Page 107 of When The Night Falls

His jaw dropped and he stared at me. ‘What?’

‘Yeah, and he made me work in there right afterwards. I was really uncomfortable.’ I wrinkled my nose.

‘I can’t believe he did that. Are you sure?’

I shook my head. ‘No, but Ellie, another paralegal, told me Francesca tends to stop by on Wednesdays, and she’s under the impression it’s to have sex. Still, I neither saw nor heard them, so I’m not sure it’s what happened, but the evidence is definitely compelling.’

He leaned back. ‘What sort of evidence? Other than Ellie’s impression?’

I regretted that I had said anything at all then. At the same time, maybe Jason sat on the answer that William refused to provide: was he serious about Francesca?

‘Well, when Francesca walked out, her hair was down, and it had been in a ponytail when she walked in. And when I went back to his office, his lips were slightly red and somewhat swollen, probably from kissing. He’d opened a window as well, and I think it was to ventilate the room so I wouldn’t smell anything. She was there for a while, too, and he also told me to bring my laptop with me before she came in, and there was something about the way he said it that I found...odd.’

Jason blinked, visibly appalled. ‘Bloody hell, that’s bang out of order. What’s he thinking?’

I shrugged. ‘Probably wasn’t thinking, or at least not with the right head.’ My joke earned a chuckle. ‘Are they seeing each other?’ I asked boldly. ‘Like dating?’

He frowned. ‘I’m not sure.’

‘I thought he was interested in that girl named Sandra or something?’ I could hardly believe my nerve, but my curiosity had got the better of me. I felt awfully fake, but I was just so desperate to know more.

Jason gave a vague shake of his head. ‘Yeah, he’s not mentioned her lately.’

‘Really? What happened?’

‘I don’t know, I haven’t asked.’ He shrugged. ‘He stopped talking about her about a month ago, though, so I think he’s just moved on.’ Suddenly he shuddered. ‘Honestly, good riddance. I don’t think I would have liked her much.’

I pressed my lips together and averted my gaze. What he had said made me wonder if he would change his opinion of me if he ever learned the truth. I feared he would, and because of that, I became all the more determined to keep him in the dark.

‘Thanks for the massage, Jason, but I think I’ll go to bed.’

‘Yeah, get some sleep. But before you do – did you talk to Will about it? Did you tell him it made you uncomfortable?’

I looked at him. ‘Well, I’m not even sure they had sex, and it didn’t seem appropriate to ask.’

‘Yeah, I get that.’ He nodded. ‘I’ll have a word with him, then. If he actually did that, he needs to be reminded it’s unacceptable.’

I tensed. ‘What will you say?’