A Legal Trap Ch. 13

Author retains all rights to this original work of fiction.

March 15th 2:23 PM

Lisa pulled me aside in the hallway outside of the auditorium when I didn't reply right away. It wasn't very tactful or gentle and a few of our coworkers glanced to see what was going on as they passed us. Thankfully no one stopped, but we did get a few looks.

"What the hell Elizabeth," she said with a serious look on her face, "You and that guy? Details! Come on," a grin now cracking at the corners of her mouth replacing the gruffness of her scowl.

I wanted desperately to have someone to talk with about Paul, but I wasn't sure Lisa was that person, especially after that crack about him being too old. Really, his age is all you saw when you looked at him, no consideration for his personality. He does not look old! Maybe I could give a little and get more in return if I shared with her? Shit!

"Nothing happened. I just know him," I replied tentatively.

"You 'just know him' or you 'knoooow him'?" She enunciated the word 'know' all hot and sexual, like she did when talking about her barista crush.

Do you really think I wouldn't know what you wanted to 'know'! Grrrr! This was a mistake; I should have kept my mouth shut.

"You aren't being very supportive. It's not like I'm CIS and this comes to me is all natural like," I complained.

"I know, but do you know how many times you've said something about guys to me since we started here? Not once! Zero, none, never. If you think I believe you've never taken that body for test runs, well you're crazy," she complained.

We stood for a few seconds staring at each other, each contemplating who was going to speak, she did.

"Look, I'm sorry if I come on too strong."

"OK, well you have to take it slower with me, don't push. I'm not, I don't know my way like I would have growing up as you, like you. I didn't get to experience so many of those things that formed you. Like, you know shit I don't because it is your norm. I struggle a lot with the simplest of things you can snap out a decision or opinion on as a woman. I need help, not harassing." I was worried that last statement was going to be the defining moment in our friendship. I bit my lip and knew the concern on my face couldn't be missed.

"Fair enough... I treat you like any of my other girlfriends because that's what you are to me. I don't say shit to bring you down or put you down, I hope you know that."

"I do, but sometimes I wonder if you get all I'm dealing with every second of my day. Everything is hard or painful or depressing most of the time."

"You know it's not all easy sailing for any woman, me included. I want you to be comfortable with me and trust that I'm not here to judge or whatever. I just want you to be happy and treated as you should be. You know I'd put a beating on him if he hurt you," she said seriously.

"He's very nice, you'd like him."

"See, was that so hard," she asked smiling. She tilted her head slightly looking at something behind me.

When I glanced back, Paul was exiting the auditorium with Jacob and Gillian. Shit! "We need to go," I whispered.

"Not like they didn't see us," she said in a hushed tone, "We're getting coffee."

"What?"

"Well, hello again Mr. Kline," Lisa said with more cheer than I had hoped she would. Why weren't we just fading into the wall, going to get that coffee she just mentioned, or being invisible?

"Ladies, what are we up too," Paul asked all smiles.

"About to get a cup of coffee, want to join us," she asked.

I cringed, and was thinking - 'What the fuck are you doing?!'

"Would love too, but I have a meeting in," he looked at his phone, "Two minutes. Rain check?"

"Absolutely," Lisa said with an all teeth smile. I could only stand there like some doe-eyed deer caught in headlights on some dark back country highway. I wished the truck approaching would just run me over and put me out of my misery!

"Excellent," he said smiling and continuing towards the elevators with Jacob.

Gillian hung back and put her hand on my shoulder, "Elizabeth, could you come see me this afternoon, after 4:00."

"Yes, yes of course."

She smiled at us both and made her way to the elevator, entering it after them, and the doors closed.

"What are you doing!?!?" I complained at Lisa.

"I wanted to see you two together," Lisa replied giggling.

"No! Not here, not at work. Oh my God," I huffed exasperated.

Lisa laughed, "You need to relax girl."

I looked at her dumbfounded, "What part of I don't have the life experiences you have don't you get?"

She laughed again, "You see the look on his face?"

I'm sure the confused look on my face was enough to answer her question, but I nodded - 'No' anyway. I really hadn't even looked at Paul. Why? Was I just nervous about Jacob or Gillian saying something about getting back to work or wondering why we were loitering? Augh! Good God!

