Laura closed her eyes, sat back into her chair, opened her eyes, looked at the ceiling, back to Julie and then to the floor.

"You’ve never thought about it before?" said Julie.

"No," Laura said. "No I haven’t. I kind of always thought I’d meet someone and it would be obvious and until then I’d try everything. How did you decide?"

"To marry Anthony?"

"Well yes, both actually, Anthony, and fucking people for money?"

"I like your style," Julie said. "You put me on the spot as fast as I put you. I don't want to talk about Anthony right now. I was a different person back then. Does that make sense?"

"Sure. What about the other?"

"I know it sounds dumb, but it just sort of happened. There was a client— we were talking about his relationship and there was a crucial point where he broke down and said he was hopeless at sex, had no idea what he was doing and his anxiety was ruining everything. His wife couldn’t cope and it was driving him crazy. We talked and, well, he couldn’t explain, he became a stuttering mess, so I made him show me."

"And you ended up showing him how to fuck?"

"Pretty much, and it worked. The pair of them came back a week later. It was kind of embarrassing, I had to tell his wife he’d fucked me, but she already knew. She thought I was brilliant."

"And I suppose you ended up fucking both of them?"

Julie shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, and it was was good. The sex was fun but the real turn on was the way it got them through the worst of it; got them to a place where they could experiment on their own and make it work."

"How did you decide how much to charge?"

"For them, it was a standard counselling rate. I thought I’d learned as much as they did, but after that, I did some research."

"And it got very expensive?"

"Yeah, kind of, but compared with the cost of a divorce…"

Laura chuckled. "Yeah, compared to that I guess. So why didn’t you tell Anthony?"

"Ah, the million dollar question." Julie looked across at Anthony. She got up and moved to a console on the wall. "When I sit down, ask me again."

"You want him to hear?"

"It’s only fair." She flipped a switch and turned back to her chair.

"Anthony, darling. I thought you needed a rest, so for the moment I’m letting you stay where you are, but Laura’s asking me interesting questions, so I thought you ought to hear"

She sat down and turned her gaze back to Laura.

"Okay, so I understand how your practice evolved and why you sometimes did things with clients that went way beyond the usual counselling and cost a lot more, but why didn’t you tell Anthony?"

"Why didn’t I tell my husband that sometimes I had sex with clients and did all sorts of other very adult things with them to help them through their troubles? I think to begin with, and certainly the first time, it was so intimately wound up with treating the client that I hardly realised I’d done something questionable. Anthony knew I regarded client confidentiality as vital and in a way, this was nothing new."

There was a sharp intake of breath from Anthony.

"It did dawn on me... um... afterwards, and before it became a regular thing— when I worked out the fees I guess. Putting a price on it is a pretty deliberate act. After that, I couldn’t claim that it was just something that happened. Deep down I guess I wanted to do it. The impact it had on some clients, the way it transformed their lives was too massive to want to give it up. Involving Anthony would bring something personal into it; I worried that he’d feel he was giving up something or he might be jealous. One way or another his personal feelings could disrupt my work with my clients. Does that make sense?"

She continued, "There was another thing too; I was working for money and we had a joint account. Could that make Anthony seem to be some sort of pimp, maybe even technically living off immoral earnings?"

"And he might want you to stop."

Julie took a deep breath. "Yes," she said. "So I went for plausible deniability. I kept it in the business, opened a new bank account, changed the name I worked under and invented Angela."

"But that’s all blown now," said Anthony.

Julie got up and took the straps off, removed the blindfold and headphones. She kissed him. "Sorry love, I couldn’t resist making sure you had to listen. I’ve got my accounts for you to see."

"Now?"

"Whenever. I promised so I need to give them to you, whether you read them or when is up to you."

Anthony sat up slowly. "You two are amazing, you know that don’t you."

Julie looked across to Laura but before either said anything the phone rang. Without a thought, Julie turned to the phone on the wall and pressed the hands-free button. Glancing at Laura and Anthony she put a finger to her lips.

"Hello."

"Is that Angela?"

"Yes."

"Mary Marsh, are you free to talk? I really need to talk."

"Mary, I’ll call you back in a couple of minutes."

She put the phone down.

"You know who that is?" she turned to Anthony, "the wife of your client."

"She sounded tense."

"After yesterday, are you surprised?"

"I guess not," said Anthony. "Is she a client?"

"Sort of. She paid for the sessions with Adrian— well, you know that, so I've met her and talked to her but it was always about Adrian."

