Colleagues

Chapter 5 | Sadie

When I arrived at the office the next day, 5 minutes early as usual, I was shocked by the mug of coffee carefully placed at the center of my desk. I looked up at Margot in surprise.

"Thank-"

"Save it," she snapped, not even bothering to look at me. "I always get coffee for my case partner on the first day. It's common protocol."

"Oh," I replied quietly. "Thanks anyway."

As Margot proceeded to ignore me, I felt my gaze continue to drift towards her. Yesterday's events came flooding back to me. The fight at the apartment, and my realization why Margot hated this trial so much.

I wanted to reach out to her, say something to let her know I understood how hard this must be. But I didn't. I knew nothing about her relationship. So I decided to remain quiet instead, biting my lip in an attempt to keep the words from exiting my mouth. Did she know how thin our walls were? Did she realize I had unintentionally discovered a very private part of her life?

"What the hell are you looking at?" Margot demanded angrily, startling me from my thoughtful trance.

"Sorry, I do that when I'm tired," I said quickly. "I wasn't actually looking at you, just the space that you were in, if that makes any sense."

Margot looked genuinely confused. "That makes no sense at all."

I stood up quickly. "I um.. I'm going to talk to Cynthia about a recommended course of action."

To my surprise, Margot's puzzled expression turned angry. "Are you seriously about to go over my head to go talk to the boss? I'm your advisor on this case. You come to me if you have any questions."

"I-I'm sorry," I stuttered. I didn't want to argue with her anymore. I just didn't have it in me. I felt my shoulders slump in defeat."I honestly have no idea what I'm doing."

Margot's expression softened. "Jesus Sadie, it's fine. Here, I'll give you a couple of minutes to check your email and get settled. We can begin then."

After a moment, I heard the sound of heels clicking as Margot came back with a couple folders in hand.

"New information on the approaching trial," she explained. "Today, we should plan on going over possible motives for the defendant. Why might she want to kill Mr. Wilson? Was there an ulterior motive other then self-defense?"

As Margot talked her voice took an eerily robotic tone, like complete professionalism had taken over and the Margot who hated this case was completely gone.

"How about we each grab a folder and start taking notes?" she suggested. "Oh, and I almost forgot. Today is After Hours Friday."

"After hours?" I asked.

"It's basically when we work until we can't anymore," Margot elaborated. "It's supposed to boost morale and increase productivity before the weekend, but practically everyone starts goofing off once Cynthia leaves. We get about the same amount of work done."

"How long do you usually stay?" In all honesty, I was not the best when it came to staying awake past 11 pm.

"Around 2 am, but I actually get work done. Just stay away from Cody and Marcus and you will too," she assured me, making me laugh. "So let's get started, shall we?"

Despite my previous apprehension, working with Margot wasn't complete torture. I watched as she explained how to establish a timeline proceeding the trial and how to find evidence and testimonies in support of the prosecution.

It made me wonder why Cynthia had decided to put me, an amateur, on such an important case. I wondered if she'd done the same thing to Margot her first day. In a way, I was lucky to have such an emotionally withdrawn person working with me. Distraction seemed unattainable as we went over all the details of the case.