Page 46 of Dissection of a Murder
“Oh, just a silly joke!” I laugh, suddenly catching on to what she means. “We both love the classics, and we always put a quote in each other’s birthday cards every year. Nerdy, really.”
“Fas est ab hoste doceri.‘It is right to be taught even by an enemy’? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Demi is never this direct, and I’ve never seen the non-giggly, non-daddy’s-girl version of her before. I’m also thrown by the Latin coming out of her mouth.
“Chester is always giving me savage, sage pieces of advice. You know, how to survive at the Bar and all that. I thought it was funny. Didn’t know you read Latin, Demi.”
“I went to boarding school. It was compulsory. I’m surprisedyoudo. Chess extraordinaire and now Latin scholar. Be careful, Leila, people will start to question your working-class background.”
I say nothing. She wants a reaction, and she isn’t going to get one.
“I’m kidding!” She laughs.
I deliver the kind of smile you reserve for people you despise.
“I need to get back to work, Demi. Gorgeous to see you.”
—
I convince Julian to go for a quick walk with me after lunch just to get a bit of fresh air. Being inside court and chambers all day can feel claustrophobic. I’m also mindful of the fact we’re spending less time together at home, so it’s a good opportunity to reconnect. We grab a couple of coffees from the deli around the corner.
“I was talking to Demi earlier,” I tell him, as we saunter along the nearby cobbled streets. “She came into chambers to meet Chester. She’s very odd.”
“In what way? What did she say?”
“There’s just something off about her. About their marriage. They were going to meet Chester’s son, Tom. Not the daughter—I assume she still wants nothing to do with him. Have you ever met her?”
“Elise? A few times.”
“What’s she like?”
“She used to come into chambers and wait for her dad. She was always in trouble at school. Mature. Older than her years.”
I frown. “Older than her years?”
He sighs.
“She’d come in when she was sixteen or so and be, how can I phrase this, sexually suggestive around male members of chambers. It was…problematic. It seemed that she did it to get a reaction out of her father. They didn’t get on. And when she found out about the affair it turned very ugly, very quickly.”
“Who did he have an affair with?”
“No idea.” He shrugs. “It was all very hush-hush, but it spread like wildfire. I think it was someone important, though. Possibly a judge. Certainly someone already married with a powerful husband.”
“Why do you think that?”
“He went to enormous lengths to ensure nobody found out who she was. She had some kind of hold on him. He obviously had more to lose by revealing who she was than never speaking to his own daughter again. Some men do stupid things in the name of love. Or lust.”
“But why hasn’t Elise told anyone, if she didn’t get on with him?”
“I don’t know. That’s the part that doesn’t make sense. She just walked out of his life and disappeared.”
How horrible.
“But you know what Chester is like. He thinks with his dick,” Julian says with a little more vigor than the situation calls for. “Pretty women are his weakness. He’ll never learn. What do you expect if you cheat on your wife?”
His views on this topic are black and white, always have been. Infidelity is punishable by hell, which explains his feelings toward Sienna.
After a stroll through the winding streets surrounding Durham Cathedral, we head back to chambers for a steady afternoon of work. Sitting down at my desk, I see a notification on myChats at the Baraccount. It’s from her:@JustAnotherDumbBlonde.
