by Dick Francis
‘Mr Mason,’ said the judge, looking down at me from the bench.
It was now time.
‘Thank you, My Lord,’ I said, rising. ‘The defence calls…’ Suddenly my mouth was dry and my tongue felt enormous. I took a sip from my glass of water. ‘The defence calls Mr Roger Radcliffe.’
Roger Radcliffe was shown into court by the usher, who directed him to the witness box. He was asked to give his full name. ‘Roger Kimble Radcliffe,’ he said confidently. He was then given a New Testament to hold in his left hand and asked to read out loud from a card. ‘I swear by almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.’
One could but hope, I thought.
I stood up but, before I had a chance to say anything, Radcliffe turned to the judge.
‘Your Honour,’ he said. ‘I have no idea why I have been asked to come here today. I knew Scot Barlow only by reputation. I have never spoken to him and he has never ridden any of my horses. Your honour, I’m a very busy man running my own company and I resent having to waste my time coming to court.’
He stood bolt upright in the witness box looking at the judge with an air of someone who had been greatly inconvenienced for no good reason. His body language was clearly asking the judge to allow him to get back to his business.
‘Mr Radcliffe,’ the judge replied. ‘The defence have every right to call whomsoever they wish, provided that their evidence is relevant to the trial. As yet, I cannot tell if that is the case here because I haven’t yet heard any of the questions that Mr Mason wishes to ask. But rest assured,’ he went on, ‘if I consider that your presence is a waste of your time, or of the court’s time, then I shall say so. But that decision shall be mine, not yours. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, Your Honour,’ Radcliffe said.
‘Mr Mason,’ invited the judge.
‘Thank you, My Lord,’ I said.
I had been thinking of nothing else all weekend except how to conduct this examination of my witness and now, when I had to start, I felt completely at sea. I had intended opening by asking him how well he knew Scot Barlow, but that point seemed to have been covered already.
I took another sip of water. The silence in the courtroom was almost tangible and every eye was onme, waiting for me to begin.
‘Mr Radcliffe,’ I said. ‘Could you please tell the jury what it is your company does?’
It was not what he had expected and he seemed to relax a little, the stress-lines around his eyes loosened a fraction and his furrowed brow flattened slightly.
‘My main business,’ he said, ‘is the running of the Radcliffe Foaling Centre.’
‘And could you please explain to the jury what that involves?’ I asked him.
Roger Radcliffe looked imploringly at the bench.
‘Is this relevant?’ the judge asked me, getting the message.
‘Yes, My Lord,’ I said. ‘I will show the relevance as my examination proceeds.’
‘Very well,’ said the judge. He turned to the witness box. ‘Please answer the question, Mr Radcliffe.’
Roger Radcliffe blew down his nose with irritation. ‘It involves exactly what the name implies.’
I waited in silence.
He finally continued without further prompting. ‘We have about two hundred mares come to us each year. The foals are delivered in special conditions with proper veterinary care on hand and a team of specially trained grooms. The whole set-up has proved very popular with owners of mares as they feel more comfortable with the care their animals receive.’
Two hundred was about double the number of mares that Larry Clayton had claimed ten days previously while he had been resting his cowboy boots on his desk, but I was hardly going to accuse Roger Radcliffe of perjury over a minor exaggeration of the size of his business.
‘And how long has your business been in operation?’ I asked him.
‘About seven or eight years,’ he said. ‘But it has become much bigger recently, and it continues to expand.’
‘And are there specific reasons for that expansion?’ I asked.
‘We are doing well,’ he said. ‘And over the last twelve months I have been able to inject a substantial investment into the business.’
‘Would that investment have been possible due to the success of your horse Peninsula?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Exactly so.’
‘Mr Radcliffe,’ I said. ‘Some members of the jury may not be familiar with horse racing so perhaps you could tell them about Peninsula.’
I glanced at the judge. He was looking at me intently and raised his eyebrows so that they seemed to disappear under the horsehair of his wig.
