At the Dark Hour

by John Wilson

  – You and your counsel have made great play of the contents of my client’s bookshelves?

  – Yes.

  – You would accept, however, wouldn’t you, that your wife is a very intelligent lady?

  – Of course. I would be the first to accept that proposition.

  – She is a woman with an independent, questioning mind?

  – That I also accept.

  – Why, then, can you not accept that she sought out these books of her own free will? Out of intellectual curiosity?

  – I know my wife. We have been married for over fifteen years. Yes, she is intelligent. But I am now forced, against my will and desire, to the conclusion that she is also calculating and sly. Yes. I accept that she has independence of mind. But I am now forced to conclude that her independence of mind is linked to an independence of heart that means she has been prepared to forsake the vows she made to me all those years ago and to follow her heart, whatever the cost. Nothing that you have put to me has, in any way, dented my beliefs about the situation between her and … and Falling!

  He gave Adam a look that dripped hatred. And then Alnwick fired his blunderbuss.

  – It is right, is it not, that you have been violent to your wife? That you have assaulted her?

  Adam felt a collective intake of breath around the court room. Perhaps, the sympathy of the court and the observers should not be with Pemberton? Blytheway, sitting in front of him, shook his head.

  – What are you talking about?

  – Is it not right that in the early hours of 9th March 1941 you hit your wife so hard that she was knocked unconscious?

  Adam allowed himself a glance over his shoulder. Simon Jenkins was leaning forward in his seat waiting expectantly for the answer.

  – Yes. Yes. And, of course, I regret it. But she provoked me terribly.

  Alnwick should have stopped there but he ploughed on.

  – There can’t be any excuse for hitting a woman so hard that she is rendered unconscious?

  – The only daughter I had by Joan had just been killed! And when Julia realised that it was Jenny that had died rather than our daughter together, Agnes, she began laughing hysterically! She said “Thank God!”

  There was a hush and all eyes were on Julia.

  – No!

  Shouting from the rear of the court. It was Simon Jenkins.

  – I can’t believe it! You bitch! You horrible bitch! You lying two-faced bitch!

  – Silence!

  Mr Justice Wilkinson was not impressed.

  – Get that man out of my court! I will not have such contempt.

  Simon was wearing a uniform, and this probably tempered the judge’s disapproval.

  – Young man. Get out of my court! Immediately! You must think yourself fortunate that I have not decided to throw you in prison for such manifest contempt.

  Jenkins eased his way to his feet and edged his way out of the court room. Blytheway leaned over to Alnwick and said in little more than a whisper,

  – Well done, darling.

  – No further questions, my Lord.

  And Alnwick subsided into his seat red-faced. The press were still scribbling to catch up. Mr Justice Wilkinson looked at the clock at the back of the court.

  – It is almost one o’clock. We shall resume at five past two.

  And with that he rose, bowed to counsel and marched out.

  ****

  Adam, Blytheway and Jones crossed the Strand to the café for a cup of tea and a sandwich.

  – Well. I did say he was a blithering idiot.

  – Why didn’t you want to cross-examine Preston?

  – I had made it perfectly clear that I would not do and that this was a resigning issue. Will you please ask no further questions about it?

  – Let me tell you what happened.

  – Adam, you are coming close to making me angry. I have only ever been angry once in my life.

  – How do you think it’s going?

  – Well, I think that is perfectly obvious. I was ready for the evidence about the cigarette smoke but I have to confess the “dream sequence” took me by surprise. I didn’t see that coming.

  – Would it help if I gave you my thoughts about what that may have been about?

  – No. Alnwick in his incompetent way has dealt with a lot of the “jury points” and so I suspect that my cross-examination will necessarily be brief.

  And Roly lapsed into silence and did not say anything for the remainder of the short adjournment until, looking at his watch:

  – It’s time we made our way back.

  Everyone else was already in court by the time they entered. Adam noticed that Simon Jenkins had also slipped back into the public gallery. Pemberton was back in the witness box and they had only just resumed their places when they were ordered to rise and Mr Justice Wilkinson entered. All stood. Roly had told Adam that he had frequently been against the judge before he took judicial office. No fool. Everyone sat down except for Blytheway.

  – Yes, Mr Blytheway?

  – May it please your Lordship.

  He turned to face Sir Jeremy Pemberton KC.

  – Mr Pemberton, many of the questions that I would have asked have been put to you very ably by my learned friend Mr Alnwick, and so you will be pleased to hear that my questions will, I hope, be very brief.

  Adam sensed the man relaxing almost imperceptibly. His shoulders sagged with the sense of a reprieve.

  – I want to ask you a few questions about your daughter Jenny.

  Tempest was on his feet immediately.

  – My Lord, I do not see the relevance of such a line of questioning.

  – I tend to agree, Mr Tempest. Where is this going, Mr Blytheway? How is it going to help me?

  Roly, who had slipped back into his seat when Tempest intervened, rose languidly to his feet.

