The Baby Verdict

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‘Being difficult? Explain what you mean by being difficult .’

Jessica didn’t answer. She walked across the room removed her jacket and coat from the hanger and then walked back to her pile of papers. Without looking at him, she began sifting through them, pausing to read snatches of reports, then she stuffed the lot into her briefcase and snapped it shut.

‘I’m tired too,’ she said, meeting his stare reluctantly. ‘It’s been a long week.’

‘You’re right,’ he surprised her by saying. ‘Friday is the worst day to work late. Don’t you agree?’ He had slung his jacket over the back of the leather chair, and he stuck it on, tugging his tie off and shoving it into his pocket. Then he undid the top button of his shirt.

Jessica followed all of this with a mortifying sense of compulsion, then she blinked and dragged her eyes away.

The end of the case couldn’t come a day too soon as far as she was concerned. Working alongside Bruno Carr was stretching her nerves to breaking-point, and she couldn’t quite work out why.

‘Fridays are meant for relaxing. Winding down before the business of the weekend.’

She shrugged and made no comment.

‘I’ll see you on Monday,’ she said, facing him.

‘I’ll get the lift down with you.’

They walked together to the lift and as the doors shut he turned to her and said, ‘Big plans for tonight?’

‘Not big, no. And you?’ His eyes were boring into her but she refused to look at him.

‘Small plans, then?’

She clicked her tongue with impatience. There had been no more prying into her personal life, not since that unsettling meal out three weeks previously, but for some reason he was in the mood to stir and she was handy.

‘I shall put my feet up and relax.’

‘Isn’t that what you did last Friday?’ he mused thoughtfully, and she clenched her fists tightly around the handle of her briefcase.

‘Is it?’ she asked innocently, refusing to become bait for his sense of humour. ‘I forget. I’m surprised you remember, actually.’

‘Oh, I remember everything. It’s one of my talents.’

‘Along with your modesty.’

He laughed under his breath. ‘I hope we aren’t working you too hard...’ His voice was speculative, paternal and didn’t fool her for an instant. ‘I wouldn’t want to be accused of coming between you and your love life.’

The doors pinged open, and Jessica breathed a sigh of relief. Bruno was tenacious. When he got hold of something, he was like a dog with a bone, which was fine when it came to work, but when he started directing it at her private life she had an instinctive urge to dive and take cover.

‘I’ll make sure not to accuse you of any such thing, in that case,’ she answered politely. They walked out of the building and into dark, driving rain.

‘Have a good weekend’ He strolled off in the direction of the company’s underground car park, and five minutes later she saw him sweep away, his car sending up a fine spray.

Jessica held her briefcase awkwardly over her head, ventured to the side of the kerb and waited for a vacant cab which, after fifteen minutes, was beginning to resemble a hunt for the proverbial needle in the haystack.

She should have walked to the underground, but her feet ached, and now it seemed pointless.

She was on the point of returning to the office and calling a taxi when a low-slung, sleek car slowed down and finally stopped in front of her. The window purred down and Bruno contemplated her wet, shivering form with a grin.