Free The Accused (Modern Plays) by Jeffrey Archer

evening of March the twenty-first 1999, and was taken into hospital, where she died of cardiac arrest a few hours later.
    Sherwood (
bows his head
) Yes and I’ll never forgive myself for not being by her side.
    Barrington Looking back over that last year, do you think you could have done any more?
    Sherwood I ask myself the same question a hundred times every day, and I think I can honestly say that I did everything in my power to prolong Elizabeth’s life.
    Barrington But the Crown would have us believe that over a period of three months, you instructed Ms Mitchell to pick up several ampoules of Potassium Chloride from a chemist in Wellingborough for the sole purpose of poisoning your wife.
    Sherwood The Crown only has Ms Mitchell’s word for that.
    Barrington But your signature is on all the prescriptions.
    Sherwood And hundreds of others like it. Sir James, but it’s the first time I’ve been arrested and charged with murder.
    Barrington Then why did you ask her to have them made up in Wellingborough?
    Sherwood I didn’t - she could have collected those prescriptions from the hospital pharmacy whenever it suited her.
    Barrington And now I would like to address the Crown’s suggestion that after your wife died, it was you who gave the instruction to have her body cremated. Is that true, Mr Sherwood?
    Sherwood No. I’d been against the idea right from the start. If it hadn’t been for a codicil in Elizabeth’s will, she would have been buried in the family plot at Highgate cemetery. And if only she had been, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you today.
    Barrington Quite so. Which brings me on to Ms Mitchell, and the one question on which this whole case rests. Whether you did, or did not, have an affair with this lady - for the purpose of using her as part of a well-thought-out plan to poison your wife. So let me ask you straight away, Mr Sherwood, what was your relationship with Ms Mitchell?
    Sherwood Entirely professional. On the rare occasions we met outside the hospital, it would have been at gatherings where other members of staff were present.
    Barrington Did you ever flirt with Ms Mitchell?
    Sherwood I flirt with all the nurses in my department, Sir James.
    Barrington You flirt with all the nurses in your department?
    Sherwood When you work on a cardiac unit you come into contact with death every day, which naturally causes relationships to be quite intense. One’s moods swing from being morose to flippant and sometimes to just downright silly.
    Barrington But Ms Mitchell claims that you gave her presents, sent her flowers, took her to restaurants and, on at least two occasions, accompanied her to the theatre?
    Sherwood I think on one occasion I did pass on a box of chocolates to Ms Mitchell that had been given to me by a patient, but as for all her other suggestions, they are nothing more than fantasy.
    Barrington She went on to tell the court that after having dinner together you would then drive her home. Is that also fantasy?
    Sherwood It’s not only fantasy, Sir James, it’s simply not possible.
    Barrington I’m not sure I understand, Mr Sherwood.
    Sherwood It’s quite hard to drive someone home when you don’t own a car.
    Barrington But you could have borrowed a car from the hospital, even hired one.
    Sherwood Yes, I could have done, if I had a driving licence.
    Barrington You don’t have a driving licence?
    Sherwood No and I’ve never had one. Elizabeth used to drive me everywhere.
    Barrington But even if you didn’t drive Ms Mitchell home, she claimed that you regularly joined her in her flat for coffee.
    Sherwood I never drink coffee, Sir James, gallons of tea, but never coffee.
    Barrington I must now ask you about Ms Mitchell’s claims that you told her not to inform the police that you had been with her on the night your wife died, because you had come up with a more convincing alibi. How do you
answer
that charge?
    Sherwood There is no need to answer it, Sir James, because I don’t