He turned back around and looked at us both. "It's very tasteful."
I tried not to look too smug.
Max's expression changed. "You disgust me. You really do."
We started laughing, listening to more insults being shouted at us while he disappeared from sight.
***
"You enjoyed your day, sugar?" Amelie said as Vanessa and I entered the sitting room after our cab had dropped us off. I'd spent most of the afternoon inside Vanessa, so it had been pretty damn spectacular; champagne and the hot tub – especially as I hadn't mentioned bringing anything to swim in – had passed the afternoon. Somehow, we'd managed to get dressed and behaved fairly well in the restaurant, although my hand had found its way up her thigh, leading my fingers to her wet heat. I'd taken her almost to the brink of coming at the table, before deciding that her having an orgasm wasn't fair when I couldn't. She'd become flustered and glared at me, threatening to go to the bathroom and finish it off herself. I'd ignored her, pouring more wine and licking my fingers.
"It's been really good," Vanessa said. "The meal was great. How are you?"
Max gestured to the wine that was open. I nodded for him to pour and he gave me look that said he needed to talk at some point.
"I'm - I guess the word is 'okay'," Amelie said, slightly slurred. It seemed that Max thought letting her get drunk was a good solution. "It's difficult to know what to feel when someone you haven't spoken to properly for fifteen years is dying."
"Has he regained consciousness?" Vanessa said, sitting next to Amelie with the wine Max passed to her.
"Briefly," Amelie said. "Just before I left he opened his eyes and seemed to look at me, but I don't know if he knew it was me. My brother phoned to say he'd had another stroke and it was doubtful he'd last the night." She shrugged.
Max looked at her. "Don't torture yourself, Amy. We said before, there's nothing you would've done differently. There's no point in feeling guilty."
"I know," she said and I noticed she was drinking water. "Tell me about your evening." She looked at Vanessa. Max glanced at me and nodded towards the door into the garden. I followed him, my fingers brushing Vanessa's hair as I walked passed her.
"What's the matter?" I said once we were outside. The evening was still and cool. No sign of a breeze. Above us, the black sky was pinpricked with stars and I decided to bring Vanessa out here later, when Max was somewhere else.
"A couple of things. Amy for one," he paused. "I'm going to take a day off on Monday and stay here with her. Her brother's being a dick with her, which I can kind of understand as he doesn't know half of what happened and why she broke contact for so long, but she needs someone on her side."
"Whatever she needs," I said.
"Claire's case has become more complicated. Katie Worthington has disclosed some additional information: there may be police charges against her ex and it's looking increasingly messy. There's a joint business involved and something that Claire says smells fishy. She's spent most of the day with Katie, who is a mess, by the way," Max said, his hands in his pockets and I could tell he was unnerved.
"Does Killian know?"
Max nodded. "I've asked him to put detail on Katie too."
"What else?"
"Heather in HR called me this morning. One of Kirsty's references doesn't check out. The company who supplied it were called at the time of interview as per policy, but Heather emailed the HR manager there yesterday, just before she left. She had an email last night to say Kirsty had never worked there. I've asked Killian to run a couple of checks on her as something isn't sitting right – not necessarily in a worrying way – but I want to bottom it out," Max said, sipping on the glass of wine.
"Kirsty left me a voicemail this afternoon asking to meet tomorrow to go through the email she's sent me. I haven't read it yet, or responded. I'll do it tomorrow evening," I said. I'd expected to hear from Kirsty sooner rather than later and I agreed with Max that there was something off about her. It happened sometimes in firms, the recruitment process allows someone to slip through who shouldn't be there. If she had falsified her references then we had grounds for dismissal, but in the meantime, we had to look at damage limitations as she would have information about clients that was sensitive.
Max nodded. "Let me deal with Kirsty. Take yourself out of the equation."
"Why? You have enough to do with your caseload and now Amelie."
He strummed his fingers on his thigh, a sure sign he was debating how he worded his next sentence.
"Heather heard through the grapevine that Kirsty has a thing for you, a big thing, in that why she applied to the firm in the first place," he said, then cracked a smile. "Office gossip."
"That was fast."
"It's an office. You'd think they didn't have anything better to do than gossip," Max shrugged and headed back inside.
Vanessa and Amelie were curled on the sofa, feet up and discussing something that sounded too girly for either of us to pay much attention. "Beer?" I said to Max.
He pulled his face and nodded, heading over to the breakfast bar. "Yep. I don't want to join in that conversation." He shuddered, picked up the bottle of wine and put in on the coffee table in front of Vanessa. "Poker?"
