Free Blood Royal by Harold Robbins Page A

were strong personalities, they would not have gotten into the relationship in the first place. And once in, they are stuck—especially if there are children in the picture. Some women run away from the relationship like scared rabbits, by themselves or taking the children with them, but others, like my Savannah client, didn’t know how to run and hide. To make matters worse, her husband joined a religious group that had attitudes toward women similar to those found in the Middle East and Africa.”
    “Women are work animals,” Lawrence Dewey said, “that sort of thing?”
    “And sex objects,” McMann, the psychiatrist, threw in. “I don’t suppose he instituted the purdah in Savannah.”
    “As a matter of fact, he did. Not to the point of her wearing veils, but in the way she was to treat him and address him. She was to obey his commands without question. He even demanded she call him ‘sir.’”
    Lord Finfall guffawed. “Nothing wrong with that.”
    “But he didn’t earn his knighthood, Your Lordship,” Trent said.
    “What did your client do to this … ah, abusive spouse?” Helen Catters asked.
    “She sat in her car in the parking lot where he worked. When he got off work and started walking to his car, she ran him down. Then she backed up and drove over him again. And again.”
    “Sounds like he drove her insane,” Trent said.
    “An insanity defense, even one of temporary insanity, really didn’t fit the situation. She didn’t have a developmental or other mental defect. She knew the difference between right and wrong, she had freedom of choice and the ability to decide on a course of action that led to the homicide.”
    “Doesn’t sound like a strong case for a heat of passion defense in Britain. Your Savannah jury must have had their brains a little dulled by the humidity,” Dr. McMann said.
    “The jury no doubt had its emotions aroused by the facts,” Marlowe said. “Not many women have had to endure the type of mental torture this woman did. The final humiliation came when he told her that unless she was willing to fully accept the rites of his religion, he was forcing her out of the house and would see to it that she didn’t have any contact with the children.”
    McMann sneered. “I imagine his rites were one of those group sex things.”
    Marlowe’s cheeks reddened. She did not like the psychiatrist at all. And she didn’t like doctors—or lawyers—who jumped to conclusions before they had heard all of the evidence.
    “Not at all. As a matter of fact, the religious sect the husband belonged to tended to be puritanical. What they required from their women, in addition to being baby factories and work animals, is that they be mutilated.”
    “Mutilated?” Lawrence Dewey asked.
    “She was circumcised.”

9
    Marlowe left the meeting with Philip Hall. They were in the backseat of the Rolls before Marlowe spoke.
    “I’m glad none of your team was on any of my juries,” Marlowe told him. “They’re a hanging jury, for sure.”
    Hall smiled. “I believe you held your own. There are a great many complications with this case.”
    “If it wasn’t a tough case, the princess wouldn’t be reaching around the world for more help. Honestly, what do you think? About selling a battered woman theory to a London jury?”
    “Has the princess told you she was abused by her husband?”
    “We haven’t gone into the specifics because we both feared the police would listen in to our telephone conversation, but she inferred it, she said she needed to hire me because of my success in defending abused women. How did she describe her relationship with the prince to you?”
    “I have not spoken to her about it. Trent and Sir Fredic are the only ones who have been privy.”
    “They don’t share the information with the other members of the defense team?”
    “This is a very sensitive case.”
    That didn’t answer my question, Marlowe thought. She suspected Hall knew the princess’s