The Disappeared (44 page)

'You're
still under oath, Mr Donovan,' Jenny said. 'I've just a few questions to clear
up following your testimony last week.' She turned back through her longhand
note of the evidence and found her verbatim record of his testimony. 'You told
us that you reported your sighting of the two young Asian men on the London
train on the 29 June because you recognized their faces from newspaper
reports.'

'That's
right.'

'You
went on to say that the police came round - I presume to your home - with a
selection of photographs, from which you identified Nazim Jamal and Rafi
Hassan.'

'I
did.'

Jenny
noticed Zachariah Jamal looking intently at Donovan.

'And
this was prompted by your concern that they might have been involved in illegal
activity.'

'Yes,
ma'am.'

Jenny
paused and studied Donovan carefully. He clasped and unclasped his hands.

'What
was your occupation at the time, Mr Donovan?'

'I
was a chartered accountant, ma'am.'

'In
private practice?'

'Yes.'

'From
April of that year were you under investigation for offences of fraud?'

Khan
and Collins exchanged a look. Havilland and Denton appeared unmoved: Havilland
engrossed in another document, Denton patiently taking a note.

'I
was questioned by police, ma'am,' Donovan said, 'but completely exonerated. Not
only that, I gave evidence against several of my clients and a former business
associate, who as it turned out were guilty of fraud.' His answer was pre-
rehearsed but confidently delivered. Jenny noticed his eyes dart towards
Havilland as if he were subconsciously seeking approval.

Jenny
said, 'Do you recall whether you were questioned by police as a suspect between
29 June and 20 July, the date on which you gave your statement?'

'I
don't recall exact dates, but there's a good chance.'

'I
won't sidestep the issue, Mr Donovan: did you strike a deal with the police
over the issue of the fraud charges? Was giving a statement saying you'd seen
Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan part of it?'

Havilland
got indignantly to his feet. 'Ma'am, as counsel for the chief of the police
force in question, I really must object to this line of questioning unless it's
backed up by credible evidence.'

'Evidence
will be called which explains the question Mr Havilland. You'll just have to be
patient.'

'Ma'am,
purely in the interests of fairness I must remind you of your absolute duty of
impartiality. This line of questioning does sound suspiciously like a
cross-examination mounted by an advocate making a partial case. That is not the
manner in which a coroner is expected to conduct an inquiry.'

'I
can assure you, Mr Havilland, I have no intention of compromising my
impartiality,' Jenny snapped. 'If you'd kindly let me continue.'

Havilland
gave way reluctantly, heaving a theatrical sigh as he sat.

'Mr
Donovan,' Jenny said, 'please give a straight answer - did the police suggest
you make the statement identifying Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan?'

'No,'
Donovan replied, with almost too much force to be convincing.

'Then
do you have any proof that you took this train journey - a credit-card statement
perhaps?'

'I
paid cash.'

'And
for the ticket to the football match you were heading to?'

'That
was cash, too.'

'Were
you travelling with anyone who could verify your account?' 'No.'

'There
must be someone who could substantiate your story?'

'You
could try my ex-wife,' Donovan said, hoping to raise a smile from the jury.

Jenny
tried again to shake his account by suggesting that he may have been tempted to
come forward with the intention of gaining credit with the police at a time
when he was facing charges, but he denied everything. His statement had been
the spontaneous gesture of a concerned citizen, he insisted. That's all there
was to it.

Havilland
decided not to dignify Jenny's insinuations with any further inquiry, and
Martha Denton again followed suit. Khan reprised his attack of the week before,
implying that Donovan couldn't tell one Asian face from another, but the jury
seemed visibly irritated by Khan's barracking tone: the more he railed, the
harder their expressions became. Jenny was slowly learning about British
juries: it didn't matter if their skins were black, white, brown or any
combination, they had an instinctive dislike of sentiment. It was a paradox
but, in a culture obsessed with the public parading of every shade of self-indulgent
emotion, inside a courtroom the instinct to reject all overt displays of
passion still held firm.

When
Khan had finally run out of breath, Collins rose to ask a question of his own.

Quietly,
and nervously twiddling a pen between his fingers, he said, 'Are you asking us
to believe, Mr Donovan, that it never occurred to you that identifying two
potential terrorists - which is what you said you thought they were - might
help you in your own case? I can't imagine what sort of solicitor was advising
you if it didn't.'

Donovan
hesitated a fraction too long to appear completely honest. 'I can't say I had
that thought before I gave the statement, no. My solicitor might have said
something afterwards.'

'Yes,
I'm sure he or she did,' Collins said, then, as if to himself, added, 'I
certainly would have done. Yes, indeed.' He looked down at the floor for a
moment, his mouth twitching as if he was suffering from an unfortunate nervous
tic, then looked up again with an unexpected flash of fire. 'And even though
you face no charges, even though this hearing is in secret and your words will
never be broadcast, you're still not man enough to admit that your statement
was extracted from you in return for favours. It was a lie, wasn't it, Mr
Donovan?'

The
mouse had roared. The jury sat up and paid attention. They watched Donovan
closely as he tried to effect a dismissive smile, all the while his thick, fat
neck growing a more livid shade of purple.

'No,'
Donovan said tightly. 'I saw them. Two Asian lads. It was them. I'm sure it
was.'

As
he left the witness box and headed gratefully for the exit at the back of the
hall, Jenny reminded herself that her job was not simply to pursue the agenda
McAvoy had set for her. It was possible that Donovan was largely telling the
truth. Perhaps he did see two young men Asian men on the train; they might
conceivably have been Nazim and Rafi. She had to keep an open mind.