‘Technically, Peninsula is no longer my horse,’ said Roger Radcliffe. ‘He was syndicated for stud at the end of last year and is now part owned by a number of individuals or organizations. I have retained only two shares in him out of sixty.’
‘But you did own him throughout his racing career?’ I asked.
‘Yes, I did.’ He smiled at the memory. ‘And I bred him. I owned his mare and he was foaled at my place. I decided to keep him rather than sending him to the sales, and now I am so glad I did.’
‘So he was a success on the racecourse?’ I asked.
‘Yes, indeed he was,’ said Radcliffe. ‘He was both the Champion two-year-old and he was named Horse of the Year in 2007. But that was nothing compared with last year.’ Radcliffe was enjoying himself now and was totally relaxed. ‘He won the Two Thousand Guineas at Newmarket in May, the Derby at Epsom in June and the Breeders’ Cup Classic in California last October. It was quite a year.’ He smiled at the jury and many of them smiled back at him.
Nikki came into the courtroom and sat down next to Eleanor.
‘All set,’ she said quietly to my back.
I turned around and leaned down to her.
‘Good,’ I said quietly. ‘Keep watch from the door, I’ll give you the signal. Go back out now.’
She stood up, bowed slightly to the bench, and departed.
‘Mr Mason,’ said the judge. ‘I am sure the jury and I have enjoyed our little lesson in Thoroughbred racing, but could you please show us the relevance of your questions, or else I shall release Mr Radcliffe back to his busy business schedule.’
‘Yes, My Lord,’ I said rather sheepishly.
Roger Radcliffe continued to stand ramrod stiff in the witness box. He was enjoying my discomfort. Now, I thought, it was time to rub that smirk off his face.
‘Mr Radcliffe,’ I said to him. ‘We have heard already that you hardly knew the victim of this murder, but how well do you know the defendant, Mr Mitchell?’
‘About the same as Barlow,’ he said. ‘Mitchell has been champion jockey over the jumps. I personally don’t have jump horses but I know him by reputation. We may have met a few times at events. I really can’t remember.’
‘And how about Miss Millie Barlow, Scot Barlow’s sister. Did you know her?’
I noticed a very slight tightening of the skin around his eyes. He was getting a little worried.
‘I don’t believe I did,’ he said calmly.
It was his first lie.
‘Are you sure?’ I asked him.
‘Quite sure,’ he said.
‘She was an equine veterinary surgeon,’ I said. ‘Sadly, she died last June. Does that jog your memory?’
‘I know that a vet died during a party last year,’ he said. ‘Was that her?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It was. An inquest jury in January concluded that she had taken her own life by injecting herself with a substantial dose of the barbiturate anaesthetic thiopental.’
‘Very sad,’ he said, rather condescendingly. ‘But I can’t see the relevance.’
‘Mr Radcliffe,’ I said, ignoring his comment. ‘Were you having an affair with Millie Barlow?’
‘No I was not,’ he almost shouted. ‘How dare you suggest such a thing?’
He glance
d across at his wife, Deborah. She had come into the court with him when he had been called, and she was now sitting in the public seats behind Mr and Mrs Barlow. I turned to look at her but I couldn’t see the expression on her face.
‘Mr Radcliffe, did you attend the party where Millie Barlow died?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘As a matter of fact, I did.’
‘And can you recall if there was a reason for the party?’
‘Yes, there was,’ he said. ‘It was a party given jointly by me and Simon Dacey, at Simon’s house, to celebrate Peninsula winning the Derby.’
‘Simon Dacey being the trainer of the horse?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ Radcliffe replied.
‘Can you recall why Millie Barlow was also a guest at this party?’ I asked him.
‘Mr Mason,’ said the judge. ‘Are these questions really relevant to the case before this court?’
‘My Lord,’ I said. ‘The prosecution has previously made it clear that the relationship that existed between the defendant and Miss Barlow was a major cause of the antagonism between the defendant and the victim, and hence, they claim, it ultimately provided the motive for murder. It is my intention to explore this relationship further by reference to Miss Barlow’s untimely death last June.’
