“This is ridiculous!” Hennessey sputtered.
“So will you be fetching Miss Blake, or shall we be returning with a summons?”
Hennessey nodded to Daniel, who ducked out of the room. When Mr Blake’s lawyer wanted to say something, Gabriel held up a finger. “Just wait until Mr Finley returns,” he said. “We wouldn’t want the minutes of the meeting to be incomplete.”
Tristan watched the various other attendees processing the uncomfortable silence. Hennessey, along with the Blakes looked like they wanted to rip something to shreds with their bare hands. The governing body representatives fidgeted uncomfortably, one scraping under his nails with the lid of his pen, another doodling in the margin of his Agenda.
Daniel returned ten minutes later, Edie in tow, and offered her a chair between her parents. She seemed uncertain, and picked at the cuffs of her uniform jersey.
“Miss, Blake,” Gabriel smiled at her. “I am Mr McIan, Mr Bennett’s attorney. Do you know everyone at this table?” When she shook her head, Gabriel proceeded to introduce everyone to her.
“Miss Blake,” Gabriel said, careful not to come across as aggressive. “Would you care to explain what prompted you to come forward with these accusations against Mr Bennett?”
“I – I don’t know,” Edie glanced up at her father.
“She showed me the texts on her phone,” Mrs Blake put an arm around Edie’s shoulders.
“Edie, what prompted you to show these texts to your mom?” Gabriel asked.
“I – I wanted to end it,” Edie said.
“So you sent Mr Bennett a text and broke it off,” Gabriel said.
“No. I was afraid to do that.”
“Why would you be afraid?” Gabriel tilted his head. When Edie didn’t answer, Gabriel removed a few sheets from the folder and passed them to the Blakes. “This document is a transcript from Miss Blake’s phone of the text thread between her phone and Mr Bennett’s. Mr Blake, if your attorney could perhaps verify that it’s the same document that was forwarded to Mr Bennett from his office, and that it is unaltered?”
The lawyer glanced at the document and nodded.
“So, I won’t ask you to read the content of the texts out loud; I understand the nature of the messages is private. However, would you please read out loud the dates and times of each message?”
Edie’s mouth opened and closed, and Tristan could see the tears just beneath the surface. He put his arm on Gabriel’s arm and shook his head gently.
Gabriel glanced at Tristan and nodded. “Alright, you don’t have to answer, Edie. I’d just like to draw everyone’s attention to the date of the first message, and then the date of the last one, and you’ll notice that they all fall within the same weekend, between seventeen and nineteen February. Hardly seems like a long-term relationship, does it?”
“The length of this misconduct is hardly relevant,” Hennessey argued.
“If there was any misconduct, I agree that the length would be irrelevant,” Gabriel agreed. “And forensics have determined that the messages did originate from Mr Bennett’s phone; we don’t dispute that. However, doesn’t it seem strange, considering the graphic nature of these texts, that the entire affair is only documented over one weekend? Wouldn’t there have been any texts before and after?”
“And your point is?” Hennessey asked.
“Miss Blake,” Gabriel asked. “How did you get home on the evening of seventeen February?
Edie glanced at her mother, whose eyes narrowed. “Mr Bennett gave me a lift home.”
“Why would he do that?” Gabriel asked.
“We were together,” Edie said.
“Why? What did you do together?”
“He’d taken me to a restaurant, after our athletics practice.”
“That was romantic of him.” Gabriel nodded. “Which restaurant?”
“Um, Bella Donna’s.”
“Nice, that would be the one in Observatory?”
“Yes,” Edie said.
“And then he dropped you off at home at six?”
“I fail to see the reason for this line of questioning,” the Blakes’ lawyer spoke up.
