Court Out

Chapter Eleven





The second day of the trial starts much as the first ended. All morning, Quinn has been trying to bait Corr into some form of argument for his entertainment. Corr has been dealing with him in the way one might a pesky wasp, merely brushing him off at every opportunity.

Quinn has resumed his attack in trying to persuade the Judge to allow a visit to the Hobbs mansion and it looks as though Mr. Justice Wynne has finally been worn down. He’s directed that tomorrow we all travel there by coach and spend the day visiting the property. Corr has remained silent throughout and clearly is not happy with this turn of events.

Personally, I’m really quite excited at the idea but I’m having to look disapproving too. The next witness is PC Rogers who should be quite interesting. She’s a small, blonde woman who’s just come in to court and taken the oath. Corr begins his questioning.

“Officer, who is Amanda Winsmore?”

“She is the schoolgirl who was impregnated by the Defendant.”

“And was this reported in the press?”

“Yes, the story broke the day before Mrs Hobbs’ body was found.”

“Members of the jury, please turn to divider 15,” instructs Corr.

The jury look for a few minutes at the various front-page reports from the tabloids that day. They all bear photographs of an angelic looking blonde fourteen year-old girl. The picture shows her in her school uniform, smiling for her annual school shot. Next to her image is a picture of Hobbs drunkenly giving the finger to the press following his ejection from a strip club a few years ago.

The headlines scream about the underage sex scandal, how the daughter of a bishop was seduced by Hobbs when he visited her school to open their new football fields. It seemed that their eyes had met across a crowded lunchroom and he had instructed one of his bodyguards to get her phone number for him.

He’d contacted Amanda a few days later and arranged to meet up with her at his home when Marina was out at her daily hairdressers appointment. He’d plied her with champagne and compliments and after a hurried encounter in his swimming pool, her fate was sealed before the designated hour was up.

It appears that she’d tried to call him again to meet up, tried texting him, emailing him and even attending one of his training sessions to try and get his attention. None of it had worked, Hobbs ignored all of her advances and was continued to be seen by the press with various other girls.

The storm broke when she discovered that she was pregnant. When she tried to call Hobbs to let him know, she realised that he’d changed his phone number. Left with no other options, she went to the press.

“Was the Saturday this story came out a match day?” continues Corr.

“Yes,” replies PC Rogers. “Hobbs’ team was playing against their local rivals”

“How did the game go for Hobbs?”

The officer laughs.

“Not well. He seemed unable to even stand up let alone kick the ball. He was given a red card after twelve minutes for punching the other teams goalkeeper. He broke his nose.”

“Was he allowed to remain in the stadium?”

“No, he was sent to the dressing room for the remainder of the match.”

“Just out of curiosity, did Hobbs’ team win?”

“Yes. As soon as Hobbs was sent off, the whole dynamic of play changed. If you’ll pardon the expression, they were on fire. I think the final score was 5-0?”

A few of the male jury members nod knowledgeably at this.

“Now” says Corr “As part of this investigation you were tasked to try and track Hobbs’ movements for the rest of that day. Can you please tell us what you found?”

“Of course. Well, we know that after leaving the stadium at 6pm in his white Overfinch, he drove into the city centre.”

“What’s an Overfinch?” queries Corr.

“It’s his car, a specially customised Range Rover.”

“Ah, I see. Where did he go?”

“Well he drove to Ghost, a bar in the city centre, left his car outside and went in. That’s where a lot of the team went after the game.”

“You were able to get the CCTV from the bar that day, so lets have a look at that now please.”



The lights in the courts are dimmed and the four plasma screens attached to the walls of the court are turned on. I press play with the DVD remote and the screens flicker into life and a blurry image comes into focus. I’ve been to Ghost a few times so I know the layout quite well.

The CCTV starts at 6:30pm and shows Hobbs with a large group of people, some of whom I recognise as his teammates. Even without sound, it’s clear that with every drink he had he became even more obnoxious. He is seen to leer openly at the barmaids and smack the bums of any female within touching distance whilst simultaneously swigging from bottles of champagne that are brought to the table.

