A Prisoner of Birth Read online

  ‘Then who the hell is he?’ asked Payne.

  ‘I know exactly who he is,’ said Craig. ‘And what’s more, I can prove it.’

  Danny had brought all three files up to date. There was no doubt that he had wounded Payne, and even crippled Davenport, but he’d hardly laid a glove on Spencer Craig, other than possibly to delay his appointment as a QC. And now he’d blown his cover, all three of them would be aware who was responsible for their downfall.

  While Danny had remained anonymous, he’d been able to pick off his opponents one by one, and even select the ground on which he would fight. But he no longer had that advantage. Now they were only too aware of his presence, leaving him, for the first time, vulnerable and exposed. They would want to exact revenge, and he didn’t need to be reminded what had happened the last time they worked as a team.

  Danny had hoped to defeat all three of them before they found out who they were up against. Now his only hope was to expose them in court. But that would mean revealing that it was Nick who had been killed in the shower at Belmarsh, not him, and if he was to risk that, his timing had to be perfect.

  Davenport had lost his home and his art collection, and had been written out of Holby City even before he’d completed a screen test. He had moved in with his sister in Cheyne Walk, which made Danny feel guilty for the first time; he wondered how Sarah would react if she ever found out the truth.

  Payne was on the verge of bankruptcy, but Hall had said that his mother might have bailed him out, and at the next election he could still expect to become the Honourable Member for Sussex Central.

  And Craig had lost nothing compared to his friends, and certainly showed no signs of remorse. Danny wasn’t in any doubt which one of the Musketeers would lead the counter-attack.

  Danny put the three files back on the shelf. He had already planned his next move, which he was confident would see all three of them end up in jail. He would appear before the three law lords as Mr Redmayne had requested, and would supply the fresh evidence needed to expose Craig as a murderer, Payne as his accomplice, and Davenport as having committed perjury which had caused an innocent man to be sent to prison for a crime he did not commit.

  68

  BETH EMERGED from the darkness of Knightsbridge tube station. It was a bright, clear afternoon, and the pavements were busy with window-shoppers and locals walking off their Sunday lunch.

  Alex Redmayne could not have been kinder or more supportive over the past weeks, and when she left him less than an hour ago, she had felt full of confidence. That confidence was now beginning to ebb away. As she walked in the direction of The Boltons, she tried to recall everything Alex had told her.

  Nick Moncrieff was a decent man who had become a loyal friend of Danny’s when they were in prison together. Some weeks before he was released, Moncrieff had written to Alex offering to do anything he could to assist Danny, who he was convinced was innocent.

  Alex had decided to put that offer to the test, and after Moncrieff ’s release, he had written to him requesting to have sight of the diaries he had written while in prison, along with any contemporaneous notes concerning the taped conversation that had taken place between Albert Crann and Toby Mortimer. Alex ended the letter by asking if he would agree to appear before the tribunal and give evidence.

  The first surprise came when the diaries were delivered to Alex’s chambers the following morning. The second was the courier. Albert Crann could not have been more cooperative, answering all the questions Alex put to him, only becoming guarded when he was asked why his boss wouldn’t agree to appear before the law lords – in fact, wouldn’t even consider an off-the-record meeting with Mr Redmayne in chambers. Alex assumed it must have something to do with Moncrieff wanting to avoid any confrontation with the police until he had completed his probation order. But Alex wasn’t willing to give up that easily. Over lunch he had convinced Beth that if she could get Moncrieff to change his mind and agree to give evidence before the law lords, it might be the deciding factor in having Danny’s name cleared.

  ‘No pressure,’ Beth had said with a smile, but now she was on her own and beginning to feel that pressure more with every step she took.

  Alex had showed her a photograph of Moncrieff and warned her that when she first saw him she might think just for a moment that she was looking at Danny. But she must concentrate, and not allow herself to be distracted.

  Alex had selected the day, even the hour, that the meeting should take place: a Sunday afternoon around four o’clock. He felt that Nick would be more relaxed at that time and possibly vulnerable to a distressed damsel appearing on his doorstep unannounced.

  When Beth left the main road and walked into The Boltons, her pace became even slower. It was only the thought of clearing Danny’s name that kept her going. She walked around the semicircular garden with its church in the centre until she reached number 12. Before she opened the gate she rehearsed the words she and Alex had agreed on. My name is Beth Wilson, and I apologize for disturbing you on a Sunday afternoon, but I think you shared a cell with Danny Cartwright, who was . . .

  By the time Danny had read through the third essay recommended by Professor Mori, he was beginning to feel a little more confident about facing his mentor. He turned to a piece he’d written over a year ago on J. K. Galbraith’s theories on a low-tax economy producing . . . when the doorbell rang. He cursed. Big Al had gone to watch West Ham play Sheffield Utd. Danny had wanted to join him, but they both agreed that he couldn’t take the risk. Would it be possible for him to visit Upton Park next season? He turned his attention back to Galbraith, in the hope that whoever it was would go away, and then the bell rang a second time.

  He reluctantly stood up and pushed back his chair. Who would it be this time? A Jehovah’s Witness or a double-glazing salesman? Whichever it turned out to be, he already had his first sentence prepared for whoever had decided to interrupt his Sunday afternoon. He jogged downstairs and walked quickly along the corridor, hoping that he could get rid of them before his concentration broke. The bell rang a third time.

  He pulled open the door.

  ‘My name is Beth Wilson, and I apologize for disturbing you on a Sunday . . .’

  Danny stared at the woman he loved. He had thought about this moment every day for the past two years, and what he would say to her. He stood there, speechless.

  Beth turned white, and began to shake. ‘It can’t be,’ she said.

  ‘It is, my darling,’ Danny replied as he took her in his arms.

  A man sitting in a car on the opposite side of the road continued to take photographs.

  ‘Mr Moncrieff ?’

  ‘Who is this?’

  ‘My name is Spencer Craig. I’m a barrister, and I have a proposition to put to you.’

  ‘And what might that be, Mr Craig?’

  ‘If I were able to restore your fortune, your rightful fortune, what would that be worth to you?’

  ‘Name your price.’

  ‘Twenty-five per cent.’

  ‘That sounds a bit steep.’

  ‘To give you back your estate in Scotland, to kick out the present occupant of your house in The Boltons, to restore the full amount paid for your grandfather’s stamp collection, not to mention ownership of a luxury penthouse in London which I suspect you don’t even know about, and to reclaim your bank accounts in Geneva and London? No, I don’t think that’s particularly steep, Mr Moncrieff. In fact, it’s quite reasonable when the alternative is a hundred per cent of nothing.’

  ‘But how could this be possible?’

  ‘Once you’ve signed a contract, Mr Moncrieff, your father’s fortune will be restored to you.’

  ‘And there will be no fees or hidden charges?’ asked Hugo suspiciously.

  ‘No fees or hidden charges,’ promised Craig. ‘In fact, I’ll throw in a little bonus which I suspect will even please Mrs Moncrieff.’

  ‘And what’s that?’

  ‘You sign my contract, and by