Secrets Of The Guilty [Nanowrimo 2019]

EIGHT

Eli walked into the Records Department inside the Capital City Courthouse exactly five minutes after the office goes for lunch and two minutes before Jane Brady said to meet her.

The second she stepped into the elevator, Eli deflated and slumped against the side rail covering her face with both hands, breathing hard between her fingers. The elevator walls pushed in, and she couldn't seem to settle her heart, the fast beat of it pressing against her ribs. Eli rubbed a hand against her chest at the memory of it.

Seeing Lucius was one thing. That she could have handled, but the implications of him being there at City Hall – Eli pulled in a shuddering breath before lifting her chin.

A woman pushed open the blond-wood door behind the small glass window. Jane's red glasses pushed against the tip of her nose as she gave Eli a reproachful look. The women always complained when Eli stopped by. Without fail. It was worse when Ryan was around. Jane would moan about running plates and looking into files for them, but she always came through and was always compensated for her lost time. Jane was one of the few people Eli was indebted too. Not that Eli minded this particular debt.

"What can I do for you?"

"A little birdie told me a detective came by earlier in the week looking for information on the docks cases. Care to tell me how accurate that is?" Ryans' friends hadn't been wrong about Fenton not talking after his arrest, so Eli wasn't going to come down here and ask any questions. But when the detective had stopped her a few hours ago, Eli decided she wanted to take him for all he's worth.

Robert Bates was one thing. Her editor could take her off any story he wants but Alex Tanner would have to get a court-ordered cease and desist and by the time that goes through, Eli was going to have all the answers he wanted.

"It's true. Alex, something? He walked out with boxes of copies of cases. He was paying special attention to the old stuff. Same things you were looking for a couple of years back."

"Alex Tanner. Can I take a peek at the sign-out sheet?"

"Sure," Jane turned away from Eli to bring up a black eight by ten binder with a detailed record of every person to ever check out files. Her own name included. The rings popped open under her fingers, freeing a few pages with a date from a few days ago. "The detective wasn't interested in it. What are you looking for?"

"A name." Jane hummed, sliding it towards her under the thick glass. The Records Officers could only speak through plated metal holes like at the airport. It distorted Jane's rough voice a bit.

"Can I also see the logs for court dates? I'm trying to find the attendees for a few court cases. Would that be difficult to do?" Eli asked knowing it would cost her more if it was more complicated. The two of them only had till the lunch break ended, about ten minutes from now.

"Not at all. I just need the case number, name or a date."

"How about a lawyer's name?"

"That could work." Jane shrugged, clicking away at her keyboard. Her long red nails scratching the against trackpad. "Alright, what's the name?"

"Fenton. Most likely defence attorney." Eli pulls the signet sheet flipping back by date. She spots her name a few times, scattered around various files and case numbers. A few of her signatures looked far too slanted to be written by her. Ryan usually signs her name instead of his if the work is sensitive or wanted by other papers. Eli signs it under her editor. Not strictly allowed but not frowned upon when they were paying for the information under the table.

Eli stops on the case file assigned to the docks. The three lasts people to sign it out were all in the last six months everything else was two years ago when the article first made headlines. The first was one of the clerks from the Records Office, probably an organization thing. The last was the detective, his scratched signature next to it, marking all the files he'd taken out.

But the second was almost eligible. Written in a runny black pen the ink must have smudged when the binder was closed, the undisturbed letters filled in enough blanks for her to read it. Charlie E. Fenton had checked out some boxes six months ago.

Eli rocked back on her heels trying to hold in her shock. The words on the page almost not registering. Jane moves beside her pulling her back to the record keeper.

"I have four cases under defence. All same lawyer, different clients. That's odd. The same judge all four times."

"Who?" Eli's head snaps up from the sign-out sheet.

"Amy Matthews. Give me a second the names flagged. Internal." Jane's eyebrows bunch up against the bridge of her glasses as she clicks her mouse twice. "It turns out that every case that went to trial, save about three, both your guy and the judge were together. There aren't many trial dates though, probably settled out of court."

The detective did say Fentons clients were high stakes, big money. It would be easier to settle matters with a check. Quieter too. But most of them? The printer starts in the corner. Thumbing in the background as pages of black ink text is laid out and scanned.

"Can I get those names?"

"No. It's all flagged. Someone either has it open or it's been locked into the system. It happens sometimes when there's a wide blackout. They don't want anyone looking at it."

"Does it say who authorized it?"

"Judge Matthews signed it in."

"You're serious? Is there a date?" Jane turns the screen around to face Eli. The date at the bottom- underneath a neat signature- reads two days before Fenton took those hostages. "How much of this did the detective get through?"

"None actually. He just wanted the boxes. Didn't bother with this stuff. He just took them and left, made a stink about it too." Jane folder the pages, fresh of the printer, into three before pushing them into a records envelope. The same ones each person leaves with. "Times up, Marlow."

Eli pulls the rolled bills from her bag handing it over to the records keeper.

"Thank you, Jane." She taps her fingers against the window, biting the corner of her smile.

11/10/19