The Love Cube

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Heather was tired as she pulled up to the driveway that housed her apartment complex as well as many other apartments.She had just left the auditor's office who was to counter check on the different quotations she had received on the project. She had successfully achieved all the tasks she had set up for that day. She lived on the outskirts of the city but she loved it. For her job that dealt with so much strain, she loved the serene quietness that the outskirts had,perfect for unwinding after a long day. She needed a shower,wine and food in that order before getting into the work she brought home. When preparing for a case, she gave it maximum concentration and even extra hours if needed as success didn’t come as easy as most people thought . She boarded the lift to the fifth floor where her apartment was located. She unlocked her house,removed her stilettos and put her coat on the rack. Maybe she should get a cat, she thought. Her house was pretty lonely and maybe getting a pet to welcome her home when she got there would be a nice thing. She deposited her files on her work desk,got in the shower and afterheating the frozen pizza she had stored to have with her wine.

Opening her laptop, she got to work, beginning with Matthew and his family, plus checking blogs for any interesting news that the family was tied to. After thorough research, they were a typical rich family, the children living the high life. An interesting fact being the eldest son of Matthew from his first wife had moved away from the family business and was basically running his own agro business. There was nothing more to them so nothing seemed fishy. Next was Torez and Co who were also as clean as they could be. The tabloids were just full of the prominent gay couple visiting different charity galas. There was nothing worth her while that she had encountered so she went through the fire report she had received earlier. The report stated that the security guards that were on duty that night noticed the lights flickering when doing their rounds and thought they were undergoing normal power surges until the main Transformer blew and the next thing the fire was spreading. Heather was curious about the lack of a sprinkler system in such a building which would curb such a fire. This felt too reckless. That was something she needed to ask during her interview. The report was signed by Officer Kingsley Andrews, curiosity getting the better of her she decided to search him up too. First was his f*******: page,he was single, his last update being a month before with what seemed to be his family.His page was pretty dry with few pictures with his dog and other family members.No post alluded to a significant other.The joys of social media. Next were few articles of how he was the officer behind bringing down a famous drug cartel that had terrorized the city for months. Now that was her kind of man, an achiever. Heather needed to sleep, referring to a stranger that she had just met as her kind of man was a recipe for disaster. After brushing her teeth, turning off her laptop and plugging her phone she decide to rest, that had been more than enough for that day.

The following days were filled with different meetings, one with Matthew where he gave his side of the story, others with most of the construction site workers. Heather made notes not as keen on counter checking everything but just needed to ensure that everyone had a similar story. One of the most essential interviews was with the electricians that were in charge of conduiting the building. They all stated that beyond reasonable doubt they believed that they had done their work perfectly and had worked with Torez for years hence they didn’t believe the problem was that. Heather had argued that there was a window for errors, which they agreed. Next was the issue of the failed sprinkler system that was automatically supposed to turn on the moment fire was detected. Turns out it was installed but was not actually activated. Heather already had two angles to defend her case; negligence by the contractor and probable mistake too. This was going to be easier than she had anticipated.

She had a meeting with the opposing legal counsel as well in court to pick a date when they would have the first hearing where the plaintiff and the accused would each table their cases and if possible, a ruling on whether their case needed extra investigation or not. She had yet to meet the opposing side's lawyer but they could also make acquaintance at the court house. On the date they were set to appear before the judge, their clients were not expected to appear as it was a preliminary hearing that would either open the case up for investigation.It was to have just one hearing that the judge would give his verdict on.

Heather pulled up to the courthouse 10 minutes earlier to give herself time before she appeared before the judge. She went through her notes and when she was satisfied she got ready at her desk while waiting for the judge as well as the other lawyer. A few minutes to time, footsteps echoing into the courthouse pulled her out of her sea of thoughts and she waited for the person to make it to the front. It was when she turned to shake the outstretched hand and make eye contact with the owner that a cold dread washed through her. The other lawyer was no other than Derrick Cartway,her ex-boyfriend from college with whom she had history that was not so pretty to talk about. Why was this happening to her?She could barely make out what he was saying to her. All she felt was the rising sense of panic that was consuming her.

“Breathe in,breathe out,” she told herself. There was no way she was going to embarrass herself by going into panic because of her ex.The day's hearing was important and she needed her ‘A ’game despite being thrown off.By the time she pulled herself together, Derrick had already taken residence on the other side of the court and they were both awaiting the judge.

Where was the judge? Heather needed to get over with the hearing really quickly. The last thing she needed was to even drag this out and having to deal with Derrick at all.The clock hit ten o'clock and the judge with the prosecutor entered the courthouse and both lawyers stood up and later resumed their sitting positions. The judge read through the necessary information and called both forward, beginning with Heather. Heather made her case stating the presence of negligence by the contractor and the fact that she believed a settlement outside court would have been an easier option and that her client was not averse to it. She took her seat and Derrick went forward to make his case. First he started with the news that new evidence had come up that the transformer that was solely responsible for the electricity supply to the building had been tampered with. Heather was surprised by the new evidence. She tried to object to the new evidence by stating that it wasn’t part of the original fire report she had received, hence it wasn’t substantial to the case that day. The judge overruled her and agreed for the evidence to be brought forward. Derrick stated that there was enough reason for his client to believe there was foul play, not necessarily from the client, but something was not right altogether.

This was not looking good for Heather, but that evidence could still be spanned as a manufacturer's default or by the electricity company that was in charge of the installation but the contractor was also in charge of ensuring that the equipment was in good working condition.It was either the insurance was paying this, an external company was taking the fall or the contractor. She could feel the start of a headache beginning to form at her temple. Next, Derrick stated that the plot of land that housed the project initially was being purchased by Matthews' eldest son for his business and both sides had heavily fought for the piece of land. The sale of the land had not been amicable at best and had caused a big fight between father and son. He presented the judge with recorded conversations which starred conflict and heavy cursing between father and son and occasionally his wife. Next were pictures of a physical altercation that had taken place between the father and son.

