frightful gossips.’
And he was gone. I felt myself go crimson both at the unexpected caress, and the speculative way Jimmy was looking at us.
Jimmy and I ate shepherd’s pie and shared a bottle of wine, crammed thigh to thigh in a panelled alcove. Jimmy was blissfully easy to talk to — particularly as he was just as interested in yapping about Pendle as I was.
‘I never expected him to be that good,’ I said.
‘He’s brilliant. Mind you, he’s a bit too cool to go down well with a jury. He hasn’t got an easy ingratiating personality, and he knows it, but he’s good at asking questions. He doesn’t say anything really offensive, but before the witness knows what’s happening he finds himself tied up in knots.’
‘He did it with my boss the other night. It brought the entire dinner party to a halt.’
Jimmy grinned. I noticed how many laughter lines he had on his face. It was sad Pendle had none. ‘I admire the way he never gives up on a case,’ he said, filling up my glass. ‘I bet he’s up to something now, trying to rootle out a piece of evidence that’ll blow my case sky-high. Not that it’ll do him any good; it’s obvious as hell Canfield’s guilty. Has he been taking you out for long?’
I knew he was pumping me now. I must be careful.
‘Since the summer.’
‘It’s the first time I’ve seen him with a girl.’
‘That’s nice,’ I said.
‘I sometimes wondered if he weren’t a bit the other way,’ said Batten, idly, ‘and he’s working hard to sublimate it.’
‘Queer you mean?’
He shot me a sidelong glance and nodded. ‘He refers to “the lovely Miss Graham”, for example, but he’s totally unmoved by her.’
‘Oh no,’ I insisted in horror. ‘He’s certainly not queer.’
‘You’ve got proof, have you? I must confess if you belonged to me, I couldn’t keep my hands off you. Have an enormous brandy and tell me more. I’m sorry to keep staring at you, not that it’s not a pleasure, but you remind me of someone and I can’t for the life of me think who it is.’
‘Pendle said that the first night we met,’ I said.
I had an uneasy feeling he knew a lot more than he was letting on, and such was the warmth of the room, and the amount I’d drunk and the cosiness in his manner, I was tempted to pour out my anxieties about Pendle. Then I remembered about lawyers being terrible gossips. I wasn’t sure I trusted Mr Batten, so I changed the subject.
After lunch it was the turn of the defence. As Pendle rose to his feet, straightening his gown and the papers in front of him, his hands shook, but he spoke calmly enough.
‘We intend to prove that my client has been the victim of a monstrous calumny. Not only has he been charged with a revolting offence, he has also lost his job, will no doubt have difficulty finding another one, been publicly humiliated, and privately diminished in the eyes of his family and friends — and all this on the testament of one girl. Her word against his. Her fiance arrived too late and found a locked door. What we have to find out, ladies and gentlemen, was what went on beyond that door. Intercourse,’ he paused. ‘We have no doubt; the police medical report bears this out, but at whose instigation. Miss Graham looks like the innocent flower, but is she perhaps the serpent underneath?’ He paused again for effect and glared at Jimmy Batten who glared back, his lip curling with disdain.
I was hard put not to giggle.
Even as he took the oath, Canfield gave the impression of being a con man, a rep with his shiny shoe in the door. The Jury were looking at him with disgust.
Pendle stared at him thoughtfully.
‘Mr Canfield, was Miss Graham a good secretary?’
‘No,’ said Canfield.
‘Why did you keep her on then?’
Canfield smiled wryly. ‘I suppose I was attracted to her.’
There was a ripple of chattering round the court.
‘I told you so,’ muttered my fat neighbour, handing me a pack of Maltesers.
‘You wanted to sleep with her?’ said Pendle.
‘In a word, yes.’
‘But refrained from doing so?’
‘She was engaged to be married. I do have some principles. Besides, Ricky Wetherby is much bigger than me.’
It was a bad joke which did nothing to endear Canfield to the Jury.
‘And what happened on the day of the so-called assault?’
‘She said she’d lost her notebook; could I possibly dictate the letters I’d given her yesterday again. I said I had to go to a meeting. I came back at 5.30 and told her to come into my office.’
‘What was Miss Graham wearing?’
‘She’d changed into a new dress; it was very becoming.’
‘Can you describe it?’
‘Well it was very low cut, and made more so because she’d lost a button.’
‘What happened then?’
‘I said she looked smashing; was she going to meet her fiance? She smiled and said not until much later. I said he was a lucky man, and we’d better get on with the letters or we’d both be in trouble. Suddenly she burst into tears, said she felt trapped, that her fiance was a disaster in bed.’
There was a murmur of protest from the public gallery. The Judge told them to shut up. Fiona’s face was expressionless.
‘We heard a step outside. Fi — I mean Miss Graham said please lock the door, and then she went on crying. I told her she was crazy to marry him feeling like that. I put my arm round her to comfort her.’
‘Did she offer any resistance?’
‘God no, quite the reverse. She said she’d wanted me for weeks. The next minute we were on the floor.’
‘And intercourse occurred?’
‘It certainly did.’
The rustling and coughing always present in court had died away. People were leaning forward not to miss a word.
‘Thank you, Mr Canfield,’ said Pendle, and sat down. He seemed surprisingly elated, particularly since Batten took over next, and absolutely tore Canfield to pieces. Although Canfield stuck to his story, it looked pretty ragged by the end. White and shaken, he sat down.
Next Pendle called one of the pretty typists from the office. She came in giggling and patting her hair, and wearing far too much make-up. Pendle handled her with the utmost gentleness and soon her nerves disappeared.
‘We were both in the Ladies getting ready to go home. It was about 5.15. Fi — I mean Miss Graham was changing into this lovely dress, very low cut. She said she was going to meet her fiance later. At that moment a button popped off, which made it almost, well, indecent.’
‘You’re sure of this?’
‘Course I’m sure. She said that was the trouble with buying cheap clothes. I offered to lend her a needle. I said once she was married to Ricky she wouldn’t have to buy cheap clothes any more. Besides, it looked more sexy without the button, and we had a giggle about that.’
The tension was beginning to mount in the court. The Jury were sitting up and taking notice.
The next witness was blond, handsome and brash, and said his name was Gerald Seaton. He described himself as a commercial traveller.
‘Have you seen Miss Graham before?’ said Pendle.
‘Yes, we met in the King’s Cross Hotel lounge exactly four months ago.’
‘How did you meet?’