“It’ll be clear in a moment,” Gabriel said. He pulled out his phone and tapped on it. “Let’s just ask Google at what time they’d have had to leave Bella Donna’s in order to arrive at Miss Blake’s home by six PM. He tapped a few times at his screen, and a moment later, passed his phone to Daniel. “Mr Finley, would you care to minute that according to Google Maps, it would take them thirty four minutes to travel that distance, which means that they would have had to leave the restaurant in question at roughly five thirty in order to be at her home by six. Mr Hennessey, am I correct in saying that each staff member has his or her own entry pass code to set the school alarm? Would you care to call up the security pass entry log for the night in question, specifically Mr Bennett’s?”
“I was walking home from school,” Edie said softly.
“So Mr Bennett, seeing you walking home after dark, worried about your safety, offered you a ride home; did anyone see you arrive home?”
“My mom,” Edie said, and Mrs Blake stared at her daughter.
“May I present the transcript of Mr Bennett’s location log, drawn from his phone for the weekend in question,” Gabriel said, passing more sheets of paper around the table. “Please note that it has been certified by the SAPS forensic office as authentic. Mr Blake, would you care to read the address for the dates in question?”
Mr Blake blanched when he read the document, and glanced at his daughter.
“Did you ever find Mr Bennett at your home in that time period, Mr Blake?” When he didn’t answer, Gabriel turned to Tristan. “Mr Bennett, where did you spend that weekend?”
“I spent it in Constantia, with my wife at the home of a family friend,” he said. “Both my wife and our host can verify this.”
“Well, how do you think your phone showed up at the Blakes’ home?” Gabriel frowned.
“I’d thought I’d lost my phone that weekend,” Tristan admitted. “My wife and I searched for it all weekend, but I found it under my desk in my classroom on the Monday, after Edie offered to help me find it.”
“How do you think it ended up at the Blakes’ home?” Gabriel asked.
“Well, I’d given Edie a lift home that Friday evening. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and say it fell into her bag,” Tristan said, carefully not making eye contact with Edie or her parents.
“That’s very generous,” Gabriel said. “However, your phone didn’t send those messages by itself. Mr Bennett, what is the passcode to unlock your phone?”
“I don’t have one,” Tristan said. “I’ve never needed one before.”
Gabriel sat down beside Tristan. “So, can we all agree that Mr Bennett couldn’t possibly have sent the only texts submitted into evidence?” He asked.
The panel members were glancing at each other uncomfortably. As Gabriel made eye contact with each of them, they nodded, no longer glaring at Tristan. “So Mr Bennett is cleared of all accusations of misconduct, and will not be dismissed from his employment? Was, in fact, a victim of wrongful accusation?” More uncomfortable nods.
The menacing atmosphere around the table had dissipated with the evidence of Tristan’s innocence, and even the Blakes looked embarrassed. Daniel was openly smiling, and had put down the pen to cross his arms over his chest. Hennessey, however, looked ready to rupture a blood vessel.
“If that will be all,” Hennessey growled, “we will close this hearing –”
“Oh, that won’t be all,” Gabriel said, pinning Hennessey with a look, all charm and affability gone. “There is, of course, the matter of Mr Bennett’s counter-suit.”
“Counter-suit!” Hennessey’s face paled a few shades.
“Defamation of Character,” Gabriel enunciated, and Tristan saw a few more faces blanch. Gabriel opened the manila folder and distributed comb-bound documents around the table. There
weren’t enough copies for everyone, so some had to share. “Fourteen individual articles or posts in the press and social media,” Gabriel said quietly. “The first few pages in the document before you are clippings, print-outs and screenshots of the various articles. Those include two local Community Newspapers, four provincial newspapers in both English and Afrikaans, a tabloid, two magazines, and the rest are social media posts. The social media posts have gone viral, by the way; we’re looking at more than two hundred thousand views. There is even an official letter, on a school letterhead, addressed to the parents of this school, spreading these lies.
“Each of those articles has attacked my client’s character, to the point where it would be impossible to find employment elsewhere, with any employer who runs a police clearance check, let alone with an educational institution. The people who have published this libel, are responsible for ruining the career and livelihood of an innocent man, a man still early in his career.”
