The Accused (Modern Plays) (3 page)

Payne
I could find no evidence of a burglary, sir.

Barrington
Chief Inspector, is it common for burglars to leave their fingerprints all over the place, hoping you will find them?

Payne
No, but.,.

Barrington
I thought we’d agreed on no buts, Chief Inspector, Can I also confirm, that it was you who discovered the kitchen window open?

Payne
Someone had unlatched it from the inside.

Barrington
It hardly matters who unlatched it, Chief Inspector, only who might have used it as a means of entry, and I do hope you’re not going to suggest that Mr Sherwood entered his own flat by the fire escape, when he could so easily have walked in through the front door.

Payne
Unless he had a reason for not wanting to be seen walking in through the front door.

Barrington
And on that flimsy supposition you decided to charge Mr Sherwood with murder?

Payne
No, that decision was made by the Crown Prosecution Service after they had considered all the evidence.

Barrington
I see. So let me finally ask you, Chief Inspector, when you charged Mr Sherwood, did he make any statement?

Payne
Yes. (
Checks his notebook
.) He said, ‘This is ridiculous. I adored my wife; someone must have been feeding you with false information’.

Barrington
Someone must have been feeding you with false information. Now, I wonder who that can have been? No further questions, My Lord. (
He resumes his seat
.)

Judge
Do you wish to re-examine, Mr Kersley?

Kersley
(
rises slightly
) No, thank you, My Lord.

Judge
Thank you, Chief Inspector. You may leave the witness box. (
The
Chief Inspector
leaves the witness box and the courtroom
.) Perhaps you’d like to call your next witness, Mr Kersley.

Kersley
Yes, My Lord. I call Mr Albert Webster.

Usher
Call Mr Albert Webster.

Guard
Mr Albert Webster.

Webster
is a man aged between forty-five and fifty. He is wearing a T-shirt and a well-worn suit. He enters the courtroom, baking lost, and the
Usher
has to guide him to the witness box
.

Usher
This way, sir. Please take the testament in you right hand and read from the card.

Webster
I never bothered with the reading.

Usher
Then repeat after me, I swear by Almighty God.

Webster
I swears by Almigh’y God.

Usher
That the evidence I shall give.

Webster
That the evidence I shall give.

Usher
Shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Webster
Shall be the truth, the ’ole truth and nothin’ but the truth. (
He stares at the
Judge
.)

Judge
Mr Webster, there’s no need to address your remarks to me. It is the jury who will want to hear all your evidence.

Kersley
Is your name Albert Philip Webster?

Webster
You got it, mate.

Kersley
And where do you live?

Webster
Arcadia Mansions, Arcadia Road, Wimbledon.

Kersley
And what is your occupation?

Webster
I’m the resident porter - ‘ave been for the past twelve years, ‘aven’t I, ever since I came out of the army.

Kersley
Mr Webster, can you tell the court why the late evening of March twenty-first 1999 is etched on your memory?

Webster
I dunno if it’s etched on me memory, but I won’t never forge’ it.

Kersley
So please tell the court what happened that night, Mr Webster.

Webster
It must ’ave been around ’alf past ten, ’cos that’s when I goes on me night round ’fore turnin’ in. Always starts at the top of the building and works down to the bottom, where I live. It’s only logic, innit? When I reached the landin’ of the sixth that night, I ’eard noises comin’ from the floor below.

Kersley
Can you describe those noises?

Webster
Yes, it was as if someone was ’avin a row, and then I ’eard a crash - like a chair turnin’ over.

Kersley
A row? Could it have been a quarrel between a man and his wife?

Barrington
(
rises
) My Lord, how can Mr Webster possibly know the answer to that question?

Webster
Cos I ’eard voices.

Judge
Voices? Can you be certain, Mr Webster, that you heard more than one voice coming from the flat?

Webster
No, I can’t be certain, but why would Mrs Sherwood want to shout at ’erself?

Kersley
Why indeed. And did you hear anything she said?

Webster
Yes, I’m pretty sure I ’eard ’er say ‘ ’ow did you get in?’.

Kersley
‘How did you get in.’ And did she sound surprised?

Webster
Too bloody right she did.

Judge
Moderate your language in my court, Mr Webster.

Webster
Sorry, Guv.

Judge
You address me as My Lord, and counsel as Sir.

Webster
(
looking directly at the
Judge
) Right you are, sir. (
He turns his attention back to
Kersley.)

Kersley
Had you been inside Mrs Sherwood’s flat before?

Webster
Oh, yes, when I gets to ’er floor, she’d often ask me in for a cup’a tea, I think she liked the company.

Kersley
But wasn’t Mr Sherwood around most evenings?

Webster
No, not regular. In any case, I wouldn’t ’ave gone in if he was around, not after that time he came back unexpected and told me to bugger off. (
Judge
and
Webster
look at each other
.)

Kersley
And how often did Mr Sherwood go out in the evenings?

Webster
Quite a lot. What with his private patients and so on.

Kersley
How did you know that he was going out to see one of his private patients?

Webster
I used to watch ’im leavin’ from my flat in the basement, didn’t I.

Kersley
Yes, I’m sure you did, but that doesn’t explain how you knew that he was visiting a patient?

