Defend and Betray - Anne Perry [133]
“Hold your tongue,” someone else said furiously. “Or we’ll all be thrown out! The judge is coming.”
And indeed he was, splendid in robes touched with scarlet, white wig only slightly fuller than those of the lawyers. He was a tallish man with a broad brow and fine strong nose, short jaw and good mouth, but he was far younger than Hester had expected, and for no reason that she understood, her heart sank. In some way she had imagined a fatherly man might have more compassion, a grandfatherly man even more again. She found herself sitting forward on the edge of the hard bench, her hands clenched, her shoulders tight.
There was a rising wave of excitement, then a sudden silence as the prisoner was brought in, a craning forward and turning of heads on the benches behind the lawyers, of all except one woman dressed entirely in black, and veiled. Beneath the gallery in the dock the prisoner had been brought in.
Even the jury, seemingly against their will, found their eyes moving towards her.
Hester cursed the arrangement which made it impossible to see the dock from the gallery.
“We should have got seats down there,” she said to Monk, nodding her head towards the few benches behind the lawyers’ seats.
“We?” he said acidly. “If it weren’t for me you’d be standing outside.”
“I know—and I’m grateful. All the same, we should still try to get a seat down there.”
“Then come an hour earlier next time.”
“I will. But it doesn’t help now.”
“What do you want to do?” he whispered sarcastically. “Lose these seats and go out and try to get in downstairs?”
“Yes,” she hissed back. “Of course I do. Come on!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ll end up with nothing.”
“You can do as you please. I’m going.”
The woman in front swung around. “Be quiet,” she said furiously.
“Mind your own business, madam,” Monk said, freezing calm, then grasped Hester by the elbow and propelled her out past the row of protesting onlookers. Up the aisle and outside in the hallway he maintained silence. They went down the stairs, and at the door of the lower court he let go of her.
“All right,” he said with a scathing stare. “Now what do you propose to do?”
She gulped, glared back at him, then swung around and marched to the doors.
A bailiff appeared and barred the way. “I’m sorry. You can’t go in there, miss. It’s all full up. You should ’a come earlier. You’ll ’ave ter read about it in the papers.”
“That will not be satisfactory,” she said with all the dignity she could muster. “We are involved in the case, retained by Mr. Rathbone, counsel for the defense. This is Mr. Monk,” she inclined her head slightly. “He is working with Mr. Rathbone, and Mr. Rathbone may need to consult with him during the course of the evidence. I am with him.”
The bailiff looked over her head at Monk. “Is that true, sir?”
“Certainly it is,” Monk said without a flicker, producing a card from his vest pocket.
“Then you’d better go in,” the bailiff agreed cautiously. “But next time, get in ’ere a bit sooner, will you.”
“Of course. We apologize,” Monk said tactfully. “A little late business, you understand.”
And without arguing the point any further, he pushed Hester inside and allowed the bailiff to close the doors.
The court looked different from this level, the judge’s seat higher and more imposing, the witness box oddly more vulnerable, and the dock very enclosed, like a wide cage with wooden walls, very high up.
“Sit down,” Monk said sharply.
Hester obeyed, perching on the end of the nearest bench and forcing the present occupants to move up uncomfortably close to each other. Monk was obliged to stand, until someone graciously changed places to the next row and gave him space.
For the first time, with something of a start, Hester saw the haggard face of Alexandra Carlyon, who was permitted to sit because the proceedings were expected to take several days. It was not the face she had envisioned at all; it was far too immediate and individual, even pale and exhausted as it was. There was too much capacity for intelligence and pain in it; she was acutely aware that they