Fanfiction: In Another Life (3/?) THE TRIBE AU
TITLE: In Another Life
CHAPTER: 3/?
PAIRINGS/CHARACTERS: involves most of main cast eventually. Lex/Zandra the only pairing so far.
RATING/WARNINGS: I'll go with PG-13, just in case.
SUMMARY/NOTES: Ten years ago a prominent scientist blew up his lab and 12 of his colleagues. His daughter’s determination to find out the truth about his death sets in motion a string of new acquaintances, leading to friendships, romances and even new enemies. For a lot of them these new bonds are so strong it feels like they could have known each other in another life.
Lunch at Danni’s was a lot less formal than Amber had expected. Danni had resorted to jeans and a loose-fitting top, her hair hanging loose and allowed to go wild. All through university she had kept to pressed trousers, form-fitting shirts and expensive jackets, and Amber had hardly ever seen her without her hair in a tight bun. She seemed slightly stressed though, her smile as strained as ever. Maybe it was work, Amber could definitely relate to that. She shook her head slightly. She wasn’t here to think about that case at work, she was here to figure out if she could work on this journalist’s case.
The house was impressive, a lot more space then what one single woman needed. But it was the same house she had grown up in with her family, Amber could see why she would hold on to it. Danni introduced her to Ellie, before leading them both to her dining room where the table was already set.
“This chicken is delicious, did you make it?” Ellie asked as soon as they had started biting into the food.
“No, I grew up with a butler so I never had to do much cooking. This is ordered in. I considered pretending it was homemade, but I figured with you two as the guests you would too easily figure out I was lying.”
The two women laughed at that, and in an instant the mood seemed lightened. Conversation flew fairly freely from there, although the two other women did exchange some suspicious looks when Amber asked Ellie if she was working on any stories at the moment.
“Well, actually…” Ellie cleared her throat. “You know our very own local basketball star?”
“Oh yeah, um… Bray-something.” Danni shot in, slightly too excited to be talking about this. Amber narrowed her eyes slightly. She had a very strong feeling that the other two women were hiding something. She decided to let it drop though, if Ellie was working on something for Danni, or they were in the middle of some kind of business arrangement or something, it wasn’t really her business. Just as long as it had no effect on the case they wanted her to help Ellie with. She focused on Ellie again, as the blonde continued talking.
“There was this story I was working on, back before the big prostitution scandal case landed in my lap, a real gossip pages thing. Not really my thing, but at the time I was stuck for work and going broke fast, so when this tabloid called me and asked me to look into it, I said yes…” Ellie shrugged slightly, but it was obvious that hadn’t been her proudest moment. “They had gotten some tips on this woman, here in town, with a kid. It was another mother at the kid’s school who tipped of the tabloid. Said the guy’s parents would occasionally be there to pick up the girl, and she called them her grandparents. They pretty much wanted the big gossip on the holier-than-thou Bray having fathered a kid as a teenager and not acknowledging the kid as his own. I’ll be honest, the main reason I said yes was because there were some details that didn’t fit. There’s a younger brother, you see, he’s in a band, the Locos. You might have heard of them, they’re doing pretty good locally. Anyway, the tips I was getting on a human trafficking and prostitution ring was far more interesting, so I told the tabloid I wasn’t interested. They got someone else to do it, who wrote some shoddy piece making the whole thing into a scandal. That he was paying this woman to keep quiet about him being the dad, because that would lower his marketing value. I’m trying to pick up some loose ends from that one. I don’t buy the official story, something is off. I suppose I feel guilty, I don’t think he deserved the smear job that was done in that article. And I don’t think the mother, Trudy, deserved the reputation of being a blackmailer either. If I hadn’t just dropped the story, I could have given a much more balanced and probably fairer view of it all. Instead they got that.” Ellie made a motion as if the story itself was right there in front of her.
“So you think the younger brother is the dad?” Danni asked.
“Pretty much, yeah. There is at least something fishy going on there. I only ever got as far as to talk to the informer and a couple neighbours. They said the youngest brother had pretty much disowned the family years ago, and that there had been a lot of trouble with him from his early teens. They said he used to be a sweet boy until then. The change happened around the time Trudy would have gotten pregnant.”
“Ellie…” Amber hesitated, but then jumped in. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I get that you’re trying to make up for letting the story go into the hands of someone who did such a bad job with it, but they might be better off if you leave it alone.”
“I won’t publish it without Trudy’s approval. I mean, either way I think she’s the victim in all this. She’s the one having to work a shitty job and raising a kid on her own. I went to see her, but didn’t tell her who I was though. I want to do a bit more digging and then confront her with it, and see what she wants to do about it.”
Amber felt uneasy. “I don’t know, Ellie, whatever the story is, it’s their business. Just be careful with this, okay? Digging up the past can get people hurt.”
