He nodded and led me to the main lobby where he dialled a phone number, explaining he had found it on my phone which was being looked at for evidence. I heard the phone ring and then Kate’s voice. It was weak and it was clear she had been crying, I stuttered almost unable to speak.
“Kate…”
“Adam? Oh, God Adam! Oh, babe…” Her voice broke as she sobbed. I blinked hard, trying to be strong.
“Kate, I don’t have much time. I’ve been arrested…”
“I know… Oh, God… What’s happened.” There was a long pause. “You didn’t… Adam… Tell me, you didn’t… did you?”
My heart dropped. The disbelief, even my wife thought I might have done this. “No… No… I could never do this… Kate, I love you… Shit! … They think I did it, everyone thinks I did it… Even you… I’m…” I gulped. “If I go to prison…” I couldn’t do any more. I put the phone down, staring at the sergeant. “I didn’t do it…”
“Not for me to decide I’m afraid sir. Now, you have better get ready your first hearing will be later today.”
My heart froze. I knew the process had to start. I’d been charged and now I would go to court for the first hearing. I would need to go to the Crown Court for trial and that could be in months. It meant, if I didn’t get bail, and the officers had made it clear I wouldn’t. I would be going to prison on remand.
I gripped the counter in front of me. Waves of nausea hitting me, my knees gave way beneath me and I hit the ground.
* * *
I looked around, I was lying back on the plastic bed in a cell, there was a nurse beside me, she shone a light in my eyes before ripping a blood pressure cuff from my arm.
“He just fainted.” The nurse sighed. “Look, he’s fine.” She stood up giving me a disgusted glance.
“Right, it’s time for you to get to court.” I was asked to stand up and was brusquely handcuffed before being led from the cell out to a waiting prison van. I sat waiting until the vehicle engine started. We drove a short distance to the courts. There was a bustle of noise, shouts and flashes from outside of the van and, as I was led into the court building, I could see photographers and a jostle of journalists.
Time passed slowly until I was brought into the courtroom. I sat, staring at my feet, still in my dusty breeches, field boots and my polo shirt embroidered with the Glebe Farm logo, my clothing felt incongruous in these surroundings.
“All rise.” I was dragged to my feet as the judge walked into the courtroom. An older lady sat behind the bench.
It was a blur; my supposed crimes were read out loud. I was accused of the murder of Olivia, how did I plead. I tried to say I hadn’t done it but was cut short.
“Mr Bishop, how do you plead? Guilty or not guilty?”
“Not guilty?” I gulped; my throat dry.
I was to be held on remand before my trial. There was no bail offered in the circumstances. I heard shouts from the gallery above, glancing up I saw people baying for me, yelling abuse and, on the back row there was Sally, staring down impassively as I was dragged away.
* * *
“Mrs Bishop?” I responded and the male voice continued. “Hello, my name is Will Taylor, I work for Medina, Woolf and Sutton solicitors. Your solicitor Fraser Tate called me, he said he had seen you and had suggested you speak with us.”
“Yes, of course, Mr Tate the solicitor.”
“Okay, well, I have some news. Mr Bishop has already had his first hearing. Yes, I know. However, these things can happen pretty quickly. Not to worry, it can be more of a formality in this sort of case. I’m sorry to say that he was not allowed bail so has been remanded in custody.” I questioned this. “Prison, Mrs Bishop. It means your husband will be held in prison until his case is ready to be heard at the Crown Court.”
“Oh, God… How long will he be there?”
“Mrs Bishop, I need you to know that we will do all we can for your husband. However, we have to prepare a case, as does the prosecution and there is a long backlog of cases for the Crown Court…”
“How long?”
“Honestly, it will be at least a year, maybe two… Mrs Bishop? Hello, are you still there?”
* * *
It was Caroline who came and fetched me from the farmhouse. I could see she was uncomfortable, not least by the way she was avoiding eye contact with me.
“Caroline, what’s up?”
“Kate it’s…” She gulped, clearly looking for a form of words that would not upset me. I closed my eyes for a moment to stop the tears which had been in them for days. “It’s a horsebox, Oscar’s here…”
I followed her out onto the yard and there was a large commercial horsebox parked in the driveway. The rear door was open and I could see Steel Secret, or Oscar as we would call him being led down the ramp.
I wasn’t sure what specifically broke me, but, if I was to name a point in time where the enormity of what was happening to me truly hit home, it would be the time that Adam’s horse returned to the yard without him.
Jacqueline rushed across the yard towards me. She dealt rapidly with the driver, signing whatever paperwork there was and arranging the girls to take the horse and its tack before putting her muscular arms around my shoulders and holding me as I wept.
* * *
“The first hearing of Adam Bishop, the man
