Читать книгу LOST SOULS - Neil White - Страница 20

Sam didn’t pause in reception. The seats were full of people ignoring the no-smoking sign, but he couldn’t face seeing any clients. Let the caseworkers speak to them. They spent their days working the files, visiting crime scenes, seeing witnesses, harassing the prosecution. And when the prosecution ignored the letters, they harassed them some more.

Sam wouldn’t ask the Crown Court runners to speak to anyone in the office. They weren’t employed for the daily grind. Harry recruited them for the flash of their legs, nothing more, to brighten the lives of prisoners and take notes in court. The word soon got around the pubs and estates in Blackley that if you wanted to see a pretty girl when you were stuck in a prison cell, you went to Harry Parsons & Co.

When Sam got back to his office, he sank back into his chair and shut his eyes for a moment. It was the old moral question, the one he tried to avoid. How could he defend a killer? The answer was easy: the judicial process would decide how to treat him. It was a cop-out, an excuse, but it was the only thing that helped Sam sleep. When he ever did.

But what happened when his client said he would do it again? That wasn’t in the script. Sam had the power to stop it. The Law Society rules allowed him to breach client confidentiality if someone’s life was at stake. He rubbed his hands over his face. He knew he couldn’t do it. Luke King wasn’t an ordinary client. And that sickened him.

Sam still had his eyes closed when he heard his door click open. When he opened them, he saw Harry standing there.

Sam wasn’t surprised. Although Harry never came to his office—he called Sam to his—Sam guessed that Luke’s case might make a few things different around here.

‘Something wrong?’ asked Sam.

Harry shook his head. ‘I was just passing when I saw you.’ He tried to look casual, but Harry Parsons didn’t do casual. ‘How did it go with Luke?’

Sam saw Alison looking into the room.

‘He’s still got his liberty, if that’s how we measure these things,’ Sam said.

Harry didn’t answer, so Sam played him at his own game. A few seconds passed before Harry spoke.

‘Tell me what happened.’

Sam sat forward and rubbed his eyes, and then he told Harry all about Egan getting frisky, seeing a big name, a headline.

‘So is he out now?’ Harry asked.

Sam nodded. ‘He’s got to go back, but he knows that Egan will be watching him.’

Harry stayed quiet for a moment, his eyes down, thinking, and then he nodded. ‘Thank you for looking after him,’ he said, and then turned to walk away.

As Harry was about to leave the room, Sam shouted after him. ‘If he is taken in again, I don’t want to act for him.’

Harry turned back round, and Sam noticed that his cheeks were flushed. ‘Why ever not?’

Sam tried to think of a way to answer that sounded reasonable, but there wasn’t one.

‘I just don’t, that’s all.’

Harry was about to respond when there was a light tap on the door. It was Karen, Sam’s secretary. She looked nervous.

‘Excuse me, Mr Parsons,’ she said, her voice quiet. ‘Sam, there’s someone to see you. He’s in reception.’

‘Has he made an appointment?’

She shook her head. ‘He says it’s urgent. He’s been hanging around the office all day.’

Harry turned to walk out. ‘Stick with it, Sam,’ he said quietly, ‘for all our sakes.’

And then he left the room. As he went, Sam saw that Alison was still outside his office, but as Harry passed her, she turned and walked away.

For all our sakes. What the hell did he mean by that? Sam didn’t know, but he was sure he had seen something in Harry’s eyes he hadn’t seen before. Fear.