I missed it due to the noise. I’m starting to feel a bit bad about snapping at him this morning and I guess I’ll have to apologise to him as soon as I can.
We dance for what seems like an eternity to cheesy pop from the last three decades. I’ve just had to extract Serena from the arms of a spotty seventeen year old and had received abuse from both parties for doing so.
“Come on bride to be, time to make a move!” I shout into her ear.
“Awww, c’mon!” she slurs back, “Just one, one, one, I love him!” she exclaims with a look of triumph.
“I know, which is why you need to get back now.”
She looks at me with wide eyes and nods seriously. I make some vague hand signals to the rest of our party and we head to the door. Serena is the only one with the mobile number for the Hummer driver and her battery is flat. Great.
“Sorry girls, looks like we’ll have to cab it. I’ll go with Serena and Cassie as we live over the same way.”
My proclamation is met with groans and nods of assent but the group disperses. Serena is staggering about and Cassie helpfully props her up under her arm. Between us we manage to guide her to a nearby taxi rank and bundle her into the back. The driver doesn’t look particularly impressed, but remains thankfully silent. I tell him Serena’s address and we move away from the rank. Serena slumps down between us and begins to snore gently.
“She could do with a lie-in,” comments Cassie.
“Really?”
“Yeah, she’s been crazy busy recently. She seems to be totally in demand from all sides at the moment.”
“Wow. Lucky her.”
My not so subtle sarcasm is lost on Cassie who continues, speaking almost reverently.
“Yeah, she’s just had a huge lead brief come in, some high value fraud.”
I remain silent. This really, really hurts despite the huge amount of booze I’ve consumed. “Who’s leading her?” I ask.
“God, I can’t remember his name. You know him, the one from the trial.”
“Which trial?” I ask, before I can stop myself.
“The footballer case,” Cassie replies quietly.
Great, so Corr has decided to keep using members of Chambers after all. So much for his so-called support of me. Before I can voice my thoughts, Cassie continues. “Yeah, after the Hobbs trial he said she’d been invaluable and he wanted to work with her again.”
Wait. What?
“You mean Quinn is leading her?”
“Yeah, it’s going to be a seven month trial too. She’s definitely landed on her feet! I mean, she’s really quite junior to have landed that sort of trial but I guess she made a lasting impression.”
I try to maintain my composure and smile at Cassie like this is all perfectly normal.
“Have you seen much of Rivers?”
She looks at me blankly. “Who?”
“You know, the guy who Quinn lead in the Hobbs trial” I push. A flash of recognition appears on Cassie’s face.
“Ohhh! Andrew. Yeah, sure, he and Serena are as thick as thieves, always in the pub together. He seems like a nice guy.”
“Yeah, he is. Have you met his fiancée? She’s called Lucinda.”
Cassie hiccups and considers this. “Nope. I presumed he was single. Between you and me, I think he might have a little crush on Serena. They do seem quite close for just colleagues.”
We arrive at Serena’s and I haul her out of the cab and drag her up to her front door. She is now totally out of it, mumbling incoherent phrases and names. As I open the front door and push her up the stairs I wonder if Ewan is in. We are making quite a lot of noise and I haven’t heard any signs of life coming from above, so I guess not.
I eventually manage to get her into the bedroom and put her on top of the bed covers. I’m sweating from the effort and I can feel my costume cutting in to me at the seams. I decide to leave Serena’s costume on; Ewan can deal with it when he comes in. I manage to tuck her in and turn to leave.
As I reach the doorway her voice becomes clearer and I’m just about able to make out what she is saying. Over and over she is repeating the same phrase. I wouldn’t bet on it, but I think it’s “I’m sorry.”
Chapter Nineteen
By the time I get back into the taxi my head is spinning. A nasty thought has formed at the back of my