It's Brittany, Bitch | Ερις (eristic) wrote in paxletalelogs, @ 2017-02-06 13:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | eris, loki |
eyelash curlers & butcher knives
Who: BB & Nish.
What: BB sniffs out a story and Nish is the poor victim. Uh, interviewee. Yeah, that.
Where: Nish's office.
When: Midday.
Notes: Completed gdoc!
Curls flying around her, BB crossed the street from where she'd had her Uber drop her off; she was closing in on a potential source for Sandra Bullock's stalker, one Joshua Corbett. He'd supposedly broken into her house with a shotgun, but reports were unclear about whether the firearm was loaded or not and BB intended to be the one to find out. She'd impatiently waited for the street light to change so she could cross, not daring enough to Frogger through mid-afternoon LA traffic. Flipping off a guy flying around a corner in a Porsche who nearly hit her just as she was stepping out of the street, the near-death experience made her lose none of her bounce as she double checked the address and walked right up to the front door, hitting the buzzer. She waited for either the ring to be let in, or for the speaker to light up with some secretarial voice. Hopping from foot to foot with impatience as she waited for one of her presumed results.
Jessica was sitting at her desk typing out an Affidavit Nish had asked her to prepare. The phone lit up with the number for the downstairs buzzer. She glanced at the appointment log, but there was no one scheduled until later this afternoon. She frowned and hit the speakerphone. “Bariss Law, can I help you?”
Figures, BB thought, but plastered a wide smile to her face so that it bled through into her voice. "Um, yeah, hi! I was hoping I could speak with Ms. Bariss? I have a case I was hoping I could talk with her about and, uh," here she sank closer to the speaker, lowering her voice into a more private tone. "I don't really want to talk about it here in the open. Is she... is she taking new cases?"
Jessica glanced at the phone, picking up the receiver and leaning it between her ear and her shoulder. “She is, but she’s not in right now. I could take down your contact information and have her call you?” Nish had instructed her to start screening all incoming clients as a precaution, given the high-profile nature of one of their new cases. And besides, it wasn’t a lie - she was out across the street getting them both coffee.
BB pouted, but was undeterred. "Can I just...can I sit in her office? I just got here, I bought a one-way ticket from San Francisco, I don't have any other money and this guy who's hotel I stayed at stole all my stuff. I... There's more, but I really just need to feel safe somewhere right now."
Jessica sighed and switched the phone to her other ear, pulling up Nish’s schedule on her computer. She was free this afternoon, and she was taking new clients. She chewed her lip a little and made a decision. “Alright,” she said, “she’ll be back soon, you can wait in here.” She buzzed her in, hoping she was doing the right thing.
BB just barely refrained from fist pumping in the air as she heard the long-awaited buzz. She all but ripped the door from its frame, and slowed her step as she came up the stairs to the office. Pausing in the hall, she carefully schooled her face to look as solemn and scared as she was supposed to. Pushing in the door to the office, she glanced around, suppressing her grin as she noticed and approached the secretary with whom she'd been speaking.
"Thank you so much for letting me in, I really appreciate it. I just... I didn't know where else to go. I saw an advertisement in the paper? You guys were really close by and... I thought even if you couldn't help, maybe you could point me to someone who can, and..." She stopped herself, taking in a deep breath, wondering if she was overplaying her hand. "Sorry, I'm just... This is all so new and weird."
Jess saw the girl come in and as far as she could tell the emotions coming off her were genuine. She smiled in sympathy and nodded towards the waiting area. “It’s alright, you can have a seat in here, I don’t think she’ll be much longer.” She checked her watch and saw that she’d been gone about twenty minutes. She would be back any time now. As an afterthought, she reached into the minifridge under the desk and pulled out a bottle of water. “Here,” she said, getting up and handing it to her, “have a drink, you’ll feel better.” She knew the kind of clients that came through here; some of them have been through some serious shit, and others had caused it. She was sure she knew this girl was the former.
