Damaged Goods Read online

  ‘Oh to be in demand,’ said Penny, and waved.

  ‘If only,’ said Lilly, and pulled out her phone.

  JUDGE HAS LISTED CASE THIS PM. MEET US AT CCC. JEZ

  The Old Bailey was cold. Whoever was in charge of maintenance hadn’t noticed the change in the weather and the air-conditioning was still belting out.

  The guards all wore their nylon security jackets, styled by some corporate guru in a bomber style. The look probably worked on the muscle-bound LAPD, but Group 5 Systems employed retired soldiers and disgraced coppers with healthy bellies and balding pates. Still, they were happy to be called into work at the weekend. ‘Double time,’ each one informed her.

  At least someone’s doing well out of this case, thought Lilly.

  Sheba stood at the top of the stairs, a pencil skirt hanging low on her hips, Fifties style.

  ‘What’s up?’ asked Lilly.

  ‘Jez is trying to find out now. His clerk got a call to say we were all needed here, even Kelsey’s being produced.’

  Lilly let out a low whistle. ‘Must be serious.’

  Jez emerged from the judge’s chambers, still in conversation with Brian Marshall. Jez was shaking his head in disagreement.

  ‘Old Blechard-Smith is beside himself,’ said Jez. ‘Apparently he’s a close personal friend of the Barrows and wonders what effect that might have on the case.’

  ‘He’ll have to recuse himself,’ said Lilly.

  Jez nodded. ‘That’s what he wants. This business is a total nightmare from his point of view, and he’d like nothing better than to hand it over to some other poor sucker.’

  ‘So let him,’ said Sheba.

  ‘I’m not so sure,’ said Jez. ‘If he stays he’ll bend over backwards to give Kelsey a fair crack of the whip.’

  It made good sense. Once again Lilly was impressed by the barrister’s tactics.

  ‘He wants everyone’s views in half an hour,’ said Jez.

  Lilly didn’t need that long. ‘He should stay,’ she said, ‘and he should make Hermione Barrows explain why she destroyed those tapes.’

  Jez laughed. ‘He’s not going to do that, Lilly, but we can submit that Kelsey won’t get a fair trial without the jury having the full picture, and ask him to chuck the case out now.’

  ‘Will he go for it?’ she asked.

  Jez shrugged. ‘Depends on what the prosecution say. Marshall’s pretty jumpy but at the moment he’s peddling the party line that William Barrows was not involved in Grace’s murder so the tapes aren’t pertinent to this case.’

  ‘That’s bullshit,’ said Lilly.

  At the far end of the atrium, outside courtroom four, Lilly made out the figures of Jack and Bradbury. She set off towards them.

  Bradbury smiled. ‘Miss Valentine.’

  Lilly ignored him. ‘Jack, will you tell the judge what happened yesterday and that you suspect William Barrows of Grace’s murder?’

  ‘Barrows has an alibi,’ said Bradbury.

  Lilly didn’t take her eyes from Jack. ‘If they can sweep what he did to those girls under the carpet they can set up an alibi.’

  ‘That’s quite a conspiracy theory,’ said Bradbury.

  ‘Why can’t you tell the judge?’ asked Jack.

  ‘Because I’m too biased. But you, you’re on the other side, and if you think she didn’t do it, he’ll believe you.’

  ‘And what if I think she did?’ he asked. ‘What if I don’t know what to think?’

  ‘Come down to the cells with me and speak to her. Look her in the eye and ask her yourself. If you have any doubts you should say so.’

  ‘And if I don’t?’

  The spectre of the letter floated in the ether between them.

  ‘Then you must do what you think is right.’

  Jack looked at Bradbury. ‘We need to know one way or the other.’

  Bradbury closed his eyes as if in thought, then gave the slightest of nods.

  The cells were even colder than the rest of the court, and Kelsey leaned against the wall, a rough brown prison-issue blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She jerked her head towards Jack and Bradbury. ‘What are they doing here?’

  ‘We need to talk about your mum,’ said Lilly.

  ‘Not in front of them we don’t,’ said Kelsey.

  Lilly reached out to touch her client. The blanket was stiff and itchy in her hand. ‘The whole thing’s gone tits-up, love. We found out who the man in the videos is. Your mum met him when she was in care, he might even have abused her when she was a child.’