By 11pm, we can see that he’s dancing drunkenly with a group of scantily dressed girls, looking noticeably worse for wear and by 2am he’s seen to be arguing with anyone who looks at him. He’s waving his drink around, poking the chest of a nearby male and struggling to maintain an upright position.

The footage comes to an end shortly after 3am when Hobbs is seen to leave the bar with his teammate, Andre Plushenko. It’s not easy to pinpoint him exactly, as there are a large number of people making their way to the exit, but it’s agreed by all that he’s somewhere in the scrum.

“So officer, was there any CCTV from outside Ghost?” queries Corr.

“No, the camera outside the premises wasn't working that night”

“So our trail ends there?”

“Yes, there’s then no trace of where he went. But we know his car remained where he left it.”

“How far is Ghost from the Hobbs property?” Corr enquires.

“Not far at all, perhaps a ten minute drive?” replies PC Rogers.

“What about Plushenko, could you trace his actions?”

“No, because of the same problem, we couldn’t see where he went either.”

We take a short break before calling the next witness, one of the bar staff from Ghost that night. I turn off the CCTV and put the disc carefully back in its box. Corr gives me an appraising glance.

“I received your amendments to the interviews last night and I was impressed. Can you make sure that there are enough copies for the jury?”

I gape at him. “Sure, I mean, of course I can. It’s Mr. Jenkins next isn’t it?”

“Yes. Are you familiar with the key areas of his evidence?”

I pause and think. “He is the one who can tell the jury about the behaviour they’ve just seen on the CCTV, put some flesh on the bones so to speak.”

Corr nods at me before turning away to speak to Quinn. I’m aware that Rivers is sitting to my left; I’ve tried to ignore him as much as I can to try and put some professional distance between us. The same cannot be said for Serena who has been glued to his side every time the court takes a break. I’m not sure if she’s flirting so obviously with him to annoy Lucinda or for some other reason, but either way, it’s pretty obvious. To be fair, he doesn't seem to be reciprocating; at the moment he’s ignoring the penetrating stares aimed at him. Luckily, Lucinda has gone out for a cigarette, but Corr keeps shooting Serena disapproving glances. Quinn barely notices. I decide to stay out of it, I mean whilst we are now on good terms, I need to stay under the radar. Rivers turns to me and lets out a sigh.

“Do you have a spare copy of the agreed facts? I have no idea where mine have gone.”

“Yep.” I reply, flicking through a wad of documents carefully arranged in front of me. I fish out a familiar bundle and hand it over to him. He smiles warmly at me.

“You’re a total lifesaver.”

He steps towards me and tucks a stray lock of hair behind my right ear. “We really need to put our heads together at some point. Tonight? I’ve found a great little bar not too far away.”

I take a step back and look carefully at him. His eyes are fixed on mine and I can’t help but nod in agreement.

“Sure,” I manage to reply, before the court clerk starts barking orders that everyone should be ready to resume.

The jury are reassembled and I take my seat, still somewhat dazed. Corr addresses the Judge. “May it please you, My Lord, the next witness is Adam Jenkins at page 52. Miss Chase will take this witness.”

“Very well” nods the Judge, looking pleased at the concept of a fresh face.

Eh? What? What! Does he mean? He can’t mean? He can’t expect me to take over! I look at him in shock. He narrows his eyes at me and indicates to the witness box with his head. With shaking legs, I get to my feet.

“Could you give the court your full name please?” I ask.

“Yes, I could,” replies Mr. Jenkins cockily.

I can hear a few titters behind me. I take a deep breath. “Glad to hear it. What is your full name?”

“Adam Carl Jenkins”

“And what is your occupation?”

“I’m an actor.”

What? Is this some kind of joke? I know from his statement that he’s the manager of Ghost.

“Really? Would we have seen you in anything?”

He glares at me. “I doubt it.”

