Unravel a Crime - Tangle With Women (9 page)

"Will you separate".

"I hope so, when this is
all over."

"Right."

There was another silence.

"So Master Potter is
really Master Newberry. Levy obviously knew?"

"Well, it was impossible
to hide it. He looks like me." He tugged at his ginger hair.

"And Levy accepted your
double life. "

"That’s the second time
you’ve used that expression I'm not sure that I like it. “

"Sorry, but really it
seems to me that until all this trouble blew up you lived your life to an
extent in separate compartments; Mr Newberry the first, the respectable family
man living in respectable Malvern, and Mr Newberry the second, the ‘in a
relationship’ man living in swinging London. "

“
Save that we didn't swing, I
won't disagree with you."

"Well it's very sad; I
don't know how you managed to do it."

"Perhaps, as you say, I
compartmentalised things. "

"Is that what you did
with Clearfield?"

"What do you mean."

"When you were a
surveyor, you forgot that you were or had been involved in the Company."

"Well yes, you must
compartmentalise yourself like that. Are you always Mr. Solicitor?"

“
No.”

“
Why not?”

"Well if you tell anyone
at a party what your job is, they either spend their time telling you of their
or their relatives bad experience with solicitors, or else want free legal
advice over a glass of red wine. I take your point. When I am acting
professionally I behave totally differently from the way I behave when I can
relax. For a start, professionally, I wear a business suit. It's my working
clothes."

"Well that's how I
operated .. "

"Do your children know
that they have a half brother?"

"No."

"They thought that Dad
was away, working in London?"

"Yes."

Brakespeare paused. He gazed
at Newberry who was looking ahead at the view.

"Is there anything else,
any other complication I need to know?" He dreaded what the answer might
be, but smiled what he hoped might be an amused smile. Fortunately he had
caught the right mood in Newberry.

"I'll work on it. Come
on, we'd better get back. Wouldn't fancy a spot of lunch in a pub would you.
"

"Thanks, but no thanks. I
need to get back to the office and sort out in my mind all out that you've told
me. I'll let you have a copy of the prosecution papers, well at least the
witness statements. The rest are mainly copy documents but we may need to go
through those together at some time."

"Suits me, but," and
he clutched Brakespeare's arm "Remember, I cannot have this go to trial.
Try and stop it somehow, or it will kill me.

"I think I've got that
particular message," Brakespeare said quietly.

“
How are you going to stop
it?”

“
I'll work on it.” said
Brakespeare.

"So how did it go"
asked Mortimer, coming into Brakespeare's office with Ridley at his heels.

"It was very interesting
- real eye opener in fact. "

"Did David tell you
much?"

Brakespeare savoured the
moment. "Everything".

Mortimer glanced at Ridley,
and then sat down at the opposite side of the desk. Ridley did likewise.
Mortimer stretched himself out and made an effort to appear relaxed.

"Are we going to
win?" he asked.

"Well it seems that we
can't afford not to. In fact my specific instructions are not to let this
matter go to trial. "

"That's good" said
Ridley smiling and nodding.

"Well it's good if I can
succeed, but not otherwise." Brakespeare became emboldened.
"Gentlemen, if I may say so, you seem unusually interested in the outcome
of this particular client's problem, and it seems to me that there's a little
more in it than that he’s a good client. I told you that David told me
everything - well I assume everything - certainly a great deal. Is there
anything that you want to tell me? Anything that you omitted to tell me in our
first conversation, Mr. Mortimer?"

The two other solicitors
looked at each other. "Such as," enquired Mortimer, still trying to
look utterly relaxed about the whole situation.

Brakespeare deliberately
paused before speaking.

"You know that these
charges relate to alleged fraudulent valuations by David. "

"Yes", they
chorused.

"Did you know that all
the valuations related to mortgage applications by a company called Clearfield
Ltd. "

Mortimer twitched a little,
and Ridley looked at Mortimer. "I think that we did. "

"According to David, Mr.
Mortimer, you have a financial involvement in that company."

"Had,.” replied Mortimer
a little too quickly, “I haven't now; but is there any relevance to this
case."

"I don't know, but to a
prosecution lawyer it might seem possibly relevant that the senior partner of the
firm of defence solicitors had some involvement in the subject matter of the
conspiracy charge. In fact if he hadn’t set up the company in the first place,
the events which form the subject matter of the charge, would never have
occurred. I honestly don't know the answer. What do you think?"

Mortimer remained composed –
at least visibly.

"Well I must confess that
the thought had crossed my mind, but as I said, my involvement ended some time
ago. "

"When, may I ask. "

"About three or four
years ago. I seem to recall. "

"You had a financial
stake in Clearfield. "

"Yes, as David has
obviously told you, I put money into Clearfield when Jonathan Levy wanted it
started up."

"On your suggestion. Were
you a shareholder?"

"No, I took a debenture –
a secured loan on the company’s assets. That way I was not directly involved. I
had no vote. I was simply paid a dividend on my investment."

"At a good rate of
interest. "

"Yes, 10% fixed."

“
So it wasn’t a simple loan,
as David told me?”

“
No”

"Did you act for Clearfield
when they bought and sold."

"Originally, yes."

"And for the National in
respect of the mortgage lending. "

"Yes."

Brakespeare could feel his
left eyebrow raising itself. This was a clear conflict between the solicitor’ s
personal interests and those of the National.

"When did you stop?
"

“
Again three or four years
ago."