"So what do you think is going on? said Laura.

"I’m not prepared to guess. She sounds like she needs to talk, so if you guys don’t mind, we’re going to talk."

"You already said you’d call her back," said Anthony.

"Yes, dear. But I didn’t say we’d have a long talk right now."

"That would be best wouldn’t it?"

"Maybe. Can I leave you two together? I don’t think you should be listening." Julie glanced quickly at Laura. "You want to don’t you?"

"Of course, but I get it, client confidentiality and all that."

"I think we should listen," said Anthony. "Not interfere or anything, but if we are in this together then..."

"If I call her on speaker then you will both have to be quiet."

"Can't you beam it through to here but talk from the office?"

Julie thought for a minute and then headed to the other room. She closed the door behind her and picked up the phone. She pressed a few buttons on her console and dialled the number.

"Mary Marsh?"

"Is that Angela?"

"Yes, it’s me. You know my rules don't you, all my calls are recorded."

"Yes, thank heavens you do, or where would we be?"

"What can I do for you?"

"I think I need to come and see you."

"You mean a consultation?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Can you give me an idea? I usually book sessions by the hour, will that do?"

There was a long pause. "An hour to start, yes, yes please, but it might take a lot longer."

"Try to tell me why, even a rough idea. Don’t worry if it’s not crystal clear, it probably isn’t, just let it flow for a minute or two."

"I feel terrible."

"About…?"

"About what I’ve done to Adrian."

"Go on," said Julie, "What have you done to Adrian?"

"I’ve screwed up his life."

Julie paused for a second. Was this something new, or just a sudden attack of guilt brought on by the court case.

"Is this because of the court case?"

"Yes, yes, it was so awful. He’s been so nice to me and then he ends up having to admit in public that he’s been with you. I feel so guilty. His friends won’t talk to him. My friends ask me if I’m leaving him and when I say no they look shocked and ask me why not. Everything is coming apart. It’s not his fault, it’s mine."

"Apart from the innuendo from the detective, what I did with Adrian didn’t come out in court. I said it was a counselling session. The only people who saw the video were the lawyers."

"People talk," Mary said. "They talk, they guess. If he’s seeing a counsellor there must be something wrong and it’s all my fault."

"But Adrian’s not going to leave you is he?"

"No, he’s being a saint but I’m all over the place. How could I have been so selfish and it's so complicated. I don’t know what to do. Please, I need help."

Julie thought for a moment.

"I want you to write me a letter. Make it a confession if you like, tell me everything you’ve done, what you’ve said to Adrian and what you got out of each encounter. You need to be honest, so if you had a great time having your brains screwed out by some stud then you have to say so and if you felt guilty afterwards, then say that too. Tell me what you told Adrian. I need to know if you left anything out. I guess it will take a day or two so when you’ve done it send it to me and I will make you an appointment as soon as I can after that."

"I’m not very good at writing."

"Do you have a tape recorder? If you don’t then buy a decent one and talk to that. If there’s someone you can trust to type it, then do that. If I have to listen to it all I’ll have to charge you for the time. Listening to audio is slower than reading, but one way or another I want a complete confession." Julie paused to listen but all she could hear was breathless sobs at the other end.

"Don’t panic, this is the way to make everything come out right. I know it won’t be easy but it will get better. Don’t tell Adrian that you’re doing this because he’ll want to see it and he’ll want to change it to make you look good. That’s a good thing, but we don’t need it right now. Got that?"

A subdued, "Yes," followed.

"He isn’t listening is he?"

"No, he’s at work."

"Good. I’ll be waiting for your story." Julie put the phone down and let out a long breath and turned her attention back to the screen. Anthony and Laura were sitting in the two comfortable chairs, apparently doing nothing. Changing the camera position a little allowed her to see that Anthony was reading her accounts.

“Boring,” she said and ran the tape back. They had obviously been listening because she could hear her phone conversation in the background.

“Quiz question,” Laura said. “Who did you suck and who fucked you?”

Anthony sat up, swung his legs off the couch and thought for a moment.

“You wouldn’t have asked me if there wasn’t a catch. I thought I was fucking you, but someone put headphones on me and knew how to plug in the music, so that had to be Julie. Why would she do that? So you two could collude I think, so my guess is it was Julie on my cock and I sucked your pussy.”

“Yeah,” Laura said, “too easy.”

“How did I do?”

“Pretty good,” she laughed, “you suck better than you fuck.”