This isn’t going well and I’m conscious of Quinn audibly sighing to my left. There’s an awkward silence as I try and think how to get this back on track.

“Right, so, do you have a connection to Ghost bar?” I attempt.

“I used to work there.”

“And were you there the night when Ryan Hobbs came in?”

“I was there a lot of the nights when he came in,” he answers smugly. “Which night are you talking about?”

I fight the urge to scream and continue.

“Mr. Jenkins, this will be the third time you’ve given evidence during these proceedings about Mr. Hobbs’ behaviour in your bar won’t it?”

“Yes” he concedes.

“So you know exactly which night I’m talking about then, don’t you?”

“Well, I suppose so, yes” he acknowledges grumpily.

Technically you’re not allowed to cross-examine your own witness, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Luckily, no-one’s said anything.

“So lets talk about that night then please. The court has seen the CCTV footage and have been able to see the Defendant in Ghost. Did you have any personal contact with him?”

“Yes. As the acting manager I had the dubious honour of dealing with his table.”

“What did that involve?”

“I had to handle all of his requests, make sure his table was fully stocked and provide some club security to make sure that the regular guests didn’t bother him too much”

“How was he behaving that night?” I venture.

“When he came in he was in a foul mood. He was being really arrogant and acting like he owned the place.”

“Had you seen the press articles about him that day?” I chance.

“Hell yes! It was all over the news. To be honest, I wasn’t that happy about having a child molester in the bar, but I couldn’t really do anything about it.”

I pause and try and let this sink in. “Did his behaviour change as the night continued?”

“Well after he had been drinking for a while he seemed to cheer up, he was being very loud, shouting that he was still ‘the dogs bollocks’ at anyone who went near him. He just then got progressively drunker until someone mentioned the girl.”

“The girl? Do you mean Amanda Winsmore?” I ask.

“Yes. One of the guys in his group made a crack about it and he just flipped. This was after midnight though.”

“What did he do?” I prompt.

“He just went mad, shouting obscenities at the man, poking him, got right in his face. One of my door staff had to ask the other male to leave.”

“Why the other male and not Hobbs?”

“Well, Hobbs was what we classed as a ‘big spender’ so we’d have lost quite a lot that night if I’d thrown him out.”

“Really? How much did he spend that night?”

“Gosh, well over ten grand. He bought spirits by the bottle and pretty much decimated our stock of champagne.”

“How was he at closing time?” I enquire.

“Very, very drunk. He was mumbling incoherently about the game, Amanda and his wife. He left with one of the other players, the tall Russian one.”

“Was he able to walk unassisted?”

“Yes, but definitely not in a straight line!” he laughs.

I’m about to end my questioning when something occurs to me.

“What brand of champagne was he buying?”

“My Lord?” interrupts Quinn “How is this relevant?”

The Judge looks at me with an interested expression. “Miss Chase can ask the question. Please answer that Mr. Jenkins.”

“It was the Krug Clos Du Mesnil 1995. We charge £800 per bottle, and only had twelve in stock. He bought them all.”

“Did you restock that vintage?”

“No, it’s pretty rare so we went for another.”

“You said earlier that you’d been in the bar a number of occasions when Hobbs was there. Did he always buy that champagne?”

Jenkins laughs. “No, he just went for whichever was the most expensive.”

“Thank you, if you wait there, there will be some questions from Mr. Quinn”

I sink to my seat, mind whirring. I flick back to the photographs taken from the scene and locate the one of the smashed champagne bottle on the kitchen floor. It’s hard to see the exact details, but I’m sure an expert could enhance the details so we could see precisely what house and vintage it was. I’d put money on this being one of the bottles from Ghost. Excitedly, I listen to Quinn asking questions of Jenkins, jovial as ever.

“You of course can appreciate why Mr. Hobbs would’ve been in a bad mood that night?”

“Totally, he’d been outed as nothing more than a paedophile and he’d been made to look totally redundant by his team.”

