Chapter 2
MONROE
“Welcome to your new office, Miss Williams. We weren’t sure how you would prefer it, so if you want anything changed around just put in a requisition form for it.”
I set my bag down as I walked into the office with my name on it.
The front desk receptionist was kind. She had a bright smile and a delicate demeanor, which was refreshing.
I closed the door behind me and drew in a deep breath, taking in the lack of windows my office had.
No natural light whatsoever despite the expansive space.
Just a blaring light hanging over my head and two lamps perched in either corner my desk resided between.
I walked over to my desk and ran my fingertips over the surface.
It was sturdy, but still cheap. The ‘comfy’ office chair looked like it hadn’t been serviced in well over a decade, and when I sat down the air puffed out as if the chair itself was groaning underneath my weight.
I opened all the empty drawers and coughed when the dust flew out.
Could I requisition another office space in the building?
This was my first real job out of law school and I was lucky to have it.
Scott and Lowen Law Associates was the premier law firm in Redding, California.
They had been looking on to hire someone new and fresh to the game, which was code for ‘we’re tired as hell and we need someone to take the bulk of the load for us’.
Which I was happy to do so long as it advanced my career.
Though the office they gave me left much to be desired.
Very much.
As I sat back in my chair, I closed my eyes.
My first day was simply to get settled and set up in my office.
I didn’t have any appointments scheduled until my second day.
Redding was very different from Austin. I’d grown up in Austin my entire life.
Most people called me a city girl, but I was a small town girl at heart.
The dustier and older, the better. Redding had a certain charm that Austin didn’t, and people here lived at a much slower pace.
It was refreshing after college, because Baylor University was no joke.
I passed the Bar Exam for California two weeks prior to applying for the position at Scott and Lowen Law Associates.
They were impressed with my LSAT scores coming out of Baylor Law School, but they were even more impressed with the fact that I wanted to leave Austin for a city in a completely different state.
I tried to show them how qualified I was for the position, but part of me thought they hired me simply because they were intrigued with why someone would want to leave Austin.
But there were many personal reasons for that.
I had wanted to leave home. Ever since I left for college, my dream was to never return back to Austin.
I had nothing left there. There was nothing in that city for me but old memories that hurt too much.
Playgrounds held too many happy memories that brought tears to my eyes and passing by my old homestead everyday made me sick to my stomach.
I needed to go somewhere new and start fresh.
I needed to create a new life for myself.
That was why I applied for the position in Redding, California.
That was the reason why I wanted to leave Austin.
My father left when I was a kid. There wasn’t a huge fight or a shell-shocking reason for why he left.
He simply… left. Nothing seemed off with my parents.
We still had family dinners and talked around the fire.
We still watched family movies and went and did things together on the weekends.
I was nine when I woke up and saw him leaving for work.
I remember him giving me a massive smile and kissing me on my forehead.
He told me he loved me like he always did, then I walked him to his car and waved him off.
The only difference was, he never came home from work.
I begged my mother for years to tell me what happened, but she wouldn’t.
She told me that her and dad simply stopped loving one another, but it didn’t explain why I never heard from him.
Why he never called on my birthday and why I never saw him at Christmas.
It didn’t explain why Mom was so quick to clean out his side of the closet and rid any memorabilia of him from the house.
I hated her for it for so long.
And then, she got sick.
Cancer was a bitch, and my mom fought hard.
The first time she beat it, but the second time around she was tired.
Tired of working and tired of crying. Tired of fighting and tired of scraping by.
I watched her waste away in a hospital room for months before the tumors finally took her under, suffocating the life from her as I held her hand.
It wasn’t until she breathed her last breath that she told me the truth.
What really happened with my father all those years ago.
I drew in a shallow breath as a knock came at my office door. I wiped at the tears underneath my eyes, then cleared my throat and fluffed my hair. It was probably one of the older lawyers coming to see how I was adjusting, and it wasn’t going to look good if I was crying on my first day.
