‘Well, I’ve run this past a few editors and they’re all quite interested, if I can get the right person. There’s a new drama series starting in a couple of months, with a glamorous, sexy, female lawyer at the centre–always wins her cases against the odds and all of that type of thing.’ She laughed as I raised my eyebrows. ‘I know–it all sounds a bit dated, doesn’t it? But I thought that’s where you could come in. What’s it really like? I’d use you as the main focus of the piece, hopefully you’d let me shadow you for a while, then have the usual couple of other case studies down the side. To be honest, I need someone photogenic. It doesn’t matter what the story’s like if you look rotten on a full-page portrait in a glossy.’

‘I really wouldn’t be comfortable with you building me up, or making too much of anything I’ve achieved.’ Or digging too deep into my private life, I thought to myself.

‘Strange, I’ve heard a lot of things about you: some good, some bad. But no one told me you were publicity shy.’ Patsy smiled.

‘What would you want me to do?’ I asked.

‘Not much. Mostly it will involve just talking to me about cases like the Kenny Cameron one, angles that have something a bit different about them. Some days I might want to watch you in court.’

‘I think I could do that,’ I said cautiously wondering how much time it would take against how much income it might generate for the firm. ‘Do you want to go over anything today?’ I asked, and she nodded immediately. I had no cases calling in court in the afternoon, and Lois had cleared my diary for the lure of the glossy magazine woman, possibly hoping she’d get her pic in there too. I gave in and ordered a double malt. ‘Well, let’s start on the personal stuff…’ she began.

‘Let’s not. Let’s start with the Kenny Cameron case, given that you claimed to be interested in that,’ I snapped.

Patsy Barnes pushed her chair back from the table a little and took another sip of brandy. She forced a smile, no doubt thinking she’d worm other things out of me at a later date. ‘Right, well…why did you agree to take on the Kenny Cameron case to begin with?’ she asked, continuing to smile. The woman was a professional; no doubt she’d been thwarted many times in her professional career, but I would remain on my guard.