Quinn coughs. “But it’s correct that on some of the other occasions you’d seen him in the bar he’d also been in a bad mood? For example, the night they were knocked out of the playoffs?”

“Yeah, we did actually throw him out that night come to think of it.”

“And the time he wasn’t selected for the England squad?”

“Yeah, he was pretty evil that night too!” chortles Jenkins.

“And just as another example, how about his behaviour the nights that other, negative, stories had broken about him?”

“Yeah, he’s basically a bit of a, can I say it?”

There’s a pause and Quinn looks confused.

“Say what?”

“Well, he always acted like a total wanker to be honest.”

I bite my lip and look down. Quinn gives the witness a totally false smile. “Thank you, no further questions.”



“Thank you Mr. Jenkins,” says the Judge. “Members of the jury, I think we’ll leave it there for today and resume again tomorrow. Please be here by 11am as the coach is going to pick us up at 11:15 sharp. We will spend an hour or so at the house, then resume back here for the afternoon session. Again, please remember not to discuss the case with anyone.”

“I thought my gamble was going to backfire for a minute there Miss Chase,” says Corr quietly. “It seemed as though you had completely lost control of the witness.”

“I know, I’m sorry-”

“But, you did an excellent job in reigning him back in. I like your thinking about the champagne bottle. I expect you want me to ask the officer in charge of the investigation to do some photoshopping?”

I laugh, he’s so sharp. “Yes, and also it might be worth getting a statement from a wine merchant to say how rare that particular vintage is?”

He nods, “Yes, that’s a thought. I’ll action it right now. I’ll see you in the morning. Good work today.”

As he walks away I have to stop myself from pinching my arm to check I haven’t hallucinated the last few minutes. I stand alone in the well of the court and take a moment to reflect on what’s happened.

As people file out of court I turn and look for Serena. To my surprise she’s not in court, she must have left already. I haven’t spoken to her at all today, she’s spent every moment with Rivers, passing him notes and buying him cups of watery coffee from the court cafe. When I tried to call her last night, she didn’t pick up either.

I pack my papers away and walk out of the court. It’s surprisingly busy given the hour; normally at half four the concourse looks like a ghost town, but today it’s a veritable hive of activity. I make my way to the ground floor and out of the exit. I’d better try Serena again. As I press her speed dial number I walk back to Chambers, trying my best to avoid the gaps in the pavement. She answers after about the ninth ring.

“Hello? Lauren?”

“Hiya, just wondered what you’re up to? I have an hour or so to kill, so we can grab a coffee or something?”

“I’d love to, but I’m kinda busy at the moment” she replies. From the background noise, it’s clear she’s in licensed premises.

“Really? Anything interesting?” I ask.

“Just going through some of the case documents with Andrew. Getting ready to launch the defence, you know.”

“Naturally. Is Quinn there too?”

“No, he likes to leave most of it to Andrew and me. I’d better go, but we’ll have to catch up soon ok?”

“Sure” I say, disconnecting the call. As I put the phone in my bag I realise that Serena didn’t even mention my last minute advocacy today. I don’t bother going into the clerks room, I just head straight to my desk.



I sit and plough through the exhibits in the case, making endless notes about matters I now know inside out. Six PM comes and my phone lights up as it receives an incoming call. I know it is Rivers and for a moment consider ignoring it. Whilst my brain is contemplating this, my hand picks up the phone and answers his call.

I listen to the voice in my ear and process his suggestion that we meet in ten minutes at Blue, an underground champagne bar not far from Chambers. I make a few noises of assent and disconnect the call. I root through my bag and assemble my make up on the desk in front of me. As if on autopilot, I refresh my face with a liberal re-application of my usual products and add a slick of plumping lipgloss for good measure.

It doesn’t take me long to reach the bar and I hold carefully on to the bannister of the stairs as I make my way down to the dim room below. The bar is pretty empty and I spot Rivers straight away. He has his back to me and is drinking from a large glass of red wine. A group of girls in the corner are totally checking him out, whispering and looking in his direction, but he appears to be oblivious to this.

