Page 9 of When The Night Falls

He chuckled. ‘Are you students? You look a bit younger than the average woman here.’ His eyes shifted between Olivia and me.

‘We are,’ Olivia said, and I was immediately alarmed.

Worried she would inadvertently expose my real identity, I hurried to say, ‘Livy’s studying law at UCL.’

William and Andrew gazed at one another.

‘Are you?’ Andrew asked her.

Catching on to my deceit, Olivia cast me a quick glance. Nevertheless, she proceeded with honesty. ‘Yes. I’m in my third and final year now.’

‘I see. And how do you like it?’ Andrew asked as he brought a stool over to sit across from her.

‘I love it, but it’s very demanding.’

A chuckle escaped both men and, again, a message I couldn’t quite decode passed between their eyes.

‘What’s funny?’ I asked.

William directed his attention to me, and it looked like he was struggling to suppress a grin. ‘Well, both Andy and I are lawyers, so it’s just a bit charming to hear a student’s perspective.’

Points for Jason. Lawyers did in fact frequent this place.

‘Are you barristers?’ I asked.

William shook his head and folded his hands together. ‘Solicitors. Corporate kind.’

‘I see. So you’re colleagues, then?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And how’s working with corporate law? Is it compelling?’ I had a personal interest in whatever he had to say now. Like William, I aspired to be a solicitor rather than a barrister, regardless of whether the latter weighed heavier in matters of prestige.

William smiled, and I thought it was because I was finally expressing signs of interest.

‘It is. Initially, I wanted to specialise in human rights, but my father swayed my mind. I’m glad he did.’

‘Probably wise,’ I said. ‘You don’t seem to excel at dealing with anything human.’

Andrew chortled, tossing his head back. ‘The mouth on this one. She fires so many shots.’

William blew his cheeks out. ‘I wonder if she’ll ever run out of ammunition.’

I captured William’s gaze, smiling crookedly. ‘Keep acting like yourself and I doubt I will.’

‘There she goes again.’ Andrew guffawed. ‘This is priceless.’

As I looked diagonally across the table, I caught Andrew’s eye. Seeing an opportunity to taunt William, I deliberately gave him a seductive smile and asked with feigned interest, ‘How about you, Andy? Have you always wanted to practise corporate law?’

His laughter quickly died at my behaviour, his gaze darting in William’s direction. ‘I was never really sure until I completed the LPC.’

‘But I’d like to know more about you,’ William said and leaned forward to demand my attention.

I frowned. ‘You can’t always get what you want.’

He peered at me, eyes narrowing faintly. ‘Since you specified that Livy is a law student earlier, I think it’s fair to assume you’re studying something else. Otherwise, you’d be more likely to say, “we’re studying law”. And considering the nature of your insults earlier, I’m going to take a guess and say psychology.’

A giggle surged out of me. ‘Well done, Sherlock.’

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