by AB Morgan
Annette answered in measured terms, confirming that Lorna was a resilient individual who had shown genuine affection for Konrad and who was not known to behave vindictively. ‘She had her heart broken when he ended their relationship, but then again he was devastated too.’
Konrad exchanged a hopeful grin with Barney, relieved that there was a positive representation beginning to emerge of the relationship he and Lorna shared. His optimism was short-lived, for within moments of Rupert Van Dahl taking up the cross-examination for the prosecution Annette’s contribution was all but nullified.
‘You have known Lorna Yates for four years you say. Did she ever mention to you that she had worked in a brothel?’
‘No.’
‘Did she reveal to you that she’d spent time in an institution for mental health problems? Or been brought up in care?’
‘No.’ Annette’s shoulders dropped.
‘We can safely say then that your friendship was not as close as you have led us to believe. Did Lorna Yates talk to you about how she and Naomi Woods rekindled their friendship when they worked together at La Maison?
‘No.’
‘Surely she must have mentioned that she had deliberately applied for a job in Bangor at BBC Wales to be close to where Konrad Neale’s children were at university and therefore tantalisingly near to where he was likely to be seen?’
‘No, I don’t believe that was her intention at all. She moved from London once they split up in order not to see him again. She wasn’t just based in Bangor, she worked for other studios and departments for BBC Wales.’
‘The police investigation strongly indicates that Naomi Woods and Lorna Yates conspired to bring about the humiliation and personal destruction of Konrad Neale. The evidence suggests that they worked together to entice him into having a night of sexual extremes, they drugged him, filmed the action and then Lorna Yates, as the woman scorned, deliberately disfigured my client in an act of violent vengeance. You visited Lorna Yates in prison seven times in all. What did she tell you about the attack on my client?’
‘Not much. She can’t remember any of it. But she didn’t set him up, I’m sure of it.’
‘I put it to you that Lorna Yates used you as a friend of convenience and that you know little or nothing about her. My esteemed legal colleagues have sought to paint a rosy picture where in fact a darker truth resides. No further questions.’
Konrad was astounded by how swiftly and efficiently the barristers twisted words and facts to suit, but most of all he was dismayed at the misuse of facts to guide the jury into believing their argument.
My own barrister is condemning Lorna to being found guilty of something she didn’t do. Is this the final twist of the knife from Tessa fucking Carlton?
He looked at Naomi Woods sitting placidly in the dock and saw her aim an almost imperceptible smirk at her brief. Whatever their scheme was, it was on course. From where he was sitting Mrs Steele was playing a game of double agents. She led for the defence but in favour of her own client, and was setting up Lorna to take the blame for grievous bodily harm and attempted blackmail. Mr Drysdale would have to up his game if Lorna were to stand any chance of a not guilty verdict.
Mr Harry Drysdale stood to re-examine Annette.
‘You said just now that my client, Lorna Yates, failed to recall any of the events which occurred on the night of May thirteen this year. During your visits to see her in prison, at any time did she disclose knowledge of the events of that night, anything at all?’
‘No. She really had no memory of it. Nothing. She remembered waking up and finding Konrad seriously injured. Lorna was convinced that an intruder had attacked them. She was devastated to be charged with assault. Lorna isn’t capable of attacking anyone like that deliberately.’
Konrad let out a slow breath and Barney did the same sitting beside him, hands clasped between his knees.
39
Naomi took out her mobile phone. These were considered contraband in prison, but inmates managed to smuggle them in without too much difficulty; mostly to order drug delivery by drone, or to stay in touch with the felonious outside world. She recorded her diary via the small camera as a video selfie. She couldn’t imagine how she would cope inside the remand centre without her personal chat with Konrad. Once complete, she would simply upload it to her data cloud. She sat on her bed, leaning against the wall.
‘I should have been a lawyer. They are among the most highly paid liars, short of world leaders and politicians. What a shame the opportunity never arose, I would have been a QC by now, I reckon. Still, there’s no use in dwelling on fantasies. I had a simple mission in life to complete instead, which I would have done if you hadn’t cocked it up for me, Konrad.
