have been asleep.
‘Mr Appleton,’ began Reid, still with no catch in his voice. ‘You are giving evidence to this court under oath?’
Appleton looked for guidance to his lawyer, who did not respond. The man said, ‘Yes.’
‘Which requires you to tell the truth?’
There was still no protest from Bartle. Appleton again said, ‘Yes.’
‘Do you intend telling the truth, Mr Appleton?’
Bartle at last rose in protest. ‘Your honour! Isn’t this risking your court being brought into disrepute?’
‘A question I am still considering from the hearing that preceded this one,’ replied Pullinger, at once. ‘I will allow it but would recommend restraint, Mr Reid.’
‘Are you telling the truth, Mr Appleton?’ repeated Reid.
‘Yes.’
‘You admit two affairs, one with Sharon Borowski, the other with the defendant, Leanne Jefferies?’ demanded Reid.
‘Yes.’
‘Which was the first, that involving Ms Borowski or Ms Jefferies?’
‘Ms Borowski,’ replied Appleton.
Appleton was trying to protect himself with clipped, one-word answers whenever possible, Jordan recognized.
‘When did the affair with Ms Borowski begin?’
‘I’m not sure of a precise date,’ said Appleton.
‘You can surely remember the month!’
‘I think it was March.’
‘March last year?’
‘Yes.’
‘Which part of March, the beginning or the end?’
‘I said I’m not sure. More towards the end than the beginning.’
Reid again made the pretence of consulting his disordered papers. ‘Ms Jefferies is a commodity trader, like yourself?’
Appleton was shifting uncomfortably on the stand, gripping and ungripping its bordering rail as if needing physical support. ‘Yes.’
‘What was Ms Borowski’s occupation?’
‘I don’t believe she had an occupation.’
‘You don’t believe she had an occupation? You had an affair with her! Surely you knew whether she had a job or not?’
‘It was a very brief affair.’
‘How brief?’
‘A matter of weeks.’
‘How many weeks?’
‘Four. Five.’
‘How did you meet?’
‘At a party, in Manhattan.’
‘I asked you how?’
‘Your honour!’ interjected Bartle, once more. ‘What possible relevance has this to do with the current case?’
‘Mr Reid?’ invited Pullinger.
‘If I am allowed to continue, with the expectation of receiving the toxicology and blood analysis findings upon the deceased Ms Borowski, I hope to show that it is of crucial importance to the outcome of this matter, particularly the transmission of disease,’ insisted Reid.
‘Then it will continue,’ decided Pullinger.
‘I asked you how you met Ms Borowski,’ repeated Reid.
‘I told you, at a party.’
‘That was where you met her. How?
‘I was introduced to her, by a mutual friend.’
‘Towards the end of March, last year?’
‘Yes,’ replied Appleton, too quickly.
‘Was that when your affair began, that night?’
Appleton re-gripped the edge of the witness stand. ‘It might have been.’
‘ Might have been! Was it or wasn’t it, Mr Appleton?’
‘I think it was.’
‘You think it was,’ echoed Reid. ‘You did know Ms Borowski before you were formally introduced to her at the end of March last year, didn’t you?’
‘I didn’t know her,’ insisted Appleton.
‘But you’d seen her before? Been to parties where she was?’
‘I may have done.’
‘May have done,’ echoed Reid again, going unerringly into his tumbled papers to bring out a neatly prepared, individually separated batch of papers, beckoning the usher to give him the majority to distribute, but personally delivering their packages to Beckwith, Bartle and Wolfson. ‘I would ask that these be placed before the jury and yourself, your honour.’
‘These are copies of newspaper cuttings!’ objected Bartle. ‘These can’t be admissible!’
‘What’s the purpose of this introduction, Mr Reid?’ demanded the judge, stopping the usher before he reached the jury box.
‘They feature photographs of Ms Borowski, in the diaries and social columns of certain New York newspapers, some with caption references to her which might give some indication of the occupation of which Mr Appleton appears unsure,’ said Reid.
‘I object to their introduction,’ insisted Bartle. ‘This court was given no indication or warning of their being presented.’
‘We’ve already touched upon your dismissal of Mr Reid’s enquiries concerning this lady,’ reminded Pullinger. ‘I will not recess the court but read them here at the bench. Attorneys will read them, too, but not yet the clients they represent or the jury.’
There were shuffles throughout the court, mostly from the jury. Alyce remained head bent. Behind her, Dr Harding was leaning solicitously forward.
The three lawyers were still reading when Pullinger finished. He said, ‘Mr Beckwith?’
‘I have no objection to their introduction,’ replied Jordan’s attorney.
‘Mr Wolfson?’
‘I have no objection,’ said the man.
‘I will allow them, Mr Bartle, but warn you, Mr Reid, to be extremely careful in whatever it is you have to say,’ ruled the judge. ‘The usher will deliver the copies to the jury and to the plantiff.’
‘From the photographs Ms Borowski was obviously an extremely attractive girl, Mr Appleton?’
‘Yes,’ agreed Appleton. The copies fluttered slightly from the tremor in the man’s hand.
‘In the copy number one, in the New York Daily News, Ms Borowski’s age is given as twenty-three. Was that how old she was?’
‘I did not know her age.’
‘Or her occupation,’ reminded Reid. ‘If she was twenty-three that would make her younger than you by almost twenty years?’
‘Your honour!’ protested Bartle.
‘Quite so,’ agreed the judge. ‘Careful, Mr Reid.’
‘My apologies, your honour,’ said Reid, with no obvious apology in his voice.
‘The Daily News suggests an occupation for Ms Borowski, does it not? On the marked line it describes her as
