Come Back to Me

by Sara Foster

  Kip Abbott had been the one to find her, when she wouldn’t come out of the bath. She was fully dressed, blood pooling beneath the cuffs of the shirt of her school uniform. She’d used Kip’s spare razor blades. She was just unconscious then, but by the time they got her to the hospital it was too late. The coroner thought it might have been a cry for help, but Kara didn’t know how to calculate the difference in millimetres of severed skin that would turn her plea into a successful suicide attempt.

  Kip had gone to the school the next day, and resigned from his position as the deputy head. Even the kids in classrooms far from the headmaster’s office could hear his shouting from where they sat, taking mock Maths exams. The police had been called.

  Kip and his wife, Sally, had initially decided to try to get the girls responsible on some kind of charge. But the school had closed ranks, and the case was deemed impossible to win. So now they were going after the school instead – Kip’s former employers and one of the most sought-after private girls’ schools in the country. And, just to make Lewis & Marchant that extra bit nervous, two of the girls involved in the bullying were children of well-known parents – a politician and his wife, and a TV newsreader and her husband. The media were going to be on them like hungry jackals.

  Their chances of winning this high-profile case were deemed, in the legal world, not good, particularly as the inquest into Kara’s death had absolved the school of wrong-doing; in fact, praising it for the steps it had taken to try to help the troubled girl. However, not only had Neil agreed to be subjected to this public mauling, but he’d involved almost everyone in the office in one way or another. Perhaps determined he wouldn’t go down alone, Mark thought ruefully. While Mark specialised in litigation, Chloe had been drafted in to help because she was more used to dealing with passionate and emotive cases in her daily family law work, and they were both down to attend court with Neil when the trial began next month.

  Mark was looking forward to working with Chloe, although when she gave that coy little smirk as she talked about Alex, he always wished he could dig up something – anything – to turn that smile into more of a grimace. And now, he realised, it looked like he’d stumbled on something that could do exactly that. In fact, maybe last night hadn’t been a complete write-off, he consoled himself. He checked his watch. Yes, if he were quick, he had time. He headed past his office, and strode along to the one next door.

  4

  ‘What the hell was all that about last night?’

  Chloe had just arrived at work and was doing her best to concentrate on her own notes for the day when the door opened. Having spent a sleepless night listening to the rain pounding against the roof while wondering exactly the same thing herself, she was in no mood to listen to a rant.

  ‘Nice, Mark,’ she began wearily as she saw a couple of colleagues in the corridor turn and look at them. ‘What a great way to bring personal shit into the office.’ She was surprised at the vehemence in her voice – she usually trod cautiously where Mark was concerned.

  Mark opened his mouth to continue, then stopped abruptly. He obviously wanted a row, but didn’t know how to get there if she wouldn’t play along. He came into the office, shut the door, and threw himself into a chair that had hosted a whole array of wretched spouses and at least three bigamists.

  ‘What did Alex say?’ His eyes narrowed as he watched her.

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘So what the hell do you think was going on last night? They obviously know each other.’

  Mark’s words were forcing Chloe to think about the exact issue she was trying to avoid dwelling on. Yes, they obviously knew each other. Which led on to How? When? Where?

  ‘I don’t know. And I really don’t want to discuss it right now – not with you.’

  ‘So do you think they’re having an affair?’

  Behind the desk, Chloe clenched her fists. ‘No, I don’t, but trust you to think that,’ she said firmly, feeling shaken. She glared at Mark but he ignored her.

  ‘Well, has Alex ever mentioned Julia before?’

  Another question Chloe had been pondering hard. And there was only one answer she could come up with. ‘No.’ She’d asked Alex the basic questions one asked when the moment came for them to share the details of their lives before each other, but she hadn’t pushed for information. Besides, she was sure he’d told her his old girlfriends’ names, and she didn’t remember a Julia.

  That didn’t matter. Alex’s reaction last night wasn’t one of being reunited with an old, casual fling, and she knew it. And, obviously, so did Mark.