‘Very well,’ he said. ‘You may continue.’
‘Thank you, My Lord.’ I turned back to the witness box. ‘Now, Mr Radcliffe,’ I said. ‘I was asking you if you knew why Millie Barlow was invited to the party.’
‘I have no idea,’ he said. ‘I told you I didn’t know her.’
‘Then why,’ I said, picking up a piece of paper from the table, ‘did you purchase a brand-new sports car and give it to her as a gift?’
He was initially flustered, but he recovered fast. ‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’
‘I’m talking about a bright red Mazda MX-5 Roadster purchased in September 2007 from the Mazda dealership in Newbury,’ I referred to the piece of paper in front of me that Nikki had obtained from the dealership the previous Friday, ‘at a cost of fifteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty pounds.’
He stood silently in the witness box staring at me.
‘Come now, Mr Radcliffe,’ I said. ‘Are you telling the court that you did not know the person to whom you gave a brand-new car worth more than fifteen thousand pounds?’
‘I still have no idea what you are talking about,’ he said. ‘I’ve never been to any Mazda dealer.’
‘Mr Radcliffe,’ I said. ‘Last Friday my solicitor’s clerk visited the dealership and they told her they remembered this car being bought. They remembered because it was paid for, in full, with a banker’s draft, which is most unusual. The draft did not have the name of the purchaser on it. However, the sales representative remembered the purchaser, and he was able to positively identify you from this photograph.’
I held up the large glossy brochure that I had taken from the foaling centre on my first visit there, the brochure with the photograph on the front of a smiling Roger and Deborah Radcliffe standing in a paddock with some mares and foals. The same brochure I had showed first to Patrick Hamilton in his office, and then to Josef Hughes and George Barnett at Runnymede the previous Friday.
‘I can call the Mazda sales representative as a witness if you want me to.’ I paused. He said nothing. ‘Now, Mr Radcliffe, please can you tell the jury why you gave a brand-new car worth over fifteen thousand pounds to Miss Millie Barlow in September 2007?’
‘It’s none of your business,’ said Radcliffe defiantly.
‘Mr Radcliffe,’ the judge intervened. ‘You will answer the question, unless, that is, you wish to claim that, in doing so, you might incriminate yourself. And if that is the case, then, one can assume, the question may be of interest to the police.’
Radcliffe stood silent for a moment and then he smiled. ‘It was a gift to her for doing a fine job when Peninsula was foaled. She was the attending vet. I didn’t want to say so, or to give my name when I purchased the car as I didn’t want there to be a tax implication for her. I didn’t want the Inland Revenue to consider it as a payment for services and require her to pay income tax on its value, or require me to pay the National Insurance contributions.’
He stood relaxed in the witness box smiling at the jury. ‘I am sorry I tried to avoid a little tax,’ he said with a laugh. ‘We all try it occasionally, don’t we? I will pay the back tax right away.’
He had done well, I thought. Quick thinking, in the circumstances.
‘Was it not payment to her because she was blackmailing you?’ I asked him.
The smile disappeared from his face. ‘Blackmail?’ he said.
‘Yes, Mr Radcliffe, blackmail.’
‘That’s nonsense,’ he said with an air of confidence.
I turned and waved at Nikki, who was watching me through the glass panel in the courtroom door.
She entered the court followed by two other people.
All three of them bowed slightly to the bench and then came and sat behind Eleanor and Bruce.
I watched the colour drain out of Roger Radcliffe’s face as he stared at the newcomers. He gripped the sides of the witness box as if to prevent himself falling over.
Both Josef Hughes and George Barnett sat quite still and stared back at him.
‘Mr Radcliffe,’ I said calmly. ‘Do you know someone called Julian Trent?’
Roger Radcliffe was more than flustered this time. He was in a panic. I could tell from the way the skin had tightened over his face and there was a slight tic in the corner of his left eye. He stood quite still in the witness box. But I was sure that, behind those steely eyes, his brain was moving fast.