  ‘Did he kill her?’ Kelsey asked.

  ‘We don’t know. He’s legged it.’

  Kelsey pulled the blanket tighter. ‘Then he must have.’ She finally looked at Jack. ‘You thought I’d done it, didn’t you?’

  He wasn’t in the habit of lying and sucked in a gulp of air. When he spoke his voice was steady. ‘Yes, and if I’m honest I’m still not convinced that you didn’t.’

  The explosion Lilly anticipated turned out to be little more than a spark, with Kelsey banging a fist on the wall.

  ‘Whatever she done, I loved her. She weren’t perfect but she was my mum.’

  ‘If you didn’t kill her, what were you doing at the flat on the night she died?’ he asked.

  Kelsey pressed the heels of her hands into her eye sockets. ‘It’s complicated.’

  ‘Try me,’ said Jack.

  Kelsey released her hands and blinked to clear her vision. ‘I needed to tell her everything was going to be okay, that me and the babies could come home.’

  ‘From where I’m standing, Kelsey, things didn’t look okay.’

  Kelsey nodded as if she understood his point. ‘But I’d got it sorted, see.’

  Jack held open his palms for her to continue.

  ‘Mum was desperate to get us moved, but the housing people kept saying no, so she went to see the MP, told her all about what was going on. She said she needed proof, and Mum was just about ready to give up when I says if it’s proof they need I’ll get some.’

  ‘And how were you going to do that?’ asked Jack.

  Kelsey shrugged. ‘Get a video from Max.’

  ‘Somehow I doubt he would just have given one to you.’

  ‘Course not, and anyway a video of one of them other girls wouldn’t have proved anything, would it?’

  Lilly’s pulse quickened, afraid of where this was leading.

  ‘Who would need to be on the video?’ said Jack, his voice shockingly calm.

  Kelsey picked at the edge of the blanket and pulled at a thread until it began to unravel. ‘Someone who would stand up and say they were underage. Say where it happened and who made them do it.’

  Jack took a breath. ‘And who would that be?’

  When she spoke she didn’t look up.

  ‘Me.’

  Before anyone else could speak, Kelsey whipped up her head, her eyes defiant. ‘It’s not as if I were a virgin.’

  ‘What did your mum have to say?’ asked Jack.

  The defiance melted. ‘She wouldn’t have it, kept crying and crying, saying there had got to be another way. I told her straight, if you can think of one then let’s have it. Next day she puts us all in care.’

  ‘That must have been hard.’

  The genuine sympathy in Jack’s tone proved too much and tears began to trickle, unchecked, down Kelsey’s cheek. ‘I’d never been away from home before, not even for a night, and they wouldn’t even let me see the babies. I couldn’t take it, no way.’

  ‘So what did you do?’ he asked.

  ‘I did what I had to do,’ she said, her words echoing those of Max.

  Bradbury handed Kelsey and Lilly a tissue. Until then Lilly hadn’t realised that she was crying too.

  ‘Let me get this straight, Kelsey,’ said Jack. ‘Max arranged for you to have sex with William Barrows and for it to be filmed.’

  Kelsey opened out the tissue and hid behind it. ‘If that was his name, then yeah.’

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nbsp; Lilly moved towards Kelsey but Jack shook his head. This was clearly something he needed to finish, however hard.

  ‘Tell us what happened next.’

  Kelsey lowered the tissue and began to shred it. ‘I thought it would be okay, that it was something that needed to be done. I thought I could just put it behind me, but I couldn’t.’ She sprinkled the pieces of paper like confetti into her lap and ran her finger over her lips. ‘No matter how many times I brushed my teeth I could still taste him. I tried the bleach but it didn’t make me feel any cleaner. I reckon that’s why Mum took the drugs, it was the only way to stop her feeling so bad.’

  Kelsey looked up at Lilly. ‘Will I always feel like this?’

  ‘You need some help, love,’ said Lilly.

  Kelsey nodded as if this seemed reasonable. ‘I couldn’t get a copy of the video anyway. Max wouldn’t give me one and I couldn’t find one at his place to nick. It was a stupid idea really.’

  She gestured to Lilly. ‘Then she gave me a better one.’

