Hand In Glove Part 5

There was no sign of Hyslop and, with ten-thirty drawing near, she decided to enter the court. It was a small, modern, airless room of laminated wood and plastic-coated metal in which little of the law's gravitas seemed detectable. There were several officials already present and, near the front, two men urgently engaged in a whispered discussion. One of them was a short rotund fellow in a dark three-piece suit, a sheen of sweat visible on his high domed forehead. The other was taller and leaner, with his back turned so that Charlotte could not see his face. She thought they might both be solicitors.

"The Crown Prosecutor's solicitor has just told me he'll be opposing bail in the strongest possible terms, Mr Fairfax," said Albion Dredge.

"So," Derek replied, "I've wasted my time by coming, have I?"

"Not at all. Not at all. There's always a chance."

"How good a chance?"

"In view of the gravity of the charges-and your brother's previous conviction-not very."

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Derek sighed. He had no wish to see Colin behind bars, but at least it would relieve his anxiety over whatever bail he might have to put up. "How long before the case comes to trial?"

"Six months or so."

"Six months?"

"At least. The courts are inundated these days. Of course, there's some possibility the Crown Prosecution Service may drop the aiding and abetting charge. They know it's much the weakest of the three.

It's also the most serious. As it's intended to be."

"What do you mean?"

Dredge lowered his voice still further. "Between you and me, Mr Fairfax, I think the police added it to the list to put pressure on your brother. If he'd say who sold him the Tunbridge Ware, they might well drop it. And that might alter the situation over bail."

"But Colin denies buying the stuff."

"Exactly."

"You mean he'd have to plead guilty to the other charges?"

"To handling, at all events."

"Which he isn't prepared to do?"

"Not yet, no."

"I see. OK, Mr Dredge. Thanks very much for putting me in the picture." Derek stood upright and turned to resume his seat in the row behind. As he did so, his eyes met those of a woman sitting another three rows back who had not been there before. Instantly, he coloured and looked away. It was the woman he had encountered outside the Treasure Trove the previous afternoon. And this time he could not walk away.

Who was he? Why was he here? Charlotte had scarcely begun to ponder the questions when a general hubbub signalled the start of proceedings. The desks at the front of the court filled rapidly. Hyslop nodded to her in acknowledgement as he joined the latecomers. Then a clerk bade them all rise and three magistrates took their places on the bench.

With less ceremony than Charlotte had expected, the case was called. A policeman led the defendant in through a side-door and escorted him to the dock. He stood with his hands resting on the rail before him, no more than twenty feet from Charlotte. Since his attention was focused on the bench, she had no need to worry that her scrutiny of him would be noticed.

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He was tall and broadly built, with a flushed and rather puffy face, brown hair worn too long, greying at the sides and thinning on top. He wore a dark blue blazer, fawn trousers and an open-necked striped shirt that was stretched taut over a substantial paunch. There was a red handkerchief spilling flamboyantly from the breast pocket of his blazer and an oversized signet-ring on the little finger of his left hand. She had not expected to like him. On the contrary, she had expected to be repelled by him. And so, in a sense, she was. A ladies'

man going to seed, a smooth-talking fraudster running out of time and luck, grown old and careless enough to have set this squalid crime in motion. That is what she thought of him. And somewhere, on a level of which she was only partially aware, she wished he was younger and more blatantly charming. She wished there was more in him to detest.

Suddenly, she realized she had failed to keep pace with the business of the court. The charges had been read and the defendant had stated his full name-Colin Neville Fairfax. But he had not been asked to plead guilty or not guilty and this rather confused Charlotte.

As did the speed with which the magistrates seemed to be moving towards an adjournment. "We will fix a full hearing for a month's time," announced the chairman. "Any objections?" None appeared to be forthcoming. The chairman craned forward to consult his clerk.

"Is Friday the twenty-fourth of July acceptable to all parties?" Various heads nodded. "Very well. The twenty-fourth of July it is. Mr Dredge, you are appearing for the defendant?"

"Yes, sir." As Fairfax's solicitor bobbed up, Charlotte recognized him as the person to whom the mystery man from the Treasure Trove had been talking earlier. "My client will be disputing all the charges and therefore wishes to apply for bail."

"Mr Metcalfe?" The chairman raised his eyebrows at the Crown's solicitor.

"We oppose bail, sir. These are very serious charges. The police believe there is a strong likelihood that the defendant will not present himself for trial. In this regard, I should draw your attention to his previous conviction, details of which I have placed before you."

"Ah, yes." The chairman looked down at some papers in front of him. "Mr Dredge?"

"I would point out that my client was granted bail prior to that conviction, sir, and complied fully with the conditions imposed."

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"Quite so." The chairman scratched his nose, then said: "Are you thinking of bail on the defendant's own recognisance, Mr Dredge?"

"No, sir. The defendant's brother, Mr Derek Fairfax, is prepared to stand as a surety."

"And is Mr Derek Fairfax present?"

"He is, sir." Dredge turned and extended his hand towards a figure in the row behind him, who half rose in response. And so at last Charlotte discovered who he was: Colin Fairfax's brother.

"I see," said the chairman. "Well now, I think we will retire for a moment." At that he and his two colleagues rose and left.

