The black stuff was as bad as predicted. He choked down a mouthful of it for something to do, and was just deciding which of the chairs in the waiting room looked the most promising for a lengthy sit when the handbag Vera had grabbed as they left her wrecked apartment buzzed in his hand. He unzipped it and looked in gingerly. A sister, a mother, a daughter and a variety of ex-girlfriends had taught him a woman’s handbag was a no-man’s-land that he never wanted to visit.
The buzz stopped, then set up again, as insistent as a jackhammer.
Crap.
He slid the screen to green and held it to his ear. A deep female voice was off and running in his ear before he could draw breath.
‘You want to explain this crazy text message to me, Vera? Aaron Finch drove all the way out there to woop woop to harass you? In your own apartment! My busy bee antennae are whipping around like wind turbines. This is big. This is stalker big. We need to take action.’
‘It’s not Vera.’
Silence, then, ‘Who the hell are you?’
‘Josh Cody. I’m Vera’s—’
Yeah. Whatwashe exactly? Persistent admirer? Love-struck handbag guardian? ‘I’m her friend.’ He could be that, just that, if that’s what she wanted. No matter how much it hurt.
‘Where is she?’
‘Um. She can’t get to the phone right now.’
‘Look, Josh Cody, I’m Vera’s lawyer, Sue Anton, and she’s going to want to speak to me right this goddamn second. Put her on.’
Christ. Just what he needed, a lawyer in his face.
‘She’s not speaking to anyone right this goddamn second, Sue. She’s in hospital.’
‘What?’
‘She cut her hand. She needs stitches and there’s some delay.’
‘Holy crap. Is she all right? Oh my god, I wonder if that … how did she cut her hand? Was it that rat-faced ex-boyfriend named Aaron?’
He rolled his eyes. ‘How many rat-faced ex-boyfriends does Vera have?’
‘Don’t get smart with me, Mr Cody. I will chew you up and spit you out like pencil shavings. Tell me what happened?’
‘She was sewing and she was startled, and rammed a rusty set of scissors into the palm of her hand. It’s a minor wound. But yes, then ratface showed up. He was being pretty persistent when I got there, and wasn’t too keen on being told to leave.’
‘Hmm.’
There was a long pause, punctuated by the snarl and horns of big-city traffic. Wherever Vera’s lawyer was, it wasn’t Dandaloo Street, Hanrahan.
‘You know about the trouble Vera is in?’
‘Trial in a few weeks, hidden camera, possible jail time?’
‘I see you do. Vera tell you all this herself?’
‘Yep.’ About as willingly as a toddler visiting the dentist, but yeah, she’d told him, even if she’d left a few salient boyfriend facts out of the initial recital.
‘Hold the line. I just need to think for a second.’
He closed his eyes momentarily as he wondered about the ethics of plucking a woman’s phone out of her handbag, answering a call from her lawyer, and then talking over her criminal case. He let out a breath. He didn’t care. He was all in with Vera, and nothing the lawyer could say would change that.
‘Okay, let’s do this. First, are you Vera’s boyfriend?’
‘Er … it’s complicated.’