“Oh great, so that’s me put in my place, though actually, I have no evidence of your expertise. Maybe I should check with Julie.”

“Tough for you isn’t it, suddenly you find out that your wife knows more about sex than you do. Maybe you should stick to fucking the apprentice for a while.”

“Is that an offer?”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“If I get the job as the apprentice, and if the boss says yes.”

Julie watching the video chuckled to herself. “I bet she knew I’d listen.”

As the recording played Julie tried to catch with one ear what was going on in real time. Fortunately, that was less riveting. Anthony couldn’t resist reading through the papers and for a few minutes, Laura let him. When he briefly stopped and put a set of pages down Laura interrupted.

"How do you think Julie feels when you get buried in work?"

That stopped Anthony in his tracks and the hand reaching for the next set of papers hung in mid-air for a second.

"Yesterday I felt guilty about that."

"The flowers?"

"Exactly. The flowers and the food. I was ready to beg for forgiveness. Now I don’t know if it’s too late."

"No, I don’t think so."

"But she’s got everything she could want, she’s making more money than me, having as much sex as she wants. I guess she could have more of both if she felt like it, I don’t know if I count for anything anymore."

"Will you tell her that?"

She knows I’m listening, thought Julie.

"I don’t know where to begin," he said.

Julie inched the door open so that Laura could see but Anthony, with his back to the door, heard nothing.

"For a person who’s so clever you’re very dumb," Laura said. "Do you love her?"

"Yes," the word came back without a second thought. "That’s why I feel so bad. How could I neglect her so?"

"Would she get love like that from her work?"

"I don’t know, um, well I guess not. No, I suppose it’s just sex."

"I don't think it's even that, Anthony. She's thinking all the time about what she's doing to the client. Give her love. She's only going to get that from you. If I were you, I’d love her to bits."

Julie hovered in the doorway, suddenly unsure whether to interrupt.

"I suppose you know how to do that," he said. "I’m not sure I do."

"I could help."

Julie held her breath, thinking, she knows I’m here, she’s saying that to both of us.

Laura looked up, caught Julie’s eye and winked, as if to say I told you I wouldn’t steal him. They both looked at Anthony, waiting, both curious in different ways, wondering what was going on in his mind.

"How?" he said.

"Oh she’d find a way, she’s a smart girl, my apprentice," said Julie.

Anthony spun around, almost falling out of his chair; his face a mess of surprise, curiosity and relief.

"You heard?"

"Enough." She beamed at him. "So you don’t want me to leave?"

"No, no, never. I love you."

"Well that’s settled then," Julie said. "Now Mr Lawyer what sort of contract should I draw up for my new apprentice?"

Julie moved into the room, her body language changing as she stepped forward. If you’d asked the other two they’d have said she strode into the room, she could have been a general commanding her troops, a dominant force, but then she relaxed, jumping rather informally onto the couch. "I knew two seats weren’t enough in this place," she said.

Both women looked at Anthony, attention he found disturbing. He’d never been his lawyer self and naked at the same time. The leather armchair didn’t help either. Somehow he felt he should be standing, or at a desk. There should be papers, pens, a computer, all the power toys, places to avert his eyes, hide behind.

"There should be a job description," he said. "Duties. There’s always a paragraph about duties, responsibilities, stuff like that."

"Key result areas," said Laura, suppressing a giggle, "Oh and Knowledge Skills and Abilities, there’s always a section on that."

“Qualifications?” said Anthony.

“That’s going to be tricky, isn’t it? My understanding of normal industrial practice is that where there are no established industry qualifications then the best thing is to do tests in situ.”

“You mean, have me fuck some guys while you watch?”

“Not just guys.”

“Oh, right.”

“Can I add something?” Anthony’s voice had none of its courtroom manner.

Laura and Julie turned to him.

“Laura works in our law firm, so she’s got brains as well as an amazing body, she ought to have the chance to use that brain, or we’d be doing her a disservice.”

“We?”

“I thought she could deputise for me too.”

“Doing what?”

“I have to admit,” Anthony said, “that I’m not completely sure, but there’s a couple of things. Sometimes I work on papers at home when I should be paying attention to you — she could summarise papers, save me time and you’d get the benefit. Then there’s the other way where I really do need to work and you really do need attention—“

“And I could fuck Julie on your behalf,” said Laura.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“And other times if Julie was busy I could fuck you instead.”

"Are you two serious?"

"Yes." Anthony and Laura answered together.

