Read Online Wig Betrayed by Charles Courtley - Free Book Online Page B

reaction
then
but, with the benefit of hindsight, how do you feel about it
now
?”
    â€œPretty stupid, sir. I thought that by going AWOL they would just discharge me from the army but I should have known that it’d all catch up with me in the end. I didn’t do nothing with the club though; it just stayed in the cupboard. Then I got nicked before I could write to the General.”
    After Clibbery sat down, Rashleigh rose to cross-examine.
    â€œ
Like
golf do you, Private Merse?”
    â€œOh yes, sir, I’ve been playing since I was a kid. My dad and me used to go to the public courses around Manchester.”
    â€œSo you have your own set of clubs, no doubt?”
    â€œYeah, some I bought but others are hand-downs from me dad.”
    â€œNow, the
General’s
club was an unusual one – being a 2-iron silver-alloyed item – rather a
nice
acquisition to add to your collection, wasn’t it?”
    â€œWell, if you mean would I ever have played with it, the answer is no. It would be obvious that the club didn’t belong to me.”
    â€œOnly if someone took the trouble to examine the base which they wouldn’t normally do and I suggest that you
never
intended to return it at all. Anyway, even if that
had
been your intention, you were quite happy to blackmail the General, weren’t you?”
    â€œI wouldn’t call it blackmail, sir. I just wanted some compensation for all the caddying we’d done.”
    â€œWhat
really
happened here, Private Merse,” Rashleigh hissed, “was that you took the club out of spite! Moreover, you would have destroyed the identifying marks one way or another and sold it for profit!”
    Clibbery was on his feet.
    â€œI don’t know
how
my friend can suggest that – Merse simply put the club in his cupboard. There’s no evidence that he attempted to dispose of it in any way before he was arrested!”
    â€œDon’t interrupt my cross-examination,” Rashleigh said petulantly. “It’s very
rude!
”
    â€œ
I
shall be the judge of that, Major Rashleigh – and I rule that the defence objection is a fair one. Surely you must agree that there is no evidence that Merse
actually
intended to sell the club at any time?”
    â€œWell, it’s all very
suspicious
...” Rashleigh began to simper, but was interrupted by a commotion in the back of the court.
    A bulky figure, his uniform bearing the insignia of a full colonel, entered the court and strode over.
    â€œIf you’ll excuse me for a moment.”
    Rashleigh held a whispered conversation with the newcomer.
    â€œThis is...er...Colonel Kayward. He tells me that the General wishes me to drop the prosecution providing he gets his golf club back. He’s playing in a tournament tomorrow.”
    â€œIt’s
far
too late for that now, Major Rashleigh,” I snapped. “A criminal case can’t be dropped on the whim of a witness, regardless of how important that witness thinks he is!”
    â€œWell, if you
say
so, sir.” Rashleigh’s hand flopped up and down in exasperation. “But can’t he at least have his club back in the meantime?”
    â€œNo, he can’t. Private Merse implicitly maintains in his evidence that he had a claim of right to it on the basis that he felt that he was owed some remuneration for all the caddying he and the others had done. If Merse is acquitted, the club should be returned to
him
until a civil action sorts out the final position!”
    â€œPerhaps then, sir, you will give me a few minutes to explain this to the General?”
    I agreed and adjourned the court for a while only to be halfway through a cup of coffee when the door was flung open and in charged General Hudibrass.
    â€œEnough of these legal machinations, Mr Judge Advocate! Bearing in mind that I’m responsible for discipline in BAOR, I want this whole thing to stop now – provided I get my club