“Miss Williams?”
“Come in, Mr. Scott. The door is open,” I said.
A man with snow white hair stepped in with a massive smile on his face.
I stood and reached my hand out for his, shaking his broad, strong hand.
I looked him in his eyes to let him know I was serious about this position.
Then he took a seat in the rickety chair in front of my desk as I sat back down into my chair.
And that puff of air that shot out from the cushion seat caused him to chuckle.
“We did the best we could under the circumstances,” Scott said. “But when our secretary told you to requisition whatever you want, she meant it. We have a budget in place to update office spaces as necessary, so put in for a new chair.”
I watched him wiggle in his seat as the wood bowed underneath his weight.
“Make that two seats,” he said.
“Will do, sir,” I said. “Once I find the requisition sheets.”
“Those along with the rest of our forms are in the filing cabinet to your right. The keys you were handed when you came in not only lock your office and the front and back doors, but there’s a key on there to open and close the cabinet.”
“Duly noted.”
“I’m here to welcome you and then to apologize,” he said.
“Why apologize?” I asked.
“I told you that you wouldn’t see any clients until tomorrow. However, an emergency proposition has dropped into my lap and both Rose and I are booked solid until seven tonight.”
“Then I’m more than happy to take it on,” I said. “Who’s the client?”
“You will be assisting Rose with a retainer client. They seem to have gotten themselves into a bit of legal trouble and there are some things that look very fuzzy.”
“Is Rose someone I should know about?” I asked.
I watched Scott grin at me before he gave a light chuckle.
“I see neither of us did our research,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I have something to admit, but if you’re as perceptive as I take you to be, then you already know.”
“I’m still not following, sir.”
“I hired you because I thought you were intriguing. It’s not simply what’s on paper that makes me want to hire someone, it’s also their purpose for being hired.
I have to admit, I was interested to see why a young woman fresh out of college would want to come to a woodsy place like Redding for her first job. ”
“I figured as much,” I said.
“It wasn’t until I shook your hand that I realized how serious you were about this.”
“You could tell by a simple handshake?” I asked.
“I’ve been working in this field a very long time, Miss Williams. I can tell many things by a simple handshake.”
“So, what is the research I did not do?” I asked.
“Rose is my wife,” Scott said.
“And she’s helping with the case?” I asked.
“My wife’s name, is ‘Rose Lowen’.”
I felt the pieces fall into place as I nodded and started to laugh.
“Didn’t take your last name, I presume,” I said.
“She’s a firecracker and a very independent woman. We started our own practice thirty-some odd years ago. Her idea she built from the ground up. I’m simply along for the ride.”
“But she obviously gave you permission to hire someone on,” I said with a grin.
“And I don’t believe you’ll disappoint. You’ll be helping my wife on a recurring client. The Dead Souls.”
“Is that… their name?” I asked.
“You have much to learn about this area. But for now, all you need to know is that a local group of individuals keep our law firm on retainer in case they get into trouble. The police around here like to bully people that don’t exactly fit in with the ‘norm’, so we step up to the plate once that happens. ”
“I take it Rose will fill me in further?” I asked.
“She will. She’ll be in your office in about an hour. I was sent to give you the heads up.”
“Well, thank you for it.”
“And by the way? The name’s Bradley Scott. You can drop the ‘Mr. Scott’ nonsense.”
“Sorry, it’s a bit of a habit, growing up in Texas.”
“I’d like to bite it in the ass now before it starts,” he said with a grin. “Enjoy Rose! She’s a heck of a woman.”
“If she married you, she’d have to be,” I said with a grin.
“I like your spunk, Monroe. I think you’ll fit in just fine.”
I shook Bradley’s hand one last time before he left my office.
A client. On my first day. At a law firm who had retainer clients with names like ‘Dead Souls. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that sounded like a gang of some sort.
A group of thugs or whatever. And if there was one thing I wasn’t going to do, it was defend someone who was actually guilty.
And I was going to make that very clear to Rose.