Gabriel turned the pages as he spoke and pointed out various bright yellow and orange lines in each document. “I have taken the liberty of highlighting the names of each person mentioned in each article or post as giving a statement. As you can see, the Blakes and Mr Hennessey have been mentioned several times.”
The Blakes’ lawyer crossed his arms on the boardroom table and laid his head on his arms in resignation. The Blakes looked like they were going to be sick. Doubtless, although they were prepared to foot the bill for the expensive lawyer, they could ill afford to pay for a lost law suit.
The members of the Governing Body looked uncomfortable, no doubt calculating the cost to the school.
“Mr Bennett has generously said that he has no interest in financially crippling the Blakes,” Gabriel continued, prompting Edie’s father to stare at him in disbelief. “He understands that a parent’s first loyalty is to their child, and that they’d merely believed what their daughter had told them. Even though, as we’d established, Edie herself is old enough to know right from wrong and to take legal responsibility for her own actions, Mr Bennett has further decided to forgive her wrongdoing, on condition that she seek help from a medically certified psychiatric professional or institution.” Tristan had been adamant about this; she needed help.
“As far as Mr Hennessey’s concerned…” Gabriel continued, “he hasn’t maintained the strict code of confidentiality as stipulated in the code of conduct of the school, but has instead made statements to the media and to the parents and students of this school before this disciplinary hearing. He had the means to investigate this matter and prove Mr Bennett’s innocence, but he hasn’t initiated any such investigation, instead launching termination proceedings, and a public smear campaign, damaging Mr Bennett’s reputation and career on the basis of hearsay.”
Gabriel slammed his copy of the document shut, making several of the panelists flinch. “As the upper management of this school, it was the responsibility of the Governing Body to monitor the disciplinary process, especially with regard to official policy and procedure, but they did not intervene. Therefore, we will be suing the school for defamation of character, for allowing Mr Hennessey to make such statements unchecked. As you can see in the document I have distributed, starting at page twenty-four, I have included a copy of the suit I will be filing this afternoon once we leave this hearing, if we cannot come to an alternative agreement.”
Tristan watched as one by one, the members of the governing body glared at Hennessey.
~*~
Michael was distracted. He couldn’t stop thinking about Tristan and Gabriel in the disciplinary hearing, and couldn’t decide if it was a good or bad thing that they hadn’t phoned him yet. It was barely lunch time, but he had no idea how long these hearings were supposed to take.
His desk phone startled him from his musings, and he fumbled the receiver. “McIan,” he growled.
“Excuse me, Doctor,” Valerie, one of his receptionists said. “Mrs Bennett is here to see you.”
Michael sat up straighter. “Send her in.”
He tidied his desk, preparing for her arrival. A minute later, his door swung open slowly, and she peeked in around the door. “Michael?”
“Come in, Princess,” he said softly. “Close the door.” He frowned. “What’s wrong? Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“I,” she hiccupped and put her hand over her mouth. Tears welled in her eyes, and a moment later broke free to course down her cheek. “I hate my job,” she whispered.
“Come here,” he murmured and pushed away from his desk. Judith rushed to him and he pulled her into his lap, tucking her head in under his chin. “Shh,” he soothed her, wrapping his arms around her and rubbing large circles on her back. “Shh.”
She clung to his shirt, soaking the fabric with tears. Michael waited her out, and when the sobs had died down to sniffles, he offered her a tissue from his desk. “What happened?” He asked gently.
“Anderson is a prick,” she rasped. “He crowded me in against the copier in the copy room, and reamed me out for a mistake on a spreadsheet – one that he’d had access to all weekend. I didn’t even work in that column, but he went ahead and said to his manager that I’ve been careless. Add to that, it’s time for our performance appraisal, and you can guess how that went.
