Twelve Red Herrings Read Online Free PDF Page A

rehearsed the line a hundred
times.
    “I see,” said
Sir Matthew. “Let’s get to the point, shall we, Mrs.
    Cooper? Were you
having an affair with Jeremy Alexander at the time of his disappearance?”
    “Is this
relevant, Sir Matthew?” interrupted the judge.
    “It most
assuredly is, M’Lud. It goes to the very core of the case,” replied my QC in a
quiet even tone.
    Everyone’s gaze
was now fixed on Rosemary. I willed her to tell the truth.
    She didn’t
hesitate. “Certainly not,” she replied, ‘although it wasn’t the first time my
husband had accused me unjustly.”
    “I see,’ said
Sir Matthew. He paused. “Do you love your husband, Mrs. Cooper?’
    “Really,
Sir Matthew!” The judge was unable to disguise his irritation.
    “I must ask once
again if this is relevant? ” Sir Matthew exploded.
    “Relevant? It’s
absolutely vital, M’Lud, and I am not being assisted by your iordship’s thinly
veiled attempts to intervene on behalf of this witness.” The judge was
beginning to splutter with indignation when Rosemary said quietly, “I have
always been a good and faithful wife, but I cannot under any circumstances condone
murder.” The jury turned their eyes on me. Most of them looked as if they would
be happy to bring back the death penalty.
    “If that is the
case, I am bound to ask why you waited two and a half hours to contact the police?” said Sir Matthew. “Especially if, as you claim, you
believed your husband had committed murder, and was about to dispose of the
body.”
    “As I explained,
I fainted soon after he left the room. I phoned the police the moment I came
to.”
    “How
convenient,” said Sir Matthew. “Or perhaps the truth
is that you made use of that time to set a trap for your husband, while
allowing your lover to get clean away.” A murmur ran through the courtroom.
    “Sir Matthew,”
the judge said, jumping in once again. “You are going too far.”
    “Not
so, M’Lud, with respect. In fact, not far enough.” He swung back round and faced my wife again.
    “I put it to
you, Mrs. Cooper, that Jeremy Alexander was your lover, and still is, that you
are perfectly aware he is alive and well, and that if you wished to, you could
tell us exactly where he is now.’
    Despite the
judge’s spluttering and the uproar in the court, Rosemary had her reply ready.
    “I only wish he
were,” she said, ‘so that he could stand in this court and confirm that I am
telling the truth.” Her voice was soft and gentle.
    “But you already
know the truth, Mrs. Cooper,” said Sir Matthew, his voice gradually rising.
“The truth is that your husband left the house on his own .
He then drove to the Queen’s Hotel, where he spent the rest of the night, while
you and your lover used that time to leave clues across the city ol Leeds –
clues, I might add, that were intended to incriminate your husband. But the one
thing you couldn’t leave was a body, because as you well know Mr. Jeremy
Alexander is still alive, and the two of you have together fabricated this
entire bogus story, simply to further your own ends. Isn’t that the truth, Mrs.
Cooper?’
    “No, no!”
Rosemary shouted , her voice cracking before she
finally burst into tears.
    “Oh, come, come,
Mrs. Cooper. Those are counterfeit tears, are they not?” said Sir Matthew
quietly. “Now you’ve been found out, the jury will decide if your distress is
genuine.” I glanced across at the jury. Not only had they fallen for Rosemary’s
performance, but they now despised me for allowing my insensitive bully of a
counsel to attack such a gentle, longsuffering woman. To every one of Sir
Matthew’s probing questions, Rosemary proved well capable of delivering a
riposte that revealed to me all the hallmarks of Jeremy Alexander’s expert
tuition.
    When it was my
turn to enter the witness box, and Sir Matthew began questioning me, I felt my
story sounded far less convincing than Rosemary’s, despite its being the truth.
    The