‘I look at you across the courtroom, sitting with what’s left of your sad pathetic family or with your fat friend, and I experience a certain satisfaction at what I’ve achieved of your demise so far. Your face is a mangled mess, your false eye was enough to frighten children, I hear, and that eye patch barely makes up for it. Your son is dead, Lorna’s going to prison for years, your wife divorced you – more’s the pity – your daughter despises you, and your once-adoring public are ridiculing you. Yet I could have done so much better. Yes, really, I could.
‘As far as Delia is concerned I should have thought that through more thoroughly. You would have suffered to a much greater extent if I’d managed to keep you two incarcerated in holy matrimony and trapped inside that hideous house for the rest of your days. Pure torture. I would have put cameras everywhere and watched the destruction like a soap opera or death by nagging in the Big Brother house. “Konrad has entered the diary room, he can take no more of Delia’s incessant bleating about money and he’s hanging a rope from the rafters.” What a missed opportunity.
‘And, you know, I was too impulsive killing Freddie so early on in the script; I could kick myself for that error. I was sloppy and directionless probably because he was making too much emotional fuss. This is what happens when I become angry, Konrad. You made me so fucking infuriated by undoing years of my work that I become impulsive. Me and Josh had a respectable business, a house worth a million with no one any the wiser about Helena, or Tessa, their parents or Richard. Then you started asking your questions.
‘This is a pattern that repeats itself, Konrad. When people don’t do as I ask, or as I tell them, then I have to be rid of them. Helena was a good pupil but she should never have tried to come between my prize and me. I warned her, and like you she tried to take me on at my own game. Silly idea.
‘Tessa made exactly the same basic error, stupid bitch. Her mouth was her downfall. Too full of her own self-importance, too keen to show off how evil she was. It’s us quiet ones you have to watch, just like Dr Tyrell said.
‘At least Freddie made it into one of the major scenes; Tessa didn’t even make it through scene one, act one. She’s somewhere in Elveden Forest, underneath a hump in one of the many cycle paths. I’ve no idea where, they all look the same to me. Decent of me to keep her memory alive by introducing her to you and to Matthew Hawley, don’t you think? Letters from a dead woman, an email from an ex-boyfriend of Helena’s that doesn’t exist.
‘You work it out.
‘Mrs Steele is my heroine. She takes no prisoners that woman, and the jury are convinced that Lorna put me up to filming you both. Excellent skills of persuasion and a confident performance. Brava, Mrs Steele!
‘I don’t even remember your Lorna being at Willow Hall, she sounded like a proper goodie two shoes, the young Lorna Yates, but by the time I did see her at La Maison she wasn’t so passive. If I’m right, she wasn’t a bad barmaid actually. Nice figure, healthy looking, flirty with the clientele but efficient with her service. Don’t despair, Konrad, she wasn’t escort material, not in a million years. Like me, though, she was there to use and take advantage of men. In her case, it was to make a move into a better career on the back of the connections to be made in a place like that. No questions are a
sked about your fictional CV at interviews if the person recommending you for the job is the boss.
‘She went into marketing and public relations, and I went into recruitment just as I’d planned. I never saw her again until I spied her on the pier with you. Even then I couldn’t place where I’d seen her before. It was Delia who was so helpful in the golf club at filling certain gaps for me, without me asking her a single question. Bless her.
‘My Josh did well in the witness stand this afternoon, don’t you think? He sang my praises, and then when he had the jury feeling sorry for him, he wept. I have to say I’m irritated that he felt it necessary to shake your hand when he sat next to you afterwards. I’ll have to consider whether I’ll file that gesture under good manners in the face of adversity or betrayal. It will depend on the outcome of this trial and the next one.
‘Mrs Steele thinks that even if I’m found guilty of conspiracy in this case, I’ll get a not guilty verdict for Freddie’s murder, based on the circumstantial nature of the forensic evidence. No witnesses, you see. He had an unlucky brush with asphyxiation and I had an alibi. Not cast iron, but good enough to place doubt in the minds of any jury.
