Outside the courtrooms where the night court held sessions, Rex sat on a bench, tapping his toes and looking at his watch. One hand crushed a paper cone from the water cooler. He lobbed the wadded paper towards a trash receptacle. It bounced against the lip of the opening and flew back towards him, rolling into the path of a woman in a suit and heels. Her passing foot caught the ball and propelled it into the crack of the elevator door.
Rex’s eyes rested on the ball so intently that he missed the faces of the elevator occupants as they spilled out, seeing only their shiny dress shoes. He heard the slightly accented mutter of one man’s voice as he instructed, “For this to work, you must keep the focus away from your marital troubles, keep redirecting.”
The men’s faces as they passed registered briefly in the corner of Rex’s eye. He raised his head to look at them before he knew why he wanted to do so. He had a brief flash of the side of Sydney Westcott’s face before he had only his back to contemplate.
Sydney hissed, “And you have to remember that I’m the attorney. I’m the one with experience. You follow my lead and don’t say anything I didn’t feed you.”
Rex rose and watched as the men entered a door near the end of the hall. He followed, pausing to give them time to move away. Inside, a pounding sound announced the appearance of the judge. Rex let himself in and took a seat against the wall, well away from the jostling defendants, attorneys, and witnesses in the first few rows. Time crawled until the judge called Sydney Westcott to the bench and read the complaint.
Sydney spoke up in reply. “Your honor, I had perfectly legitimate reasons for being at the Court at that time and in that place. In fact, I have a witness with me, the property manager, who will corroborate.”
“All very well and good, Mr. Westcott,” the judge said. “But the property owner, Mr. Wycliff, has another take. Luckily for you, he is not pressing full charges and, meanwhile, the other wronged party, Mrs. Westcott, is unable to appear tonight, due to a medical emergency.”
“What?” Sydney began. “Why was I not—?”
The judge cut him off. “Please restrain yourself while I finish my remarks. Mr. Wycliff does want, and I concur, that you be served with a restraining order that keeps you from making an appearance on the property or even on the beach or businesses surrounding the property. You are also directed to break off all contact with Mr. Sackett, at least inasmuch as you must appear in his presence or speak to him while he is on the property, and you are barred from in any way engaging him in reference to the property.”
Sydney groaned and hung his head, provoking two smiles behind him.
