The Disappeared

'What do you want to do?' Alison said. 'We should have sat fifteen minutes ago. Miss Denton's getting impatient.'

Jenny drew on her dwindling reserves of strength. Deep tiredness combined with the overwhelming anxiety about everything slipping through her fingers was threatening to overwhelm her medication. Her heart was hammering against her lungs.

'I ought to tell the jury something,' she said, and got up from behind her desk. 'Keep trying McAvoy and Pironi. Who knows? Maybe they're on their way together.'

Alison raised her eyebrows. 'Stranger things have happened.'

Martha Denton rose impatiently as soon as Jenny had taken her seat at the head of the courtroom.

'May we have a word before the jury are brought in, ma'am?'

Jenny could think of no reason to refuse.

Denton produced a document. 'You won't be surprised to hear that the Secretary of State has issued a certificate of public interest immunity covering the intelligence relating to the whereabouts of Nazim Jamal or Rafi Hassan during the time immediately following their disappearance.'

Alison took a copy over to Jenny. She glanced over the impersonal text and noticed that Mr Jamal looked older today, resigned.

Jenny said, 'I suppose if I demand to see this intelligence I'll be refused.'

'If it's any help, ma'am, there is a High Court judge currently sitting in Bristol who can make himself available this afternoon.'

With his appeal-proof judgement already written, Jenny didn't doubt.

'I have several other witnesses to call, Miss Denton. I'll make my decision on this certificate when we've heard their evidence.'

With a look of surprise, Denton said, 'Surely, if you don't intend to challenge this certificate, the correct course would be to direct the jury to return an open verdict sooner rather than later. Mr Skene's statement does at least confirm that the intelligence places the missing men outside the country. It's not concrete evidence, but as far as I can see it is the best evidence that will ever be available.'

'Unless I can see it, it's no evidence at all, Miss Denton,' Jenny said, prompting an approving nod from Khan.

Denton shot straight back. 'Ma'am, although it's a highly unusual occurrence, a coroner's verdict can be overturned and a fresh inquest ordered when the verdict is clearly perverse. And although it may be frustrating, without hearing the content of this intelligence the jury can reach no credible verdict other than an open one.'

Calmly, Jenny said, 'Miss Denton, my jury will deliver a verdict of their choosing when, and only when they have heard all the available evidence. That may or may not include your so-called intelligence.'

Alison appeared at the committee-room door on the right- hand side of the hall and mouthed, 'Dr Levin's here.'

'Bring the jury in, please,' Jenny said. 'And then we'll have Dr Levin back.'

Martha Denton shot a look over her shoulder at Alun Rhys and thumped into her seat. Rhys fixed Jenny with a threatening glare, but there was nothing he could do except sit and watch. The jury filed back to their places and Sarah Levin made her way out from the committee room.

She glanced apprehensively between Jenny and the lawyers as she took her seat in the witness chair.

'You're still under oath,' Jenny said. 'I've asked you to come back to help us with a few background questions that may be of assistance. Has anyone from the police or Security

Services spoken to or made contact with you since you gave evidence yesterday?'

'No.'

'Has anyone told you what you may or may not say in evidence?'

She shook her head.

Jenny was unconvinced, but tried not to let it show. Havilland and Denton would leap at the merest suggestion of bias.

She struck a conciliatory tone. 'You were a Stevenson scholar, weren't you? After graduating, you secured a scholarship to study for your doctorate at Harvard university in the USA.'

'That's right.'

'You were one out of only a dozen or so that year.'

'Yes.'

'Did you have any American connections while you were an undergraduate at Bristol?'

'No,' Levin replied, with a trace of apprehension.

Jenny pressed on. 'A man in his forties was seen leaving Manor Hall at midnight on 28 June - the night Nazim and Rafi disappeared. He was described by Dani James as wearing a blue puffy anorak and a baseball cap. He was carrying a rucksack or holdall. Do you know who that man was?'

'I've no idea.'

'Did you know any American men at the time who met that description?'

'No . . .'

'You don't sound very sure.'

'No, I didn't.'

'Last week a man of a similar description, only several years older, was seen leaving the building where Nazim

Jamal's mother lived, only minutes after she had died. Have you met any fifty-year-old American men lately?'

Martha Denton slapped her hands on the desk in front of her as she sprang to her feet. 'Ma'am, what possible relevance could this have to the events of eight years ago?'

'Miss Denton, I'll remind you that I decide what's relevant, not you.'

'Ma'am, if I'm correctly informed, Mrs Jamal's death is currently the subject of a police investigation. It is only right that I remind you that any speculation in this court regarding it runs the risk of prejudicing the jury and invalidating their verdict.'

'Sit down, Miss Denton. And don't interrupt again.'

Jurors smiled. Martha Denton did as she was told with a venomous glare.

Jenny returned her attention to the witness. 'You haven't answered my question, Dr Levin.'

'I can answer it very well. I don't know a man meeting that description.'

'But you do know Anna Rose Crosby, don't you?'

Alun Rhys sat up sharply.

'Yes . . .' Sarah Levin said tentatively.

'Could you please tell the jury who she is?'

'She is . . . she was a student in my department. She graduated last summer.'

'And you helped get her a job last autumn as a trainee in the nuclear industry.'

'I was her tutor ... I wrote the usual references.'

'And are you aware that she has been missing for the past fortnight?'

Sarah Levin glanced anxiously at the lawyer's bench. Alun Rhys had left his seat and was crossing the floor of the hall towards them.

'I did know that, yes.'

'Are you aware that last year she became involved with a young Asian man - a postgraduate student at the university - by the name of Salim Hussain?'

'No ... I didn't know that.'

'And do you have any idea why the same American man might have been looking for her since she's been missing?'

Sarah Levin shook her head, her eyes on Rhys, Denton and Havilland. Their solicitors were hurriedly conferring.

'You've no idea at all, Dr Levin?'

'I told you, no.'

'Really? Would it help prompt your memory if I told you this man seems to have been contaminated with a radioactive substance that you'll doubtless be familiar with — '

Denton interjected. 'Ma'am, I am instructed that this line of questioning has to stop.'

'I've told you already, Miss Denton — '

Rhys leaned over the desk behind her, issued Denton with further orders and hurried from the hall.

Denton stalled, her expression of indignation replaced with one of bewilderment. 'Ma'am. I am instructed to inform you -' she spoke as if she could scarcely believe what she was about to say herself - 'that Dr Levin is a criminal suspect and will be placed under arrest immediately.'

'She's a witness in a lawful inquiry. Anyone who interferes with her giving evidence will be in contempt of court.'

Rhys crashed through the doors at the back of the room flanked by two uniformed police officers, a sergeant and a constable.

'Apologies, ma'am,' the sergeant stammered. 'I've been asked to arrest Dr Sarah Levin.'