Lorenzo's Reward. CATHERINE GEORGE

      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      CHAPTER TWELVE

      CHAPTER ONE

      THE crowded pub was hot, smoke-filled, and full of men in suits talking business over lunch. Jess eyed her watch impatiently, willing Simon to hurry, then looked up to find a complete stranger watching her intently from the far end of the bar. Jess felt an odd plummeting sensation in the pit of her stomach when dark, heavy-lidded eyes lit with incredulous recognition as they met hers. She glanced over her shoulder, sure he must be looking at some other woman, but there was no other female in sight.

      Jess looked back again, which was a mistake. This time she couldn’t look away. Heat rose in her face. Irritably she ordered herself to stop sitting there like a hypnotised rabbit, her pulse suddenly erratic as the man put down his drink and with purpose began to push his way through the crowd towards her. But before he could reach her two other men joined him, barring his way. The stranger shrugged expressively, signalling regret, and Jess finally broke eye contact. Then it dawned on her that one of his companions was Mr Jeremy Lonsdale, unrecognisable for a moment minus his barristers wig and gown. But when the third member of the trio turned his head she gasped in utter consternation. He was all too familiar, with eyes which blazed in incredulous affront when Jess panicked at the sight of him, spun around and fled from the pub, with Simon Hollister, her astonished lunch companion, in hot pursuit.

      Jess dodged through honking traffic, and ran like a deer up the road to the courthouse, to subject herself to the usual security process inside. She was still gasping for breath when Simon caught up with her in the jury restaurant.

      “What the hell was all that about?” he panted.

      “Prosecuting—Counsel—was there. With chums.” Jess heaved in a lungful of air. “One of them was Roberto Forli, my sister’s ex-boyfriend,” she finished in a rush.

      Simon whistled. “And we jurors are forbidden connection to anyone at all on the case.”

      “Exactly!”

      “How well do you know the man?”

      “I’ve only met him once.”

      “Did Lonsdale see you?”

      “I don’t think so. He had his back to me.”

      Simon smiled reassuringly. “Then it’s probably all right. Anyway, we’ll soon know if your friend grassed on you. Let’s grab something to eat before we’re called. I left our lunch on the bar when you took off.”

      But after her mad dash in the midday heat Jess couldn’t face the thought of food. Her mind was too full of the unexpected meeting with Roberto Forli. And with the stranger in his company. The memory of those dark, intent eyes sent shivers down her spine. The man had obviously recognised her from somewhere. But where? And when? Jess forced herself back to the present with an effort, and gulped down the rest of her mineral water as the jury was called back into the court.

      As she took her seat in the jury box Jess buttoned her jacket against the cold of the courtroom, which was arctic compared with the summer day outside. According to bus driver Phil, the comedian in their group, the courtroom was kept cool to keep the jury awake during the longer discourses, and at the same time prevent heatstroke for the judge and barristers in their archaic horsehair wigs and black gowns.

      While they waited for the judge Jess firmly blanked the lunchtime incident from her mind by thinking back over her two weeks of jury service. She was glad, now, of the experience, but the first day had been daunting. After waiting in line to pass through an airport-style metal detector she had been directed to the jury restaurant, an airport-style cafeteria packed with people queuing for coffee, reading newspapers, or just sitting staring into space if they’d managed to find a chair. Later, in an empty courtroom with the other newcomers, she had watched a video which set out the rules, but a wait of two days had elapsed before she was called into service.

      The clerk of the court had shuffled cards and read out names as usual, but this time Jessamy Dysart was among the chosen. She had been led off to a courtroom, and with eleven of her peers sworn in as a member of the jury. At first glance the dark wood and leather of the courtroom, though impressive enough, had seemed a lot smaller than on television. Jess had been rather disconcerted to find herself at such close quarters not only with the prisoner in the dock, but with the barristers and solicitors facing the judge in the well of the court.

      Now there was only another day of a different trial to go, with a different batch of jurors. This time Jess was seated in the front of the jury box next to Simon Hollister. He had made a beeline for her from the first day, and frankly admitted that his original intention had been to avoid jury duty by pleading pressure of work in his marketing job in the City. But once actually there in the courthouse an unexpected sense of civic duty had made him stay.

      “Added to the prospect of a fortnight coming into close contact with you, Jess,” he’d added, with a grin.

      Jess had taken this with a pinch of salt. Simon was a charmer, and she liked him, but she also liked Edward, the ex-headmaster, and June, the office cleaner, and most of her fellow jurors. However, she longed for this particular trial to be over. The young woman in the dock, Prosecuting Counsel alleged, had knowingly smuggled drugs into the country in her luggage. Like Jess she was in her mid-twenties, but with eyes dark-ringed in a pale, strained