The Bitchling 1 - extract

 

2016 - Chambers

 

Elise Cross QC had been the chief prosecution Barrister responsible for putting the mild mannered deviant down. She had thought she had seen and heard it all. She didn't think that there was anything that could shock her. Or at least nothing that could shock her to the core. But she had looked at the files, and the evidence on this one and she had been shocked to the core and beyond. Something about this guy, what he did to the poor woman Jade. Elise had followed the case from police operations through the legal process, and to court. She had been determined to be assigned the case, in fact she had pursued the case, and by the time the case came to the Crown Court, Elise had been further determined that this man was going down for a long time.

Except that it didn't entirely work that way. It was a case of does the punishment ever fit the crime? Had it been the case then this man, this sad, well spoken, animal of a man wouldn't have seen the light of day again, ever. They had thought that with him hitting the headlines that there would be a string of other victims come forward and that he would have a charge list as long as his arm. That didn't happen. Not one person came forward. Not only that but not one person came forward or was tracked in relation to this man's family. They could find nothing on him. In essence this man didn't exist. That was equally as odd and disturbing as his crimes. They had all but had to bring this man to court as a vagrant. He was listed as of no fixed abode. A vagrant with such an educated accent and such a mild manner. And yet one who had done those terrible things to this woman. It was more than hard to believe that there weren't others out there. There had to be. But they didn't come forward. They just didn't come. A pure undiluted silence. Maybe what he did to Jade was just the tip of the iceberg of what he did to others. Maybe his other victims were so traumatised, or dead, that they couldn't come forward. There had to be more to this man. Not even the man himself offered up a defence. He would take it on the chin. Of course he would. He hadn't killed anyone, had he? He had just done some despicable things to this poor woman and he had been caught in the act. Caught out by a state of the art security system that had recorded it, or most of it ensuring that he would be at least taken off the streets.

The court had been silent, like a deathly silent as that digital video had been played. No grainy, fuzzy images but rather the full high definition nuanced detailed of everything he had done to Jade. There were some gasps of shock from the public gallery. And there was some weeping from the jury benches. This man had refused to cooperate and he had refused to answer questions or help police with their enquiries at all. He had refused legal representation and then he had refused to put in a plea when the charges had been put to him. So he would be treated like someone who had pleaded not guilty so that he could get a fair trial. Good old British justice at work. Elise could be satisfied in one way, that she had got the maximum possible sentence under the circumstances. That she couldn't have done any better even if she had tried. It had been the hardest thing she had ever done - walk away from this one without entering an appeal process on the grounds that the sentence this nameless man got was way too lenient. She had walked away but it had left a nasty taste in her mouth.

"That animal gets out soon doesn't he?" That was the Clark of the chambers at which Elise as a QC was based. He had watched Elise park up her car and stroll over the car park. He always watched Elise but then he wasn't the only one. He wondered every single day how she managed those heels that she wore. She looked great, there was no doubt about it but how on earth did she do it? She wasn't even one of these women who wore heels to work for effect but that as soon as her feet were under desk, they slipped their feet into flats. She kept her heels on, the highest spikiest of heels all day. It was like she was born in them.

Elise didn't want to talk about it. But she had a feeling that the subject of this man being released into society after serving half of his sentence would come up more than once on this particular day. When she did respond to the Clark she did it with a smile. Kept her composure. "British justice hey - the best in the world they say. If he had been caught in another country, say a state in America, he'd get the death sentence for what he did to that woman. But here, a slap on the wrist, some free bed and board for a few years and then out again to continue his life. Whilst that poor woman, struggles to keep a grip on reality. You know, I went to see her, last week, to tell her that he was being released. The police usually do that, but I wanted to do it. I felt I owed her that. You should have seen the look in her eyes. Just pure total fear and anxiety. When he was locked away, she had improved a little bit. He was where he couldn't get to her. But the thought of him being out, and the fact that he could be anywhere near her at any time, terrifies her. There was this haunted look in her face and eyes. I'll never forget that. I won't." Elise had spoken to the Clark with a restrained passion in her voice, and then she had moved on. Just sliding past him leaving him to absorb her words. "You don't think he'd come after her again do you?"

Now there was a question. Elise stopped again and she turned on her heels. "Not if I've got anything to do with it." That was all she said. She could have elaborated but she didn't. She could have given some hint as to what she meant by that, but she didn't. She carried on to her office. The Clark tilted his heads one way, and then the other as though he was weighing up what she had said. He didn't say anything else. He got on with his day. His thoughts were soon back to how good this woman was on her high heels. How impressive she was. How accomplished she was. That would have been OK in passing. It would have been ok as a passing thought. But one had the feeling that this man was obsessed either with the QC known as Elise, or with the subject of high heels on women. It could have been one or the other or it could have been both. Probably the latter. He watched her all the way to her office.