'Damn good drive,' said Toby, as he watched his opponent's ball
sail through the air. 'Must be every inch of 230, perhaps even 250
yards,' he added, as he held up his hand to his forehead to shield
his eyes from the sun, and continued to watch the ball bouncing
down the middle of the fairway.'Thank you,' said Harry.'What did you have for breakfast this morning, Harry?' Toby
asked when the ball finally came to a halt.'A
row with my wife,' came back his opponent's immediate reply. 'She
wanted me to go shopping with her this morning.''I'd
be tempted to get married if I thought it would improve my golf
that much,' said Toby as he addressed his ball. 'Damn,' he added a
moment later, as he watched his feeble effort squirt towards the
heavy rough no more than a hundred yards from where he
stood.Toby's game did not improve on the back nine, and when they
headed for the clubhouse just before lunch, he warned his opponent,
'I shall have to take my revenge in court next week.''I
do hope not,' said Harry, with a laugh.'Why's that?' asked Toby as they entered the
clubhouse.'Because I'm appearing as an expert witness on your side,'
Harry replied as they sat down for lunch.'Funny,' Toby said. 'I could have sworn you were against
me.'Sir
Toby Gray QC and Professor Harry Bamford were not always on the
same side when they met up in court.'All
manner of persons who have anything to do before My Lords the
Queen's Justices draw near and give your attendance.'The
Leeds Crown Court was now sitting. Mr. Justice Fenton
presided.Sir
Toby eyed the elderly judge. A decent and fair man, he considered,
though his summings-up, could be a trifle long-winded. Mr Justice
Fenton nodded down from the bench.Sir
Toby rose from his place, to open the defence case. 'May it please
Your Lordship, members of the jury, I am aware of the great
responsibility that rests on my shoulders. To defend a man charged
with murder can never be easy. It is made even more difficult when
the victim is his wife, to whom he had been happily married for
over twenty years. This the Crown has accepted, indeed formally
admitted.'My
task is not made any easier, m'lud,' continued Sir Toby, 'when all
the circumstantial evidence, so adroitly presented by my learned
friend Mr Rodgers in his opening speech yesterday, would on the
face of it make the defendant appear guilty. However,' said Sir
Toby, grasping the tapes of his black silk gown and turning to face
the jury, 'I intend to call a witness whose reputation is beyond
reproach. I am confident that he will leave you, members of the
jury, with little choice but to return a verdict of not guilty. I
call Professor Harold Bamford.'A
smartly dressed man, wearing a blue double-breasted suit, white
shirt and a Yorkshire County Cricket Club tie, entered the
courtroom and took his place in the witness box. He was presented
with a copy of the New Testament, and read the oath with a
confidence that would have left no member of the jury in any doubt
that this wasn't his first appearance at a murder
trial...

Excerpted from TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT © Copyright 2011
by Jeffrey Archer. Reprinted with permission by HarperTorch, an
imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.