Keep Me Alive Read Online Free PDF Page B

that subsequently caused your problems, did she not? Could this have been because she knew your unbusiness-like and over-emotional habits?’
    Will said nothing.
    ‘Had she ever had cause to comment on what might be called your grandiosity before this?’
    ‘Sometimes,’ he said, looking injured. ‘But she’s never run a business. She thinks in terms of someone budgeting for a week’s food shopping for a small family. You can’t equate the two. Running a business like mine needs much more long-term and strategic planning.’
    ‘Her housekeeping instinct means that, unlike you, she has never been in debt in her life or developed an irrational hatred of supermarkets, whereas you have, have you not?’
    ‘No. I don’t hate supermarkets,’ Will said in the tones of one about to add a fiery insult. He managed to choke it down, looking as though it gave him burning indigestion.
    ‘No?’ Aldham’s voice was heavy with satisfaction. ‘Then could you please tell the court about the two reports you sent to the Food Standards Agency about meat you falsely claimed was contaminated by dangerous chemicals when it was offered for sale by my clients and some of their competitors?’
    Trish might not have noticed the tiny stiffening of Antony’s back if she hadn’t been so worried herself. This was the most dangerous part of the evidence against Will. He stuttered and stumbled over his belief that substandard meat, brought in from foreign countries with much lower standards of animal husbandry, was being passed off as prime British meat in many outlets. Trish winced. She’d heard this was a common misconception in the farming world.
    ‘They may use drugs that aren’t allowed in the UK, and chemical fertilizers we’re banned from using to produce the feed crops.’ Will’s voice was gobbling again, as the old anger seized his throat and made his tongue swell in his mouth. ‘So their yields are greater than our farmers’ and their prices lower. British consumers buy their garbage instead of the real thing. No one knows what the chemical residues are doing to the health of the people who eat it or their unborn children.’
    If Antony hadn’t forbidden her to raise objections, Trish would have been on her feet by now. Will was already in a
tangle and clearly had no idea that the way he’d phrased his outburst suggested people were eating their unborn children. She dreaded to think what he’d come up with next.
    ‘And you can’t blame them. They don’t know any better.’
    There was the faintest quiver at the corner of the judge’s mouth again. He’d noticed Will’s gaffe even if no one else had. Trish could understand why Ferdy Aldham wasn’t trying to choke off the rant, but why was Antony letting it run? She had to wait for three more questions before he got to his feet and with casual but deadly skill put Ferdy in his place.
     
    By the time the court rose for the day, Trish was hoarse with the effort of putting her questions to Will in precisely the right form to elicit the answers she needed and choke off any extraneous information he might feel like offering. She longed more than anything to submerge herself in cold water. The airless atmosphere of the room, with its dark panelling and artificial light, the endless repetitive questions, and the need to concentrate on every word spoken made her feel as though her head was filled with popcorn. But there was plenty more to come before she could go home. The whole team would have to walk back to chambers now to analyse everything that had happened during the day, then plan tomorrow’s campaign. After that, she was due to go to friends for dinner.
    Her empty flat beckoned seductively, but she’d made the arrangements with Caro Lyalt and her partner more than a week ago. She couldn’t back out now.

Chapter 4
    Caro Lyalt had never felt so hated. Her suspect’s eyes were like chunks of torn steel, and she knew he wanted to hit her. She didn’t look away for a