on the fact that tests show that it had your fingerprints and no one else’s on it?”

“Since I’d been having a drink most nights from it over a period of time, it’s hardly surprising my fingerprints on it. I haven’t a clue how it ended up in the car any more than the way my car ended up abandoned.”

“How did you react to being forced to resign from your job?”

“In a word, bloody furious. I was made the scapegoat for a prisoner’s suicide, a woman who caused mayhem on the wing and who’s final act was to plant a personally defamatory note. It was also payback time for my opposition to the privatization plan that Mr. Grayling, the Governing Governor was so keen to promote.”

“How do you react to three people who clearly identified you as the driver of your own car who killed Gerald Baker?”

“What can I say? All I can do is to stand by the truth. I didn’t drive the car. I had far more important business to do in preparing my file for area.”

“Isn’t the truth that you have a persecution complex especially as there is no evidence of the file at area office? I put it to you that this is, after all, the main plank of your defence.”

“I am saying it again and again. I personally took the file to area and put it in their internal mail. That file existed.”

“ If your concerns were as serious as you say they are, why not rely on your immediate senior officer, Neil Grayling? After all, that is the way things are supposed to operate.”

“In a normal prison, I agree but Larkhall is no normal prison, it’s a nightmare. In normal circumstances, everything is on file. There’s an official system and God knows I’ve worked long enough in them, first as a nurse and then as a prison officer. That’s fine so long as those in charge are honest. How do you prove a conspiracy when the custodians of power are embroiled in it?”

Karen fired back her last retort with the last remaining strength left in her mind and her body. Fortunately, this was the last shot in Brian Cantwell’s now empty locker. This witness had come back stronger than he had expected after threatening to go to pieces. It struck him that, when pressed on her official work, she became stronger and came back fighting. Her last words hung on the air and made a strong impact, much to George’s satisfaction.

“Do you wish to reexamine the witness, Ms Channing?” John intoned. George frowned at his studiously correct form of address to her. It summed up everything in John’s underlying difficulty in getting a handle on her, no matter how sincere his outward reassurances. In a second, the feeling of irritation passed. There was one important point she wanted to get at. Karen’s complicated relationship with Fenner had been gradually unveiled but one important question needed answering.

“If I get it right, Ms Betts, you have had something of an on-off relationship with Mr. Fenner before it finally broke up. This is, of course, something any member of a jury might have come across as not unusual in matters of the heart. What I would be interested to know was what first caused you to split up from him?”

Karen gathered a deep breath and her thoughts became crystal clear. She ran her tongue along her lower lip to moisten it, as if to ready her mouth for the words she was going to speak.

“It was the combination of finding definite proof that he’d been carrying on an affair with an inmate at the same time as having proposed marriage to me. That showed the two sides of Jim Fenner clear enough. I had been previously left a file by the former acting governing governor Helen Stewart on her resignation from her job alleging that he had sexually assaulted her. Fool that I was, I had been persuaded that Helen had made it up, that she was pursuing a vendetta against him, something that had some credibility, as I knew they hated each other’s guts. That was why I finally set up the file on him to go to area. ”


Brian Cantwell scowled in anger and glared at John Wade. Once again, he had been let down by the skimped research. He was starting to hate Jim Fenner as a snake in the grass, someone who was incapable of telling the truth, even to the bloody solicitor that was supposedly on his side. He really wasn’t sure how the ups and down of the trial was going right now. For his part, John Wade stood ramrod straight in the dock. He wasn’t expected to be a mind reader for God’s sake. It wasn’t his fault. Claire Walker had followed the trial with intense interest as the ups and downs of the trial had proceeded. Objectively speaking, she wasn’t going to lay any money on the result but the other quietly passionate side of her personality had faith.

“Court is adjourned till tomorrow,” John intoned. He had been looking at the clock as Karen’s testimony had run on and on and, even though the clock had run on half an hour later than normal finishing time for court hearings, he wouldn’t have adjourned the hearing seven eights of the way through and recalled the defendant. He hoped the court officials would ultimately understand even while they had started to shuffle their papers restlessly. ”You may step down from the dock, Ms Betts,” he added in a kindly tone as he could see that the woman was fit to drop after such a gruelling cross-examination.

