She was immensely grateful for the welcome embrace delivered by the oblivion of sleep.
Chapter 25
Olivia woke, not to the alarm on her bedside table, but to the incessant buzz of her mobile phone. She groaned, reaching out to grab it and to see who was calling her at … She peeled her eyes open to peer at the screen. What? One o’clock in the morning? No way! Who on earth would be ringing her at one o’clock in the morning? Then she saw Katrina’s name flash up and her stomach gave an uncomfortable twist.
‘Hi, Katrina, is everything okay?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘What do you mean? Where are you?’
‘I’m in the office.’
‘But it’s one o’clock in the morning … on a Saturday night!’
‘It’s only midnight here, and I needed to finalise a few things before I start my maternity leave.’
‘Kat, that’s really not …’
‘Don’t you start, I’ve already had the lecture from Will and I’ve promised him faithfully that this will be the last time I work late or on a weekend. Bless him, he’s spent the whole day with the tribe at the swimming baths and then treating them to a feast at the local pizzeria – I’ll tell you who’s the most exhausted.’
Olivia pushed herself up to a sitting position and switched on the bedside lamp, ready to add her own gentle reprimand to Will’s. Katrina’s baby was due in less than six weeks and the last time she had seen her, her belly was huge, and she had confided to Olivia that she was struggling to commute from home to the office on the overcrowded Tube. As Christmas approached, the crush was only getting worse and rarely did London’s travellers or tourists give up their precious seats for a heavily pregnant woman, citing equality of entitlement. However, donating a Saturday to the Edwards & Co coffers wasn’t going to do her any good either, although Olivia completely understood how time spent in the office could easily disappear into a vortex of obscurity.
‘So, Kat, is there a reason you called? Has something happened?’
‘Yes, no, yes, oh, Livvie, I’m sorry … I … I shouldn’t have called you.’
Olivia’s sluggishness from sleep vanished immediately when she heard the distress in her friend’s voice. Of course something had happened, Katrina wouldn’t be ringing her from the office at midnight unless something was seriously wrong. A coil of dread began to tighten its hold in her stomach and, call it premonition, call it a sixth sense, but she suddenly knew.
‘Oh, God, it’s Miles, isn’t it? What’s he done now?’
‘I … I don’t know where to start.’
Whilst Olivia was desperate to know what her nemesis had done now, she was more concerned about Katrina’s well-being. An eight-month-pregnant woman should not be sitting in the office of a law firm at midnight on a Saturday night because she was worried about her work. In fact, no one should, and that realisation hit her like a thunderbolt, but she would have to save the scrutiny of its meaning for later.
‘Kat, are you okay? Maybe you should call a taxi and go home. Get some sleep and call me in the morning. Whatever it is can wait.’
‘No it can’t, it really can’t.’
This time the bottom of Olivia’s stomach fell to her toes. She knew from Katrina that many of her former clients had hated the vicious diatribe of correspondence issued by Miles on their behalf and had demanded their files to be transferred elsewhere, but there were also others that had come knocking on their doors, appreciating his hard-line tactics. Those new clients relished the veiled threats of ‘agree to our demands for financial settlements or we will issue exorbitant, protracted court proceedings’. It was a risk not many but the most wealthy or reckless were prepared to take, and, as Miles had hoped, his opponents often crumbled under the pressure, reluctantly agreeing to less advantageous terms of settlement.
These hostile tactics were exactly the sort of thing Olivia loathed, but what had upset her the most was the email she had received from the Chair of the professional association she was a member of, which advocated a conciliatory and non-confrontational approach to divorce negotiations, threatening their firm’s expulsion because of their ‘recent departure from the Code of Practice’.
However, the biggest shock had been Henry’s reaction when she had called him to express her indignation that the whole ethos of Edwards & Co’s family department had changed beyond recognition and that it would take her a long time to rectify the damage when she got back to work. To her surprise, Henry had informed her of his relief that Miles had seized the reins in the nick of time and that he supported the way he conducted his caseload, pointing out that she only had to take a cursory glance at the company’s accounts to see that the paying clients liked what they got.