Once again there was a look passing between the other two women, and Amber now suspected she knew what Danni wanted with Ellie. She wanted to say something, she had a bad feeling about that prospect to, but it really wasn’t her business. The rest of the meal went by slightly more tense than it had been before.
After they had eaten, Danni suggested they move to the sitting room for Ellie and Amber to go over the case files. To get there they moved through a hallway where the walls were lined with photos. Ellie stopped to study them. Most of them were off people, smiling people signing papers or standing in front of buildings.
“So these are your projects, are they?” Ellie asked, turning towards Danni.
“I call it my bragging wall,” Danni said, a wry smile on her face.
“Your bragging wall?” Amber asked, her eyes searching the pictures.
“Danni’s success is built on financial help to start up small businesses, or help patent and market different ideas and make them successful.”
“You’ve done your research,” Danni remarked, the smile on her face now more amused.
“You wouldn’t expect any less of me, would you?”
Danni didn’t answer, but the smile stayed on her face as she motioned towards the sitting room.
*************************************************
Lex was passed out on the sofa when Ryan came home from work. At least he couldn’t smell alcohol or see any bottles. Ryan sighed as he picked up the empty containers Lex had left on the table and on the floor next to the sofa, throwing them in the trash. Lex and junk food seemed to be constant companions these days. Lex had put on some weight since he lost his job, his hair was constantly greasy and he neglected shaving. Ryan had always had to keep an eye on Lex, ever since they met at boot camp, but he had never expected to be making more out of his life than Lex. That Lex was letting himself go like this was one thing, but he was dragging Zandra and, even worse, little Lexie down with him. Ryan was getting tired of righting Lex’s mistakes, but he had taken on a responsibility when he said yes to be Lexie’s godfather. At that time though, Lex had been so dedicated, so eager to change himself to be a good father, that Ryan hadn’t foreseen many problems.
Boot camp had been alright. Lex and Ryan had both been in foster care at the time, both difficult to find a home for due to reputations as troublemakers. In Lex’s case the reputation was very much right, but Ryan had simply stood up for a younger foster brother who had been hit by their foster father. Ryan had already at the time been fairly big and strong and gotten the upper hand. After being reported for violent behaviour he had been put in the temporary boot camp project for troubled youths. There he had met Lex. Then Lex had gotten into trouble, Ryan had helped him out. Story of his life from then on. They had run away, lived on the streets since then, near where Zandra lived with her family. They hadn’t been happy with her choice of boyfriend in Lex and their constant breakups and reunions. When Lex and Ryan turned 18 they were free, no longer needing to be scared off getting sent away to a new camp or foster home. Having Lex sleeping on his sofa was a nice change though. Back in their first flat it had been Ryan sleeping on the sofa, Lex getting the only bedroom.
Ryan walked back over to Lex, kicking lightly under Lex’s boot on the leg hanging over the edge of the sofa. Lex grunted.
“What?”
“Look at yourself, Lex. Do you really think Zandra will let you come home again if you keep this up? Have you even been out looking for a job today? Or this week at all?”
“Leave me alone, Ryan, you’re not my babysitter!” Lex spat, covering his eyes with his arm.
“Well, you need one. Lexie is more mature than you are, Lex. She shouldn’t have to be. Do you want her to grow up like us?”
That seemed to hit a nerve, as Lex moved his arm to glare at Ryan. He opened his mouth to reply, but whatever retort he had was interrupted by the doorbell. Ryan looked through the peephole, a sigh escaping him as he looked back at Lex.
“It’s your wife.”
Lex quickly sat up, at least attempting to look less like a slob. Ryan opened the door to let Zandra in. She gave Ryan a quick kiss on the cheek. Lex only got a look of disdain sent his way.
“Where’s Lexie?” He asked sharply as Ryan closed the door behind Zandra.
“She’s with a friend from daycare, I’m picking her up just before bedtime. I’ve got an appointment in an hour.”
“Appointment for what?” Lex’s eyes darkened, his voice rising.
“Yoga class, Lex, if you must know. Actually, that’s why I’m here. I’ve been thinking about things, and here’s how it’s going to be. Twice a week for a while I’ll be doing yoga and meditation with this instructor, Tai-San. Those days I want you to have Lexie and bring her home for bedtime. If that goes alright and you clean yourself up…” she paused, wrinkling her nose as her eyes looked up and down his wrinkled dirty clothes, “then you can move back home. And I mean no more drinking, no more late nights, no more gambling our money away. You will get a job, anything that pays, minimum wage even. This is your last chance. If I as much as suspect you’re not making an effort to change things around, I am getting a divorce. I’m sick of this, Lex. We can’t keep doing this to Lexie, all this back and forth. It was alright when we were teenagers, when we only had ourselves to think about, but she deserves better. I’d rather be a single mum than put her through this over and over. This is your final chance.”
Lex seemed shocked at her determination, his mouth half open. Ryan had stood in silence while she spoke, now waiting for a response from Lex. When none came, he spoke instead.
