Split Second (31 page)

‘No. I just wish—’

‘You can’t go back,’ she said. ‘It’s what you do next, what you do in the future, that matters now.’

Emma gave a brief nod. Louise returned to the foyer, grinding her teeth together and fighting tears.

N
icola Healy’s testimony was almost word for word the same as Thomas Garrington’s. She accused Conrad Quinn of carrying the knife and of using it. She kept her answers short and shorn of detail or elaboration until she got agitated. She blinked with nerves and often bit her thumbnail, a habit that made her appear even younger than seventeen. When Mr Sweeney began cross-examination, he challenged her about her comments on the bus. ‘You said, “He’ll cut you.” Referring to Thomas Garrington.’

‘No, that was Conrad I meant.’

‘Not according to an independent witness.’

‘Yeah, but she didn’t know, did she? I know what I said.’

‘Had Gazza told you he was not carrying a knife?’

‘No.’

‘But you knew he often did carry one?’

‘Yeah,’ she said.

‘So it would be fair to assume that Thomas Garrington did have the knife on him that evening?’

‘But he didn’t.’

‘You didn’t know that, though, did you?’ She stalled, her mouth working. ‘You’re mixing me up,’ she complained. She bit at her thumb.

‘Both Conrad Quinn and Thomas Garrington could have been carrying knives that evening. They were both habitual carriers of knives. Yet you claim only Conrad had one?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why wasn’t Thomas Garrington carrying his?’

‘I don’t know. That’s just how it was.’

‘Do you deny that Thomas Garrington said, “I’ll do you. I’ll have you. I’ve got a knife”?’

‘Conrad said that.’

‘Did Conrad say, “He’ll shank you”?’

‘No, he said, “I’ll shank you.”’

‘I don’t think you’re being entirely truthful, Miss Healy. In fact I don’t think you’re being truthful at all. I think you’ve twisted the truth to point blame at Conrad Quinn, haven’t you?’

‘No.’

‘Had you met Luke Murray before?’

‘No.’

‘You knew Thomas Garrington had a score to settle with Luke?’

‘Yeah,’ she said.

‘So the brutal way you attacked him, that was done on Thomas Garrington’s behalf, was it?’

‘Not really.’

‘Why then?’

‘He was disrespecting us, wasn’t he?’ Andrew saw Louise shift in her seat. He imagined her anger at the warped justification.

‘How exactly?’

‘He told us to fuck off,’ she said.

‘After you began intimidating him?’

‘He should have had more respect, but we never meant for him to get hurt bad, he just needed a bit of a slap.’

‘How many times did you kick Luke Murray?’ said Mr Sweeney.

‘A couple.’

‘Mrs Barnes described it as a frenzied attack. Isn’t that the truth?’

‘No. Just kicked him to scare him a bit. Just a couple of kicks. I never meant to hurt him, but Conrad went mental. Kicking his head over and over.’

‘And you say you saw Conrad Quinn stab Jason Barnes?’

‘Yes.’

‘And Jason was facing Conrad at the time?’ said Mr Sweeney.

‘Yes, and Conrad had the knife out,’ she said.

‘Could Jason see the knife?’

‘I don’t know.’ Her answer chimed with an objection of ‘Speculation!’ from Mr Floyd.

‘Was the knife you allege Conrad Quinn to have produced visible to you before Jason touched Conrad?’

‘Yes.’

‘There was a space between them, and Conrad had the knife?’

‘Yes.’ She sniffed.

‘Jason reached Conrad and grabbed him?’

‘Yes.’

‘Let’s be completely clear about this. Jason Barnes, an unarmed man, advanced towards Conrad Quinn, who had a knife pointed at him?’

‘Yeah, I said so.’ She sounded defensive, petulant.

‘And you’re telling us that as Jason moved towards him, Conrad just stood there, did not raise the knife to strike at an open target?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And then as Jason got close enough, Conrad Quinn reached around and stabbed him in the back?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Which hand did Conrad use?’

Nicola Healy faltered, opened her mouth and closed it again. Blinked several times. ‘I can’t remember,’ she said. Andrew thought she sensed a trap.

‘Everything else is crystal clear, but this particular detail is gone?’

‘I don’t know, I can’t remember,’ she said.

