‘You heard what Dr Bailey said,’ Constance said. ‘Your mum had a serious heart condition. If it hadn’t happened that night, it would have been the next occasion she pushed herself too far. Maybe even something as simple as running for the bus. You couldn’t be with her all the time.’

  ‘She only sent me away because of the gaming. She did it for me. And if I hadn’t been so into gaming, she would probably never have got into any of this stuff in the first place.’

  ‘It’s not your fault.’ This time it was Jaden who spoke and Tom took two steps nearer and sat down opposite him, their heads only centimetres apart. ‘I lost my mum just over a year ago,’ Jaden said. ‘Not as quick as with your mum, so I did have time to say goodbye. My mum was a nurse, worked double shifts to help pay for stuff, got ill from too much work, doctors tried to save her, but she died anyway. There isn’t one day goes past that I don’t think of the times I did stuff that made her mad, stuff I shouldn’t have done, stuff that might have changed our lives, so that, if I hadn’t done it, she’d have never got sick in the first place.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Tom said.

  ‘Yeah, me too. But I know she’s watching me and I know that she would want me to take the life I have and do the things I want to do and do them well. And that she don’t want me to feel like any of it was my fault. I’m sure it’s the same with your mum. She did the stuff she did because she loved you so much and she was willing to make sacrifices for you, because that was what she wanted to do – and that’s the important bit. What we have in common, bro, is that we were both lucky enough to have mothers who loved us so much they didn’t always think about themselves enough, but they wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, if they lived on this earth a thousand times over.’

  Tom nodded first to himself, then at Jaden, then he stood up, turned around and walked slowly away. The court usher peered around the door and called them back inside.

  ***

  ‘Jaden Dodds, please stand up.’ Judge Oliver issued his order to Jaden sternly and Constance’s heart leapt to her mouth. Judith returned to her position in front, but her face gave nothing away. Constance looked across at Sylvie, but she was also impenetrable. Constance thought she would burst if this wasn’t over soon. She couldn’t even imagine how Jaden was feeling.

  ‘Your Counsel, Ms Burton, has submitted, on your behalf, a plea of no case to answer. In view of the evidence given by Dr Anthony Williams earlier today, I accept that plea. Members of the jury, that means that you will not be called upon to rule in this case, as I have decided that there is insufficient evidence that the defendant, Jaden Dodds, did anything wrong or was involved at all in the rape or murder of Dr Elizabeth Sullivan or the theft of her bag and unauthorised use of her credit card. Mr Dodds, the police officer will remove your handcuffs. You are free to go, without a stain on your character.’

  Judge Oliver nodded to Jaden, then to each set of lawyers and then marched out of court, leaving his pencil rolling backwards and forwards on his desk. Nathaniel vaulted over each and every row of chairs and ran to embrace Jaden, making it a little tricky for the policeman to uncuff him, but it was managed after a few attempts. Sylvie turned her back and then insisted on watching the two young men from over her shoulder.

  ‘It looks like you’ve broken your duck,’ Judith said to her.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You said you never lose.’

  ‘Oh that. I didn’t mean it. Everyone loses some of the time.’

  Judith opened her mouth to say something snide and then changed her mind. ‘Will you prosecute Tony Williams?’ she said, instead.

  ‘If it was up to me, you bet ya.’

  ‘He is a doctor.’

  ‘No one is above the law and all that. But it isn’t up to me, as you know.’ Sylvie collected her books and piled them into a box. Then, she paused. ‘I know you don’t want to give away your trade secrets,’ she said, ‘but, well, wouldn’t it have been easier to get Dr Bailey to admit all those things about the two drugs interacting? You started asking her, then you just let her off the hook. Granted she was happy you eased off, as you would have been challenging her professional judgment even more than you did. I just wondered?’

  Judith stared at Sylvie. The truth was, now she thought about it, that she had got side-tracked with Dr Bailey. She had been focusing on disproving the rape allegations and she hadn’t pressed as far as she might with the actual medical evidence.