  – My Lord, you will recall that, in Mr Pemberton’s evidence in chief, there was a rich passage about both his daughter Jenny and his late wife, Joan. If it is relevant evidence for the Petitioner I must surely be entitled to ask questions about that evidence?

  – Very well, Mr Blytheway. But if I feel that you are taking liberties with the court I will intervene.

  – Of course, my Lord. Now; on reflection, Mr Pemberton, I think I will begin by asking some questions about your first wife, Joan Pemberton.

  – This is outrageous!

  – Forgive me, Mr Pemberton, but you have made very serious allegations about my client – and about your present wife. They are both entitled to have their defences explored. I am sure you will have no difficulty in answering – in agreeing with most of my questions. Joan Pemberton was a very beautiful woman was she not?

  – Yes. Everyone knew that.

  – And she was also, and more importantly, a very good woman?

  – The best woman I ever had the good fortune to meet.

  He looked across at Julia as he answered this question and tried unsuccessfully to conceal a sneer.

  – She was also an honest woman? Honest and kind?

  – I don’t see where this is going.

  – I tend to agree, Mr Blytheway.

  The judge had intervened. Blytheway had to be careful, Adam thought.

  – I was merely setting the scene, my Lord. So many of us remember Joan Pemberton with great fondness.

  – Get to the point, Mr Blytheway!

  Roly was unperturbed and fixed his attention again on Pemberton.

  – As I said, I really wanted to ask you about your daughter Jenny.

  – Very well.

  – Would you accept that she was as beautiful as Joan?

  – Yes. Of course.

  – Would you also accept that as she grew older she began to resemble more and more her mother?

  – Yes.

  – Would you also accept that she was as good and honest as her late mother?

  – She was a wonderful child.

  – Would you accept that she loved you very
deeply?

  – I believe she did.

  – Would you accept, also, that she trusted you?

  – Yes.

  – To the extent that she entrusted you with her private diary for 1940?

  – Yes, of course.

  Adam looked over at Tempest, who was beginning to fidget. He did not seem as relaxed with this cross-examination as he had been when Alnwick was questioning Pemberton. It was almost as though he was anticipating the next question, and when it came Tempest had to restrain himself from intervening. It was after all a perfectly fair question.

  – Would you also accept that you betrayed your daughter’s trust?

  – How dare you! I don’t know what you are talking about!

  – She lent you her diary for one particular purpose, didn’t she?

  – And what might that have been?

  – She wanted you to see the crosses she had marked against certain dates? The dates on which she said she had met with Mrs Pemberton at the Ritz. The dates on which you allege she was with Mr Falling at the Stafford Hotel?

  Pemberton looked over helplessly at his leading counsel, who looked away. His shoulders slumped.

  – Yes.

  – She gave you the diary for the express purpose of showing you those crosses. Is that not right?

  – Yes.

  – But she also told you not to read the individual entries that she had made. Is that right?

  – Yes.

  – So she trusted you so much that she left her private diary with you. Would that be fair?

  – I really don’t know where this is going Blytheway.

  A mistake. The judge intervened.

  – Mr Pemberton! Answer counsel’s question! And show some respect to him. I will not have you referring to him in that off-hand way in my court!

  – I’m sorry, my Lord.

  Roly continued.

  – The point I am making, Mr Pemberton, is that you betrayed her trust. You read her diary when she had told you expressly not to do so. That is right, isn’t it?

  – Yes. Of course, I regret it enormously. Every night I think of this in light of what happened.

  – That is the reason, is it not, why she gave the diary to Mrs Pemberton?

  – Yes.

  – You read her diary and you saw that she was in love with Simon Jenkins – the young man who was recently expelled from this court by his Lordship – and you told her that you would not countenance their relationship becoming more serious. Would that be fair?

  – Yes.

  – You read her diary and you knew how much in love she was?

  – Yes.

  – And you disapproved?

  – Yes.

  – You knew that the only reason that she had entrusted you with her intimate diary was because she wanted to lend her support to her step-mother?

  – Yes.

  – And reading her diary you saw that she loved you?

  – Yes.

  – And that she also loved her step-mother?

  – Yes.

  – And she did not want you to divorce?

  – Yes.

  – And that her step-mother loved her?

  There was a long pause.

  – Laughing hysterically at her death does not suggest she loved her.

  – Mrs Pemberton had taken a sleeping draught that night, had she not?

  – I believe she had.

  – She was disorientated?

  – Probably.

  – She thought you were telling her that your daughter Agnes had died?

  – I believe that was probably the case.

  – She was full of remorse the following morning?

  – Yes.

  – You are on oath, Mr Pemberton. Do you really believe that Mrs Pemberton did not love Jenny?

  There was a long pause. Adam looked over his shoulder. Simon Jenkins was listening intently to the exchanges.

  – No. But how she reacted hurt me deeply.

  Roly was immediately conciliatory.

  – I know that, Mr Pemberton. And we are also sincerely sorry about what happened to Jenny. But I must ask these questions. I would like you to have a look at Jenny’s diary.