“He’ll do it, Zandra. Don’t worry.” Ryan sent Lex a pointed look, finally Lex seemed to snap out of it.
“Yeah, okay.” His voice was surprisingly meek.
“Okay then.” Zandra nodded, before turning her attention to Ryan. “And no covering for him, Ryan. For Lexie’s sake, don’t cover for him. He needs to make an effort this time.”
“I know. I’ve been thinking the same thing.” Ryan ignored the look Lex gave him.
“Thank you, Ryan.” Zandra walked back towards the door, spinning around to face them again with her door on the handle. “Day after tomorrow, Lex, you pick her up from daycare and bring her home for bedtime. Make sure she eats dinner, and no junk food, that she’s not inside all day and that you actually spend time with her. No handing her over to Ryan while you go gambling at the pub.”
“Yes. I said yes already!” Lex sounded annoyed now, the usual hardness back in his voice. Zandra opened the door and left without another word. Lex turned to Ryan.
“You’ve been thinking about it to, have you? Seems like everyone else has been thinking about what’s best for me.”
“Actually I was thinking about Lexie, not you. She needs her dad.”
“Whatever. I’m taking a shower.” Lex finally moved from the sofa, slamming the door to the bathroom shut behind him, leaving Ryan alone in the living room.
*************************************
The dining room had been filled with expensive and very modern furniture, a sense of model home about it. The sitting room was entirely different. It was homey and cosy, and a lot more personal. One wall was covered in bookshelves, another wall had a large television set, a large comfortable sofa placed in front of it. Even though the room was tidy and fairly free of clutter, it was obvious it was an often used room. There was also a smaller dining table with a few chairs, confirming Ellie’s suspicion that the dining room was one only in use for guests. Ellie had a feeling Danni didn’t invite people home that often.
“It’s better to work in here,” Danni explained. The table already had a neat stack of folders on one side. Next to it was Ellie’s book, coloured post-its sticking out at the top. Amber sat down and turned to Ellie, who quickly sat down next to her.
“Okay, I have to admit I don’t know too much about this, beyond what has been in the media. Danni explained some of it, but I don’t know the details of the lawsuits.”
Before Ellie could answer, Danni had started picking up the top folders from the pile.
“Details are in here,” she said and placed the folders in front of Amber. “I divided them for each separate case, so it should be fairly easy to find what you need. I would suggest starting with the top two, those are the ones most likely to cause problems.”
Amber and Ellie glanced at each other, as Danni picked up the book.
“I’ve also marked the relevant passages and chapters in here for those two cases.” She placed the book on top of the folders. “Now, I have some phone calls to make and things needing to be done in my office. It’s right down the hall if you need anything.”
She was off without another word, leaving the two women by themselves.
“Right,” Amber said, taking a deep breath as her eyes looked over the items in front of her. “I suggest we begin by you giving me an overview of each lawsuit. We can go into further details later on. If I decide to take this on, I mean.”
Ellie nodded, though her eyes kept staring at the pile of folders in front of them. For a moment she felt overwhelmed, before she pulled herself together and picked the two top folders from the pile. The names on the front were the ones she expected, the two men she had named and shamed without really having enough evidence. She had gotten carried away when it all started to unravel, when all the loose threads came together and lead her to a story even bigger than she had anticipated. She put one folder away and opened the other, quickly beginning to fill Amber in on the facts.
They had been sitting there for nearly two hours when Amber had to rush off to another appointment. Danni followed them to the door, and Ellie deliberately hesitated to get a chance to speak to Danni alone.
“Thanks for all the work you put into those folders.”
“Oh, I hope you don’t mind. I wasn’t sure how much paperwork you would bring over, so I put some stuff together.”
“No, they were really helpful. We got through a lot more than I thought we would. How did you get a hold of all those papers though?”
“I know people,” Danni smiled slightly. “And most of it is publically accessible if you know where to find it. Most people don’t realise that.”
“It must have taken a bit of time though, putting it all together. You have so much else going on to, all your projects.”
“I have employees,” Danni shrugged. “They do most of the work in their different businesses or research departments. I mainly oversee things from here.”
Ellie couldn’t help but think of how lonely that sounded, but stopped herself from commenting on it. Danni did everything from this house it seemed, Ellie wondered if she even socialised with her employees and business associates outside of meetings. She had isolated herself. Ellie couldn’t really blame her though, she remembered the outrage back then over the scientist who took his co-workers with him to the death. From then on it must have been difficult to make friends.
“Anyway, about your case…” Ellie began.
“I thought we could start Friday, if you’re able? I have most of the day off. We’ll need to go through specifics and pick out where there are holes in the details.”
“Friday works fine. I’ll call you about when.” Ellie replied. Danni nodded and opened the door for her. Ellie stopped in the doorway.
“Does Amber know why I’m working for you?”
Danni’s smile faded slightly. “No, she doesn’t. For now I would prefer it if we keep this between us.”
