The judge spoke up. “I will now charge the jury. Gentlemen, you have heard a case presented by the prosecution and the defense. There can be no doubt that a man is dead and that it is the province of this court and, specifically, of this jury to decide how he met his death and who is to blame for it. Sir Winston and Sir Leslie have each presented their arguments, and now you must decide, beyond a reasonable doubt, if Mrs. Manning is guilty of the murder of her husband. Your verdict must be a majority verdict. You may now retire to the jury room and consider your verdict. When you have reached it, ring for the bailiff.” The judge stood and left the courtroom.

The jury filed out of their box and through a nearby door, which the bailiff closed behind him.

“That’s it?” Stone asked. “That’s a charge to the jury?”

“I’m afraid so,” Sir Leslie answered, glancing at his pocket watch. He beckoned the bailiff over. “May our client join us here at the table while we wait?”

The bailiff nodded stiffly, then went and brought Allison and held a chair for her.

“You were wonderful, Leslie,” she said, patting his arm.

Hewitt permitted himself a small smile.

“How do you read the jury, Leslie?” Stone asked.

Hewitt shrugged. “The foreman, my old tailor, is our best hope; the young boy will do whatever he thinks the others want him to; the views of the others will depend on their relationship, if any, to Sir Winston, and their vulnerability to his whim.”

“After all this, that’s where we are?” Stone said. “That most of the jury will act because of their vulnerability, or lack of it, to Sir Winston?”

“I’m afraid so,” Hewitt said.

“Why has no one left the courtroom?” Stone asked.

Sir Leslie looked at his watch. “Because everyone knows that in living memory, no St. Marks jury has ever been late for their dinner,” he said.

Chapter
57

Stone looked up and saw Hilary Kramer and Jim Forrester beckoning from the gallery; he walked over and shook hands with them. “I’d be interested to have your opinion of how things went.”

“I’d say you’re well on your way to an acquittal,” Kramer replied.

“Both you and Sir Leslie did a brilliant job,” Forrester chimed in. “How can you possibly lose?”

“I’m astonished,” Kramer said, “that this case could even have been brought to court with so little evidence, and I intend to say so in my coverage. This could never have come to trial in an American court.”

“Unfortunately, we’re not in an American court,” Stone said.

“Nobody’s left the courtroom,” Forrester said. “Are you expecting an early verdict?”