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‘That’s a serious allegation.’

‘It certainly is. You’ve been trying to destabilize me, Ben.’ Her voice rose to a shout. ‘But it won’t work! I’m telling you now, it won’t work!’

There was a long pause.

‘Whatever’s going on,’ he said. ‘Is nothing to do with me. But if I was trying to destabilize you, Mary, it sure seems like I’d have succeeded.’

The line went dead.

She smiled.

Ben was benefiting from the photo.

No one else; only Ben. He had been trying to destabilize her, trying to make it seem as though she was erratic and unreliable at work. The photo was merely the latest example of this.

He made a mistake, though; he had not had the good sense to wait before trying to take advantage of his handiwork; he had acted immediately after posting the photo. Yes, that made it obvious it was him, but that didn’t surprise her. His ambition was boundless, and it would be no surprise for it to distort his judgement and to make him act rashly.

Cock and Bull Story

‘So you think it might be Ben?’ Ryan said. ‘And you told him?’

‘He has the most to gain,’ Mary said. ‘And yes, I did. I was sick of his smug voice.’

‘Are you sure? If Carl has been obsessed with you for all these years, and he thinks this is the way to get what he wants, then he has everything to gain.’

He paused, and caught her eye.

‘And if it is Ben, then how do you explain Carl’s missing wife, who looks exactly like you?’

Mary shrugged. ‘Maybe he married her because she reminded him of me,’ she said. ‘And maybe she left him because the marriage wasn’t working out, or maybe he did something to her. Neither of those things mean that he has been sending these notes, or that he posted the photo. It would make no sense for him to do that, because it’s only going to result in me hating him.’

Ryan nodded. ‘Whereas Ben doesn’t care what you think of him. He just wants your business. Which he now has.’

‘In which case,’ Mary said. ‘He can stop all this. He has what he wants.’

‘Maybe Gray should go and talk to Ben, then,’ Ryan said.

Mary looked up at him. ‘If it is Ben,’ she said. ‘He’ll be doing more than talking to him. Ben may think he’s got what he wants, but I’ll find out what he did and he’ll discover that his reputation can vanish just as quickly as anybody else’s.’

Ryan smiled. ‘I’m looking forward to watching it already,’ he said.

She leaned over and kissed him, then got to her feet. Upstairs the bed was freshly made; doing it each morning had been drilled into Ryan when he was a teenager. His father had been in the military and had taught Ryan that the key to a successful day was to start it by making your bed. Mary wasn’t sure that it really was the key to a successful day, but she loved the fact that every night she climbed into a freshly made bed. It felt almost like she was in a hotel.

She turned on the shower, but before she could undress her phone rang.

Norman Lowe. The founding partner at the firm.

Norman was semi-retired and he never called this late. She knew already what this was about.

‘Norm,’ she said. ‘I suppose you’re calling about Ben Cox?’

He coughed. He was a cigar smoker and it was starting to take its toll on him. ‘Yes, Mary. He called me with some cock and bull story. And I’m sorry about this photo thing. Absolute disgrace. He seemed to think you’d accused him of putting it on the internet, or wherever it was?’

‘I did,’ she said. ‘I think it was him.’

‘Really, Mary?’

‘He’s trying to steal my clients, starting with Mack. He’s pretending it’s for the good of the firm and for Mack, but you know what he’s like. So he used this to discredit me.’