Bobbi always hated working late in principle, but when her manager Marc came up to her desk just after lunch on Friday, she knew before he spoke, she knew what he was going to ask.
“Bobbi, Darren’s going to have to leave early today, and… “She looked up for a second and knew without Marc finishing the sentence, he had pulled out the story about his sick father and the fact he needed to leave early for whatever reason.
She finished the sentence for him “Who’s on duty tonight?”
“Judge Paxton.”
She looked back at her orders and instead carried on with her work, and as soon as Marc had gone, she just looked up in the air and started cursing softly to herself. “Why did you agree to that?” She thought to herself by the Kettle while making a cup of coffee half an hour later, as she hated his orders which he wanted typing up there and then.
It wasn’t as if he wasn’t good at his job, it was just the case she dreaded the orders when he was in, as nobody could read them and if you were by yourself with him while he was in Court, it would be bloody uncomfortable if he fined say a restaurant several hundred thousand pounds, and then wrote the costs down in such a confusingly wrote manner, you would have to go and ask him halfway through his case what he had wrote on the order for the next case.
And as for his drinking, she didn’t think further. There were rumours, she knew, but it wasn’t her place to discuss them.
5 pm went and so did the rest of the team, and she didn’t hear anything so she carried on with the next order, and before she knew it was 5:45 pm, she looked up at the clock and then her phone. “He’s not rung” She said to herself and then looked at the schedule on her manager’s drive and then thought to herself, his last case was at 4.45 pm and for security reasons, they had to ring whoever was on duty to let them know they were done for the night.
She walked down to the security desk.
It was 6 pm. Mags, their cleaner’s mop and bucket was just outside the Court Room.
“This is a bit strange,” she thought to herself, stopping.
She liked her.
Some of the other staff she knew sniggered behind her back, but she liked her and felt sorry for her when she came in the day after her husband left her for her younger sister.
I couldn’t have done that; she remembered telling herself and certainly wouldn’t have been as forgiving and carried on smiling at everybody as she carried on working.
She would have never left her bucket outside the courtroom. Bobbi nearly knocked on the Courtroom door and decided against it. She carried it onto the Security desk.
It was 6:15pm.
Old Tommy wasn’t there.
She looked around at his cameras around the building.
She couldn’t see him. She swore and thought about calling the Police for a few seconds, “Probably a wild goose chase” She decided and then went back to the Court Room before leaving him as an afterthought an quick note about what was going on.
She carried on walking and was about to carry on walking back to her office, when she stopped at the Court Room and decided to knock on the door.
She breathed in once and knocked slowly on the door.
No answer.
Bobbi hesitated before twisting the handle and pushing the heavy door open. The dim, artificial light cast long shadows across the courtroom. A chill ran down her spine.
“Judge Paxton?” she called softly, stepping inside.
The silence was deafening, broken only by the soft ticking of the clock on the wall. Then she saw it—a figure slumped in the judge’s chair.
Her heart pounded as she moved closer, the details coming into focus. Judge Paxton’s head lolled back; his mouth slightly open. A dark stain spread across his shirt collar, and Bobbi felt her stomach drop.
Had he been hit, had been murdered? “Dear god,” she couldn’t bring herself to say the word, then she saw it—a second figure leaning over the judge’s desk. Lips locked to his.
Her jaw dropped.
“Mags?” she said, stunned.
Mags jumped back, fumbling with her bra. The judge coughed, sitting upright as though nothing had happened.
“Bobbi!” he exclaimed, completely losing his prim and proper nature for just a few seconds.
Before she could react, there was a knock on the door behind her.
“Shit,” Mags hissed, darting behind the bench.
Bobbi turned, plastering on a smile as she opened the door. “Tommy!” she exclaimed, her voice a little too cheerful. “What’s up?”
“Bobbi, you, okay?” Tommy blushed. He was an old security guard well into his 60s, Bobbi and as she looked at him, she knew he had been asleep in the back room.
Unofficially of course.
“Sorry, yes false alarm,” She started to blush slightly.
“False alarm?” Tommy looked at her puzzled.
“Yeah” Her voice speeded up slightly “Judge Paxton forgot to buzz me to let me know he was finished for the day.”
Tommy didn’t respond, and she thought for a few seconds he wasn’t going to believe her before he eventually said after a few moments, “Is he okay?”
‘Depends on how you structure okay’ She thought to herself and said instead “Yes, he’s fine, he’ll be off home shortly.”
“Can I see him?” Tommy said.
“You can’t.” Bobbi stumbled on her words slightly.
“Sorry, Bobbi, your note worried me a little.”
Bobbi heard rustling behind her without looking.
Tommy moved another two or three inches further towards her.
Bobbi swore under her breath again. What the heck was she going to tell
him? “He’s, he’s, he’s “She stumbled again.
“I’m fine, Tommy” A deep voice cut in from the other side of Bobbi.
“Are you sure, sir?” Tommy stood still.
The Judge smiled “I should have rung up Bobbi to let her know my last case had finished, but I lost my train of thought on the order. It was a bit of a tricky one, and… “
“I saw him leave, sir.” He smiled. “Understandable”.
“Thanks, Tommy.” The Judge smiled “We’ll be fine.”
Tommy smiled before then turning around and slowly walked back to his reception desk.
Bobbi and the Judge both just stood there in silence and waited until Tommy was a few steps away before shutting the door and the Judge then blushed slightly. “Thank you, Bobbi,” he said after a few seconds.
Bobbi looked at them both. She did not know what to say.
“I owe you, Bobbi” Mags said. “The Judge and I… “
Bobbi didn’t answer for a few seconds and carried on listening outside “I think he’s gone.”
“We- we didn’t mean this to happen.” The Judge finished off the sentence for her, shaking slightly.
Bobbi shrugged her shoulders.
“Paul,” Mags carried on “Judge Paxton has been good, really good to me since Sean, Sean…”
The Judge looked down blushing.
“Next time,” Bobbi said with a slight smile, glancing at Mags as she fumbled with her bra and the Judge rushed over to help her. “Maybe, perhaps next time wait until the building is empty”.
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https://linktr.ee/andynartist
Thanks as always. I've got a few more stories in this series I need to speak to you about which could interest you (This could well end up being a series of interlinked stories).
Awesome!! 👍🏼 Sounds good!! 😊