"So let me get this clear. Does Laura live with us? or are there set hours in this contact? Am I paying her, or both of us? Are you or Laura going on working for Goddard or are both you setting up on your own? This is complicated, there’s a lot to think about."

"Sure. Obviously," Anthony said. "I think there’s something there that could be good for all of us. Leaving Laura out of it for a second, I don’t want to go on working my arse off if I end up neglecting you. So finding a way to deal with that matters to me." He fixed Julie with a questioning gaze and held her attention.

"Okay, I get that," she said.

"But—"

"There’s a but?"

"But," Anthony said. "I think your business matters to you. You like doing it and your clients seem very happy if these accounts are anything to go by. If you weren’t making sure that you kept it from me you could probably do more."

"Until I started neglecting you?"

"No, well, sort of. Until that was a tension, though I think it already is. My point is that there will be times when staying here longer may get in the way. When that happens you need a way out. Putting it crudely that could be either having Laura take over a client, or Laura look after me."

They both turned to Laura, she grinned with a minuscule shrug of her shoulders.

"Yeah, why not."

Julie held a hand up. "We’d have to try it, we might end up with three messed up people." She paused for a few seconds. "Some of those steps are bigger than others. If you quit your job there’s no easy way back, so that needs some careful thought, really careful thought."

"Are you serious about me living with you?" There was a slight crack in Laura’s voice.

"Only if you wanted to. We have plenty of room. There is another thing, upstairs here will be available in a week.”

"So I could live here?"

"Or I could," said Julie.

"Oh, right, I get what you mean," said Laura, "one more bit of flexibility. One of us could work here and go on longer into the evening, which would probably suit some clients."

"Oh well let’s not get tied down," said Anthony. "I could convert it to a suite of offices and work from here. Of course, it’s your property love, so I’d have to pay you rent."

"You know the nicest thing?" said Laura

"Go on."

"It’s like we’re having a board meeting, but we’re all naked."

Julie chuckled. "Is that a formal proposal? Any meetings to discuss our future, we all have to be naked."

"It would certainly make recruitment interesting if we wanted to expand."

"Oh, great," said Julie. "My husband’s a pervert."

Anthony laughed. “Yeah, he is, so can we have a threesome where I have my eyes open? I know you two played games with me, but I’d like to be more involved; It was great, but...”

Julie and Laura exchanged glances.

“Are you up to that? If you do one of us you’ll have to do both,” Julie said.

“Or,” said Laura, I could audition. You did kind of suggest that was necessary.”

Julie glanced at Anthony.

"Seems like a good idea."

"What does she have to do?"

"Simple," said Julie. "We play the dice game, or more to the point you play the dice game," she giggled for a second, "or at least start off with that and see where it goes."

“How does it work?”

“There are three dice. One gives you a body part, the second gives an action and the third says how long. In theory, you can roll the dice as often as you like and either party can roll them, but for now, I’m going to roll the dice and you do to Anthony what it says. After that ad lib and let’s see where it goes.”

Julie threw the first dice,

“Neck,” she said.

“Kiss,”

“Five minutes.”

“Stand up big boy,” said Laura and moved behind Anthony.

Her first touch was so light he almost didn’t feel it, her breath moved a few hairs and he felt a little heat. She moved around him, hands caressing his buttocks as her lips found a spot just below his right ear, again with a tantalising light touch, just enough to produce increased sensitivity as she moved up and down.

Julie watched with professional detachment. A hand crept down Anthony’s back, beginning to slowly stroke his buttock. Julie could see the muscles ripple under the skin and Anthony twisted a little, a quarter turn of a corkscrew as his neck responded to the touch of lips and tongue while his back turned the other way under the ministrations of Laura’s hand.

She’s winding him up, Julie thought, admiring the technique as Anthony’s face rotated enough to allow Anthony to try a kind of sideways kiss out of the corner of his mouth. As their lips made contact Laura’s fingers strayed into the crack between Anthony’s twitching buttock and began to trespass into forbidden places.

This is going to be interesting, thought Julie, realising suddenly that she’d never done that to Anthony. It was like watching some kind of ballet, as the two bodies twined around each other, but paradoxically this was a dance led by the woman, not the man. As fast as Anthony cottoned to where Laura what Laura was doing or where she was going next, she’d change, recover the initiative and start something new.

There are only so many places on a man that you can stimulate, or at least, only a limited number of obvious ones. A woman has more, so much of the literature Julie had read and most of the movies she’d seen focussed on the female — because it’s written and produced by men, she thought.

