Chapter 5: two years ago
"Bugger!" Nikki swore as she stretched her foot out of the car door and promptly put it down in an ankle deep puddle. Grabbing her briefcase from the car seat she set off hurriedly across the car park, shaking her foot every few steps in an attempt to get the remaining water out of her shoe. She plucked half heartedly at her scarf; it just wouldn't behave, and no matter how hard she tried the one corner just kept poking up in the wrong direction.
She speed walked through reception and took the stairs two by two up to the first floor, hoping no one would notice just how late she really was. She smiled as she remembered the cause for her tardiness, god, Helen could do fantastic things with her tongue… just the thought made her skin tingle. She tossed her coat over the back of her chair and slid in behind her cluttered little desk, her cheeks still carrying a rouge glow, which wasn't caused by her brisk jog up the stairs.
"Morning Nikki," Paul's greeting pulled her mind away from its attempt to relive this morning's escapades, "bit late this morning, any trouble?" he asked as he swayed his large frame around the furniture on his journey toward her desk. "Not really, just a bit of traffic," she replied matter-of-factly as she set about sorting the files on her desk in to some semblance of order. "Yeah, driving in this city these days is more trouble than it's worth," he said as he positioned his rather large bottom on the only open corner of her desk, which protested to his weight with a high pitched squeak. She was waiting for the day when her poor desk had had enough and both Paul and her entire case load would end up on the floor together.
Nikki listened unenthusiastically as Paul began to tell her about his latest cases, no offence to him but her mind would much rather have been spending its time thinking about earlier this morning than listening to anything he had to say right now. Strangely enough she and Paul had become quite good friends since she started working here, fresh from law school, they were an odd fit. She'd brushed him off at first but had soon realised that despite his appearance he was a rather intelligent, funny guy. He didn't have issues with the fact that she was gay, or that she'd spent some time in prison like most of the other staff did and he was genuinely just a good bloke.
"So I've got this chap in lock up at the moment. First time offender, been busted for possession with the intent to distribute, right cocky little bastard too. Went to see him yesterday, he's just a kid, not a day over nineteen. So I say to him, Robbie, you look like a smart lad, why this business with the smack? He looks me right in the eye and do you know what he says to me? He says, what's it to you fat boy? And by the way, its Robert Wade junior to you mate, I don't see any Robbie's around here. Then he promptly tells me to run along, cheeky sod," he chuckled.
Nikki froze, she couldn't believe what she had just heard, "What did you say his name was?" she asked, her hand still tightly clasped around the paper ball she was in the process of throwing out. "Robert Wade Junior," Paul replied in a make believe pompous accent as he inspected his tie and tried to rub out a large grease stain. "Oh shite!" he said suddenly looking up at Nikki, "Wade, I didn't think…" But Nikki had stopped listening; she already had her coat on and her briefcase in hand. "Do you mind if I highjack this one from you Paul?" she asked as she set of in the general direction of his desk, "I'm going to need all the information you have on him."
"Hang on Nik," he said as worry started to creep across his pudgy face, "I don't think that you getting involved in this is such a good idea." "Look, I need to do this Paul, so please let's not make this into a fight okay, you know I'll win," she said with a devilish grin. He knew Nikki well enough to know that when she got the bit between her teeth like this it was a losing battle. "Sure, sure," he sighed as he dug through the folders on his desk until he found what he was looking for. He held the file out to her and as she took it from his grasp he touched her sleeve, "you know where to find me if you need any help." "Thanks," she smiled, "when were you due to meet him again?" "At twelve today," Paul said, "Go on then, with such terrible traffic out there you're going to need a head start." Nikki caught the twinkle in his eye and laughed as she turned to leave, she should have known she couldn't fool him.
Nikki sat on the dented metal chair that was bolted to the floor of the tiny interview room. The place smelt like stale sweat and ancient cigarette smoke and the colour scheme left much to be desired. Her irritation was bristling just below the surface and for the first time in months she was craving a nicotine fix. She looked at her watch, stood and walked over to the door she had come in through, "what the bloody hell is taking so long?" she asked, giving the door two sharp raps with her fist, "bastards," she muttered to herself as she turned back toward the chair. Before she could sit down again she heard the rattle of a key in the lock of the door across the room.
Robert was ushered in by his burly escort, "Lightning speed you lot work at here," Nikki shot at the bored looking blonde thug. He shrugged, "Short staffed," he said as he turned his back on her and left. She turned her gaze on Robert, he was smaller than she'd expected but the family resemblance was undeniable. They had the same dark hair, the same eyes and even the same smile she noticed as he flashed his pearly whites at her.
