As Chris looked across at her, Mike Cullen’s words thundered in his ears. There must be no talking shop outside the office. Even the most casual asides are open to misinterpretation. So, it’s best to say absolutely nothing. Not about clients, not about colleagues, not about anything that you do. And here he was, sitting opposite an investigative reporter from one of the country’s most powerful national newspapers; a reporter who also happened to be the woman who’d meant more to him than any other. What was he to say?
After a pause he said noncommitally, ‘Just about all of them.’
Judith nodded. ‘That wouldn’t include Starwear by any chance, would it?’
‘Yeah,’ he was casual, ‘I’ve done some work for them.’ He wasn’t about to blurt out anything he’d regret later on; and definitely not that he’d done a major investigation for them.
Across from him, Judith was chewing her lip. She always used to chew her lip when she was anxious.
‘Why the interest in Starwear in particular?’
Suddenly, she felt she needed a cigarette. She reached into her bag for a pack of B&H Lights.
‘Mind if I … ?’
He shrugged.
Getting up, she walked across to the window where she lit a cigarette in rapid, jerky movements, exhaling loudly. ‘You’ve only been at Lombard six weeks, right?’ she asked him.
‘Right.’
‘You work on all those different clients, right?’
‘Right.’
‘And there’s nothing you’ve come across at Starwear that you consider … ethically questionable?’
He was genuinely surprised. And pleased he could deal with this in a way that Mike Cullen would have applauded. ‘Quite the opposite. Starwear is one of the most straight-up companies I’ve ever dealt with.’
‘Christ help us!’ Judith took a long drag of her cigarette.
Chris regarded her with the benevolence of a doti
ng father watching his child making mischief. ‘Come on, Jude, Nathan Strauss was hardly someone—’
‘It’s not him I’m talking about. It’s his younger brother. Why do you think Nathan topped himself?’
Chris could hardly believe what he was hearing. This was way off the spectrum. ‘You’re not saying that had something to do with Jacob?’ His voice had risen.
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying.’ She was firm.
They held each other’s gaze across the sitting room, Chris flabbergasted by her accusation – all the more so given the calm self-assurance with which she’d made it; Judith wrestling with all she knew and wondering how much she ought to tell Chris. Here she was, standing opposite a Lomboid; one who worked on the Starwear account and probably had dealings with Jacob Strauss.
‘Look, I don’t have the full picture yet. And what I do know …’ She trailed off.
‘Yes?’ he demanded.
It was a moment before she answered. ‘How can I be sure you won’t go running back to Lombard?’
There was a long pause before he asked, in hurt rather than anger, ‘Don’t you think you mean anything to me?’ Then, trying to be more conciliatory, ‘Whatever else you think of me, surely you know I can be trusted?’
For a while they held each other’s gaze. Finally she said, ‘I know for sure that Strauss and his cohorts are dangerous and untrustworthy.’
Chris shook his head. ‘Where’s the evidence?’
‘The evidence?’ she flashed back, her voice notching up several tones. ‘There’s Merlin de Vere, just for starters.’
‘The kinky sex guy?’