  ‘I suppose you’ll just say that it had more impact to get Dr Williams himself to own up,’ Sylvie said. ‘And, you’re right, of course. It was great theatre. But more risky too.’

  ‘Do you really run marathons?’ Judith asked.

  Sylvie smiled. ‘Yes, I do.’

  ‘And do you enjoy them?’

  ‘It’s all relative. More than most other things, yes. You should try it.’

  ‘No thanks. I think that running is definitely one activity I am too old to begin now.’

  ‘It’s wonderful thinking time.’

  ‘I’m sure it is. But that’s another reason why I’m not keen. Thinking is a bit overrated. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see my client now.’

  43

  ‘Did Sylvie object, when you were with the judge?’ Constance asked, as she helped Judith pack up her books.

  ‘No,’ Judith said. ‘She pretty much made my case for me, I’ll give her that. She was gracious in defeat. Although Judge Oliver gave us both a lecture.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Said he couldn’t understand the attraction of online games. Agreed with Dr Williams that this was a terrible waste. I think he was trying to show us that he was human, after all.’

  ‘How funny.’

  ‘You were right though.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You said your money was on Tony Williams.’

  ‘He didn’t kill her.’

  ‘Not directly.’

  ‘And she knew the risks. She was a doctor too.’

  ‘Now you’re defending him?’

  ‘Not really. It’s just, after reading all those studies, their book, I can see why they both – him and Liz – why they hated the gaming industry so much, and why Dr Williams saw Jaden as part of it all.’

  ‘I don’t see Jaden as the problem,’ Judith said, glancing at him over the crowds as she spoke. ‘He’s just a young man trying to find his way in the world, in the best way he can, who’s exploited the zeitgeist.’

  ‘I’ll tell him that, then,’ Constance giggled. ‘Maybe he can use it in his marketing material.’

  ***

  Constance approached Jaden, who was busy shaking hands with anyone nearby, including the police officer who had opened his handcuffs.

  ‘How does it feel to be free?’ Constance asked.

  Jaden nodded slowly. ‘I’m not sure yet,’ he said. ‘Bit of a surprise, even though you gave me the heads up. I kept it really calm, like you said. I had all my stuff ready for court tomorrow and it’s still inside me, waiting to come out. But I think, instead, I’ll take a long shower and stretch out on my bed. Ask me after that.’

  ‘That sounds like a good idea. Listen, would you like to make a statement, to the press? They’ll be waiting outside, I’m sure.’

  ‘Do I have to?’

  ‘No. You don’t have to say or do anything. We can go quietly out the back, if you prefer. Or we can spend a few minutes writing something down and I can read it out for you. People usually prefer that, for us to agree something and I read it. It’s not so easy to speak freely when cameras are flashing all around you, that’s all.’

  ‘I want to do it,’ Jaden said.

  ‘OK? Would you like to tell me what you want to say and I’ll write it down for you?’

  ‘What do you think, Nath?’ Jaden was rolling his shoulders back and striding forwards toward the door.

  ‘I think you can do it,’ Nathaniel said.

  Jaden stopped. ‘That’s what I think too. I didn’t get to say my bit in court, so this is my chance now, and without being interrupted. I want to do it and I’m not writing nothing down,’ Jaden had made his decision.

  ‘All right. Do you need a few minutes?’

  ‘I just want to get in that shower, so if we’re gonna do it, let’s do it now, then I can get going.’

  ***

  It was only three hours since Eric had left but, during that time, Luke had aged three years. At first, he had justified his actions to himself, by his genuine belief that Eric was a murderer. He had had a lucky escape, he reasoned, on the many occasions they had been alone together. The man was a maniac, a terroriser, a devil. But niggling away at the back of his mind was the thought that if Eric had not asked him to change Midas again, had not ignored his obvious consternation, then he might have been willing to overlook Eric’s deficiencies.