  ‘A better what?’ asked Jack.

  ‘Idea. She told me that evidence can be written down, like statements and that, so I wrote down everything that had happened to us and sent it to that MP.’

  When Lilly found her voice it was loud and clear. ‘You wrote to Hermione Barrows?’

  Kelsey nodded. ‘I thought they’d have to re-house us. I thought she’d help us when she saw what I’d written.’

  ‘You thought you’d saved the day,’ said Lilly.

  Kelsey smiled as though the memory warmed her. ‘I was so happy I went to tell Mum.’

  ‘What did she say?’ asked Jack.

  Kelsey’s smile faded and her face crumpled. ‘She was mad as hell, said she couldn’t believe I’d sell myself like that. Said I’d let that man ruin my life. That was a bloody laugh considering what she’d done over the years. I had to get out so I went for a walk. About half an hour later I’d calmed down but she had someone in there. I thought it must be a punter so I went back to The Bushes. That’s when I wrote that letter.’

  ‘What letter?’ asked Bradbury.

  ‘Later,’ said Jack.

  Back at ground level Jack and Bradbury were huddled in discussion, each talking, then listening, shaking their heads then nodding. From her position at the other side of the corridor Lilly couldn’t guess which way they would go. Jez and Sheba virtually sat on her to prevent her from intervening further.

  ‘You’ve heard the term over-egging the pudding,’ said Jez.

  When they finally moved towards her their pace was so heavy, their faces so grave, she assumed the worst. Her fears were crystallised when it was Bradbury, not Jack, who spoke.

  ‘This isn’t a decision we have taken lightly,’ he said.

  Lilly nodded. It was a fair decision. They had listened to Kelsey and that was as much as she could ask.

  When Bradbury spoke again Lilly barely paid attention. ‘But Jack is prepared to speak to the judge.’

  Oh my God! Lilly wanted to pirouette across the marbled floor but restrained herself to a formal smile. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Officer McNally,’ said Jez, ‘could you please summarise the dramatic events of yesterday to the court.’

  Jack leaned both hands against the rail of the witness box and addressed the judge directly. ‘Miss Valentine, the defendant’s solicitor, was kidnapped by a Mr Max Hardy, a man whom Miss Valentine had suspected was involved in the death of Grace Brand.’

  ‘Did you suspect him, Officer?’ asked Jez.

  ‘I certainly looked into it. He was known to the deceased and had involved her in some pretty nasty stuff.’

  ‘Could you enlarge on that?’ said Jez.

  ‘He was making pornographic films involving children in the deceased’s home. During her ordeal Miss Valentine was told by Hardy that the other person involved was a Mr William Barrows, a well-known psychiatrist, who had in fact treated the deceased when she herself was in care.’

  The judge squirmed in his chair, no doubt reliving the dinners he had eaten and jokes he had shared with a paedophile.

  ‘I then went with Miss Valentine to Mr Barrows’ clinic,’ said Jack.

  ‘For what purpose?’ asked Jez.

  ‘To arrest him and search the premises for evidence.’

  ‘And did you find any evidence?’

  ‘We did, or at least we would have, had Mr Barrows’ wife not destroyed his entire collection of videos.’

  ‘Then you cannot be sure what was on them,’ said the judge.

  Jack held his back straight. ‘No, but I am convinced they contained child pornography. I doubt Mrs Barrows would have felt the need to scrap hours of nature programmes.’

  Lilly recalled Hermione Barrows’ reaction throughout their exchange. She had been combative towards them but without any sense of outrage. She had made no attempt to defend her husband. Nor had there been any shock, as if she’d known what sort of man her husband was. And if Hermione had known her husband was the man Kelsey had written to her about, Lilly was sure she would have alerted him to the imminent danger of discovery. In order to keep his secret he had more motive to kill Grace than anyone. The stone in the cherry was his alibi, but had anyone outside government checked it?

  Lilly crept out of court as inconspicuously as a person can while simultaneously knocking over a water jug, thankfully empty and thankfully plastic. She bowed to the judge, fell into the corridor and pulled out her phone.

  ‘NSPCC press office.’

  ‘Hi,’ said Lilly. ‘My name’s Jackie McNally, features editor for Happy Living, a new lifestyle magazine.’