“He’s got me doubting myself, and every time I hear the desk phone, I jump, or I hear his footsteps coming down the corridor…”
Michael rocked her gently. “Do you want me to kick his ass?” He asked. He felt a small tremble at the corner of his mouth as a tickle of humour threatened. “I’ll even put a rock in the toe of my prosthetic; it’ll pack a wallop. Or better yet – I can get Ariel to kick his ass.”
She snorted a watery laugh. “Tempting,” she said. “But no. I still have to work for that prick. I just wish I could quit.”
“Then quit,” Michael said.
“I can’t,” Judith groaned. “We need both our salaries. Besides, we don’t know what’s happening with Tristan’s hearing yet.”
“You don’t know Gabriel,” Michael grinned. “He’s kicking ass as we speak.” He sobered. “Besides, I have a job for you.”
“’Mistress’ isn’t an official job title,” Judith joked and mock-slapped him on his shoulder.
Michael chuckled. “That’s not the job I was referring to, although I hear the benefits are amazing.”
Judith sat up so that she could see his face. “Then…”
“I have a bookkeeper position I’ve been trying to fill. I’ve been interviewing applicants, but haven’t felt right about any of them.”
“But…” Judith hesitated. “Won’t the rest of your staff be resentful when I get the job? I don’t want to cause division in your practice.”
“The situation will be delicate,” Michael admitted. “But I think the resentment will only last until you’ve shown them what you’re made of, and that you don’t lord your relationship with me over them. Once they see that you’re excellent in your job, and they get to know you, it will simmer down. And anyone who has anything to say about it is welcome to take it up with me.”
“Alright,” Judith said. “Thank you – I’ll take the job, gratefully.”
Michael grinned and reached for his desk phone. He tapped in the three-digit extension number, then giving Judith a quick kiss on the cheek, he held the handset to his ear. “Hey, Sully,” Michael said once he heard the call connect. “Would you mind coming to my office? I’d like you to meet our new bookkeeper.”
“Finally,” his accountant breathed over the phone. “I’ll be right there.”
“You’re moving fast,” Judith remarked once he hung up.
“Wouldn’t want you to change your mind,” Michael said, giving her a last hug and a kiss before releasing her to sit on one of the guest chairs on the other side of his desk.
“I must say,” Judith giggled, “this is the first job interview I’ve ever had where I sat on the interviewer’s lap.
~*~
Epil
ogue
It should have felt strange to have a house-warming party when he’d been living in this house for years, but honestly, this was the first time his house had felt like a home.
He’d finally plucked together the courage to ask Tristan and Judith to move in with him. The lease on the house the Bennetts lived in had been due for renewal, and feeling an urgency welling up in his breast, he’d blurted out the invitation. He’d expected more resistance, but Tristan and Judith had merely looked at each other, shrugged and agreed.
Judith stretched out beside him on one of the new pool loungers, droplets from her recent dip still beading on the sunblock he’d smoothed into her skin. She adjusted her wide-brimmed hat and white-rimmed vintage sunglasses, then picked up her soft drink from the brick paving for a sip. “I still can’t believe how quickly that pool went into the ground. Once you decide on something, you don’t waste time. My aunt and uncle once had a pool built when I was a kid, and it took them three months.”
“No, I don’t,” Michael agreed. The water was still a little green and would take a few days to stabilize with the chlorine and acid treatments, but Judith had taken that on as her personal project; seeing her happy made him feel like a king.
Judith had slipped into the corporate culture at his practice with remarkable ease. They conducted themselves perfectly professionally at work, apart from the one exciting, but discrete, quickie over Michael’s desk, and his staff was none the wiser as to the extent of their relationship. Sully, Michael’s senior bookkeeper and Judith’s direct supervisor, knew, and hidden in Judith’s confidential employee file, was a signed affidavit declaring their relationship, as per company policy. Other than that, Michael had just grumbled it was ‘none of their damn business’. They usually shared lunch together, sometimes at his desk, sometimes at a local coffee shop, and of course, the commute was so much easier when they could carpool, often using the motorbike.
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