  Even so, he had taken it upon himself to call the Olympic representative they were supposed to meet and explain, with appropriate gravitas, that Eric had been summoned to hospital with tremendous urgency, as a potential bone marrow donor for a very sick friend. He had run through many permutations of this excuse and this one had come out on top. The rep had been instantly accepting and had rearranged the session for the following week without turning a hair, sending good wishes to Eric. It always paid to keep your options open, Luke told himself.

  Then, less than an hour ago, the breaking news revealed the real circumstances of Elizabeth Sullivan’s death. Luke had scoured the online press, followed by Twitter, to discover as much as he could about the end of the trial. And then he had felt, first, relief and then trepidation. Relief that Eric was not guilty after all, but then lead in the pit of his stomach, spreading out through his torso to his limbs, until he was almost totally paralysed with fear, regarding what consequences Eric’s return might bring for him.

  But half an hour ago, he had rallied. He felt, in his heart, that he had done the right thing. That, if he hadn’t spoken up and Eric had been the killer, he would never have forgiven himself. He was also proud that he had potentially sacrificed his own career ascendance, although, to be fair, this feeling had lessened by the second. This was particularly the case as the office gossiped, lamenting Eric’s potential demise and what that might mean for all of them: redundancy, penury, starvation. Together with theories of who might have been responsible for ‘grassing Eric up’, to which the most disparaging comments were directed.

  Luke felt sick and retired to the toilet for as long as he possibly could, without causing a stir. He wasn’t to know that Eric had already been released from the police station, with a date to return to face charges of assaulting a police officer. Or that his lawyer was feeling optimistic that he could get him off with a fine. Eric had finally clicked who the ‘Elizabeth’ was he had been seeing and had put forward a defence that his despair at her death, exacerbated by the ongoing trial, had caused him to lash out at the officer, when her name was mentioned. Dawson had seen through this excuse for what it was, but accepted that, having already prosecuted the wrong person once in this case, it might be better for everyone to learn some life lessons and move on.

  Luke also didn’t know that Eric’s call to Gerry, in his taxi departing the police station, had quickly revealed the most likely source of the intelligence leading to his arrest. Or that Eric’s initial response had been to squeeze his stress ball so hard that it began to disintegrate in his hand, the crumbs littering the floor of his taxi. He didn’t know, either, that Gerry, grateful to Luke for the update of the previous day and mindful of the fact that it was he who had identified Liz from her photo, had pointed out to Eric that, even if he claimed ownership of Midas, as he was entitled to do, given that it was produced on Valiant time, he probably needed Luke for the finishing touches. And, more importantly, a messy dismissal would almost certainly end their chances with the Olympic selectors.

  And finally, he didn’t know that, as Eric’s fury was beginning to dissipate, although his nose continued to throb, the rearranged meeting invite, from the Olympic representative, pinged its way into Eric’s calendar, together with some heartfelt good wishes and reference to how much he was looking forward to meeting both Eric and Luke in the flesh.

  So when Gillian ran into the centre of the office and shouted ‘They let him go. He’s coming,’ at the top of her voice and then the message came through that they should all gather for Eric’s imminent arrival, Luke was still none the wiser. But more blather and rumour and surmise was prevailing among his colleagues, including the mundane: Eric had failed to pay child support, before Gillian confirmed knowledgeably that wasn’t a criminal offence; Eric’s unpaid speeding and parking fines (apparently there were many of these) had caught up with him; Eric was behind on the rent.

  Of course, the staff, particularly given the substance of their day job, were also imagining, but not voicing, far more distasteful offences to match the speed at which Eric had been dispatched from them; importing automatic weapons from Angola, running a secret methamphetamine lab, diamond smuggling.

  Then Eric marched through the door, wide smile on his face and high fived every one of them, making sure his eyes wandered long and searching over Luke’s face.

  ‘Team!’ he shouted. ‘I’m back. Did you miss me?’

