Okoro rose to his feet. ‘That is correct, Your Honour.’

Peters shook her head. ‘How very unfortunate. It seems to me that we have little choice but to adjourn this case. Now, which of you is going to apply for a restricted reporting order?’

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Priest stared at the board but his next move wasn’t obvious. He had a modest battalion stationed in eastern Europe which could be fragmented and used to advance across Asia but that would be the last of his reserve troops; he had already lost Africa and most of America, North and South. Options were few and far between.

‘I do so enjoy our games of Risk, brother. Don’t you agree?’ said William. Over the years, Priest had noted his older brother’s voice had deteriorated to a throaty rasp. Eight years of confinement in a maximum security psychiatric hospital had physically diminished William Priest almost beyond recognition; although his mind, when focused, seemed as sharp as ever.

‘Mm.’ Priest continued his appraisal of the dire situation he was in.

‘My God!’ William suddenly exclaimed. ‘I had forgotten to enquire about the fortunes of your trial, Charles. I saw on the news that a key witness had been killed in suspicious circumstances, something that I hope was not to your detriment. Although of course your mood and the mere fact that you are here on a weekday suggests it was.’

William hadn’t always talked like this. He had always been well spoken – all of the Priest children were highly articulate – but Priest had noticed a definite shift in William’s register to make him sound like something out of a Sherlock Holmes novel, although he couldn’t tell whether that was purposeful or not. Most likely it was. William was far more prone to drama than his younger siblings.

‘The claimant also died in equally suspicious circumstances, so we called it a one-all draw.’ Something that, so far, Fox hadn’t distributed to every news station in London, but how long would that last?

William sat back, pleased. ‘Well, if anyone can haul the case out from the legal mire into salvation then it is you. How did the two individuals die, might I ask? I trust their deaths are connected.’

‘Cling film,’ Priest replied. He placed his last reserve in Australia and moved a unit across the European border into William’s territory.

William emitted a low growl of disapproval. It was the only area of the board where he was vulnerable. Behind him, the warden coughed nervously.