Free A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer

than a minute?"
    "I can't be sure. But he was standing there."
    "Miss Wilson, if you were to leave the Dunlop Arms by the front door, make your way through a crowded street, then down a long lane, before finally reaching the end of the alley, you'd find it's a distance of two hundred and eleven yards. Are you suggesting that Mr. Craig covered that distance in under a minute?"
    "He must have done."
    "And his friend joined him a few moments later," said Pearson.
    "Yes, he did," said Beth.
    "And when you turned round, the other two men, Mr. Davenport and Mr. Mortimer, were already positioned by the back door."
    "Yes, they were."
    "And this all took place in under a minute, Miss Wilson?" He paused. "When do you imagine the four of them found time to plan such a detailed operation?"
    "I don't understand what you mean," said Beth, gripping the rail of the witness box.
    "I think you understand only too well, Miss Wilson, but for the benefit of the jury, two men leave the bar by the front door, go around to the rear of the building while the other two station themselves by the back door, all in under a minute."
    "It could have been more than a minute."
    "But you were keen to get away," Pearson reminded her. "So if it had been more than a minute you would have had time to reach the main road and disappear long before they could have got there."
    "Now I remember," said Beth. "Danny was trying to calm Bernie down, but my brother wanted to go back to the bar and sort Craig, so it must have been more than a minute."
    "Or was it Mr. Cartwright he wanted to sort out," asked Pearson, "and leave him in no doubt who was going to be the boss once his father retired?"
    "If Bernie had wanted to do that," said Beth, "he could have flattened him with one punch."
    "Not if Mr. Cartwright had a knife," responded Pearson.
    "It was Craig who had the knife, and it was Craig who stabbed Bernie."
    "How can you be so sure, Miss Wilson, when you didn't witness the stabbing?"
    "Because Bernie told me that's what happened."
    "Are you sure it was Bernie who told you, and not Danny?"
    "Yes, I am."
    "You'll forgive the cliché, Miss Wilson, but
that's my story and I'm sticking to it
."
    "I am, because it's the truth," said Beth.
    "Is it also true that you feared your brother was dying, Miss Wilson?"
    "Yes, he was losing so much blood I didn't think he could survive," replied Beth as she began sobbing.
    "Then why don't you call for an ambulance, Miss Wilson?" This had always puzzled Alex, and he wondered how she would respond. She didn't, which allowed Pearson to add, "After all, your brother had been stabbed again and again, to quote you."
    "I didn't have a phone!" she blurted.
    "But your fiancé did," Pearson reminded her, "because he had called your brother earlier, inviting him to join you both at the pub."
    "But an ambulance arrived a few minutes later," replied Beth.
    "And we all know who phoned the emergency services, don't we, Miss Wilson," said Pearson, staring at the jury.
    Beth bowed her head.
    "Miss Wilson, allow me to remind you of some of the other half-truths you told my learned friend." Beth pursed her lips. "You said, 'I knew we were going to be married the first day I met him.' "
    "Yes, that's what I said and that's what I meant," said Beth defiantly.
    Pearson looked down at his notes. "You also said that in your opinion Mr. Davenport 'wasn't as good-looking as' Mr. Cartwright."
    "And he isn't," said Beth.
    "And that if anything went wrong, 'he always had me to back up his story.' "
    "Yes, he did."
    "Whatever that story was."
    "I didn't say that," protested Beth.
    "No, I did," said Pearson. "Because I suggest you'd say anything to protect your husband."
    "But he isn't my husband."
    "But he will be, if he is acquitted."
    "Yes, he will."
    "How long has it been since the night your brother was murdered?"
    "Just over six months."
    "And how often have you seen Mr. Cartwright during that period?"
    "I've visited him every Sunday afternoon," said Beth