Cuckoo (aka Claire, Darling)

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty

Madeline Choi

As soon as Dodgson introduces the next witness, I feel sick. My throat is tacky and dry and I begin to tremble in anticipation. It was one thing seeing Lilah with Noah at the club, learning about her and assessing her on social media. It’s an entirely different matter to have to face in court, when I am on trial for murder, yet another woman Noah has supposedly been seeing. I still cling on to the hope that this is a mistake, a misunderstanding. Mads is also a male name after all; there could be a reasonable explanation for those evening meetings.

But even if there isn’t, meaning that my defence becomes easier, that I’ll receive a lesser sentence, it still means I’ve been deceived twice over by Noah. Before I heard about Mads, I hadn’t even contemplated the possibility that there were more women in his life, other girlfriends. For a start, who has the time? But then I chew on my lip as I think of all the work trips he had to take, all the late nights in the office that I thought were part and parcel of being a high-flying financial whizz-kid, but which perhaps concealed something darker.

‘Dodgson is pissed off about this one,’ Grosvenor whispers to me, leaning over.

‘Why?’ I whisper back.

‘She’s only going to hurt his case. It’s brilliant for us, though,’ she tells me.

‘So why is he questioning her?’ I ask.

‘He’ll look stupid if he doesn’t. When I requested she should appear as a witness, he was given the choice to cross-examine. If he doesn’t bother then it’s an automatic one–nil to us. I guess he’s just going to try to pull whatever he can out of her to help his cause, but let’s be honest, she’s only going to make Noah look terrible,’ Grosvenor explains.

I don’t reply.

‘And you look innocent,’ she adds, as though this wasn’t clear to me.

The sound of shuffling and bodies turning in their seats announces that the new witness has arrived. The whole room is looking in the same direction. I see a flash of white-blonde hair and quickly glance away, my face hot. Is she a relative of Lilah? Or just another blonde woman? As Mads steps into my peripheral vision I jolt out of my spiral of inner turmoil. I find myself fascinated by her looks; so different from Lilah yet so similar in her air of confidence; the expensive perfume that wafts from her as she walks past me to the witness stand. She is petite, around five foot two, and while Maggie was right to assume from her surname she would be Korean, I think Mads may be mixed-race. Her raven hair is pinned back with pearl clips and she’s wearing a pink lip gloss that shines, making her mouth look as lovely as Lilah’s, though her lips are less bowed. And she’s pale– as pale as Grosvenor, another way in which she is more similar to me than to Lilah. This woman seems less supermodel, more everyday, and the realisation terrifies me because it means that Noah just wanted women– any woman– to satisfy him. If Lilah and I combined weren’t enough, how many more was he seeing? I grip the table tightly until the flesh under my nails turns white and I wonder if I will throw up.

‘Miss Choi, will you please explain to the jury how you came to meet Mr Coors?’ Dodgson asks.

Mads clears her throat, looking directly at the jury and avoiding my eyes. ‘I work at the Squat Rack gym. I’m a personal trainer there and Noah signed up using his company discount. I gave him a free session, which I give every new customer to the gym, and he asked for my number. We began a… correspondence,’ she says. I wince at her word choice.

‘Was this professional or personal?’

‘It began as professional; I was just his trainer. It became romantic.’

‘Did you want it to become romantic?’ Dodgson asks, raising an eyebrow.

Mads looks indignant. ‘I’m a grown woman. If I didn’t want it to become romantic, it wouldn’t have.’

‘And are you in the habit of dating clients?’ he asks.

At this, her cheeks flush pink. ‘No, I am not. Noah was and still is the only client I have ever become romantically involved with.’

‘Do you date a lot?’ Dodgson asks.

‘Objection! Relevance,’ Grosvenor intervenes.

‘Sustained.’ The judge nods, raising her eyebrows in silent displeasure at Dodgson, who has the decency to look embarrassed.

‘Sexist pig,’ Grosvenor whispers to me.

‘No further questions,’ Dodgson concedes, looking much less smug than he did at the start of his examination.

Grosvenor stands, and strides up to Mads, her chin raised.

‘Hello, Miss Choi. I wonder… the phone number you have submitted to us, which Mr Coors gave you and contacted you on… were you aware that this was a burner phone?’

‘A burner?’ Mads repeats, eyebrows pinching together.

‘A secondary phone, a cheap one used separately from his main phone which he used for keeping in touch with friends and family.’

‘No, I wasn’t aware of that,’ Mads replies, pressing her lips together afterwards.

‘And were you aware of his partner, Lilah, with whom he lived in Chelsea?’ Grosvenor continues, twisting the blade further into Mads’s chest.

‘No, Noah made no mention of any other woman in his life. I had assumed, because he asked for my number and pursued me, that he was single.’

‘How often did you see Mr Coors, and over what timeframe?’

‘We were seeing each other for around four months in late 2024, just once or twice a week outside of when he visited the gym for a workout.’

‘What did you do together?’ Grosvenor asks.

‘Just normal things. We went to dinner a lot, drinks, the cinema once…’

‘And did you ever go back to his house?’

‘No, I didn’t. He…’ Here Mads trails off, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

‘Go on,’ Grosvenor encourages.

‘Well, we would go back to mine because all the dates were closer to my flat than his.’ She is turning pink.

‘And who organised the date locations?’

‘He did,’ she admits, her voice low.

‘So Mr Coors was always in charge of organising things and could plan dates close to your residence, to cover for the fact that he never invited you back to his home?’

‘Objection! Hearsay,’ Dodgson warbles, though he looks shaken.

‘I mean, I guess at the time I just thought it made sense, and sometimes he said he had an early work meeting so had to leave me in the evening, but also I work from five a.m. some mornings for pre-work sessions with clients so I didn’t always want him staying over…’ Mads’s voice trails off again.

‘I assume, but would like the jury to hear it confirmed, that you were having a sexual relationship with Mr Coors?’

I hold my breath.

‘Yes,’ Mads confirms.

I deflate.

‘And that you are the owner of the email address [email protected]?’

‘Yes, that’s me.’

‘And he sent you calendar invitations for these dates using his work calendar?’

Mads is now wringing her hands, humiliated by the details she is having to share.

‘Yes, he said he kept everything in there as it made it easier to keep track.’

‘To conclude, Madeline: you were having an affair with Mr Coors, and he gave you absolutely no indication at all that there was another woman, let alone two, in his life?’

Mads looks at me, her eyes full of confusion. ‘Yes, that is correct.’

‘And how does it make you feel, to know that you were one of several?’

‘Objection! Hearsay, Your Honour, we don’t know how many there were.’ Dodgson looks like he is about to have a stroke, a bead of sweat trailing down his temple.

‘How does this make you feel?’ Grosvenor repeats to the witness.

‘Like shit. Sorry! I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that. I feel bad. I feel angry with him for being so deceitful, and upset with myself for wasting my time on him,’ she says, shooting me a meaningful glance.

‘And if you were to see Mr Coors today, do you think you might be annoyed to the point of giving his shoulder a little push?’ Grosvenor asks.

Mads looks bewildered. ‘I…’

‘ Objection! Speculation! ’ Dodgson roars, his face now pink as gammon.

‘No further questions, Your Honour,’ Grosvenor says breezily, her mouth curving into the tiniest of smiles.

As she walks past, Mads glances at me with what looks like a hint of apology in her eyes.

Two women fooled by Noah Coors.

Two fooled women, one dead mistress, and one lying fiancé. I feel my heart break with every fresh confirmation that he is not the man I thought he was.