"He was such a polite boy", she began, dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief. "I mean . . ."
She broke off, breathing heavily.
"Take your time, Miss Calvert", said Humphrey Chambers QC encouragingly.
Jenny tried to smile. She was a tall woman with short blonde hair and brown eyes. Compose yourself, she told herself, you don't want to embarrass yourself in a court room, but she was all too conscious of her tears.
After a minute or two, Humphrey tried again.
"So, Miss Calvert, you were saying . . ."
"Yes", said Jenny. "Well, like I say, he was very polite, we brought him up well. He was always very quiet, you know, never gave us any trouble or anything like that."
She stopped again, desperately trying to hold back more tears and to stop her body shaking.
"I mean", she continued, "I've often wondered if we didn't bring him up properly, it's kept me up at night, but I can't think . . . I think we brought him up OK . . ."
Her voice tailed off, and she looked down at the floor.
"Are you OK to continue, Miss Calvert?", asked Humphrey, politely but firmly.
"Yes", she replied, in barely more than a whisper. "He was always helpful to me, he would tidy his room when we asked him, he would give me a hand washing the dishes, making his bed, that sort of thing, he was very good with Amy as well, I would never have guessed . . ."
She burst into uncontrollable sobs.
"He was quite a shy boy, didn't say very much", said a thin man of medium height, with black hair and eyes. "Maybe he could have been a bit more assertive, he was a bit too sensitive for my liking, maybe we should have been more disciplined."
"But, Mr. Richards", Humphrey pointed out, "his mother has said he never gave any trouble."
"That's true", said Anthony. "Maybe I didn't say that properly, but what I meant was, had we been stricter with him, he might not have done . . . this."
"Were you disappointed in him, Mr. Richards?", asked Humphrey, his eyebrows raised.
"No, of course not", said Anthony defensively. "We used to go to the football together, he really enjoyed it," His voice now took a different tone, more affectionate, nostalgic, even. "And, of course, there was the day he got accepted by the university, he was so happy to be studying engineering, I'll never forget the smile on his face. I was so proud of him, Jenny was as well, we both thought he would go on to great things . . ."
His voice faded. There was silence, before Anthony spoke again, his voice wavering:
"I just can't understand how, I mean, when I showed my police gun to him, which I did often, he never seemed interested . . ."
"We used to play together", said Amy. She looked like a miniature version of her mother, but with her father's eyes. "Hide and seek, hopscotch, just about anything."
"Was he ever rude to you?", asked Humphrey.
"Of course not". Amy sounded shocked. "He was always very loving with me, he would hug me so tightly, and he loved nothing better than playing with me. I used to think how happy I was to have him as a brother."
"But was there anything . . . odd . . . about him?", asked Humphrey tentatively.
Amy gave him an angry look.
Dame Marilyn Sharp leaned over the side of the bench. She was a short and white-haired woman, with an impassive expression on her face.
"I think, Miss Richards", she said, "what he means is, was there anything that gave an indication about . . ."
"Absolutely nothing", said Amy emphatically. "I mean, he wasn't very good at talking to people, he would always hang back a bit whenever anybody else came up to us, but there was nothing at all . . ."
She broke off: she had a bewildered expression on her face. After a long pause, she said:
"I still have no idea what made him change."
No comments:
Post a Comment