Breaking (Fall or Break #2) by Barbara Elsborg

kitchen window. “You looked as though you’d been poured onto the bed. How do you feel?”
    “Pretty good. That massage helped.”
    “You only have to ask if you want more.”
    Conrad chose to ignore the comment. He dragged the clothes and shoes out of the washer, stuck them in the tumble dryer, and loaded the washer with the sheets. “What are we eating?”
    “Chili.”
    Deefor came up to Conrad and rubbed against his legs. He gingerly reached to pet him. When there wasn’t a lightning strike of agony down his spine or flare of pain in his hips, he found himself grinning at the little mutt.
    “I wish I could have a dog,” Conrad said.
    “What’s stopping you?”
    “Like you, I travel a lot. Did travel a lot. Barristers go where cases take them. I might have to stay away all week and only return to London at the weekend.”
    “No one at home to look after a pet?”
    “You mean my wife and kids?” Conrad asked.
    Archer turned and looked at him, then laughed.
    “No, no one.” Not now. For fuck’s sake don’t think of Malachi. Conrad swallowed hard but the lump in his throat had been there for so long he wasn’t sure how he could get rid of it. It was getting smaller but still…
    “Sit down and pour yourself some wine,” Archer said.
    Conrad bristled at the order but eased into a seat. Archer must have bought this bottle. Conrad didn’t recognize it as one of his. It was expensive.
    “Where was your last job?” Conrad asked.
    “Paris.”
    “You don’t just work in the UK, then?”
    “You’re quick.”
    Conrad felt fairly sure he was blushing. Archer put the food on the table and sat down.
    “What problem did the business have?”
    “The usual one. Wrong guy in charge. Remove him and the problem was solved.”
    “How did he feel about that?”
    “He accepted it. He had no choice. Order from higher up. There’s always someone higher. What about you? What were you working on when the car hit you? Any connection?”
    “It was a fraud trial. I was prosecuting.”
    “So could whoever you were prosecuting be behind your accident?”
    “Someone else took on the case. The guy went to prison for five years. The other barrister’s not been attacked. I checked. I don’t see any connection. Plus I lay for long enough in the hospital for someone to finish the job and they never did. I’m puzzled by the whole thing.”
    “Presumably you went through all your recent cases.”
    Conrad nodded.
    “Could it have been something to do with your personal life?”
    “No.” He knew he’d snapped that more sharply than he’d intended.
    “Right. Want some more?”
    Conrad looked down and saw to his surprise he’d cleared his plate. “Is there any?”
    “I wasn’t offering to cook from scratch again.” Archer pushed to his feet.
    After he’d refilled Conrad’s plate with rice and chili, he took a can of dog food from the cupboard, pulled the ring top and forked it into Deefor’s bowl. The dog spun in circles across the kitchen floor.
    “Calm down,” Archer said. “He leaps at it before I’ve even put it on the floor.”
    Conrad smothered his smile as Deefor proved Archer right.
    Archer huffed. “You’d think I starved him.”
    “Maybe his former owner did. Could be that if he didn’t wolf it down the moment he saw it, some vindictive bastard whipped it away again.”
    “He’s just greedy.”
    Conrad’s phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket. “The police,” he said.
    It could have been his imagination, but had that been a fleeting look of alarm crossing Archer’s face? Yet most likely he’d have reacted the same way if Archer had answered a call and said that to him.
    “Hello,” Conrad said.
    “Conrad Black?”
    “Yes.”
    “It’s D.I. Spencer here from the Metropolitan Police. I wanted to let you know that an eyewitness has come forward who claims he saw the car hit you and that the driver appeared to do it deliberately.”
    “Right.” Conrad was torn between pleasure and