Colleagues

Chapter 17 | Sadie

I awoke to find myself still on the couch of Margot's apartment. I must have fallen asleep at some point during the movie. Taking in the brightness of my surroundings and the emptiness of the apartment, I cursed myself for allowing myself to fall asleep. I was definitely going to be late to work.

I wondered why Margot hadn't woken me up. She was well aware of my tendency to be prompt to everything. I felt a slight pang of annoyance that she hadn't recognized how important setting a good impression in the office was to me, but the feeling quickly faded away as I noticed the ottoman in front of me.

A cup of coffee, still hot and steaming, had been carefully placed alongside a chocolate croissant atop a napkin. Margot did this for me?  I tried to picture her walking to my favorite café nearby and purchasing the items that lay in front of me now. It was a nearly impossible task.

I downed the coffee quickly, grabbing the croissant for the road. Before leaving, I glanced back at the elegant apartment, hoping it would somehow provide insight into the person who lived there. It didn't.

~~~

I gave Alexis a sheepish look when I entered the cubicle, approximately two hours late. We made eye contact for a moment and then she burst out laughing.

"What?" I demanded.

"You don't need to look so guilty, Brooks," she said, still chuckling. "I'm not going to fire you or anything. That's Cynthia's job, and she isn't in the office today."

"Oh," I mumbled. "I knew that."

"Sure thing, Brooks," Alexis replied, evidently unconvinced, opening a drawer and retrieving a file from her desk. "I have something for you by the way." She tossed the grey file so that it landed on the desk in front of me. "It's some leads I found that might assist us during the trial. As you probably are well aware, we are running behind on preparation, but I think this along with your new approach will definitely work in our benefit."

"Thank you," I said, surveying the contents of the folder.

"It includes potential witnesses, probable arguments by the Defense, and some background on self-defense cases and trials," she explained. "Because Megan will most likely plead guilty to the murder of Mr. Wilson, it is no longer a question of if she did it, but why she did it."

I began to read the dense text on the first page of the packet. "In order to successfully claim self-defense," I read aloud. "The defendant must prove four different elements."

"Correct," Alexis stated, clearly using this as an opportunity to refresh me on my legal knowledge. "The first of which being they must prove that the defendant was faced with an unprovoked attack. Next, they have to prove that the threat of injury or death was imminent."

"They have to show that the degree of force used was reasonable given the circumstances," I continued. "And finally, they have to prove that Megan had a reasonable fear that she was going to be either injured or killed unless she killed Earl Wilson first."

"It's a hard task for her attorneys, even if the case appears to lean in her favor," Alexis noted. "All we have to do is disprove one of these statements, and I wholeheartedly believe that your strategy, centered around Wilson's infidelity and Megan's erratic nature, will be enough to do this."

"And if we can't?" I questioned.

"Then Megan will either be acquitted or have her murder charges reduced from first degree to second or third."

"Interesting," I murmured.

"I'll let that information sink in for a while," Alexis said. "While you do that, I'm going to take a much needed coffee break. Would you like anything?" I shook my head, thinking about the turbulent road ahead of us. "And Ms. Brooks," Alexis added, turning around to look at me.