Quota (23 page)

‘By that you mean up the small stepladder that leads from the gangways on the sides of the deck, up to the wheelhouse doors?'

‘Yes.'

‘So for Matthew, four minutes have passed before you join him in the wheelhouse, where you say he's looking at, what, at charts?'

‘Yes.'

‘And after those four minutes, you join him in the wheelhouse and you find him doing exactly that?'

‘Yes.'

‘Not sooner than four minutes, not later?'

‘No.'

Charlie could sense the tedium infecting Patrick's responses. It was exactly the passive sensation of box-ticking that the Basque was trying to induce; a witness who casually gave out a dozen affirmative answers would always react with horror when they found those answers could not be withdrawn on later reflection.

Ocas paused and looked at the jury for effect. This is the theatrical version of running a highlighter through text, thought Charlie.
Remember this bit folks; we'll talk about this later…

‘Four long minutes. Then I think you say there's another two minutes in there while that's happening.'

‘About that. I can't be a hundred per cent sure.'

‘All right, but let's say two minutes just for argument's sake, shall we? So, your evidence is that Matthew then leaves the wheelhouse, heading
back the way you had come in
. Is that right?'

‘Yes.'

‘And he was gone for another three minutes before you hear the first sound, which is a voice saying “Where are you, fucker?”'

‘There were kind of some bangs and crashes right at the same time, but yes.'

‘Bangs and crashes,' Ocas wrote this down carefully. ‘No doubt in your mind that that was another three minutes?'

‘It was a pretty tense situation. We didn't have any idea what was going on. So I wasn't looking at a watch, okay, but it would've been about that.'

‘No no, that's all right,' Ocas hastily agreed. ‘Once your brother boards the
Open Quest
, you say we've got two minutes, and two minutes and two minutes and three minutes—
nine minutes
—before this trap is sprung by my client?'

Patrick rolled his eyes upwards in the involuntary struggle to keep up. ‘If that's what you reckon.'

‘No Mr Lanegan, it's not a matter of what I reckon, it's your sworn testimony I'm working off here. Nine minutes!' Ocas swung around and looked at the clock mounted high on the wall at the back of the room. ‘That's longer than I've been talking to you since I stood up. Last chance Mr Lanegan, are you sure about all that?'

‘Um, no, I'm not so sure. Look, Jesus, how can you tell? It was weird on that boat. Something was obviously going on.'

‘Yes. It beggars belief that they would take nine whole minutes to spring their trap, don't you think? But I suggest to you something else was going on—something like a suspension of the laws of physics.' Again the portentous look towards the jury. ‘You say you tied up to the port side of the
Open Quest
, yes?'

‘Yes.'

‘And you and your brother boarded about two-thirds of the way down the length of the vessel?'

‘Yes.'

‘And after Matthew left you, you say he went back the same way you had come. That was your sworn evidence, wasn't it Mr Lanegan?'

‘Yes, it was. He did.'

‘But Mr Lanegan, the next evidence you gave to Mr Jardim was that, upon hearing these words you've described, you said, and I quote, you “went down—on the side of their boat, the side away from where we'd tied up, there is a gangway there…”'

‘Yes.'

‘I put to you, Mr Lanegan, you're describing the starboard side there, not the port side.'

‘Yeah. So what?'

The judge sat bolt upright like he'd been stung by some unseen insect. ‘Mr Lanegan, when you are giving evidence in this court, you will refrain from sarcastic rejoinders such as that one, thank you.'

‘Sorry, your worship.'

The Basque's voice was rising now, building to a confident crescendo.

‘I'll tell you
what
, Mr Lanegan. Your evidence was that when you fell to the deck with your brother on top of you, the two of you landed with both your heads pointed towards the
stern
of the vessel: that is, for the rest of us, the back. Correct?'

‘Yes.' Charlie watched the confusion dawning gradually on Patrick's face.

