An Immoral Code by Caro Fraser Read Free Book Online Page B

status, of family background or connections, of whether the family house was large and in the country, or small and in the suburbs.
    ‘He’s an artist,’ replied Anthony.
    ‘Really? Would I know his work?’
    ‘You might. Chay Cross.’ Anthony’s voice was diffident,but he still expected the customary reaction when people learnt who his father was. The high-minded might seriously regard his father as one of the foremost abstract expressionists of his day, but to Anthony he would always be a superannuated hippy, possessed of only a modicum of talent, who had happened to get lucky by suckering the gullible artistic elite.
    ‘You’re joking!’ Sarah smiled in amazement at Anthony. ‘I wouldn’t have guessed.’
    ‘We’re not at all alike,’ replied Anthony, hoping that he was not going to have to talk about his father and his work for very long. Both subjects bored him. He was much more interested in finding out more about this extraordinarily pretty girl who had materialised from nowhere. She had an assuredness, a knowingness that he found oddly exciting. Suddenly he met her eyes again, and saw in them an expression which aroused in him a kind of instant desire, such as he had not felt in a long time. There was an intensity, a sexuality, about her gaze that made him feel for a few seconds as though no one existed in the room apart from her. It was an extraordinary, quite dizzying sensation, passing almost immediately. Then he saw her glance towards the doorway and smile.
    ‘My friends have just arrived,’ she said, and raised her glass to finish her drink. Anthony glanced momentarily to his left and saw that Camilla was now engaged in the general conversation and unlikely to overhear him.
    ‘Are you spending the whole evening with your friends? I mean, do you have plans for later on?’ he asked quietly, just as she was about to rise. He hoped his voice sounded casual, but was astonished to find that his heart was thudding. He had never known any girl to have such an instantaneous effect upon him. He wanted suddenly to be able to leave with her now, go somewhere, anywhere.
    She leant down to pick up her bag and murmured, ‘I’mafraid I do.’ She paused and then added, ‘But I’ll be here at the same time tomorrow.’ It was the briefest exchange, overheard by no one, but at that moment Camilla had turned and caught the faint intensity of the moment, like an animal with a scent. She stared at Anthony, and then Sarah raised her head and smiled at her. ‘Lovely to see you again, Camilla. Got to go, I’m afraid.’ Her eyes did not meet Anthony’s again as she left the table.

CHAPTER FOUR
    It was after ten when Anthony arrived at chambers the next day, and Henry put his head round the door of the clerks’ room just as he was heading upstairs.
    ‘Godfrey Ellwood’s chambers have rung three times already. You’d better speak to him as soon as you can. Something’s up. I’ll get him for you.’
    The phone was already ringing as Anthony came into his room, and he picked it up straight away, still tugging off his coat and unwinding his scarf as Godfrey Ellwood came on the line.
    ‘Have you heard what’s happened?’ demanded Ellwood, clearly furious about something.
    ‘No – what? I’ve only just got in,’ replied Anthony. ‘Don’t tell me it’s something in the judgment—’
    ‘God, no, the judgment’s fine! But I’m being asked to withdraw from the case.’
    ‘What? Why?’ Anthony was aghast at the thought of losing his leader at such a critical juncture.
    ‘According to Fred Fenton at Nichols and Co, it’s because Iacted for a firm of accountants called Bessermans in some case three years ago.’
    ‘I don’t follow.’
    ‘Marples and Clark, the auditors – you know, one of the defendants in the Capstall case – apparently took Bessermans over two years ago. The other side are now saying that there’s a conflict of interest, that I can’t act against Marples and Clark. One sees