Rumpole and the Primrose Path by John Mortimer

love. You write silly things when you’re in love, don’t you?’ The bark of authority we had heard on television was gone. The Commander’s frown had been smoothed away. He spoke quietly, almost gently.
    ‘And send silly e-mails to people who fancy you,’ I hoped Soapy Sam might say, but of course he didn’t. Instead he said, in his best Lawyers as Christians tone of deep solemnity, ‘You, a married man, wrote like that to a married woman?’
    ‘I’m afraid things like that do happen, Mr Ballard. Judy Wakefield’s an extremely attractive woman.’
    There had been a picture of her in the paper, a small, smiling mother of two who had, apparently, fallen in love with a policeman.
    ‘And you, a police commander, wrote in that way to a doctor’s wife?’
    ‘I’m not particularly proud of how we behaved. But as I told you, we were crazy about each other. We just wanted to be together, that was all.’
    Ballard apparently remained deeply shocked, so I ventured to ask a question.
    ‘When you wrote that you’d both be much happier if he vanished from the face of the earth, you weren’t suggesting the doctor would die. You simply meant that he’d get out of her life and leave you to each other. Wasn’t that it?’
    ‘Yes, of course.’ The Commander looked grateful. ‘You’re putting it absolutely correctly.’
    ‘That’s all right. It’s just a defence barrister’s way of putting it,’ I was glad to be able to say.
    Soapy Sam, however, still looked displeased. ‘You can be assured,’ he told our client, ‘that I shall be asking you the questions, Mr Durden. Mr Rumpole will be with me to take note of the evidence. I’m quite sure the Jury won’t want to hear sordid details of your matrimonial infidelity. It won’t do our case any good at all if we dwell on that aspect of the matter.’
    Ballard was turning over his papers, preparing to venture on to another subject.
    ‘If you don’t mind my saying so,’ I interrupted, I hoped not too rudely, ‘I think the Commander’s affair with the doctor’s wife the most important factor in the case, whichever way you look at it. I think we need to know all we can about it.’
    At this Ballard gave a thin, watery smile and once again bleated, ‘As I said I shall be asking the questions in Court. Now, we can obviously attack the witness Luxford on the basis of his previous convictions, which include two charges of dishonesty. If you could just take us through your meeting with this man ...’
    ‘Did you use him much as an informer?’ I interrupted, much to Ballard’s annoyance.
    But the Commander answered me, ‘Hardly at all. In fact, I think it was a year or two since he’d given us anything. I thought he’d more or less retired. That was why I was surprised when he came to me with all that information about one of my officers.’
    Durden then went through his conversation with the Silencer, which contained no reference to any proposed assassination. This was made quite clear in our instructions, so I excused myself and slipped out of the door, counted up to two hundred in my head and re-entered to tell Soapy Sam that our Director of Marketing and Administration wished to see him without delay on a matter of extreme urgency. Our leader excused himself, straightened his tie, patted down his hair and made for the door.
    ‘Now then,’ I gave our instructing solicitor some quick instructions as I settled myself in Ballard’s chair, ‘have a look at our client’s bank statements, Mr Crozier. Make sure that an inexplicable two and a half thousand didn’t get drawn out in cash. If the account’s clean tell the prosecution you’ll disclose it providing they give us the good Doctor’s.’
    ‘Very well, Mr Rumpole, but why ... ?’
    ‘Never mind about why for the moment. You might help me a bit more about Doctor Wakefield. I suppose he is pretty well known in the town. Has he practised there for years?’
    ‘A good many years. I think he started off