Jeffrey Archer - Sons of Fortune

‘Yes, but I didn’t want to marry his son.’

‘I feel sure he would have agreed to that if he’d thought it might have convinced you to join his team.’ Su Ling laughed for the first time in over an hour, just as Nat brought the car to a halt outside the house. He went quickly round to Su Ling’s side and opened the door for her. She stepped out and lost one of her shoes in the gutter.

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ she said as she slipped it back on. ‘I’m sorry.’

Nat laughed and took her in his arms.

‘No, no,’ said Su Ling, ‘your mother might see us.’

‘I hope she does,’ said Nat. He smiled and took her by the hand as they walked up the short driveway.

The door was opened long before they’d reached it, and Susan ran out to greet them. She immediately took Su Ling in her arms and said, ‘Nat didn’t exaggerate. You are quite beautiful.’

Fletcher walked slowly back down the corridor towards the courtroom, surprised to find that the professor remained by his side. When they reached the swing doors, the young counsellor assumed his mentor would return to his place a couple of rows behind Annie and Jimmy, but he continued walking towards the front of the courtroom and took the vacant seat next to Fletcher’s. Annie and Jimmy could barely conceal their surprise. The court usher announced, ‘All rise. His Honour Judge Abernathy presiding.’

Once he was seated, the judge looked towards the attorney general and acknowledged him, then turned his attention to the defence team, and for the second time during the trial, surprise registered on his face.

‘I see you have acquired an assistant, Mr Davenport. Is his name to be entered on the register before I recall the jury?’

Fletcher turned to the professor, who rose from his place and said, ‘That would be my wish, your honour.’

‘Name?’ asked the judge, as if he had never seen him before.

‘Karl Abrahams, your honour.’

‘Are you qualified to appear in my court?’ asked the judge solemnly.

‘I believe I am, sir,’ said Abrahams, ‘I first became a member of the Connecticut bar in 1937, though I have never had the privilege of appearing before your honour.’

‘Thank you, Mr Abrahams. If the attorney general has no objection, I will enter your name on my register as Mr Davenport’s co-counsel.’

The attorney general rose, gave the professor a slight bow, and said, ‘It is a privilege to be in the same court as Mr Davenport’s assistant.’

‘Then I think we should waste no more time in recalling the jury,’ said the judge.

Fletcher examined the faces of the seven men and five women as they filed back to their places. The professor had suggested that Fletcher check to see if any jury members looked directly at their client, which would possibly indicate a verdict of not guilty. He thought two or three of them did, but he couldn’t be sure.

The foreman rose. ‘Have you reached a verdict in this case?’ the judge asked.

‘No, your honour, we have been unable to do so,’ the foreman replied.

Fletcher could feel the sweat on the palms of his hands even more intensely than when he had first stood to address the jury. The judge tried a second time. ‘Are you able to return a majority verdict?’

‘No, we are not your honour,’ replied the foreman.

‘Do you feel, given more time, you might eventually reach a majority verdict?’

‘I don’t think so, your honour. We have been equally divided for the past three hours.’

‘Then I have no choice but to declare a mistrial, and dismiss the jury. On behalf of the state, I thank you for your service.’ He turned his attention to the attorney general, and as he did so Mr Abrahams rose to his feet.

‘I wonder, your honour, if I might seek your guidance on a small point of protocol.’

The judge looked puzzled, as did the attorney general. ‘I can’t wait to hear your small point of protocol, Mr Abrahams.’

‘Allow me first to enquire of your honour, if I am correct in thinking that should there be a retrial, the defence team must be announced within fourteen days?’

‘That would be the normal practice, Mr Abrahams.’

‘Then may I assist the court by making it clear that should that situation arise, Mr Davenport and I will continue to represent the defendant.’

‘I am obliged for your small point of protocol,’ said the judge, no longer puzzled.

‘So I must now ask you Mr Stamp,’ said the judge, turning his attention back to the attorney general, ‘if it is your intention to apply for a retrial of this case.’

The court’s attention swung to the state’s lawyers, all five of whom were in a huddle, holding an animated conversation. Judge Abernathy made no attempt to hurry them, and it was some time before Mr Stamp rose from his place. ‘We do not believe, your honour, that it is in the state’s best interest to reopen this case.’

Cheering broke out in the well of the court as the professor tore a sheet from his yellow pad and pushed it across to his pupil. Fletcher glanced down at it, rose from his place and read it, word for word. ‘You honour, in the circumstances, I would ask for the immediate release of my client.’ He looked down at the professor’s next sentence and continued to read, ‘And may I say how grateful I am for the gracious and professional manner in which Mr Stamp and his team have conducted the case for the prosecution.’

The judge nodded, and Mr Stamp rose again. ‘May I in turn congratulate the defence counsel and his assistant on their first case before your honour, and wish Mr Davenport every success in what I feel certain will be a promising career.’

Fletcher beamed at Annie, as Professor Abrahams rose from his place. ‘Objection, your honour.’

Everyone turned to face the professor. ‘I wouldn’t have thought it was that certain,’ he said. ‘It is my belief that a lot of work still needs to be done before that promise will be realized.’

‘Sustained,’ said Judge Abernathy.

‘My mother taught me two languages up until the age of nine and by then I was just about ready to be main-streamed into the Storrs’ school system.’

‘That’s where I started my academic life,’ said Susan.

‘But I discovered from an early age that I was more at ease with numbers than words.’ Michael Cartwright nodded his understanding. ‘And I was most fortunate to have a maths teacher whose hobby was statistics, and who was also fascinated by the role the computer might play in the future.’

‘We’re beginning to rely a lot on them in the insurance business,’ said Michael as he refilled his pipe.

‘How big is your firm’s computer, Mr Cartwright?’ asked Su Ling.

‘About the size of this room.’

‘The next generation of students will work with computers no larger than the lids of their desks, and the generation after that will be able to hold them in the palm of their hand.’

‘Do you really believe that’s possible?’ asked Susan, transfixed.

‘The technology is moving at such a pace, and the demand will be so high, that the price must fall quickly. Once that happens, computers will become like the phone and the television were in the forties and fifties, as more people purchase them, the cheaper and smaller they will be.’

‘But surely some computers will still need to be large?’ suggested Michael. ‘After all, my company has over forty thousand customers.’

‘Not necessarily,’ said Su Ling. ‘The computer that sent the first man to the moon was larger than this house, but we will live to see a space capsule land on Mars controlled by a computer no larger than this kitchen table.’

‘No larger than the kitchen table?’ repeated Susan, trying to grasp the concept.