  ‘Like OK?’ asked the chirpy press assistant.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Lilly. ‘We launch in October with the usual stuff. Interviews with the cast of Footballers’ Wives, beauty tips by Posh Spice and gossip on JLo’s latest divorce.’

  ‘JLo’s getting divorced again?’ The assistant was incredulous.

  ‘Uh huh. Anyway, we’ve got space for a charity function and we thought we might use the dinner you held at the Grosvenor on the seventh. Was anyone there we might be interested in?’

  ‘Oh yes. The fat one from Big Brother, I can’t remember her name now, handed over a cheque for ten grand, and the Chancellor gave a very nice speech. We were hoping for the PM but he was busy, what with the war and everything.’

  ‘How about the MP who’s in the papers a lot at the moment, Hermione Barrows, were she and her husband there?’

  ‘They were invited, yes, and he certainly came, but if memory serves she had to leave after half an hour, some emergency meeting or other.’

  Lilly flew back into court and passed a scribbled note to Jez. He looked at it and went seamlessly back to his witness.

  ‘Officer McNally, what did you make of Mrs Barrows’ behaviour?’

  Jack paused to marshal his thoughts. ‘She seemed intent on not letting me have the videotapes.’

  ‘Covering up her husband’s criminal activity?’

  ‘Yes.’

  The judge leaned towards him. ‘That’s a very serious accusation, Mr McNally.’

  Jack nodded. ‘And not one I make lightly, but she made no effort to help us. When Miss Valentine pointed out what was on the tapes, she seemed to know already.’

  ‘I need you to think very carefully before you answer my next question,’ said Jez, and paused to let the gravity of it sink in. ‘If I told you that on the night that Grace Brand was killed, Hermione Barrows has no alibi, would you consider her to be a suspect?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Jack, ‘I would.’

  ‘I’ll be glad to get back to my patients,’ said Sheba and lit a cigarette. ‘At least you know where you are with the insane.’

  She, Lilly and Jez waited in the street outside while the judge took counsel on what to do next. Bradbury had sent Jack to arrest Hermione and was ordering searches of her parliamentary office and surgery from his mobile. Someone had tipped off the press, who were out in force and following Bradbury�
�s every move. Lilly smiled to herself – they couldn’t possibly guess how exciting tomorrow’s headlines were going to be. Bradbury gave Lilly the thumbs-up – he might be losing one high-profile case but he was jumping feet first into another.

  ‘If the judge decides there’s no case to answer, what will happen to Kelsey?’ asked Jez.

  ‘There’ll need to be a Care Order. Someone has to take responsibility for her,’ said Lilly.

  ‘Leyland House will be open in a week or so,’ said Sheba.

  Lilly was surprised. ‘That soon?’

  ‘When Paul puts his mind to something it usually happens. He’s a bit like you in that regard, Lilly,’ said Sheba.

  Lilly smiled at the compliment, but her self-satisfaction proved premature.

  ‘There’ll be a reopening party, you should come. Just a few drinks, nothing as depraved as Jez’s chamber parties.’

  She raised an eyebrow, tossed her cigarette in the road and led her brother inside by the arm.

  Lilly flushed deepest crimson.

  Judge Blechard-Smith took off his glasses and cleaned them thoroughly before returning them to the bridge of his nose. Lilly settled into her seat ready for the Mother of All Speeches.

  The judge cleared his throat. When would these men learn to cut to the chase?

  ‘This case has undoubtedly been extraordinarily difficult for all concerned. I myself have swum in uncharted waters from the very start. We have all had to remind ourselves repeatedly not to judge a book by its cover, but to question, challenge and measure the evidence again and again.’

  He took a sip of water so tiny it could have barely wet his tongue.

  ‘The prosecution brought this case in good faith, I am sure, and it is to the credit of the police that they have not simply ducked out but have continued to investigate new facts as they have arisen. However, when one of the officers in the case states that someone other than the defendant should be pursued for the crime with which she has been charged, I am forced to act, and to this end I recommend most strongly that the prosecution withdraw their case. What do you say, Mr Marshall?’

  The barrister turned to Bradbury, who turned to Jack. It was like a pack of dominos collapsing.