‘Inadvertently?’
‘Yes. Since there were no other witnesses …’
‘I was a witness,’ said Frieda.
‘Apparently you only arrived when the incident was almost over. Even if the photographer disputes their version, I’m clear that no action will be taken.’
‘Are you sure you didn’t coach Reuben about the best way of getting out of this?’
‘For God’s sake, Frieda, just let it go.’
‘What do you think of people who just let things go because it’s convenient?’
Karlsson took time to speak, breathing deeply. ‘What I think, first, is that if there had been a conspiracy to pervert a police inquiry between me and Reuben, then I would be dismissed and he would be struck off. And what I think, second, is, don’t be so fucking pompous.’
This is how it begins, Frieda thought. Then she looked harder at Karlsson. ‘Are you all right?’ she said.
‘Yes.’
‘Really?’
‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘Of course, things are a bit, you know …’
‘Like, what things?’
‘Well, for example, family stuff. My children are going to live in Spain with their mother.’
It took Frieda a few seconds to register what he had just said. ‘That’s tough for you.’
‘Yes.’
‘How long for?’
‘Two years.’
‘Two years is a long time when they’re so young.’
‘Tell me about it.’
‘Why is she taking them away?’
‘Her new partner has been offered a promotion there.’
‘Did you try to make her change her mind?’
‘I’m not going to stop her but she knows how I feel.’
‘How do you feel?’
Now he turned away, as if he was embarrassed. ‘I work. I come back to an empty flat. I live for the days my kids come – and now they won’t. Oh, I’ll go and see them, of course, and they’ll come for holidays but he’ll be the real father.’
Fathers and their children, thought Frieda, remembering Josef’s brown eyes but seeing Karlsson’s drawn face.
Jake Newton was talking on his mobile.
‘That arsehole Newton,’ Karlsson said now, ‘wants to be taken on a tour of the custody suites.’
‘I can walk from here,’ she said.
She touched him on the cheek with two fingers, very lightly.
‘I haven’t told anyone.’
‘I’m glad you told me.’
‘I didn’t mean to.’
‘Well, thank you. And I’m sorry to add to your troubles.’ And she was gone.
Forty
‘I’m glad you called!’
Frieda was in her room, gazing down at the wasteland outside the mansion block. Patches of grass and small scrubby plants were springing up where the bulldozers had been. Children pelted across the open spaces. A woman with a tiny ball of fluff on a lead pushed her way through a break in the fence and stepped into the wasteland quite casually, as if it was a park.
‘Good. Although I was actually ringing you on business.’
‘Oh. Well, that’s better than nothing,’ Harry said ruefully.
‘I was hoping you could meet me at Olivia’s house in the next few days and sort out her finances a bit. I don’t think she’s filed her tax returns for years, or kept any records. It’s all a bit of a mess. I thought while your sister sorted out her legal affairs, maybe you could have a go at her financial ones.’
‘Tonight?’
‘What?’
‘I could come straight after a meeting near Old Street. About six?’
‘Really?’ Frieda asked doubtfully. She had been thinking of going straight home after her last patient and spending a longed-for evening alone.
‘If your sister-in-law is available, of course.’
‘I’ll call her now.’
‘And after, if you felt like it, you could invite me to have a glass of wine with you.’
‘All right, I give in.’ She smiled and put the phone down. That morning, she’d had an email from Sandy. He was coming back to the UK for two weeks, he said: his sister was getting married. There was a party at Lauderdale House in Highgate, which he and Frieda had once visited together. He wanted to see her. Please. She had read the email and deleted it. But, of course, she could still reply. She could still say yes. Or she could say no. No: that bit of my life is over. I can imagine going on without you.
Now here she was, just before six, in Olivia’s house again. Kieran, the funeral director’s accountant, was there as well. He was sitting at the kitchen table with a large pile of broken china laid out in front of him on a sheet of newspaper, a tube of superglue and a piece of pink sandpaper. Frieda watched as he patiently matched fragments, his glasses perched on the end of his nose and a look of concentration on his face. He was happy, she thought, lost in his task.
‘He’s mending all my favourite broken china,’ said Olivia, exuberantly. ‘Tessa’s sorting out my alimony, your new friend Harry’s dealing with the tax, and Kieran’s putting my life back together.’
‘And what are you doing?’ asked Frieda, feeling irritated by Olivia’s radiant assumption that someone would always sort out the havoc she created.
‘Me? Pouring wine? No? Tea, then?’
‘Tea would be good.’
‘Tessa’s coming as well. Did I tell you?’
‘No.’
‘Just to drop off some forms I need to sign or something. You know that woman has literally saved my life.’
‘That might be putting it too strongly. Where’s Chloë?’
‘Out with friends, I imagine. I haven’t seen her.’
‘It’s Wednesday.’
‘Yes?’
‘Does she often go out on a school evening?’
‘Frieda, she’s seventeen. What were you doing when you were seventeen?’
There was a knock on the door and Frieda went to answer it. Harry and Tessa stood on the doorstep, and once again she was struck by how similar they were. Harry, looking serious, was wearing a dark suit and a pale green shirt. He smiled at Frieda and his face softened, but he didn’t greet her with his usual effusiveness. Tessa nodded at Frieda and held up a thick brown envelope.
‘I’ll get Olivia to sign these and be on my way,’ she said.
‘It’s good of you to bring them round in person.’
‘I was more or less passing,’ said Tessa. ‘It seemed simpler, and I’m trying to speed things up a bit.’
Olivia called from the kitchen, offering coffee or something stronger. Everything had to be personal for her, thought Frieda. She couldn’t just have a solicitor or a financial adviser: she needed to make them into her friends, spectators of her personal dramas. She kissed Tessa, then took Harry’s hand in both of hers and held it for longer than necessary. She introduced them both to Kieran, who nodded, blushed and returned to his painstaking work. She put her large signature on the papers Tessa laid in front of her, then kissed her again, in farewell.
She turned to Harry. ‘How are we going to do this? I’ve tried to collect any of the old statements and receipts I’ve got, but I warn you, I’ve let everything slide dreadfully.’
‘We should go into your living room, away from these two, and start trying to put some order into your affairs,’ said Harry, gravely. ‘It will take some time. This is just the start when I’ll assess your needs, but we’re going to try and build up some kind of record for you and see what we’ve got. Anything you’ve kept will be useful and I can try to fill in the gaps. I’m going to create a system for you that you should be able to keep to in the future. All right?’