Chapter 36
Friday afternoon. Clare checked the clock. Home time at last. During the last two weeks she’d performed her duties, represented her clients, gone through the motions – but her heart wasn’t in it any more. The crawling days, the restless nights, the ever-present burn of tears and loneliness. Clare had never been more miserable. She missed Tom. His absence stung her every hour of every day. Bed was no comfort any more, and neither was work. Where had her drive gone, her energy, her commitment? Clare listened to her clients’ sad stories. She listened to their tales of alcoholic fathers and disabled mothers, and could barely muster an ounce of sympathy. How was she supposed to present a plea of mitigation to the magistrate, when she wasn’t convinced of its merits herself?
The dr