Karen stumbled out of the courtroom with legs made of jelly and more or less collapsed into a pair of soft arms, which embraced her and held her up. It was only when the other woman moved back when she realized that they belonged to Helen Stewart. Standing beside her was Nikki, concern written all over her features.

“Had a rough time of it, Karen?” Nikki asked lightly.
“You can say that again,” the tall blond haired woman said with deep feeling.” I felt that I’ve gone through a wringer.”
“Karen, you did very well,” exclaimed the familiar aristocratic tones behind them, radiating kindness and compassion. ”You’ve gone through the worst of it. It’s our turn now.”
“It’s very strange, George, but I’ve spoken in court like Karen has in the course of my job but I haven’t been personally involved as a witness,” Helen said with a touch of nervousness.
“You’ll do fine Helen. Just don’t let the bastards grind you down. I’ve told you that once before,” Nikki quietly advised the smaller woman.
The two women smiled, as this was a secret code between the two of them that contained the best possible advice in dealing with adversity. The two other women could relate to the spoken words easily enough.

“Have you got any plans tonight,” Helen asked.
“Plans?” echoed Karen.” Right now everything seems planned for me, like getting up and appearing in court.”
“So we’ve got another plan. Why don’t you unwind at our flat?”
Karen smiled broadly. It sounded like heaven to her. One more night at her lonely flat was a step up or two from facing court.
“That sounds fine to me. It would be a pleasure.”

George smiled at Nikki and Helen. It sounded like the best therapy she could imagine. Reluctantly, she had to make her own exit.

“I must fly. I’ve got to prepare for the next day.”

As George clattered in her high heels towards the exit, the three other women waved her farewell. Behind all of them, John looked on at the scene. It was the first time he had seen George with a group of women as he had known her more to be ‘Queen Bee’ surrounded by admiring men, yet somehow untouchable. He really couldn’t analyse the depths of his thoughts yet somehow, he knew that at least three of them were all on the side of the good. They had warm feelings for each other on that level. That should be good enough for him and shouldn’t interfere with his friendship with all of them.


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JAM
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Thank you!! I was glad to see Karen finish strong after a shaky start. Nikki's brother sure is a crappy solicitor. I can't wait to see the dynamic between siblings when they are together in that environment. Great stuff as always! :clap
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BETTELA
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:hug :hug I don't know what to say but absolutely brilliant, this story is amazing with the depth of characters and the story-line is to die for. Can;t wait to see the next chapter you write as no doubt it will be as wonderful as the rest that you have written. Thanks for giving us this amazing story. And have a Happy Christmas and New Year. :hug :hug :hug :hug :hug :hug :hug
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richard
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Hi JAM and Bettela- what is particularly pleasing is the way you have emotionally responded to the drama, especially the trial scenes. The point about sibling rivalry is a theme that I’m pleased you’ve drawn out which will be further explored. At this point I’d want to wish the very dedicated readers of my fic and everyone else (including fellow writers) a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year
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Andliv2laf
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I love it Richard...George, doing what she does best...and the team of John and George working for the common good! Fenner getting negative publicity...can't happen enough! John looking on at the ladies and thinking about George and her new life...a bit melacholy, yet positive...that was a nice touch! These are wonderful updates as always! This is short I know Richard...but it's Christmas Eve!


Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!! Look forward to the next post and maybe enought time to leave a detailed response!!!

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richard
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Hi Andlif2laf. I love your broad sweep through the scene and the way you focussed so accurately on John’s unselfish perspective on George and the women who accompany her which finally completes his steep learning curve. I hope that you had a great Christmas and will have a great New Year
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richard
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OK, I thought I'd kick off the new year with my next scene featuring the first half of Helen on the stand interspersed with Karen's spirits being buoyed up with Helen's and nikki's presence and a tender Alice George scene. Enjoy.

........................................................................................................................