“Of course,” Ellie confirmed quickly. She gave Danni a reassuring smile as she walked over the threshold and outside. She let out a sigh of relief as the door closed behind her. Danni was alright, although a bit intense, but Ellie really didn’t like the house much. It felt suffocating in some way.
Danni wrapped her arms around herself, staring down the long hall towards the sitting room she was so fond of. She hurried back down the hall, shutting the door behind her. The house never felt as empty or as big as the moments just after people had left. But this room was safe, it was home. She crawled down under a blanket on the sofa and turned on the TV.
*************************************
Amber felt a sense of elation as she hurried to the offices for the meeting with her boss. She stormed into his office, quickly starting to tell him about Ellie’s case. This was exactly the kind of thing she had wanted to do this job for, rather than trying to free a man she was pretty sure was guilty. If she could only convince her boss to let her take this case. He had struck her as a reasonable man from the beginning, when she had laid out her ideas and visions for him he had shared them. She didn’t see how he could say no.
“The rest of the cases shouldn’t be a problem. Two of them will be tricky, but I’ve looked through it and I think even those two are possible to win.”
Amber stopped herself, finally taking in her boss’ reaction. It didn’t fill her with confidence. His smile was strained, the fingers on his right hand tapping the desk at a more rapid pace than usual.
“Amber, sweetheart…”
Amber inwardly cringed, but didn’t let it show.
“This journalist, the way I understand it she’s not exactly rich. She earned quite a bit on her book, but not that much. She wouldn’t be able to afford us.”
“Well, no…” Amber spluttered. “But I’m willing to do a lot of extra off-the-clock work on this. And just think of the publicity it would give us to do these cases…”
Her boss held up his hand, a thin-lipped smile plastered on his face.
“I get your points, Amber. But the problem is, our law firm has already been hired by one of the men you mentioned. He has a good case, and we can destroy this journalist. The partners discussed it, and we think a female lawyer will be best in front of a jury. It would give his image a boost. We want you to do it.”
Amber stared at him, feeling numb. This could not be happening.
*******************************************************
Ellie was starting to regret her decision to follow up on the story when she found herself searching the streets in the bad side of town. She still had many hours before dark, but the area was still not the best for her to be seen in. Her story on the prostitution scandal and human trafficking had caused uproar among the prominent politicians, but also on this side of town she had put many people out of business. Soon she found the building she was looking for. The other brother had been impossible to get an interview with, even under guise of wanting to do a story on the big basketball star. Her name was still too closely associated with scandal, all those people around Bray wouldn’t let her near their cash-cow.
The younger brother, however, was easy to get to. His band, the Locos, were still very much an underground grunge-rock band despite them starting to gain a large following and interest locally, their agent had been very accommodating when she requested an interview. Now she found herself at the night club they most frequently did gigs at, being led to the back room by the bouncer. The room smelled of sweat, alcohol and smoke. The first person she noticed was a dark-skinned beauty on a worn-out sofa, only just bothering to look up when Ellie entered before going back to focusing on filing her nails. She was wearing skin-tight and skimpy leather clothes, her hair was braided and put in a messy bun at the top of her head. Ellie wearily approached her.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for Zoot.”
The woman looked up, her eyes looking over Ellie’s body before stopping at her face.
“Are you now? We must have hit the mainstream, if pretty blonde little schoolgirls like you are starting to come around looking for Zoot.”
“Actually, I’m a journalist. I’m looking to do a story on your band. You must be Ebony, right?”
“One girl in the band, one girl in the room, skin matches the name. Well done on the research,” came the quick reply.
Before Ellie could say another word, a young man approached her. His clothes were in a similar style to the other guys in the room, but a lot more fashionable than the rest could claim to be. He was the only one who looked like he had actually been home to sleep and change since the gig the night before. The most eye-catching thing about him though, was his blue hair.
“Hello, you must be Ellie,” he said in a friendly tone, giving her a smile. She smiled back, and confirmed who she was.
“I’m Luke, I’m the agent of the Locos, and a band member.”
“Oh, double-tasking?”
“Yes, well, we aren’t all that organized, but we thought we should have someone representing us officially, and since I’m the only one who actually went to university they gave me the job,” he shrugged, but his smile revealed a sense of pride.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Ellie said, giving him her best smile.
Outside the night club, a young woman hid in the shadows. It had been that journalist, the woman whose name she had been cursing for months now. As if her life wasn’t tough enough before that journalist bitch came along and tore down business around here. Okay, so being a whore wasn’t the best job in the world, but it was better than any other job May could hope to get. She crossed her arms, leaning against the wall of the abandoned building opposite the club. She had spent most of her time hanging around this place lately, at least by playing groupie she could hope to get one of the band members to take her home for a night so she didn’t have to sleep in an alley or shelter. She’d had an apartment to go home to before, even if it had been small and the building barely standing, it had been a home. May fixed her eyes on the club entrance. When that journalist dared to come back out, she would get even.
