The Rapunzel Act by Abi Silver

Author:Abi Silver
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eye Books
Published: 2021-01-08T15:42:38+00:00

30

‘What have we got on the show this evening, then?’ Katrina Sadiq was back, this time cloaked in a vibrant red trouser suit. Chris was more soberly dressed in a blue shirt and dark chinos.

‘Well, we will have a summary of the day’s events in the Rosie Harper murder trial. Andy Chambers is back to give us the benefit of his legal analysis. And then we also have a reconstruction, based on the evidence provided today by Dr Theo Marcus, the forensic pathologist, but first of all, to open the show, we have our own resident psychiatrist, Dr Leslie Le Mesurier, with some psychological profiling.

Andy was backstage for now, to give the two guests space. It meant he could watch the camera crew at work again, together with all the other staff who kept the show on the road. He couldn’t help but feel enthusiastic about the whole enterprise. There was such a buzz with live TV, everything happening in real time, the excitement of creating entertainment on the hoof. He had been a little worried about his slow start yesterday, particularly given the growling voice in his ear, early on. Then, Graham had called him personally, after they’d wrapped it up, from Argentina, no less, told him they’d peaked at 1.2 million viewers during his slot and commended him on his performance. ‘Keep it edgy,’ he had said to Andy. ‘Legal but edgy.’

Phil was there again, with headphones and a mike. But it wasn’t Phil’s voice he had heard when he was on air; it must have been the stand-in producer Graham mentioned. Still, with all the background noise, and his efforts to multi-task, he couldn’t be sure. There were times when he wondered if there really had been a voice at all – another person speaking to him – or whether it had just been his inner self addressing him, reminding him that his ultimate pay was linked to viewers, and viewers wanted discord.

He wondered what Katrina would focus on today. He had seen the backlash against Judith from the domestic violence lobby, for which he had felt more than a pang of guilt. He had tried to reason that he had only praised Judith and it was not his fault if others twisted what he said. But he had known his words could be turned against her.

That made it so much more important, this evening, to put forward his own suggestions, and he had given Katrina a list; explaining why witnesses should stick to the facts and not give opinions, discussing the value of eye-witness evidence, and the vagaries of forensic medicine and why it was not the panacea everyone thought it was. The DNA stuff was topical and he could throw in plenty of anecdotes too, kind of ‘after dinner’ style. Katrina had reviewed all of these in the blink of an eye and smiled at him politely. He didn’t know, yet, whether that meant she liked or intended to run with any of them.

Andy was interested to hear Dr Le Mesurier, in any event.

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