Page 55 of Behind Frenemy Lines

“He’s taken over, because of your new case.”

“Who told you I’ve got a new case?”

“Arthur,” said Rosalind. “He emailed saying you no longer have capacity to advise on the protocol, so Milo will be helping going forward. But I have to say, Kriya, he’s no replacement for you. Fine, he’s cheaper, but I don’t come to a firm like BRC because I think you’re going to be cheap.”

Rosalind’s voice throbbed with feeling. It wasn’t the moment to pick her up on her slip about the firm name.

“I come to you for advice because you make my life easier,” she continued. “So far, this Milo is not making my life easier. I don’t care if I have to pay more. You tell me, have I ever made an issue of the bills? You have targets to meet, I understand. If the work is good, it’s not a problem.”

“No, you’re very good with bills,” I said absently. “One of my prize clients.”

A prize client Arthur had reassigned to an associate with all of two years’ post-qualification experience, who was too busy to even pretend to be interested. And Arthur hadn’t told me.

“There’s been some misunderstanding,” I said briskly. “I’m never too busy for Sanson, or you. I’ll talk to Arthur. Let’s go through these questions from your German colleague. Can you forward me the email?”

We ended the call after a productive hour and a half, Rosalind fully soothed.

“Thank you so much, Kriya. When Arthur said you weren’t going to be advising anymore, I felt like a baby bird thrown out of the nest by its mother. Like you had abandoned me in the desert with these idiots.”

“No problem,” I said. “Let me know if there’s any follow-up from Germany. I can hop on a call and we can hammer out theissues together. I’ll feed back to Arthur that the cover he put in place wasn’t satisfactory. Take care.”

I took my headset off slowly.

“Was that Rosalind?” said Charles.

When I didn’t answer, he looked away from his computer, his forehead starting to crease. “Kriya? You all right?”

“Yes,” I said. “Sorry. I need to go speak to Arthur.”

Thinking about challenging Arthur on why he’d pushed me out of the Sanson work made me feel sick. I knew if I didn’t do it straight away, there was a real risk I wouldn’t do it at all. So I charged off down the corridor before I could think better of it.

I could see how there might be good intentions behind Arthur trying to boot me out of the office I shared with Charles. It probablywouldbe a bad idea to share an office with someone you were dating. I wasn’t even dating Charles, and I was already finding it distracting being in the same room with him for around ten hours a day, three days a week, watching him bite his lower lip.

Taking my most important client off me without telling me, though? I couldn’t see how Arthur could spin that, to me or himself, as being in my interests, or the firm’s. It couldn’t be about anything except retaliation for what had happened in Hong Kong.

Except there was no way Arthur would admit that. He couldn’t afford to. So he’d have to make it about me, about my fitness for the job.

If Arthur was willing to lie to Rosalind, what might he start saying about me to other people? To other clients and partners?

A blonde woman was emerging from Arthur’s office as I arrived at the end of the corridor. I’d seen her around the floor before, but it took me a moment to remember her name—Emily,one of the junior associates. She’d only qualified into the department a few months before Arthur and I had joined.

There was something odd about this, but I didn’t have capacity to worry about it now. I filed it away to think about later.

I poked my head around the door. “Arthur, have you got a moment?”

Was I imagining it, or did Arthur look guilty?

If so, it was only for a split second. He said, perfectly naturally, “Oh, hi, Kriya. Sure. What can I do for you?”

“I just got off a call with Rosalind.” This was a closed-door conversation, but I didn’t really want to shut myself in with Arthur. This end of the corridor was too quiet, with no witnesses. Nobody came down here unless they wanted to talk to Arthur, or the main colour printer was broken. Our PA Victoria, who usually sat in the pod outside, worked from home on Wednesdays.

I compromised by pulling the door to, but leaving it ajar.

“Rosalind said you told her I’m too busy with a new case to advise on the protocol, and she should speak to Milo Deacon.” I crossed my arms. “I’m not sure if there’s been some confusion? I am not working on any new case, as far as I know.”

I gave Arthur a pointed look.

“Yes,” he said, unflustered. “That was when I thought Xinwei was going to confirm instructions to proceed right after we got back from Hong Kong. That’s obviously been going more slowly than we’d like. I’m confident we’ll get the work—they’re still saying it’s urgent, we’ll have to move quickly once it comes through—but it’s got stuck in their internal processes.

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