Free A Game of Proof by Tim Vicary

much the better. At least it began to alter the impression of a perfect mother that Julian Lloyd-Davies had tried to create yesterday.
    ‘All right, Ms Gilbert, I want to ask you a little more about your relationship. You say that Gary contributed to the housekeeping and sometimes played with the children, and that you liked him because he was a laugh and - a good lay, I think you said. When you made love with him, it was a good experience, was it?’
    Sharon smiled, embarrassed. She seemed almost more embarrassed by this easy question than by the horrific details she had given yesterday about the rape; but then she had been prepared for those, psyched herself up to tell them. Now she hesitated. ‘Well ... yeah, it was okay.’
    ‘He was a good lover to you?’
    ‘Sometimes, yes. When he wasn’t drunk.’
    ‘All right. And during that year, did he ever force you to do anything - any sexual act, I mean - that you didn’t want to do?’
    This was a risky question. The wrong answer would make things worse for her client. But there were benefits, too, if it went the way she hoped.
    Sharon hesitated. ‘Well ... he could be a bit rough, like ...’
    Wrong answer. Quickly, Sarah minimised the damage. ‘What I mean is, did he ever treat you the way the intruder treated you on the night of the rape? Did he ever do anything like that?’
    ‘Oh, nothing like that. God, no.’
    Right answer. The risk had paid off. ‘Did he ever tie you up in the way you described yesterday?’
    ‘No. No, he never done that.’
    ‘All right. So during that year, he regularly made love to you in a perfectly acceptable way, a way that you enjoyed, that gave you pleasure?’
    ‘Yeah ... I suppose.’ As Sharon hesitated, Sarah moved on quickly.
    ‘Very well. Now, I want to ask about the events of the night of the rape, Ms Gilbert.’
    Sarah paused, remembering the surprise change of direction she had planned. With luck, the jury would understand before Sharon did.
    ‘When you first saw this hooded man on the stairs, you were frightened, weren’t you?’
    ‘What? Yeah, of course. I was terrified.’
    ‘But you didn’t think it was Gary at that point, did you?’
    ‘No ... not then. I just saw the hood and screamed.’
    ‘I understand. You were frightened because you suddenly saw a hooded man, a complete stranger, coming up your stairs. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?’
    ‘Yeah.’ Sharon nodded her head sarcastically, and stared at Sarah as though she were a simpleton. ‘That’s what I’m saying, yeah. You deaf or something?’
    Sarah ignored this, and continued smoothly. ‘If you had thought the man on the stairs was Gary, would you have been less frightened?’
    ‘What?’
    Sarah repeated the question. Sharon thought about it. ‘Well, yes, I suppose a bit ...’
    ‘You would have been less frightened because Gary had never seriously hurt you or raped you before. Isn’t that right?’
    Sharon looked confused. ‘Well, yeah, but I didn’t know it was Gary then, did I? I mean, he had a hood on!’
    ‘Yes, exactly. You were afraid because you had no idea who the hooded man was.’ Sarah paused again, to let the point sink in. ‘So when you began to think this man was Gary, you were less afraid, were you?’
    ‘What? Well, yeah... I dunno.’
    ‘Were you more or less afraid when you began to think the man was Gary?’
    ‘What’s it matter?’ Sharon was confused now. ‘I was scared because this man had bust into my house and was raping me! It didn’t matter if it were Gary or not - I was bloody terrified!’
    ‘You were afraid of rape, of course, I appreciate that. But did you think the man might kill you as well, or hurt your children? Were you frightened of that?’
    ‘Yes, I bloody well was! He had a knife, you know - he stuck it in me throat. I thought I were going to die, and he’d murder my kids an’ all!’
    ‘Yes, I understand. So what I’m trying to get at, Ms Gilbert, is that while all these