"Firstly, he may have been talking to me, but he was looking at you the entire time. Second, I think he was disappointed he couldn't join us."

"I can't have people think I'm in a relationship with him."

"A relationship," she asked, "Oh, now we're getting to the real story. You two are in a relationship?"

Fuck! Were we? I mean, we were. No, we are. Augh! Damn it!

"I, a it's early and we still need to figure out what we are doing."

"You met him in Arizona?"

"Yes, he," I hesitated saying more, but she'd already gotten enough of the story to know we were together there. FUCK! I gave her a serious look, "You can't be telling anyone about this. Paul is just working here until he can replace Bill Blass, then... Well, then I hope to not be some office gossip flavor of the month."

She looked at me seriously, "And who's going to tell the office?"

"I'm just saying," I said uncomfortably.

"Yeah, you're saying it'll be me. I told you, I wouldn't say anything."

"I'm sorry. It's just this is new and I don't want to screw anything up." It sounded like I was complaining, which to the core of all this, I probably was. But this thing with Paul was huge for me and all I could think about, it was crushing at times. How is she not getting that?

"I understand, but you can't hold on so tight to this guy thinking another one won't come along if something gets screwed up. You are an amazing woman; he needs to be amazing also. You need to be yourself, not someone else," she paused for a second, "So, he 'knows'?" She sounded uncomfortable asking that question.

"Yes." Yes, he knows I'm Trans and 'Yes', I was being super cautious about every facet of my life right now, probably to a fault. I can't be afraid to let my guard down and I have to be true to who I was. Why was this all so hard?

"Well, he just impressed me big time then and I wanna know more. This so cool Elizabeth! I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks. Can we just take this slow? I really could use a friend right now to help me figure out whatever Paul and I are doing."

"We can do that," she said leaning in to put her arm around me as we began walking toward the elevators, "So, he's got a nice ass, huh?"

Augh! Really?!

March 15th 3:58 PM

I had set a calendar event to meet Gillian and per my normal operating mode I was early getting to her office. All of our offices had glass anterior walls and doors, so I could see Gillian was on the phone when I got to her office. She held up a finger for me to wait before entering. I smiled in return and nodded my understanding. I looked over the handful of supplies I brought with me for this meeting, yet again, and by the time I looked up Gillian was walking towards her door. She waved at me to come in and I got to the door just before she got to it.

"Thank you for coming to see me Elizabeth."

I wasn't sure what to say, so just smiled and made my way to a chair as she returned to hers. Gillian was in her mid-to-late fifties and had been the office manager for the firm going on twenty-five years. Every interaction I had with her the nearly four months I had worked for the firm confirmed why she had this job - she knew how to run this office and the business of the law firm. Every lawyer I had seen interact with her treated her with the uttermost respect.

Gillian had a quiet confidence about her; I admired the strong woman she was. Everyone described her as firm yet fair, expected everyone to perform to the highest of standards, and she genuinely cared about everyone working here. I was a little nervous about this meeting, since my assignments came from my supervisor generally, but I didn't have any of my usual impending doom type feelings, yet. Why was that? Why hadn't I wondered more about what this meeting was about?

"I wanted to first thank you for all the work you did in Arizona. I appreciate all you did for Jacob's family. Jacob is also very appreciative of all you did assisting in finding Amber."

I continued to smile, not really sure what to say but managed to eke out, "Thank you."

She certainly knew all of the details of what we were doing in Phoenix. I figured she pretty much knew everything so was there wasn't anything I could say that she didn't already know.

"Paul also gave glowing reviews regarding your contributions as well. He told Jacob that he really appreciated your investigative skills and keeping him on track. You have certainly proven to be a valuable addition to the firm," she opened a manila folder on her desk, "And with that, Jacob asked that I give you this."

She handed me a letter written on the firm's letter head. Before I began reading I wondered if there was a problem and this was some kind of legal notification regarding my assistance. I took a fluttered breath and read the first couple lines, which were basically repeating what Gillian had said about Jacob being appreciative of the work I had done in Phoenix. The next line stunned me: 'As a token of my appreciation for your efforts you are to be awarded a one-time bonus in the amount of $5,000.00'. The letter ended with a salutation encouraging me to continue the good work and Jacob's signature. I looked up confused.

