Collected Short Stories

by Jeffrey Archer

  “Mr. Menzies, I should now like to return to your version of what happened on the night Miss Moorland was killed.”

  “Yes,” sighed Menzies in a tired voice.

  “When you visit a client to discuss one of your policies, how long would you say such a consultation usually lasts?”

  “Usually half an hour, an hour at the most,” said Menzies.

  “And how long did the consultation with Miss Moorland take?”

  “A good hour,” said Menzies.

  “And you left her, if I remember your evidence correctly, a little after six o’clock.”

  “That is correct.”

  “And what time was your appointment?”

  “At five o’clock, as was shown clearly in my desk diary,” said Menzies.

  “Well, Mr. Menzies, if you arrived at about five to keep your appointment with Miss Moorland and left a little after six, how did you manage to get a parking fine?”

  “I didn’t have any small change for the meter at the time,” said Menzies confidently. “As I was already a couple of minutes late, I just risked it.”

  “You just risked it,” repeated Sir Humphrey slowly. “You are obviously a man who takes risks, Mr. Menzies. I wonder if you would be good enough to look at the parking ticket in question.”

  The clerk handed it up to Menzies.

  “Would you read out to the court the hour and minute that the traffic warden has written in the little boxes to show when the offense occurred.”

  Once again Menzies took a long time to reply.

  “Four-sixteen to four-thirty,” he said eventually.

  “I didn’t hear that,” said the judge.

  “Would you be kind enough to repeat what you said for the judge?” Sir Humphrey asked.

  Menzies repeated the damning figures.

  “So now we have established that you were in fact with Miss Moorland some time before four-sixteen, and not, as I suggest you later wrote in your diary, five o’clock. That was just another lie, wasn’t it?”

  “No,” said Menzies. “I must have arrived a little earlier than I realized.”

  “At least an hour earlier, it seems. And I also suggest to you that you arrived at that early hour because your interest in Carla Moorland was not simply professional?”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Then it wasn’t your intention that she should become your mistress?”

  Menzies hesitated long enough for Sir Humphrey to answer his own question. “Because the business part of your meeting finished in the usual half hour, did it not, Mr. Menzies?” He waited for a response but still none was forthcoming.

  “What is your blood group, Mr. Menzies?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Sir Humphrey changed tack without warning: “Have you heard of DNA, by any chance?”

  “No,” came back the puzzled reply.

  “Deoxyribonucleic acid testing is a technique that shows genetic information unique to every individual. Blood or semen samples can be matched. Semen, Mr. Menzies, is as unique as any fingerprint. With such a sample we would know immediately if you raped Miss Moorland.”

  “I didn’t rape her,” Menzies said indignantly.

  “Nevertheless, sexual intercourse did take place, didn’t it?” said Sir Humphrey quietly.

  Menzies remained silent.

  “Shall I recall the Home Office pathologist and ask him to carry out a DNA test?”

  Menzies still made no reply.

  “And check your blood group?” Sir Humphrey paused. “I will ask you once again, Mr. Menzies. Did sexual intercourse between you and the murdered woman take place that Thursday afternoon?”

  “Yes, sir,” said Menzies in a whisper.

  “Yes, sir,” repeated Sir Humphrey so that the whole court could hear it.

  “But it wasn’t rape,” Menzies shouted back at Sir Humphrey.

  “Wasn’t it?” said Sir Humphrey.

  “And I swear I didn’t kill her.”

  I must have been the only person in that courtroom who knew he was telling the truth. All Sir Humphrey said was, “No more questions, My Lord.”

  Mr. Scott tried manfully to resurrect his client’s credibility during reexamination, but the fact that Menzies had been caught lying about his relationship with Carla made everything he had said previously appear doubtful.

  If only Menzies had told the truth about being Carla’s lover, his story might well have been accepted. I wondered why he had gone through the charade—in order to protect his wife? Whatever the motive, it had only ended by making him appear guilty of a crime he hadn’t committed.

  I went home that night and ate the largest meal I had had for several days.

  The following morning Mr. Scott called two more witnesses. The first turned out to be the vicar of St. Peter’s, Sutton, who was there as a character witness to prove what a pillar of the community Menzies was. After Sir Humphrey had finished his cross-examination the vicar ended up looking like a rather kind, unworldly old man, whose knowledge of Menzies was based on the latter’s occasional attendance at Sunday matins.

  The second was Menzies’s superior at the company they worked for in the City. He was a far more impressive figure, but he was unable to confirm that Miss Moorland had ever been a client of the company.

  Mr. Scott put up no more witnesses and informed Mr. Justice Buchanan that he had completed the case for the defense. The judge nodded and, turning to Sir Humphrey, told him he would not be required to begin his final address until the following morning.

  That heralded the signal for the court to adjourn.

  Another long evening and an even longer night had to be endured by Menzies and myself. As on every other day during the trial, I made sure I was in my place the next morning before the judge entered.

  Sir Humphrey’s closing speech was masterful. Every little untruth was logged, so that one began to accept that very little of Menzies’s testimony could be relied on.

