Private Lives

‘Oh them,’ said Sam, the penny dropping. ‘Why are you going there?’

For a second she wondered if Sam had actually listened to anything she had told him over the past week. She found that a lot with celebrities. If something didn’t directly relate to them, some part of their brain just edited it out as useless information.

‘I need to find out who this Peter is. The only way I can think how is to go to the party and talk to people. I’ve swung an invite through Johnny Maxwell.’

Sam frowned at her. His disapproval was obvious.

‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘Look, Anna,’ he said, sipping his wine. ‘It’s none of my business, but when are you going to give this up?’

‘Give what up?’

‘Playing Miss bloody Marple.’

She looked at him with astonishment.

‘But it is your business! This could be the reason your injunction failed. And anyway, you said you wanted to find out what had happened to Amy. After all, you’ve been paying for it for the last month.’

He sighed.

‘I wanted to spend time with you. I suppose it was just a good excuse.’

She forgot to breathe.

‘Hang on, you said you’d help me, just to get into my k

nickers?’

‘Stop being dramatic,’ he said, lowering his voice. He put his palm on the table. ‘Look, I am sorry that this girl is dead, and I feel for her family. But I don’t care about that injunction any more. In fact, I’m glad it failed, because if it hadn’t, I wouldn’t have done the Edinburgh show, I wouldn’t have split with Jessica. I wouldn’t be sitting here with you now,’ he said pointedly.

She couldn’t help feeling angry and disappointed. She had genuinely thought they were in this together, a team, but clearly Sam had tired of the mystery.

‘Sam, there’s more to life than your bloody injunction, you know. A girl died.’

‘My bloody injunction?’ he huffed. ‘Nice to know you thought so much of it. Maybe that’s why it all went tits-up.’

Anna jerked back. It felt as if he had slapped her across the face, and she could see that a French couple on the next table were looking over at them and whispering.

‘I’m sorry. Come on, Anna, this is stupid,’ said Sam, his voice softer. ‘We shouldn’t be fighting over this.’ He hesitated. ‘I just think you’ve got involved in the case because you want to distract yourself from your sister’s wedding. And to be honest, I can’t blame you. But you’ve got me to distract you now. Stop obsessing over Amy Hart. Let your mate at the newspaper sort it out. Let’s just get a room, go to bed and have some fun.’

Ruby and Liz Hart popped into Anna’s head, and she couldn’t shake them away. She was not going to give up on them.

‘No, I don’t want to go to bed,’ she said coldly.

Sam shook his head.

‘Shit, Anna. What is the matter with you? Get off your high bloody horse and let it go. It’s not as if you’ve been the most principled lawyer in the world before now, is it? Why is this crusade suddenly so important to you?’

‘Not principled? What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘I mean the sort of work you do. You’re a media lawyer, Anna. You cover up for rich people. You’re a shark.’ He gave a small smile. ‘Although I admit, I kind of like that about you.’

She closed her eyes, fighting back the tears.

That was exactly why Amy Hart mattered so much to her. It wasn’t as simple as wanting to help Ruby find out the truth about her sister’s death, although she did want to do that, very much. It was also about trying to make up for all the other stories, all the other uncomfortable truths she had helped bury. Anna couldn’t deny that she loved her job and the sense of fulfilment she felt from being very good at it. It was fast-paced and exciting, even though she sometimes had to justify her professional actions. Whenever she won an injunction protecting an adulterous footballer or celebrity from the glare of the media, she convinced herself that by gagging the press they were protecting his wife and family. And yet deep down, she wondered if that argument rang hollow.

She looked at Sam Charles, and suddenly wanted to leave their little pocket of Paradise.