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Humphrey.
    “And I swear I
didn’t kill her.”
    I must have
been the only person in that courtroom who knew he was telling the truth. All Sir
Humphrey said was; “No more questions, my Lord.”
    Mr Scott tried manfully to resurrect his client’s
credibility during re-examination but the fact that Menzies had been caught lying about his relationship with Carla made everything he had
said previously appear doubtful.
    If only Menzies had told the truth about being Carla’s lover, his
story might well have been accepted. I wondered why he had gone through the
charade- in order to protect his wife? Whatever the
motive, it had only ended by making him appear guilty of a crime he hadn’t
committed.
    I went home
that night and ate the largest meal I had had for several days.
    The following
morning Mr Scott called two more witnesses. The first
turned out to be the vicar of St Peter’s, Sutton, who was there as a character
witness to prove what a pillar of the community Menzies was. After Sir Humphrey had finished his cross-examination the vicar ended up
looking like a rather kind, unworldly old man, whose knowledge of Menzies was based on the latter’s occasional attendance at
Sunday matins.
    The second was Menzies’s superior at the company they both worked for in
the City.
    He was a far
more impressive figure but he was unable to confirm that Miss Moorland had ever
been a client of the company.
    Mr Scott put up no more witnesses and informed Mr Justice Buchanan that he had completed the case for the defence . The judge nodded and, turning to Sir Humphrey,
told him he would not be required to begin his final address until the
following morning.
    That heralded
the signal for the court to rise.
    Another long
evening and an even longer night had to be endured by Menzies and myself. As on every other day during the trial, I made sure I was in my
place the next morning before the judge entered.
    Sir Humphrey’s
closing speech was masterful.
    Every little
untruth was logged so that one began to accept that very little of Menzies’s testimony could be relied on.
    “We will never
know for certain,” said Sir Humphrey, “for what reason poor young Carla
Moorland was murdered. Refusal to succumb to Menzies’s advances? A fit of temper which ended with
a blow that caused her to fall and later die alone? But there are, however,
some things, members of the jury, of which we can be quite certain.
    “We can be
certain that Menzies was with the murdered woman that
day before the hour of four sixteen because of the evidence of the damning
parking ticket.
    “We can be
certain that he left a little after six because we have a witness who saw him
drive away, and he does not himself deny this evidence.
    “And we can be
certain that he wrote a false entry in his diary to make you believe he had a
business appointment with the murdered woman at five, rather than a personal assig -nation some time before.
    “And we can now
be certain that he lied about having sexual intercourse with Miss Moorland a
short time before she was killed, though we cannot be certain if intercourse
took place before or after her jaw had been broken.” Sir Humphrey’s eyes rested
on the jury before he continued.
    “We can,
finally, establish, beyond reasonable doubt, from the pathologist’s report, the
time of death and that, therefore, Menzies was the
last person who could possibly have seen Carla Moorland alive.
    “Therefore no
one else could have killed Carla Moorland – for do not forget Inspector
Simmons’s evidence – and if you accept that, you can be in no doubt that only Menzies could have been responsible for her death.
    And how damning
you must have found it that he tried to hide the existence of a first wife who
had left him on the grounds of his cruelty, and the four mistresses who left
him we know not why or how. Only one less than Bluebeard,” Sir Humphrey added
with feeling.
    “For the sake
of every young girl who lives on her own in our