I pat him on the shoulder and he turns around. To my surprise, he envelops me in a tight hug and I can feel him inhale the scent at the nape of my neck. I pull back but he leaves his hand at the base of my spine.

“Lauren. Great to see you. Thanks for coming,” he murmurs into my ear.

I pause, completely wrong-footed. “No problem. What can I do for you?” As soon as the words are out of my mouth I could kick myself. What can I do for you? Could I sound any more like I wanted this to be an illicit encounter?

“I just wanted to have a chat. Go through some bits with you. I know Corr can be a bit anti-social at times, Sam used to laugh about it actually.”

This revelation stops my thought process like a brick wall. Sam had problems engaging with Corr too? Does that mean he doesn’t think I’m a complete loser? Rivers is staring at me and obviously waiting for a response. I laugh and turn towards the bar.

“Corr? He’s a genius. Now, what bits of the case can I help you with?” I ask. I may be a clumsy, dippy excuse for a barrister but there is no way on earth I would be stupid enough to engage with my opposition in a bitching session about my leader.

A flash of an unreadable expression appears across Rivers’ face and his hand squeezes my waist.

“Let me get the drinks in and we can go through them.”

He beckons to a bored looking barman and orders a bottle of red, then taking me by the hand, leads me to a booth in the corner. The music is a slow, seductive number and across the candlelit table I can see his perfect profile as he glances out towards the room. A waitress brings a bottle of wine over with two clean glasses and I feel a stab of guilt that this would totally look to her like we are on a date.

An hour or so later we have finished the bottle of wine and have discussed most of the non-contentious points of the evidence. I glance at my watch and realise that I really have to get going if I’m going to complete the work that needs to be done by tomorrow.

“I’m going to have to love you and leave you I’m afraid,” I say to Rivers, gathering my bag and coat together from the chair next to me.

“Already?” he asks, looking concerned that I’m abandoning him.

“It’s Tuesday night!” I exclaim. “Plus, wont Lucinda be wondering where you are?”

A shadow crosses his face and I instantly regret bringing her up.

“She’s with Holly in London tonight, they’re working on table decorations,” he replies, getting to his feet to escort me out. I rise to my feet, grateful that he has drunk the majority of the wine so I can safely drive home.

“Ok, well thanks for the drink, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I say making my way to the bottom of the stairs. He follows me and I turn to say goodbye.

“Are you leaving now too?” I ask. He shakes his head.

“Not just yet, I have some papers I was planning to read here.” For a moment he looks really tired and I wonder how the stress of this case is affecting him.

“Ok, sure.” I reply, trying not to look confused at his revelation.

I smile at him and as I turn away he puts his arms around my waist and spins me to face him, pushing me back against the wall to my right. Before I can react, he pins me against the cold surface by my wrists and kisses me full on the mouth. Shocked, I register the sharp scent of his aftershave and his warm lips on mine. His body is pressed fully against me and I feel trapped under his weight.

For a disturbing second I contemplate returning the kiss but before my mind has the time to work through the consequences of such an act, my body has responded by pushing him backwards away from me. Flustered, I hoist my bag on to my shoulder and race up the stairs, not pausing to look backwards.

I manage to get back to Chambers and pack up my kit in the Audi ready to head for home, hoping that I’ve missed the worst of the traffic. My head is all over the place and I’m mentally replaying the events of the last half hour when the screen of my iPhone lights up and I can see a text has come through from Sebastian. I read the screen from where the device is holstered in the car.

‘I’ve just been called into a late meeting so I won’t be back much before midnight. Hope you had a good day in court. Love you x’

With a sigh, I put on a power ballad CD and decide that the best way to shake this is to belt out some classics. Mid-way through Total Eclipse of the Heart I realise that my passenger window is down and I’ve been entertaining a group of students for the past few minutes whilst I’ve been waiting at some lights. Oh well, at least I cheered someone up today. I start to giggle, give them a wave and accelerate away.