THE LALLYBROCH MURDERS

CHAPTER 23

There was absolute media frenzy as Clair’s trial began over the attack of the Doctor.

Television reporters were filming live outside the courthouse, plus the usual gathering of newspaper reporters were there, and even the local radio stations had turned up. Legally, as far as the prosecution was concerned, things had not gotten off to the best of starts.

Her defence attorney had clearly gone for the emotional side of things to try and get the jury on their side and was doing a rather good job. There had been several tears evident as he recounted the day down by the river where she had been attacked herself, and citing that the doctor was at fault. They also had the testament from the neurologist to come, stating that the injuries she had suffered would have not only impaired her judgements but would have also reduced her capacity to control her own actions. While she was responsible for the attack on the doctor, this new twist on the story would have reduced the charges from murder down to that of manslaughter, which would of course carry a much lighter sentence then murder in the first degree.

Liam and Hank had decided to stay away or least for the earlier part of the trial. They had enough to do back at the station and were being kept informed of events by the prosecution team anyway so attending just seemed a pointless exercise. They had enough to do back at the station and were being kept informed of events by the prosecution team anyway so attending just seemed a pointless exercise. They were also keen to avoid the media circus that was following the case. The media themselves seemed just as determined to link Clair Buchan to the killings down by the park as the cops were, even though that had no bearing on this trial, but evidence wise the detectives still had nothing solid to help with this so they decided that it would be in their best interests to remain absent for the time being.

Things didn’t seem to change much over the next two days and the case seemed to follow the same pattern. Every time the prosecution brought something forward, the defence had something to answer and counteract it with. They did have Clair’s admission of guilt but even then she had claimed that she had only wanted to hurt him and had not intended to kill him. Hopes of getting a murder conviction were hanging by a thread, maybe manslaughter would be the best they could hope for and one or two people were even having doubts over that.

In an act of desperation, the prosecution team had tried to suggest that there could be a link between the defendant and the series of attacks the town had become all too familiar with. They were, of course, quickly reprimanded for this and the jury had been instructed to completely disregard any such claims and to focus purely on the facts in front of them as those crimes bared no happenstance on the trail at hand. Clair herself had remained calm and pretty much unresponsive to what was going on around her, almost as if she had no interest in what was happening.

As proceedings were drawing towards a conclusion, Liam and Hank had sent a uniformed officer to attend along with strict instructions to contact them once the closing statements were being made. This had been done and the guys made their way over to the courthouse. While battling their way through the crowds of reporters outside they noticed the familiar face of Tania Richards’ mother sitting on a wall and headed over to greet her.

‘Good afternoon Mrs. Richards lovely to see you. How is Tania getting on?’ Liam asked.

‘Well, that’s actually what I was hoping to talk to you about,’ she replied with a rather solemn look. ‘Can we go somewhere a little more private?’ she asked while looking around at the masses of cameras and microphones.

‘Come on inside, we’ll see what we can find,’ Liam told her. ‘This trial should be wrapping up any moment now so hopefully we can use one of the interview rooms.’ They entered the courthouse and Liam disappeared off in one direction while Hank escorted her towards the public gallery. A few moments later Liam returned saying, ‘The jury is expected back any moment now if you don’t mind hanging on until after the verdict then we can use the office the prosecution has been using.’

‘That will be fine,’ she replied nodding in agreement. Shortly after that, the doors opened and the jury began shuffling their way back to their seats. Any feelings of dread and pessimism were only heightened by the expressions and the body language of the two legal teams. The defence was happy and smiley while the prosecution team re-entered the court looking rather downbeat and dejected, as if they had already figured out the outcome. Everyone then rose to their feet as the Judge returned and silently read the piece of paper that was handed to him.

‘Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?’ He asked as the rest of the courtroom fell silent.

The head juror rose to her feet, ‘We have your honour.’

‘And what say you?’ The judge boomed.

‘In the matter of the stare versus Clair Buchan on the first count of murder one, we the jury find the defendant not guilty.’

Gasps rang out through the public gallery and the prosecution team closed their eyes and dropped their heads. The defence team, with big smiles all round patted each other on the backs. This verdict was not unexpected but was still a bitter blow and hurt nonetheless. Silence then fell once more as the head juror continued reading the verdict. ‘On the second count of involuntary manslaughter, we the jury find the defendant guilty.’

Well that was something, at least she would be heading to jail now and not back on the streets. Although the sentence would be laughable and quite frankly an embarrassment compared to what they had hoped for. Liam and Hank didn’t wait around and quietly left, escorting Tania’s mother to the interview room they had acquired.

‘Now then Mrs. Richards,’ said Liam taking a seat, ‘What can we help you with?’

‘Please call me Carrie,’ she told him as she placed a bag on the desk in front of them and began.

‘As you probably know detectives Tania, until recently, had been using a tablet to communicate with.’ Liam and Hank both nodded and Tania’s mother continued ‘Well she is a bit like a toddler learning to talk again but she is slowly beginning to get some speech back so to try and encourage her we took the tablet away. We kept it nearby so it was always there if she really needed it but we were trying to get by without it whenever possible.

‘She has been watching this case on the local news and kept repeating the words ‘No Girl’. We noticed that over the past few days she kept getting more and more agitated each time Clair had appeared on the screen until last night when she appeared to be quite scared and rather angry. My husband, her father, also swears he saw her clench a fist. So we gave her the tablet and … well… this is what she wrote.’ She reached into the bag and handed Liam the tablet who then read out loud what was on the screen.

‘I know girl. Bad girl. Bad girl attack me. Bad girl hit head.’

‘Wow. Are you aware of what this could mean?’ Hank asked.

Carrie nodded. “That’s why I wanted to see you directly,’ she told them.

‘Ok, would it be possible for us to speak with her?’ Liam asked.

‘Of course, my husband Frank is with her now and they are already expecting you. He is preparing her and getting her ready to talk to you as we speak.’

‘Excellent, do you need a ride? Or do you have your own transport?’ Liam asked.

‘No I came on the bus. Like I said, we expected you might want to come round to visit so it made things easier that way. Besides I don’t have a driver’s license myself and we didn’t want to leave Tania on her own.’

‘No problem, please follow us,’ Hank told her. Liam locked up the room and went to return the keys while Hank escorted Carrie to their car. Once in, he opened the glove compartment and grabbed his recording device, making sure the tape was new and that Batteries were good, it was time to get a solid testimony to help get Clair locked up where she needed to be.