It was looking worse for Heather and she felt out of depth.When she had interviewed Mr Matthew he had mentioned nothing of the sort. He had sent her to war with a blade made of straw. She needed more time and hence, after Derrick was done she requested the judge to give her time to look at the new evidence that had come forward as well. The judge gave them eight weeks till the next hearing where both clients were expected to appear in court and their respective witnesses with them. Heather was still seated even after the judge had dismissed them. Her brain was in an over drive. She had calls to make to inform her boss as well as Mathew of the ruling. They were not going to like that at all. She needed a game plan and fast.

To her opposite side, Derrick just stared at Heather. It had been five years since he had last seen her. He had actually expected to see her in court as he had been informed she was the one representing the opposite side. She was still as beautiful as ever. He had not intentionally decided to ambush her in court, but he had failed to gain courage to talk to her outside court before the day of the case. Her shocked expression was not something he had missed. He had not expected to be received with warm hugs and smiles, maybe anger, but not shock. He held a lot of regret over what had happened between them and hoped when the case was behind them he would get the opportunity to apologise to her formally.Suddenly she stood and gathered her belongings and left, not sparing him a look or even a goodbye. He didn’t take any offense to that as she was rattled enough over seeing him and the new information about the case that he had just sprung at court.

Heather believed that her day was cursed,was that Karma over something she had done?Derrick,new evidence,her plan going down the drain and now she was about to get a dressing down from her boss.Driving to her office she called Janice and asked if she could be slotted to see the Sir even for a few minutes who then informed her he had a free slot just before lunch. There wasn't enough time for Heather to stew in her failure. She got to her office quicker than she expected and headed straight for her boss's floor. After greeting Janice, she headed straight into the office where she found her boss at the window looking at the city. “I hope you have good news for me Heather,’’ Mr Marcus asked without even sparing her a glance. “No Sir,some new elements that I was not aware of came up and the judge has granted the contractor a hearing two months from now,” Heather replied. “So who is exactly to blame for that Heather? Yesterday you had guaranteed us that this was going to be an easy case and you had it all sorted?” replied Marcus now staring straight at her. “No one in particular, sir,but the information that was presented today was something that the client would have informed me to avoid me getting ambushed out of the blue,” Heather responded voivce unwavering. In no way was she going to be intimidated by her boss. She was a grown woman and had enough experience in the field, cowering in fear was not something she was not going to do. Mr Marcus tsked,“ Heather I believe that with the material you had and your cunningness you had enough to build on. Now that we are in this position, you had better make it a priority to win this case. I am not about to be embarrassed ,” he replied, his face void of all emotion.

“Yes Sir,I will give it my best,but co-operation from the client is something I will need. I'm not out here trying to get embarrassed as well. I had enough of that today,” she fired back.The discussion was going into hostile territory that she was not prepared for. She was partially to blame but the moment she felt cornered she automatically went into defense mode. Lawyers were ruthless,it was always an eat or be eaten situation most of the time and this was one of those situations where a hint of fear would get her torn apart.

“Alright Heather, I believe in your capabilities. I will speak to Matthew about your request.You have the company's resources at your disposal,get to work. You are dismissed.” That stung but she was going to leave the office with her head held high.It was going to be okay. She mumbled a thankyou and left the room. She rode the elevator to her office needing to schedule a few meetings in the following days as well as to inform Grace of the busy days they were going to have.

Grace followed her boss with her eyes from the lift all the way till she placed her bags on her seat trying to gauge her mood. “I guess that didn’t go well,you look exhausted,” Grace said while smiling sadly. Grace was highly intuitive,that was one of the many reasons Heather loved her. “Yes, we have a tough one ahead of us.Today didn’t go as expected,’' Heather replied. “Its not the first time though,I know you will work your magic in this case. You always do. Go home and rest,you look like you need it,” Grace replied. Heather wasn’t going to argue,it was midday but she was not going to be productive. She was exhausted and needed to release some tension. This was where her boyfriends became useful. Why did she break up with Dawson again?

“Am leaving. You are right. I’ll email you some meetings I need scheduled later in the evening. See you tomorrow and thanks for the pep talk,” Heather informed Grace while picking up her bag. She didn’t even carry any work home which was rare for her.She debated calling one of her exes for a booty call but decided against it after enough internal struggle. It would be too embarrassing,she had enough of that for the day. She would hit her home gym,run a bubble bath and cook something for herself.On getting home,she changed into her gym clothes,hit the treadmill first,then the dumb bells,skipping ropes and an hour passed while she was busy exercising. Next, she prepared a bubble bath with her favourite bath bomb, the lavender essence one. Relaxing with a glass of wine, she finally allowed herself to think about her day. Derrick, for starters, was some emotional baggage she was not willing to unpack. She felt the scar at her tummy that was forever a reminder of how bad everything that involved him had gotten.She had conveniently locked everything away and now that he was back, everything was slowly unearthing itself. Her past was hell bent on following her. If it wasn’t for this case, she would be on the first plane to anywhere, as long as it was far from him. Next was the evidence in court that day. She felt like she was being set up to fail. Looking at everything, Derrick had a solid case. All she could do was find faults in his evidence or dig for dirt on the Torez Company. She wouldn't go down without a fight, but why did she feel like she had already lost?Add the dressing down by her boss earlier and the verbal fight with Dawson she could feel the tears running down her face. She could lie to herself and say it was because it was almost that time of the month,that would be why she was feeling overly sensitive, but tears were truly words the heart couldn’t express.

She was hurting inside and had been hurting for a long time.