Blood Lines by Grace Monroe

it.’
    Kailash stared at me.
    ‘Really. I’ve no idea.’
    I was telling the truth, but I also had a knot in my stomach which suggested that it was memory lagging behind rather than being completely ignorant. Something was niggling, I just didn’t know what.
    ‘Well, if you read the papers you’d know that Cattanach was looking for details of that company to link you to money laundering. You know as well as I do that Cattanach believed a partner in a law firm isn’t tempted by client funds when the bank balance is healthy, but if it’s over-extended at the bank and it’s difficult for lawyers to meet the standard of living they have become used to …’
    ‘Like Lothian and St Clair?’
    ‘Exactly – like Lothian and St Clair. Remember, Alex Cattanach had seen your books. The rest of the fools in the Edinburgh Bar think you’re making a fortune.’
    ‘So Cattanach thinks I fit the profile for a crooked lawyer?’
    ‘Let’s not fool ourselves, Brodie. You do. Your connection with me doesn’t help – and by the way you are the only person still talking about Cattanach in the present tense. The murder investigation is hotting up. It’s on Crimewatch UK this week, and the police won’t want to be shown slacking after that.’
    Kailash began to clear the money off the table and back into her bag. I stifled a protest.
    ‘You need help, Brodie. You didn’t give me a receipt, you didn’t even think of it. How would you have explained five thousand in cash to the Law Society? You haven’t followed a single one of their accounting rules.’
    I desperately needed another cup of tea. The cup Malcolm had given me, though pretty, was just too damned small, as I was used to huge mugs that satisfied my caffeine requirement. I reached out for it anyway but Malcolm was fiddling with it. He had it turned upside down and was twisting it round three times in an anti-clockwise direction. Picking it up, he held it to the light and peered into it. I got up and stood behind his shoulder. All I saw was a jumble of tea leaves.
    ‘There are six powerful men in your life – like snakes all messed up and writhing to get out on top,’ he intoned.
    ‘Sorry to disappoint you, Malcolm, but there are two and, as far as I’m concerned, that’s two too many.’
    ‘Your cup definitely shows six, Brodie. They’re not all your friends. You need to beware – especially of the friends acting in your best interest but making mistakes. That could cost you dear.’
    ‘Have you been encouraging Lavender?’ I asked.
    ‘I have indeed. She told me you were a sceptic, which is nothing I didn’t already know. Stop trying to change the subject and listen. God knows, by the look of this cup you need all the help you can get. Your danger doesn’t truly come from the men in your life, but the women. I see two who are troublesome to you.’
    I looked over to my mother. ‘Does that include Kailash?’
    ‘I don’t know details, Brodie – I just see that there are two women who are problematic.’
    If Kailash was hurt, she concealed it well. I resolved to learn that lesson from her.
    ‘Enough of tea leaves,’ she declared. ‘Take this.’
    It was a cheque for five thousand pounds drawn on a company bank account for The Rijks Property Company. My surprise at the name must have shown in my face. The poker countenance obviously required a bit of work.
    Kailash took a deep breath as she looked at me. Her gaze then turned away to Malcolm, who immediately came forward to hold her hand as she spoke.
    ‘After you were born, Brodie, I escaped to Amsterdam. Your grandfather had taken me to Newcastle originally, but he was the father of the bastard who had raped me for years – how could I trust him? I stole away and hitchhiked on a lorry doing the ferry crossing. I had to pay – I didn’t have any money, but I knew the currency men traded in. I didn’t know then that your grandfather was watching me from a safe distance – but safety wasn’t