Verdict Unsafe by Jill McGown Read Free Book Online Page B

what?”
    “Stunts and that. It would be more dangerous in the dark. No lights. Like bombers during the war.”
    There was a muttering in the public gallery as the word bomber was mentioned.
    “What time did you arrive there?”
    “About half eleven.”
    “And how long were you there?”
    “A couple of hours. Then I packed it in and went home.”
    “And why did you stop in the town?”
    “I needed a slash, so I took the bike up an alley.”
    Harper turned to the judge. “What Mr. Drummond means is—”
    “I know what Mr. Drummond means, thank you, Mr. Harper,” said the judge testily, and turned to Drummond. “Do you always relieve yourself in alleys?” he asked.
    “No, sir, but they close the toilets at half seven, and I was desperate. I couldn’t even wait until I got home.”
    “Carry on, Mr. Harper,” sighed the judge.
    “Can you tell the court in your own words what happened in the alley?”
    “I was on my way back to the bike when I saw this girl.”
    “You are referring to Miss Benson?”
    “Yeah. I’d seen her hanging around the Ferarri. She’s a hooker. She said did I want a …” His voice trailed off, as though he were too gently nurtured to quote her. He looked at the judge, then back at Harper. “To have sex,” he said. “Only that wasn’t how she put it. So I said OK, and paid her, and we … you know. Only the next thing I know she’s telling me to—” He broke off, and looked at the judge again. “To go away,” he said. “I said I wanted my money back, but she starts … you know, effing and blinding, and I put my hand over her mouth to stop her yelling, because these guys were coming. But she wouldn’t stop, so I gave up and went back to the bike. And I’ve got on the bike, and I’ve tried to start it, when someone’s pulled me off, and next thing I know there are cops everywhere, and she’s saying I raped her.”
    “Why didn’t you tell the police that you had paid her for sex?”
    Drummond looked down at his feet as he spoke in a low voice. “I didn’t want them knowing I had to pay for it,” he said.
    “But she was saying you had raped her—surely you didn’t want them to believe that?”
    “Well, he didn’t pay for it, did he? He just made them do everything he wanted, everything he told them to do.” He looked up then, directly at Judy, the suspicion of a smile on his lips, and for a moment he was once again the alarming young man that she had interviewed. But the jury couldn’t see the look on his face. He looked back at Harper “They said I was him. They said I’d done all those things.”
    “Did
you
say that you had?”
    “No. I never said anything.”
    “But you did make a confession in the end. Why?”
    He had told Judy why. He had made the statement because he had wanted everyone to know what he had done. He had clearly thought that he would get a couple of years at most—itwas only rape, he had said, not murder or anything. He hadn’t even used the knife. And he was only eighteen. He’d be out in twelve months, and then it would be her turn. Judy hadn’t disabused him of his idea of the sentence, but someone else had.
    “They said I’d raped that little whore. That she would swear to it in court, and they said they were going to prove I’d done them all. And I thought they would give me another going-over if I didn’t …” He shrugged, shook his head. “I was scared,” he said, his voice no more than a whisper.
    The scepticism was audible, almost tangible where Judy was sitting. A relative of one of the victims called something out; the judge warned him as to his future conduct, and the courtroom fell silent.
    “You thought you were in physical danger?”
    “Yes. I’d complained about their mates, hadn’t I? They were telling me all these things that I was supposed to have done to these women, and they said it would be better if I confessed. And the Chief Inspector, he said he was going to prove I’d done them with this DNA.