RATING: VERY GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
At the beginning of this book I had my misgivings because I was finding it difficult to keep track of the many names that appear. Yet, after finishing the novel I have to say that it is a great book, intense, thrilling and with a twist I didn't expect at all.
Benson does a great work, creating sufficient doubt after crossquestioning the witnesses and experts. One of the experts, Dr Gooding, who testifies about the DNA found, soon recants when Benson presents a study about DNA being transferred from a secondary source. That means that Sarah must have touched Andrew Bealing for at least two minutes. This testimony forces Sarah's hand, and when Benson calls her to testify, she admits that the night when she went to see Andrew they had sex. For many months he had shown his interest, but she has turned him down, but the night of his murder she gave in. That is the reason why her DNA was found on the bottleneck.
Benson is happy about his questioning, but he does not expect that the QC has a card up her sleeve. Rachel Glencoyne asks Sarah about the time when she lived with her aunt after her mother died and she and her father weren't in speaking terms. Sarah stayed in some shelter, and Rachel proves that Andrew Bealing was there too, so Sarah lied about meeting Andrew when he hired her. Rachel pushes her, and she proves that Andrew was actually Daniel's father and he abandoned Sarah when she got pregnant. The questioning is so intense that Sarah faints, and Benson and De Vere realise that this may be the end for Sarah.
The session is adjourned and Sarah's father, Ralph, keeps saying that it can't be true and Daniel is John Green's son, and he also insists that his daughter didn't kill Bealing because that night she was in her room listening to an audio book.
The next day Sarah is back to the dock. She explains that it is true that Andrew was Daniel's father and she felt humiliated when he abandoned her, especially as Daniel was born with a disability. She came across some other children who gained damages after they were born with similar disabilities, but in her case nobody was at fault and she couldn't do anything. Then she learnt that Andrew was a rich man, so she contacted and he agreed to hire her, and he promised to set some money for Daniel. Yet, he kept stalling her. Sarah keeps saying that she didn't kill Andrew.
Benson is certain that Sarah will be found guilty. Then one night he gets a call from an unknown number, telling him to go to some abandoned factory and warned not to tell anyone. In the dark factory he is told to keep still and from behind there is a voice. The man says that his name is Josh and is in a unit from the secret police, and he explains that Andrew had dealings with a Chinese band the police are after, but when Andrew wanted out, it meant putting the operation in danger, and Jock says that Andrew was disposed of by the same men who swore to protect citizens. Jock tells Benson that he needs to ask those who knew about it to speak up and that way they would protect themselves.
Benson and De Vere manage to persuade the lawyer and foreman to testify, but Rachel Glencoyne questions their testimonies. After the trial is over, the jury retreats to reach an agreement, and to everybody's surprise Sarah is acquitted.
Benson is not satisfied as he wants to find out who killed Andrew Bealing. He, Tess and Archie go and confront Anna Wisocki, who worked for Andrew, and she finally admits that Andrew wanted to disappear and make everybody think he was dead. Yet, the reason was that he wanted to elope with Anna and leave his wife behind. He had an account in Switzerland where he had stored 3.7 million pounds. There was no Chinese band and he came up with the idea when they found some wrong content in one of the boxes. Yet, that had been all a lie.
Benson thinks that Debbie, his wife, could be the main suspect and she might have killed her own husband. However, we get a huge surprise. Benson asks Archie and Tess to go to the headquarters of the company, and there the killer turns up after Benson sets a trap for him. The killer is Ralph, Sarah's father, who knew how Andrew had humiliated and betrayed his daughter, and the night of his murder Sarah came home upset, explaining that Andrew won't give her the money for Daniel. So while she was upstairs listening to her audio book, he left the house and killed Andrew. Sarah hears everything as Benson had told her to come, and in the end Ralph agrees to go to the police.
After this case Tess decides she won't continue working with Benson. When her godfather talked to her, he made her doubt Benson's innocence. So she decided to find out the truth, and she found something she didn't like. Benson knew Paul Halbeton, the man who was killed, before their confrontation that night. Tess talked to the woman in charge of a clinic where Paul was a volunteer, and she tells Tess that he was not a good man, and Tess discovers that Benson was a volunteer there too because of his disabled brother, and the woman of the clinic tells her that Benson was asking where he could find Paul after he left. So Tess's belief in Benson is rattled and she decides not to investigate any longer and break ties with him.
At the end of the book things perk up for Benson, who after his success gets more cases, and the attacks he has been receiving lower. Yet, he feels down in the dumps because someone killed his beloved cat, and he misses Tess. Yet, the last chapter in the book shows that there is a case which he has been asked to lead which will mean that his and Tess will get together again. This means we will see them together in the next book.
No comments:
Post a Comment