Krysalis: Krysalis Read Online Free Page B

clerks’ room.
    “Oh, lost.”
    “Bad luck. The judge got it wrong, did he …?”
    “Bless you, darling; you’re better than a large scotch any day. Roger …”
    The senior clerk looked up inquiringly.
    “Roger, am I still okay to take the first three days of next week off?”
    “Yes, I’ve kept the diary clear.”
    “Thanks.” Anna skimmed through the messages waiting for her. “Who’s this, Roger?”
    “A Mr. Christ phoned.”
    “I knew things were bad, but—”
    The clerk was too busy sorting out next week’s schedules to acknowledge her attempt at humor. “Said would you ring him back, not urgent, social.”
    Then it clicked. “Did he leave a first name? It wasn’t Gerhard by any chance?”
    She looked at the number Roger had scribbled down on the yellow Post-It slip.
Yes!
Anna felt a marvelous upsurge of energy. She went to her room, where she paused only to fling wig and gown onto a chair before snatching up the phone. Thank God it was Friday; the two men who shared an office with her had already gone home for the weekend.
    “Gerhard? Anna. I can’t
be-lieve
it!”
    “Hello.”
    He sounded a touch bored, she thought; no, don’t think like that, snap out of it, something’s going right today. “God, you pick your times to call! I wasn’t expecting you to ring till next month, at the earliest.”
    “Am I early? I can always ring off.”
    “Don’t you dare!”
    “Something wrong, lovey?”
    “Oh, Gerhard!” She perched on the desk. “It’s years since you called me that.”
    “Mm, two. How’s tricks?”
    “Shitty. More shitty than usual. Juliet’s being a pain.” She paused. “I’ve just lost a case.”
    “You should know how difficult children can be, by now. And as for the case: you have to lose some. At least, I thought you did.”
    “My fault, this time.”
    He laughed, a rich blend of mellow sounds that still had the power to loosen all the muscles in her stomach, his roller-coaster laugh … “Always your fault, yes? Anna Lescombe, the big failure.”
    “Oh, you …!”
    “Sorry. Look, I’ve got some time off at last and so I took my courage in both hands and thought—”
    “That you’d phone. I’m so glad you did.” Anna simultaneously took a deep breath and a momentous decision. “What are you doing this weekend?”
    “I’m free most of tomorrow. But it’s a Saturday, aren’t you and David—”
    “He’s off on one of his seminars, bless him. He often is, these days. He won’t be back until the end of next week, I shouldn’t think.”
    The pause was a long one. “Gerhard? Hello, are you there?”
    “I’m here. You sound … I’m concerned.”
    Another jagged pause. Anna stared out the window. “Things have been better,” she said at last. “You know …?” And she laughed, trying to pass it off as nothing, because she always made an attempt to be cheerful nowadays, when there was so much to be cheerful about.
    “We can talk tomorrow. Come to the house. Come early. Lunch. At the usual place.”
    “Oh,
Gerhard.”
How had he guessed what was going through her mind? “Will you phone Seppy or shall I?”
    Again that wonderful laugh, pulsating down the line. “Leave everything to me. Until tomorrow, then …”
    As Anna replaced the receiver she gleefully told herself that as well as a much-needed holiday, she had tomorrow to look forward to now. One whole day in the presence of Gerhard, without distractions or worries.
    No, there would be worries. As she steered the BMW through London’s rush-hour traffic, so her mind wove its way through a maze of potentially disastrous conversations that might evolve when she met him.
    It would be their first meeting since Clara’s death. She could not picture Gerhard as a widower, somehow.What would it be like, going to the Hampstead house and not feeling that it was another woman’s domain?
    By the time she reached Islington, however, she had the thing under control. Spending the day with him might be a