An 8 per cent increase in fees! How could she argue with the figures? She suspected the increase was more to do with the recent upturn in the country’s economic fortunes than anything Miles had done, but when she returned, she knew she would have a fight on her hands, not just with Miles, but with Henry and probably Lewis, too, who had an expensive house and an ex-wife to keep happy. At least she would have James on her side.
‘Come on, Kat. Tell me what’s happened. I can take it.’
She heard Katrina sigh and groan a little as she settled herself into one of the office chairs. Oh, God, it looked like this this was going to be a long conversation.
‘Well, I’d finished everything I needed to do here at five, and I was about to set the alarm when I heard the phone ringing in reception.’
‘You didn’t answer it, did you? Five o’clock on a Saturday night?’
‘Says the woman who is often sitting at her desk at ten!’
‘Okay, so who was it?’
‘Gordon Kenwood.’
‘Ah, yes, the CEO of that tech company. What did he want?’
‘Well, when I answered the phone he was a little … well, not just a little, a lot, angry. Apparently, he’d been trying to get hold of Miles for over two weeks and was going on about how disgraceful the service was. I offered to take his number, to ask Miles to call him on Monday morning, but he said he’d already left seven messages and had lost count of how many emails he’d sent.’
‘Oh, God, I knew this would happen.’
‘He started talking about how he was considering reporting the firm to the OSS for negligence, especially after he’d received an exorbitant invoice for work he was sure wasn’t being carried out because at those rates he’d expect a response to every query he raised within the hour. I think those were his words.’
‘I’m sorry you had to deal with that, Kat.’
‘Oh, that wasn’t all he said. Now he had someone on the phone, he needed answers and he wasn’t going to hang up until he got them.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘He wanted me to check his file to make sure that Miles had sent a letter to his wife’s “dragon-faced solicitor” like he’d promised. Then he apologised for his tone and explained that he had just been subjected to a torrent of vitriol from his soon-to-be ex-spouse about the incompetent and unacceptable delay of his lawyers, and whilst he made it a religion never to agree with anything his ex-wife said, on this occasion he suspected she could be right.’
‘Why didn’t you tell him to wait until Monday? You could have gone straight to Henry about it. Gordon Kenwood is a multi-millionaire; the financial negotiations are complex and delicate and his wife’s solicitor is none other than Ralph Carlton! Miles will be way out of his league.’
‘I know I should have done that, but to be honest, my curiosity was aroused. I said I’d pull out his file and call him back but he said he wasn’t falling for that old chestnut, which did make me smile, so I left him hanging on the line in reception whilst I went back up to Miles’s room. You know, Livvie, I totally understand how you get sucked into spending so much time in the office.’
‘Hearing you say that makes me feel awful. You should be at home, Kat, with your family. Are you sure we can’t finish thi
s off in the morning?’
‘I’m sure. So, I waddled my way down to where Miles hides out and when I opened the door of his office and switched on the light, the chaos hit me right between the eyes. It was complete pandemonium, worse even that the girls’ bedroom after they’ve had one of their teddy bear tea parties! The whole place is strewn with half-drafted documents and random correspondence, there’s piles and piles of books and briefs and lever-arch files, not to mention the mouldy coffee cups he couldn’t be bothered to return to the kitchen. I had to pick my way through the discarded files on the floor just to get to his filing cabinets.’
Olivia rolled her eyes. She knew Miles viewed filing paperwork as an administrative task and therefore beneath him, but because he was so arrogant and superior in the way he spoke to his assistant Geraldine she refused to help him. She wondered fleetingly if Henry ever ventured down to that end of their offices, but she knew the answer. Henry operated a strict ‘clear desk’ policy, and it sounded like the directive had not been implemented by Miles for months – nine probably.
