"Archer, Jeffrey - twelve red herrings)txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Archer Jeffrey)

Suddenly there was a buzz in the corridors, and the members of the
jury filed quietly into their places. Press and public alike began to
stampede back into court. All eyes were on the foreman of the jury, a
fat, jolly-looking little man dressed in a doublebreasted suit, striped
shirt and a colourful bow tie, striving to appear solemn. He seemed
the sort of fellow with whom, in normal circumstances, I would have
enjoyed a pint at the local.

But these were not normal circumstances.

As I climbed back up the steps into the dock, my eyes settled on a
pretty blonde who had been seated in the gallery every day of the
trial. I wondered if she attended all the sensational murder trials,
or if she was just fascinated by this one. She showed absolutely no
interest in me, and like everyone else was concentrating her full
attention on the foreman of the jury.

The clerk of the court, dressed in a wig and a long black gown,
rose and read out from a card the words I suspect he knew by heart.

"Will the foreman of the jury please stand." The jolly little fat
man rose slowly from his place.

"Please answer my next question yes or no. Members of the jury,
have you reached a verdict on which at least ten of you are agreed?'
"Yes, we have."

"Members of the jury, do you find the prisoner at the
bar guilty or not guilty as charged?" There was total silence in the
courtroom.

My eyes were fixed on the foreman with the colourful bow tie. He
cleared his throat and said, ' ...

I first met Jeremy Alexander in 978, at a CBI training seminar in
Bristol. Fifty-six British companies who were looking for ways to
expand into Europe had come together for a briefing on Community Law.
At the time that I signed up for the seminar Cooper's, the company of
which I was chairman, ran 27 vehicles of varying weights and sizes, and
was fast becoming one of the largest private road haulage companies in
Britain.

My father had founded the firm in '93, starting out with three
vehicles - two of them pulled by horses - and an overdraft limit of ten
pounds at his local Martins bank. By the time we became
"Cooper & Son'
in '967 the company had seventeen vehicles with four wheels or more,
and delivered goods all over the north of England. But the old man
still resolutely refused to exceed his ten-pound overdraft limit.