Private Lives

29



Anna came out of the Royal Courts of Justice and leaned on the wall of the ancient building, breathing in the fresh air. The courtroom inside had been stuffy and crowded, crammed with barristers, their pupils, staff and rubberneckers, all breathing the same stale, dry air. They had been in there for five long hours with only a short break for lunch; after that, the sunshine on the court steps was like being released from a cell. Not that it had been entirely a chore. Part of her was excited to be involved in the Balon case; after all, there were only a handful of libel jury trials a year, and that alone brought its own glamour and energy. But did it have to be so damn slow?

Perhaps she’d been spoiled; her area of media law was one of the few where things moved fast. A client came to you at 4 p.m. having ‘misplaced’ some dirty pictures, and by 9 a.m. the following morning you had served your injunction and sent out your bill. On the other hand, very few trials were as drawn out and pedantic as a libel trial; it was too expensive. Only the very rich could afford the full letter of the law.

‘Whoo! They go on, don’t they?’

Anna looked up to see Sid, her trainee, joining her. She laughed.

‘It is a bit long-winded, yes. The sort of thing that gives lawyers a bad name.’

‘I wouldn’t mind,’ said Sid, ‘but the QCs seem to be loving every minute of it. I’ve never seen someone get so worked up about the implied meaning of the word “businessman” within a certain context.’

‘Ah, that’s because they’re getting paid for every minute they’re in there. The longer they can stretch it out, the higher the fees.’

‘All this to keep them in golf shoes, eh?’ replied Sid honestly.

Anna laughed. She would be sad to see Sid leave. She hadn’t been at Donovan Pierce long enough to really bond with the girl, but she was one of the few employees who seemed human. Maybe that was why they were letting her go.

‘I’m going in to get a drink. You want anything?’

Sid shook her head.

‘I think I’ll stay out here in the sun for a while. Make the most of it.’

Anna walked back inside, her heels tapping on the marble floor. She put a few coins into the vending machine and sat down on a bench in the atrium, gazing up at the sculptures and paintings, enjoying the calm.

‘Anna Kennedy? Not working? Never thought I’d see the day.’

She looked up and frowned when she saw Blake Stanhope.

‘Back in court, Blake? Who have you stitched up this time?’

Blake pulled a look of mock hurt. ‘Don’t take that tone with me. I thought we were friends.’

‘I wouldn’t go that far.’

‘Come on, Anna,’ he said, more evenly. ‘We’re in the same game, aren’t we?’

‘Blake, you belong in jail.’

His shoulders slumped.

‘I know you think I’m some sort of unprincipled rat, and maybe I have my moments, but believe me when I say I didn’t leak that story. And I don’t appreciate you quizzing every editor in town asking them if I shared the Sam Charles story with them.’

‘You heard about that?’ Maybe her discreet enquiries weren’t so discreet.

He nodded.

Anna looked at him, trying to read his face.

‘Well, someone did, and we only have two in the line-up: you and that girl Katie Grey. Or maybe someone in your office.’

Blake paused, looking up at the dark portrait of a rather forbidding-looking judge in ceremonial dress.

‘It was no one in my office,’ he said defensively. ‘I was the only one who knew about it. As for Katie . . . She’s not a bad girl. Just a frustrated one. It’s often the way with kiss-and-tell girls. It’s not just about the money. Someone they slept with makes a heap of promises to them and then doesn’t deliver. Speaking out is their way of lashing out. Katie felt rejected, hurt. But she understood the injunction had gagged her, and she wasn’t going to break the law.’

‘You all sound so moral.’

He took a seat beside her.

‘Have you considered phone hacking?’

She had.

‘We take every precaution. Our phones are swept regularly. We avoid leaving voicemail messages. Don’t you?’

‘Never been stung yet.’

‘To your knowledge.’

‘I’m careful. Besides, do you think the papers are going to take the risk of phone tapping after the last scandal?’

She downed her drink, deep in thought.

Silence rattled between them.

‘Have you ever considered that the leak might have come from your end?’ he said finally.

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

‘You don’t think it’s possible? One of Sam’s staff, a driver, a PA? Or someone at your office. A temp. A cleaner.’

‘Don’t make ridiculous accusations just to get yourself off the hook.’

‘For a smart girl, you’re very trusting,’ he said casually.

For a second Anna thought about Sid. Struggling for cash, with a job about to end. Or Josh, Sam’s PA. Sam was convinced his young assistant didn’t know the details of his indiscretions, but Josh had that smart competence that suggested he knew everything.

‘I trust everyone on our team one hundred per cent,’ she said defensively. ‘We run a tight ship.’

‘Just a little food for thought, some free advice between old friends,’ said Blake playfully. ‘You lawyers do rather think in straight lines, don’t you? Maybe it’s time to take off the blinkers. Who would benefit from leaking the Sam and Katie sex story, if it wasn’t Katie and it wasn’t me?’