North Star

I looked at her, the high forehead, the thin crimson mouth in the pallid face.

'I tried to warn you,' she said again.

'Yes, you did, didn't you.' My hands were clenched tight. 'If they think they're going to get me shut away in a bloody prison for something I didn't do…" And Fiona clinging to my arm and saying, 'Mike, for God's sake listen. Get away, now, while you can — while you're still free.'

'Run for it?'

'What else? You wouldn't listen and now they've got you.' Her fingers tightened on my arm. 'Get out now.' Her voice was urgent. 'Nobody is watching you.

There's nobody to stop you. But after this afternoon…'

'Is that what you've been told to do — scare me, get me on the run, so that truth becomes a lie?'

'No — no, Mike, you're wrong. That's not the reason. I just don't want to see you in prison. I don't want you convicted for something you didn't do.'

'If you know it, then the court will know it.' I had to believe that.

'Oh, my God!' she cried. 'You bloody intellectuals, you never understand until it's too late, do you? Truth isn't some sort of knightly armour. Truth is what determined people persuade others to believe.' She looked at me a moment and I thought how that had been at the bottom of so many of our arguments. But to believe that was to believe that man was a soulless, servile creature without dignity.

I think she misread my silence, for she said, 'How can I make you understand?' Her hand was on my arm, the nails digging into me. 'They don't care about those two boys, they're expendable. It's you they're after.'

But I didn't believe her. 'I'm not that important,' I said. 'I never was. You know that. But if those two are convicted, it's intimidation. That's what-'

'You idiot!' Her grip on my arm tightened. 'Intimidation! Who cares whether it was intimidation. It's that trawler they want. The target is North Sea oil now. We're hitting at the oil companies, hitting at capitalism where it hurts, where it's most vulnerable, and with the sort of headlines-'

She stopped there and I said, 'Villiers?' But her mouth was a tight-shut line. 'Get out now,' she breathed urgently. 'Go while you can. You'll be safe then.'

I laughed. 'With the police after me?'

'Better the police than a bomb — or a shot in the back.'

I stared at her, shocked by her words. 'So you were in Northern Ireland.' Why else would her mind run on bombs and murder? 'You're crazy,' I said, seeing the wildness of her eyes, and the distortion of the pupils. 'Your imagination always did run away with you when you got yourself-'

'Oh, my imagination, is it?' Her voice was high and strident. 'And you accusing me of being drugged. That's what you're saying, isn't it? You always accused me of that when you couldn't think of anything else to say, when you'd lost your temper as well as the argument.' Her tone had become venomous. God! It took me back. 'One day,' she breathed darkly, 'I'll tell you why I do it. Then, Mother of God, maybe you'll understand.' She was staring up at me, breathing heavily. 'But why should I bother? Why the hell..' And then in a quieter voice: 'Just so long as you're out of the way. That's all that matters.' She said it like somebody in a dream, but when I asked her what she meant, she shrugged and turned away. 'Go to hell!' she said in a choking voice. 'And don't say I didn't warn you.' And she left me then, walking listlessly down the corridor. It was almost empty now. I watched her go, thinking about what she had said. There's nobody to stop you. But after this afternoon… I was still thinking about that, wondering how she knew and who had sent her, when Hall returned. 'He says we'll just have to see what the defence has turned up.'

'But what about the other witnesses?' I demanded.

'I'm afraid they didn't stand up too well under cross-examination. I told you Mendip had something of a reputation. Old Mrs Rogers from No. 7 became a little flustered and confused. She was wearing glasses and Mendip concentrated on that, finally getting her to admit her sight wasn't all that good, especially at night. Sayre didn't press her very hard on re-examination. He was relying on you.'

'And what about the witness who saw them park their car?'

'A young man standing against some railings with his girl friend. It's not conclusive, and Mendip leaned on him heavily, getting him to admit that he was otherwise occupied. He thought they went into Washbrook Road, that was all, and he was vague about the time.'

So it was as Stevens had said — my word against that of his new witness. I asked Hall who he was, but he didn't know. 'Better get yourself some lunch. The court resumes at two.'

I think at that stage I still believed Sayre could dispose of a witness I knew to be lying. But when the court resumed and I saw the man in the dock I wasn't so sure. His name was Edward Bradshaw, a pale, rather gaunt man with thinning hair and a hesitant, slightly earnest manner. He claimed he had watched it all from the front room of No. 8. Prompted by counsel, he gave his evidence in a quiet voice that had hardly any trace of a local accent, and his evidence was totally different from mine. No, he had not seen either of the accused that night. 'There was only one man in the garden across the road.' And he added, 'I remember quite clearly. He stood up suddenly from a crouched position, and I saw his arm swing back, then he threw something and the window shattered. I thought it was some hooligan heaving a brick — then the flames started leaping and spreading. The curtains caught fire and I saw the little girl's face at the upstairs window.'

Counsel stopped him there. 'You're certain only one man was involved?'

'Definitely.'

'And you saw his face?'

'Not in the garden, but when he came up the street.'

'You saw him in the street light?'

'That's right. He was the same side of the road as me then and I saw him plain as — well, very clear. I was a bit nervous laike, so I was watching him and thinking he might-'

'Never mind what you were thinking,' counsel's voice cut in quickly. 'Do you see him in this courtroom?'

·'He's raight there, behind you.' He lifted his arm, his finger pointing at me.

'Thank you. That's all.' Lawrence Mendip sat down.

Sayre did his best to discredit the man. Under crossexamination Bradshaw admitted he was not the owner of No. 8, or even a visitor. He had happened to be passing, had seen the gate open and had gone in out of curiosity.

'I think you said you were actually in the house when observing what happened at No. 5 opposite. How did you get into the house?'

'Well, the back door was open, you see.'

'So you entered the house — out of curiosity.'

'That's raight.'

'Where were you when you saw Mr Randall pass under the street light?'

'In the front room.'

'Doing what?'

'Just looking round.'

'Casing the joint would be a more accurate term, wouldn't it?' There was a moment's silence, and then Sayre said, 'This is not the first time, is it? You've been caught breaking and entering before.'

'I didn't steal anything, not a thing. You can't pin that on me. An' I wouldn't be here but for a sense of pooblic duty. When I read that these two young men had been accused for something they never did-'

'You admit you went into that house with the intention of thieving.'

'Just looking for some spare cash, that's all. You'd do the same, I wouldn't wonder, with five kids and no work because of the strike.' He was facing towards the jury then, not Sayre. 'All raight. I would have taken any cash left lying about. I admit that. But if some fool leaves his door open..' He turned back to Sayre in answer to a question. 'No, I never used force on it. The door was open, I tell you, and then I was in that room, in the dark, when I heard his footsteps. That man-' He nodded towards me. 'I didn't know what he was. And then standing in the shadows opposite, naturally I watched to see what he was up to. That's how I saw what happened, an' that's the man sitting there.'