‘Yes, OK,’ she replied, dubiously.
Meg took a few further paces into the sea until the water was above the bottom of her shirt. No one was around. In addition to the breaking waves behind them, the jet-ski was buzzing back in the opposite direction. No one, she was sure, could eavesdrop on them here. She told her friend the full story.
‘Oh God, this is awful,’ Alison said when she had finished. ‘If you could find out who this bastard is, Archie would go and find him and break every bone in his body.’
‘I wish. But that’s not going to stop it, Ali, that’s not going to protect Laura. He’s probably just some hired gun. From all I’ve heard in court, this is a major and totally ruthless mob. Like — a kind of English Mafia.’
‘Megs, they might think they’re above the law but, ultimately, no one is.’
‘Maybe, but I can’t risk Laura’s life. If anything happened to her, I–I just—’ Her voice cracked.
‘Can I give you a hug?’
Meg nodded. Alison put an arm around her. ‘We’re not going to let anything happen to her, OK?’ She kissed her on the cheek.
Meg smiled then shook her head. ‘I don’t think there is anything you can do, Ali, I have to sort this out myself. I have to get the jury to deliver that “not guilty” verdict. Somehow.’
‘What, and let this guy go free?’
‘I don’t have a choice, Alison, I have to.’
‘Against all the damning evidence you’ve just told me? On the face of it, anyway, it sounds like these people are going to have to find something on the judge if you’re to have a hope in hell.’
Meg nodded, despondently. ‘That’s how it’s looking — after today, anyway.’
The pair stood in silence, watching the jet-skier whine back again, then turn in a wide arc, heeling over.
‘I know someone,’ Alison said, quietly. ‘Someone I’ve become friendly with through my Open University course. She’s married to a very high-up cop.’
Meg shook her head, alarmed. ‘You mustn’t tell anyone, please, for Laura’s sake and your own safety.’
‘Screw that, I’m not having these bastards get away with treating you like this.’
Meg touched her arm. ‘Ali, please. I’ve told you this in confidence, you mustn’t tell anyone. You mustn’t. Please. Promise me?’
Alison was quiet for a short while then she said, ‘Have you thought about it rationally, Meg — thought it through? OK, so they are blackmailing you to coerce the jury with threats to Laura. But let’s say it does end up with a “guilty” verdict — then it’s game over for them. What would be the point in them then going and killing Laura? It’s not going to change the verdict. Maybe it’s all just bluster?’
‘I’ve thought that through a thousand times, Ali. Maybe you’re right, but what if not?’
Alison shook her head. ‘I can’t believe this is happening. Not now, not in this day and age.’
‘It’s real,’ Meg replied, bleakly. ‘I don’t even know who I can trust on the jury and who I can’t.’
‘I’ve an idea,’ Alison said. ‘What about an anonymous phone call or note to the judge, telling him that two members of the jury have been nobbled, required to coerce the rest into a “not guilty” verdict? He would have to take that seriously.’
‘If he believed it.’
‘Could he afford not to?’
Meg’s mind went back to the phone call she’d had last night.
You do have a friend on the jury.
Friend, or someone else like me who you are threatening?
We are helping them just like we are helping you.
And she realized why he’d given her those details about the other juror, whoever it was. Both of them needed him. They weren’t going to be stupid enough to give the game away.
Her blackmailer would know, without any doubt, that any informant would have to be one of them.
She shook her head and explained her reasons.
‘I understand,’ Alison said. ‘God, what a predicament. You are truly stuck between a rock and a hard place. But there has to be a way through this. There always is.’
‘Really? I’m all ears.’
Alison smiled. ‘Could you throw a sickie? Feign appendicitis or something and get taken off the jury? Have something happen that’s obviously not your doing?’
‘Like falling off my bike and ending up in hospital?’
Alison shrugged. ‘Well, maybe not so dramatic. And you don’t have a bike, do you?’
Meg smiled. ‘No, that’s a bit of a problem right there!’
Alison suddenly looked very serious. ‘There’s a whole other aspect to this I hope you’re aware of.’
‘Which is?’
‘What you are doing must be completely illegal. Influencing — coercing — your fellow jurors. Do you know what would happen if you were found out?’
Meg nodded. ‘I do.’
She was well aware that she was about to break the law, but until now she’d been pushing that knowledge aside. Confronted with it starkly, out in the open, by her best friend, the true enormity suddenly rose up, engulfing her in a cloud of fear. ‘I do know, Ali. But I don’t have any choice. What’s that quote?’
Alison frowned. ‘Quote?’
Meg nodded. ‘Something like, If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I’d have the courage to betray my country.’
67
Thursday 16 May
It was growing dark when Meg finally made her way home, a little unsteadily, from the beach. The bottle and three-quarters of wine they’d drunk between them was making her feel a lot more optimistic. As Ali said, there has to be a way through this. Her parting words, as they hugged on the seafront, were, ‘Courage is knowing what not to fear.’
Someone in her street was having a barbecue and the smell made her even hungrier. She heard music and laughter coming from behind the house where the smoke was rising as she passed it and felt a pang of envy — and sadness. Nick loved doing barbecues with Will, their man-thing. Burgers, veggie burgers, steaks, lamb cutlets, chicken wings, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, king prawns and, on occasion, when he was feeling extravagant, lobsters.
She rarely ate meat any more, but what wouldn’t she give for a big seared burger slavered in mustard and ketchup, with fried onions and a gherkin squashed inside a soft bap?
Ali’s words were ringing in her head as she fumbled with the key, dropped it and bent down to pick it up. But as she entered the house, her focus switched back to food; she was starving and trying to think what she had to make a quick supper. There was a stash of microwavable dishes in the freezer, as well as a couple of vegetarian pies she’d bought on a whim recently, during an extravagant excursion to Waitrose.
In her rush to get indoors, she tripped over the front step and almost fell, face-first, into the hall. She went inside, closing the door behind her and securing the chain, and hurried through into the kitchen. Daphne was sitting on top of the tall fridge.
‘What are you doing up there, you daft thing?’ she said.
The cat was often up there, or sitting on top of the antique Welsh dresser, seemingly enjoying the commanding views it gave her.
Meg glanced at the phones, checking there were no messages, emails or a WhatsApp from Laura, then pulled open the freezer section of the fridge and rummaged through the contents of the drawers. She spotted to her delight a packet of No Bull veggie burgers from Iceland. Perfect! She’d have her own faux barbecue: the burgers, a microwaved baked potato and beans.