2024-1.1

It wasn’t until the next morning when Anton sat down in his chair in his large ornate office, that the full impact of what had happened the night before began to sink in. As usual, Audrey his para legal came in with the first of his endless mugs of strong coffee. But he noticed she didn’t have her usual smile which constantly adorned her face, nor the good morning she wished him which normally sounded like something out of a Broadway musical.

Anton had walked right by her without acknowledging her and he assumed that may have lent to her feeling he wasn’t in a pleasant mood and so had decided to keep her distance. But once he had lifted the coffee to his lips and not remembering whether he had thanked her or not, was when things began to become clearer. He put his mug down, reached across his desk and pressed a button on his elaborate telephone system. Audrey answered.

“Audrey,” he said rather quietly, “can you come in here a minute if you’re not busy.” Without another word being exchanged, Audrey made her appearance. He looked at her as he always did, and noticed he was right. That pleasant smile which signalled all was well was missing. The dress she wore, though it still exuded her personality and screamed, ‘Neiman Marcus I don’t care if it’s not on sale I want it,’ was a welcoming sign though. She stood in front of his desk and Anton was quick to notice she didn’t seem to be at all at ease. “Please sit down,” he said and then realised his mother would’ve been very annoyed with him because he hadn’t stood up when she came into the room, something he always did. He did so belatedly. That did elicit a rather small turn up on the sides of her mouth but was a poor excuse for a smile. “Audrey,” he began as soon as she had sat down smoothing out her dress, something he loved about her. It was something that reminded him of his mother though she was many generations younger, and certainly at least one generation younger than Anton. “Audrey,” he continued, “I have an apology to make. I came in this morning and forgot my manners. I didn’t wish you a good morning nor did I thank you for the coffee and forgot to stand when you came into the room.” “Twice,” Audrey interjected.

Anton nodded his head and resumed, “twice. So, I’m sorry. I was very remiss. I have a lot on my mind,” he offered as an excuse.

“So you received a visit as well?” she asked.

That wasn’t something Anton had expected. Whatever he was going to say next flew out of his mind and he sat bolt upright in his chair. “Excuse me? He managed to blurt out.

Audrey who sat as she always did, upright in her chair the result of her superior upbringing with a mother who subscribed to the Shakespeare dictum, ‘manners maketh man,’ slumped back in her chair and uncrossed her legs.

“Last evening,” she continued believing that that was what Anton would’ve wanted, “I answered the door, but not before looking through the glass panel and the person showing me his badge. It was actually two men though one didn’t come into the house.”

“A young rather uncouth man who might learn to shave one day?” asked Anton who couldn’t wait his turn.

“Yes exactly,” replied Audrey a sentence which would’ve normally brought a smile to her face, but didn’t.

“What was the other man’s name?”

“I don’t remember.”

“He didn’t give you a card?”

“No he did not.”

“Sorry, go on,” Anton pointed to Audrey as a cue.

“It was all about an article you had written on the Peabody case and the role of government in today’s society.” Fascinating thought Anton who now wished he had gone upstairs and retrieved his handgun.

“What is it he wanted?”

“Just asked if I had any hand in posting that article and if I had, then I could be in trouble. I told him I knew nothing about the article which of course I didn’t. It had nothing to do with my job or this law firm for that matter, and then he left. What was interesting is that when he got outside the young urchin tried to say something, but the older man cut him off and they left.” Note to self, thought Anton next time the handgun.

“I guess that had to be after they had been at my place then. About 7 or so?” he asked. “Somewhere around there. I didn’t really look at the time but after he had left, I was going to call you but then I thought maybe they were tapping my phone or even your phone and so I thought I would wait until this morning.” Audrey hesitated for a moment, “I hope I handled it properly.”

Audrey was a very good worker, dedicated not only to the law firm but also to Anton and his father and had a bright future in front of her. She was a paralegal hoping to go to law school one day. Both Anton and his father had encouraged her to do so. “Perfectly!” Anton told her closing his eyes for a minute to try and see if he could make heads or tails of what was going on. He finally believed before he made any further decisions in this case to talk it over with his father. It was Friday evening, and he knew he would be going over to his parents’ home that evening for dinner. He could talk to him then. He opened his eyes and leaned forward nearly tipping his coffee over. He just managed to stop the mug from spilling its contents all over his desk. Audrey was amused and Anton was pleased to see the smile, even if it had meant losing some of his precious coffee. “What are you doing this evening?” he asked lifting the mug to his lips.

“Nothing really,” she replied thinking it was a strange question. He had never asked her a question like that before.

“Do you mind if I call you at some point? It won’t be until after dinner though.”

“No,” she replied now more than curious, because Anton had always made it clear that he did not mix work with pleasure and certainly would never call an employee once they had left the office. She began to believe that visit from the Central Bureau of Intelligence was a lot more serious than she had originally thought.

“You probably know that the legislature,” continued Anton, “passed and the president signed into law the crime bill by which they can really take away all your civil liberties.”

“Yes I know,” interrupted Audrey, “I think you forgot I’m working on the Peabody case.”

“Ah yes, I’m sorry I’m a bit of a scatter brain this morning. I think the happenings last night was to me at least very reminiscent of 1930s Germany or the Soviet Union and not of a free society. I had put it down to a couple of yahoos from the government trying to make a name for themselves, but now that they visited you, I think I need to tell my father about it. After all, he was the previous attorney general.”

“Scary, isn’t it?” offered Audrey.

“Frightening,” replied Anton, “but what’s more frightening is that the so called opposition, my father’s political party, didn’t object to the passage of the bill and in fact, our very own congressman, someone whose been to our house on many occasions co-sponsored the bill. How about that?”