She was skilled at composing a mask, practised in the art for years now. When the interview was over, she had felt vaguely discouraged. Johnson had asked no questions, demonstrated not a glimmer of interest. Like a hardened poker player, he had shown no expression during the interview, and uttered nothing but a terse ‘Goodbye’, leaving her with little hope of success. Sarah knew there were plenty of other candidates for the job. She had applied from another, smaller, less prestigious firm. Nothing was certain. Others would have more experience, more fighting spirit, a better chance.

Later, she found out that Johnson had chosen her himself, picked her out from among the other candidates, overridden Gary Curst’s objections. That was something she had been forced to get used to: Curst didn’t like her. Or else he liked her too much. Perhaps he was jealous. Perhaps he was attracted to her. Whatever. He was certainly hostile towards her. Gratuitous hostility, everywhere, all the time, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Sarah knew plenty of ambitious men like him. Women-haters, men who felt threatened by their female colleagues. She paid them no attention. She trod her own path, left them by the wayside. She had stormed through the ranks at Johnson & Lockwood and established a fine reputation in court. The courtroom was her arena, her territory, her battleground. She would sweep in, ready for combat, intractable, merciless.

When she addressed the court, she used a subtly different voice, deeper, more solemn than her own. She spoke in short, incisive sentences, delivering knock-out blows that left her adversaries reeling, sent them tumbling down the cracks in their arguments. She knew each case by heart. She was never caught off guard, and never lost face. Since her earliest years in practice, with the small Winston Street firm that had taken her on straight out of law school, she had almost never lost a case. She was admired and feared. At forty years of age, she was the model of a successful, mid-career litigator.

In the firm, she was mooted as the next Managing Partner. Johnson was getting on in years now: a successor would have to be found. The partners were vying for position. They could see themselves already, taking the boss’s place. Managing Partner was the apotheosis, the Everest of any lawyer’s career. Sarah ticked all the boxes: a spotless record, unshakeable grit, an unrivalled capacity for hard work. Her insatiable appetite for work kept her moving ahead. She was an athlete, a mountaineer, conquering each new peak, never content to rest. Her life was a never-ending climb; sometimes, she wondered if she would ever reach the top. She waited for the day, but she didn’t dare to hope.