My Husband's Wife(119)

‘You managed to get the judge’s sympathy with that rather dramatic faint. Luckily for you, your grandfather put up the bail.’

Nonno? Carla began to sweat again. ‘He knows of this?’

‘The news is all over the place. The press is having a field day. They’re outside the court right now. Waiting for us, cameras at the ready.’

Lily’s eyes were bright. Glazed like an animal’s, although Carla could not work out if she was in search of prey or being hunted herself. The thought made her uneasy. ‘ “Ménage à trois in the courtroom,” they’re calling it. Someone’s got wind of the fact that we shared a husband.’ There was a hoarse laugh. ‘I’d like to say it was at different times, but there was some overlap, wasn’t there?’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Did you say something?’ Lily was standing over her like a teacher. ‘I didn’t quite catch that. Would you mind saying that again?’

‘I said I’m sorry.’

Lily put her head to one side. ‘And you really think that a simple apology wipes the slate clean; that it atones for the wreckage of my marriage and the effect on my son?’

‘It wasn’t easy being married to Ed.’

‘If you go on like that, you’ll make everyone think you did kill Ed – including me.’ Lily’s tone was sharp, but Carla could tell she’d hit a nerve. It was a start. Slow but sure. Employment law had taught her that. Begin by befriending the other side. Especially if it was really your own side …

‘Right. Let’s get going, shall we? Look straight ahead when we go out and don’t, whatever you do, say anything to anyone. Ready?’

Lily strode ahead confidently as they followed the police officer out of the courtroom, across the lobby and into the street. At first Carla thought the sun was strong. But then, when she put down her hand, she could see the flashes. Cameras. A sea of faces. Voices calling out.

‘Carla, is it true that your solicitor used to be married to your husband?’

‘Carla, who do you think killed your husband if you didn’t?’

‘Lily, why have you taken on your ex-husband’s wife? Have you always been friends?’

Carla started as Lily grabbed her arm. Firmly. Painfully. ‘In the car. Now.’

Somehow they made their way through, down the steps and into the silver car waiting at the bottom.

‘You’ve got it all organized,’ Carla said with grudging admiration. Lily was in the front, her face turned to the side, looking out at the sea of people. Then she seemed to freeze.

‘What?’ Carla asked.

Lily went pink. ‘Nothing.’ Then she turned round so her back was facing Carla.

Lily had seen something, Carla told herself. Or someone. Who? She tried to look herself, but the car had moved on, swiftly gliding through the traffic leaving London.

It would be best, Lily told her as they drove, if she came to stay with her in Devon. It would be quieter there, away from the crowds. They could work on the case together. They could, if she wanted, even apply to have Poppy living with them.

‘You would do that for me? Have Ed’s child living with us?’

Carla’s heart sank. Poppy with her blue, all-seeing eyes was the last person she needed. She might make her mind go all strange again.

‘Why not? It’s not her fault.’

Lily had it all worked out.

Little did she know.





59


Lily


I have to admit that Carla’s fears are not unfounded. It would be easy to take on my husband’s wife’s case and put up such an obviously weak defence that she would go down.

But that’s not the way to do it.

‘Let me make this perfectly clear,’ I say to her as we sit in my parents’ sitting room overlooking the sea. She’s curled up in my chair, the pink velvet one that I’ve always sat in since childhood. Yet it suits Carla perfectly. You’d think, to look at her, that she’s on holiday. Stretching back in the sunlight which pours through the picture windows, acting as though she is a guest instead of the client I’ve taken in – much to my mother’s surprise – while preparing for the case.

‘You need to tell me everything,’ I continue. ‘No holding back. In return, I will do my best to defend you.’

Her eyes narrow. ‘How do I know that? Supposing you really want me to lose?’

‘If you’re worried about that, why did you ask me to represent you?’

‘I told you. Because you knew what Ed was like and because people trust you.’

Ed. Once more, his name gives me a pang. Why is it possible to care for someone who had hurt you so badly?

‘And I’m telling you, Carla, that if I take a case on, I put everything into it.’ I pause, staring out across the sea. There’s a stream of yachts like a row of bobbing ducks. The sailing club always goes out on a Saturday afternoon. Tom loves to watch, although he asks persistent questions about why the boats can float on the water and why fish live beneath. He’s down there on the front, right now, with Mum. Poppy too, in the old Silver Cross pram that Mum’s dug out. In fact, she’s one of the reasons I’m doing this.

I don’t want to like Ed’s child. I really don’t. But from the minute I saw her with her cute red hair and my husband’s stubby fingers, I felt something tug at me. This was the daughter we should have had together. This was the child that might have come along if we hadn’t had our hands full with Tom.