CHAPTER: 3/?
PAIRINGS/CHARACTERS: involves most of main cast eventually. Lex/Zandra the only pairing so far.
RATING/WARNINGS: I'll go with PG-13, just in case.
SUMMARY/NOTES: Ten years ago a prominent scientist blew up his lab and 12 of his colleagues. His daughter’s determination to find out the truth about his death sets in motion a string of new acquaintances, leading to friendships, romances and even new enemies. For a lot of them these new bonds are so strong it feels like they could have known each other in another life.
Lunch at Danni’s was a lot less formal than Amber had expected. Danni had resorted to jeans and a loose-fitting top, her hair hanging loose and allowed to go wild. All through university she had kept to pressed trousers, form-fitting shirts and expensive jackets, and Amber had hardly ever seen her without her hair in a tight bun. She seemed slightly stressed though, her smile as strained as ever. Maybe it was work, Amber could definitely relate to that. She shook her head slightly. She wasn’t here to think about that case at work, she was here to figure out if she could work on this journalist’s case.
The house was impressive, a lot more space then what one single woman needed. But it was the same house she had grown up in with her family, Amber could see why she would hold on to it. Danni introduced her to Ellie, before leading them both to her dining room where the table was already set.
“This chicken is delicious, did you make it?” Ellie asked as soon as they had started biting into the food.
“No, I grew up with a butler so I never had to do much cooking. This is ordered in. I considered pretending it was homemade, but I figured with you two as the guests you would too easily figure out I was lying.”
The two women laughed at that, and in an instant the mood seemed lightened. Conversation flew fairly freely from there, although the two other women did exchange some suspicious looks when Amber asked Ellie if she was working on any stories at the moment.
“Well, actually…” Ellie cleared her throat. “You know our very own local basketball star?”
“Oh yeah, um… Bray-something.” Danni shot in, slightly too excited to be talking about this. Amber narrowed her eyes slightly. She had a very strong feeling that the other two women were hiding something. She decided to let it drop though, if Ellie was working on something for Danni, or they were in the middle of some kind of business arrangement or something, it wasn’t really her business. Just as long as it had no effect on the case they wanted her to help Ellie with. She focused on Ellie again, as the blonde continued talking.
“There was this story I was working on, back before the big prostitution scandal case landed in my lap, a real gossip pages thing. Not really my thing, but at the time I was stuck for work and going broke fast, so when this tabloid called me and asked me to look into it, I said yes…” Ellie shrugged slightly, but it was obvious that hadn’t been her proudest moment. “They had gotten some tips on this woman, here in town, with a kid. It was another mother at the kid’s school who tipped of the tabloid. Said the guy’s parents would occasionally be there to pick up the girl, and she called them her grandparents. They pretty much wanted the big gossip on the holier-than-thou Bray having fathered a kid as a teenager and not acknowledging the kid as his own. I’ll be honest, the main reason I said yes was because there were some details that didn’t fit. There’s a younger brother, you see, he’s in a band, the Locos. You might have heard of them, they’re doing pretty good locally. Anyway, the tips I was getting on a human trafficking and prostitution ring was far more interesting, so I told the tabloid I wasn’t interested. They got someone else to do it, who wrote some shoddy piece making the whole thing into a scandal. That he was paying this woman to keep quiet about him being the dad, because that would lower his marketing value. I’m trying to pick up some loose ends from that one. I don’t buy the official story, something is off. I suppose I feel guilty, I don’t think he deserved the smear job that was done in that article. And I don’t think the mother, Trudy, deserved the reputation of being a blackmailer either. If I hadn’t just dropped the story, I could have given a much more balanced and probably fairer view of it all. Instead they got that.” Ellie made a motion as if the story itself was right there in front of her.
“So you think the younger brother is the dad?” Danni asked.
“Pretty much, yeah. There is at least something fishy going on there. I only ever got as far as to talk to the informer and a couple neighbours. They said the youngest brother had pretty much disowned the family years ago, and that there had been a lot of trouble with him from his early teens. They said he used to be a sweet boy until then. The change happened around the time Trudy would have gotten pregnant.”
“Ellie…” Amber hesitated, but then jumped in. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I get that you’re trying to make up for letting the story go into the hands of someone who did such a bad job with it, but they might be better off if you leave it alone.”
“I won’t publish it without Trudy’s approval. I mean, either way I think she’s the victim in all this. She’s the one having to work a shitty job and raising a kid on her own. I went to see her, but didn’t tell her who I was though. I want to do a bit more digging and then confront her with it, and see what she wants to do about it.”
Amber felt uneasy. “I don’t know, Ellie, whatever the story is, it’s their business. Just be careful with this, okay? Digging up the past can get people hurt.”
Once again there was a look passing between the other two women, and Amber now suspected she knew what Danni wanted with Ellie. She wanted to say something, she had a bad feeling about that prospect to, but it really wasn’t her business. The rest of the meal went by slightly more tense than it had been before.