  ‘Yes,’ they called, some loudly, some half-heartedly.

  Eric climbed up onto a chair and then, as it began to spin around, he leaped nimbly onto a desk.

  ‘I said, did you miss me?’

  This time everyone roared out ‘yes’, including Luke, who found himself raising his arm aloft, with the rest of them.

  Eric caught Luke’s eye a second time and gave him a shallow nod, while simultaneously gritting his teeth and finally reducing his stress ball to dust, deep in his pocket.

  Luke breathed again. He was in the clear, for now. ‘Side show’, ‘tiptoe’, ‘touch and go’.

  ***

  Tom sat with Eve in Wagamama’s on Fleet Street. He had, at first, insisted that he wasn’t hungry, but then, as a customer at the neighbouring table received a bowl of noodles with a large piece of chargrilled salmon balanced elegantly on the top, he changed his mind and asked to see the menu.

  ‘What did you say to him – to Jaden Dodds? I saw you two talking,’ Eve asked, as Tom’s glass of ‘power juice’ arrived.

  Tom shrugged. ‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘He just said he was sorry about Mum.’

  He took a big gulp of juice and imagined it flowing through his body, like a river of nutrients, feeding his cells and sweeping away the backed-up sludgy residue from his cigarettes. He knew Eve wanted to ask him more – if he was OK, whether he wanted to go back to school, what she should do with him now. He had a pretty clear idea what he wanted himself, but he was going to make her sweat a little. It was nice to have power over someone else, even if only fleetingly.

  ‘What are you thinking?’ she asked, rather predictably, after he had ordered ‘firecracker chicken’. He didn’t tell her. He was thinking that he wanted food which would burn his tongue and scour his insides. Everything about the next twenty-four hours needed to be about purging, expelling, eradicating. Only then could he begin his life anew.

  ‘I was just thinking how hungry I am,’ he said, which was true, but only part of the story.

  ‘Me too,’ Eve said, reaching out and stroking his hair back from his face. And Tom swallowed hard and sniffed back the tears this time and sat back from her reach, after a polite interval, because, even though Eve looked and sounded nothing like his mum, her touch was almost exactly the same.

  ***

  Jaden marched towards the door of the court, and Judith, who had missed most of his exchange with Constance, ran to keep up with the rest of his entourage. She caught sight of Greg, standing towards the back of the crowd. She lifted her hand to wave at him. She should really go over and thank him. Without his work to open Liz’s phone, and then his making sense of her laptop use, they might not ever have found the real culprit. And all she’d done last night was cut him off and talk over him. She hadn’t really shown her appreciation for all he had done. Then, suddenly, the crowd around her surged and, when she looked again, he had disappeared.

  Judith took out her phone. She thought for a few seconds and then she typed in: ‘Dinner tonight 7pm, Lemonia,’ and sent her message. As she headed towards the fresh air, her phone vibrated to inform her she’d received a reply.

  Jaden burst out through the main doors of the court building, flanked by Constance and Nathaniel. He stood, illuminated in the flashlights of a dozen cameras, amid calls of ‘Mr Dodds, over here!’, ‘Jaden, Jaden, give us a wave!’

  ‘Now?’ he asked Constance.

  ‘Yes,’ she said, squeezing his elbow, for reassurance. ‘Now.’

  Jaden stepped forward and gave the press a broad smile. When they continued to pepper him with questions, Constance waved at them to quieten down.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen, my client would like to make a statement please. If you could do him the courtesy of allowing him to do so.’

  The crowd ceased their chatter and Jaden stood tall and glorious. And then, in a deep and resonant voice, he started to speak.

  ‘This has been a very difficult time for me,’ he began, sneaking a sideways glance at Constance, who nodded to him to continue. ‘I was wrongly accused of a terrible crime…well three terrible crimes. Sometimes, I closed my eyes at night and hoped that when I opened them in the morning, I would find it was all a bad dream.