The sun was shining as Sarah Jenson stepped out of her car and began to walk across the parking lot towards the law office of Smith, Mackie and Rogers. She hadn't been with the firm long, just under a year having been hired by the firm as one of their new legal assistants. Mostly she assisted a young lawyer named Jennifer Brandt, both having bonded very quickly after Sarah's hiring.
"Well we didn't win, did as good as we could hope for under the circumstances." Clicking send, Sarah texted her fiance Mark, knowing that even with the loss, this still felt like a win to her. Her emotions where a little skewed however at the moment, knowing that the reason they didn't win, was because she had hidden a key piece of evidence that would have allowed their client to win.
Their client Dwayne Barry turned out to be a real piece of work, having come from money, he had been spoiled his whole life. It showed in his attitude and the way he treated everyone around him like dirt. He had spent the majority of his marriage cheating on his wife, even coming onto Jennifer and herself during the proceedings.
During the case Sarah had come to really feel for the wife, though admittedly she had made some poor decisions of her own. Fed up with her husband, she herself had started to cheat, the downside for her was they had a very specific pre nup written before they married and if she had in fact cheated, it would have allowed him to leave her with nothing.
During her work on the case, Sarah had discovered one of the motels the wife had used for her trysts. It was very out of the way, dingy old place, that seemed to be only used for drugs and affairs. Initially the manager, a man named Jack Sampson, had been guarded about ever knowing the clients wife, but he apparently had a soft spot for pretty blondes, finally admitting to not only seeing her, but that he had security footage of her at the motel.
Walking into the office Sarah took the elevator up to the 5th floor, a shiver running down her spine thinking about Jack. His eyes alone had creeped her out, they always seemed to be undressing her, or Sarah thought picturing her in a much worse, much nastier situation.
Shaking off the shiver she was proud of herself for not only getting the information out of Jack, but getting the pictures from the security footage, which she did note seemed to be just pictures Jack had taken of the wife in the parking lot, adding to his creepiness. Thankfully she had managed to get the information without having to give in to his demands of sleeping with him.
Normally Sarah would have brought this new evidence right to Jennifer and won their case, however she knew that Dwayne would leave Janet and the kids with absolutely nothing and that didn't sit right with her. So instead, she figured that no one as of yet had discovered that motel, so she hid the folder in her desk, just needing a good time to get rid of it for good.
Stepping off the elevator onto the busy floor, Sarah sighed with relief, happy that the case was over and she could move on. Smiling and moving past several people getting on the elevator, Sarah approached the welcome desk of her floor. "Hi Beth, I was expecting a package dropped off, did it arrive?"
"Sure did!" Though she wore a smile at seeing Sarah, Beth Chambers couldn't hide the sarcasm in it. "Let me grab it for you." Reaching into a drawer she removed a thick envelope that had been couriered over. "Heard you didn't win the divorce case, sorry."
"Thanks." Sighing softly Sarah took the package from Beth, unable to stop herself, she gave Beth a small eye roll, irritated by the fakeness of the secretary. Starting to move down the hall, Sarah reached into her bag and grabbed her ringing cell phone. "Hey Jen."
"Get the next one." Beth called after Sarah not even trying to hide the snarkiness as her eyes darted down to the firm looking backside of the assistant. "Mhm." Beth let out a quiet moan of appreciation at the way the gray pencil skirt hugged Sarah's curves, her black pumps helping to add a seductive sway to the 5'4 beauty as she walked. A sinister smile formed on Beth's chubby face and grabbing two smaller envelopes out of her desk, began to follow Sarah from a short distance down the hall.
"What is her problem Jennifer?" Smiling at another co worker as she walked down the hall, Sarah was happy to reach her office.
"You worry about Beth to much, she's just jealous." Jennifer chuckled at her friends annoyance, Beth had been under her skin for awhile.
"Jealous of what? She probably makes more money than I do!" Being an assistant Sarah's office was small and cramped but Sarah knew it was just a starting point, she was planning on moving up the ranks as soon as she could.