"So, fat boy sent a lady to do his dirty work for him then did he?" he said as he swaggered toward the desk between them, "enchanté de vous connaitre mademoiselle," he said with an over exaggerated bow in Nikki's direction. Paul had been spot on about him she thought; he is a cocky little bastard. Not that that surprised her in the least, any child of her brother's was bound to pick up some of his personality traits.
"I suggest you sit yourself down in that chair Mr Wade so that we can get on with this," she said with a tight lipped smile. "Ah, but that's not fair, I see you know my name but I haven't yet had the pleasure of being told yours," he said as he stuck his hand out across the table toward Nikki. Grasping his hand tightly she looked him straight in the eye, "Nicola Wade," she said, "your solicitor."
His face paled instantaneously, "Holy shit!" he muttered, "face to face with the other black sheep of the family." He slumped backward into the chair, "last I heard you were in prison, for murder," he spluttered. "I was released a few years ago, successful appeal," she said flatly, "Not too surprised that you hadn't heard, quite sure that your father wasn't jumping for joy at the news." "No, I would suppose not," he said as he crossed his arms and appraised her more closely. "Didn't know you were a lawyer," he said after a moment of silence. "Haven't always been," she said as she watched him, "happened after prison." "From what I'd heard about you I didn't picture you as the academic type, especially not one to follow in my father's footsteps, solicitor and all," he said, trying to draw her out. "Your father and I have no more in common than our last name, we practice law for very different reasons," she said with an edge to her voice.
Nikki's curiosity got the better of her, "So what did you mean the other black sheep of the family, to my knowledge I am the only one who holds that title," she said with a grin. "Can see you haven't been keeping up," Robert chuckled. "I got tossed out on my arse and disowned last Christmas when I had the audacity to bring my boyfriend to our traditional family Christmas dinner. Dear old dad just about had a heart attack on the spot, in fact, if I remember correctly, I believe that was the first time in years that your name was mentioned in our house. Somehow they blamed you for my "affliction". Strange, considering that I don't even remember you."
"Yes well, your father was always the golden boy, never put a foot wrong. So it doesn't surprise me in the least that I somehow ended up being the scapegoat," she said with the shake of her head. "Your so called unnatural behaviour had to be someone else's fault." The fact that her brother could discard his own son like this saddened her deeply, he'd done the same with her, but they had never been close, maybe it was the nine year age gap, who knows, but his own son. Fury flashed across her thoughts.
"So what's the likelihood of you being able to get me out of this shit hole any time soon?" he asked hopefully. "Well, it is your first offence, so I'd say we have a pretty good chance. I'll see if I can have a word with the prosecutor and maybe we can work something out, but first you need to tell me how you got yourself into this whole mess to begin with," Nikki said as she shifted around in the uncomfortable chair.
"Long story short," he said, "after father dearest tossed me out with no allowance and stopped paying my university tuition I had to find a way to make a reasonably large amount of money on a regular basis and let's just say that waiting tables just wasn't going to cut it. One of my mates was into the whole recreational drug use scene and he knew a guy who knew a guy who was looking for someone who knew their way around campus and all the popular hang outs and wanted to make some cash on the side and hey presto I had a source of income." He shrugged like it was no big deal.
"Did you ever use any of the stuff you were selling?" she asked seriously. "Nah, what do you take me for? I'm not an idiot; I know what that crap does to you. It was just a means to an end. It paid my way through a year of uni, got me a place to stay and put food on the table, that's all it was good for," he said. "And besides, I didn't sell the hard stuff, my trade was hash, uppers, downers, you know a few e here and there."
"Right," Nikki said letting out a sigh, "let me see what I can do to get you out of here. I can't promise you anything just yet but if you man up and take responsibility for your actions hopefully we can get you nothing more than a slap on the wrist. But like I said, no promises, a lot will depend on the CPS and the judge you appear before. Does your father know that you are here?" she asked. "Not that I know of," he replied, "although I did throw my name about a bit, was sort of hoping it would get back to him that I'd been busted. Shame him a bit in front of his precious high powered friends," he said with a mischievous grin that seemed to be rather infective because before she knew it, Nikki was grinning too.
"Luckily for you I happened to be one of the people who recognised your name, Imagine the look on Robert's face when he finds out I ended up representing you," she said as the grin broadened into an outright smile.
They both looked toward the door behind Rob's back when they heard the key turn in the lock. The burly blonde thug was back, "times up," he grumbled as he made his way toward Rob, unbuckling the cuffs from his belt. Nikki watched him snap them onto his wrists, she saw all the bravado drain form his face as he stood there looking at her. She smiled at him reassuringly, "I'm going to get you out of here, okay," she said as Rob got a sharp tug toward the door. "Thanks aunt Nik," he said and flashed another mischievous grin before disappearing through the door.