After they had eaten, Danni suggested they move to the sitting room for Ellie and Amber to go over the case files. To get there they moved through a hallway where the walls were lined with photos. Ellie stopped to study them. Most of them were off people, smiling people signing papers or standing in front of buildings.
“So these are your projects, are they?” Ellie asked, turning towards Danni.
“I call it my bragging wall,” Danni said, a wry smile on her face.
“Your bragging wall?” Amber asked, her eyes searching the pictures.
“Danni’s success is built on financial help to start up small businesses, or help patent and market different ideas and make them successful.”
“You’ve done your research,” Danni remarked, the smile on her face now more amused.
“You wouldn’t expect any less of me, would you?”
Danni didn’t answer, but the smile stayed on her face as she motioned towards the sitting room.
*************************************************
Lex was passed out on the sofa when Ryan came home from work. At least he couldn’t smell alcohol or see any bottles. Ryan sighed as he picked up the empty containers Lex had left on the table and on the floor next to the sofa, throwing them in the trash. Lex and junk food seemed to be constant companions these days. Lex had put on some weight since he lost his job, his hair was constantly greasy and he neglected shaving. Ryan had always had to keep an eye on Lex, ever since they met at boot camp, but he had never expected to be making more out of his life than Lex. That Lex was letting himself go like this was one thing, but he was dragging Zandra and, even worse, little Lexie down with him. Ryan was getting tired of righting Lex’s mistakes, but he had taken on a responsibility when he said yes to be Lexie’s godfather. At that time though, Lex had been so dedicated, so eager to change himself to be a good father, that Ryan hadn’t foreseen many problems.
Boot camp had been alright. Lex and Ryan had both been in foster care at the time, both difficult to find a home for due to reputations as troublemakers. In Lex’s case the reputation was very much right, but Ryan had simply stood up for a younger foster brother who had been hit by their foster father. Ryan had already at the time been fairly big and strong and gotten the upper hand. After being reported for violent behaviour he had been put in the temporary boot camp project for troubled youths. There he had met Lex. Then Lex had gotten into trouble, Ryan had helped him out. Story of his life from then on. They had run away, lived on the streets since then, near where Zandra lived with her family. They hadn’t been happy with her choice of boyfriend in Lex and their constant breakups and reunions. When Lex and Ryan turned 18 they were free, no longer needing to be scared off getting sent away to a new camp or foster home. Having Lex sleeping on his sofa was a nice change though. Back in their first flat it had been Ryan sleeping on the sofa, Lex getting the only bedroom.
Ryan walked back over to Lex, kicking lightly under Lex’s boot on the leg hanging over the edge of the sofa. Lex grunted.
“What?”
“Look at yourself, Lex. Do you really think Zandra will let you come home again if you keep this up? Have you even been out looking for a job today? Or this week at all?”
“Leave me alone, Ryan, you’re not my babysitter!” Lex spat, covering his eyes with his arm.
“Well, you need one. Lexie is more mature than you are, Lex. She shouldn’t have to be. Do you want her to grow up like us?”
That seemed to hit a nerve, as Lex moved his arm to glare at Ryan. He opened his mouth to reply, but whatever retort he had was interrupted by the doorbell. Ryan looked through the peephole, a sigh escaping him as he looked back at Lex.
“It’s your wife.”
Lex quickly sat up, at least attempting to look less like a slob. Ryan opened the door to let Zandra in. She gave Ryan a quick kiss on the cheek. Lex only got a look of disdain sent his way.
“Where’s Lexie?” He asked sharply as Ryan closed the door behind Zandra.
“She’s with a friend from daycare, I’m picking her up just before bedtime. I’ve got an appointment in an hour.”
“Appointment for what?” Lex’s eyes darkened, his voice rising.
“Yoga class, Lex, if you must know. Actually, that’s why I’m here. I’ve been thinking about things, and here’s how it’s going to be. Twice a week for a while I’ll be doing yoga and meditation with this instructor, Tai-San. Those days I want you to have Lexie and bring her home for bedtime. If that goes alright and you clean yourself up…” she paused, wrinkling her nose as her eyes looked up and down his wrinkled dirty clothes, “then you can move back home. And I mean no more drinking, no more late nights, no more gambling our money away. You will get a job, anything that pays, minimum wage even. This is your last chance. If I as much as suspect you’re not making an effort to change things around, I am getting a divorce. I’m sick of this, Lex. We can’t keep doing this to Lexie, all this back and forth. It was alright when we were teenagers, when we only had ourselves to think about, but she deserves better. I’d rather be a single mum than put her through this over and over. This is your final chance.”
Lex seemed shocked at her determination, his mouth half open. Ryan had stood in silence while she spoke, now waiting for a response from Lex. When none came, he spoke instead.
