If we take the saliva evidence from the voice distorter alone, it is clear that you were the only person who used it. Nor was Eleanor a signatory to the bank accounts you opened. In addition, Ms. Gemma Squires's evidence relating to your sudden interest in Leo and Elizabeth Lockyer-Fox in July, and in any secrets Vera Dawson would have known about the family, suggests you were complicit long before Eleanor became involved toward the end of October.
I would not be doing my duty if I did not remind you that Courts impose stiffer penalties when a plea of "not guilty" is found to be unsustainable. The charges you face have been considerably reduced since police and prosecution accepted your assurance that you had no knowledge of the guns in Wells's bus or of his murderous intent. However, again, I must point out that your ignorance of these facts undermines your proposed defense of intimidation.
If you had no idea that Wells was the sort of man who went armed and was prepared to attack anyone who thwarted him, then your defense looks unconvincing. If you knew he was armed, then you may be in danger of having charges reinstated, namely those relating to Wells's possession of illegal weaponry. I do urge you to give a thorough consideration to these conflicting positions in the next few days, particularly as you have no satisfactory explanation for how amounts to the value of £75,000 came to be in your bank account.
Your stockbroker has no knowledge of the shares you claim to have sold, nor have you been able to supply documentary proof that you ever owned them. The situation is further complicated by allegations from your former employer that you were offered early retirement after an "expenses" fraud pertaining to a 10-year period was uncovered in your department. While you denied, and continue to deny, involvement in this fraud, it is nevertheless naive to close your eyes to the implications of a police investigation into your activities there. A true accounting of funds is necessary if you are not to face additional charges.
Had you chosen to remain silent during questioning instead of allowing yourself to be provoked, then a change of solicitor might indeed bring "an unbiased eye" to your case. However, I am bound to tell you that I do not think silence would have helped you. The evidence against you is forensic as well as circumstantial and any solicitor would advise you to reconsider your defense in light of it.
The prosecution can produce witness evidence that you met Brian Wells in a pub on 23 July, although they will have difficulty proving design rather than accident. Vera Dawson's evidence is inadmissible because of her senile dementia; therefore Wells's claim that you met several times subsequently at Manor Lodge is unproven. However, Ms. Squires's assertion that she accompanied you there on 26 July and saw Brian Wells through the window is damaging, as is your 24 October email to her describing your wife as "an idiot. She'll believe anything of L-F because she hates him so much." Inferences will certainly be drawn, as Eleanor's meeting with Brian Wells and "Vixen" took place on 23 October.
On 27 December 2001 you denied being shown any Monet sketches by Colonel or Mrs. Lockyer-Fox, a fact attested to by the Colonel. Yet fingerprint evidence shows that both you and Wells handled one of the Monet sketches, stored in the Colonel's strong room for the last two years, which substantiates Wells's claim that he delivered it to you and you told him to replace it because it was too "well authenticated" to sell. Further, you have been unable to explain why your fingerprints were found on several items of silverware in Brian Wells's bus. There is witness evidence to prove you sold items of jewelry in Bournemouth that have since been identifled as belonging to Ailsa Lockyer-Fox. Most damagingly, the envelope containing the letter to your wife and purporting to come from Leo Lockyer-Fox carries your DNA in the saliva residue on the stamp.
With respect, you have offered no plausible rebuttal to this evidence except to say that Ms. Squires is "a desperate bitch who'll say anything because she fancies DS Monroe" and "the fingerprint evidence is a plant." This will not wash with a judge and jury, and I ask you to recognize that my efforts to have your charges reduced will result in a moderate sentence if Colonel Lockyer-Fox and his family are spared any more pain and distress. By the same token, the Court will give you little sympathy if you force the Colonel's granddaughter to listen to accusations of incest which are evidentially untrue.
In conclusion, I should like to remind you that solicitors, too, have a right of dismissal. While I understand your numerous frustrations, particularly in relation to divorce proceedings, loss of friends, and inability to move away, I am not obliged to put up with the sort of language you used this morning. Should it happen again, I will certainly insist that you consult another partnership.
Yours sincerely,
Gareth Hockley
Gareth Hockley
32
EARLY NOVEMBER 2002
Nancy parked by the Lodge and walked up through the vegetable garden. It was very different from the last time she'd been there, nearly a year ago, when Bovington had released her to recuperate at home in Herefordshire. She had expected to return in the summer, but it hadn't happened. Instead she had been posted back to Kosovo.
The beds had been dug and a polytunnel was sheltering winter greens from frost and wind. She opened the gate into Ailsa's Italian courtyard. The tubs had been planted with chrysanthemums, Michaelmas daisies, and everlasting pansies, and someone had swept the cobbled ground and painted the scullery door and windows. Children's bicycles leaned against the wall and she could hear music coming from the kitchen.
She opened the door into the impeccable scullery and tiptoed through to where Bella was setting out trays of glasses and canape's. She looked no different from the last time Nancy had seen her, still swathed in purple, still as wide as a house, still with cropped peroxided hair. "Hello, Bella," she said from the doorway.
The woman gave a whoop of pleasure and ran forward to clasp her arms around Nancy's waist in a massive bear hug. "I knew you'd come. Mark thought you'd duck it at the last minute but I said, no chance."
Nancy laughed. "I might have done if you hadn't clogged my phone with messages." She allowed herself to be drawn into the kitchen. "Wow!" she said, staring about the newly decorated walls. "It looks great, Bella… smells good, too."
"It's a labour of love, darlin'. Poor old Manor. It never did no one no harm, but it's sure seen some trials and tribulations. I've got most of the downstairs rooms up and running… new decor… bloody tasteful. The Colonel reckons it's an improvement… wouldn't let me use purple, though." She cupped Nancy's face in her hands. "What's with coming to the back? You're the guest of honor. I oiled the front door specially so it wouldn't squeak."
Nancy smiled. "I thought it'd be easier to sneak down the corridor and mingle a bit before anyone noticed me."
"Fat chance! Mark's been mooching around like a bear with a sore head, and the Colonel's been watching the clock since yesterday afternoon." Bella turned away to fill a glass with champagne. "Here, have a little Dutch courage. You look great, darlin'. Didn't know you had legs."
Nancy smoothed her skirt self-consciously. "How's James?"
"Good. Has the odd down day, but he perks up again when your letters arrive. He worries about you. Keeps scouring the newspapers to make sure there's been no enemy action in your sector. He's always on the blower to your mum 'n' dad, wanting news. Did they tell you they came down for a visit?"
She nodded. "I gather my mother gave Zadie and Gray a crash course in pruning."