It was obvious that the next day I was going to need all my strength just being a spectator at the hearing and I willingly accepted Amy's invitation to spend another night at her flat. I went to bed early only to dream of Snipe donning a black cap and smiling as he sent Tom to the gallows. The final touch of the macabre was that Edward was standing beside him dressed up as a priest.
I arrived at Court No 1 at ten-fifteen and paced up and down outside. I was too nervous to sit still, despite my crutches. I could see Tom's counsel in anxious discussion with two men I thought must be his solicitors. One of them, a middle-aged man wearing a striped shirt with a white collar, kept on looking at his watch and shaking his head. They were clearly worried about something and the absence of any sign of Corcoran made me guess what. I couldn't believe that, having made the effort to come over here and sign his statement, he wouldn't now appear. Amy arrived as I was about to hobble over and ask if something was wrong. I pointed out to her the group and she marched over and had a word with the man in the striped shirt. After a brief discussion she returned.
'It's very worrying, I'm afraid. There was no sign of Corcoran when the taxi went to pick him up this morning at nine o'clock. An assistant from Tom's lawyers had gone along to check all was well, but according to the manager of the hotel, his bed hadn't been slept in all night. All that was in his room was a suitcase with a shirt and some underwear. It seems he went out yesterday at some time in the afternoon and hasn't returned. It's only a small hotel with people coming and going the whole time – I suspect during the day as well as the night – so of course nobody remembers precisely when he went out.'
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Not Corcoran as well. 'You don't think, Amy, that…'
'I know what you 're thinking. I suppose it's possible. Brennan?'
'It would make sense. How could we have been so stupid as to have left Corcoran on his own there?'
'Hold on! It's not our fault. Tom's solicitors wouldn't even tell me where he was staying until today. We're lucky to have been kept as informed as we have been. Some solicitors would have told us to push off in no uncertain terms. Come on, we'd better go into court, they start at ten-thirty. We'll just have to pray he shows up by the time Tom's cross-examination finishes.'
At least Tom had no idea of the drama being played out in the corridor beyond the courtroom doors. He appeared relaxed and collected as Scott rose to cross-examine him.
The counsel spent the first hour sparring with Tom, who kept his head and answered politely yet firmly as Scott explored his background and life style. The niceties over, he went on the attack.
'Mr Radcliffe, are you in the habit of going to bed with other men's wives?'
Poor Tom rose to the bait: 'I resent that question. I most certainly am not.'
'But you obviously regard another man's wife as fair game?'
'No, I don't. I tried not to fall in love with Victoria for that very reason.'
'Yet you knew when you met her that she was married?'
'Of course.'
'And in fact her husband had been one of the very first owners to have a horse in your yard?'
'That's right, but that was four years before our relationship began.'
Scott didn't seem to take any notice of the answers, leaping into his next question. 'In fact, without the support of the deceased, your career as a trainer might never have got under way?'
I could see Tom considering his reply carefully. If he said no, he would appear ungrateful. If he answered in the affirmative, he would appear even more ungrateful and treacherous. 'He was one of a handful of people who had faith in me and at the time I was very grateful for his support.'
I wished he had added how, for the next four years, Edward had tried to do him immense damage by bad- mouthing him to anyone on the racecourse who would bother to listen.
'When you realised the nature and depth of your feelings for Mrs Pryde, did you still continue to offer her rides as a jockey on your horses?'
'I did.'
'There are not many women jockeys riding professionally, are there?'
'Two or three.'
'Am I right in thinking that they enjoy considerably less success than their male counterparts?'
'You are. On the whole, they are less strong and less effective in riding a finish.'
'And Mrs Pryde is an exception?'
'Yes, I think she is. She has excellent tactical judgement and what she lacks in a finish, she more than makes up for by the way she sets a horse right before a fence.'
'Did you deliberately offer Mrs Pryde rides at courses which would necessitate her being away from home for the whole day, not returning often until late evening?'
'What are you suggesting?'
'It's my prerogative to ask the questions, Mr Radcliffe, but since you ask I'll put my suggestion to you. I suggest that the reason you continued to put up Mrs Pryde on your horses was not because of her riding ability but to create opportunities for you both to cheat on the deceased.'
'That's a monstrous suggestion. I choose the best jockey available on each occasion. I owe that duty to my owners. I never gave Victoria a ride other than on the grounds of ability.' There was an incongruous giggle from someone in the gallery.
'You were very much in love with her, weren't you?'
'Yes, but eventually I had to accept that in the circumstances it was impossible, and had to end.'
'Would you please look at the letter dated 22nd December, exhibit seven, My Lord. Do you see the final paragraph on page two and the opening sentence of the next page?'
'I do. I've already told this court that there is a page missing and what you have here completely distorts what I was writing about. I never threatened to end Edward Pryde's life.'
'Would you agree with me that if there is no missing page those words read very much like a threat to do just that?'
Tom turned to the judge. 'Must I answer that, My Lord?'
For the first time in the trial, Snipe was sympathetic: 'No, you don't have to. You're being asked your opinion and this court is concerned solely with facts.'
Scott produced one of the most obsequious smiles I've ever seen and returned to the attack. 'Did you ever seriously think that Edward Pryde would give his wife a divorce?'
'No, not really. It was well known that he thoroughly disliked me and I knew from Victoria that he relied upon her heavily for financial support.'
'Nonetheless, you often asked Mrs Pryde to leave him?'
'That's not really surprising, is it? I hated the way he used to treat her and I genuinely thought that she would be better off without him.'
'And when you realised she wouldn't leave him, you killed him?'
'That's ridiculous. I never touched him, I tell you.'
'You accept that you argued with him that evening in the pub?'
'I lost my temper with him. He was taunting me about Victoria.'
'And you threatened him with violence?'
'That was only in the heat of the moment. If a man threatens to beat up the girl you love, even if she's his wife, you can't very well stand by and let him go ahead and do it. At least I couldn't.'
'Are you in the habit of passing out after a couple of drinks?'
'No, it's never happened before. I can only assume it was the combination of the alcohol and the tablets I had taken for my headache.'
'You were familiar with Melksham Pit, of course?'
'I had been there once before with Victoria.'
'What do you mean by once before? You accept, then, that you went there again?'
'It was a slip of the tongue. I've only ever been there once.'
'How can you explain the petrol stains which were found on the suit you were wearing that night?'
'I must have splashed myself when I filled my car up with petrol earlier in the evening. I'm a little clumsy and impatient and probably took the nozzle out of the tank before I'd finished filling. It's easily done with these self- service things.'
'And the presence of your footprints on the path leading to the pit, how do you account for that?'
