BANG, BANG, YOU'RE DEAD - Part 2 Continued

"Sowerby's real trouble, Alex" Boulton tells the prosecution barrister. "He's in the mood, he could kick off in court.. I want you to ask the Judge to have him brought up I handcuffs." She doubts that the Judge will agree. "Look, Alex, do you want to take my word for it or do you want to hold hands with Sowerby for five minutes. See if that changes your mind."
Eddie and Rosie arrive with Julie Craven and Jason Jefferies. "Alright Jason? Feeling fit?" asks Ed.
"I'm okay." He looks really nervous.
"He had a Valium before he left," Julie tells them. "Should help."
"Just the thing you could do with, Rosebud," he says when everyone's out of earshot. "A few lessons off Julie on what being a woman's all about."

"So it's a No then?" asks John.
"Judge Barnwell is of the firm opinion that it is unnecessary and could unfairly prejudice the jury against the defendant."
"Sowerby could have a go at anytime, Alex. He's done worse."
"Sorry." The Head of Security comes to inform them that Sowerby's being brought up. "Tell Jason good luck for me. I'll see you at the circus."

Sowerby's quite calm as he's escorted to the court by two officers, until he passes John and Liz.

Julie's reassuring Jason as they wait for Jason to be called in. "They're not as tough as they look, are they?" she asks Rosie.
She's not listening though. "Sorry?"
"Forget it love. She doesn't speak your language," says Ed.
Rosie spots Liz and goes off for a chat.
"Hi, how's Jason?"
"Quiet."
"And what about you? Have you stopped answering your phone or something?"
"Well, I have been ill quite a lot."
"Look, they're just about to start. Jason's first up after the opening speech, okay."

"Members of the jury," begins Alex, the prosecuting barrister. "This is really a very straightforward case. The defence will not disagree with the circumstances of Mr Mackie's assault, nor with the fact that he was robbed, but they will try to suggest that man who attacked and robbed Mr Mackie was not Michael Sowerby. That's their job. Fortunately for justice, and for Mr Mackie, someone else was in the park that evening who witnessed the attack clearly; who saw Michael Sowerby venting his rage on Mr Mackie when he resisted…"
"That's crap! They're paying the witness!" yells Sowerby as he jumps up. The judge warns him to remain silent. The judge agrees that Jason Jefferies should now be called.

"Remember what Liz told you, Jase: stick to your guns. It'll be over in no time," advises Ed.
"What if they decide he's not guilty?"
"Just tell them exactly what you saw," Rosie tells him.
Jason walks I into the courtroom, pausing to look at the defendant.

Rosie's grabbing a cup of tea. Liz comes into the room.
"How's Jason holding up?"
"So far so good. But I want to know what's going on with you."
"Look, Liz." Rosie hesitates. "It's all this stuff with Eddie."
"What stuff with Eddie? I really don't understand what's going on."
"Don't you? Everyone else seems to!"
"What's that supposed to mean? Look Rosie, what's going on?""
"I really can't talk about this here."
"Just give me a brief outline then."
"You wouldn't believe me."
"Try me."
"I turned Eddie down that night, after the op. He followed me to the locker-room after I left the party." Again she hesitates, and she seems to find it difficult to talk about. "He assaulted me, Liz," she confides quietly. "First he tried to pretend it never happened, now he's trying to wobble me enough to make me..."
"Make you what?"
"Transfer, go crazy, slit my wrists. I don't think he minds which! It's not what you thought is it."
"No, it isn't. Rosie, I'm really…Why didn't you tell me about before?"
"Lots of reasons," she sighs. "I thought I could handle it. And I didn't want to rock the boat after I'd only just got onboard." She notices Eddie outside the glass door. "Actually, can we do this later?"
"You said that the last time."
"No, really. I'd appreciate it." Liz agrees. "Thanks."

Back in courtroom, Jason's describing what happened on the night of the attack. "I saw this man come up from behind. He grabbed the old bloke and there was a struggle. The old bloke put up quite a fight, but the man just punched and kicked him, till he was just lying still on the ground."
"Do you see the man who attacked Mr Mackie in court today, Mr Jefferies?"
"It's him in the dock," Jason answers without looking.
"The defendant?"
"Yes."
"Are you absolutely sure?"
"Yes."
"You are a dead man!" threatens Sowerby from the dock.
"Mr Sowerby!" interrupts the Judge. "You will remain silent unless addressed!"
"One more question, Mr Jefferies," continues Alex. "Can you tell me why, if you witnessed Mr Sowerby attack Mr Mackie so clearly, you didn't try to stop it?"
"I didn't dare let him see I was there."
"What did you do?"
"I ran away." The prosecution has finished, and it's the defence's turn.
""So Mr Jefferies, you've told the court you have a fairly clear picture of the time and circumstances in which you saw Mr Mackie attacked. How far were you form Mr Mackie, when you were hiding in the bushes?" Jason estimates 12-15ft. They agree that Jason was closer to the attacker than he is to Sowerby in the courtroom.
"Can you see his face clearly?"
"Yes."
"Describe it to me."
"He's got a darkish complexion, short hair and blue eyes." The barrister agrees and then goes on to point out that the description Jason gave to Eddie and Liz wasn't as detailed, despite the fact that he was closer to the attacker.
"I wasn't noticing details," argues Jason. "It was getting dark and there were the bushes."
"So Mr Jefferies, you testimony is that even though you were only 12ft away from the attacker, you didn't notice the details of his face because it was getting dark and the bushes were in the way."
"I know it was him."
"How can you be sure?"
"I know what I saw."
"Mr Jefferies, wouldn't it be fairer to say that it might have been him? Or equally that it might have been someone else." The defence counsel is finished and the Judge agrees to an adjournment.

Rosie reassures Jason that it will be okay, as they go into a side-room with Liz and DS Boulton.
"Okay Jason, you've got to pull yourself together," he tells him.
"You just had a bit of a wobble," says Liz more sympathetically. "It happens. We'll go back in and Alex will re-examine." Alex enters the room just then.
"Go back in?"
"We understand how you're feeling, Jason," she continues. "It's very intimidating in there and the defence counsel is trying his hardest to put you off. But you've got through it. Alex will just ask a few more questions and then it will all be over. You can do that, can't you?"
"I don't know."
"You know what you saw," says John.
"Maybe I was wrong."
Suddenly an alarm goes off. Ed comes in to let them know what's going on. "Sowerby's just nutted a security officer and escaped through the window!" Rosie and Boulton go with him, leaving Liz and Alex to calm Jason down.