Page 121 of If I Never Met You

‘We’re not,’ Jamie said, firmly, glancing at Laurie. ‘We had… crossed a line or two for authenticity’s sake, got a bit carried away. But we certainly aren’t together.’

Jamie barely met Laurie’s eyes, set his jaw and stared straight ahead.

Mr Salter saw all of this, she realised, as she turned back and his rheumy gaze came to rest on Laurie.

‘Alright, I’ve heard enough, Ms Watkinson. I feel severely let down by you, and by this. We had spoken in this office, on trust, which I believed was mutual. Consider this a verbal warning and if you do anything to piss me off in the foreseeable future, I might skip the written stage. Close the door on your way out.’

Laurie was desperate to speak to Jamie, to find what had happened, and she didn’t have to wait long.

A junior from the criminal department called Matt appeared in the doorway, and said, breathlessly: ‘Jamie Carter’s been sacked. Immediate effect.’

Laurie, Bharat and Di almost comically scrambled to get past one another and out to see what was happening.

A Roman amphitheatre of spectators had gathered on the second floor as Jamie exited the criminal office, holding a briefcase, his coat, and the umbrella that Laurie once remembered him jamming lift doors with.

A very sad-faced Mick, the security guard, was guiding Jamie towards the stairs. Laurie made to go after him.

‘I wouldn’t follow him out,’ Michael said, arms folded, ‘Or they might just lock the door after you. You don’t want any more of his reputation smeared over you.’

‘He’s my boyfriend, so I’ll see him out, thanks,’ Laurie said, to an audible ‘ooh!’ from the crowd, presumably both at the declaration and the insubordination. She glimpsed Dan, looking pig sick at the back. At least her honesty with him had stopped this being any gotcha.

‘You can stop the show now, we’ve all seen the email,’ Kerry snapped.

Laurie turned.

‘You know what, I couldn’t care less what you do or don’t think, Kerry. You’re not the policewoman of my private life. Or anyone else’s here for that matter.’

‘Can I get an Amen!’ Bharat shouted, from the back of the crowd, and incredibly, a reasonably hearty ‘AMEN’ went up. Kerry scowled, looking green as a parrot.

Laurie walked down the stairs with Jamie and out through the lobby, Mick holding the door for them, beckoning for Jamie to hand over his security pass and pulling the door shut behind them.

Once they were outside in the street, Jamie turned and said: ‘I hate to say it, but Michael’s right. Go back in, now. Salter’s temper’s on a hair trigger. If he hears you’re out here with me you could get sacked too.’

‘I can’t believe they sacked you and not me?!’ Laurie said.

‘Laurie, now I’m gone, blame the whole idea of the phony relationship on me,’ Jamie said. ‘When Salter’s calmed down, he won’t want to fall out with his best defence lawyer.’

‘But this is unfair! And probably illegal, getting rid of you but not me for the same offence.’

‘Hah. They know every loophole and can safely get rid ofanyone. I’ve struck a deal where they say it was my decision and I get some gardening leave. Word will get round, of course, so I have to be quicker than the word before the pay runs out. He knows I couldn’t stay, Laurie, not when they loathe me. It was untenable.’ He paused. ‘They didn’t only sack me for our relationship.’

‘What then?’

He didn’t speak for a few seconds. ‘They think I was involved with Eve.’

‘You said … you didn’t …?’ Laurie said, and trailed off.Oh, no.

‘Yeah, I wasn’t. But I haven’t told you the whole story of that night.’

Laurie swallowed hard. ‘OK.’

‘It was dinner, nothing more. But Eve had booked a room at the hotel. She made a play for me at the end of the evening and I said no, stakes are too high here, thanks. She was not impressed. She had a point. I shouldn’t have been seeing her out of hours. It was mixed messages and it was undignified to have to put her straight. For both of us.’

‘Right …’

‘I told you I was networking, but quite specifically, I wanted to know if Salter was thinking of retiring. I thought she might have information, as family, that’d help me with the timing of my pitch for partner. Short version, I used her. She’s whip smart. She figured that out.’

Jamie continued: ‘Then the photos of you and I started going up, and Eve got in touch and said, I see what you’re doing and I know what was said in your promotion meeting– she’d fished with her uncle. She said, you’re using another woman to get ahead. I told her you were happily in on it but she didn’t believe me. This sounds strange, but she didn’t want you to feel used in the same way that she had done. She thought I was playing you and wanted to find a way to make you see sense – she’d clearly worked out that if she said anything to you directly, she’d sound jealous.’

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