Monday, but with a bit of luck the case will finish tomorrow. Lucky for me, anyway,” she added, sobering.
“Cheer up—the weekend forecast looks good.” Emily grinned. “The sun is sure to shine for Leonie on Sunday, anyway. The minute I set foot in a plane to fly away from it Britain always swelters in a heatwave.”
“Since you’re off to sunny Italy it doesn’t matter.” Jess sighed. “I wish I was going with you. After seven years apart Jonah and Leo were all for dashing off to a register office right away, of course, but when they were persuaded to wait for a conventional June wedding I hadn’t the heart to say the date clashed with my holiday.”
“You know nothing would have kept you from Leonie’s wedding! Not to worry; we’ll do a holiday together some other time. And my sister was in raptures when I suggested she stepped into the breach.”
“Who’s looking after the children?”
“My mother’s taking turns with the other grandma. And Jack gets home to supervise bathtime and bed, anyway. I told Celia to relax—they’ll all cope.”
“Of course they will. And I’ll use the time off to laze about at home.” Jess yawned widely. “I’m off for a bath.”
Jess was towelling thick layers of flaxen hair when Emily banged on the bathroom door.
“Phone call for you,” she called. “Guess who?”
“Surprise me.”
“A sexy-sounding gent by the name of Forli!”
“What? Tell me you’re pulling my leg, Em!” said Jess, throwing open the door in dismay.
“Of course I’m not,” said Emily indignantly. “He’s hanging on as we speak, dearie, so get yourself to the phone.”
Jess shook her head violently. “I still can’t talk to him.”
“What on earth shall I say?”
“Tell him I’m in the bath. Asleep. Anything. Why didn’t you say I was out?”
“I didn’t realise a phone call was taboo as well.” Emily shook her head. “Honestly, Jess, any woman in her right mind would kill to listen to that voice purring down the line. Who would know?” She flung up her hands. “All right, all right. I’ll lie through my teeth and swear you’re prostrate with a migraine.”
“Perfect. If I’m not I should be!”
When Jess joined Emily minutes later her friend grinned as she ladled cream and smoked salmon over bowls of steaming pasta.
“I’m afraid the gentleman didn’t believe a word of it. But he was much too civilised to blame the messenger.”
“Damn, damn, damn!” said Jess bitterly. “Any other time I’d have been delighted to talk to him.”
“I believe you. Is he tall, dark and handsome to match the voice?”
“Not quite.” That particular description belonged to the third man in the equation. “Roberto’s tall enough, but fairish in that olive-skinned, Latin sort of way. A bit of a star on the ski-slopes, according to Leo.”
“Smouldering blue eyes, of course,” said Emily, smacking her lips.
“What have you been reading lately? Actually his eyes are dark like mine.”
“Smouldering black eyes, then. Even better.”
Jess’s heart gave a sudden lurch at the memory of dark eyes which had smouldered so effectively she couldn’t get them out of her mind. She ground her teeth in frustration. If only she’d been able to talk to Roberto he could have introduced her. Why did this kind of thing never go right for her? She eyed Emily hopefully. “I don’t suppose Roberto gave you his number? I could happily ring him tomorrow, after the trial.”
“Sorry. A second rebuff must have been too much for the poor guy.”
“I’ll bet. Especially as it’s not long since my sister jilted him. We Dysart girls really know how to treat a man, don’t we?” Jess ate her favourite supper with less relish than it deserved. “Maybe Leo knows his number. If so I’ll ring to apologise.” And casually ask who the friend might be.
“Don’t just apologise—grovel!” advised Emily.
“You haven’t even met the man.”
“I don’t have to! Just listening to that voice was enough.”
Next day the proceedings in court were over sooner than expected. The judge reminded the jury of the exact meaning of the indictment, of what the Prosecution was obliged to prove to win its case and what the Defence must have done to persuade the jury to acquit, and concluded by telling the jury it was entirely up to them to decide. The ushers took an oath to keep the jury in a private and convenient place, and Jess and her fellow jurors were led off to the jury room and locked in to make their deliberations.
This time the facts were so conclusive that the jury members were reluctantly unanimous, and back in court later Edward, their foreman, delivered the verdict of guilty. Up to that point Jess had been very sorry for the young woman in the dock, but to her surprise Prosecuting Counsel justified the jury’s verdict by disclosing a prior conviction of a similar nature before the judge passed sentence.
Afterwards the twelve jury members went off to the pub Jess had raced from the day before. But this time there was no sign of Roberto Forli and Jeremy Lonsdale, nor, most disappointing of all, of the third member of the trio.
“Let’s keep in touch, Jess,” said Simon Hollister, as they emerged with the others into hot afternoon sunlight. “If I give you a ring soon, will you have dinner with me?”
“I’d love to,” agreed Jess. “Not yet awhile, though. I’m off home to Gloucestershire for my sister’s wedding tomorrow, and I’m staying on for a few days.”
“Lucky old you,” he said enviously. “I’m back to the City grind on Monday. I’ll ring you in a week or so, then.”
Jess nodded, then beckoned to June. “Time I went. I’m giving our friend a lift. See you, Simon.”
The moment she got back to the flat Jess rang home. “Hi, Mother, it’s me. The trial finished today after all, so I can stay on after the wedding with a light heart.”
“Thank heavens for that,” said Frances Dysart with relief. “How are you, darling? Tired?”
“Exhausted. How are things there? Mad panic on all sides?”
“Not a bit of it. The bride is floating about on a pink cloud and Fenny, needless to say, is bursting with excitement. But Kate’s a bit tense. She’s only halfway through her exams.”
“I can’t believe she’s worried about failing! Kate’s the brains of the family.” Jess chuckled ruefully. “Leo got the looks and Adam the charm, whereas poor old me—”
“Whereas poor old you,” echoed her mother dryly, “are the sexiest, according to your
