Chapter 34 - False friends

False friends

After all the excitement of 'Chapter 33 - Blackmail' and Tomi Lederer turning out to be such a villain I got a bit stuck with this chapter. 
One problem was I found it very difficult to know how much to include of the inevitable argument that ensued after Franz told Celia he wants a divorce because of her fling with Tomi. A row in these circumstances is inevitable but just not very interesting to write about, so I tinkered around for ages trying to imagine how both parties would react and behave. 
I think Celia is essentially a very pragmatic person. For her, sleeping with Tomi was just something she wanted to do at the time because she liked him, they had the opportunity and she was fed up with being ignored by Franz. It had a physical, but no emotional significance.
Franz is however tortured by the thought of the physical side, in particular because he knows that he bears some of the responsibility for it due to his treatment of Celia, prior to the trip to Venice (Chapter 21 - Death on the Rialto). 
My theory is that the physical side is a much bigger deal for men than women. Men aren't so bothered with the idea of their partner  loving somebody else, as long as the other person doesn't sleep with their partner. Women don't like their partner sleeping with somebody else either, but as long as they feel they are the only one that is truly loved they are able to deal with it better.
Not that I have the courage to test this idea any time soon.
The story so far: Tomi Lederer has attempted to blackmail Celia into giving him the information sent to her by Ivana Kaiec concerning arms smuggling into Croatia during the Yugoslavian civil war. Celia refuses and in revenge Tomi tells Franz of the night they spent together in a hotel. Franz throws Tomi out of their flat and at Celia's request doesn't look at a blackmail photo that Tomi dropped. However, he then tells her he wants a divorce ... 
Chapter 34 – False friends can be found on the right under 'Good Stuff'.