Gillian was all smiles, "One thing you will learn working for Jacob, is he appreciates those that give more than is expected. In addition, he often rewards you for exceeding his expectations. By all accounts this is a well-deserved award, congratulations."

I heard every word she just said, but was having trouble processing everything. I had no expectation that anything like this would be forthcoming. I was speechless.

"The thousand-dollars stipend you received for taking the assignment should already be in your account. That was taxed as regular income, this award unfortunately is considered a bonus and taxed at a rate around thirty-seven percent. Nothing I can do about that. Payment will process tonight. Do you have any questions?"

"I... This is very much unexpected, I'm, I don't know what to say," I replied trying not to worry so much about letting my emotions show.

"Well, you deserve it," she said smiling.

"Thank you," I replied wondering if that sounded like a question and stood.

"Wait, please sit..."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I had honestly thought the meeting was over. I sat, put the letter inside a folder amongst my supplies, and readied a pen and a pad of legal paper.

"You won't need that," she said all business, "Jacob would like you to assist Gina Barnes with some legal processing necessary to facilitate the buyout of Janet and Martin. She's expecting you after we're done here. We've cleared this with Alicia. This will be a great opportunity for you. Any questions?"

Whoa! Gina Barnes was one of the firm's top grossing trial lawyers. She was all business and feared by the majority of the firm's support staff due to the intensity she displayed outwardly for all to see. She was not my first choice of lawyers to work with and I was a little nervous. Since my work assignments had been divvied up prior to my Phoenix assignment, assigning me to this effort was probably easy for my supervisor Alicia make. The opportunity was either going to kill me or grow me. I was hoping for the later.

"No, questions. I'll check in with Mrs. Barnes." When there weren't any follow-on statements Gillian thought she needed to make I stood.

"Thank you Elizabeth and congratulations on the award," she said smiling.

"Thank you."

March 15th 4:31 PM

The door to Gina Barnes' office was open. She was on the west side of the building and her office had a bank of windows that looked towards Elliot Bay and had a view of the Olympic Mountains. Of course, today you couldn't see the mountains through all the rain, but you could see a ferry coming into the bay through the misty rain.

I knocked on the open door, "Mrs. Barnes, I'm Elizabeth Gallagher..."

"Come in, close the door please," she said waving a hand toward a chair.

I closed the door behind me, sat, and noticed her office was very sterile. No pictures, nothing on her desk that wasn't necessary. Sterile like an operating room or some clean room Paul operated in - which I'd heard about twice in Phoenix and still wasn't sure what that was. I knew she was married and had a couple of kids - but there was no evidence of that anywhere in the office.

She stood, "We're going to be busy the next couple of weeks. This assignment will require some overtime and I expect we will put in some time on a few Saturday's. Is that going to be a problem?"

Her standing was a little intimidating, a power move on her part. I was already intimidated, no need to accentuate your scariness. Regarding work, truth was I didn't mind long days or even working on weekends. My only concern was not getting to spend as much time with Paul as I wanted, hoped. Assuming he hadn't changed his mind about me.

"I can be available as necessary Mrs. Barnes," I tried to reply with confidence I wasn't feeling.

She took a second to weigh her next words, "I understand while you were in Phoenix you reported daily to Janet Larson. Are you at all conflicted helping this firm build a case against Ms. Larson?"

Wait a second, 'conflicted' - is this a cross-examination? How did she know that? The only way she could have known about keeping Janet in the loop while in Phoenix was from Paul, he's the only one I told. He wouldn't have said anything, she's fishing, "I, I can assure you I will not be conflicted in my assigned duties for this firm, Mrs. Barnes." I could feel my heart beginning to race. Did Janet mention an update from me to someone? Maybe she did in an email. Shit!

"Good," she shifted some papers on her desk so they were in alignment with some other papers then sat, "The firms interests are my interests. I take exception to both Mr. Brandt and Ms. Larson's inappropriate conduct during the recent elections of our two new city council members. Their actions could very well end up jeopardizing our twenty-year relationship with the union for the Port of Seattle and bring unprecedented financial loses to the firm. Are we clear?"

