Summary Justice: 'An all-action court drama' Sunday Times (Benson and De Vere) by John Fairfax

Author:John Fairfax [Fairfax, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781408708743
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2017-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

29

Not wanting to pressurise Abigail Obiora, Amanda Grange or Jack Felbridge – at least not just yet – Tess went to the Old Bailey the next morning, leaving Archie free to study Bealing’s business files. Glencoyne called Dr Stuart McDonald to present the forensic evidence relating to blood, fingerprints, footprints and a shred of scuffed shoe leather. Benson’s cross-examination was like an illusionist’s trick. It was all in the structure of the questions and order in which they were asked. Tess had the impression of walking through the crime scene while he magically erased Collingstone’s presence.

Her fingerprints were only on the front door handle and on the edge of Bealing’s desk. Nowhere else. Not on the bottleneck. Not on the door handle that led to the warehouse. Not on Andrew Bealing’s telephone.

None of her blood was found at Hopton’s Yard at all.

None of Andrew Bealing’s blood had been found on the defendant’s coat, even though blood had sprayed from his wound and the assailant must have been standing within arm’s length of his victim.

Two of the defendant’s footprints were found at the front entrance, where snow hadn’t gathered, but nowhere else. They tied in with the fingerprints on the door handle. And yet, whoever killed Bealing had wiped the interior floors clean before leaving. Just as they’d disturbed any footprints in the warehouse. The impression created by Benson was of someone else being present at Hopton’s Yard on the night of the killing. They’d cleared away any trace of themselves, leaving behind apparent ‘clues’ that now pointed to Sarah Collingstone. In fact, they meant nothing. Except to DCI Winter and Miss Glencoyne.

But what of that shred of red leather scuffed on to a rib of concrete, thirty yards or so from the body? Dr McDonald confirmed the shred had been found at the exact spot where Kym Hamilton had seen Sarah Collingstone stumble over a Christmas kiss. Had other scuffed material been found? Yes. Had it been traced? No.

Tess needed a sip of water. But for the DNA evidence, Sarah Collingstone seemed to be walking out of the courtroom; and this, when Benson was conducting his first criminal trial, opposed by a silk of considerable experience and renown. The dominant presence in Court 1 was William Benson, not Rachel Glencoyne. He’d impressed his audience, sure, but now the show was over. Because Dr Elaine Gooding had taken the stand and was about to explain that Sarah Collingstone’s DNA was on the bottleneck that had severed Andrew Bealing’s left jugular vein. No one could upset that evidence. Not even the Great Defender, Marshall Hall. It was infallible.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.