Anthony’s breathing had changed, controlled by Laura, at least as far as the sudden intakes of breath were concerned. He must have breathed out occasionally, but there were no relaxing sighs of contentment, little gasps here and there, the occasional grunt and a few moans.

Any notion of this being an audition had gone before Laura even touched his cock, she had the job and the rest was entertainment. Julie had no need to discuss the audition with Anthony, his mind was elsewhere.

Of course, Laura did get to work on his cock; by then she had him on the floor, or at least a padded mat the Julie used for relaxation more than sex. What the hell, she thought, if she wants to use it for that, then why not? She can use it for wrestling if she wants.

Julie had almost lost interest in what was happening to Anthony, she was thinking about what Laura could do to a woman. Could she keep a straight face and tell her that she had to audition with both of them?

Laura was playing with Anthony’s mouth, teasing him with one nipple after the other, tempting him to suck them, risking getting the nub between his teeth and pulling away, making him concentrate on the game as she played with his cock. Her hand was doing a good job, one stroke for him and one on her clit until she decided that he was as hard as he could go and she was as ready as needed.

She slid onto him fast, making him come to the hilt in one movement, banging him the way an over-confident stud might bang her. In and out or on and off, how ever you want to describe it. The end was inevitable. Julie knew that no one had ever done that to him. Anthony was overwhelmed in a few seconds but somehow the violence was so energetic, so contrived that it was almost tender.

As though she knew exactly how much he could take and how fast to the millimetre or millisecond. As he came she relented, easing down on top of him, hugging him in an inescapable grip and kissing him so that he was completely overwhelmed.

That went on for several minutes until Anthony’s breathing came back to something like normal and then she eased herself off him, wiped the sweat from his forehead and gently closed his eyelids. Before they were open again she had reversed herself, taken his cock in her mouth and sucked him clean. As his eyes opened her pussy was in his face and rapidly descending on his mouth.

Foolishly, he started to say something and found his mouth full of his own cum, expertly ejected as she squeezed her muscles, nudged to and fro a little and then got up. She turned to face Julie.

Julie grinned, but there was something more than a smile there, an instruction too. She spread her legs and pointed to her pussy and the smiling face became a little more stern.

Laura dropped to her knees and got to work.

For Anthony, it was a new experience. He'd never seen Julie like this. He'd never seen her having sex, let alone with a woman. He watched like a curious kid. It crossed his mind that he ought to be aroused or jealous or something, but Laura had taken all that out of him. All that was left was curiosity.

Laura was good, that much seemed clear, if only because before long Julie had her eyes closed and a blissful look on her face. Should he get involved?

One thing he was clear about before Julie started to climax, was that she was right, he had a lot to learn. One other thought intruded— no one could want better teachers than the two women in front of him. In the end, he attempted nothing, did nothing and let himself sink into the knowledge that he was a lucky guy.

For sure life was going to get weird, but it would be good, he was sure of that. What he had to do was somehow keep an open mind and sooner or later he would find his feet and know what he had to do.

The three of them slept at home. Who would sleep in the middle? They began with Anthony but he couldn't cope. Julie coaxed it out of him‚ there was something about having a woman on either side of him that was exciting but not compatible with sleep. What was worse was that if he was awake and in the middle, it was hard to get out of bed.

They tossed a coin and Laura got the middle.

"This isn't for every night, is it?" she said.

Anthony looked bemused. "No," Julie said firmly. "None of us knows how this is going to work and anyway you need your own space, so this is a one-off. Maybe we all need our own rooms. We'll figure it out."

Julie woke first and sneaked downstairs. She made coffee and had a quick look at her emails. Mary Marsh had replied already. Julie took that as a sign that the woman was really worried so printed off the text and settled in the living room to read it.

Dear Angela,
I hope this letter is what you wanted, but even if it falls short I hope I can see you for at least an hour, or longer if needed.

As you know, my husband Adrian is a wonderful man. You also know as intimately as I the details of his endowment. He is average, or maybe even a little more in size and his girth is satisfactory.

Before I met him I had experienced men with much larger cocks, but none of them was as kind or as keen to satisfy me as Adrian.

The other thing that you know about Adrian is that he is a grower, actually to a larger extent than any other man I’ve known. Thereby lies his problem. When he was at school and later when playing rugby he somehow came to the conclusion that he was small compared to other men.

You and I both know that he isn’t, once he gets going, but in a lukewarm shower after rugby in English weather, he can appear minute and it became fixed in his mind that he was small.