‘Anyway, shall we see what happens next? Exciting, isn’t it?’
40
Konrad couldn’t take his eyes off Lorna’s face as she stood pale in the witness stand. He prayed silently for her to be strong and not to cave into the bullying tactics of Mrs Steele in her aim to place Lorna in the frame for assault and attempted blackmail.
Mr Drysdale began his examination of her statement. ‘Miss Yates, you say you have no memory of the evening in question from the time of entering Mr Konrad Neale’s hotel room, and that you did not notice anyone following you as you approached his room. Is that correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘You state that you recall nothing until you awoke after five the next morning to find Mr Neale seriously injured. What was the first thing you did?’
‘I made use of a towel to try to cover the wounds on his head then I called the hotel reception to ask for help and to get the emergency services.’
‘The court has heard from Mr Martin Friar, the duty manager, that room 110 was in a state of disarray when he arrived and that you were trying to care for Mr Neale and clearly in a state of shock. My colleagues have tried to persuade the jury that you carried out a deliberate attack on Mr Neale in revenge for his decision to end your relationship. Is that correct?’
‘No. Konrad and I had in fact made a decision to rekindle our friendship and he had already informed his wife that he was seeking a divorce. I left that evening with no plan other than to go home to bed. I wouldn’t have returned to The Management Centre if I hadn’t had an urgent call from reception.’
‘Did you make any arrangements with Naomi Woods to drug Konrad Neale, film yourself having sex with him, and to blackmail him as an act of revenge.’
‘No, I did not. I hadn’t seen Naomi Woods since I worked at La Maison.’
‘But you knew she was involved in some way with a documentary that Konrad was filming.’
‘I knew someone by that name was involved. I didn’t think for one moment that it would be the same person.’
‘The CCTV at the hotel shows Naomi Woods entering the hotel through a side entrance a short distance from Mr Neale’s room, and police reports suggest that she waits for you to pass by before following you into Mr Neale’s room. How do you explain that?’
‘I didn’t hear or see her. I know that someone forced his or her foot into the doorway and then I remember Konrad shoving me out of the way. After that, nothing. I remember nothing until the morning.’
‘Mr Neale says he recalls a powdery substance being blown into your faces by the intruder. Do you recall this?’
‘No. I can’t remember that happening. I wish I could.’
‘It would have been simpler for you to lie about that, and of course it would make my job so much easier if you had, but I confirm for the court, that you have stuck consistently to the statement you first made to the police.’
‘It’s the truth.’
‘Do you deny that you willingly or knowingly carried out an assault on Mr Konrad Neale on the night of the thirteenth of May this year?’
‘Yes, because I cannot remember and I would never have hurt Konrad. I have no good reason to.’
When it was her turn to cross-examine, Mrs Steele picked up her pen and held it delicately between finger and thumb of each hand before using it as a small baton to emphasise her questions to Lorna.
‘Miss Yates, can you confirm for the court that you sent several texts from your mobile phone to my client Naomi Woods on the night in question?’
Annette threw another log into the wood burning stove and closed the door carefully to avoid burning herself on the cast iron. Barney pulled the cork on their second bottle of red wine. ‘I miss beer, mate. Can’t we risk going to the pub?’
‘Maybe tomorrow, when it’s all over,’ Konrad grumbled. ‘We can drown our sorrows or celebrate with copious amounts of beer, depending on the verdict. Right now, I can’t even think about it without feeling sick.’ Konrad sat, elbows on the table, swilling wine rhythmically around the bowl of his glass.
‘I think it’ll be okay. You could see how much the jury believed Lorna when she spoke. They know she wasn’t lying and her barrister played a clever hand I thought. As for that other devious cow…’
‘Naomi Woods?’
‘No, I was thinking of the spiky-nosed Mrs Steele. She’s something else. Intelligent, but incredibly dislikeable. I think that will be Naomi’s downfall because Mrs Steele is like the villain in a pantomime and Naomi is her evil twin. They told lie after lie and I wasn’t fooled for one minute by the ridiculous suggestion that Lorna and Naomi were old friends and that Naomi, of all people, was persuaded to join Lorna in blackmail and revenge for money. Naomi doesn’t need money. The arguments were completely flawed.’
