Unfaithful (45 page)

“Anything is possible.”

"Why didn't you tell the police about the computer that was missing from your house?"

"I most certainly did inform them. It's in the Book of Evidence. You should look it up," Mark challenged.

Mr. Clifford was unperturbed by his demeanour and continued to fire questions at him. "The police never found any trace of your correspondence with Mr. Whitington-Smyth."

"So I've been told," Mark beamed from the witness box. "It's not unheard of that emails can be lost."

Mark had been on the stand for almost half an hour at that stage and he remained relaxed and comfortable. It was clear that he was thoroughly enjoying his moment in the spotlight. Mr. Clifford continued to probe him about the context of the various emails at the centre of the case while Mark adjusted the stripy tie he wore against his pale blue shirt. He continued to smile.

"You are "
devils-revenge",” the barrister repeated.

"I'm not.”
Mark immediately denied.

"You don't have a shred of ev
idence to prove otherwise," Mr. Clifford retaliated.

Mark was equally swift in his response. "I had hoped that the police would find something. I even wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions and asked if he could have somebody investigate the theft of my life, but he chose not to follow through with it."

"There's no way that you can accuse the police of being lazy. They have engaged in an exhaustive investigation."

Again, this yielded a swift response from the
witness. "I'm not so sure they were exhausted. They seemed to have had a lot of holidays. Anyway, I don't believe for a moment that anyone ever intended to kill three people."

"The presence of ricin will contradict you,"
Mr. Clifford quickly responded.

"Well, I don't know anything about ricin," Mark replied. "I can tell you that I certainly didn't intend to have three people killed."

"There was a lot of detail in the emails that only a few people would know."

"Who do you think sent them?" Mark asked.

"You, Mr. McNamara, you," Mr. Clifford replied. "There was consistency between the emails and other proven facts, including that when Savannah Kingston arrived at the house she had photographs and investigators found an email which referred to sending photographs of the three intended victims. There was even a photograph of you where it was stated; "I'm the handsome devil in the tuxedo.""

"I'm amazed that somebody would identify themselves like that to a would-be assassin. Would anybody really be that stupid? Surely if someone had planned to do something like that, they would have tried to cover their tracks a little better."

"The deleted emails were retrieved by investigators.”

"Are you saying that
someone assumed by deleting them that they wouldn't be found?"

"Yes."

"Why go to the bother of getting someone to break into the office?"

The questions were being hurled back and forth between the two at a fast pace and Mark was feeling thirsty. "Excuse me," he smi
led before leaning forward and pouring himself a glass of water. He slowly drank the water and braced himself to answer the flow of questions which continued to be thrown at him.

"One
of the emails suggested disposing of the computer in the sea, when in fact it was discarded in bushes behind the hotel."

"So I believe," Mark shrugged nonchalantly.

"You don't believe it?"

"S
o I believe," Mark repeated, enunciating each syllable.

"Are you aware that deleted emails can be retrieved?"

"Of course, everything is retrievable these days."

"Are you aware of net analysis?"

"No, but I'm sure I'm about to find out."

"Net analysis is the second by second reconstruction of a computer."

"No, I'm not aware of that. I'm appalled that my email address was being accessed because I wasn't using it myself. However, my password is saved on all the computers that I use which might explain how someone could have used my email address."

"Do you think someone has a motive to set you up? You seem to be trying to imply that there is someone."

The question was met with a pause and there was silence in the courtroom. A few seconds passed before Mark finally spoke. "I've been brought to the police station and questioned at length. I've been charged with crimes that I certainly didn't commit and never would commit. I've been put in prison. You can't even begin to imagine the effect it's having on my life. I refuse to accuse anybody of anything when I don't know for certain. I would hate to wrongfully accuse someone and have them experience what I have been forced to endure."

"Do you think it was Rebecca McNamara?"

"No."

"Who's left? Are you suggesting it was Penelope Garrett or Shona Morgan?"

"Only a limited number of people have access to the office."

"Why do you think Ms. Garrett or Ms. Morgan would set you up?"

"You'd have to ask them." It was the first time that Mark seemed to be getting uncomfortable.

"Were they trying to get money from you?"

"I don't know."

"You don't have much money anymore, do you?"

"No."

"You signed over your half of the business and the family home to your wife, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Why would you do that?"

"I did it to prove to my wife that I wanted our relationship to work."

"Your wife
owns all the assets now; assets which were previously yours."

"Yes."

"How long have you been married?"

"Twenty one years,” Mark beamed proudly.

“What is your relationship with Shona Morgan and Penelope Garrett?”

Mark coughed before answering “They are business colleagues.”

“Is that all? Is it not true that you were cheating on your wife with these two women, neither of whom knew about the other?”

“
Yes,” Mark replied quietly. “It's not something I'm proud of but Rebecca and I were going through a bad patch in our marriage.”

“
So you cheated on her with not one but two women. Was there anyone else?” A murmur of incredulity ran through the courtroom. Mark’s shiny image was being well and truly tarnished.

