Page 44 of Cuckoo

‘We found some light bruising on the right shoulder that would indicate a hand pressed against it,’ she says.

‘Can you show us what you mean?’ Dodgson asks, and I wonder for a moment if he’s specifically trying to make me have a breakdown in public. I draw another deep, shaky breath.

A photograph of Lilah’s tiny little shoulder appears before us, a light lilac palm print visible on the exposed flesh.

‘This here is a match for a palm shape,’ Dianne explains.

‘So it’s fair to assume she was pushed?’ Dodgson confirms.

‘Yes, it is my professional opinion based on the outline of this bruise that the victim was pushed on the day of her death.’

‘An action violent enough to cause her to fall and hit her head?’ Dodgson asks.

‘Yes.’

‘Leading to her death?’

‘Yes.’

‘I can’t believe you would even suggest I don’t love you,’ Mother wailed hysterically, tears streaming down her face. I was thirteen, and it had been one of our first proper arguments, the first time I’d really dared to speak out and tell her how I felt.

‘Well, you don’t act like it,’ I told her sullenly, teenage angst roiling in me and refusing to back down in the face of her crocodile tears.

‘Claire, darling, Iloveyou. You are my first and only child, is that not proof enough?’

I narrowed my eyes at her. ‘That doesn’t prove anything. It just proves you didn’t want another kid.’

‘Why would I, when the one I have is perfect and fulfils me so much?’ She sobbed, hunched over to make herself seem small and vulnerable.

I bit my tongue on all the retorts that stirred in me then: the fact that she never told me she loved me unless it was to manipulate me; the fact she never behaved as though she wanted a child; the fact that she always put herself and her feelings first. Instead, I clenched my fists and remained silent.

‘I am telling you that I love you, Claire, and that should be proof enough,’ she insisted, her tears drying and anger leaking into her voice.

I shrugged and replied, ‘Okay.’

Inside, I was imagining pummelling her vengefully, screaming at her.Do you still love me now, Mother?I’d ask, feeling her flesh quail beneath my pounding fists.

I breathe in slowly as Grosvenor stands, Dodgson shooting me a smug look, his eyebrows raised just a fraction as he saunters past me to take his seat.

Grosvenor makes confident eye contact with me for just a split second, and I feel like she’s trying to say to me,Don’t worry, we’re going to be okay.I nod back, the tiniest lowering of my head.

‘Dr Campbell, can you confirm that the pterion that was fractured, causing the bleed on the victim’s brain identified as the primary cause of death, is in fact the weakest point in the skull?’ Grosvenor asks, keeping her voice light and matter-of-fact.

‘I do confirm that it is the weakest part of the skull,’ Dr Campbell replies.

‘So it would be fair to say that it did not require a huge amount of force to cause this injury? That it is hypothetically possible that the victim merely tripped and sustained the injury without any external force causing the fall?’ Grosvenor asks.

‘It is possible for a person to trip, hitting their head, and then to suffer a bleed to the brain with no external force applied, yes.’

‘Thank you,’ Grosvenor says, and I hear whispering among the members of the jury that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

‘Order,’ the judge reprimands, and I am thankful.

‘And to confirm: the partial print on the victim’s shoulder could have been caused at any point and by any person in the twelve hours prior to the fatal head injury. There is no conclusive evidence that it was inflicted by my client in the same timeframe as the estimated time of death?’

‘It is indeed possible that the bruise could have occurred before the defendant went to the victim’s home, and the partial bruise is not identifiable as Claire Arundale’s print.’

‘And when looking at the expert report we can see that the victim’s blood samples revealed she was in fact very anaemic at the time of her death?’ Grosvenor continues. I look up. I was unaware of this and am unsure of its potential significance.

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