‘And you then went on to say this—when the gunman you say you saw, is suddenly alerted to your presence and he's on the decking there, you say, “Matt sort of tipped me to me left—I was off balance and he got a leg round me and he tipped me over on my left side and I just fell out the gap…” Now that's just nonsense, isn't it Mr Lanegan?'

‘No, it's not nonsense. I'll remember it as long as I live.'

‘Well if it's etched in your memory as you say it is, how come he tipped you to your
left
, when that would've merely rolled you into the cabin wall?'

There was silence in court three of the Supreme Court as this image worked its effect on those listening.

‘By your account, you will be labouring under a misapprehension as long as you live. With your heads pointed to the stern, on the starboard side of the boat, he would have had to roll you to your
right
, to tip you overboard, Mr Lanegan. So which is it: did he in fact tip you to your right? Or were you in fact facing the bow? Or were you in fact on the port side of the
Open Quest,
or were—'

‘I don't know.'

‘Or were you—?'

‘I said I don't know.'

‘I wasn't finished, Mr Lanegan. Or were you in fact'—he looked away casually—‘not on board the
Open Quest
at all?'

‘That's ridiculous. Of course I was on board.'

‘You don't wish to change your evidence now, on oath, before this jury, and tell us that you never boarded the
Open Quest
that night?

‘No I do not.' Charlie felt a measure of relief at the fact that Patrick sounded angry and resolute. He'd locked his eyes on the Basque, gripping the front rail of the witness box. But Ocas could do this easily, had done it innumerable times in the past. He stared back flatly until Patrick gave up and looked at his hands.

‘Now then. How long do you say elapsed between the shot that you heard, and the point at which you fell into the water?'

Patrick thought about this for a long time. ‘It's very hard to say. I'd guess about a minute and a half, two minutes.' He still appeared to be considering this after he'd finished speaking.

‘So in that period of time, a minute and a half to two minutes as you say, your evidence is that the following things happened: you heard your brother yell, “Get the fuck out of here Paddy”, just after the shot rang out?'

‘Yes.'

‘You ran down the starboard side of the vessel towards the stern, arriving at a point halfway down the length of the vessel?'

‘Yes I did.'

‘Your brother then came running towards you from the direction of the wheelhouse?'

‘Yes.'

‘He managed to negotiate, what, one, two, three, four stairs on the gangway?'

‘Well, he was sort of stumbling down them, and he fell as soon as he reached the bottom of them.'

‘Yes, but he got down those steps successfully, did he not?'

‘Well, yeah, I suppose he did.'

‘He then crashed into you and you say he basically fell on top of you?'

‘That's right.'

‘He told you that he had been shot?'

‘He did.'

‘He said he was dying?'

‘I don't remember the exact words, but it was something to that effect, yeah, something that made it pretty clear.'

‘Yes, yes I understand.' Ocas lowered his voice slightly to convey a kind of sympathy. ‘You then say your brother's final words to you were what? “Tell the kids I love them…”?'

‘That's correct.'

The Basque waited just long enough to ensure he was firing into complete silence. ‘With the greatest of respect to your late brother, that's a bit melodramatic isn't it?'

Patrick grimaced in disbelief. ‘How do you say that with
respect
, mate? It's what me brother said!' He looked down to his left, into the shadows at the base of the elevated witness box, and swore loudly. The judge, whose chin had been resting on his hand, raised a cautionary finger towards Patrick, then addressed Ocas.

‘Counsel, I take it there is some genuine forensic purpose behind that question, because on the face of it, it is extremely callous.'

Ocas feigned a mild surprise at being pulled up in this way. ‘There certainly is, Your Honour. It's some Brown and Dunn I need to establish. May I proceed?'

The judge nodded. ‘Go on, but try to be careful, please.'

Patrick could be clearly heard throughout the room muttering to himself. ‘Brown and fucking done?'

The Basque was unruffled. ‘All right, Mr Lanegan. All right,' he began in a more conciliatory tone. ‘Can I ask you this, then: are you sure those were the
exact
words he said?'

