Gerry had began his tennis game with Julian in fine form. He won the first set at a canter, 6-2. After that, however, his Achilles tendon started to play up. As he became less mobile around the court, Julian’s confidence increased. His serve became stronger, his passing shots more accurate, the percentage of clean volleys nearly 100%. Gerry was forced to resort to more and more lobbing, which his opponent dealt with effectively. He lost the second set by the same margin.

Around 4.30pm, Kate, who had been watching with her usual rapt attention and admiration for her husband’s skills, suddenly said: ‘I’m going for a jog’, and headed for the beach. Gerry had shouted out: ‘Will you collect the kids?”

Kate had replied: “Yeah, I’ll see to it. See ya later”. There had been something niggling him about Kate’s manner. When she had said: “I’m going for a jog”, he detected a hint of anger. She was always so keen to watch him play tennis. Could she have been bored watching him play tennis day after day? – he wondered.

No, of course not. He and Kate never rowed about anything. They were so perfect as a couple. Perhaps it was the heat? No. it was early May and not yet that hot on the Portuguese Atlantic coast. It preyed on his mind as he carried on playing tennis with Julian. But soon his niggling Achilles tendon began to really hurt. At 3-0 down in the deciding 3rd set, Gerry spoke to Julian as they changed ends. “Look, Julian. my Achilles tendon is really playing up. I’m going to have to stop. It’s your match”.

Julian had been very sporting. “No, Gerry. Let’s say it’s still one set all. We’ll have the decider another day, when your Achilles tendon’s cleared up”. The two had parted. Julian had said: “Good game. See you down the Tapas bar later?” “Yep”, Gerry had replied. “Be there around 8.30pm after we’ve put the kids down”.

Gerry, more than a touch dejected that this Achilles injury had flared up again on holiday, decided to sit down on the tennis court and just wait for Kate and the kids to come back from the Kid’s Club.

At this point, Gerry recalled that he had given a rather different version of events to one David James Smith, a journalist for ‘The Times’. The Editor of ‘The Times’ had even boasted that Smith’s article was ‘the most in-depth investigation into the case so far’. Gerry thought back to the words used in the article. As usual, he had an almost photographic recall of the article, which by now he’d re-read 37 times in an effort to memorise it. The part that covered the afternoon and early evening had run as follows:

QUOTE from ‘The Times’:

“Gerry had knocked up at the start of the 4.30pm tennis-drills session, but had decided not to exacerbate an injury to his Achilles tendon, so had dropped out and waited around by the courts until the children came back from the kids’ clubs at 5pm for tea. That had been one of the most enjoyable times of the holiday, all the children together for tea, then the adults playing with them afterwards. That had been one of the most enjoyable times of the holiday, all the children together for tea, then the adults playing with them afterwards.

UNQUOTE

On reflection, he pondered, he had summarised a bit too much of his recollections of 3rd May for ‘The Times’ journalist who, anxious to make a name for himself, had not asked any penetrating questions at all. Indeed, reflected Gery, he had seemed almost in awe of him as he scribbled down whatever he’d said. Why had he given David Smith the impression that he’d started to play tennis at 4.30pm and had to give up before they’d finished ‘knocking up’?

Actually, of course, he’d been playing tennis from 3.30pm onwards, not 4.30pm. He didn’t know why he’d said that the ‘tennis-drills’ session had begun at 4.30pm .He’d played with Julian from 3.30pm until around 4.40pm, and then of course there had been that later ‘social tennis’ session beginning at 6.00pm, which he’d been unable to join. He now regretted having authorised his friends in Team McCann to have said, last September, that he and his ‘Tapas 9’ friends had been taking part in a ‘social tennis’ event between 5.30pm and 7.00pm. Maybe he had been a bit confused at the time with all those negative and untrue stories that the ‘Daily Express’ had been running that September.

Maybe he’d also got the times muddled up a bit when he was conversing with David Smith.

Gerry had told ‘The Times’ journalist that he ‘had knocked up at the start of the 4.30pm session…but had decided not to exacerbate an injury to his Achilles tendon, so had dropped out and waited around by the courts until the children came back from the kids’ clubs at 5pm for tea’.

He had to admit that he’d not explained himself very clearly here. He hadn’t mentioned palying for over an hour between 3.30pm and 4.40pm. He’d also given the impression that the children had indeed come back to the tennis courts from the ‘Kids Club’ for tea at 5.00pm when in fact they hadn’t. Kate and the children had apparently stopped off for ‘high tea’ with the nannies somewhere on the way back without telling him. Nor had he mentioned to David Smith that, in fact, he had been ‘hanging around the tennis courts’ for nearly 2½ hours, from 4.40pm to nearly 7.00pm – besides playing tennis with Julian. Yes, that must be right, he reflected, he must have been on the tennis courts for a full 3½ hours.

He had even forgotten to mention to David Smith that at about 6.20pm he’d asked David Payne to check on Kate to see if she was all right. Or, he wondered, had he asked David just to call on Kate and ask her to bring the children down to watch him play tennis, another version that had appeard in a different newspaper. Why would he have said that, he wondered, if in fact I had been unable to play any more tennis? Why would I ask Kate and the children to come down to watch me?

Oh dear! Yes, he had definitely played tennis. And he had certainly had had that Achilles tendon injury – though the ‘Deep Heat’ he’d rubbed on his ankle that night had miraculously helped his ankle to fully recover within hours, so that, the day after Madeleine had disappeared, he could go with Kate for a comforting jog.

These contradictory timings were beginning to do his head in. He gupled down another swig of wine, noticing briefly, as he did so, a large dark grey cloud above him, increasing steadily in size.

He then remembered one more thing. David Smith’s article had not even mentioned – namely, Kate going jogging between 4.30pm and 5.20pm. How on earth had he missed that bit out? – especially as he’d put it in his statement to the police, and so had most of his ‘Tapas 9’ friends, who claimed to have seen Kate jogging and to have waved to her at around 5.20/5.25pm. He just couldn’t understand it.

Still, he consoled himself with the thought that he must have given David Smith a brief summary which Smith must have thought was enough for his purposes, though he had to admit that the Smith article was very short on detail.

His thoughts returned to the moment Kate had gone off to go jogging – just after 4.30pm that fateful day.

by ‘Montmorillonite’ – COPYRIGHT