Chapters (130)
- Cover
- FIND THEM DEAD
- Dedication page
- Maps
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- FOUR MONTHS LATER
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- GLOSSARY
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- NOW A MAJOR ITV SERIES
- I FOLLOW YOU
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- DISCOVER THE ROY GRACE BOOKS
- FIND THEM DEAD
- The Detective Superintendent Roy Grace books in order
- Also by Peter James
‘I’ve thought that through a thousand times, Ali. Maybe you’re right, but what if not?’
Alison shook her head. ‘I can’t believe this is happening. Not now, not in this day and age.’
‘It’s real,’ Meg replied, bleakly. ‘I don’t even know who I can trust on the jury and who I can’t.’
‘I’ve an idea,’ Alison said. ‘What about an anonymous phone call or note to the judge, telling him that two members of the jury have been nobbled, required to coerce the rest into a “not guilty” verdict? He would have to take that seriously.’
‘If he believed it.’
‘Could he afford not to?’
Meg’s mind went back to the phone call she’d had last night.
You do have a friend on the jury.
Friend, or someone else like me who you are threatening?
We are helping them just like we are helping you.
And she realized why he’d given her those details about the other juror, whoever it was. Both of them needed him. They weren’t going to be stupid enough to give the game away.
Her blackmailer would know, without any doubt, that any informant would have to be one of them.
She shook her head and explained her reasons.
‘I understand,’ Alison said. ‘God, what a predicament. You are truly stuck between a rock and a hard place. But there has to be a way through this. There always is.’
‘Really? I’m all ears.’
Alison smiled. ‘Could you throw a sickie? Feign appendicitis or something and get taken off the jury? Have something happen that’s obviously not your doing?’
‘Like falling off my bike and ending up in hospital?’
Alison shrugged. ‘Well, maybe not so dramatic. And you don’t have a bike, do you?’
Meg smiled. ‘No, that’s a bit of a problem right there!’
Alison suddenly looked very serious. ‘There’s a whole other aspect to this I hope you’re aware of.’
‘Which is?’
‘What you are doing must be completely illegal. Influencing – coercing – your fellow jurors. Do you know what would happen if you were found out?’
Meg nodded. ‘I do.’
She was well aware that she was about to break the law, but until now she’d been pushing that knowledge aside. Confronted with it starkly, out in the open, by her best friend, the true enormity suddenly rose up, engulfing her in a cloud of fear. ‘I do know, Ali. But I don’t have any choice. What’s that quote?’
Alison frowned. ‘Quote?’
Meg nodded. ‘Something like, If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I’d have the courage to betray my country.’