‘Yeah. Derek. And other things. It’s not anything I can speak about.’ Michael did not want to linger on Reid. He changed the subject. ‘Interesting outburst at the end there.’

‘You mean what he said about Simon? Yeah, absolutely ridiculous. It seemed desperate; there’s no way the jury paid any attention to that.’

Michael placed his hands on the table, pushed himself back in his chair and exhaled hard.

‘Yeah. Yeah, you’re probably right. Except right at the end, you know. He seemed to want to say something else, yet he didn’t. He had nothing to lose, so why not say whatever it was?’

‘I think maybe you’re looking too much into it,’ Draper answered, placing her hand on to Michael’s. ‘You just wiped the floor with him. It was clear to everyone that anything he has said about Simon was a lie designed to save himself. It was a home run, Michael. Don’t second-guess it now.’

‘I guess you’re right,’ Michael replied. ‘It’s . . . it’s probably just where my head is at right now. I’m not thinking clearly. Not with, you know, everything.’

Draper squeezed Michael’s hand tighter.

‘I know you say you can’t talk about it. But if you need to? If it would help? I’m here. And I’m a good listener.’

Michael glanced down at his hand. At Draper’s. He hesitated for a moment, then slid his own away.

The sounds from the corridor outside of the room caught both barristers’ attentions. They looked towards the door just as Simon Kash was brought through. For once he was not dwarfed by his escort. The usual burly guard had been replaced by a stocky woman of average height, no taller than Kash himself.

‘That was incredible, Mr Devlin. Incredible!’

Kash was wearing a broad, happy grin. Something Michael had never expected to see. He was also more talkative than he had ever been, with his excited praise starting before the new jailer had uncuffed his wrist from her own.

‘That’s got to be it, hasn’t it?’ He was speaking fast, his words falling over each other as they tumbled from his lips. ‘You showed everyone that Terry was lying. Everyone saw it.’

‘Sit down, Simon.’ Michael indicated to the two metal chairs ahead of him. ‘Please.’

Kash moved quickly. Climbed across the first chair and into the second, his excitement undiminished. On any other day it would have brought a smile to Michael’s face.

‘So you think that’ll be it?’ Kash began speaking again as soon as he was seated. ‘I mean, they’ve got nothing more, have they? There’s no more evidence about me?’

‘That’s right.’ Michael lifted the fingertips of his right hand to his right temple. It had been a long day. ‘And yes, it went very, very well for us. But it still isn’t over. We still have to go through the process.’

‘But what about a submission of no case to answer?’

The words felt strange as they hit Michael’s ear, catching him off guard. It was not an expression he ever expected Simon Kash to use.