  Mark was still watching her, but then gave a frustrated sigh and stood up. ‘Okay, I suppose I’d better get on, I’m due in court in an hour. Just let me know if you shed any light on this.’

  Chloe bit back her irritation: he sounded like he was discussing missing paperwork. She had no intention of making this a joint problem.

  ‘Mmm,’ was the best she could do as he made for the door. She could see Jana, the secretary they were temporarily sharing, trying to peer through the gaps in the inner wall where the frosted glass became momentarily clear. Nosy cow, she thought, irritated.

  Her fingers hovered over the phone. Normally if Mark was driving her crazy – as he had a tendency to at times with his infuriating way of speaking to her and his frequent incursions into her office – she’d call Alex, just to hear the sound of his mellow, calm voice on the other end of the line. She often pictured him at home, working meticulously on one of his design projects. However, today the only image she could conjure up as her fingers hesitated on the handset was the look on his face as he’d met Julia’s gaze last night. She quickly moved her hand away from the phone, and bent to her work.

  5

  ‘So, Doctor Fielding, you’re telling us you are certain that on two occasions, at five o’clock on the afternoon of the 29th January, and at one o’clock on the 31st January, Doctor Hazeltoft was with you in the Water’s Edge restaurant?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right.’

  Mark sighed as he listened to the barrister questioning this idiotic witness and resisted the urge to check his watch. It wasn’t long until lunch and he hoped that this blithering liar would be dealt with before then. He had no problem with the Old Boys’ Network, but when they covered up major fraud it was going a bit far. Mark watched the barrister work the room like he was in the Crown Court of the Old Bailey. Every time Mark took a trip to court he wondered if he really should have gone to the bar instead of opting for private practice.

  The witness, dressed in a dapper suit and yellow silk tie, a matching pocket handkerchief peeking from his breast pocket, stared back at the barrister.

  ‘Are you completely sure about that, Doctor Fielding?’

  ‘I am,’ the old gentleman nodded, but his hand strayed up towards his breast pocket as though about to take the handkerchief out of there and mop his brow.

  In the silence that ensued, Mark looked at his notes on the table, knowing exactly what was coming next. He never lost the satisfaction of watching a barrister seizing just the right moment to execute a perfect ballestra, usually leaving their naïve opponent fatally exposed.

  ‘Well, although your own practice records show no mention of any surgeries, Doctor Fielding, when we finally located the operating theatre records at the hospital they have you performing an emergency heart surgery from eleven o’clock on the 31st January. Here you are -’ the barrister strode across the room and placed a document before the witness – ‘So I put it to you now, is it likely that you have your dates muddled?’

  The witness hesitated, then glanced at his friend, who stared intently back at him.

  Mark quelled the smile that threatened to rise as he watched this apparent capitulation. Just as the witness seemed to be drawing breath to speak, the barrister nodded smartly at the judge and said, ‘No further questions, Your Honour.’ His eyes moved with Mark’s to the defence, who looked ready to object on the grounds their client had had no ch
ance to answer. Mark watched as David Lockhart, opposing counsel, studied the downturned head of the witness, and then the bewigged man bent his own head back to his notes. He had obviously decided to cut his losses for now.

  Mark waited, praying the judge was about to call lunch, and flicked a covert glance at the seats behind him while fiddling with the papers in his briefcase. He saw no faces he recognised, but the habit of looking had become a nervous tic that he couldn’t control. Early on in his career, he had cast his eyes behind him and happened to notice a figure sitting there quietly. While his heart had begun to race, his father showed no outward sign of acknowledgement, but the message was as clear as if Henry Jameson had stood up and yelled it at him. Even though Mark was now qualified in the law, and a lifetime of diligent work had realised Henry’s ultimate dream of a son following him into the profession, it seemed that the highly respected retired solicitor had no intention of loosening the reins on his protégé. Mark’s career was to be closely monitored.

