MANDY'S LAW: EPISODE THREE; GRAND WELCOME

Peggy was already waiting in the reception as soon as they stepped out of the elevator.

"Hi Mandy, Mike Mr Barrington wants you in his office right now" she said

"Uh... Me? Why? What did I do?" He said both scared and confused

"Apparently, you have not been inducted into the firm properly so let's go"

"Tro-u-ble" Mandy said in a sing-song voice as she left.

He followed her to an office with the words 'Bello Barrington, Senior Partner' written boldly on the door. She knocked twice, waited for a while before she pushed the door open and nudged him to go in. He walked into the airy room and felt a cold shiver run down his spine for the first time as the door shut.

Bello was a mean looking man in his late forties that wore a pair of glasses. He stood close to his desk working attentively on his iPad without even looking up to acknowledge his presence. Mike stood aimlessly for seconds not sure of what to say or do.

"You may sit"

He pointed at the red cushion as he sat on the office chair. Mike sat on the soft cushion with his hands gripping his thighs firmly.

"So Mr..."

"Mike, Obieze Mike" he said

"Right, I was told you went on court rounds with Miss Lawson, before anything is done in this office all level one associates report to me first, didn't Peggy tell you?"

"No she didn't, I barely got settled in before I left for court rounds, my personal items are still on my desk"

"Now you know and I won't say in case of next time because you are already employed. I will tell you some dos and donts particularly donts of this firm, what time did you come to work today?"

"Uhmm, 7:30am"

"You were late"

"No... I wasn't" he said confused "the appointment letter said 8:00am"

"That's just law time" he implied

"I don't understand sir"

"When we say African time it means you come an hour later but in law time you come an hour earlier. You are supposed to be here by 7:00am sharp every week day and ..." He is interrupted by the ringing of the telephone.

"Excuse me" he picked up the receiver "Hello, right now... Okay... I'm on my way" he dropped the receiver

"Well Mr Mark..."

"It is Mike" he corrected

"Right, we will continue this later"

He entered into the managing partner's office to meet Mandy twirling on the chair with her legs crossed and Joseph Lawson on his chair with his face meaning business as usual. He sat on the chair next to Mandy.

"Bello where are we on the Stellar case?" Joseph asked

"Done and dusted, I will send you a follow up later"

"Mandy what of the case with Nelson Farms?"

"The judge said Mr Bankole should settle so I have a meeting with him by 10am"

"Okay, send me a follow up when you are done. We have a new case, Mr Ajah Benson of Benson Motors died recently, it was suspected to be heart failure but the autopsy conducted revealed he was poisoned. High levels of Valium was found in his blood, suspect is his wife and she has been reprimanded. This case is the city against Mrs Ajah and we are not for the city but Mrs Ajah"

"Do you mean Victoria Ajah, his second wife?" Mandy inquired

"Yes, the young wife"

"You have the wrong murderer, she is innocent. Victoria can be a gold digger but certainly not a killer"

"You'd be surprised how money changes people" Bello remarked sarcastically

"No not Victoria, we went to Law school together"

"Mandy this is not for you to play jury, worry about the case with Nelson farms, Bello is handling this case. Bello you can pick any associate you want to work with, the goal is to get Mrs Ajah a lesser penalty or possibly prove that she is innocent"

"But Dad, I can handle this, why Bello all the time?" She sulked

"That's not for you to decide, my decision is final, now off you go"

They both exit the office.

"Don't sweat it Mandy, this is for the big guns, you are obviously still shooting darts" Bello mocked as soon as they were out and she winked rudely at him.

To be continued..