Her voice shrank. ‘I’m just at the Tube.’
‘Clapham Common Tube?’ The sharpness in my voice made Kit look up from his screen.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Sorry. I had to get away.’
‘You’d better come up, then.’
Kit sighed and stretched so that the laptop tilted. ‘Mac?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘Um, Beth Taylor’s outside.’
Resignation turned to concern. ‘Something to do with the appeal? Why’s she have to come here?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, convinced my time was up. I had read up about the appeal process. It seemed that lodging an appeal was just what you did, a given for any guilty party of significant means. The chances of the case being retried were tiny. The prospect of repeating the ordeal had become a cloud in the sky rather than an event on the horizon. Now she was back, which could only mean it was really happening. I felt sick as I buzzed Beth in. The confessional urge writhed inside me again but desperate now and dark; the imperative no longer one of unburdening but of damage limitation. Tell him you lied in the witness box, I thought, as her footsteps sounded on the stairs. If he’s going to find out, better that it comes from you. Tell him, before she gets here. But I couldn’t get the words out.
Beth was flushed by the time she got to us; sweat had pulled her loose curls tight into corkscrews around her face.
‘What’s happened?’ I said. ‘Is the appeal going ahead?’
‘No,’ she panted. ‘I mean, I don’t know. It’s too soon to know about the formal appeal. But they’re waging fucking war on me.’ There was a glass of half-finished wine on the worktop and she looked at it with undisguised longing.
‘Have it,’ I said. She downed it in one, then looked at Kit’s laptop. ‘Is that online right now?’ Kit nodded, looking as mystified, if not as nervous, as I felt. ‘Can you type jamiebalcombeisinnocent.co.uk?’
Kit minimised the half-dozen screens he’d been flicking between and called up the right page. The Balcombes had clearly been busy.
JAMIE BALCOMBE WAS WRONGLY CONVICTED OF RAPE ON 20TH APRIL 2000. THIS WEBSITE IS RUN BY HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS, WHO WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT TO CLEAR HIS NAME.
‘Can they say that?’ I asked. ‘They’re basically saying you lied. Isn’t that libellous?’
‘No,’ said Beth tautly. ‘You can’t libel someone anonymous. They can say what they like about me.’
On 20th MAY 2000, Mr Donald Imrie of Imrie and Cunningham Chambers, Bedford Row, was granted leave to appeal the verdict. They are confident that the verdict will soon be overturned.
‘Keep going, it gets better,’ said Beth, reading over our shoulders. ‘Can I have some more wine?’
‘Go for it.’
From the outset we would like to state that this website does not seek to undermine the seriousness of rape or trivialise the suffering that rape victims suffer. Had Jamie committed the crime, we believe that a five-year sentence would not be sufficient. But we are stating that he did not commit the crime of rape at all. Furthermore, we recognise and acknowledge that in rape cases the anonymity of the victim is a fundamental legal principle that should be upheld and respected. However, we would like to see that right extended to men, too. This is something to which Jamie intends to devote his energy when his name is cleared.
We are unable to comment on whether we will counter-sue Jamie’s accuser in the likely event of the verdict being overturned. We have always maintained that her history of mental instability makes her vulnerable and it is more important that Jamie’s name is cleared than that an already troubled young woman is put through the criminal justice system when her problem is a medical one. We are willing to help her obtain the professional counselling she needs to help her come to terms with what she has done, and to address the deep-rooted problems that led her to make this false accusation in the first place.
‘Bollocks, more like,’ said Beth. ‘If they get him off, they’ll bring charges against me before the handcuffs are even off him.’
I didn’t doubt it, but had to concede that the false note of concern was a public relations masterstroke.
‘You finished reading?’ I asked Kit, who was staring slackly at the screen. He nodded.
There was a series of tabs down one side: Offer Jamie Your Support, Appeal for Information, Gallery, Jamie’s Career. Media Enquiries told the reader that in addition to instructing a new legal team, the family had hired a publicist. ‘No stone unturned,’ I said. I clicked on Antonia’s Letter. The accompanying photograph showed her and Jamie at a wedding; she had a few flakes of confetti in her hair.
Thank you for visiting Jamie’s website. My name is Antonia Tranter and I am Jamie’s fiancée. We have been together for two years. The past year has been hard for me. It is not easy to hear that your fiancé has been unfaithful; but that is nothing compared to the nightmare that followed, when this mistake has had him painted as a monster. Like all who know and love Jamie, I am convinced of his innocence.
On these pages we have set out, as clearly as we can, reasons why this has been a gross miscarriage of justice. We’d be grateful if you could share our message as far and wide as possible.
In particular, we are looking for witnesses who may have seen Jamie and the young lady in question prior to the event. However insignificant you feel it may be, or if your conscience is troubling you, please write to me via the website and help us get justice for Jamie.
‘He’s got her brainwashed,’ I said.
Beth chewed on a cuticle. ‘Have you found my starring role yet?’
Kit and I looked up together.