Page 17 of Dissection of a Murder
Our conversations are always civil and polite. Why wouldn’t they be? Our paths have never crossed, and her marriage to Julian was over before I entered the picture—it’s just awkward. She had an entire existence with the person I’m now married to, and I know nothing about it.
Nothing.
Whenever I see Sienna in public, I catch myself staring at herand thinking:Is he the same person now as he was around you? At what point did you start to hate each other and why? Does he ever think of you when we have sex?
“Busy,” Sienna says. She’s a partner in one of the oldest leading criminal solicitor firms in Durham. They’re very well respected, and so is she. “You are, too, by the looks of things.”
“Yes,” I say, through a forced smile. “Speaking of which, I’m on in Court 2 at 10:30, so I’d better get going.”
“Are you ready, darling?” Julian says to me in his charming voice, the one he reserves for when he wants other people to notice him. He slides his arm around my waist in what some would describe as a territorial move. “Sienna. Keiran.”
Neither of them says anything. Sienna takes the subtlest intake of breath and turns away from both of us. Keiran just stares at Julian. The scene makes me uncomfortable.
“Keiran, I’m very sorry for your loss,” he says in an unusual display of sympathy for a man I know he despises. An excruciating silence simmers between the four of us. This is precisely what Julian is known for in court—making his witnesses uneasy and then delivering a blow out of nowhere.
“As a pupilmaster myself, I understand the bond that develops.”
“We call it ‘pupil supervisor’ now. Though I guess some people’s relationships with their pupils are muchcloserthan others,” Keiran says to Julian, his eyes turning toward me.
He shouldn’t have said that. The suggestion that our relationship is rooted in any kind of impropriety is something Julian is fiercely sensitive about. He pauses for a few seconds, allowing the insult to evaporate in the air and thus lose any power it might have had.
“Iunderstandthe bond that develops,” he goes on, as if Keiran hadn’t said anything at all. “And I have to say, one of the most important things as a pupil supervisor is feeling immensely proud ofyour pupil’s achievements, just as I do with Leila. I can’t imagine a more tragic situation than the feeling that your pupil never reached their full potential. I mean, I wouldn’t necessarily use the worddisappointment, but…”
It’s harsh, even for him.
“Fuck you, Julian!” Keiran says, in a way that’s so aggressive Sienna places her hand on his arm to calm him down.
“Don’t!” she whispers to her husband. People around us start looking over, while Julian displays a shocked face, knowing full well he’s the reason for the outburst.
“It’s not the time or the place for this,” I say quietly. Sienna pulls Keiran away as I steer Julian outside and into one of the adjoining conference rooms.
“What the hell was that?” I ask him, closing the door.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s pathetic, Julian!”
“He made the comment first.”
“Seriously?” I ask, astonished. “Your defense is ‘he started it’? You’re a forty-seven-year-old barrister, for god’s sake!”
He sits down on one of the chairs, throwing his wig onto the table.
“Why do you still get like this around her?”
“Like what?”
“Angry. She still has such an effect on you.”
“You know what she did,” he says, looking at me. “Whattheydid.”
After being married for three years, Sienna moved out and told Julian it was over. A few months later, she got together with Keiran and people put two and two together. Julian concluded they’d had an affair and he made sure everyone knew. She never denied it.
“Whatever happened is in the past,” I tell him, perching on the edge of the table in front of him.
“I know it is, but she can’t resist rubbing it in my face. Did you see her practically throwing herself at Chester in there, and in front of her husband, too? She doesn’t change.”
“If anything, it was Chester being overly flirty in that way he is sometimes. Also, I hardly think greeting someone is ‘throwing yourself’ at them. She’s known Chester for years! You’re being paranoid.”
