The Little Ghost Girl by Maggie Hartley

Author:Maggie Hartley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orion

TEN

Preparations

As the weeks went by and winter turned to spring, the court case started to creep towards us. It was April and Ruth had been with us for six months now. My hopes about her father chan­ging his plea to guilty to avoid a trial faded and I knew the inev­itable was drawing closer. We were going to court and we had to start preparing Ruth for that.

A few weeks before the case was due to start, Liz brought a solicitor and a detective round to the house to meet Ruth. Seeing these two grey-haired men in suits sitting there in the living room immediately put her on edge and made her nervous.

‘Don’t be worried,’ said Liz. ‘They’re just here to tell you a little bit about going to court and what will happen.’

Ruth was next to me on the settee and she gave me an anxious look. She stared down at her hands and started peeling bits of skin from around her nails.

‘I’m Graham and I’m the solicitor who’s in in charge of the case against your father,’ one of them said. ‘It won’t be me asking you questions in court but I’ve instructed a barrister and given him all the evidence and all the things you told the police about your father.

‘I know the barrister Charles very well. He’s a nice man and he knows all about what you’ve been through and he believes everything that you said.

‘It’s his job to stand up in court and tell the jury and the judge what happened to you and why your dad should be punished for hurting you.

‘Does that make sense?’

Ruth nodded and I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

‘Will I have to go in the court?’ she asked.

Graham shook his head.

‘Nope. You won’t be going in the courtroom and standing in the witness box like adults do when they give evidence.

‘You’re going to be sitting in a special room where there will be a little camera,’ he explained. ‘There will also be a TV in there so you can see which person in the court is asking you questions or talking to you.

‘That will either be a judge or a barrister. There are two barristers who will be asking you questions – my barrister Charles and your father will have his own barrister.’

‘Are they the people you see on the telly who wear those funny wigs?’ asked Ruth.

‘Yes, you’re right,’ said Graham. ‘They normally do wear wigs but when they’re talking to you they will probably take them off to make you feel more comfortable and at ease. Is that OK?’

Ruth nodded, although I think she was a little disappointed that they wouldn’t look like they did on the TV. She was very quiet when all this was going on, although I could see her listening intently and taking it all in. As the solicitor was talking, she shifted up nearer and nearer to me on the sofa until she was practically sitting in my lap. I put my arm around her and she snuggled into me.

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