Losing You (55 page)

‘Go on,’ Finlay commanded.

‘Well, I felt really relieved when I found out she was still alive, not for myself – well, yes, I suppose for me – but mainly for her, and I can’t really remember much about it now, I just know that that time on the side of the road seemed kind of ... well, like it meant something, and I wanted to carry on letting her know that it meant something. Even if she couldn’t hear me, but they say people in comas can hear, or some of them can, so that’s why I downloaded music that we could listen to together. And I read things to her, mostly from the poets I studied for A level, because I knew she was doing English too, so I thought she might know some of the poems and if she didn’t she might like the ones I did anyway.’

Finlay’s eyes slid suspiciously to Russ and back again.

Russ remained silent, though he could tell that the prosecutor was sure someone had put Oliver up to this; to her it was one of the most unlikely stories she’d ever heard.

‘And now you say her mother called to let you know that she’s come round?’ Finlay said, scraping the edge off her scepticism by making her statement a question.

Oliver nodded. ‘This morning,’ he replied.

Tearing her eyes from his, she told Jolyon, ‘This doesn’t actually change anything, I hope you realise that.’

‘Maybe not in a legal sense,’ he conceded, ‘but I thought it was important for you to hear from Oliver himself about how he feels ...’

‘We’re not dealing with
feelings
, Mr Crane, what we have here are two criminal offences that have to be tried in a court of law, whether your client has a conscience or not.’

‘It’s not just about his conscience though, is it?’ Jolyon challenged. ‘It’s about common sense, human understanding, compassion and whether or not there is anything to be gained from continuing with this prosecution.’

‘Well, as your client’s lawyer I’d expect you to come up
with something fatuous like that, but I’m afraid the charges against him are far from trivial. In fact, they’re extremely serious ...’

‘Indeed they are, so let’s forget the lost blood sample for the moment, which has nothing to do with Oliver, and talk about the charge of dangerous driving. The report shows that Oliver was, at most, only five miles over the speed limit at the time of the accident, which happened during the early hours of the morning, on a deserted country road where no one in their right mind would have expected to come round a bend and find someone standing in front of them. Added to that was the boy’s urgent need to get to his mother. He was highly emotional, in a state of great fear, but he still wasn’t sufficiently over the speed limit to be classified as driving dangerously. You know that, and I know that, so I’ll leave it there for now, and go on to point out that in spite of his fear for his mother, and knowing he was over the legal limit for alcohol, he did not abandon the girl and drive on.’

Finlay wasn’t buying that for an instant. ‘His windscreen was smashed, how could he drive on?’ she almost scoffed.

‘He could have punched it out, or simply run away from the scene, but he did neither. What he did was call the emergency services, and then he stayed with her right up until help arrived. All of this, plus how concerned he’s been about the girl since, shows him, in my opinion, to be a young man of great courage and character. This will all be presented to the judge and jury, naturally, and by default to the press, all of whom, I’m afraid, will be sure to wonder why public money is being wasted on a prosecution that was badly compromised from the start by the missing blood sample, a negligible speeding infraction and so many mitigating circumstances to be cited in his favour that I couldn’t even make up any more.’

To Russ’s astonishment, Finlay still wasn’t budging. ‘And how do you think the press, now that you’ve cited them, would respond to a young man being allowed to walk away from charges for two serious crimes? And what of the Scotts?’ She was looking at Russ now. ‘You’re a father,
so let’s talk about feelings again. How would you
feel
if the shoe was on the other foot and it was your child who’d been hit by a drunk driver? More to the point, how would you feel if the law abandoned you and let the drunk driver go home without facing any charge whatsoever? Would you consider yourself and your family to be well served, Mr Lomax?’

‘No, I don’t expect I would,’ Russ replied stiffly, ‘if I wasn’t aware of the circumstances behind ...’

‘Excuse me interrupting,’ Jolyon came in hastily, ‘but if we’re going back to feelings, you’ll be aware of why the Scotts themselves might not actually
feel
it to be in their best interests to go ahead with the prosecution.’

Thrown, Russ turned to look at him.

Jolyon’s eyes were fixed firmly on Finlay.

