Apologies for the delay. The weather has been nice!

Enjoy :)

"Objection!"

"Sustained. Ms Nicholls..." Judge Stein frowned down from the bench. "I've warned you before about that line of questioning. Get off it!"

"Sorry," Evelyn replied, trying to stop the smile playing at the corner of her mouth. In reality, she wasn't sorry at all. For the first time in a long time she was actually enjoying being in court, enjoying the cut and thrust of a trial and, even though her client was, as she had told Ben, 'a complete asshole' she was doing the best job she could for him by trying to confound the State's witnesses, exactly the job she was paid for. She knew it was only the first day of trial, the first day back at work since her night away with Ben and the first day she had asked to be addressed as her maiden name in court, but she felt a lightness within and could almost remember what it had been like to first start out on this road. "Mrs Brown..." she turned back to the woman sitting in the witness box who was looking at her suspiciously. "You said that you saw the defendant leaving the apartment at eleven-thirty."

"Yes."

"And how was he leaving?"

The witness frowned, "I don't follow."

"Well was he walking, running...maybe he was skipping or hopping...?"

"Objection..."

"Withdrawn," Evelyn replied. "How was he leaving the apartment, Mrs Brown?"

"He was moving quickly," the witness replied.

"Moving quickly...ok...and was he with anyone?"

"No, he was alone."

"So...it's eleven-thirty at night, in the middle of winter, it's cold and dark and you're absolutely sure that it was Mr Conner that you saw that evening?" She gestured to the defence table where her client was sitting, ramrod straight and steely eyed.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You couldn't be mistaken?"

"No."

"But you were with your husband, as you testified, having a heated argument."

"I said we were having a conversation."

"Well, in fact, you called it a 'disagreement', "Evelyn checked her notes. "So, you're arguing with your husband, it's cold and dark, the lighting on the street isn't that great..."

"The lighting was fine," the witness said, "and we weren't arguing."

"Isn't it possible that in the heat of your 'disagreement' and faced with the other conditions I've mentioned, that you could be mistaken about your identification?"

The witness paused, "No."

"You don't sound that sure. Isn't it possible that you made a mistake?"

"Objection, asked and answered."

Judge Stein paused, "Overruled. The witness will answer."

"Well?" Evelyn pushed, "isn't it possible?"

The witness glanced at the defendant and then back at her, "I didn't make a mistake."

"Mrs Brown, we've established that it was dark, that you were arguing with your husband..." "Your Honour..."

"Enough Ms Nicholls."

Evelyn shrugged casually in the direction of the jury, "I have no more questions." She made her way back over to the table where her client, Timothy Conner, looked less than impressed. "Shut up," she said quietly, but firmly as he opened his mouth to, presumably, offer his opinion as to where she had gone wrong. For someone with no formal training in, quite frankly anything, he was always keen to offer an unqualified opinion and it had taken all of two seconds after meeting him for her to realise why Shambala had been 'unavailable' to take the case.

"Your Honour, given the hour..." ADA Frank Lake rose gracefully from his seat.

"Yes," Judge Stein glanced at the clock. "We'll recess until after lunch." She banged her gavel and left the bench.

"You should have got that idiot woman to say it wasn't me," Timothy hissed.

"Well if you think you could have done any better, feel free to conduct the rest of your trial pro se," Evelyn replied, sliding some papers into her briefcase. "It's no skin off my nose." He looked at her as though she had lost her mind. "I didn't think so. Be back here before two. It's likely you'll be giving evidence before the end of the day."

"But it's only the first day," he protested. "I've seen trials on television and they usually last weeks if not months!"

She tried to smother down a laugh and failed miserably. "This isn't television, Mr Conner. For the record, and as I told you right at the beginning, this is a pretty straightforward case."

"But..."

"Please..." she said, trying to keep herself from punching him in the face, figuring it would be the end of her career and unwilling to lose it all for a prick like him. "Go and have some lunch and I'll see you back here before two." Huffing and puffing, he got up and left her alone at the table to sort out her papers before heading to get some lunch for herself. If there was any justice, the trial would be over in less than twenty four hours and she could kiss Timothy Conner goodbye forever.

"You were pushing it a bit, weren't you?" Frank said, wandering over to where she was standing. "Much more and Judge Stein would have be considering holding you in contempt."

"It's called testing the state's case," Evelyn replied. "As well you know."

"My original offer still stands. Attempted robbery two, he serves two years."

"I told you before, he won't take it. He's convinced he'll be found not guilty."

"I trust you've tried to dispel him of that notion."

"Of course, but my instructions are to continue," she shrugged. "Come on, it's an easy win for you. Cross it off your list and let's all look forward to the next one."

"I haven't won yet," he reminded her.

Evelyn laughed, "I'm pretty sure once Mr Conner takes the stand, as he is insisting he wants to do, the jury will have no difficulty in reaching a verdict."

"Fine," he smiled. "Let's see what the afternoon brings."

