Cheryl x Liam: Inevitable

Part 7

Ring! Ring! Ring!

"Goddammit!" Cheryl groaned out loud to herself as she stopped in the middle of her office, hearing her office phone ringing on her desk. It was after five, her firm was empty as the secretaries and other lawyers – apart from Garry whom was still in his office – had gone home and she was completely tired, and now she just wanted to get out of the office and go pick up her daughter before going home for the evening. It had been the longest, most stressful day and she had been pushed to her limits, especially during the morning when she'd had to be in court once again against Joe Smith and his arrogant ways, and then again during the afternoon when she and the other lawyers were working together for another case as well.

As the phone continued to ring, she actually debated on whether or not to answer it. She felt slightly guilty the more it rang, and for some reason, she felt like she should answer it in case it was something urgent or about a client. She sighed to herself and dropped her bag onto the chair, before going back to the desk. As it rang again, she composed herself before answering,

"Good evening;  Attorney Cole seaking – how may I help you?"

And the response immediately concerned her...

"Hello, Ms. Cole – I'm so sorry to be calling you so late but we need your help; this is Karen Payne."

She sat herself down at her desk, frown lines of confusion being visible in her brow as she grabbed her legal pad and a pen straight away. She could immediately here the distress in the voice of her daughter's teacher, causing her some great concern already.

"Hi Mrs. Payne; what's going on?" she replied, quickly scribbling down Karen Payne and the date on top of the paper she was writing on.

"Our son has been arrested," Karen burst out which caused a look of shock to come across Cheryl's face, "The police are talking about drugs being found in his car, and something about him assaulting and stalking his ex-girlfriend – just all this stuff that we know isn't our Liam, so please can you help us? I'm begging you, Ms. Cole; we'll pay whatever we need but please, just help us!"

Cheryl scribbled down everything that Karen had told her, though she was confused herself. She had met Liam twice plus seeing him that day after she'd dropped Sophia off at nursery, and had even seen him earlier in the day when she'd gone out to get her lunch. She knew that this had to be some mistake, as she just didn't get any bad vibes like this from Liam at all.

"Okay okay, Mrs. Payne, please calm down okay – I need you to relax," Cheryl spoke down the phone as she grabbed tore another blank piece of paper out of the legal pad, "Do you know what police station he's at?"

"Erm, Wood Street Police Station." Karen replied. Cheryl scribbled that down onto the paper.

"Okay listen carefully," she spoke as she began typing in the police station name on her iPhone to get the address, "Meet me there; I'll be there in fifteen minutes or less depending on traffic but I'll help you, I promise – I've met your son a couple times and I know it's got to be one big mistake, so please don't worry."

"Oh bless you, Ms. Cole; thank you and we'll meet you there." Karen replied. Cheryl bid her farewell before hanging up, then scribbling down the address to the police station before putting it in her bag along with her phone. She then quickly grabbed her car keys before leaving her office; locking the door behind her before going down the hall and poking her head into her brother's office.

"Garry." She said his name, capturing his attention.

"What's up, sis? You look stressed out and it's the end of the day." He raised an eyebrow as he finished packing up his things for the evening.