Finlay’s mouth was pursed in profound disapproval.

Undeterred, Jolyon pressed on. ‘Questions will be asked about what Lauren Scott was doing in the middle of nowhere at that time of night. Of course, we know her car had broken down, but people, and I’m referring to the press now, will inevitably start digging around trying to find out where she’d been ...’

‘Yes, I get what you’re trying to say, thank you, Mr Crane,’ Finlay cut in, ‘and where Lauren Scott was coming from or going to, that night, isn’t one bit relevant to this case.’

‘Maybe not in a legal sense, but we both know that the Scotts have already suffered enough over this. Now that Lauren has woken up and is, hopefully, on the road to a full recovery ...’

‘But you don’t know that for certain.’

‘No, not yet, but whether she is, or isn’t, doesn’t change the fact that her family’s only concern from here on will be to get her well. They really won’t want all the detail of why Lauren was where she was, at the time Oliver came driving through to save his mother, being bandied about in a court of law, much less in the tabloid press. As I said, they’ve already suffered enough, so to exacerbate that in a way that could easily be avoided would surely be an indefensible position to take.’

Finlay was clearly furious. ‘We’ll discuss this further at
a later date,’ she told him tightly. Then, turning to Oliver, ‘And what about you, young man? What more do you have to say for yourself?’

Straightening his shoulders, Oliver forced himself to look at her as he replied, ‘Well, what I really want to say is how sorry I am for everything that’s happened. I wish I’d stopped to think before I got into my car that night. If I had ...’

‘If you had, none of us would be sitting here and the Scotts would be going about their lives, free of the tragedy they’re now having to live through.’

‘Yes, of course,’ he said quietly.

‘And do
you
think it would be just and fair that you should walk away from your actions without having to face any consequences?’

‘No, of course not.’

‘But he is facing the consequences,’ Russ told her, unable to let it rest there. ‘As he said earlier, he’s been going to visit Lauren, playing her music in the hope of stimulating her, reading her poetry ...’

‘Yes, I heard,’ she said brusquely.

‘This morning, when Mrs Scott called to tell him the good news, he promised he’d help in any way he can with Lauren’s recovery. Knowing him as I do, I have no doubt that he means this, because he has never been lacking in integrity. Moreover, his own life has essentially been on hold since the accident, as though in some kind of solidarity with Lauren. There hasn’t been a single moment of the day when he hasn’t either been suffering in his own way over what happened, or been finding out all that he can about her. She’s not just a victim for him, she’s a real person, a young girl not so very different in age or background to his own. A gifted student by all accounts, who might, at some point in the future we hope, be able to resume her studies. You asked him if he thought it was
just and fair
for him to walk away from his actions, and I can assure you that he will never walk away from them. He has never even tried to. What he wants now is the chance to be able to help her in a useful and productive way, whether it’s playing her music, talking to her, or being there through
her rehabilitation, and if Mrs Scott is prepared to give him that chance, I think we should too.’

‘But this isn’t about what you all
want
...’

‘If you decide to go ahead and prosecute,’ Russ cut in, ‘then please tell me what possible good will come of it. It’ll change nothing for Lauren, apart from deprive her of someone who cares enough to help her through ...’

‘I’m sure she has plenty of family and friends.’

‘I won’t disagree with that, but have you considered the fact that there might actually be some sort of special connection between my son and Lauren Scott after what happened?’

‘Oh, please, Mr Lomax. I expected better of you.’

‘And frankly I expected better of you. What exactly would be the point of sending my son into the future with a criminal record that will probably ruin most of his chances for a decent career, maybe even a worthwhile relationship? Who the hell is that going to help? Not Lauren, that’s for sure, or her family unless they’re hell-bent on revenge, and her mother’s reaction to Oliver is hardly suggesting that, is it? And now let me ask you this, do you really think Oliver deserves to pay such a high price for wanting to save his mother?’

A harsh silence reverberated around the room. Finlay’s eyes remained impenetrable as she stared back at Russ. Several moments ticked by before she spoke. ‘Where is his mother now? Why isn’t she here today?’