Scene Thirty-Six



Early in the morning, Alice looked over tenderly and protectively at George, who lay flat on her back curled up alongside her. She understood very well how George threw herself into every trial. With eager determination George stayed up till late, bent over the dining room table, surrounded by a sheaf of papers and muttering to herself.
Alice could relate to it as she had similar decisions to make in supporting families and judging risks. Everything was in each of their hands to make or mar. She knew that there was nothing George appreciated than the reassuring hand laid over her shoulder, the tangible proof that there was someone close who cared. Right then, she stared at that delicately curved nose, carved cheekbones and loved the feel of her hand resting on her lover’s stomach. She knew that, right in the middle of the case, there was some snatched moment in her lunch break when the blond haired woman’s spirit went out to her and she returned that visitation. Alice looked at the wardrobe where her lover’s crisp blue suit was hung up, ready for her to climb into her barrister mode of existence. Their lives were complete.


In a curious instance of life’s near parallels, it took till now for Karen to fully realize how tenuous her tangible support had been, regardless of those dear friends who she knew were unselfishly batting for her.
In court, the only friendly souls around had been George and Claire but they were subject to the constraints of courtroom etiquette and couldn’t spring to her defence when she was defamed by the series of witnesses who trooped through the witness box and directly attacked by that dangerously sharp-witted barrister. She had coped as best as she could the way she had ultimately coped, depending on herself.

Wednesday morning was a totally different experience for Karen as Nikki and Helen accompanied her. Last night had been a revelation to her as she relaxed back in a soft armchair that embraced her and took her weight off her. Everything about the flat was homelike and unpretentious, full of warm and vibrant colours. It made her old flat feel cold and clinical by contrast. Her immediate impression was of bookcases, full of well-thumbed paperbacks, a collection of very well chosen DVDs and of decorative pictures. Karen fell in love with it at once and was soon chattering happily to the other two women. By unspoken consent, they avoided talking about the trial. Helen had a vague idea that she shouldn’t know about what had been said in court on the previous days. Everything felt quite natural and it came home to Karen what an empty and solitary life she had been leading. She knew she had to get back home for a change of clothes for the next day, but she wasn’t hurrying for the taxi nor was she in a rush to go outside into the cold and dark.

Automatically, Karen gave each woman a quick hug and peck on the cheek when they came into view the next day, in the echoing hurly burly of the foyer. Karen found a side room for them all to chat, which filled up the time before Karen and Helen would set forth into the theatre of the court of law. Presently, the usher gave them the nod that their presence was required, while Nikki remained, a paperback in hand with a doubtful power of detachment to read it.

******


As Helen followed Karen into the courtroom, she started to become a little nervous. It struck her for the first time how she had always had authority on her side, whether as a fast stream prison officer, wing governor, home office employee, acting governing governor or her present executive job. Her two brief spells without a job hadn’t removed her long enough from institutional life to really make a mark. Of course, this hadn’t stopped her identifying herself passionately and kind-heartedly with those over whom she had power. This was the first time she would be actively engaged in an institution as some form of supplicant as opposed to being an observer. What worried her was that there was a lot that she knew but might not necessarily be able to substantiate. She had an overriding duty not to stumble.

The courtroom started to fill up as Karen returned to the dock once again, while Helen nervously let herself be led to the witness stand. She glanced over to George and Claire and reached for the bible and card, containing the oath to be sworn. It reminded her in a peculiar fashion of the chill formality of her father’s church except that John Deed, far above her, gave the proceedings both colour and resonance. Dry mouthed, she readied herself to be in question answering mode of thinking.


George wasted no time in establishing Helen’s name, present and past occupations and that she lived with her partner Nikki Wade before coming to the crux of the matter. Suddenly, everything adjusted itself to sharp focus.

“Miss Stewart, can you explain for the benefit of the court, the nature of your relationships with the defendant and James Fenner.”

“Objection,” called out Brian Cantwell in peremptory tones.” I can understand that the witness may be called as character witness for the defendant but surely not in relation to Mr. Fenner, another witness. This is the case of my learned council trying to have her cake and eat it.”

“Isn’t it just,” murmured George to herself in a self-satisfied aside under her breath before launching into her argument. “May it please, my lord, I am seeking to establish that Mr. Fenner is intimately involved in the run up to the crime in question as an integral part of the defence case. My witness has the advantage of knowing both him and my client.”

“I’ll allow that but do not stray too far from the point, Ms Channing,” John pronounced confidently enough. His earlier worries about appearing in front of George had been laid to rest. Besides, he was intensely curious to hear Fenner as described through Helen’s eyes.

