My Husband's Wife(121)

Holding herself even straighter, Carla turned away. But inside she was frozen with fear. Who would look after Poppy if she went to prison? Nonno and Nonna were too old. They were too frail to even come to the hearing. ‘We both love you very much,’ her grandmother had written. ‘Your grandfather may not show it because he is proud. But we know you cannot have committed this terrible crime. You will be set free.’

Would she? For the first time, Carla began to wonder if she had made the right choice in hiring Lily. It had felt clever at the time, but now she was here, in the dock, the doubts were crowding in. Lily had once had a reputation for being one of the best. But she was out of practice. And what about the barrister she’d chosen? Lily was constantly passing notes to him, indicating that he hadn’t always said something he should have done, or had omitted something else. She would have liked Lily to be the lead barrister, but it was better, Lily had told her, that she acted as junior counsel. The very fact that she was handling her case at all had caused a flurry of interest in both the press and the court. Even the judge had questioned it at the beginning of the proceedings. ‘I believe you are representing your husband’s second wife,’ he had said. ‘Couldn’t this be construed as a conflict of interest?’

Lily had warned her this might happen. And she had clearly been ready for the question. ‘Not at all, My Lord. My client specifically asked me to represent her. She felt we shared common ground.’

There had been a ripple of laughter through the gallery at this. But it wasn’t funny. It was true.

Back to the prosecution’s question. What did she remember from the night Ed was murdered?

‘I’ve already said in my statement.’

There was a frown from Lily’s direction. ‘Always be respectful,’ she had said. ‘Be prepared to go over and over the facts.’

Carla gathered herself. ‘I’m sorry. It’s just that I am so tired.’

She flashed a smile – one of her best – at a young man in the jury who had been eyeing her up since the trial began. He was on her side. ‘Dress soberly,’ Lily had said. But she’d been unable to bring herself to wear the awful outfit that had been presented to her. Instead, she had insisted on wearing a chic jacket and her favourite figure-hugging black skirt. It was attracting, she could tell, a lot of attention.

‘Is it possible to sit down while I am giving evidence?’

The judge gave a brief nod. Thank goodness he was a man. She stood more chance of getting him onside too, providing she played her cards right.

‘Ed and I were at home together. He was drunk again.’ Her eyes closed. ‘He began yelling at me. Insisting that our baby wasn’t his …’ Her eyes brimmed with tears.

‘And was he the father of your child?’

Carla’s chin jerked up. ‘Of course. I loved my husband. I would never have been unfaithful to him. I will take a DNA test, if you like, to prove it.’

The prosecutor was walking up and down. ‘But is it not true that on the night of the murder, your former boyfriend Rupert Harris paid you a visit at home? Were you thinking of leaving your husband for him?’

Carla was so shocked that for a minute she couldn’t speak. Her own barrister seemed taken aback too. He was a young man who kept looking at his notes as if nervous of forgetting something. But according to Lily, he was ‘just right for the job’.

‘No,’ she finally managed to say. ‘Rupert was just a friend from college. Besides, I knew he had just got engaged.’

The horrid prosecution barrister raised his eyebrows as if to indicate that he doubted whether this would put her off. ‘Please tell us what happened next, Mrs Macdonald.’

She glanced at the jury. There was a woman with a pinched face sitting next to the sympathetic-looking young man. Carla addressed herself to her. ‘Ed was shouting at me. He began to shake my shoulders. His fingers were hurting me. I was so scared …’ She paused and pressed her hand to her chest. ‘I pushed him away, but he fell against the wall. He was drunk. He couldn’t balance properly. His head began to bleed and I felt terrible. So I tried to stem the blood with a cloth. But he pushed me away again. His eyes were blazing with anger.’ She paused again. They had to believe her. They had to.

‘Then … then he picked up the carving knife, the one he’d just used to carve the chicken.’

She clutched at her throat, as if he was brandishing it in front of her right now. ‘I thought he was going to kill me.’

The court was deathly quiet.

‘Then I heard the door open …’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Per certo.’

‘In English please, Mrs Macdonald.’

‘Sorry. I am certain.’

Carla wet her lips. This was the tricky bit, Lily had warned. The part that the jury might not be sympathetic to. ‘I ran out to the hallway. There was a man standing there. I didn’t know what was happening, I thought he wanted to hurt me too. I was so scared.’ A sob escaped through her lips. ‘Then I panicked and ran.’

The prosecutor’s face was impassive. Blank. ‘Can you describe this man?’

‘I’ll try.’ Carla’s voice trembled. ‘He was quite tall with dark hair and brown eyes – I can’t remember much more, I wish I could!’