Chapter One

In clownish garb, the heavy older woman was talking, with obvious deference, to  Mitch Gorn.  Gorn is and was a rather dishonest lawyer.  No one  spoke to him with such 'awe'. 

As my office was opposite Gorn's, a step further down the corridor, I  glimpsed her as I passed.  That  was the first I saw 'Hen', Henrietta Barclay Coddington.  It was not the last.  

At the time, out of my eye corner,  I did notice a young man standing an arm's length from her but didn't analyse.

A few days later, I heard her voice as I passed Gorn's office.  Her pompous accent mixed with her  subserviance was nauseating. I noticed she was accompanied by a different young man who appeared as if he slept on the road. 

The following week, I was about to leave my office when I heard her voice, snapping at her companion. I could tell when she entered Gorn's office as her tone changed from slave master, to obedient servant.    

I had actually waited in my office before emerging so as to not encounter her.   

As I passed Gorn's office,  her costume pulled my eye.  Apparently, her entire wardrobe was made up of semi tunic tops with three quarter sleeves worn over bell bottoms. The material was thin, wildly printed in swirls of colours.  Seeing her in solid black explained; her clown suits made her look pudgy, not obese as she was.

Unfortunately, Gorn saw me, called to me,  made introductions. 

This was how I learned her name.  

 Her attempts to impress me;

"I practiced before the Privy Council"

"I never lost a case"

fell to bits. 

Since my first glimpse, I had seen her in Court.  Seen her blunders in Court.    Sometimes she was so ridiculous the judge's expression proclaimed the verdict.  That she deferred to Gorn meant she was just as corrupt as he was.  

And that provoked the memory;

Some years ago, not too long before Gorn was disbarred the first time, there was a minor attorney hovering around him.   

I spent little time in office, so rarely saw him.   As the door to Gorn's office was kept closed at that time I can't be certain when or

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 01.07.2021
ISBN: 978-3-7487-8705-1

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