We talked about our previous lives and he knows I had sex with some well-endowed specimens. Foolishly, I bought some dildos the same size as previous boyfriends. I cannot remember how that came about but Adrian was always so honest with me that I somehow fell into the trap of making explicit size comparisons. I mistakenly showed him these toys, trying to persuade him that the odd centimetre or two made little difference. All it did was fix his inferiority in his mind.

To cut out the tedious parts, he eventually persuaded me that it made sense for me to take other lovers who were better endowed. Not all the time, but now and then as a treat.

They were treats and Adrian wanted to know every detail when I returned from dates. Again I was foolish, I embellished the stories a little, so that they were bigger, lasted longer, came more often, gave me more orgasms than he ever had. I stupidly thought that was what he wanted — to know that he’s given me a great treat.

At first, I did tell the story exactly as it happened, being fucked by overconfident boorish men who thought they were God’s gift to women. I had hoped that this would help him see that there was no need for me to go elsewhere but it had the opposite effect. If I had a date with a boor then Adrian worked twice as hard to get me two more to make up.

I got used to it and I enjoyed telling Adrian my stories. He went to more and more trouble to find men with huge cocks so that eventually the only way I could get control of things was to take over the search function.

Surprisingly, that turned Adrian on more. I told him about the men but most often did not share the pictures because he would see that they were smaller than he imagined. I showed him some cock pics but it’s easy to make those seem huge.

I looked for men who could give me a good time and I deliberately stayed longer so that as often as not Adrian was asleep when I got back. That meant that we spent most of the next day reliving the story and those days were wonderful.

Why did I send him to you? Because I felt guilty, because I felt I was cheating on him. I was using his good nature to con him into letting me have more sex with others and more with him. We had a lot of fun but we were living in lies that I told.

I made my next mistake a little after I first sent him to you. I was keen to find a small number of lovers who I could rely on, so that I could manage the situation. I found three guys. Two of them are great, they know I’m married, they know I won’t leave Adrian and they’re happy to have sex once or twice a month.

The third one was a huge mistake. I thought being a policeman, he would be reliable. He was a man who was full of himself and although he does have a big enough cock, it is not massive. It turns out that he is also a bully and within a short time he had decided that our sex would be better if he could humiliate Adrian. He started insisting that I should stop having sex with Adrian.

I know there are cuckolding couples who think that’s okay. I know there are husbands who get off on that in some way, or maybe they are dominated by their wives in such a way that it works for them. You probably know more than I do about such things. I refused. I didn’t actually say outright to this man that there was no way that I would do that to Adrian; perhaps I should have. I simply ignored his request. He pressed me, becoming more demanding until I eventually said that I was definitely not doing that to Adrian and that we had better break it off.

He went ballistic and the consequence was the ridiculous court case that you became involved in. This former lover of mine attempted to frame Adrian for a bank robbery, clearly with the intent of wrecking our marriage and putting Adrian in prison.

By an absolute stroke of luck, he picked on a robbery that took place when Adrian was with you and thanks to you Adrian is free and it appears that this bully of a detective has been sent a long way away. I say sent because he has phoned me several times to complain that he is being moved against his will. Inevitably he blames me because he discovered that I paid for Adrian’s sessions with you.

I suppose I should simply breathe a sigh of relief that it is all over and I still have Adrian, but it can’t stop there. Adrian doesn’t know why he was framed and doesn’t know that the detective who almost ruined him was one of my lovers.

I feel guilty beyond measure. I have to give up this life but if I do then I have to find a reason that will satisfy Adrian and not tear the two of us apart.

You handled the court case so well; I saw you, I was sitting at the back. You’ve given Adrian a good time, better than I hoped and taken him to places he never knew.

Please see me and help me find a way out of this. As you know I have significant inherited wealth. I have no problem meeting whatever fees you want to charge, but I am desperate for help.

Mary

Julie had read the letter twice when Anthony appeared.

"You should see this," she said, "it's Adrian Marsh's wife. It makes sense of what went on. What you did about that detective  was the right thing."

"Are you sure I should see it?"

"Promise you won't do anything. I'll have to help her, so I'll have to tell Laura, so one way or another you'll be in the loop, so best if you know provided you can keep a secret."

Anthony pulled a face.

"Yes, love, I'm sure you can, but this is a first for me."

"What will you do?" he said as he took the letter from her.

"I have a germ of an idea," she said, "but it's very wild."