Soiled Knickers

Silverstein looked at Sally then at me, we both nodded.

"It is my lord," Silverstein agreed.

"Very well," the Judge said, "Sarah parker, you are charged that on or about the."

He looked down at the paper in front of him and read out the date on it, "you did feloniously assault Nr Peter Mortensen, with intent to cause injury occasioning grievous bodily harm. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty," she said, with a clarity that surprised me.

"Very well," the judge intoned, "this hearing is adjourned sine die. I am releasing you, Mrs parker without bail, but with the condition that you continue to reside with your husband at your marital home."

We hadn't expected that condition.

"Thank you," Sally said quietly.

As we left the chambers the prosecutor asked if he could have a word with us in private.

"So long as I'm present," Max said, "and Mr and Mrs Parker are willing."

The prosecutor inclined his head in acceptance and led the way to an interview room.

Once we had all sat down, he introduced himself as John Talbot.

"You will notice that there is no recording device on the table and, furthermore, I shall not be taking notes. However, I have a copy of your statement to the police in my briefcase and I wonder if I might ask a few questions, just to clarify some points?"

"Just so long as we're in agreement that this meeting is without prejudice, on either side," Max responded.

"So agreed," Talbot said and proceeded to take Sally through her statement.

It took over two hours and when he finished Talbot leaned back in his chair, blew out a breath and looked directly at Sally, then across at Max.

"Mr Silverstein," he said, "I know this is unusual, but I have something that I wish to say to Mr and Mrs barker, which I cannot say in the presence of their solicitor. Would you be so kind, just for a couple of minutes?"

He gestured towards the door. Max looked at me and I nodded my assent.

"I'll be just outside," Max said.

"Feel free to listen in," Talbot told him, "you just can't be in the room."

When he had left, Talbot outlined what had happened since the police had received Sally's statement. They had launched an investigation and had uncovered 'certain facts' that suggested to him that the ''victim' of Sally's 'crime' had been involved in something deep and shady and had used Sally as a guinea pig, therefore, in Talbot's personal opinion and off the record, he believed that the DPP would drop the case against Sally once the investigation was complete. He was careful to stress that this was his personal opinion, was off the record and he wasn't speaking for the CPS.

I thanked him for the information, shook hands and left.

"Did you hear all that?" I asked Max as we left.

"Yes," he replied, "from my experience, that about not speaking for the CPS was eyewash. They've decide d that they're not going to press the case but are keeping quiet publicly until the police have built their case against Mortensen."

"What does that mean for the disciplinary hearing at work?" Sally asked.

"That's a different matter, you and he attacked each other while at work. We'll make sure that Mortensen has to face whatever disciplinary charges you do and then that your actions were in self-defence as he was attempting to strangle you."

As we walked back to the car Sally took my hand.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"For what?2 I asked.

"For not just packing and leaving and for believing me enough to stick with me through all this."

"We're not out of the woods yet, love," I answered.

"No, but at least we're stood in a clearing," she said, "can we go home and make love now?"

"No," I replied, causing a disappointed look to cross her face, "there's still a chance you might be pregnant with Mortensen's baby. I don't want to cloud that issue by throwing any doubt about paternity into the mix."

"When then?" she asked.

"As soon as we get home," I said, "but first we need to find a pharmacy."