Judicial Whispers (39 page)

‘Look,’ said the solicitor, as Mr Seely conferred briefly with his assistant, ‘I wish I had time for a drink and a chat, but I have to dash. I’ll call you in chambers and we’ll go through all this.’ And Mr Leslie fled as precipitately as he had come, his briefcase sagging and flapping at its broken clasp, the belt of his raincoat trailing.

It was left to Leo to make the polite murmurs of departure. He shook hands with Frederick Seely and they parted. As he was making his way along the hushed corridor and back to the lifts, Leo was aware that Francis Bryan had caught up with him.

‘Allow me to see you downstairs, Mr Davies,’ he murmured and, adjusting his graceful, striding gait to Leo’s, walked with him past the deserted reception area to the lift.

There was silence as they waited for the lift to come. Leo glanced at the younger man, and their eyes met. Francis Bryan leant back against the wall next to the lift, his eyes still fastened on Leo’s, and looked him up and down slowly. Then he smiled. The gesture was overtly insolent, but Leo felt only a familiar thrill of interest and excitement. He looked away.

The lift doors opened and Leo stepped inside, followed by Francis Bryan.

‘There really is no need, you know—’ began Leo.

‘I insist,’ said the younger man gently, turning his eyes on Leo once again as he pressed the button for the ground floor. As the lift began its slow descent, Leo was aware of the other man’s gaze, knew he could not be mistaken. He turned to look at him, and Francis Bryan smiled his charming, affected smile once again. Leo’s mouth felt dry as he spoke.

‘When will you be finished here?’ he asked quietly.

He did not think of Rachel, or of the coming months, or of anything else. He was back in his old world, intoxicated by the pleasurable excitement of this new, wordless encounter, this
enchanting young man with the long, graceful legs and insolent smile.

Francis Bryan leant against the polished steel of the lift wall, his eyes turned to the moving light of the floor indicator, the smile gone from his face. It seemed to Leo that he took a very long time to answer. And in that time, Leo wondered, fleetingly, at his own madness. But he didn’t care any more. After the past few months, it no longer seemed to matter.

‘In twenty minutes or so,’ replied Francis Bryan, still not looking at Leo. Then, as the indicator drew near to the ground floor, he glanced at him. ‘There’s a wine bar round the corner, in Colvin Street.’

He said nothing more. The lift doors slid open and Leo walked out, across the reception area, into the street and round the corner, to wait in the wine bar.

The next morning, in the mews house in Mayfair, Rachel bent to pick up the sheaf of Leo’s mail. A bulky envelope from the Lord Chancellor’s Office lay among the others, the little House of Lords crest on the back. She stared at it, turning it over, then carried it back upstairs with the rest.

At the top she paused, aware of the silence in the house, and of the sick uncertainty that lay within her. The wide sleeve of her blue robe slid back from her arm as she reached out to touch the petals of one of the daffodils which stood in a jug on the table. She laid the pile of envelopes next to the flowers. Then she lifted her gaze to the window, to the damp cobbles of the empty mews. Folding her arms, she stood by the window, looking out, waiting.

Now a QC at the eminent chambers of 5 Caper Court, Leo Davies has a big case on his hands. His clients have staked everything on Leo’s performance in court, blissfully unaware of the confusions of his private life which threaten to destroy their case. For at home, the delicate facade of Leo’s marriage to Rachel is swiftly crumbling. And while Leo eyes Charles Beecham, the handsome TV celebrity, Beecham’s own interests may lie elsewhere …

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C
ARO
F
RASER
is the daughter of George MacDonald Fraser, author of the Flashman novels. She attended art school and worked as an advertising copywriter before deciding to pursue a career in law. Fraser began to write full-time while bringing up the third of her four children, and published her first novel,
The Pupil
, in 1993. Since then she has written several novels, including the critically acclaimed Caper Court series. She is currently a full-time shipping lawyer and lives in London.

T
HE
C
APER
C
OURT SERIES

The Pupil

Judicial Whispers

An Immoral Code

A Hallowed Place

A Perfect Obsession

A Calculating Heart

Breath of Corruption

Errors of Judgment