A Prisoner of Birth Read Free Page B

did you do next?" asked Pearson quietly.
    "I phoned the emergency services, and they assured me that they would send police and an ambulance immediately."
    "Did they say anything else?" asked Pearson, looking down at his notes.
    "Yes," replied Craig. "They told me under no circumstances to approach the man with the knife, but to return to the bar and wait until the police arrived." He paused. "I carried out those instructions to the letter."
    "How did your friends react when you went back into the bar and told them what you had seen?"
    "They wanted to go outside and see if they could help, but I told them what the police had advised and that I also thought it might be wise in the circumstances for them to go home."
    "In the circumstances?"
    "I was the only person who had witnessed the whole incident and I didn't want them to be in any danger should the man with the knife return to the bar."
    "Very commendable," said Pearson.
    The judge frowned at the prosecuting counsel. Alex Redmayne continued to take notes.
    "How long did you have to wait before the police arrived?"
    "It was only a matter of moments before I heard a siren, and a few minutes later a plain-clothes detective entered the bar through the back door.He produced his badge and introduced himself as Detective Sergeant Fuller. He informed me that the victim was on his way to the nearest hospital."
    "What happened next?"
    "I made a full statement, and then DS Fuller told me I could go home."
    "And did you?"
    "Yes, I returned to my house, which is only about a hundred yards from the Dunlop Arms, and went to bed, but I couldn't sleep."
    Alex Redmayne wrote down the words:
about a hundred yards
.
    "Understandably," said Pearson.
    The judge frowned a second time.
    "So I got up, went to my study and wrote down everything that had taken place earlier that evening."
    "Why did you do that, Mr. Craig, when you had already given a statement to the police?"
    "My experience of standing where you are, Mr. Pearson, has made me aware that evidence presented in the witness box is often patchy, even inaccurate, by the time a trial takes place several months after a crime has been committed."
    "Quite so," said Pearson, turning another page of his file. "When did you learn that Daniel Cartwright had been charged with the murder of Bernard Wilson?"
    "I read the details in the
Evening Standard
the following Monday. It reported that Mr. Wilson had died on his way to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, and that Cartwright had been charged with his murder."
    "And did you regard that as the end of the matter, as far as your personal involvement was concerned?"
    "Yes, although I knew that I would be called as a witness in any forthcoming trial, should Cartwright decide to plead not guilty."
    "But then there was a twist that even you, with all your experience of hardened criminals, could not have anticipated."
    "There certainly was," responded Craig. "Two police officers visited my chambers the following afternoon to conduct a second interview."
    "But you had already given verbal and written statements to DS Fuller," said Pearson. "Why did they need to interview you again?"
    "Because Cartwright was now accusing
me
of killing Mr. Wilson, and was even claiming that I had picked up the knife from the bar."
    "Had you ever come across Mr. Cartwright or Mr. Wilson before that night?"
    "No, sir," replied Craig truthfully.
    "Thank you, Mr. Craig."
    The two men smiled at each other before Pearson turned to the judge and said, "No more questions, m'lord."

 
CHAPTER THREE
     
     
    M R . J USTICE S ACKVILLE turned his attention to the counsel at the other end of the bench. He was well acquainted with Alex Redmayne's distinguished father, who had recently retired as a high court judge, but his son had never appeared before him.
    "Mr. Redmayne," intoned the judge, "do you wish to cross-examine this witness?"
    "I most certainly do," replied Redmayne as he gathered up his notes.
    Danny recalled that not long