The Girl You Left Behind

else.
    Liv turns away from her home and heads
     towards the office. She walks everywhere now, her head down, a hat pulled low over her
     ears, avoiding the eyes of strangers. Twice on the way she has to wipe tears
     surreptitiously from the corners of her eyes.
    There are only a couple of people left in
     the offices of Solberg Halston when she arrives: Nisha, a young woman with a geometric
     bob, and a man whose name she cannot remember. They look preoccupied so Liv walks
     through the gleaming lobby to Sven’s office without saying hello. The door is
     open, and as she goes in, he stands to close it behind her. He kisses her cheek but he
     doesn’t offer her coffee.
    ‘How’s the case
     going?’
    ‘Not great,’ she says. She is
     irritated by the perfunctory way in which he has summoned her. Her mind still hums with
     Mo’s final comment:
what would David have done?
    And then she notices how grey Sven looks,
     almost hollowed out, and the slightly fixed way in which he is staring at the notepad in
     front of him. ‘Is everything okay?’ she says. She has a moment of panic.
Please say that Kristen is okay, that the children are all fine.
    ‘Liv, I have a problem.’
    She sits, her bag on her knee.
    ‘The Goldstein brothers have pulled
     out.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘They’ve pulled the contract.
     Because of your case. Simon Goldstein rang me this morning. They’ve been following
     the newspapers. He says … he says his family lost everything to the Nazis, and
     he and his brother can’t be linked to someone who thinks that’s
     okay.’
    The world stills around them. She looks up
     at him. ‘But – but he can’t do that. I’m not – I’m not part of
     the company, surely?’
    ‘You’re still an honorary
     director, Liv, and David’s name is very much part of your defence case. Simon is
     activating a clause in the small print. By fighting this case against all reasonable
     evidence, you are apparently bringing the company name into disrepute. I told him it was
     grossly unreasonable, and he says we can contest it, but he has very deep pockets. I
     quote: “You can fight me, Sven, but I will win.” They’re going to ask
     another team to finish the job.’
    She is stunned. The Goldstein building had
     been the apotheosis of David’s life’s work: the thing that would commemorate
     him.
    She stares at Sven’s profile, so
     resolutely unmoving. He looks as if he has been carved from stone. ‘He and his
     brother … appear to have very strong views on the issue of
     restitution.’
    ‘But – but this isn’t fair. We
     don’t even know the whole truth about the painting yet.’
    ‘That’s not the
     point.’
    ‘But we –’
    ‘Liv, I’ve been on this all day.
     The only way in which they are prepared to continue working with our companyis if …’ he takes a breath ‘… is if the
     Halston name is no longer associated with it. That would mean you relinquishing your
     honorary directorship. And a change of name for the company.’
    She repeats the words silently in her head
     before she speaks, trying to make sense of them. ‘You want David’s name
     erased from the practice.’
    ‘Yes.’
    She stares at her knees.
    ‘I’m sorry. I realize this has
     come as a shock. But it has to us too.’
    A thought occurs to her. ‘And what
     would happen to my work with the kids?’
    He shakes his head. ‘I’m
     sorry.’
    It is as if the very core of her has frozen.
     There is a long silence, and when she speaks she does so slowly, her voice unnaturally
     loud in the silent office. ‘So you all decided that because I don’t want to
     just hand over our painting, the painting David bought legitimately years ago, we must
     be dishonest somehow. And then you want to erase us from his charity and his business.
     You erase David’s name from the building he created.’
    ‘That’s a rather melodramatic
     way of putting it.’ For the first time Sven looks awkward. ‘Liv, this is an
     incredibly difficult situation. But if I side with your case everyone in this company
     stands to lose their jobs. You know how much we have tied up in the Goldstein building.
     Solberg Halston cannot survive if they pull out now.’
    He leans forward over the desk.
     ‘Billionaire clients are not exactly thick on the ground. And I have to think
     about our people.’
    Outside his office someone is saying goodbye.
     There is a brief burst of laughter. Inside the office the silence is