‘And if we lose, it’s you that pays the price.’ Ross took up the charge. He no longer sounded sympathetic as he followed Michael’s lead. ‘Us? We both go home. We’ll be disappointed, but we’ll move on. But you get a life sentence. Twenty-five years inside. Maybe longer. And certainly longer than you’ve been alive already.’

Kash did not respond. He just sank further into his seat, seeming to grow even smaller still as Ross’s words settled.

If Kash had been too afraid of Darren O’Driscoll to help himself – and Michael was sure that he had been – then that fear should no longer be his number-one concern.

SEVEN

It was midday as Michael walked down the prison steps, Ross still at his side. The sun had come out in force while they had been inside. It was hot for noon. A few more hours and the tarmac beneath their feet would be melting.

Michael removed his suit jacket and loosened his tie as they passed the building’s boundaries and stepped into the street.

‘Where are you parked?’

Michael watched as Ross fingered a car key.

‘In the garden centre,’ Ross replied, indicating to the left.

Michael’s route would take him right. Towards Earlsfield train station. Which meant that any further conversation needed to happen here.

‘So what’s your take on this?’ Ross asked.

‘The boy’s a mess.’

Michael leaned back against an uneven brick wall as he spoke. The past two hours had been exhausting. Sometimes a client saying nothing is harder than a client who won’t shut up.

‘He knows what happened. And he knows who did it. He’s just too scared to tell.’

‘You think it’s Darren O’Driscoll he’s afraid of?’ Ross asked.

‘Without a doubt.’

Michael had formed a case theory after reading the evidence. His morning with Kash had done nothing to change it. What it had done was strengthen his determination to protect the boy from himself.

‘Darren O’Driscoll killed the Galloways,’ Michael offered. ‘Him and whoever else; I don’t believe he could have done it alone. But I don’t buy that Simon was part of it. Not hands-on, anyway. Not in the role Colliver gives him.’

Terry Colliver was the prosecution’s main witness, and certainly Simon Kash’s biggest problem.

‘So you believe him?’ Ross sounded pleased. ‘Simon, I mean. You think he might actually be innocent?’

Michael did not answer immediately. Instead he took a few seconds to compose his thoughts. It was important to get this right.

‘Derek thought so,’ Michael finally replied. ‘He spent a lot of time with the boy and he’s a better judge of character than I’ll ever be. I’ll go with his gut.’

Derek Reid had been Kash’s barrister until two days earlier. That had changed when the trial judge ruled the case was suitable for a QC. Reid had never reached that status, and so the case had been taken from him and given to Michael. None of which would be unusual were it were not for the fact that Reid was Michael’s close friend, his former pupil-master and the man Michael consistently rated as the most talented advocate he had ever seen.