  “We will never know for certain,” said Sir Humphrey, “for what reason poor young Carla Moorland was murdered. Refusal to succumb to Menzies’s advances? A fit of temper that ended with a blow that caused her to fall and later die alone? But there are, however, some things, members of the jury, of which we can be quite certain.

  “We can be certain that Menzies was with the murdered woman that day before the hour of four-sixteen because of the evidence of the damning parking ticket.

  “We can be certain that he left a little after six because we have a witness who saw him drive away, and he does not himself deny this evidence.

  “And we can be certain that he wrote a false entry in his diary to make you believe he had a business appointment with the murdered woman at five, rather than a personal assignation some time before.

  “And we can now be certain that he lied about having sexual intercourse with Miss Moorland a short time before she was killed, though we cannot be certain if intercourse took place before or after her jaw had been broken.” Sir Humphrey’s eyes rested on the jury before he continued.

  “We can, finally, establish, beyond reasonable doubt, from the pathologist’s report, the time of death and that, therefore, Menzies was the last person who could possibly have seen Carla Moorland alive.

  “Therefore no one else could have killed Carla Moorland—for do not forget Inspector Simmons’s evidence—and if you accept that, you can be in no doubt that only Menzies could have been responsible for her death. And how damning you must have found it that he tried to hide the existence of a first wife who had left him on the grounds of his cruelty, and the four mistresses who left him we know not why or how. Only one less than Bluebeard,” Sir Humphrey added with feeling.

  “For the sake of every young girl who lives on her own in our capital, you must carry out your duty, however painful that duty might be. And find Menzies guilty of murder.”

  When Sir Humphrey sat down I wanted to applaud.

  The judge sent us away for another break. Voice
s all around me were now damning Menzies. I listened contentedly without offering an opinion. I knew that if the jury convicted Menzies the file would be closed and no eyes would ever be turned in my direction. I was seated in my place before the judge appeared at ten past two. He called on Mr. Scott.

  Menzies’s counsel put up a spirited defense of his client, pointing out that almost all the evidence that Sir Humphrey had come up with had been circumstantial, and that it was even possible someone else could have visited Carla Moorland after his client had left that night. Mr. Scott’s bushy eyebrows seemed almost to have a life of their own as he energetically emphasized that it was the prosecution’s responsibility to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt and not his to disprove it, and that, in his opinion, his learned friend, Sir Humphrey, had failed to do so.

  During his summing-up Scott avoided any mention of diary entries, parking tickets, past mistresses, sexual intercourse, or questions of his client’s role in the community. A latecomer listening only to the closing speeches might have been forgiven for thinking the two learned gentlemen were summarizing different cases.

  Mr. Scott’s expression became grim as he turned to face the jury for his summation. “The twelve of you,” he said, “hold the fate of my client in your hands. You must, therefore, be certain, I repeat, certain beyond reasonable doubt that Paul Menzies could have committed such an evil crime as murder.

  “This is not a trial about Mr. Menzies’s lifestyle, his position in the community, or even his sexual habits. If adultery were a crime I feel confident Mr. Menzies would not be the only person in this courtroom to be in the dock today.” He paused as his eyes swept up and down the jury.

  “For this reason I feel confident that you will find it in your hearts to release my client from the torment he has been put through during the last seven months. He has surely been shown to be an innocent man deserving of your compassion.”

  Mr. Scott sank down on the bench having, I felt, given his client a glimmer of hope.

  The judge told us that he would not begin his own summing-up until Monday morning.

  The weekend seemed interminable to me. By Monday I had convinced myself that enough members of the jury would feel there just had not been sufficient evidence to convict.

  As soon as the trial resumed, the judge began by explaining once again that it was the jury alone who must make the ultimate decision. It was not his job to let them know how he felt, but only to advise them on the law.

  He went back over all the evidence, trying to put it in perspective, but he never gave so much as a hint as to his own opinions. When he had completed his summing-up late that afternoon he sent the jury away to consider their verdict.

  I waited with nearly as much anxiety as Menzies must have done while I listened to others giving their opinion as the minutes ticked by in that little room. Then, four hours later, a note was sent up to the judge.

  He immediately asked the jury to return to their places while the press flooded back into the courtroom, making it look like the House of Commons on budget day. The clerk dutifully handed up the note to Mr. Justice Buchanan. He opened it and read what only twelve other people in the courtroom could have known.

  He handed it back to the clerk, who then read the note to a silent court.

  Mr. Justice Buchanan frowned before asking if there were any chance of a unanimous verdict being reached if he allowed more time. Once he had learned that it was proving impossible, he reluctantly nodded his agreement to a majority verdict.

  The jury disappeared downstairs again to continue its deliberations, and did not return for another three hours. I could sense the tension in the court as neighbors sought to give each other opinions in noisy whispers. The clerk called for silence as the judge waited for everyone to settle before he instructed the clerk to proceed.

  When the clerk rose, I could hear the person next to me breathing.

  “Would the foreman please stand?”

  I rose from my place.