“I distrusted and disliked Jim Fenner from the word go and the feeling was mutual. He resented the fact that I was young, female and his boss. I was a stickler for doing things by the book and I cared about the prisoners. He consistently conspired behind my back to undermine my position. I have clear knowledge of one prisoner in his care who he physically assaulted.”

“Objection, My Lord,” Brian Cantwell intervened in his most languid, self- assured tone of voice. “The witness is clearly introducing hearsay prejudicial evidence which she can have no personal knowledge of. I demand that this be stricken from the record.”

“I think that I need to investigate just what is firsthand and what isn’t,” John pronounced firmly, knowing just how astute Helen was. “Miss Stewart, it is incumbent on you that you substantiate these allegations with direct observations.”

“Okay,” Helen said as she collected her wits. “I was in my office when Karen Betts brought in Shell Dockley whose face was bruised and bloodstained. She told me that Jim Fenner had beaten her up. Together with Mr. Stubberfield, I interviewed him about his side of the story and he said that she’d gone berserk and started knocking her head against the floor…..”

A burst of laughter briefly broke out from the jury till John called out for silence.

“I’ll admit this evidence,” said John firmly. “Pray continue, Miss Stewart.”

“I pushed for his suspension over the assault and resigned from my job when the governing governor wanted to do a whitewash job, in temporarily suspending him until ‘some sort of enquiry’ resulted in Mr. Fenner being reinstated in his job. When I came back to Larkhall, first as home office employee and then acting governing governor, there was constant verbal warfare between us, ending up in one incident when he sexually assaulted me. I finally saw the back of him when I resigned from my job.”

Helen’s steely tone of voice and the bombshell she dropped grabbed the attention of the entire court. John’s eyes closed briefly in shock and horror. Karen thought ruefully if only she had stuck to her original perceptions, so much trouble would have been avoided.

“You are frank indeed, Miss Stewart. Using my privilege as judge to play devil’s advocate, couldn’t it be argued that you have let your personal feelings get in the way of being objective about him?” John pursued.

George rolled her eyes skywards, but wasn’t greatly surprised at John’s inquisitiveness.

“That’s a good question, judge,” Helen answered in slow, considered tones, momentarily taken aback by the one question she had never put to herself. “I can’t ever accuse him of being incompetent. My problem was that I had good reason to fundamentally distrust him. He always had a personal agenda behind any reasonable sounding suggestion. He was the sort of person who’d try to get into your head and take it over if he could. Above all else, I learnt the hard way not to underestimate his deviousness.”

Helen felt as if electric energy was coursing through her. Especially at the end of her time at Larkhall, she had been denied her version of reality except for odd isolated moments. She now realized that she was giving public evidence for herself as much as for Karen and that energized her. It boosted Karen’s spirits that thank God someone who knew her was speaking up for her. While Brian Cantwell saw her as a dangerous adversary, John Deed smiled benignly down on the court in general.

“So where does the defendant fit into the picture? Did you know Mr. Fenner first or the defendant?” asked George, very quickly.

“I worked with Jim Fenner for some months before taking sick leave. I met Karen when I came back to work.”

“So how did you get on with the defendant while you worked at Larkhall prison?”

“I only knew her briefly before I resigned from my job but she struck me immediately as a caring, conscientious intelligent officer with the interests of both prison officers and prisoners alike at her heart.”

“How can you be so certain, Miss Stewart?”

“She brought in Shell Dockley to see me after being assaulted as I described earlier on. When I returned to Larkhall, she had taken over my old job and I was doing a research project with the Home office and, a little later, started up a self-improvement course for ‘lifers’ and assumed responsibility for them. We had to work closely together and our relationship was harmonious but gradually deteriorated over time.”

“Why was that, Miss Stewart?”

“As I was more involved with the running of Larkhall Prison, my conflicts with officer Fenner started up again, Karen got emotionally involved with him. It’s difficult to trace any specific events but Karen started to accuse me of persecuting him and becoming less willing to believe what I had to say. I tried to tell her that she was too close to the situation and couldn’t see what he was doing. She seemed to think he had the prisoners’ interest at heart, when his own interest came first and foremost. Finally I lost patience with her and told her I was sick and tired of trying to get through to her. I gave her one last chance on the way out and left her a file detailing Jim Fenner’s sexual assault on me.”

