Costa Crew: One More Shot

Chapter 18 - Trial of the Year

Nobody slept easy on the night of Sunday 30th November. All over the country while the children were putting up their Christmas trees and getting excited about opening their advent calendars, their parents all talked about the same thing. The front page of every newspaper.

"All rise for the honourable Judge McAfferty," said the clerk in formal tones.

Judge Frederick McAfferty strode into the courtroom and turned to face a crowd bigger than any he had seen before. "Please be seated," he said clearly and confidently.

"Court is now in session. Today's case is the city of London versus Amelia Murphy and Anthony Andrews for the attempted murder of Rebecca Hidgens and robbery of Harry Corbett, besides many other crimes. As some of you know our usual prosecutor is Lisa Beck, however due to a conflict of interest she has been removed from this case. In her place representing the city of London will be Richard Lestrade, and representing the defendant is Lisa Kleinman. Lestrade, your opening statement please."

Lestrade got to his feet and walked into the open space at the front of the room. He was a short, timid-looking man, although anyone who had seen him in the courtroom would know not to judge a book by its cover. "Amelia Murphy and Anthony Andrews are on trial for several crimes today, but the two dominant offences are organising the theft of important documents from Harry Corbett and attempting to kill Rebecca Hidgens. With regards to the theft, Miss Murphy did not carry out the crime herself, however when her messengers reported that this was a crime that needed done, she then sent her people to carry it out. She is a consulting criminal - if people need help with a crime, they will contact someone who will report this to Murphy. For a price, Miss Murphy would then deploy someone else to carry out this act. The robbery of Mr Corbett was simply one of her routine jobs."

"The attempted murder of Miss Hidgens was different. The defendant chose to involve herself in order to settle a personal grudge from the past, and was arrested by the police who found Miss Murphy pointing a gun at Miss Hidgens, who was tied to a chair, courtesy of Mr Andrews. Her bullet was then intercepted by Edward Green. This makes it clear that the defendant was not acting in self defence and did intend to kill Rebecca Hidgens in cold blood."

Lestrade nodded to Lisa and sat down beside Paul, Goodman and Fleming. "Thank you Lestrade," nodded McAfferty. "Miss Kleinman, your response please."

Lisa smiled at Lestrade. "All your evidence relating to Harry Corbett is circumstantial. Michael Arnott was arrested for the theft and pleaded guilty. He also offered information on his boss who the police knew as 'The Godfather'. Arnott did not know anything about his boss, only that their next target was Rebecca Hidgens. Just because Amelia Murphy and Miss Hidgens had past disagreements does not make the defendant guilty of a crime that had absolutely nothing to do with Hidgens."

"While neither Miss Murphy nor Mr Andrews have an alibi for the attempt on Hidgens' life, once again it is improper to conclude that Murphy wanted Hidgens dead simply because of a petty high school quarrel. There is no evidence that the defendant fired the gun that wounded Mr Green. In short, your honour, there is no hard evidence linking the defendant to the crimes they have been accused of."

Lisa smirked and sat down beside Amelia and Anthony. "Thank you Miss Kleinman. The court will now take a recess of fifteen minutes."

Once the crowd had filed out, Lisa left with Richard, Paul, John and Kate. Amelia and Anthony were escorted out after them, closely guarded by a team of five police officers.

"Hello Paul," said Lisa cheerfully. "What brings you here today?"

Paul narrowed his eyes. "I'm the arresting officer as you know. You also know your clients are guilty."