âIn a firm this size, we canât keep avoiding one another.â
âReally?â Jane said. âI thought we were getting damn good at it.â
Matthew laughed. Then sobered quickly. âNot that I ever wanted to avoid you. I hate that you were stuck in the middle of this.â
âIt wasnât your fault.â
âThere are some who would disagree.â
âI canât believe she actually spied on you.â Jane covered her mouth. âSorry. I shouldnât have said that. But itâs just so wrong. Youâre the most honest person I know.â
âI appreciate that. But Iâm not sure itâs true. In fact, I know it isnât.â
âReally? Who have you ever lied to?â
âThe most important person.â
âYour wife?â
He shook his head. Despite her accusations to the contrary, heâd never deliberately told Gillian anything but the truth. His deceptions had gone much deeper than that.
âMyself.â
This book is for my youngest daughter, Tessa,
who is leaving home to start university this year.
I could not love you more, or be more proud.
Thanks To:
My writing friend and lawyer Elizabeth Aspinall,
Constable Chris Terry and criminal lawyer Simon Lord for taking the time to talk to me about their areas of expertise.
IF JANE PRENTICE HAD SEEN Matthew Gray in the elevator, she would have taken the stairs. But as she stepped on board, she was reading case notes and didnât spot him until the doors were gliding shut behind her.
âHi, Jane.â
That voice. It still had the power to remind her she was a woman first. Lawyer second. She stuffed her papers into a side compartment of her briefcase, then looked at him. And away.
âMatt.â
An awkward pause followed. At least they werenât alone. Two men in business suits flanked her, neither man familiar. When the elevator stopped at the twenty-eighth floor, only she and Matt stepped off.
âGoing to the partners meeting?â Matt asked, as they headed in the same direction.
She nodded. Crap. Obviously, so was he. What was going on? Over the past year theyâd become adept at avoiding each other. Sheâd requested an office on the opposite side of the building from his. By tacit agreement theyâd begun attending alternate partners meetings. And she and Matt both avoided places they used to go together, like Sullyâs Tavern and the deli downstairs.
Everyone at Brandstrom and Norton was in on it; even the managing partners no longer assigned them to the same cases.
A year ago the rumor had been everywhere. Matthewâs marriage is in trouble. And Janeâs the other womanâ¦
âRussell dropped by my office this morning,â Matthew explained. âHe made it pretty clear my presence was mandatory today.â
âI wonder why.â
âSome new case he wants me to work on.â
Jane sneaked a sideways glance at him. The year had taken its toll, adding some lines and a few gray hairs, but he was still handsome in that intellectual, Robert Downey, Jr, way of his.
âI was sorry to hear about you and Gillian.â
âWere you?â
She hadnât expected him to challenge her, and wasnât sure how to respond. A part of her was sorry, naturally. Matthew didnât deserve what had happened. He was a good man, honorable in the old-fashioned sense of the word.
Yes, heâd spent too much time at work. Yes, heâd neglected his adolescent son and much younger daughter.
He wasnât perfect.
But who was?
They rounded a corner, and the open door to the conference room was now in sight. Mattâs voice became coolly professional. âBy the way, congratulations on the Laskin case.â
She could feel her cheeks grow hot. They may have avoided each other the past year, but heâd kept tabs on her. âI was lucky with the judge.â
âYouâre too modest. The story in the Hartford Courant was pretty complimentary.â
The admiration in his voice was contained, yet unmistakable. She tried to meet his gaze again without losing her composure. But she couldnât.
So she made her way into the room, where she headed for a vacant seat next to another of the junior partners at the firm. âHi, Susan. How was your weekend?â
While Susan chatted about her three kids and husband, Jane organized her papers and located a pen.
ââ¦and then Jeremy tells me itâs his turn to bring the morning snack for circle time! I had to leave Jack to handle breakfast and drive to the market to buy enough fresh fruit for twenty-five children. And when I get in the car, what happens? Jackâs run me low on gas again!â
Jane murmured a sympathetic comment, feeling anything but sorry for Susanâs predicament. Did her colleague have any idea how lucky she was? She and Jack had been married ten years and had three healthy children.