  Mark knew, just as Henry would know, that this one appearance had the desired effect. Mark never got lazy, never slackened, as there could always be someone watching, the one person whose praise and respect it was almost impossible to earn.

  So it disturbed him that he felt so uninterested today. Maybe he did need his father watching over him like a hawk, because although Henry Jameson liked to drop in to his old firm regularly to keep up with the latest cases, he had been noticeably absent for the past week or so, coinciding nicely with Mark’s apathy.

  The judge had indeed called the lunch recess. Mark gave a sigh of relief, closed his briefcase and made his way from the room and along the hallway, nodding as Sheree, the legal assistant, reminded him of the order of the afternoon. He strode out of the front doors into a blustering breeze, heading back to the office a couple of streets away where he could look over his notes undisturbed. But it was no good, because now he could vividly picture Julia sitting opposite him, on the night she’d walked into his life out of the blue.

  It had been late on Monday evening. Most people had gone home – he’d seen Chloe race out just after ‘official hours’ ended – her cheeks glowing, her face full of anticipation at seeing her boring hippy of a husband. The secretaries had begun chattering inanely about whatever pathetic reality TV programme they would be gawping at over their TV dinners, while they logged off their computers and collected their belongings. David and Neil had done their nightly prowl of the corridors on their way out an hour or so later – both of them raising a hand in greeting beyond the glass partition that separated the solicitors’ offices from the corridors and central open-plan area, but not interrupting Mark, whose desk was littered with papers and case files.

  Mark loved working in the office when everyone else had gone. He felt more at home in the empty surroundings – evidence of people was to him a more comforting thing than negotiating their presence. He sometimes had a disconcerting feeling that people in the office were laughing at him. The secretaries were the worst. They worked for him, yet only the temps seemed intimidated by him. Even if he raised his voice with displeasure when an important document was handed to him with incorrect details, or a crucial legal date was missed, they just stood in his doorway looking mildly irritated or faintly bored, waited patiently until his diatribe was over and then sorted out the muddle, usually relatively efficiently. It was infuriating.

  So there was solace in bending over case files with only the hum of the heating unit invading his hearing, his desk light illuminating the papers in an otherwise shadowy room. That night he had been searching for a precedent for a case that was worrying him, when he’d glanced up and seen a gloomy face peering at his through the glass divide. His heart had ricocheted wildly in his chest. For one insane moment he thought it was a ghost, and his stomach contracted as the figure immediately disappeared. Then the door handle turned and the door creaked slowly open.

  The head that appeared first was substantially beautiful, and while he quickly dismissed all notions of visiting spirits, there was still something ethereal about her face. She was almost as pale as alabaster, but with perfectly proportioned, delicate features, large, mournful dark eyes, and beautiful silky brown hair. She wore jeans on her thin frame, along with a crumpled lightweight jacket and a pink scarf, and a satchel across one shoulder.

  Mark was momentarily lost for words.

  ‘Are you a lawyer?’ she asked, in a hesitant, husky hot-chocolate voice.

  ‘Yes,’ he spluttered. ‘Can I help you? It’s after hours…’

  ‘I know, I know,’ she said. ‘I took a chance. I saw the light, and I’m a bit desperate. I need some papers signed. Your receptionist is still here and she said you might help.’

  ‘Oh, did she,’ Mark replied, inwardly cursing the new receptionist and making a mental note to have a word. His voice was tainted with disappointment at the mundanity of her request. ‘Well, it’s not something I’d…’

  ‘Please?’ she interrupted softly. ‘I just need a witness for my tenancy agreement. I really need it tonight or I won’t get the place.’

  Exasperated now, Mark raised his hand impatiently and gestured for her to hand him the papers. He took a quick glance at the tenancy agreement – a pretty standard affair from what he could see – flicked to the back, picked up his fountain pen and impatiently scrawled his signature. ‘You know, anyone can sign this,’ he told her rudely. ‘It doesn’t have to be a lawyer.’