She
took a deep breath. 'Stay calm,' she told herself. 'People are relying on you
for the truth. Stay calm for them.'

Dr
Sarah Levin managed to look both businesslike and effortlessly glamorous. She
declined a religious oath and chose instead to affirm. Jenny imagined McAvoy
mocking her. 'Let's see how much of an atheist you are when eternity calls,' he
would have said. 'Would you rather have your long-neglected priest or your
hairdresser at your bedside?'

'Dr
Levin,' Jenny said, pushing the unkind thought from her mind, 'you were a
physics student in the same year as Nazim Jamal, weren't you?'

'Yes,
I was.'

'You
went to lectures and tutorials together?'

'We
did.'

'You
had a room in Goldney, a different student hall of residence.'

'That's
right.'

'And
approximately twelve days after he disappeared you gave a statement to the
police.'

'Yes.'

'Do
you remember what you said?'

'I
said that I had overheard him talking to some Asian friends in the canteen
about "brothers" who had gone to fight in Afghanistan. Their
conversation was about jihadis fighting the British and Americans. Nazim seemed
impressed with the idea. Whether he was just showing off or not, I couldn't
say.' She shrugged. 'They were very young.'

'When
was this incident?'

'Sometime
in the summer term, May probably.'

'Did
he ever mention to you that he was thinking of going to Afghanistan?'

'No.
Never.'

Jenny
paused briefly, telling herself to rein in, take her time, tease out the truth.

'Dr
Levin, your statement to the police was dated 22 July. That was three weeks
after Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan's disappearance. What was happening during
that period?'

'It
was after the end of term. I'd stayed on for a while. Everything had been
frantic, but as they quietened down I think I must have remembered overhearing
that conversation.'

'Detectives
had been speaking to students, had they?'

'There
had been a few around, yes. None of them spoke to me directly.'

'I
see. And having recalled this conversation, what was in your mind?'

'I
suppose I thought telling the police was the responsible thing to do.'

'Did
you go to them or did they come to you?'

'There
was a notice up in the physics department. I called the number.'

'Of
course, by that time Mr Donovan had given his statement to the police and it
had been reported in the local press.'

'I
was aware of that. It was probably what prompted me.'

Jenny
looked hard at Sarah Levin. Her manner was modest, that of a witness trying to
do her best, but there was a fragility about her, a tendency to address her
answers in the direction of Havilland and Denton rather than the jury, as if
she felt the gravitational pull of the authority they represented. Yet she
didn't know who they were. She'd hadn't been at court the week before and she
had been behind closed doors in the committee room when the introductions were
made at the start of the session.

Jenny
said, 'How well did you know Nazim Jamal, Dr Levin?'

She
thought for a moment before answering. 'Not very.'

'What
about in your first term at university. Were you closer to him then?'

Sarah
Levin paused, a sadness stole across her face and she lowered her voice
slightly. 'I know what you're going to say.'

'You
had a relationship with him, didn't you?'

Sarah
Levin glanced at Mr Jamal. His expression was set and unreadable.

'Nazim
and I had a very brief "relationship", if you can call it that ... It
was our first term, first time away from home . . .'

Jenny
glanced at the lawyers. She noticed Khan looking a little bemused by the
confession.

'How
long did this last?'

'A
week or two ... It wasn't anything serious. You know what it's like when you're
a student.'

'I
do. But wasn't Nazim going through a religiously orthodox phase at the time?
He was wearing traditional clothing and growing a beard, wasn't he?'

Uncomfortable,
Sarah Levin said, 'I really didn't want to cause any offence to his family,
that's why I never mentioned it . . . We were both eighteen. You're not really
sure what you believe at that age. You're still searching for your identity.'

'The
point I'm making is that he didn't have any scruples about sleeping with you.'

'He
didn't seem to have, no.'

'Did
he talk to you about his religious beliefs?'

'Only
to say that no one should find out. Not his family or his Asian friends ... It
was all very illicit. Exciting, I suppose.'

'Did
he seem to you to be a religious fanatic?'

'Not
at the time. He was certainly observant - he would pray five times a day - but
in all other respects he was just a normal young man.'

'Who
ended the relationship?'

'He
didn't call me over the Christmas vacation. It just sort of petered out.'

'You
may or may not know that Nazim had a subsequent brief relationship with another
student in your year, Dani James.'

Sarah
Levin nodded. 'I heard last week. I had no idea.'

'She
thinks she contracted chlamydia from him. Did you have a similar experience?'

Sarah
Levin tensed, her shoulders suddenly rigid. A spontaneous reaction, Jenny
thought. She groped for a response. 'Is this relevant?'

'It
could be. I have had sight of your medical records, Dr Levin . . .'

The
witness blinked and reeled from the unexpected blow. 'I was diagnosed with the
infection a few months later, yes,' she said, acutely embarrassed. 'Whether it
came from Nazim, I couldn't say.'

'Did
you mention it to him?' 'No.'

'Were
you angry about it?'

'Not
in the sense you're suggesting.'

'Dr
Levin, did the police know about your previous relationship with Nazim?'

'No.
I've never mentioned it to anyone until today.'

'You
see the importance of that question, don't you? This isn't a criminal trial,
I'm not accusing you of anything, but if, for example, the police had got hold
of that information, and if they were trying to prove that he and Rafi Hassan
went abroad, they might have come to you and asked if he had ever suggested he
might?'