things move around

I can’t be certain about my predecessor’s marital status, but it seems reasonable to me that he was married to a woman named Victoria, or possibly Alice, and that this was a woman of some considerable means. She had a finely-shaped chin, a nose ever so slightly more bulbous than the average, and an impassive demeanour, and she lacked confidence in herself in general and in her sexuality in particular.

Why am I using the past tense? She may still be alive for all I know.

Victoria, or Alice, is in her mid-forties and semi-retired after a lucrative career combining criminal defense with cosmetic surgery. Now she performs occasional consultancy work and, in all likelihood, sells the odd painting at local galleries, although she’s not a natural artist. Possibly she married my predecessor, Stephen, five years ago on a beach in Mexico, with only their closest friends present, and some passing Mexicans, and the echoing ocean rushing and hissing over sandy shingle, under an eggshell-blue encompassing sky.