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Gerald Hanbury had been a High Court judge until the previous year, a ence, balance and fairness, and feared for the way he came down on anyone not entirely respectful of the traditions and soleenerous to counsel, never bullied juniors, was never patronising to witnesses and never tolerant of careless policemen But there was a touch of distance, an austereness about hith They mistook it for disapproval and severity but Cat had soon discovered that neither was the case John Lowther had been a very different chair of trustees of Iree of ruthlessness when required to take unpopular decisions Lowther had resigned because he felt guilty that he had introduced Leo Fison as head of a new fund-raising sub-coh he had been supported by the entire body of Trustees, not one of whom had laid a speck of blame on him later, for Fison or what he had done But John Lowther was a man of conscience and he had decided his own position was untenable

Hanbury was altogether steelier and Cat had felt great distress over the decision to close Iraded and devalued, in spite of reassurances

Now, Hanbury had asked her to have a drink, talk to him She liked him, in spite of it all, and she knew that he had precious little alternative to the draconian measures he had had to take If he had not h to have precipitated coe Hanbury had been ed as a relatively young man and his wife had left hily but in a slightly austere way, and e in her fifties, previously single Judge Nancy Cutler was the scourge of incompetent barristers, muddled witnesses and any forenerosity to women defendants and plaintiffs, especially those treated harshly by police or press, and in particular those brave enough to stand up against rapists and brutal partners

Cat had met her a couple of tiant and distinguished couple

It was Nancy who opened the door now

I aht Yes, on the whole that is true I have a goodhospital doctor and GP, I am clinical director of a hospice, I have three children, I run a house, I have been up against a nuh I dress quite well, I take care with my appearance But faced with this sort of woh the soles ofover ht if I were up before this woe

‘Dr Deerbon, how nice to see you’

She was tall with a good figure but was not over-thin Her hair was held up in a chignon with two combs, her make-up was discreet but applied as if by a professional She wore a taupe dress and jacket which had not been bought on the high street And her senuine Why had she waited until her fifties to marry? Career? Presumably

But there was, Cat thought, a shadow of so about her face, an anxiety or a wariness Then it was gone, and she was leading Cat into the surprisingly inforer cat sat on a linen-covered sofa and opened its topaz eyes briefly and haughtily before recurling itself back to sleep

‘My husband’s just taking a phone call Can I get you a gin, a Martini, a glass of wine?’

Cat asked for wine A bottle of chilled Sancerre appeared with the judge who ca, and then, likeon the reason Cat had come, the subject of the hospice

‘I kno lasses were filled, ‘and I kno you prized the excellence of our inpatient wards But it’s only because we’ve taken this big step that we can survive None of which helps you, I know You’ve lost half a job, you don’t altogether approve of the day-care-only y’

He had an i presence and he still spoke as if he had the full attention of a court His voice was strong, h Scots He wore a pale yellow cashmere sweater over a dark blue open-necked shirt, with dark blue cord trousers A touch of the dandy, Cat thought

‘Tell me what you feel now Tell me if you think you can work happily in the new set-up, eventually at least’

Cat told hione out, but returned now and sat quietly listening and looking at Cat with coe Cutler And after an hour and two large glasses of wine, Cat felt that everything she had said had been taken on board and understood She had the full confidence of the chair of trustees, which ested she take some days out to visit other day-care hospices, to study how they worked in practice and see if Lafferton could not only learn fro new and some real ioes without saying These would be legitimate expenses – visits like that can only boost our profile, and I think they’d be of real interest to you’

‘I agree But I wouldn’t want my expenses They’d be s Thank you for the suggestion though I’ll start ements’

He also approved of her plan to do a PhD

‘When I retire,’ Nancy said, to a short laugh froet all about the law and take another degree altogether’

‘What in?’

‘Medieval palaeography I want to spend days and days with eleventh-century ht as she left A structured, disciplined study in which detail mattered, and also a rather rarefied one, completely detached fro one another, and who doubtless enjoyed enriching and mainly intellectual conversations at dinner There was obviously friendliness and affection between them and they seemed completely in tune But love?

It was seven forty Silke, the sweet German au pair she now shared with another fa bedtime with Felix Since Molly left, Silke had become a reliable alternative

Cat had parked in front of Si and walked round to the Hanburys’ Now, as she bent her head against the biting wind that hipping down Cathedral Close, she saw that the lights were on in his flat His car was parked next to her own but there was no other, which probably h she sent him a text all the same

In? A Co off bananas and cheese sarnies for too long Sick of it’

Cat looked into the heavy pan full of beef, vegetables, thick gravy, watched hilass of red wine into it and stir it round Her brother’s cooking was spasmodic, consisted of about four dishes, was never based on any recipe and never failed

‘Stay?’

‘Love to I’ll text Silke’

‘Good, because I need to talk to you’

They sat at one end of the long elundy, and thick fresh bread to dip into the casserole Opposite Cat on the white wall, lit carefully in the way Si of their mother he had done just before she died It was in a distressed heavy gold fraht have drowned out the pencil and charcoal lines but so of the sort Every time she saw it, Cat was hit both by its beauty and by the way he had caught Meriel’s warenerosity of heart that had always been coupled with a slight austerity of expression It also caught her innate toughness of character

‘Leave that to o anywhere else’ He cut the crusty bread and handed a slice to her on the point of the knife ‘Hannah,’ he said ‘Have you talked to her?’