‘When you’re around him, d’you need to watch your back?’ Callie said seriously.

‘I watch my back around most people,’ I told her.

‘Including me?’

I shook my head, my eyes back on the road. ‘No. You’re one of a handful of people in this world that I trust.’

Which was the truth. I glanced over to see she was still watching me, concern clouding her eyes.

‘Tobey, do you have lots of friends?’

I smiled. God, she was so innocent. What a question. ‘Callie, I have lots of colleagues, acquaintances and sycophants. Friends, on the other hand, are few and far between.’

‘Sounds lonely.’

I shrugged. ‘My life is what I made it.’

‘So you’re happy?’

‘Happy?’ I rolled the word round my mouth, trying it out for size. It was a bad fit. ‘That’s not a requirement for my job.’

‘What’s the point of it then, if it’s not making you happy?’

‘It’s that simple, is it?’

‘I love being a barrister. I can’t imagine doing anything else,’ said Callie. ‘If being an MP makes you miserable—’

‘Callie, don’t put words in my mouth. I never said I was miserable. I am where I’ve worked hard to be. I wouldn’t want to do or be anywhere else … minus the forthcoming court case of course.’

Callie raised a placating hand. ‘Sorry. My mistake. Tell me about Eva Foxton.’

Another quick glance from me before returning my attention to the road. Where was she going with this?

‘Eva is a woman in her late fifties, I guess. She’s been a background figure in Dan’s life for quite a while, but I only met her for the first time at Dan’s dinner party. I think she was his mentor, advisor and surrogate mother. She was one of the few people Dan spoke about without scorn, but he kept her very private.’

‘And now she’s taken over from him?’

‘It would appear so. She used to run certain parts of Dan’s empire before he died, so maybe she thought it only right that she take over the lot,’ I said.

‘What parts?’

‘The parts I made it my business never to ask or know about,’ I replied.

‘And burying your head like an ostrich worked for you?’ asked Callie, judgement rippling through her tone.

‘And all your lawyer friends are pristine, are they? You and they never put a foot wrong?’ I said pointedly. ‘And every person you’ve defended in your career has been truly innocent? Tell you what: bottle your perfect life with your perfect decision making and your perfect morals and sell it online. See how you do.’

Silence.

Hellsake! That had been laced with more hostility than I’d intended.

‘Tobey, you said you wanted to marry me. I have no idea why when you obviously don’t like me very much,’ said Callie at last.