‘Yes, I'm sure about those words.'

‘Clearly enunciated?'

‘What does that mean? Like, did I hear em clearly?'

‘Yes.'

‘As clear as I'm hearing you.'

‘“Tell the kids I love them”?'

‘That's right.'

‘And by “the kids”, you took him to mean your siblings?'

‘Yes I did. Both my parents are dead. We call the twins and Milly “the kids”.' Patrick appeared unaware that he'd scored a small victory with this reply. The Basque had, in a rare moment of carelessness, allowed the witness to reassert his humanity. Now the jury knew he was an orphan.

‘Did he say anything else?'

‘No. He said that, then the person with the gun reappeared, then he tipped me off the edge. By the time I looked back up at him from the water, he didn't seem to be moving at all.'

“‘Tell the kids I love them.” Six clear words.'

‘I've said yes.'

Ocas sighed reluctantly, and leafed through a ring binder that had been standing on its edge in front of him. When he came to the page he wanted, he tipped the balance of the paper over onto the far side of the binders and conspicuously took out a highlighter, drawing a dramatic line through something on the page.

‘Mr Lanegan, your brother was shot through the right temple. He had a projectile lodged in the frontal lobes of his brain. You understand this, don't you.'

‘I didn't then. I do now.' Patrick's voice was from far away.

‘There will be a forensic pathologist giving evidence in the coming days, who will tell us that your brother would've died almost instantaneously from that wound. Are you aware of that opinion?'

‘I wasn't, no.'

‘Well, you've got him engaging in quite a bit of physical exertion in that period of, you say, a minute and a half to two minutes after he was shot, haven't you?'

‘I don't know what you mean.'

‘Well, you're not suggesting anything other than the shot that you heard was the one that ultimately killed your brother, are you?'

‘No, I'm not.'

‘There was just the one shot that you heard; and correspondingly your brother was later found to have died of a gunshot wound, right?'

‘Yes.'

‘So it's not as though he was
later
shot, you understand? He told you himself, he knew he was dying.'

‘Yes.' The jury's facial expressions now matched Patrick's. Incomprehension was spreading across the room.

‘And despite this shot having, the evidence will be, sliced through the front of his brain, taking vital structures and tissues with it, you maintain that he was running, descending stairs, talking, yelling in fact, forming complete sentences, over a period of a minute and a half to two minutes?'

‘I can't explain it. I can only say what happened.'

‘Well, I suggest to you you're
not
saying what happened, Mr Lanegan. I suggest to you again, this episode on board the
Open Quest
is fictitious.'

‘It's not.'

‘Once again, I'll give you the opportunity to recant, Mr Lanegan. I put to you that you were not on board the
Open Quest
that night.'

‘I've told you I was. I can only keep telling you I was.'

‘All right. Next problem. Can someone hand the witness a copy of the photo book please?' The tipstaff heaved himself out of his chair and scuttled across to the witness box.

‘Got that? Right. Go to photo number sixty-two. Now, your evidence to Mr Jardim, when you had that booklet open in front of you was, and I'm quoting here, “We were here near four and three, somewhere there anyway, I can't be a hundred per cent. Somewhere here anyway where the four and the three is. And he's landed on me and he told me he had been shot. When I realised I couldn't pick him up, I tried to sort of heave him a bit towards the railing on the gunwale.” Do you agree that's what you said?'

‘Yeah, that's what happened.'

‘Right. So the last you knew of events on board the
Open Quest
was that Matthew was lying right there, right where those police number markers have been placed, and he was in fact lying there motionless for an extended period, correct?'

‘Yes.'

‘You were in court when the crime scene examiner gave his evidence, weren't you Mr Lanegan?'

‘That was the guy with the, um, slideshow?'

‘That was him,' smiled the Basque.

‘Yes I was.'

‘Then you will have heard him say that he placed those markers there because when he examined the boat, he was interested in two dark stains, and his words were, they were each about the size of a tennis ball in circumference. Do you remember that?'