‘Claire!’ Julia’s voice cut sharply into her diatribe, the tone unlike any she had ever heard from her friend before. Amidst all the confusion, she had a premonition that after this conversation, her life would never be the same again.

‘Claire – we have to take you off the case because Rose Aiker has named Joshua as one of her attackers.’

‘Joshua? Joshua who?’

‘Your Joshua, Claire, I’m so sorry.’

Afterwards, she would try to recall the rest of the conversation but the only memory she could summon was of a picture hung on the wall at the end of the meeting room. It was a cheap framed black and white poster of New York and she and Julia had chosen it together when they’d first moved into the office, both having high hopes of expansion into the glamorous city. They’d renovated since those early days, replacing cheap furniture and décor with something more appropriate for a successful law firm but somehow that picture had escaped the cull. As Julia’s words about her son pierced her consciousness, her only thought was that they had not expanded to New York as they had hoped.

‘Claire?’ Julia’s voice flew over her. She didn’t want to hear what else she had to say. The idea of Joshua doing something like that was so preposterous that Claire had the urge to laugh.

‘Claire!’ She felt Julia’s arm on hers, as she guided her to a chair to sit down. Julia took a seat next to her and turned so she could look at Claire directly.

Slowly, Claire turned her face to her oldest friend. ‘It’s a mistake,’ she said simply.

‘Of course, it is,’ replied Julia softly. ‘I know it’s a shock, but we’ll get it sorted.’

Claire nodded, her mind slowly giving Julia’s words access and then she felt her body revolt at such a suggestion and her eyes blazed on Julia’s.

‘Why would Rose say such a thing? How does she even know his name?’

‘She said something about seeing a photo on your desk that triggered a memory,’ replied Julia. Claire felt something click.

‘I need to talk to her – she’s confused,’ announced Claire suddenly standing up.

‘No!’ replied Julia, quickly. ‘Claire, that’s not a good idea. Let me handle it. I’ll sort it,’ she continued. But it was too late – Claire had heard the panic in Julia’s voice.

‘I know Rose,’ countered Claire. ‘And I need to get to the bottom of this.’ The photo of the half-naked girl on Joshua’s phone from last year popped into Claire’s mind and she quickly pushed it away.

‘I know, I know you do,’ replied Julia, soothingly. ‘But we need to handle it carefully. Without emotion,’ Julia added pointedly.