Saturday, 31 October 1992
“Yeah, I know. Listen the office is disserted, so I can change into my Halloween costume before I wander down to the hotel bar and meet with you guys,” Chris shrugged as he entered his office. His fiancé hung up with a small sigh and he shrugged his shoulders, thinking the need to show off to her friends was more important to her, than his actual presence at the party.
He had received the new cell phone from his boss a few weeks earlier, with a new office, and job title. Since then his fiancé, Lauren, had made use to call him every chance she got. He really did not relish the phone bill coming to him at the end of the month. He wondered if he could add it to the wedding charges his grumpy father in law was responsible for. Being young and just out of school, newly employed, he had barely managed to afford the engagement ring. He knew his boss was a family first man, and the slight insinuation that he was interested in starting a family as soon as possible made his boss consider him for the all important ‘Reginal Commrade’ case which had presented itself. The firm had a knowledgeable past with beating prosecutors, by often seedy and surprising revelations. A murder charge was one that they would need a bit more than a suspect prostitute or shady business deal to overthrow the jury’s common sense. Especially with the press coverage.
“Christopher! What are you doing here? Trying to get employee of the month!” A voice called jovially from the office kitchen door.
Chris felt annoyed by the intrusion, but hid it by smiling non-genuinely at the large man. He was double Chris’s width and had practically no golden brown hair left on his head and a sneering face, which could be missed if you could look past the triple chins and shiny sweat soaked forehead. “Shaun, how are you?” Chris asked.
“Just been going over your case and thought I’d grab a coffee,” he replied.
Chris smiled to the side, giving his best intimidation eyebrow raise to the smarmy almost pathetic man, “Oh, so Leonard decided to allow you to second on, my,” he emphasised the word, “case?”
“No, but always helps to have experienced eyes on these things. Youth can sometimes,” he smiled a wet, trying to be superior smile which failed miserably, “make mistakes.”
“I always did want a secretary, thanks for doing it without even being asked,” Chris called over his shoulder as he walked past him and into his office. He closed the door and smiled to himself. When he was sure that Shaun was not going to try continue the conversation, he made his way round his desk and unlocked the draw, thanking his common sense for locking away the suspects list inside a bottom draw instead of leaving them with the main case file. He had done his job diligently and had hired a private investigator to help him with the polices, less than adequate research into the possible suspects or why they would want the deceased dead. The easiest way to sow doubt into a jury was to give them reasons, which could not legally be disputed, onto another person. Didn’t have to be right, didn’t have to be true, just had to sound possible and suddenly you had the jury questioning all of the evidence.
Chris knew that the man was guilty, but luckily the slight guilt was not enough to dissuade him from making a name for himself. He would have taken the less paid prosecutors, government job, if he had decided he wanted to live in a moral and just society. He had questioned, often, if he was actually a sociopath, but he had read an interesting draft paper by a researcher called Linda Mealey stating;
‘Sociopaths are “outstanding” members of society in two senses: politically, they draw our attention because of the inordinate amount of crime they commit, and psychologically, they hold our fascination because most of us cannot fathom the cold, detached way they repeatedly harm and manipulate others. Proximate explanations from behavior genetics, child development, personality theory, learning theory, and social psychology describe a complex interaction of genetic and physiological risk factors with demographic and micro environmental variables that predispose a portion of the population to chronic antisocial behavior.’
Which had tied in with a paper by Alexander R.D. called Biology and law. Ethology and Socio-biology. While had proved to be very interesting reads, he still believed the paper required more work and he felt he did not really have the antisocial standpoint to accompany a reasonable diagnosis. He of course did point out to himself that his interest in helping people commit crimes, could in fact support the ‘committing of crimes’ type which was pointed out in the paper. But that would also strongly suggest that all private agency lawyers were likely to be either sociopaths or psychopaths. If that were the case, then his law class would have possibly wiped out Cambridge, England in a day.
His desk phone rang as he was going through the file of ‘Miss Chelsea Logton from Newham, London’. “Hello?” He answered.
“You are going to die tonight traitor!” A muffled voice threatened.
Chris looked in surprise at the receiver, “Excuse me?” The dial tone indicated that the person had hung up. He placed the receiver back on the phone and shook his head. He muttered about the ‘traitor’ remark and wondered if either Lauren or Shaun had decided to play a prank on him.
Picking up the phone he called Lauren’s number and stood from his desk. Walking to the door he waited for her to pick up, stopping as the cord drew him short, then remembering she was not at home and would have made her way to the pub with Aaron. He hung up and opened the door, seeing the office was empty and the lights had been turned off, suggesting that Shaun had gone home after Chris had made fun of him. He felt a shiver go down his spine and decided that he needed company. The silence seemed oddly deafening. He picked up his mobile and made sure his wallet and keys were in his pockets, quickly locked the draw and made his way to the side fire exit, rather than the lifts. he went down the steps holding onto the side rail and suddenly his mobile blared to life, ringing at a loud volume. He almost laughed as it had made him perch on the edge of the step and quickly pressed the button to say hello, to no doubt Lauren….
That was his last memory.
Maxine the Magnificent 