  He handed up the leather-bound book with the key still in the lock.

  – It is all right. She is gone now. Unlock it and consider its contents. We are, after all, on a quest for the truth. Would you please confirm that it is written in her hand?

  Pemberton stroked the sheets of paper.

  – Yes. I would recognise that lovely handwriting anywhere.

  – Look at the frontispiece. From memory it reads, “Please don’t read the contents of my journal. It is very private.” I believe she underlined the word “very”?

  – Yes.

  – And she signed it underneath. That is her signature is it not?

  He stroked Jenny’s declaration.

  – Yes. That is her signature.

  Blytheway turned and took a document from his solicitor, studied it and handed it across to Tempest via Alnwick. Receiving it back, he gave it to the usher so that she could pass it up to Pemberton. Tempest rose to his feet.

  – Forgive me, my Lord, but Mr Blytheway is trying to put in evidence a witness statement allegedly signed by Miss Jenny Pemberton. But unwitnessed.

  The judge intervened.

  – This is not evidence, Mr Blytheway.

  – Not yet, my Lord.

  – What do you mean?

  – I mean that I am entitled to put this document to Mr Pemberton, and depending on his answers to my questions it may or may not become evidence.

  – Very well.

  The document was handed up to Pemberton. It was the statement Jenny had signed without a witness on the evening of her death. He studied it and again began to weep.

  – Would you accept, Mr Pemberton, that the signature on this unwitnessed statement is the same as that in the diary?

  – Yes. I can’t deny that.

  – My Lord, in those circumstances I think I am entitled to have this document entered into the evidence. Mr Pemberton, can you think of any reason why your daughter, who is honest and true, would put her name to a statement that was dishonest and false?

  Pemberton paused for a long time and looked around the court room. There was a palpable tension in the room. The journalists had their pens poised. The witness seemed to have shrunk. After a minute of the silence Blytheway spoke again.

  – I’m sorry, Mr Pemberton. I know this is very painful for you. But is it your case that your daughter is a liar and was attempting to pervert the course of justice before her untimely and tragic death?

  Again no response and a long silence.

  – Mr Pemberton! Was your daughter a liar? Was your daughter about to embark on an escapade that would involve her in attempting to pervert the course of justice?

  Another long pause.

  – Mr Pemberton. Please.

  The judge intervened.

  – I think you should answer this question, Mr Pemberton.

  – No! She was my daughter. She wouldn’t lie! She was the most beautiful, the best girl in the world!

  – So how do you explain why she was prepared to go on oath and state that on most of the dates when Mrs Pemberton was alleged to have been committing adultery with my client she was actually with Mrs Pemberton?

  – I don’t know. She must have been wrong. Or misguided.

  – I want to ask you about something else that is said in the diary. In her entry for 31st December 1940 Jenny speaks of a meeting with you during which you repeatedly referred to her as Joan. Is what she said correct?

  – Yes.

  Pemberton bowed his head. Blytheway paused and took a sip from his glass of water.

  – It is right, is it not, that you threw a party at your home in Eaton Square on 13th December 1940?

  – Yes.

  – And you invited my client and his wife to that party?

  – Yes.

  – At
a time when you had already decided that he was having an affair with your wife?

  – Yes.

  – And you had a conversation with them when they arrived?

  – Yes.

  – And you made no mention whatsoever of your suspicions?

  – No.

  – And this was the first time you had ever invited Mr Falling to one of your parties even though he had been a member of your chambers for some fifteen years?

  – I don’t see where this is going or what it has to do with anything.

  – When I use the expression “the black market” do you know what I am referring to?

  Tempest leapt to his feet.

  – My Lord! I cannot see how this has anything to do with the issue before you.

  Mr Justice Wilkinson looked enquiringly at Roly.

  – Yes, Mr Blytheway?

  – My questions will be very brief and, as is often the case, their relevance ought to become clearer as this matter continues.

  – Very well, but I will warn you again that if I think that you are taking me on a wild goose chase I will intervene.

  – Of course, my Lord.

  Blytheway returned his gaze to Pemberton. Adam thought the witness looked worried.

  – Do you know what I am referring to when I mention the black market?

  – I believe I do.

  – Would it be fair to describe it as a market in which goods are traded illegally?

  – Yes. I think that that is fair.

  – Do you recall that the subject of the black market came up in your conversation with Mr Falling at your party?

  – I really don’t recall.

  – I want to put to you part of the conversation which, according to my client, took place that evening. Mr Falling will say that you said that you had stocked up on cigarettes and alcohol and with the aid of your senior clerk, Arthur, you released these onto the black market for your mutual benefit. I am going to ask a question about this in a moment, but before you answer it I am obliged to tell you that you have a privilege against incriminating yourself. You are under no obligation to answer any question that might tend to incriminate you. Now … my question is … do you agree that this is a fair representation of that part of your conversation with Mr and Mrs Falling?