‘You say that, Netty, but when they produced Lorna’s and Naomi’s phone messages from that night, the texts quite clearly showed they plotted it all together.’ Barney poured a couple of glugs of red wine into Annette’s glass while she cut more bread to go with the slowly disappearing cheese mountain laid out on a large wooden board in the middle of the kitchen table in the cottage at Llanrug. The Brie had all but disappeared leaving Port Salut, Wensleydale with cranberries, and some vintage cheddar to be finished off with the selection of chutneys and olives that Annette had supplied for a late evening snack.
‘Any idiot could work out that Naomi had stolen the phone, sent messages back and forth then dropped the phone back through Lorna’s letter box before Naomi then drove back to The Management Centre. Harry Drysdale wiped the floor with that piece of evidence. The timings of the texts fitted exactly with the two of you having dinner then the CCTV footage in the car park when you were snogging. Lorna couldn’t have sent any messages. It’s a long stretch of the imagination to believe that Lorna would want anything to do with that devious manipulative bitch Naomi.’
Konrad spat crumbs across the table. ‘It’s more unbelievable that an intelligent young man like Josh Hawley fell for her.’ He had just taken a bite of crusty bread. ‘Not only fell for her but is practically mesmerised by her. Just like my Freddie.’
‘Oi, spit somewhere else! You put crumbs in my wine, you thoughtless twerp.’ Barney pretended to be cross.
‘Sorry, didn’t see it.’
‘Lame excuse for bad manners, Cyclops. Didn’t your mother teach you not to talk with your mouth full?’
‘Now, now children, stop bickering and tell me what the detective man said today,’ Annette chided the pair.
Gethin Anwell had managed to snatch a couple of precious minutes with Konrad and Barney in the gents toilets at the courts, shortly after the judge adjourned the hearing for the day. He disclosed in hushed tones that there was likely to be an appeal into the conviction of Matthew Hawley based on the outcome of the case against Lorna
Yates and Naomi Woods.
‘Detective Chief Inspector Anwell is a bloody decent chap. His colleagues who had investigated Helena’s murder have been watching the proceedings here with interest. They reckon there’s a distinct possibility that Naomi used the same drug to instruct Matthew Hawley to kill his own wife. That’s why he didn’t remember anything. Naomi Woods had the motive and given the evidence about her contact with the underground Chinese chemist, she had the means to kill Helena and maybe Richard too.’
‘No. It still doesn’t make any sense that she would then risk all that wealth and stability to bring about your downfall or kill Freddie.’ Annette sat back in her chair wiping butter from her chins.
‘That’s because you don’t think like a psychopath,’ Konrad said with authority. He had been wondering about exactly the same issue for the past six months and concluded that Dr Tyrell had been the closest to explaining why Naomi had followed a path that inevitably led to her own arrest.
‘Containment. That was the word Sarah Tyrell used. She said people with extreme disorders of personality seek boundaries or containment. They become out of control and driven by all the negative stuff: envy, jealousy, anger, revenge and the rest of it. But whatever they do they don’t seem to achieve a sense of fulfilment. So they do even worse things. Naomi experienced most satisfaction from being destructive and seeing the results. It’s all been a game that’s got out of control and getting locked up will contain her.’
‘What a load of old psychobabble bollocks.’ Barney snorted. ‘She’s a twisted evil bitch. That’s it. Don’t dress it up in poxy medical lingo. She’s a bad ’un.’
‘Well said.’ Annette leant against Barney and pinched his cheek. ‘And anyway, where is Tessa in all this?’
‘Now that’s a hell of a good question.’
‘Miss Woods, you have told the court that the digital camera you were using on the night in question ran low on battery power, which is why you stopped filming. Can you explain why you left your so-called friend, Lorna Yates, in the hotel room when you departed from the hotel, drove your hire car to the station, and then caught a train to London?’
