Page 85 of Behind Frenemy Lines

She didn’t say why she wanted to work from home. Well, why wouldn’t she? No one was going to pull her up on her office attendance, any more than they were going to be tracking her billable hours. Presumably she didn’t feel like running into Arthur again.

Quite fancied the prospect myself. Correct to report Arthur through the appropriate channels and demand action from the firm, of course, instead of, e.g., knocking his teeth in. But I personally would have found knocking his teeth in infinitely more satisfying.

Strange being back in Kriya’s flat. The door to her bedroom stood ajar. Avoided looking into it.

Just that morning, I’d had Kriya pinned to her bed, moaning underneath me. Heat rose in my face at the memory.

Kriya didn’t seem troubled by any memories of the kind. She was brisk and friendly. “You’ve got all your stuff? You can text me if you realise you’ve left anything behind.”

She saw me to the door. Had the air of a hostess wrapping up a party at the end of a long night, cordial but relieved. “Good night, Charles.” Smiled at me, absently. “Thanks for everything. You’ve been such a trouper.”

Not the note I wanted to be ending the evening on. Wanted to kiss her. Wasn’t sure it’d be welcome.

Took my courage in my hands and said: “Maybe we could have dinner again, whenever you’re free? I had a good time at the weekend.”

Sounded appallingly feeble. What I really meant was,I think I’m in love with you. I can’t bear to let you go.

But I couldn’t say that now, with Kriya looking like she was wishing she were shot of me. It was too much. If only she’d give me the time to work up to it.

Pathetic as it was, what I said worked, to a degree. Kriya came back from wherever she’d gone to in her head. Her eyes softened.

Kriya: “Oh, Charles. You’re so lovely. It’s just, there’s so much going on right now. And if this thing with Sanson works out, you know, I might end up in Hong Kong. After what happened with Tom… I don’t know. It’s complicated.”

CG: “Yeah. No. Of course.”

Kriya: “Look, why don’t I—” Her phone buzzed. She glanced at it, stiffening, then said: “Sorry. I don’t want to rush you, but I’ve got someone coming over.”

She wouldn’t meet my eyes. Seemed embarrassed.

I was struck by a sudden, horrible suspicion that it was a date she was waiting for. Why else would she be embarrassed about them seeing me, or vice versa? She’d let me meet her friends.

I was being ridiculous. Why would Kriya meet a date at her flat? Unless it was someone she was already seeing. It hadn’t seemed like she was seeing anyone else, when—at the weekend. Her friends hadn’t mentioned it. They wouldn’t have encouraged me to ask her out, would they, if she was dating other people?

Not that Kriya and I were dating. Shouldn’t have fallen into bed with her. Seemed a great idea at the time, but look at me now. If I’d courted her properly, or at least confirmed some crucial details up front—like, did she want to be my girlfriendfor real, instead of simply pretending for Arthur’s and my family’s benefit—I wouldn’t be in this position.

Kriyawashiding something. I knew her well enough, after sharing an office with her for six weeks, to tell that. But it didn’t matter if it was a date coming to see her. Whatever it was she didn’t want me to know, it wasn’t any of my business.

CG: “Sure. Sorry. Have a good evening.”

Kriya: “Good night, Charles.”

Hotel was fine. You didn’t notice the lack of windows. Who needs a window in central London, anyway? Only going to look out on the walls of other buildings, or a row of dustbins, or some grim road, with pigeons fighting over a discarded box of chips.

Had left my laptop in the office, because there wasn’t anything urgent on. If we were taking on the case for Shaw, we’d have to crack on, but I wasn’t confident that was going to happen. I’d emailed Farah and the CDD team about the concerns Kriya had raised. Farah had responded:

Let’s talk tmrw.

No point trying to do anything on the matter until I’d spoken to her.

Not exactly an attractive case, suing a freelance journalist. Agreed with Kriya there. At least there’s generally equality of arms in the commercial litigation I do.

Thought of the student I’d spoken to at Cittie of Yorke: Razia, with her dissertation on human rights. She wouldn’t be too impressed.

Still, I couldn’t see that it was an inappropriate instruction. Nothing to indicate the instruction itself was to advance a fraudulent scheme. Optics were bad, of course. But if one chose one’s clients based on optics, no one accused of murderwould have legal representation. Must be right that it’s for the courts to decide.

Kriya hadn’t mentioned her mad idea of approaching the other side again. Hopefully she’d thought better of it once she’d had a chance to reflect.

Ended up lying on the bed, flipping through channels on the TV. Wasn’t really what I wanted to be doing with my evening. My first choice would have been making progress on some work. Should have brought my laptop with me.

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