Don Gutteridge - Minor Corruption

“Cobb, old friend, you shouldn’t be in here,”Marc said quietly.

“I got as much right in here as you’ve got ina court of law!” Cobb stood up, fists clenched.

“I take it from your look that you do notapprove of my conduct this afternoon?”

“That’s right. And you c’n throw in thismornin’ and yesterday, too!”

“I’m a barrister, Cobb. I have a duty toperform, and it often is not a pleasant one.”

“Ya mean pullin’ fancy tricks to let a guiltyman go free!”

“My client insists he is innocent, and I amhonour bound to believe him unless I know otherwise forcertain.”

“And we ain’t given you enough to be certain,is that it?”

“That’s going to be for the jury to decide,not you or me.”

“I give the prosecutor more than enough toconvict Seamus Baldwin, and you ripped it apart piece bypiece.”

Marc tried to be patient. He understoodCobb’s anger and disappointment, and it was never easy explaininghow a barrister’s obligations worked or what tactics wereconsidered fair play. “I repeat: I was doing my job.”

“So you really think that old goat isinnocent?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

“But you don’t believe Jake Broom raped thatyoung girl, do you?” Cobb stared Marc down, daring him toequivocate.

“It’s not likely, no. But it is possible, andit’s my task to let the jury know of that possibility, howeverremote.”

Cobb’s red face grew redder. His eyebrowssprung forward as if to give extra weight to his words. “You ruinedthat young man’s life out there. He was an honest, innocent boy andyou took advantage of him. How is that different from what Baldwindid to Betsy?”

Marc was fast losing patience. “All right,you’ve made your point. Now please let me get out of this wig andgown.”

“I ain’t finished yet!” Cobb yelled.

Marc went over and quietly shut the door.“Okay, go on, if you must.”

“What I’m thinkin’, and I never figured I’dever say this, is that you don’t care whether Seamus Baldwin isguilty or innocent. You’re doin’ what you’re doin’ to please theBaldwins, to save their political necks. ‘Cause you and I both knowthat unless you get the old bugger off – however you do it – theBaldwins are finished as politicians. You’re all in this to savethe Reform party!”

Marc’s patience had worn itself out. “And whoare you to talk, eh?”

“Whaddya mean? I done my job right andproper.”

“Because you want the law upheld? Or is itrather because you’re hoping to impress the Chief and have himrecommend you for the new detective’s position?”

“How in blazes did you know about that?”

“Easily. Wilf came to ask my advice and pickmy brain.”

“Well, you’re barkin’ up the wrong tree. Iwas asked to carry out a fair and objective investigation – likeyou taught me – and I did just that.”

“Well, then, why can’t you accept that I’mdoing my duty in the same way?”

“’Cause I didn’t set out to destroy people’slives on the witness-stand.”

Marc paused, lowered his voice, and said,“Your incomplete investigation has resulted in the ruin of agentleman’s health and will in all probability lead to hispremature death.”

“What are you talkin’ about - incomplete ?”

“I meant what I said. You did an incomplete,flawed investigation.”

“What didn’t I do?” This conversation was notgoing the way Cobb had envisioned it.

“For starters, you failed to realize thatBetsy’s two-month pregnancy was merely an estimate. Did it notoccur to you that Betsy could have been pregnant before shearrived at Spadina in late July? If so, then a dozen young ladsfrom that neighbourhood could have been her beau or become obsessedwith her. And anyone could have reached that barn unnoticed fromthe path along the creek, a creek that runs all the way past theworkers’ houses. And you forgot your own wife’s testimony about the tone of Betsy’s dying statement. In short, you failed tokeep going in your investigation because you accepted SeamusBaldwin as your prime suspect from the beginning, and then lookedat all subsequent evidence in that light.”

“What about the bushy hair?” Cobbspluttered.

“I demonstrated that a few minutes ago: atrick of light and shadow. We both have stood in that barn doorwayand gazed into that stall. So you know perfectly well what I’mtalking about. Is it not possible that there was no rape, butmerely a sexual liaison between Betsy and some local with lots ofbrown or blond hair? I hate to say it, Cobb, but you simply did notdo your job.”

“I don’t have to stand here and listen to yerlawyer’s double-talk!” Cobb cried.

“It was you who came steaming in here,” Marcsaid, steaming himself.

“Well, I’m steamin’ out now!”

With that, Cobb marched to the door, openedit, and slammed it shut. Then, aware that he had left his helmetinside, he slipped back in, avoided Marc’s eyes, scooped up thehelmet, strode to the door and slammed it even harder. Then hestomped off, Marc’s taunting phrase “didn’t do your job” abuzz inhis head. He had not been this angry in his entire life.

Marc decided to avoid Baldwin House and go straighthome, for there seemed little use in meeting Robert for furtherdiscussion of the case as they had apparently agreed to disagree.Anyway, the trial would finish tomorrow or Thursday. He was alsohoping to get some sympathy from Beth after his bitter clash withCobb in the wig-room. Beth, however, had other ideas. She shippedJunior and Maggie off to the kitchen with Etta and directed Marc tosit down with her on the chesterfield in the parlour.

Marc took one look at her face and said, “Notyou too, darling?”

Beth smiled. “I take it yer friends have notbeen impressed with the way you conducted yerself today?”

“That’s an understatement,” Marc said, andtook the opportunity to unburden himself of the day’s tribulations.Beth listened intently, as she always did, but there were nosympathetic nods except when he repeated Robert’s maxim about thesupremacy of the law itself. But she did offer a tiny smile atCobb’s reappearance to fetch his helmet.

“I’m real sorry you and Cobb had it out,” shesaid when he had finished, “but I can see why he was so angry. Thiswas a big investigation fer him. And on his own, too. You made himlook bad today. I hope to Heaven you don’t have to put him on thestand.”

“So do I.”

“Still, I’m surprised you lost yourtemper.”

“When he questioned my motives, I lost allpatience with the man. And I just struck back, somewhat blindly,I’m sorry to say.”

“Well, dear, I saw somethin’ in you todaythat I hadn’t seen before.”

“Oh?”

“And I don’t mean just yer grit anddetermination and downright stubbornness.”

“Well, thanks for those anyway.”

Beth frowned. “I hate to say it, but Ithought you were unnecessarily cruel to Jake Broom.”

“Why ‘unnecessarily’?” Marc said with moresarcasm that he intended. “Wouldn’t ‘cruel’ do nicely?”

“Now don’t get in a huff, luv. I meant what Isaid. I know you have to be cruel sometimes in a courtroom wherelives are at stake. The greatest cruelty is to hang a man who isnot guilty, I know that. I just thought you went further than youhad to. You accused the lad of bein’ a rapist when you knew hewasn’t. And Cambridge showed the jury that was so when he went onabout the young man not returnin’ to do himself in with acock-and-bull story.”

Marc was duly chastened. He had gonefurther than he had planned to. Showing the jury that Broom wasfanciful and could have misinterpreted or wrongly described thescene in the stall was all he needed to do. Broom’s testimony hadbeen impeached long before Marc had got carried away,Dougherty-like. “I don’t know why I did that,” he said. “I sowished to see this thing over, for the sake of that suffering oldman.”