“He’ll do it, Zandra. Don’t worry.” Ryan sent Lex a pointed look, finally Lex seemed to snap out of it.
“Yeah, okay.” His voice was surprisingly meek.
“Okay then.” Zandra nodded, before turning her attention to Ryan. “And no covering for him, Ryan. For Lexie’s sake, don’t cover for him. He needs to make an effort this time.”
“I know. I’ve been thinking the same thing.” Ryan ignored the look Lex gave him.
“Thank you, Ryan.” Zandra walked back towards the door, spinning around to face them again with her door on the handle. “Day after tomorrow, Lex, you pick her up from daycare and bring her home for bedtime. Make sure she eats dinner, and no junk food, that she’s not inside all day and that you actually spend time with her. No handing her over to Ryan while you go gambling at the pub.”
“Yes. I said yes already!” Lex sounded annoyed now, the usual hardness back in his voice. Zandra opened the door and left without another word. Lex turned to Ryan.
“You’ve been thinking about it to, have you? Seems like everyone else has been thinking about what’s best for me.”
“Actually I was thinking about Lexie, not you. She needs her dad.”
“Whatever. I’m taking a shower.” Lex finally moved from the sofa, slamming the door to the bathroom shut behind him, leaving Ryan alone in the living room.
*************************************
The dining room had been filled with expensive and very modern furniture, a sense of model home about it. The sitting room was entirely different. It was homey and cosy, and a lot more personal. One wall was covered in bookshelves, another wall had a large television set, a large comfortable sofa placed in front of it. Even though the room was tidy and fairly free of clutter, it was obvious it was an often used room. There was also a smaller dining table with a few chairs, confirming Ellie’s suspicion that the dining room was one only in use for guests. Ellie had a feeling Danni didn’t invite people home that often.
“It’s better to work in here,” Danni explained. The table already had a neat stack of folders on one side. Next to it was Ellie’s book, coloured post-its sticking out at the top. Amber sat down and turned to Ellie, who quickly sat down next to her.
“Okay, I have to admit I don’t know too much about this, beyond what has been in the media. Danni explained some of it, but I don’t know the details of the lawsuits.”
Before Ellie could answer, Danni had started picking up the top folders from the pile.
“Details are in here,” she said and placed the folders in front of Amber. “I divided them for each separate case, so it should be fairly easy to find what you need. I would suggest starting with the top two, those are the ones most likely to cause problems.”
Amber and Ellie glanced at each other, as Danni picked up the book.
“I’ve also marked the relevant passages and chapters in here for those two cases.” She placed the book on top of the folders. “Now, I have some phone calls to make and things needing to be done in my office. It’s right down the hall if you need anything.”
She was off without another word, leaving the two women by themselves.
“Right,” Amber said, taking a deep breath as her eyes looked over the items in front of her. “I suggest we begin by you giving me an overview of each lawsuit. We can go into further details later on. If I decide to take this on, I mean.”
Ellie nodded, though her eyes kept staring at the pile of folders in front of them. For a moment she felt overwhelmed, before she pulled herself together and picked the two top folders from the pile. The names on the front were the ones she expected, the two men she had named and shamed without really having enough evidence. She had gotten carried away when it all started to unravel, when all the loose threads came together and lead her to a story even bigger than she had anticipated. She put one folder away and opened the other, quickly beginning to fill Amber in on the facts.
They had been sitting there for nearly two hours when Amber had to rush off to another appointment. Danni followed them to the door, and Ellie deliberately hesitated to get a chance to speak to Danni alone.
“Thanks for all the work you put into those folders.”
“Oh, I hope you don’t mind. I wasn’t sure how much paperwork you would bring over, so I put some stuff together.”
“No, they were really helpful. We got through a lot more than I thought we would. How did you get a hold of all those papers though?”
“I know people,” Danni smiled slightly. “And most of it is publically accessible if you know where to find it. Most people don’t realise that.”
“It must have taken a bit of time though, putting it all together. You have so much else going on to, all your projects.”
“I have employees,” Danni shrugged. “They do most of the work in their different businesses or research departments. I mainly oversee things from here.”
Ellie couldn’t help but think of how lonely that sounded, but stopped herself from commenting on it. Danni did everything from this house it seemed, Ellie wondered if she even socialised with her employees and business associates outside of meetings. She had isolated herself. Ellie couldn’t really blame her though, she remembered the outrage back then over the scientist who took his co-workers with him to the death. From then on it must have been difficult to make friends.
“Anyway, about your case…” Ellie began.
“I thought we could start Friday, if you’re able? I have most of the day off. We’ll need to go through specifics and pick out where there are holes in the details.”
“Friday works fine. I’ll call you about when.” Ellie replied. Danni nodded and opened the door for her. Ellie stopped in the doorway.
“Does Amber know why I’m working for you?”
Danni’s smile faded slightly. “No, she doesn’t. For now I would prefer it if we keep this between us.”