‘I couldn’t find Gordon Kenwood’s file under “K” so I started to search his desk, then the windowsill, and finally I spotted it shoved on the third shelf of the bookcase. I pulled out the correspondence clip and started to flick through the pages, trying to find the letter Mr Kenwood was talking about so I could read it out to him over the phone, then lock the door and go home where I hoped to find a home-made lasagne waiting for me.’
‘But you’re still there, so what happened?’
‘Well, there was a whole jumble of loose letters from Margaret Kenwood’s lawyers – yes, you’re right, it is Ralph Carlton – as well as printed emails from Gordon Kenwood demanding updates. There was also a bunch of court documents advising of a hearing date for the Issues Resolutions Hearing, which is due to take place next week. No wonder Mr Kenwood was irate – if he’s instructed Miles to submit an offer of financial settlement, it’s going to be a highly relevant issue when the apportionment of costs is discussed.’
‘So what did the letter say?’
‘That’s the point, I couldn’t find a letter.’
‘No letter?’ A niggle of panic tickled at Olivia’s chest.
‘But then I thought, knowing Miles’s dislike for admin tasks, I bet he’d just forgotten to print a copy out for the file. So I booted up his computer, searched for the Kenwood folder, and quickly scanned all the outgoing correspondence.’
‘And?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Oh, God.’
‘You know, Liv, I don’t like Miles very much, but I didn’t think he was anything other than a competent solicitor. For God’s sake, he’s learned his trade from a highly sought-after expert in the field with over fifteen years of experience! But looking at that screen, I realised for the first time that he’d been pulling the wool over our eyes – well, not yours.’
‘We’re going to have to report this to Henry, but what did you say to Gordon Kenwood?’
‘Well …’
Olivia heard it in her friend’s tone and the cramp in her stomach tightened.
‘What? There’s more? What else?’
‘So, I was about to close down Miles’s computer when I thought I’d take a quick peek at Gordon Charles Kenwood’s account ledger and I nearly had the baby there and then.’
‘Why?’
‘No wonder he’d made that comment about expecting his solicitor to be available twenty-four-seven. When I saw his last invoice, I had to check twice to make sure there hadn’t been a mistake because it was over a third higher than any of the monthly invoices we send out.’
‘A third higher?’
Was Miles overcharging their clients, too? Suspicion snaked through her mind. It was absolutely unforgivable, never mind illegal, to inflate an invoice, and it would wreck a firm’s reputation in an instant if such practices were proven. Many clients complained about the cost of their divorce – it was an expensive business, made worse if a couple decided to dispute their granny’s silver salt and pepper pots, or the contact arrangements for their pet poodle. But Edwards & Co had always been meticulous in maintaining accurate time-recording records with which to assure their clients that the fees they were charged were justified.
‘Do you think … do you think Miles is overcharging …’
‘That’s exactly what I thought too, so I checked his time-recording for the Kenwood file and it all looks above board. The last invoice can be substantiated by the time spent.’
‘Then why were his legal fees so high?’
‘I’ve not had time to look into that because …’
Katrina’s hesitation sent alarm bells ringing and Olivia’s heart began to hammer out a concerto of panic. Surely there was nothing else?
‘Kat?’
‘I was about to go back to reception to apologise to Mr Kenwood, to tell him that I couldn’t find his file and to promise to get Henry himself to call first thing on Monday morning, and I think it was tiredness after spending the whole day at the office, but when I went to stand up, my knee caught on the protruding handle of Miles’s desk drawer.’
‘Oh, Kat, you really should—’
‘I tried to kick the drawer shut but it wouldn’t budge, so I yanked it open and saw there was a thick buff-coloured folder wedged inside. I pulled it out, placed it carefully on top of all the other files scattered across his desk and I was about to leave when I realised if I left it there Miles would know I’ve been snooping in his office – I couldn’t stand another row, so I went back, grabbed the file and …’
‘And what?’