"Oh yes, let's...please..." she laughed again as he walked away from her. Frank was a decent guy, a competent ADA who had been amazed when she wouldn't accept the deal he offered. But as she had told him, some clients just needed to learn the hard way.

Satisfied that she had left everything in order, and wondering if she would have time to call Ben to see if he had heard what the outcome of the motion hearing was, she turned to make for the door and was stopped in her tracks by the sight of the woman hovering in the public gallery. She had tried so hard to push all thoughts of her from her mind and now, here she was, right in front of her...again.

"Hi," Lily said nervously. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to ambush you..."

"And yet you're here," Evelyn interrupted harshly. "I'm sure you noticed that I'm in the middle of a trial."

"Yes, I was watching you during that cross examination. You're really good, even if you couldn't get Mrs Brown to crack. I would never have the confidence to be a trial lawyer. I guess I'm just more suited to tax law."

"What do you want?"

Lily shifted from foot to foot. "I...uh...heard from my attorney...about Edward's estate."

Evelyn glanced around but fortunately the courtroom had all but emptied and they were alone apart from a lone court officer. "What about it?"

"Well I heard about what Jack is going to inherit, money wise and...well, also a half share in the company." Lily paused. "You really don't want it?"

The woman really had no clue. "I really don't want it."

"I'm...surprised, I guess. I would have thought that..."

"Look," Evelyn sighed, already growing weary of the conversation and hating the fact that Lily's mere presence was darkening her good mood. "I'm really busy at the moment and I have more cross after lunch so if you don't mind..."

"I was hoping that you might let me buy you a cup of coffee," Lily said. "As a kind of, I don't know, peace offering?"

Evelyn stared at the younger woman. For all her talk of not having the confidence to be in court she was certainly proving to have a pretty brass neck. "Peace offering? You were having an affair with my husband...you had his child...and you think a cup of coffee is an appropriate way to apologise for that?"

"I never said it was meant to be an apology," Lily said, her face tightening for a few seconds before relaxing again. "I'm sorry...I can understand if you don't want to. I just thought that it might be good for us to talk a little."

Evelyn paused, every rational bone in her body telling her to decline, to move on...that no good could come of such a conversation. But her interest had been piqued by the other woman and, even though she had pushed all thoughts of Edward's infidelity to the back of her mind and tried to focus on her life with Ben and the children, there was still a part of her that felt a burning desire to know more.

"Fine," she said, snapping her briefcase closed. "There's a diner across the street, but I can only spare you half an hour."

"That's great," Lily smiled. "That should be plenty time."

XXXX

"I've got news," Jack said, opening the door to Ben's office and stepping inside.

Ben looked up. "Better news than when you told me earlier that Judge Bertram had granted the motion?"

"It depends on how you look at it."

"How do you mean?"

"Briscoe just called me. They got the local usage details from Laura's phone faxed down from the police in Connecticut."

"That was fast."

"It's amazing what happens when you exert a little pressure." Jack paused. "There was a call made from your ex-wife's phone to a number in New York the evening you and Evelyn were on your way back to the city. In fact, there was more than one."

Ben sat back in his chair. "How many more?"

"Three in all. One call was made to the switchboard of O'Reilly Limited's New York office at seven fifty-five pm. It lasted less than a minute. Immediately after that there were two calls made to two different cell numbers. The first one lasted three minutes and is registered to Robert O'Reilly but the second one looks like a pre-paid, unregistered cell. That call lasted thirty seconds."

"So someone called the office looking for Robert O'Reilly, found that he wasn't there..."

"Unsurprising for that time on a Saturday night."

"So they called his cell and then called someone else?"

Jack nodded. "Maybe whoever made the call told O'Reilly that Evelyn was going to be back in the city and O'Reilly told that person to call the mystery number to organise the hit."

Ben paused, "Mark O'Reilly."

"Or..." Jack paused, "your ex-wife."

"Laura wouldn't know Robert O'Reilly."

"How do you know?"

"It doesn't make any sense," Ben argued. "Mark's his cousin. It would be far more likely for him to be the one to make the phone call. As much as I don't understand her of late, I can't believe that she would actually..."

"He might have asked her to make the calls," Jack said. "In any event, the fact that the calls were made from her home landline number means that the cops have grounds to pull both her and O'Reilly in for questioning." Ben didn't say anything. "You said yourself that Laura's civil attorney knew Evelyn had been to see Edward the night before he died, something that few people would have known and that you thought she might have gotten that information from Laura who, in turn, might have got it from Mark." He paused. "They could be in this together."

Ben let out a long breath. The fact that his ex-wife, the mother of his children, the woman he had shared a bed with for seven years could have possibly helped plan the attempted murder of his fiancée...it was like something out of a bad movie, not real life.

"I'm going to ask Briscoe and Logan to drive up to Hartford and question both Laura and Mark," Jack continued. "I just wanted to give you the heads up first."

"Thanks."

"I know Evelyn's down in court right now. I've got some papers to file this afternoon. Would you like me to tell her?"

"No," Ben replied quickly. "No...I think it would be better coming from me. I'll tell her tonight."