  ‘Oh,’ she said softly, her voice so bereft that it made him look up at her. God, she really was beautiful. He had an urge to wrap his arms around her protectively, which surprised him – it wasn’t the first urge he usually had in the company of attractive females.

  ‘Sit down,’ he commanded, and pointed to the chair opposite him.

  She looked worried, but reluctantly perched on the edge of the chair he had motioned to. ‘May I?’ She gestured at the papers still sitting in front of him. ‘How… how much do I owe you?’

  Mark studied her as she watched him. His signature was worth an insane amount of money really. What had it taken him – a few seconds?

  ‘Nothing,’ he said, watching her face relax a moment before it instantly switched to high alert as he said impulsively, ‘Just come on a date with me.’

  He had shocked her. She paused for a moment. ‘I don’t date,’ she replied flatly. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Not that kind of date,’ he said quickly, not sure himself where he was heading but mortified at being rejected so out of hand. ‘I just need a companion for a dinner – there’ll be others there. It’s just making up the numbers.’ He smiled in a way he hoped was reassuring to her. ‘You’d be doing me a real favour… in just the same way as this…’ He gestured at the papers between them.

  She still looked guarded. ‘When?’

  Mark’s mind was racing as to how he could organise this quickly. ‘Hang on.’ He got up and hurried through the door of his office into Chloe’s adjacent room, almost running, worried that she’d make a dash for it while he was gone. He grabbed Chloe’s diary and brought it back with him.

  ‘Next Thursday,’ he said, watching her.

  ‘I’ll try,’ she replied noncommittally, staring at him as though trying to determine something.

  ‘What’s your mobile number?’ He moved to his desk and picked up a pen.

  ‘I don’t have one.’

  ‘Really?’ He was intrigued. ‘Wow, I thought everyone had a mobile. How do you cope?’

  She shrugged. ‘It’s not that hard.’ She made to get up. ‘I should go.’

  ‘What about a home phone?’ he asked, watching her lithe movements as she turned away from him.

  ‘The rental’s not connected.’ She was nearly at the door now.

  ‘Meet me at Covent Garden Station – the Long Acre entrance – at six thirty on Thursday,’ he said desperately, aware she hadn’t given him any commitment, and wanting to prolong her stay. He picked up the papers in front of him as she held out he
r hand. ‘Flat 2, Delaware Court,’ he announced, then scribbled it down on his legal pad. ‘At least I know where to find you.’

  In response she looked so frightened that Mark laughed. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, ‘I just meant in case I need to change the arrangements.’

  She nodded mutely. For a moment Mark thought she was on the verge of tears.

  Alarmed, he added, ‘I’ll let my friends know, they’ll be pleased you’re coming.’ He began to regret the offer, and nearly took it back, on the verge of saying, ‘Never mind, forget it,’ but some obscure notion of courtesy meant he felt that was simply too rude.

  She grabbed the papers, and said ‘Thanks’ as their hands briefly touched. Then she turned and almost bolted for the door.

  ‘Hang on,’ he said, half-laughing at the absurdity of it all.

  She turned around.

  ‘I’m Mark,’ he told her, lifting his hand in a mock-wave and smiling in what he hoped was a placating and friendly manner. He was intrigued, he realised. Intensely so.

  ‘Julia,’ she replied, not meeting his eyes, but replicating his smile with a smaller, pinched version of her own. Then she turned on her heel, and was gone.

  6

  The reverberations from the previous evening almost made Chloe forget the tremendously important task she had planned for that day. However, at lunchtime she went and bought another test.

  Might as well be absolutely sure, she thought, returning from the pharmacy with her small paper bag. Yesterday she’d leaned against the wall of the toilet cubicle, stick in hand, hardly able to contain her delight as the blue plus symbol appeared. The instructions told her she’d know after a minute. She’d waited ten, checking her watch, just in case it disappeared again.