‘Why don’t I go into the press conference,’ I say, stopping them both mid-sentence. ‘No one knows me in there, much less knows I worked on the trafficking story. If it really is all about redirecting the spotlight then they’ll hardly take a question from either of you, will they?’

‘Eh? Don’t you start! You think it’ll look anything other than ridiculous if Nine don’t bother sending an actual correspondent into a national press conference on Operation Andromeda?’ Dominic unbuttons his coat to finish looping a tie around his neck. ‘And I will quit on the spot if Olivia even tries to put someone else in front of the camera instead.’

‘Pack in it, would you?’ Jemima says. ‘You shouldn’t go inside, and you know it. If you blaze in and make a giant performance of yourself because we’re all pissed off our trafficking story has to wait, you won’t get publicly blacklisted, but privately … The shutters will come down, the lot. No one will tell you anything for a while. For them to be rushing the microphone out on Andromeda, they’re either fighting like rats in a sack, or they really are going to change the record. And you need to be ready for that. It will be a far bigger deal than whatever we have on trafficking.’

‘Why would I make it a performance? I’m perfectly capable of controlling myself.’

‘I know you are,’ Jemima murmurs, wringing his coat as she squeezes his arm. ‘But I also know how deep it runs … and how knackered you are. The last few weeks haven’t exactly been light-hearted 88fare, have they? Making friends with people smugglers and all that…’

‘Don’t call it a grudge, OK?’

I stare at our pairs of feet on the wet street. Why does Dominic suddenly sound like a defeated child? I know that two and two and two make six, but for some reason, this is adding up all wrong.

‘I’m sorry. I really am.’ I watch Jemima’s feet as she shifts her weight from one to the other as she replies. ‘But you are better served working your leads, especially if Thomas is working whoever his are. Home affairs needs to own Andromeda. And Olivia won’t forget about that little girl in the meantime. Or Beata. She told me to make sure you knew that. She’d have told you herself if you hadn’t hung up.’

Now it’s Dominic’s foot nudging at the puddle. I look up to see him wipe an eye.

‘Nice save,’ Jemima mutters to me as he trudges down the street without another word, pulling his collar up around his neck. ‘Let’s go in, shall we? Won’t hurt to be early.’

I barely hear her, staring as Dominic’s back disappears into the shadow of the storm, past and present blurring with the rain, shadows crowding my head.

89

Carly ~ Warchester ~ 1997