Free Mistakes We Make by Jenny Harper Page A

complete rest – and Joyce in bed meant more responsibility for Caitlyn. She might even have to call off a couple of shifts at the supermarket, which meant their income would drop, which meant there would be more pressure on both of them to work even harder to pay the bills.
    She blamed herself. The job at Blair King’s smart Edinburgh office had been her dream until she’d spotted a client file that had made her first puzzled, then deeply uneasy. She had raised the matter (tentatively because she was young and still unsure of her ground) with Agnes Buchanan, the chief cashier.
    ‘It’s fine, dear,’ Agnes had said, handing the file back to Caitlyn with such matter-of-fact indifference that Caitlyn felt temporarily reassured.
    But still it didn’t make sense to her. The worry kept her awake until, gathering all her courage, she braved the partner concerned a few days later.
    He’d had a slick answer all right, but it didn’t ring true.
    ‘There’s no problem,’ he’d said, smiling at her kindly. ‘It was just an expedient.’
    She’d had to look the word up. A stratagem, it meant, a means of doing something.
    After several more worried nights, she knew she had to take it further. They’d told her at her induction that there were processes and procedures for this sort of case. She had made it all the way downstairs and was only a few yards from young Mr Blair’s office when she’d met the partner again.
    ‘Caitlyn? What are you doing down here?’
    She’d blushed scarlet and stuttered.
    ‘Not that file again? You stupid girl.’
    She could still remember the sneering look on his face.
    ‘What do you know about these things? Just do the job you’re paid to do and I’ll do mine.’
    For a couple of weeks, Caitlyn had kept her head down and wrestled with her conscience. Should she take it further? What if her suspicions were proved wrong? She’d be kicked out or, at the very least, her life would be made a misery.
    So when Mick Boyce upped off to live with his new woman, she’d seen it as an opportunity. She’d leave Blair King and pick up a job in Hailesbank. That way she could be nearer home and she’d be able to help Joyce out more.
    Only it hadn’t worked out like that. She hadn’t been able to get a job in Hailesbank that paid half as well as the one in Edinburgh, so there was more pressure, not less, on Joyce.

Chapter Ten
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    ‘D amn!’
    Adam was half way along the track from the main road to Forgie End Farm when the underside of his car scraped rock.
    He’d been driving too fast. His car wasn’t built for these roads. Should he stop and see if there was any damage?
    He drove a tentative few yards further. No ominous rattles, no tell-tale growling. Perhaps it would be all right. At least he wasn’t driving a sports car like Logan Keir’s.
    How could Logan afford a car like that anyway? He shifted into second gear and edged up the speed again. It wasn’t as though the partnership was doing especially well. There was so much pressure on law firms these days. There was endless red tape and you had to have a nominated money-laundering specialist in the firm, for example. Professional development seemed to cost more and more, and it was an endless struggle just to meet the monthly wage bill, not to mention the rent and rates. It was all targets, bloody targets, with endless post mortems and recriminations every month if they weren’t met.
    Adam’s hands clenched around the steering wheel. He’d realised even before he’d qualified that he’d made the wrong career choice, but the pressure from his father had been enormous. If he’d met Molly earlier ... or later ... or if she’d been less ambitious, maybe he could have found the courage to switch career.
    He bumped over another stone and grimaced.
    He shouldn’t blame Molly. She’d had a point to prove to her clever brother and she’d wanted to make her father proud. She never talked about it much, but