I could hear a slight ringing in my ears and my hands felt chilled, my legs also. What the hell have I gotten myself into? I nodded 'Yes'. Was she pissed about me being assigned or Janet and Martin screwing the firm? Did she think I condoned their behavior?

"Perfect," she reached for a folder and handed it to me - I took it from her and opened it. There was a list of at least fifteen research requests. The first item was to comb through the previous two years of expense reports for both Janet and Martin. Another was the reviewing of any emails they had sent - specifically to the city council and the ports union leaders. There could be thousands of those just for Martin alone since he was lead counsel for the union. I felt a knot in my stomach tightening.

Her list had miscellaneous items that included researching a list of potential campaign violations as they related to the Revised Code of Washington, case history in regards to ethics violation cases done by the Washington State Bar Association - she had provided a list of specific cases she wanted data on, and a few other items.

When I looked up she continued, "I would like those items completed by end of day Monday. If you run into issues or have questions find me and we can discuss. Any questions?"

That slight ringing in my ears was now a full on buzzing and it was making it difficult to concentrate. To complete a thorough research investigation on a few of these tasks on her list could easily take a week. Why did it feel like I couldn't breathe? I needed to switch gears - THINK - how am I going to get all this done in one weeks' time?

Gina moved slightly and I refocused on her face, she was all business, her face showed no emotion. This is going to be impossible! Think! Research, that takes time. I had to push back.

"Mrs. Barnes, I understand the assignment, but your timeline. I just don't... I won't be able to deliver all of these things by next Monday." I could hardly believe I had said what I just said. Why am I not breathing?

She looked confused, "I'm sorry, I believe with your staff this list of research is certainly obtainable by Monday."

After snapping that retort, she looked impatient, like I was keeping her from something. Huh? Staff?

"I am not aware of anyone else assigned Mrs. Barnes..."

She held up a hand to stop my reply and I felt like I'd just been scolded. What the hell is going on with this woman? Gina picked up her phone, dialed a number, and waited for an answer.

"Hello Alicia, I'm with Elizabeth Gallagher and we're discussing the project she's assigned to me for," she was listening to my supervisor I assumed, "Yes, that's what I'm calling about." She shifted slightly, "Yes," there was a long pause, "She is unaware of that it appears, but that does answer my question, thank you. Goodbye."

I watched her replace the handset into its cradle, "Well, unfortunately there has been some lack of communication on Alicia's part, she thought you were going to meet with her prior to coming to see me, she apologizes for that and would like you to stop at her office after this meeting. I am to tell you that you will be leading a team of two paralegals - she will discuss the specifics after this meeting. To your concerns about the time, I am allowing your team to complete those required items. We do not have the luxury of time. I expect quality research on all these items, as they will be used for the preparation of my briefs. You and I will gather next Tuesday morning first thing to begin reviewing. Any questions?"

I hadn't taken a full breath since she hung up the phone, but gulped one as inconspicuously as possible before answering, "No Mrs. Barnes..."

"Alright, I believe Alicia is waiting for you. I'll be here until seven if you have any questions. Thank you for stopping by," she said rising from her chair - which was my queue this meeting was over.

March 15th 6:11 PM

I felt like I had been run over by a bus. Not the one I should have caught fifty minutes ago when I would have gotten off work at 5:00 PM. No, I'd been flattened by the one chartered by the firm to reward me, to test me, to break me.

It seemed to all be going my way while meeting with Gillian, until I got assigned to work for Gina Barnes. And my luck, Alicia hadn't clued me into being assigned a staff of two prior to meeting with Gina. That made me look like I had no idea what I was doing when I pushed back about the amount of work she had assigned my team. Augh!

At least the meeting with my team had gone well. I got caught up on my new assignment by Alicia - after the fact. Both Cal Gardner and Michelle Cole were good natured about joining me and neither seemed to mind that I was the lead. I had barely any experience here at the firm and was worried I was in over my head. I was happy Alicia hadn't assigned Lisa to help me. That would have been a nightmare, possibly, to keep her focused on work and not Paul and I.