‘Julian Trent is your godson, isn’t he?’ I asked him.
‘Yes,’ he said quietly.
‘I’m sorry, Mr Radcliffe,’ I said. ‘Would you please speak up. The jury can’t hear you if you whisper.’
The irony of the comment was not lost on him. He positively glared at me.
I noticed that the press box had filled considerably since the start of the day. Word had clearly been passed outside that something was afoot and more reporters had been dispatched to the court. The public seats had also noticeably filled, and two court security officers now stood either side of the door. Detective Inspector McNeile, his evidence completed, was sat in a row of seats positioned in front of the press box, and he too was taking a keen interest in the proceedings.
I poured myself more water from the carafe on my table, and then slowly drank some of it.
‘Now, Mr Radcliffe,’ I said finally. ‘Can we return to the question of blackmail?’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he said, but the confidence had gone out of his performance.
‘We have heard that you bought a new car and then gave it to Millie Barlow,’ I said. ‘Is that correct?’
‘Yes,’ he said quietly.
‘Speak up,’ said the judge.
‘Yes,’ Radcliffe repeated louder.
‘I repeat my question,’ I said. ‘Was that car given by you to Millie Barlow as a payment for blackmail?’
‘No. That’s utter rubbish,’ he said.
I collected some more papers together in my hands.
‘These are bank statements,’ I said. ‘Millie Barlow’s bank statements. They show that she received regular payments into her account over and above her salary from the equine hospital. Can you explain these payments?’
‘Of course not,’ Radcliffe said.
‘Were these also blackmail payments, Mr Radcliffe, and did they come from your bank account?’
‘No,’ he said. But he didn’t convince me, and some of the jury looked sceptical as well.
‘Mr Radcliffe,’ I said, changing direction. ‘Do you ever have need for anaesthetics at your equine maternity unit?’
‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘Why should we?’
‘Perhaps for a Caesarean birth if a foal cannot be born naturally?’ I asked.
&nbs
p; ‘No,’ he said, suddenly back on surer ground. ‘The mare would be transferred to one of the local equine hospitals and anaesthetized there.’
‘And what would happen if a foal was born grossly deformed, or blind?’
‘That is very rare,’ he said.
‘But it must have happened at least once or twice in your experience.’
‘A few times, yes,’ he said.
‘And would the foal be immediately put down?’
He could see where I was going, and he didn’t like it.
‘I suppose so,’ he said.
‘And isn’t a very large dose of a barbiturate anaesthetic used for that purpose, a barbiturate anaesthetic like thiopental for example?’ I asked.
‘I wouldn’t know,’ he said.
‘Mr Radcliffe,’ I said, changing tack again. ‘Do you know of someone called Jacques van Rensburg?
‘I don’t think so,’ he said. But he started to sweat.
‘You may have known of him simply as Jack Rensburg,’ I said. ‘He used to work for you as a groom.’
‘We have lots of grooms during the foaling season,’ he said. ‘And they come and go regularly. I tend to use their first names only. We’ve had quite a few Jacks.’
‘Perhaps I can help you,’ I said. ‘I have a photograph of him.’
I took a stack of the Millie and foal pictures out of one of my boxes and passed them to the court usher, who passed one to the judge, one to the prosecution, six to the jury and, finally, one to Radcliffe in the witness box.
Some of the colour had returned to his face but now it drained away again and he swayed back and forth. Unfortunately both the judge and the jury had been looking at the photograph and had missed it.
‘Members of the jury,’ I said, ‘you will see that the photograph is of a new-born foal. The woman in the picture is Millie Barlow, the veterinary surgeon who had been present at the birth, and the man standing behind her, who you can clearly see in spite of the slightly blurred image, is Jacques van Rensburg, a South African citizen. Isn’t that right, Mr Radcliffe?’
‘If you say so,’ he said.
‘I do. And the foal is Peninsula, the horse that went on to be such a champion,’ I said. ‘Isn’t that right?’