Murmured conversations sprang up in their absence. Dredge moved across to the dock and began a whispered exchange with his client. Derek Fairfax did not join them, but looked in their direction and once, as Charlotte watched him, seemed about to glance towards her. But he did not.

Then the magistrates returned. After a general shuffling in seats and clearing of throats, the chairman said: "In view of the nature and gravity of the offences involved in this case, we have decided to refuse bail." He looked across at the defendant. "You are remanded in custody, Mr Fairfax, and will reappear before us on the twenty-fourth of July. This case is now adjourned until that date."

Derek was looking at Colin when the chairman announced he would not be granted bail and knew precisely what his crumpled wince of disappointment signified. It was the expression with which he had greeted life's reverses from childhood, a weary acceptance that, through no fault of his own, his plans had gone awry. What followed was also characteristic. He raised his eyebrows, puffed out his cheeks and slowly shook his head. Then the policeman who had brought him in touched his elbow and he descended from the dock. At the last moment, before turning towards the side-door, he looked across at Derek and winked. In response, Derek could do no more than feebly raise one hand.

After Colin had vanished, Derek remained where he was, waiting for the court to empty. Dredge lingered for a moment, talking to his opposite number. When they had finished, he motioned for Derek to join him. Then, together, they moved slowly towards the exit.

"As I feared, Mr Fairfax, your brother's previous conviction told against him."

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"You did your best, Mr Dredge. Where will Colin be held?"

"Lewes Prison."

"Will I be able to visit him?"

"Of course. But I should leave it a couple of days. Let him settle in."

Abstinence of all kinds would be his greatest hardship, Derek suspected. Alcohol, food, conversation and women. Despite Colin's reputation as a Don Juan, that was probably the correct order. Last time, it had to be said, he had emerged looking fitter and healthier than when he had gone in. But he was older now, less resilient, less tolerant of discomfort, less than the man he had once been. "Do I take it from what you were saying earlier, Mr Dredge, that you'll be encouraging him to plead guilty, at least to the handling charge?"

"I'll be explaining the consequences of not doing so, certainly."

"And they are?"

"Potentially serious. The Crown can show he knew where the Tunbridge Ware came from. Therefore they can show he must have known it was stolen. Complicity with the thief is contestable. Knowledge that he was a thief isn't."

"So Colin has no defence?"

"Only his contention that the goods were planted, which no jury will swallow. And judges tend to reward what they see as perverse or mischievous pleas with heavy sentences."

"What sort of sentence could we be talking about?"

"The maximum for handling stolen goods is fourteen years."

Fourteen years would take Colin past sixty and the world into a new millennium. It suddenly seemed to Derek an unimaginably long time. "What about the other charges?" he murmured.

"Conspiracy to burgle carries the same maximum."

"And aiding and abetting murder?"

"Is unlikely to stick."

"But if it does?"

"Then the same as for murder itself. Life."

After a brief conversation with Hyslop on the steps of the court building, Charlotte made her way back to her car, wondering why she felt so disappointed by what she had witnessed, why she could not summon up more indignation on Beatrix's behalf. Colin Fairfax was not, of course, the man who had actually bludgeoned her to death, but he H A N D I N G L O V E.

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was responsible for it having happened. That seemed certain. Why then could Charlotte not hate him as she should?

She reached her car, climbed in and wound down the window.

Birds were singing in the bushes behind her and somewhere music was playing on a radio. Beatrix would have forgiven Fairfax, of course. That was the irony of it. "Clearly the man meant me no harm,"

Charlotte could imagine her saying. "If I had realized how badly he wanted the Tunbridge Ware, I would have given it to him."

Charlotte shook her head in bemus.e.m.e.nt and slid the key into the ignition. As she did so, a figure appeared round the corner of the building and began walking towards her. It was Derek Fairfax, bowed and frowning, one hand fumbling in his jacket pocket. He did not glance in her direction and at first she thought he would walk straight past without noticing her. But his car, it transpired, was the one next to hers. As he turned into the narrow s.p.a.ce between them, he looked up and saw her.

For an instant he seemed about to smile, then the anxious frown rea.s.serted itself. Did he know who she was? Charlotte wondered. If he did, she must avoid speaking to him at all costs. There was no time to a.n.a.lyse why, merely to yield to the instinct. She started the car and saw him step back a pace in surprise. Then, accelerating too hard, she skidded out of the bay, regained control and swerved towards the exit, resisting all temptation to glance in the rear-view mirror.

According to Dredge, the woman they had seen talking to Chief Inspector Hyslop was Beatrix Abberley's niece, Charlotte Ladram.

She it was who had identified the Tunbridge Ware found in Colin's shop. Thus had Derek learned why she should have been both at the Treasure Trove and Hastings Magistrates' Court. What she had thought as she peered into the gloomy interior of the shop or gazed at Colin, rumpled and forlorn in the dock, he had, of course, no way of knowing. Had they spoken on either occasion, he would naturally have offered his condolences. There was nothing else he could have offered. Perhaps, therefore, it was as well that they had not spoken.

Such thoughts were in his mind as he looked up and saw her, sitting at the wheel of the car next to his. Their eyes met, then parted.

He hesitated, uncertain what to do. It would surely be ridiculous to ignore each other. After all, she knew who he was now. There was no point pretending any more. And yet-

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