‘Luke was prone on the floor; you were by his side, his stomach, facing the house. Conrad and Jason would have been just to your right. Just the other side of Luke, a couple of feet away, if that. Was it his left hand, the hand nearest to you, or his right, the one furthest away, that Conrad had the knife in?’

‘I can’t remember,’ she said. Her eyes darting about.

Andrew felt a glow of hope. She was lying. And the last exchange made it clear. He leant forward and rubbed his face, caught movement from along the row, Louise catching Ruby’s hand and squeezing it. She knew it too.

After lunch came the closing speeches. Louise watched the jury as Mr Sweeney began. Most of the jurors were impassive, though one or two nodded on occasion and she thought it was a hopeful sign that almost all of them looked at Mr Sweeney as he spoke, rather than avoiding him. They were prepared to consider what he was telling them. Eye contact mattered; for truth, for lying.

When Luke had told her fibs, she had often been able to tell: the way his eyes slid away, or his elaborate blinking and scratching at the back of his neck. Distraction techniques.

‘Look at me,’ she’d say. Able to discern in the flicker of his eyes and the expression there whether he was being honest. He got wise to that eventually, would stare at her, eyes bold and bare, unblinking. A mask to fake the truth – at least some of the time. What she’d give for a look like that from him now. For those sweet brown eyes to fly open and brim with life.

She caught up with what Mr Sweeney was saying. ‘Two young men with their lives before them, loved by their families and full of promise, cut down by the vicious unprovoked attacks carried out by the defendants. At the beginning of this trial you heard from an independent witness, Emma Curtis. Miss Curtis told you clearly that it was Thomas Garrington who led the attack on Luke Murray and Thomas Garrington who boasted about using his knife. Conrad Quinn witnessed that fatal knife attack on Jason Barnes and has told you what he saw. Make no mistake: in pleading guilty to Section 18 wounding, Conrad Quinn may yet face a life sentence. That was not an easy option; it was an honest option. It was not a selfish choice but a moral choice. In giving evidence, Conrad Quinn has helped those here today who grieve for Jason Barnes, those who face a life sentence caring for Luke Murray; he has helped them pursue justice. Luke Murray did not provoke his attackers on that December night. Luke Murray, an apprentice electrician . . .’

Louise remembered the first thing he had fixed, when he’d replaced an overloaded extension cable with a pair of new wall sockets and she’d dared to hope that he’d stick to the training.

‘. . . had completed his end-of-year modules. He had been out to celebrate with his classmates. Luke had discovered his vocation. He was sitting quietly on the bus when he was terrorized by Thomas Garrington, Conrad Quinn and Nicola Healy. Just a few days before Christmas, Luke Murray was kicked so badly that he suffered a fractured skull and serious brain damage. He will never recover.’

Louise tensed at the stark finality of the pronouncement.

‘His family will never recover. All three of his attackers are culpable. Only Conrad Quinn has had the guts to own up to his part in this most savage attack.’

He was right, she thought: for all that she hated the boy because of what he had done to Luke, he had confessed. That was brave of him.

‘Jason Barnes had started university in September; he was a promising student and a popular one. Home for the holidays, he was on the same bus as Luke. He’d been out for couple of drinks with his friends from school. When Jason saw Luke being racially abused and physically threatened, he did not hesitate. Without thought for his own safety, he tried to defend Luke Murray. Not just on the bus, but afterwards as the trio chased Luke into Jason’s own front garden, as they set about their cowardly attack.

‘We have heard conflicting accounts of how Jason Barnes was stabbed. I ask you to consider the evidence. On the one hand we have the testimony about the threats on the bus from Emma Curtis, a witness who has no vested interest in the outcome of this trial and who clearly heard Thomas Garrington threaten to use a knife. This is supported by the statement sworn by Conrad Quinn, who stated fully his role in the dreadful attack on Luke Murray and went on to describe the murder. Conrad Quinn described how Thomas Garrington, already crazed with seeking revenge on Luke Murray, his rage fuelled by a cocktail of cocaine and liquor, drew his knife immediately after Jason Barnes hit him with the garden lantern. Thomas Garrington rose up behind Jason and stabbed him. Then weigh that against the bizarre claims of the defendants and ask yourselves these questions. Is it credible that Thomas Garrington did not have a knife on that night of all nights? Is it credible that Emma Curtis did not hear those threats on the bus, made by people only inches from where she was sitting? Is it credible that Jason Barnes launched himself forward towards someone holding a knife? Is it credible that rather than thrust that knife into Jason from the front, the attacker then grabbed him in some sort of bear hug and stabbed him in his back?