‘I got a bit of a … a bit of a twinge.’
‘Oh, Kat …’
‘I’m fine, I’m fine, but it made me drop the file and all the papers spewed out, so I had to lower myself to the floor – I’m not kidding you, it was like a comedy sketch – and try to shuffle everything back in and that’s when I saw it.’
‘Saw what?’
‘I recognised it straight away.’
Suddenly, Olivia got the weirdest feeling that she was floating on a cloud and looking down on the drama that was being played out below her. She’d had a few glasses of wine, a lot of rich food and an evening of thought-provoking conversation, and now she was listening to her friend recite something that was getting curiouser and curiouser by the minute.
Was this in fact a dream?
But when Katrina uttered her next words, she knew it was the complete opposite – it was a nightmare.
‘It was a letter, a letter from the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors.’
‘Oh, my God, no! Did you read it? What did it say?’
‘Apparently, our esteemed colleague, Moronic Miles, has been summoned to a tribunal hearing to answer a litany of malpractice complaints filed by three of our wealthiest and most important clients.’
‘Noooo …’
Olivia’s mind whipped back to the excruciating rumours that had been swirling around the corridors of the legal profession since she had started her sabbatical, every one of them instigated by Miles, about her supposedly fragile mental health. As was the way with these things, the gossip had inevitably morphed from her taking a short break into her being unable to leave her flat, and one contemporary had even been told that Olivia had been detained in the local psychiatric clinic.
‘What do you think we should do?’ asked Olivia, her brain in complete turmoil.
‘Oh, I’m already onto it. I’ve spent the last four hours trawling through Miles’s cabinets, scrutinising his files and … hang on.’
‘What? What’s happened? Katrina?’
‘Just another twinge, oh, and now there’s the door!’
‘Don’t answer it!’
‘It’s okay, it’s Will. Hi, Will.’
‘This is absolutely ridiculous, Kat. Why are you still here and why has your phone been engaged for so long? I thought, I thought … look, get your coat, we’re going home, and I won’t take no for an answer.
And you are not coming into the office on Monday either, even if I have to barricade you in the bathroom with your favourite bubbles and a scented candle!’
Hearing Will’s voice made Olivia smile with relief.
‘Sorry, Liv, got to go. I’ll call you later, okay?’
‘Okay.’
It was only when Olivia was checking out the next morning that she wondered whether Gordon Kenwood was still holding on the phone waiting for his questions to be answered.
Chapter 26
Harvey’s Wine Bar was buzzing.
‘So, are you planning to take Jessica home to Italy for Christmas? Introduce her to your dad?’ asked Hollie, pouring all three of them a glass of the Italian fizz they knew and loved. ‘What was it last night? Eighth date? Must be serious?’
Olivia watched from the corner of her eye to see if Hollie’s expression revealed any indication of jealousy, but she saw nothing, only a gentle tease. Poor Matteo, her heart ached for him, but he was an expert at deflecting questions about his relationships.
‘Don’t really know where home is, Hols. Can’t really call Italy my home. Sure, Dad’s there, and all his family, but I’ve never lived there. And there’s no one left from Mum’s side of the family down in Cornwall.’
‘Hey, why don’t you come to Newquay with me, then? Elliot will be home from Singapore and it’ll be just like old times. We can race along the cliffs, go crabbing, go rock-pooling, build a few sandcastles, even go surfing.’
Hollie tossed a playful glance in Olivia’s direction as she flicked her ginger curls away from her face. In her joy at recalling her childhood, she looked much younger than her thirty-five years.
‘Mum and Dad would love to have you to stay, and not just for the discounted wine!’
This time Olivia scoured Matteo’s face for his reaction. Sure enough, it delivered her the confirmation that Elliot was spot on with his detective deductions. Matteo’s eyes seem to light up from his very soul at the offer to spend the Christmas holidays in Cornwall with Hollie and her family.
A Year of Chasing Love Page 21