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‘I’ll speak to the partners tomorrow. I’m gonna tell them what I found out.’

‘And?’

‘I’m sure they’ll see reason,’ Leigh said quickly.

Alex snorted.

‘What?’ Leigh demanded.

‘We’ll see,’ Alex said. ‘But don’t be surprised if they ask for proof you can’t provide.’

Leigh didn’t respond.

Alex went quiet, too, happily. She needed to figure out how she was gonna deal with this. The thought of serving even thirty days under that awful woman sounded unbearable. She needed a strategy.

But her thoughts were broken into, once more, by Leigh. ‘This isn’t right.’

‘What isn’t right?’ Alex asked tiredly.

‘They’re going to get away with the way they treated Amanda.’

‘I don’t know if what they did was illegal,’ Alex pointed out. ‘I mean, it’s shaky ground, but…’

‘I don’t mean that.’

‘Amanda needs therapy, but she’ll be OK,’ Alex told her.

‘She was used for years by those fucking creeps. People need to be warned,’ Leigh said, uncomforted.

‘Yeah, well, we promised Amanda. So that’s that.’

‘I guess,’ Leigh sighed miserably. After a moment, she asked, ‘Has this ever happened to you before? A client turning out to be dogshit?’

‘Not to my knowledge,’ Alex said carefully.

‘Did you check, though?’ Leigh asked.

‘No. That’s not my job.’

‘But you did it this time,’ Leigh pointed out.

‘I didn’t have much choice.’

‘Youtotallyhad a choice,’ Leigh told her.

‘Stop it,’ Alex snapped.

‘What?’

‘You’re trying to get me to admit that I care about this,’ Alex said, a little too loudly for the space.

‘You’re gonna tell me you don’t?’ Leigh said.

Alex took a moment to formulate a response that she hoped was ambiguous enough for her to hide in. ‘It’s not at the forefront of my concerns.’

‘Whatever,’ Leigh said contemptuously.

‘What do you want me to say?’ Alex begged, frustrated.