"Was this because you
felt that you were in a similar position to David; you had a conflict of
interest. "

Mortimer sighed and swayed
uncomfortably in his chair. Ridley mimicked him. Mortimer then took a deep
breath, pulled himself together and smiled in an oily way at Brakespeare.

"You're a good man, isn't
he Dick?" Dick nodded on cue.

"I felt when I met you
that you were the sort of chap who could quickly come to grasp this case, and
by jove you have; well done. It seems that our lives may be in your hands to a
certain extent, and so let me explain. Yes, as Clearfield started borrowing
more money from the National, and with David involved in the Society it did
look to me as if we were perhaps too close for comfort. You will appreciate
that when the Clearfield project started we had absolutely no idea that the
National would become involved – certainly to the extent that it did.

It may well have been that the
National would not have been happy with the fact that the solicitors who signed
the report on title on properties to them had an interest in the borrower, and
so I thought it best to avoid that situation. We passed Clearfield on to Simon
Simmons - well Levy went to him.

"I doubt if the National
would have been happy, and I suspect that you know that. Simmons has been
caught in the net for the work he did after you had ceased to act for
Clearfield. David is in the net. I think that you are worried that the net
might extend retrospectively to cover you."

There was no direct response
to the statement. Mortimer continued. "The money that was returned to me
from Clearfield, I used in the property company we have with David."

"So the company is really
son of Clearfield? What's it called?"

"Clearmeadow Limited.
"

"Oh shit."

"Precisely. "

"He who touches pitch
becomes defiled." said Ridley.

"Thank you for that,
Dick." said Mortimer turning to glare at him for the unwelcome comment.

"Guilt by association is
I think what Dick means," said Brakespeare. "Well from what I recall,
all the valuations that are being challenged are about three years old."

"1 think that's right.
"

"So you're in the clear –
at the moment. They've got Simmons anyway."

"Well, I agree that it
looks like that, but this is a conspiracy charge, and if it is defended you
never know how far back they might start probing, and what will come out. I
personally have no desire to stand in the dock next to Simmons!" said
Mortimer.

Brakespeare said nothing. He
was thinking. Mortimer and Ridley watched him closely. "The only thing
that worries me is another conflict of interest. Can I defend Newberry, knowing
that those who are paying me have a vested interest in the outcome of the
case?"

"Yes, but is there anything
in the evidence that compromises us.?" Mortimer asked quickly.

"Well I haven't looked at
the evidence in detail, so I can't answer that.”

Brakespeare paused for thought
while the two partners waited on him nervously.

“
OK, look, at the moment I'm
prepared to go on with the case, I might not if you had been open me
beforehand, but I suspect that is precisely why you did not tell me anything.
"

There was no reply, but a
visible sense of relief.

"If however there is any
evidence - conveyancing files and the like that link Clearfield to this firm
then David is going to have to be told to take his representation elsewhere. Do
you agree."

The two partners looked at
each other, and mutually shrugged shoulders. "We have no option,"
said Mortimer.

"Absolutely none,"
Ridley added by way of reinforcement.

Brakespeare felt totally in
control.

“
We may have to review my
fees.”

Both men twitched.

“
Well, after all I thought I
was coming to a routine job. The level of responsibility that’s just been
dumped on me – well, we’ll have to discuss that later, when I’ve had time to
read the files thoroughly and see exactly what I am up against – or rather,
what you’re up against.!

There was a silence. Both men
just stared at him.

"Well gentleman unless
there's anything else, I think I need to get on and meet the tall order. Just
bear in mind though, as you quite rightly say, as soon as the Prosecution know
we're going to defend the charges, they may well look for ways to strengthen
their case, added to which, and I've only just thought of this, if we make an
application to strike this case out at the committal proceedings, then we are
going to reveal our hand. If we lose, then we will be unlikely to win at
trial."

He paused again, then stood up
suddenly, and stared out of the window down Deansway, lost in thought.

Ridley looked at Mortimer, and
together they stood up.

"We'll leave you to
it", said Mortimer, and they left.

"I need a wee." said
Brakespeare to no-one in particular, and followed them out of the room.

When he returned to his
office, he found Lisa sitting waiting for him. "So how did it go?"

"Funny, someone asked me
that a few minutes ago. Well, everything about this case is…….. well it's the
dodgiest set up ever.” He shrugged his shoulders in resignation. “I must be the
only one not personally involved. Have you anything you need to tell me?"
He was half joking; half serious, but was a little surprised when Lisa simply
gave a half shrug and a smile.

He sat down at his desk; she
sat opposite him and he explained to her what he had learned that morning, and
ended with, "What a man; two families. How did he do it?"

He looked across to Lisa
expecting a reaction, but received nothing but the same smile.

"Anyway he is insistent
that we try and get the case thrown out before it gets to trial before a jury.
Although I'm not at all happy about it, it seems as though making a submission
before the magistrates may be our only option. "

"What do you mean ?"

"Well, as you know,
certain cases, such as this one can only be tried by the Crown Court. In the
old days, and for centuries it had always been the rule that you can only send
a case before a jury if the local magistrates think that there is a case to
send. One of the reasons was that for centuries the accused person could not
give evidence in their own defence at trial; which is why the prosecution had,
and still have, to prove their case beyond all reasonable doubt. Before the
1960's, all the witnesses were called before the magistrates and had to give
evidence, so that the magistrates really did have to consider whether or not
there was a prima facie case to send to trial. “