"Sarah, I don't think it's about money." Walking across the parking lot of the court house, Jennifer stopped at a food stand to order a coffee.
"What's it about then?"
"This really is an issue for you isn't it? It really bugs you?" Jennifer chuckled hearing the quiet exhale from her friend on the other end of the line. "Look, Beth has been in the same job for years, most people around the office can't stand her because she's a bitch and if she's not talking about other people, she's talking about her damn weight or how the horrible dates she goes on."
"That's very true." Knowing Beth was a heavier woman and at 5'6 she didn't wear the extra weight well, or dress usually to her size. "But what does that have to do with me? She started a rumour just last week about me!"
"Because Sarah, you're not only young and driven in your job, you're young, beautiful, everyone else seems to like you and you're engaged, everything she wants. Like I said, she's just jealous and you shouldn't worry about it!"
"You're right, I honestly don't know why she gets to me so much." It was true, Sarah didn't know why, but there had just been something with Beth. Something about her that always put Sarah off guard and made her feel less sure of herself.
"Hey, enough about Beth! The reason I called, I'm not coming back to the office and I know we didn't win today, but we should still do drinks later? O'Tooles bar, 7ish?"
"Yeah that sounds go...." Sarah's voice trailed off as there was a soft knock at her door and she looked up to see Beth, a fake smile plastered on her face.
"Sounds good? You where saying that sounds good?" Jennifer laughed into the phone at how Sarah had suddenly gone quiet. "Or are you busy?"
"Umm no no, that sounds good." Sarah wondered if Beth had heard her bitching about her and she sighed seeing Beth walk into her office without an invitation.
"Yeah yeah, don't worry, I'll see ya tonight."
"Sorry to bug you Sarah." Clicking the lock closed on the office door, Beth's eyes moved across the beautiful soft features of Sarah's face, her dirty blonde hair framing her face perfectly and her green eyes had an almost sparkle to them. "But this got dropped off for you earlier to."
"I wasn't expecting anything else?" Sarah didn't miss the long look from Beth and looking from the secretary back to the now closed door, wondered why Beth had locked it.
"No? A man came by earlier this morning after you left, said it was for your eyes only apparently." Opening the first envelope she had, Beth pulled out two photographs and placed them on the desk in front of Sarah.
For a moment Sarah was about to scold Beth for opening mail addressed to her, but the second the photos where placed in front of her, her voice caught in her throat. The top photo was of her clients wife, embracing her lover in a parking lot, the second was an image of the two lovers walking along the second level of the motel towards their room.
A wry grin crept onto Beth's face seeing first confusion on Sarah's face, confusion that was slowly turning to fear. "Weren't you supposed to hand those photos over?" A small heat began to radiate between Beth's thighs as the sparkle slipped from Sarah's eyes. "I can only imagine how fast the partners would fire you, if they knew how you had screwed over a large client of our firm, not to mention how Dwayne would react."
Sarah reached down and opened the bottom drawer of her desk and after moving some files realized the evidence she had was still hidden away. Swallowing deeply to try and calm herself down, she studied the secretary, her normally confident and cocky demeanour seemed to be at an all time high now. "Wh..what? I don't know what you're talking about..." Sarah took a moment to clear her throat, shifting in her seat she was trying to regain her composure.
"Look I don't have all day Sarah to play games with you." Beth shook her head clearly impatient with Sarah, even though she looked far more relaxed and at ease with the situation, than the tense assistant was looking, "We both know you have those photos and you willfully withheld them."
Licking her lips nervously Sarah studied Beth for a moment, trying to determine if she in fact knew that she had these photos, or if she was just attempting to mess with her, get her to give something up that could implicate her.
"So the question Sarah, is how much do you want to keep that secret?" Sarah's face flushed with each word, her breathing, though she was clearly trying to remain calm, could be seen increasing by the way her chest moved up and down, showing that she was in fact out of sorts. Beth had no intention of letting her regain any of her normal composure.