Is that the truth? I eye Libby, who meets my gaze without looking away or flinching.
‘Troy, I’m not lying,’ she says quietly. ‘I didn’t know what my mum had planned and I certainly don’t know who this new lot are working for. If I knew, I promise I’d tell you.’
‘OK.’ I believe her. Almost.
But not quite.
sixty-four. Callie
* * *
‘Callie, have you lost your entire mind?’
I sighed inwardly. I’d been expecting this, but that didn’t make it pleasant. Solomon, the head of my chambers, was scowling at me like it had just come into fashion. I’d been at work for less than five minutes and had barely got my chair warm when Stacy, my PA, told me that Sol wanted to see me. His scowl greeted me the moment I set foot in his office. He was sitting behind his behemoth of a desk, and not happy didn’t even come close to describing his face right now.
I started to speak as I shut the door behind me, feeling it prudent to get in first. ‘Sol, if you’d just let me explain—’
‘Go on then,’ he challenged. ‘Explain to me how you took on an unwinnable case without consulting me first. A case that will bring us swathes of bad publicity and God knows what else. And now, to top it all off, this chambers has started receiving death threats. Explain yourself.’
I sighed. Sol was ready to exhale napalm and I was right in the line of fire.
‘Solomon, I’ve already apologized for not clearing it with you first, but Tobey came to me directly as a friend and asked for my help, and time was of the essence if I was going to suppress his arrest. I couldn’t turn him down. I’ve had a super-injunction slapped on this case so the press can’t say a word about Tobey in connection with Dan’s murder until the trial starts – if it starts. They can’t even say there’s an injunction stopping them from giving out more data on the case. And why’re you assuming this case is unwinnable?’
Sol’s eyes widened to their limit. ‘Callie Rose, are you deliberately trying to wind me up? Tobias Durbridge is as dodgy and dirty as they come—’
‘That’s not true,’ I interrupted, adding reluctantly, ‘He might’ve bent the rules a couple of times during his election campaign, but he’s not dirty.’
‘Grow up, Callie. How d’you think he won in the first place? Because of his dimples and gleaming smile?’ Sol scoffed.
‘He doesn’t have dimples,’ I murmured.
‘Callie, he’s no good. Who d’you think bankrolled his political campaigns? Dan Jeavons, that’s who. And it’s an open secret how Jeavons made his money. He flooded the whole country with Prop and he has kids transporting and selling the drug up and down the country. If there’s a hell, he’ll surely be roasting in it. That’s who your friend Tobey crawled into bed with.’
I forced myself to count to ten. It was only just enough.
‘Sol, be fair. Daniel Jeavons and Tobey aren’t one and the same person. Why hold Tobey accountable for Dan’s actions? This case isn’t about drugs. It isn’t about politics either. Tobey has been arrested for murder and that’s my focus. A murder he didn’t commit, I might add.’
‘Says who?’
‘Says Tobey – and I believe him.’
‘And I own a bridge across the Zambezi I’d be more than happy to sell to you.’ Sol gave me the full force of his famous, patented narrow-eyed courtroom stare that had many a person in the witness box sweating bullets into buckets. ‘Callie, are you sleeping with him?’
What? Say what? ‘Of course not.’
If anything, Sol’s eyes narrowed further.
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ I said, exasperated. ‘We went to school together. He’s an old friend, though I haven’t seen him in a number of years. He came to me and asked for my help and I said yes. That’s all there is to it.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, really.’ What a disappointment. I’d never had Sol down as one of those guys who found it impossible to believe men and women could be friends without sex rearing its head.
‘Callie, if – and it’s a big if – you take this case, you’re going to open yourself up to all kinds of accusations, recriminations and general shit-stormery.’
‘I know that.’
‘Do you? Have you seriously thought about this?’ said Sol. ‘You’re going to make enemies just by taking this case. It’s not too late to back out.’
‘Tobey’s my friend. I can’t desert him when he needs me most.’
Sol sighed. ‘You are making a huge mistake. If you’re determined to take this case, just make sure you disclose any and everything of relevance to me before the trial. I won’t have these chambers exposed to any kind of censure or clapback. Do I make myself clear?’
I frowned. Since when did I hold anything back from my head of chambers? I’d never done so in the past. Why would I start now? I didn’t care for the implication.
‘That’s not my style, Sol,’ I replied. ‘I thought you knew that.’
I made sure not to look away from Sol, who was still scrutinizing me. A sense of unease began to creep along my spine.
‘What’re you not telling me?’
‘Callie, I’ve heard things,’ Sol began reluctantly.
‘What kind of things?’
‘Listen, I understand he’s your friend, and believe me he’s going to need all the friends he can get in the next few weeks,’ said Sol. ‘But I’ve heard some things about Tobias Durbridge, about some of the methods he employed to become Mayor of Meadowview and during his ministerial campaign. He’s not above fighting down and dirty.’
‘Is any politician?’ I asked.
‘True. But there’s dirty and then there’s what Tobey and his cohorts indulge in.’
‘Such as? Come on, Sol, stop beating about the bush. Have you got actual proof of what you’re saying or have you been listening to gossip and innuendo?’
‘Callie, your friend isn’t into politics to bring people together. He’s into looking out for number one – and what’s more, he’s good at it.’
I shook my head, not recognizing the man Sol was describing.
‘You’re wrong. I know for a fact that Tobey was left a ton of money when he was younger and he used it to set up an addiction treatment clinic. He would’ve kept the money for himself if he was only out for what he could get.’
‘People change,’ said Sol quietly.
‘Not Tobey. Not that much. I know him. He wouldn’t lie to me.’
Sol shook his head. ‘Callie, you’re not thinking straight. I know you hope to be a judge one day. Take this case and there will be repercussions. Like it or not, times have changed. Judges are now political appointments. Take this case and you can kiss any prospect of becoming a judge goodbye.’
And there it was. Sol had brought out into the open my biggest concern about this case. Political trials had political consequences. This case had ‘career scuppering’ written all over it. Had Tobey really made so many political enemies that defending him meant abandoning my career aspirations? It would appear so. It was my dream to become a judge. Every professional move I’d made over the last ten years had been with that goal in mind. Was I really prepared to lose it all over one case? I already knew the answer.