‘Thomas Garrington and Nicola Healy have attempted to mislead this court, fabricating an account that is not borne out by independent witnesses. Nicola Healy, less than two feet away from Jason, could not even tell you which hand Conrad supposedly held the knife in. There is a simple explanation as to why she could not remember – because Conrad Quinn did not draw a knife and attack Jason Barnes that night; that was the work of Thomas Garrington. Thomas Garrington was at the gate. Ask yourselves why – because he had already used the knife and wanted to make good his escape. It was Thomas Garrington who had the grudge against Luke Murray, it was Thomas Garrington who led the cowardly attack on the bus and it was Thomas Garrington who murdered Jason Barnes. That, members of the jury, is what the evidence tells us.

‘Luke Murray did not deserve to be beaten senseless, confined to being fed by a tube for the rest of his days. Jason Barnes, the only child of his loving parents, did not deserve to have his life cut short for trying to help someone in distress. What they both do deserve is justice. They deserve the truth. They and their families deserve to see these callous perpetrators convicted of the charges before you: murder and attempted murder.

Jason Barnes stood up for Luke Murray; members of the jury, I ask you to honour his name by standing up for him in turn.’

Someone was weeping. Ruby too. Louise swallowed, breathed hard, her pulse choppy. There was a moment’s silence, then the judge invited Mrs Patel to close for the defence on behalf of Thomas Garrington.

Andrew sat tight, though a thousand objections came to him as Mrs Patel’s speech unfolded. Her performance was electrifying. Her delivery crisp, perfectly timed.

‘Members of the jury, the charges against the defendant are the most grave in the land. Murder and attempted murder. In evidence we have heard confusing, indeed conflicting, accounts of the events of that December night: an altercation that got out of hand and ended in an appalling tragedy. But Thomas Garrington was not the person responsible for kicking Luke Murray in the head. That was Conrad Quinn, a fact confirmed by Conrad Quinn himself and by Mr and Mrs Barnes. It was Conrad Quinn who delivered those brutal blows, Conrad Quinn who left Luke Murray with a fractured skull and serious head injuries that mean he still lies in a coma today.

‘Thomas Garrington was not carrying a weapon of any sort that night, but Conrad Quinn was. And when Jason Barnes, rightly incensed by the attack on Luke Murray, and remember, under the influence of alcohol, first battered my client, with such force that he broke one of his ribs, then lunged at Conrad Quinn, it was Conrad Quinn who drew a knife. Conrad Quinn used that knife. He ignored police appeals to come forward and threatened Thomas Garrington and Nicola Healy, warning them not to speak out.’

Battered! Lunged! Andrew felt a swell of rage. Beside him Val twitched, made a little plosive sound of outrage. Jason had had a few beers at the pub and the barrister was implying he was drunk and violent.

‘You have heard Conrad Quinn admit to throwing his knife in the river. Is that the action of an innocent man? We have heard no plausible explanation for this action. But if you accept, as I put it to you, that his knife was the murder weapon, then his actions make perfect sense. Conrad Quinn is attempting to fool you, ladies and gentlemen, pleading to a lesser charge – and it is a lesser charge – and falsely accusing my client Thomas Garrington of murder. Don’t be fooled. Trust the evidence.’

Why had he thrown his knife away? Andrew thought. If only he’d kept it, he might have been exonerated; they could have proved it was not the weapon that had killed Jason.

‘There is no forensic evidence to support Conrad Quinn’s reckless allegations. The only witnesses to the knife attack were the defendants and Conrad Quinn. Conrad Quinn blames Thomas Garrington, but both Thomas Garrington and his co-defendant Nicola Healy have told you repeatedly, under oath, that it was Conrad Quinn himself who stabbed Jason Barnes. The burden is on the prosecution to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the defendants committed the crimes as charged. I say to you that there are many serious doubts about the prosecution case. It falls far, far short of the unshakeable evidence that would be required to convict. The evidence is flimsy, circumstantial, unsound, paltry. Remember, there is not one shred of forensic evidence to support the prosecution case.’

Andrew thought of the snow on the lawn, footprints smeared in the mêlée, obscured by a fresh fall, the snow near Luke sorbet pink.