Final Witness
Simon Tolkien
A gripping courtroom drama combining psychological suspense and political intrigue from the pen of ex-barrister-turned-crime novelist Simon Tolkien, grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien.It’s the trial - and scandal - of the decade: Greta Grahame, the beautiful young wife of Minister of defence Sir Peter Robinson, is accused of conspiring to murder her predecessor, Peter’s first wife, Anne.The prosecution case depends heavily on the evidence of one witness - Greta’s sixteen-year-old stepson, Thomas.A dreamy, bookish boy, Thomas was present but hidden on the night two men broke into their ancestral home, The House of the Four Winds, and killed his mother. His testimony steadfastly links Greta to the hitmen.But the boy’s motives are unclear. Is he so crazed by grief that he would frame his stepmother for murder? Or are his feelings toward Greta more complicated than anyone realizes? Might he actually be jealous of his father, jealous enough to destroy what remains of his own family? Or is he telling the truth - that this cunning young woman will stop at nothing in her pursuit of wealth and status?Simon Tolkien combines compelling courtroom drama and classic psychological suspense in this sharply etched page-turner.Previously published in 2003 as The Stepmother.
Simon Tolkien
Final Witness
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my wife, Tracy.
Without her it could not have been written.
Epigraph
Turning over and over in the sky, length after length of whiteness unwound over the earth and shrouded it. The blizzard was alone on earth and knew no rival.
When he climbed down from the window-sill Yura’s first impulse was to dress, run outside and start doing something. He was afraid that the cabbage patch would be buried so that no one could dig it up, and that his mother, buried in the open field, would helplessly sink deeper and deeper away from him in the ground.
From Doctor Zhivago,
Boris Pasternak
Contents
Cover (#u308bc737-4ba1-5c13-8f2a-7709d8011956)
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
A Personal Note on the Writing of Final Witness
Chapter 1
My name is Thomas Robinson. I am sixteen years old.
Chapter 2
In a tall nineteenth-century house on a fashionable street in…
Chapter 3
It hadn’t always been like this between Greta and Thomas.
Chapter 4
Peter took the stairs two at a time but at…
Chapter 5
The sound of the clicking cameras and the reporters’ unanswered…
Chapter 6
The first thing that Greta was aware of on entering…
Chapter 7
Judge Granger allowed his eyes to travel down the two…
Chapter 8
One hundred and twenty miles to the east of the…
Chapter 9
It had been a long time since Thomas had stayed…
Chapter 10
Thomas woke at ten o’clock in a pool of sunshine…
Chapter 11
The next morning, Thomas waited at the top of the…
Chapter 12
‘And now, with your Lordship’s leave, I will call my…
Chapter 13
On Friday the court did not sit until half past…
Chapter 14
Greta left the courthouse by a side exit and walked…
Chapter 15
‘How was it, honey?’ asked Peter.
Chapter 16
They got to Rowston with the dawn. It was the…