A Game of Proof by Tim Vicary Page A

he lives. He takes her to them bloody protesters at fashion centre. Clowns - diggin’ holes and climbin’ trees.’
    Like everyone, Sarah knew of the environmental protest at the designer centre. Emily might have supported it, but Simon hated things like that.
    ‘So Jasmine’s involved with the protest too?’
    ‘Probably. I saw her there once.’
    ‘Oh Simon.’ She touched his hand gently. ‘Is there no chance she’ll come back?’
    ‘Only when she fancies a bit of ... you know. Then she comes back for an afternoon. But it’s not the same, is it?’ He flung the mineral water bottle viciously into the river, missing a duck by inches. She kept her hand on his but he wouldn’t look at her.
    ‘You still see her then?’ Sarah could easily believe it. She had always suspected Jasmine of using her son for her own purposes, as an amusing sexual accessory. ‘Well, couldn’t you ... I don’t know, discuss it with her when you meet? I thought you got on so well!’
    The answer, when it came, was surprisingly loud and strong, a gale of sound that turned heads nearby. ‘Don’t you think I’ve tried that, mum? She just laughs at me. I’ve even followed her back to his house, to tell that little bastard to leave her alone. But it’s no good, is it? She wants it all her own way, the bitch!’
    The strength of his emotion frightened her. If he showed this much anger towards Jasmine, she thought, the girl might be afraid to come back.
    ‘I ... I don’t think that’s quite the way, Simon,’ she began hesitantly. ‘I mean ...’
    ‘Oh forget it,’ he said suddenly. ‘There’s nowt you can do, I never thought there were!’
    But he had, she thought. He’d hoped. ‘Perhaps if you tell me about it, the things you quarrelled about ...
    ‘No, there’s no point.’ He recovered himself, patted her hand. ‘We didn’t really quarrel, mum, we just ... fell out, you know. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again. I’ll just have to live with it.’
    Only I can’t , his body language said. He clenched his fists on his thighs, and slowly pressed them together until his arms tensed with the strain. It looked like an unconscious expression of all the violence and tension in his emotions. Then, suddenly, he relaxed.
    ‘Anyhow, what about you? You’re not going to get this sod Harker off, are you?’
    ‘I’m doing my best, Simon. You know me.’
    ‘Yeah. Leave no stone unturned. But what d’you reckon to him, eh? Hardly your sort.’
    Sarah smiled ironically. ‘Criminals aren’t my sort, Simon, you know that. My job’s to defend them, not admire them.’
    ‘He’s a criminal all right. Nasty violent thug.’
    ‘He .. how do you know that?’An unpleasant sensation of shock squirmed in her stomach. Just those two sentences of Sharon in court yesterday about Gary’s criminal record, and here was her son parroting them back to her.  It must be from last night’s Evening Press , which she hadn’t bothered to read.
    ‘Everyone knows who’s met him,’ said Simon. ‘I’ve seen him on building sites.’
    ‘You’ve met Gary Harker?’
    ‘Yeah. Ugly bastard, isn’t he? Thinks he’s hard but he’s scum really.’
    And they probably say the same about you, she thought bitterly. You, my son, working with Gary Harker. She shook her head, trying to take it all in. ‘So you didn’t come just to see me? You came to see him!’
    ‘Both of you,’ Simon said. ‘I saw it in’t paper and thought, I’ve got a family interest here. I’ll go along and see what’s what.’
    ‘I see.’ Sarah sighed. ‘So what do you think, now you’ve seen it?’
    ‘I think you’re giving that woman a hard time. Does she deserve it, really?’
    ‘I have to, Simon, it’s part of the game. She says Gary raped her, he says he wasn’t there. I have to test the evidence - you know that.’
    ‘Yes, mum, but what do you really think? Did he do it, or not?’
    ‘I don’t know, Simon. It’s not my job to know.’ It was