“Of course,” Ellie confirmed quickly. She gave Danni a reassuring smile as she walked over the threshold and outside. She let out a sigh of relief as the door closed behind her. Danni was alright, although a bit intense, but Ellie really didn’t like the house much. It felt suffocating in some way.
Danni wrapped her arms around herself, staring down the long hall towards the sitting room she was so fond of. She hurried back down the hall, shutting the door behind her. The house never felt as empty or as big as the moments just after people had left. But this room was safe, it was home. She crawled down under a blanket on the sofa and turned on the TV.
*************************************
Amber felt a sense of elation as she hurried to the offices for the meeting with her boss. She stormed into his office, quickly starting to tell him about Ellie’s case. This was exactly the kind of thing she had wanted to do this job for, rather than trying to free a man she was pretty sure was guilty. If she could only convince her boss to let her take this case. He had struck her as a reasonable man from the beginning, when she had laid out her ideas and visions for him he had shared them. She didn’t see how he could say no.
“The rest of the cases shouldn’t be a problem. Two of them will be tricky, but I’ve looked through it and I think even those two are possible to win.”
Amber stopped herself, finally taking in her boss’ reaction. It didn’t fill her with confidence. His smile was strained, the fingers on his right hand tapping the desk at a more rapid pace than usual.
“Amber, sweetheart…”
Amber inwardly cringed, but didn’t let it show.
“This journalist, the way I understand it she’s not exactly rich. She earned quite a bit on her book, but not that much. She wouldn’t be able to afford us.”
“Well, no…” Amber spluttered. “But I’m willing to do a lot of extra off-the-clock work on this. And just think of the publicity it would give us to do these cases…”
Her boss held up his hand, a thin-lipped smile plastered on his face.
“I get your points, Amber. But the problem is, our law firm has already been hired by one of the men you mentioned. He has a good case, and we can destroy this journalist. The partners discussed it, and we think a female lawyer will be best in front of a jury. It would give his image a boost. We want you to do it.”
Amber stared at him, feeling numb. This could not be happening.
*******************************************************
Ellie was starting to regret her decision to follow up on the story when she found herself searching the streets in the bad side of town. She still had many hours before dark, but the area was still not the best for her to be seen in. Her story on the prostitution scandal and human trafficking had caused uproar among the prominent politicians, but also on this side of town she had put many people out of business. Soon she found the building she was looking for. The other brother had been impossible to get an interview with, even under guise of wanting to do a story on the big basketball star. Her name was still too closely associated with scandal, all those people around Bray wouldn’t let her near their cash-cow.
The younger brother, however, was easy to get to. His band, the Locos, were still very much an underground grunge-rock band despite them starting to gain a large following and interest locally, their agent had been very accommodating when she requested an interview. Now she found herself at the night club they most frequently did gigs at, being led to the back room by the bouncer. The room smelled of sweat, alcohol and smoke. The first person she noticed was a dark-skinned beauty on a worn-out sofa, only just bothering to look up when Ellie entered before going back to focusing on filing her nails. She was wearing skin-tight and skimpy leather clothes, her hair was braided and put in a messy bun at the top of her head. Ellie wearily approached her.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for Zoot.”
The woman looked up, her eyes looking over Ellie’s body before stopping at her face.
“Are you now? We must have hit the mainstream, if pretty blonde little schoolgirls like you are starting to come around looking for Zoot.”
“Actually, I’m a journalist. I’m looking to do a story on your band. You must be Ebony, right?”
“One girl in the band, one girl in the room, skin matches the name. Well done on the research,” came the quick reply.
Before Ellie could say another word, a young man approached her. His clothes were in a similar style to the other guys in the room, but a lot more fashionable than the rest could claim to be. He was the only one who looked like he had actually been home to sleep and change since the gig the night before. The most eye-catching thing about him though, was his blue hair.
“Hello, you must be Ellie,” he said in a friendly tone, giving her a smile. She smiled back, and confirmed who she was.
“I’m Luke, I’m the agent of the Locos, and a band member.”
“Oh, double-tasking?”
“Yes, well, we aren’t all that organized, but we thought we should have someone representing us officially, and since I’m the only one who actually went to university they gave me the job,” he shrugged, but his smile revealed a sense of pride.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Ellie said, giving him her best smile.
Outside the night club, a young woman hid in the shadows. It had been that journalist, the woman whose name she had been cursing for months now. As if her life wasn’t tough enough before that journalist bitch came along and tore down business around here. Okay, so being a whore wasn’t the best job in the world, but it was better than any other job May could hope to get. She crossed her arms, leaning against the wall of the abandoned building opposite the club. She had spent most of her time hanging around this place lately, at least by playing groupie she could hope to get one of the band members to take her home for a night so she didn’t have to sleep in an alley or shelter. She’d had an apartment to go home to before, even if it had been small and the building barely standing, it had been a home. May fixed her eyes on the club entrance. When that journalist dared to come back out, she would get even.