‘That is correct.’
Taken by you?’
‘Three were.’
‘Did you take the first, upon her admission?’
‘Yes.’
‘That first test, upon her admission, would have been for a particular and specific purpose, would it not?’
‘Yes.’
‘What?’
‘Mrs Lomax had quite severe injuries, to her arms and hand. She’d lost blood. It was necessary to give her a transfusion.’
‘Before which you had to establish what?’
‘Her blood group.’
‘Why was it you who took that first sample?’
‘I was the duty emergency doctor that day.’
‘How long did it take pathology to identify Jennifer Lomax’s blood group?’
Lloyd shrugged. ‘Maybe thirty minutes. As I’ve said, it was considered an emergency: there’s a fast-track system. By the time the wounds had been cleaned and Mrs Lomax prepared for surgery, we had the results.’
‘Which were?’
‘That Mrs Lomax’s blood group is B Rhesus Positive.’
‘Which was the blood you transfused?’
Lloyd appeared surprised by the question. ‘Of course.’
‘What effect would there have been upon Mrs Lomax if blood other than B Rhesus Positive had been transfused?’
The doctor appeared even more confused. ‘An extremely severe reaction. Anything else would have been incompatible. She would have gone into shock: could even have died from renal failure.’
‘But Mrs Lomax did not go into shock or suffer any adverse effects from your transfusion?’
Lloyd shook his head, bewildered. ‘No.’
‘During the pathological examination of blood samples subsequently taken from Mrs Lomax, would the group always be identified?’
‘Yes. The check system requires it.’
‘Do the medical records in front of you show the blood group of those four other separate tests?’
‘Yes.’
‘What are they?’
‘The only group they could be, of course, B Rhesus Positive.’
‘Thank you, doctor. I am extremely obliged,’ said Hall, sitting. As he did so he turned invitingly to Keflin-Brown, who shook his head against any re-examination. After the constant groundswell of noise with which Jennifer had been surrounded on the previous two days, the court was now breathlessly silent as everyone tried to understand what was unfolding. The burn of Jane’s presence was definitely hotter and Jennifer felt herself sweating again. She reached out herself for the ever-ready handkerchief, using it to dab her upper lip and forehead. There was an unintended jerk, a twitch of frustration, but Jennifer easily kept her hand steady.
‘I call Professor Hewitt,’ announced Hall. He was enjoying himself, savouring the reversal, refusing to be distracted by the underlying uncertainty. Jarvis was according him every consideration, no longer interrupting. And there had been nothing from Jennifer, in the dock. At the thought he turned to look at her, smiling slightly. This time Jennifer did smile back, although doubtfully.
The Home Office pathologist was a thin, bespectacled man with mousy, receding hair. He entered the witness-box briskly, a busy man irritated at being bothered a second time.
Discerning the man’s mood, Hall said, ‘There is only what you may regard as a small matter upon which I am going to ask you to assist the court, professor, but I must ask you to accept my word it is of vital importance. Gerald Lomax had been the victim of a violent and sustained attack, had he not?’
‘Yes.’
‘During which he had received wounds and injuries described by you during your earlier testimony as massive?’
‘Yes.’
‘As well as examining those massive wounds, about which you’ve already told us, and ascertaining that Gerald Lomax was not suffering any medical condition that might have contributed to his death, did you also take a sample of Gerald Lomax’s blood?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you have it pathologically analysed.’
‘I did not do it personally. It was forensically analysed by Doctor Billington.’
‘Quite so. He would have advised you of his findings, though, to complete your report?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can you tell the court the grouping?’
Hewitt flicked through the manila folder he had carried into the box. ‘AB Rhesus Positive.’
‘It is a customary forensic practice in such cases of violent attack and death for a pathologist to take samples of detritus that may be found beneath a victim’s fingernails, is it not?’
‘Yes.’
‘Help the court by telling us why that is done?’
‘It is invariably instinctive for people to try to fight off their attackers: do something in self-defence. It is very common to find skin or blood particles or hair beneath a victim’s fingernails.’
‘Did you carry out such tests upon Gerald Lomax?’
‘Yes.’
‘And recover the evidence you sought?’
‘Yes. Some skin particles and blood. There was no hair.’
An idea of what more he could do burst upon Jeremy Hall, so startling that for several moments he remained unspeaking, lost even to his surroundings. It would be absolutely conclusive and sensational – far more sensationally conclusive than he was already sure he could prove Jennifer’s innocence – but he needed time and consultation to decide whether to go that far.
He was brought back to the present by a cough from the judge. Jarvis said, ‘Mr Hall?’ There was none of the irritability of before.
‘I beg the court’s pardon, my Lord,’ apologized Hall. ‘What did you do with these samples, professor?’
‘Passed them on for forensic analysis.’
‘Do you know the results of those analyses?’
‘The blood was O Rhesus Negative. I do not know about skin comparison.’
There was a sound in Jennifer’s head, like a sharp intake of breath, at the same time as a stir of growing, although still doubtful, realization from the press. Outwardly – audibly throughout the court – the disturbance was very brief, quickly shrouded in total silence.
‘ Fuck! ’ That was quiet, too. Not even addressed to Jennifer.
‘In your expert opinion, professor, would those samples from beneath the fingernails of Gerald Lomax have come from his attacker, in his desperate attempt to fight that attacker off?’
‘Unquestionably.’
‘I want to challenge you upon that, professor. Unquestionably? Beyond any reasonable doubt, in your mind?’
‘Unquestionably beyond any reasonable doubt.’
Again Keflin-Brown did not re-examine.
Anthony Billington came into the witness-box wearing the same taut, second-skin suit, his freckle-dotted face creased with curiosity at his recall. Because of its importance, Jeremy Hall began by taking the forensic expert through his qualifications and years of experience in his highly technical science.
‘You head the Home Office forensic pathological investigation team?’
‘Yes.’ Billington’s face coloured slightly, at the acknowledgement.
‘I would like to explore more fully than I did earlier upon what you found when you entered Gerald Lomax’s office, on the day of the murder. His body – and Mrs Lomax – were still in situ?’
‘Yes.’
‘You told us you took blood samples?’
‘Yes.’
‘How?’
‘Both were – in the case of the man had been – bleeding profusely. I took slide provision.’
‘Explain to us what slide provision means.’
‘I quite simply took samples of blood, from both people, later to transfer on to slides, for scientific examination.’
‘Externally, from their weeping wounds. Not by intravenous extraction?’
‘It was not necessary to draw blood off by needle.’
‘Wouldn’t that open the possibility of error? Picking up, for example, blood that might have splashed from another wounded person and not been that of the person to which you later ascribed it?’
‘The circumstances of this case – of my scene-of-crime examination – were extremely unusual. The victim and his attacker were still there. No-one else had been involved. I lifted blood samples not from just one but from several open wounds of both people. By taking more than one sample and from separate sites, I ensured no splash error could contaminate my analysis.’