  “Have you reached a verdict on which at least ten of you are agreed?”

  “We have, sir.”

  “Do you find the defendant, Paul Menzies, guilty or not guilty?”

  “Guilty,” I replied.

  YOU’LL NEVER LIVE TO REGRET IT

  And so it was agreed: David would leave everything to Pat. If one of them had to die, at least the other would be financially secure for the rest of their life. David felt it was the least he could do for someone who’d stood by him for so many years, especially as he was the one who had been unfaithful.

  They had known each other almost all their lives, because their parents had been close friends for as long as either of them could remember. Both families had hoped David might end up marrying Pat’s sister Ruth, and they were unable to hide their surprise—and in Pat’s father’s case his disapproval—when the two of them started living together, especially as Pat was three years older than David.

  For some time David had been putting it off and hoping for a miracle cure, despite a pushy insurance broker from Geneva Life called Marvin Roebuck who had been pressing him to “take a meeting” for the past nine months. On the first Monday of the tenth month he phoned again, and this time David reluctantly agreed to see him. He chose a date when he knew Pat would be on night duty at the hotel, and asked Roebuck to come round to their apartment—that way, he felt, it would look as if it was the broker who had done the chasing.

  David was watering the scarlet Clupea harengus on the hall table when Marvin Roebuck pressed the buzzer on the front door. Once he had poured his visitor a Coke, David told him he had every type of insurance he could possibly need: theft, accident, car, property, health, even vacation.

  “But what about life?” asked Marvin, licking his lips.

  “That’s one I don’t need,” said David. “I earn a good salary, I have more than enough security, and on top of that, my parents will leave everything to me.”

  “But wouldn’t it be prudent to have a lump sum that comes to you automatically on your sixtieth or sixty-fifth birthday?” asked Marvin, as he continued to push at a door that he had no way of knowing was already wide open. “After all, you can never be sure what disaster might lie around the corner.”

  David knew exactly what disaster lay around the corner, but he still innocently asked, “What sort of figure are you talking about?”

  “Well, that would depend on how much you are currently earning,” said Marvin.

  “A hundred twenty thousand a year,” said David, trying to sound casual, as it was almost double his real income. Marvin was obviously impressed, and David remained silent as he carried out some rapid calculations in his head.

  “Well,” said Marvin eventually, “I’d suggest half a million dollars—as a ballpark figure. After all,” he added, quickly running a finger down a page of actuarial tables he had extracted from his aluminium briefcase, “you’re only twenty-seven, so the payments would be well within your means. In fact, you might even consider a larger sum if you’re confident your income will continue to rise over the next few years.”

  “It has done so every year for the past seven,” said David, this time truthfully.

  “What kind of business are you in, my friend?” asked Marvin.

  “Stocks and bonds,” replied David, not offering any details of the small firm he worked for, or the junior position he held.

  Marvin licked his lips again, even though they had told him not to do so on countless refresher courses, especially when going in for the kill.

  “So, what amount do you think I should go for?” asked David, continuing to make sure it was always Marvin who took the lead.

  “Well, a million is comfortably within your credit range,” said Marvin, once again checking his little book of tables. “The monthly payments might seem a bit steep to begin with, but as the years go by, what with inflation and your continual salary increases, you can expect that in time they will become almost insignificant.”

 
“How much would I have to pay each month to end up getting a million?” asked David, attempting to give the impression he might have been hooked.

  “Assuming we select your sixtieth birthday for terminating the contract, a little over a thousand dollars a month,” said Marvin, trying to make it sound a mere pittance. “And don’t forget, sixty percent of it is tax deductible, so in real terms you’ll only be paying around fifteen dollars a day, while you end up getting a million, just at the time when you most need it. And by the way, that one thousand is constant, it never goes up. In fact it’s inflation-proof.” He let out a dreadful shrill laugh.

  “But would I still receive the full sum, whatever happens to the market?”

  “One million dollars on your sixtieth birthday,” confirmed Marvin, “whatever happens, short of the world coming to an end. Even I can’t write a policy for that,” he said, letting out another shrill laugh. “However, my friend, if unhappily you were to die before your sixtieth birthday—which God forbid—your dependents would receive the full amount immediately.”

  “I don’t have any dependents,” said David, trying to look bored.

  “There must be someone you care about,” said Marvin. “A good-looking guy like you.”

  “Why don’t you leave the forms with me, Mr. Roebuck, and I’ll think about it over the weekend? I promise I’ll get back to you.”

  Marvin looked disappointed. He didn’t need a refresher course to be told that you’re supposed to nail the client to the wall at the first meeting, not let them get away, because that only gave them time to think things over. His lips felt dry.

  Pat returned from the evening shift in the early hours of the morning, but David had stayed awake so he could go over what had happened at the meeting with Marvin. Pat was apprehensive and uncertain about the plan. David had always taken care of any problems they had had in the past, especially financial ones, and Pat wasn’t sure how it would all work out once David was no longer around to give his advice. Thank God it was David who’d had to deal with Marvin—Pat couldn’t even say no to a door-to-door salesman.