‘Cillian, please. How can I defend myself if I don’t even go to the trial?’
‘If you don’t go, then there won’t be a trial. And if you do go… You didn’t see them the last time. The way Vittoria presented the evidence…
‘Yes. Even you started to believe I was guilty?’
I smile against her shoulder, and she shivers. ‘She twisted everything. It all sounded so plausible.’
‘Cillian?’
‘What,Gléigeal?’
‘Do you trust me?’
‘Of course.’
‘Then trust me to come with you. This is what I do, this is who I am.’
‘Rose said… Rose said she didn’t remember enough to contradict any of what Vittoria said.’
‘You saw Rose?’
‘Yes.’
‘So, she knows about Matt?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh, Cillian. Just tell her the truth this time. And trust me, trust us. Please. I shouldn’t be condemned for what I did. And the knife… what if that ending up in my hand was someone else’s magic? Let me challenge this and fight to get my life back.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ I say, and her face falls. She knows I mean no. Not wanting to ruin this morning with a pointless argument, I get out of bed and head for the shower.
* * *
Declan clearly doesn’t expect Niamh to be back on catering duty so soon after her brush with death, so I leave her sitting on the jetty after a brunch cooked by Brother Duncan. She has a book in her hand, but I know she hasn’t actually turned a page since she sat down half an hour ago.
‘You’ll come back?’ she asks, standing up to hug me, but refusing to make eye contact.
‘As soon as I can,’ I promise, but we both know I might not make it. I kiss her, hating that I have to prise her fingers from my jacket so I can leave. But she doesn’t say another word. Doesn’t ask again to come with me– or ask for promises I can’t keep.
* * *
I shake my head when I push through the thin place in the chapel and emerge into the Court chamber. I look around realising that I’ve come back at virtually the same time as I left. Right in the centre of the Court with every eye on me.
A door thuds, and I look towards it, surprised to see Rose enter. She frowns at the door, opens it and peers back into the corridor, and I suspect that the Court chamber is playing tricks on her and that she thought she was getting to leave.
‘Dammit,’ she curses, stomping across the floor back to her seat.
‘You’re back?’ Vittoria fixes her cold eyes on me, ‘Is there anything about your previous statements that you’d like to change, Cillian? The Court can be very forgiving when it wants to be.’
We observe one another across the chamber. There’s a hum in the atmosphere that I don’t think was here when I left, and I look around, trying to work out the source of it. I notice Alec Carruth looking around, too, as well as MacGowan, so I know it’s not just me who can hear it.
‘What have I missed?’ I ask.
‘Nothing at all,’ says Vincenzo. ‘Looks like the Court is very keen for you to speak on this matter, and for the rest of us not to have our time wasted.’
‘I’m sure Cillian has some new information to consider since he left,’ Vittoria says smugly. ‘He may even have had a change of heart, in which case, once we resolve the small matter of why my brother’s murderer is still breathing, we can all go home.’
‘Matt didn’t kill Chris!’ Rose states, standing up.