Webster
Common sense, inn’t (
He touches his nose
.) Whenever he was visitin’ a patient, he’d take his doctor’s bag with him, wouldn’t he.

Kersley
And was he carrying his doctor’s bag that night?

Webster
No, he wasn’t.

Kersley
What time was it when he left the building?

Webster
It must ’ave bin a few minutes after seven.

Kersley
How can you be so sure?

Webster
Cos I’d just come out of the lavatory, ’adn’t I. (
Kersley
looks puzzled
.) I phones me ol’ mum at six, tea at ’alf past, go to the toilet at seven,
Coronation Street
at seven thirty - regular as clockwork. Old army training, innit.

Kersley
And when did Mr Sherwood return that night?

Webster
No idea, Guv, but it can’t ’ave been before eleven could it, cos he wasn’t there when they carted his wife off to ’ospital.

Kersley
Quite. So when you heard the row, what did you do next?

Webster
I ran down the stairs, fast as I could. I bangs on the door, but no one answers.

Kersley
Was that when you called the police?

Webster
No, Guv, I decided this ’ad to be one of them emergencies, where I’m expected to use me master key. In the Pioneer Corps it’s what we used to call initiative.

Webster
holds up a bunch of keys, showing one in particular, and waits while everyone hangs on his words
.

Kersley
But you told the judge that before you unlocked the door, you had heard more than one voice coming from the flat?

Webster
Yes, I’m pretty (
He hesitates
.) sure about that.

Kersley
Could one of those voices have been Mr Sherwood’s?

Webster
Doesn’t seem likely on account of the fact that he’d already gone out.

Kersley
But could he have returned without you seeing him?

Webster
Only if he used the fire escape.

Kersley
Well, that would certainly explain Mrs Sherwood’s words, ’How did you get in?’ So, Mr Webster, when you unlocked the door, what did you find?

Webster
Some furniture had been knocked over and Mrs Sherwood was lyin’ on the floor moanin’.

Kersley
And was she on her own?

Webster
Yes, as far as I could tell.

Judge
What do you mean, Mr Webster, by ’as far as I could tell’?

Webster
Cos the door on the far side of the room slammed shut the minute I walked in, didn’t it. (
Judge
makes a note
.)

Kersley
Slammed shut the minute you walked in - as if someone had hurriedly pulled it closed?

Webster
Yes, you got the idea.

Kersley
So what did you do next? (
Barrington
nods
.)

Webster
I dials 999 and tells ’em to send round an ambulance an’ the police sharpish, an’ then I gets a blanket and covers ’er up.

Kersley
Did she give any reason why the furniture had been knocked over?

Webster
No, she was just lying there, moanin’ and rubbin’ ’er arm what was bruised, so I offered ’er the glass of wine that was on the table ’opin it would ’elp, but she just pushed it away, and then she began cryin’ even louder. So I
wondered if someone ’ad put somethin’ in the wine that had made her ill.

Barrington
(
rises
) My Lord …

Judge
Yes, yes, Sir James. (
Faces the audience
.) Members of the Jury, you should ignore that comment - it is nothing more than speculation. Carry on, Mr Kersley.

Kersley
No more questions, My Lord. I think the jury has taken the point.

Webster
starts to leave the witness box
.

Judge
Mr Webster, please remain in the box for a moment, as I have a feeling that Sir James might want to ask you a question or two.

Barrington
You are quite right, My Lord. Mr Webster, may I begin by congratulating you on your remarkable memory.

Webster
Thank you, Guv. I s’pose you can put it down to my army trainin’.

Barrington
Quite so, but even I was puzzled, Mr Webster, as to how you could be so sure that when Mr Sherwood left the building, on the night in question, he was not carrying his doctor’s bag. (
Kersley
smiles
.)

Webster
To be honest, Guv, I wasn’t sure at the time.

Barrington
You weren’t sure at the time, but you stated categorically…

Webster
No, I wasn’t categoric, not until I phoned for the ambulance.

Barrington
Not until you phoned for the ambulance. I’m not altogether certain I’m following you, Mr Webster.

Webster
Well, you see, that’s when I first saw the doctor’s bag. He’d left it on the table by the phone, so he couldn’t ’ave taken it wiv ’im, could he?

Barrington
I see. Mr Webster you told the court that you thought someone else might have been in the room when you first unlocked the door to the apartment.

Webster
Yeah, I did.

Barrington
And your immediate reaction when you saw the overturned furniture was that it must have been a burglar whom Mrs Sherwood had been shouting at?

Webster
Yes, cos there ’ave been a lot of break-ins durin’ the past year, aven’t there?

Barrington
Have there? Now, Mr Webster, remembering what a good memory you have, is it possible you can tell the court when you heard the sentence ’How did you get in?’. Was it before you unlocked the door, as you opened the door, or after you had entered the room?

Webster
Before I unlocked the door.

Barrington
So, some time before you stepped into the room?

Webster
(
hesitates
) Yes, I think so.

Barrington
When you walked in, you told my learned friend that you saw the door on the far side of the room slam shut?

Webster
Yeah, I did.

Barrington
Could it have been the wind?

Webster
I s’pose so.

Barrington
Did you check to see if anyone was hiding in the kitchen?

Webster
No. Why should I?

Barrington
Because it leads to the kitchen window and fire escape.