"Ok," Jack opened the door again. "I'm sorry Ben. For what it's worth, I really hope that Laura isn't involved in this."

"So do I," he said ruefully, "So do I."

XXXX

"I knew he was married," Lily said, stirring her coffee slowly. "But I was flattered by his attentions so I guess I just tried to tune that part out. He would compliment me on my work, on my appearance...things like that. He told me he thought I had a great future at the firm...that I could be a partner one day."

Evelyn said nothing. It was like hearing her own story told back to her. Edward had been nothing if not consistent.

"I didn't know you, not really. You were just...another lawyer at the firm and I was naive enough to think that, well, that you didn't matter." She looked up. "When we were working on projects, he would start dropping things into the conversation, you know, about how little time you spent together, how you'd been so young when you got married, that sort of thing."

"And you believed him."

"Yeah...I suppose I did. Or at least I wanted to. He was handsome and charming and well-connected. The kind of man I think my parents would have liked me to marry one day."

Though she hadn't wanted to ask any questions, hadn't wanted to know any details, faced with the other woman Evelyn found herself suddenly hungry for knowledge. "So when did it start?"

"September of 1986."

"1986?" Evelyn echoed, stunned by the answer, her coffee cup clattering into her saucer. "But that's..."

"A long time ago, I know."

"How old are you?"

"I'm thirty-two," Lily replied. "I was twenty-four at the time. I didn't mean for it to happen but...we were working late in his office and...it just did."

"Don't tell me," Evelyn said, bile rising in her throat at the image forming itself in her mind, "you fucked him on his office couch." Lily's face reddened and she knew she had hit a nerve. "Did he tell you that's where he first fucked me too?"

"No."

"So, what? It just went from there?"

Lily nodded, "Hotel rooms...my apartment...whenever we had the chance to be alone together. It was like a drug. I felt as though...as though I was craving him all the time..."

"Oh please..."

"It ended when I fell pregnant. He wanted me to have a termination and I wouldn't. I wanted him to leave you...to be a family with me and the baby but he wouldn't." Evelyn watched with mounting astonishment as tears hovered in the other woman's eyes. "He said that he loved you. That he wanted to be with you and that he would never leave you. Baby or no baby."

"You would actually have wanted him?"

"Yes," Lily said, "back then I did. And I hated you for it. I hated you for being the person stopping him and I being together. Stopping him from being a father to our baby."

Evelyn crumpled up her napkin and stuffed it into her empty cup. "You would have been welcome to him. Nothing would have made me happier than if he would have left me, but you're deluding yourself if you think he would have ultimately been there for you or any baby."

Lily didn't say anything for a long moment. "I followed the trial. I understand what you say you went through."

"What I say I went through?" Evelyn echoed. "I don't say anything, Ms Arthur. I told the truth in court, every word of it."

"I'm sure you believe that..."

"Oh I do, because it happened." Evelyn got to her feet. "Think yourself lucky that he never pinned you down and forced himself inside you. Think yourself lucky that he never smacked you around. Think yourself lucky that you have, what you consider to be, decent memories of your time with him."

"You do too though, right?" Lily said earnestly. "Before you say it happened? All those times you had amazing sex with him? It was like that for me...for us...amazing..."

"Jesus Christ..."

"I loved him! I loved him in a way I know you never did."

"Well more fool you!" Evelyn grabbed her coat. "Thank you for the coffee but you'll forgive me if I don't offer to return the favour sometime."

"My son's father is not a rapist!" Lily said, jumping to her feet. "He isn't! He wasn't! Eddie would never have..."

Evelyn froze the moment she heard the other woman use the nickname. To her knowledge, she was the only person who had ever called her husband Eddie. His parents had always referred to him as Edward, as had his friends and colleagues. It had been the name she and she alone had used for him...a term of affection in the beginning, force of habit in the end. As much as she hated him now, to think that he had let someone else call him by it, especially the little tramp in front of her...

"Fuck you," she said, her tone quiet and vicious, her thoughts uncharitable. "Fuck you and fuck your son. I hope you both enjoy the legacy my husband left you." Before the other woman could reply, she stormed away from the table, pushed open the door and stepped outside, taking in a deep lungful of air as she hurried back across the street to the courthouse and into the restroom, where she only just made it into a stall in time before emptying the contents of her stomach into the bowl.

She sat on the cold floor, breathing heavily, trying hard to bring herself back under control, to remind herself that none of what Lily had told her mattered. Edward was dead and more than that, she had hated him at the end...despised him...so why did knowing he had had someone else, not to mention a child, make her feel so utterly wretched?

"You're late," Timothy said when he sat down beside her again at the defence table. "You said before two o'clock."

"That was for your benefit Mr Conner," Evelyn replied. "I didn't want you to be late."

"I'm never late," he insisted.

"Good for you." She took a long drink of water, trying once again to rid her mouth of the acrid taste of vomit as Judge Stein walked back onto the bench and brought the court back to order. "You won't miss the bus for Rikers then."