‘She’s in a rehab clinic close to her sister in Cape Town.’

Finlay’s eyebrows rose in a way that said almost nothing at all.

Turning back to Oliver, she said, ‘I hope Mr Crane hasn’t led you to believe that this is going to disappear as easily as he seems to think it will. The crimes you’ve committed are very grave, and certainly can’t be dismissed just because your father and Mr Crane are prepared to vouch for your character. I’m sure that at heart you are a decent young man, and I’m very glad to learn that you’re feeling some sense of responsibility for what you did, but the facts remain that you were driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and you were breaking the speed limit when you ran into Lauren Scott. So whether I’d like to or
not, I’m afraid it isn’t in my power simply to make it all go away. The law is the law whether you agree with it or not, and you, Mr Crane, should know better than to try to manipulate the course of justice with such reprehensible tactics as you’ve employed here today.’

Jolyon looked stunned. ‘What on earth can be deemed reprehensible about acting in the best interests of my client?’ he demanded.

‘A thinly veiled threat to go to the press with everything you know about Lauren Scott, is what,’ she retorted sharply.

Jolyon frowned in confusion. ‘I beg your pardon, but I made no such threat ...’

Sitting forward, she said, ‘I’m not a fool, Jolyon, and I certainly don’t enjoy being treated like one.’

‘Then with respect, Stella, don’t behave like one. You know me far too well to believe that I would leak information to the press.’

‘If you thought it would get your client off ...’

‘But this wouldn’t. In fact, the only harm it would do would be to the Scotts, and the concern I voiced earlier is that the press would get to find out about it the same way I did, through the police. It’s a complication whose only purpose would be to dish up a rather unsavoury scandal for the edification of tabloid readers. That’s certainly not what I’m about, as I’m sure you know, and nor would it be a relevant, or indeed mitigating factor, in helping to secure the right outcome for this young man.’

Though Finlay’s mouth had paled around the edges, she took the rebuke on the chin as she said, ‘I apologise if I misunderstood, but I’m afraid it still doesn’t alter what I’ve already said. Your client has been charged with two offences and I am simply not in a position to be able to dismiss ...’

‘Then why did you agree to see him today?’ Jolyon almost shouted. ‘It’s not like you to waste anyone’s time, and you knew before we came that we weren’t going to tell you anything you didn’t already know. So the reason he’s here is because you wanted to assess his character for yourself, and now, having met him, and heard him, you must surely be more certain than ever that this prosecution is never going to hold.’

‘What I was going to say,’ she informed him when he’d finished, ‘was that I am not able to take a decision without first consulting my superiors. When that process is complete I will let you know the outcome.’ She rose to her feet.

‘But in the meantime next week’s prelim will be rescheduled?’ Jolyon insisted as he stood up too.

‘Indeed it will. Thank you for coming, gentlemen. Jolyon, I believe you know the way out.’

No one spoke as they trudged back to the lift, still reeling from the last few minutes and what might, or might not, have been achieved.

‘Well, I’m glad no one let her get up their back,’ Russ commented wryly, as they rode down to the ground floor together.

Jolyon had to laugh. ‘It actually didn’t go badly,’ he said, looking at Oliver.

‘What did she mean about consulting her superiors?’ Oliver wanted to know. ‘I thought she was the top person.’

‘In this area she is, but ultimately she’s answerable to the Director of Public Prosecutions, so if she does decide to do as we want she’ll need to cover her back.’

‘Against what?’ Oliver asked.

‘This hasn’t been a low-profile case, so if the charges are dropped the press will lap it up and she won’t want to be facing the DPP after the event. Much better that the man himself, or someone up close to his level, has approved the decision, then the flak is less likely to knock her off her perch when it comes at her.’

‘So you’re still confident things will go our way?’ Russ asked, as they walked out into the drizzly rain.

Glancing at his watch, Jolyon said, ‘I’d say it’s seventy thirty in our favour. Now I have to run, I’m afraid. I’ve got an assault and battery going on even as we speak.’

‘Hang on, before you go,’ Russ cried, grabbing his arm. ‘What was all that about where Lauren Scott had been the night of the accident?’