“
I don't think I need to explain the private matters between two married people.”

"Do you think your wife
has been humiliated?"

"I think if somebody was planning to kill me that I'd get over the humiliation. I know if someone was shown the amount of evidence that Rebecca has been shown about someone trying to kill her that I wouldn't let my pride get in the way."

"Did you discuss the evidence with Rebecca?"

"No, not really, but I know the police shared a lot of the evidence with her."

"Your wife hasn't appeared in the courtroom for several days."

"Can you
blame her, after everything she's been put through?" Mark snapped.

"Is Rebecca a woman of secrets?"

"Isn't everyone?"

"It seems you let the secre
t out of the bag. Do you think that you had motive to kill these three women?"

"I do
not."

"Your diary was retrieved and in it you wrote that your situation was unbearable. Was it unbearable?"

"No."

"You also wrote that you were worried about "making a move." What did you mean exactly?"

"I was trying to work out if I should leave and start over again. I had nobody to talk to so writing helped me figure things out."

"Why didn't you
get a divorce and walk away?"

"I could have left, but I didn't want to leave my home and my baby. Rebecca was in
poor health after our son was born and I felt obliged to help her. I know I could have left and I would have done well out of the divorce settlement but I was finding it difficult to make a final decision."

"Did Rebecca verbally abuse you?"

"Sometimes, but I probably deserved it." Mark smiled wryly.

"You wrote in your diary that your wife was prone to black moods."

"Yes, she suffered with post-natal depression."

"How would these black moods manifest?"

"She sometimes threw tantrums and there were days when she hardly spoke and couldn't even get out of bed to look after the baby."

Mr. Clifford
wasn't about to give up easily. He pointed out the obvious. “The hatred of “devils-revenge” for the women was obvious in the emails sent to “assassin_hire.”. I would say that hatred is a powerful motive.”

Mar
k vigorously shook his head. “It's not a motive to kill three people.”

“
Did you and your wife talk about your affairs?”

“
Yes but I don't want to discuss the matter any further. I don't see the relevance.”

“It’
s very relevant,” Mr. Clifford insisted. “This is a conspiracy to murder trial and for that a motive is required. It's far easier to order the killing of someone you hate and that's what your emails seem to suggest.”

Mark shook his head again. A con
cerned frown creased his brow. “I realise that a motive is usually needed to kill someone but my disagreement with my wife was a motive to leave. It wasn't a motive to kill. I most certainly do not hate Rebecca. She is the mother of my children. If I hated her I would have left her, not killed her. I may have disliked a quality or an action of hers, which is to be expected after twenty one years of marriage. It's possible to love someone but not necessarily like them all the time."

Mr. Clifford shook his head. “Hatred
wasn't your only motive. Money was another major motive in hiring an assassin.”

Mark leaned forward. “That's ridiculous!”

“Rebecca tricked you into signing over your share of the family home and business to her when she discovered your affairs. She was after revenge so maybe you decided it was time to exact a revenge of your own.”

Mr. Clifford
continued to question Mark about his diary and eventually he'd had enough and wasn't afraid of letting the court know how he felt. "I don't want to discuss my personal diary any further. I don't see how it relates to murder.”

“
Police retrieved an email where it was written "I want to inherit.” Perhaps your motive was inheritance."

"I would have been financially secure if I'd divorced Rebecca."

Eventually the questions came to an end. Mark stepped down from the witness box after his grilling and took his seat beside his legal team.

"How does he keep going?" Shona leaned across to whisper in Penelope's ear. It amazed them
both how he had remained so calm and collected throughout the afternoon. The intense questioning seemed to have run off him with little or no effect.

"It'll be interesting to see how he reacts to his cross-examination tomorrow morning," Penelope
replied as she stared at Mark.

Chapter 15

Mark was on the stand for two days of intense cross-examination which resumed early the following morning. The allegations and suggestions which were made in the course of the trial were hard-hitting but one of the most dramatic aspects of the trial was Mark's overnight transformation. The cheerful, smiling, confident man who left the witness box the previous afternoon was suddenly replaced by a quiet, sombre man. The brashness and bravado were gone, replaced only by sadness. He seemed tense as everyone gathered for the second day of evidence. His face was drawn and there was exhaustion showing in the dark circles under his eyes. He seemed markedly older as he once again took the stand and Mr. Clifford continued his questioning. The barrister had no pity for him and immediately began his relentless barrage of questions. The drill on the second day was to be a detailed re-examination of the computer evidence.

"Why would anyone access your email
s?"

"I don'
t know," Mark quietly replied.

"Various searches were carried out on your office computer for such things as mortgages, travel companies and inheritance rights. Searches were also carried out for a hitman. Th
e “devils-revenge” email and your personal email account, “MarkMc,” were accessed on the same day."

"I didn't
go into the “devils-revenge” account. I never even heard of that email until the police told me about it."

"Music videos were also ac
cessed around the same time. It seems you were relaxing after a day's work while searching for inheritance rights and contract killers."

"I never downloaded any music videos."