"I know you're keeping something from me," Petra was saying into the phone. "I can tell by your tone of voice. Besides, you've cut every conversation short this week and that's not like you."

"I've been very busy," Alix protested. She was lying on her bed in shorts and a T-shirt, a glass of wine at her elbow, trying to unwind from a grueling session in court. Every muscle in her body screamed from the day's accumulation of tension.

"Not more than usual." Silence hummed ...