Read Online An Immoral Code by Caro Fraser - Free Book Online

hands in his pockets, looking down at Anthony. For a moment Anthony hesitated, then, with a reluctant sigh, he rose, dropping the newspaper beside his empty teacup, and followed Leo out.
    They walked together in silence through Serjeants’ Inn and passed through the side door into the dim interior of El Vino’s, Anthony aware of some emotion at work within him which he could not quite define. Was it fear? Apprehension? As they sat down together at a corner table in the near-empty bar, Anthony watched Leo ordering a bottle from the waitress, and then suddenly realised that what he felt was a kind of excitement. Excitement, fear, pleasure – all these things mingled together. And relief – relief that after all these months they would be able to talk alone, and frankly. Then Anthony realised that he hadno idea what he was going to say to Leo. Nor what Leo might say to him.
    The waitress brought a bottle of chablis and two glasses, and Leo lit a small cigar. He glanced at Anthony. ‘Are you hungry?’ he asked. Without waiting for his answer, Leo turned to the waitress. ‘A round of smoked salmon sandwiches, please,’ he said.
    When she had left, Leo poured them each a glass of wine. Still Anthony said nothing. He sat regarding Leo, waiting. Leo sipped his wine in silence for a moment or two, drawing on his cigar occasionally, staring thoughtfully at the table. Anthony knew, from all the times he had watched Leo in court, the way in which he would keep his gaze averted from a witness for long, suspenseful seconds, that Leo was carefully formulating whatever it was he had to say. But now he could afford to take longer than he ever did in court. At last he looked up at Anthony.
    ‘I think,’ said Leo slowly, ‘that the best thing that you can do – the best thing, for all of us, the best thing for this case – is to try to find some forgiveness for what I have done. For whatever there is in the past that has made you feel towards me as you do now.’
    Anthony took a long drink of his wine. ‘I don’t know that that’s possible,’ he said.
    Leo sighed and sat back in his chair. ‘Anthony, you do genuinely bewilder me. Is it Rachel? Is it that you were so in love with her that you still feel like this? I don’t believe so.’ He leant forward again, stroking ash from the tip of his cigar against the rim of the ashtray. ‘I have seen you in love.’ Anthony looked up at him sharply, his face suddenly vulnerable and young. ‘You fall in love easily, and you recover easily. I know.’ His gaze held Anthony’s. ‘I don’t believe it has anything to do with Rachel. So tell me – what is it? What have I done that is so unforgivable?’
    There was silence for a moment, and Anthony poured somemore wine, then drank to fortify his nerve. He shook his head. ‘I don’t know that I can say this. It’s beyond me. I simply don’t think I can.’ Leo said nothing. Anthony drew a deep breath, then looked up at Leo. ‘Do you remember that evening just after you had announced your engagement, when we had drinks in chambers?’ Leo said nothing, merely lifted his chin slightly as he drew on his cigar, his eyes fixed on Anthony’s face. Anthony looked down at his wine glass, twisting the stem between his fingers. ‘I’d had a bit to drink, I know, but I stopped you just as you came out of chambers afterwards—’
    ‘I remember,’ said Leo, and nodded.
    Anthony looked up at him. ‘Do you remember what I said?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Leo. This was a dangerous conversation, he realised. He had no idea where it might be leading and, scrupulous lawyer that he was, he did not relish that kind of unpredictability. He took a sip of his wine, then met Anthony’s gaze. ‘You asked me if I loved Rachel more than I had loved you.’ In the brief silence they regarded one another intently.
    ‘And did you mean what you said in reply?’ asked Anthony quietly.
    Leo looked away and pondered this, and for an instant Anthony saw a lost,