“Is this going to be a habit of defence witnesses to tell their life story at great length and take up valuable court time?” Brian Cantwell intervened, making an elaborate pretense at a yawn. By contrast, John was personally fascinated to hear Helen’s history unfold before his eyes, having only heard snippets before. He had to have regard for the court hearing as a whole, however, and Brian Cantwell had a point.

“Perhaps. Ms Channing, you could turn to the events of the night in question,” John advised quietly.

George suppressed her annoyance at being cut short, as she was aware that her examination was in danger of losing pace and also losing the jury’s attention. She decided that what was left out would have to be picked up at the end.

“Can you turn to the events of the night and describe what you saw of the accident?” George asked.

“Nikki and I had gone out for a meal that night to a restaurant where we hadn’t been before. A workmate of Nikki’s had suggested it. When we set off for home, we got off the beaten track and found ourselves in the back of beyond. I was driving the car and when we came up to a T-junction, I was about to pull out in front of a car on the main road, as there was time to spare. The other could have clearly seen me getting ready to move out, but it deliberately accelerated and cut right in front of me. I had to jam on the brakes. I turned the corner and headed off in pursuit.”

“Why did you follow the car, Miss Stewart? I mean why bother?” cut in George quietly.

“Good point. I could hear the car making a dickens of a racket and I was mad as hell. I was in ‘citizen’s arrest’ mode of thinking. A few seconds later, I recognized the car as Karen Betts. It was a very distinctive green MG sports car and I recognized the number plates as well.”

“Just backtrack one moment, Miss Stewart. Did you catch a glimpse of the driver as it passed across you?” George interjected.

“To be honest, I didn’t. I was more preoccupied in stopping my car in time. Anyway, I had an additional reason for chasing after the car. The reckless way it was driven was so alien to the owner, the careful, responsible woman I had known. It disturbed me and I wanted to get to the bottom of this. We headed off in pursuit and the driver behaved like a maniac, swerving all over the place, tyres screeching. It was as if the driver wanted to get noticed.”

“Have you any experience of Karen’s driving, Miss Stewart?”
“I’ve only had the limited experience of her driving into the back of my car in a line of traffic. That was a ‘one off’ case of a lapse of concentration. She told me as a kind of explanation that she’d just been demoted to make place for Jim Fenner and she really wasn’t at her best. This was a different league stuff…..anyway; we finally followed the car several miles into the main street and finally got close to the car. It had the chance of swinging clear past the pedestrian but it chose to drift over to the left straight at the poor man who was killed. We pulled up and did our best to assist while waiting for the police. I think that says everything.”

“This is most important, what visual impressions did you get of the driver? Take your time and think carefully,” said George quietly.

Helen ran her tongue along the width of her lower lip, paused for breath as her throat was dry and finally spoke her mental deliberation.

“I could see a long, slightly curly mop of long fair hair and a overcoat of some dark colour. My problem was that I never saw her, either head on or sideways on.”

“One final question, and that is why have you wanted to give evidence on Karen Betts’ behalf when your relationship with her has been so fraught?”

“Mainly to see justice done. She used to infuriate me because of her preferential attitude of Jim Fenner and seeming to willfully not see what was under her very nose. As time passed after leaving Larkhall, I decided I’d been lucky in seeing the nasty side of the man. I burnt out the last of my anger at her when we talked shortly after the accident and realized that she was just another one of Fenner’s victims. I never really lost my respect for her and realized that I could like her now she was clear of him.”

As her last words died away, Karen was fighting to keep the tears out of her eyes. Everything that this feisty Scot had said was so true and fair. It also painted a picture that was the unvarnished, unembellished truth, warts and all. It was what Helen did with the truth, her capacity for forgiveness that moved Karen deeply. The smaller woman was seen through misted vision as she reached for a glass of water at her side.

Helen’s pulse started racing as she realized that, up till know, she had been asked sympathetic questions designed to draw out her side of the story. She would now face the full blast of hostile cross-examination and this hard man with a shiny suit wouldn’t give her an inch. She would need her wits about her. She just hoped she wasn’t too out of practice.

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