SPOILERS!!!
Tabitha is not the easiest person, and in the time he has been in prison he has had to see the governor a few times because she got in trouble with other inmates or because she got emotional, shouting when she didn’t get her way.
Her lawyer is not happy when she discovers that there are some things that Tabitha hasn’t told her. First, she didn’t mention her history of mental illness and twice she had to be hospitalised. Tabitha says that the second time it was voluntarily. Another thing she didn’t say was that she and Stuart Rees had a relationship when she was his student and only fifteen. Tabitha never acknowledged what that was, that is, abuse, and she realises that she never consented or gave permission.
On the day of the hearing her solicitor advises that the best thing would be to plead guilty of manslaughter because that way she could be free in two years. Tabitha realises that the lawyer doesn’t believe her, so she tells her that she is fired. During the hearing she tells the judge that she fired her lawyer and has every intention to represent herself during the trial. The judge says it is crazy but Tabitha is adamant.
In the following days she receives all the evidence. The problem is that Tabitha doesn’t remember much, and she knows she needs to find out who was in the village and who killed Stuart. The thing is that on that day a big tree was knocked down in the storm, and during the time when Stuart is thought to have been killed nobody could go in or out of the village. From the evidence she gathers that the people who were in the village were Stuart and his wife, Andy, the builder, Terry, who owns the local shop, Mel, the vicar, Rob, a farmer, Pauline Leavitt, an old neighbour, Shona, an old schoolfriend, and Dr Coombe. Tabitha tries to contact them and asks them to come and see her.
Shona and Mel came before the hearing. Shona came and brought her things she needed, and Mel turned up and the interesting that Tabitha learnt was that Stuart tended to complain about everything.
The first person who comes after the hearing is the widow, Laura, who is bitter and scathing. She says that the day of the murder she went to see a client who wanted to see a house, but he didn’t turn up. Tabitha thinks that this is important, but Laura simply disregards anything she says. All she knows is that she and her husband had what Laura considers an affair, and she is going to be the laughingstock of the village. Laura also says that Stuart complained to the bishop about the vicar because he thought that they had a vicar who didn’t believe in God.
Luke, who was Stuart’s son, comes to see her, and he is sarcastic to her. He says that he arrived home around 2 and was alone until his mother arrived. He had to walk because of the fallen tree, and when Tabitha keeps asking, he admits that he and his father had fallen out because he didn’t turn up to be the son he wanted. He didn’t got to university and left home at sixteen. What Tabitha finds interesting is that when he mentions his mother, he says that he feels sorry for her because she had to go through all this as well. Tabitha wonders what other thing she had to go through as well.
Andy also comes and tells her that on the day Tabitha was nervous and behaved as if she had taken some drug. It is true what he told the police that Tabitha tried to prevent him from going to the shed, claiming that it was too cold. Andy tells her that he believes that was the real reason why she didn’t want him to go out. Andy says that he is on her side.
Tabitha wants to talk to the other witnesses. She writes to the farmer, Rob, who claims that he overheard her curse Stuart, but he writes back, saying that he is to testify for the prosecution, so he is not allowed to see her. The old woman, Pauline, told the police that she had seen Tabitha and Stuart Rees rowing in the street, and Dr Mallon says that he saw Tabitha outside that day. I imagine that Tabitha will write to them.
This is getting more and more interesting. I wonder how Tabitha imagines she is going to find the answers she needs from inside a prison.
My Reading Journal 