BB took the water bottle gratefully. "Thanks, thanks so much." She tried on a timid smile for size, amazed at how easily all of this had gone down. Of course, her ass would be on the line once 'Ms. Bariss' showed up again, but BB felt confident that she could keep pushing the envelope. All she had to do was get the woman alone in a room and push the right buttons. People would say anything when they were angry. Nodding once more at the oh-so-helpful secretary, BB took a seat in the waiting area, carefully looking over the interior of the office.
A few minutes later Nish came into the office, toting lunch and coffee for both her and Jessica from Starbucks. “Hey Jess,” she greeted, without noticing BB at first, “They were out of toffee-nut, so I got hazelnut, I hope that’s okay-” she broke off at the look her secretary gave her, turning around and spotting the girl waiting for her.
“Ohh...hi,” she said, setting down the coffees and sandwiches on Jessica’s desk and getting a better look at the visitor. She wasn’t expecting anyone, so it caught her off-guard, but she always put on friendly airs when meeting a new potential client, at least until she got their story. But her eyes narrowed just slightly while looking at her. There was something familiar about her that she couldn’t place.
BB just barely remembered to tamp down her excitement as she glanced up to see the woman she assumed was Ms. Bariss walk into the office. Nishka Bariss, newly arrived to the area, still picking up clients. BB had done a brief Google search on the woman, nothing too in depth but enough to give her a running start. She woozily climbed to her feet, still feigning her fear.
"Are you Ms. Bariss? Hi, uh, I'm so sorry to just drop in like this, but I was hoping I could talk to you for a minute? I have...I'm having some problems, your secretary here was so nice in helping me, I just am all turned around. If I could...just get a moment of your time?" She hoped she sounded desperate enough to waste five minutes on. Sometimes that was all it took.
Her instinct was telling her to be cautious. That voice that she mostly ignored in social situations until she couldn’t anymore usually led her well professionally. She didn’t have a name for it, but instinct seemed to fit. And it was telling her to bring her guard right back up. “Yeah,” she said, smiling at her as if there was nothing amiss. “Yeah, why don’t you come into my office?” she said, pulling her coffee out of the takeout tray and putting out a hand to escort the girl towards the door behind Jessica’s desk that was slightly ajar.
She led her into her office and indicated to one of the chairs meant for client use. Her office was neat, but with files piled on the corner of her desk, her computer left on to a blank desktop, a few plants on the floor and her certificates on the wall stating her authority to practice law in the State of Illinois and California. She shut the door behind her, let her purse fall to the floor behind her desk, set her coffee down on her desk and sat down. “What can I do for you?”
BB walked into Nish's office without her usual skip, keeping her depressed demeanor as low as she could until the door was closed. Hands on her knees implied class, or at least a desire to keep her clothes neat. Fixing Nish with a more level stare than she had with Jessica, BB studied the other woman for a moment.
"Oh, I was just reading about you in the paper. See, I just moved here from San Francisco, spent all my money on a bus ticket to get here, and then the cheap motel manager stole all my money, and I saw this newspaper that said you were handling this case and I thought, maybe you could help me though, I mean, that case was completely different from my situation, but all lawyers do basically the same thing, right?" She did her best to keep a doe-eyed look on her face, wondering how much longer she'd be able to keep this charade up.
Nish sat back in her chair, arms crossed as she watched the girl, picking up inflections, subtle eye movements, any sort of tells. Ohh, she was good, but she’d seen better. As a defence attorney, it was often her job to cross-examine witnesses and weed out the lies from the truth. And she was very good at it. It was a good story, she had to give her that, but not good enough. She was fishing, and she thought she knew what for.
She smiled at her, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “No,” she said, her voice sounding warm but her eyes telling a very different story. She wanted to see how far this would go. “I’m a criminal defence attorney, which means I don’t usually deal with those kinds of cases.” Usually, but not never. There were always exceptions to that rule, and she has prosecuted a few cases, including the one she was sure this was about. “Why didn’t you call the police when you noticed it was missing?” she asked, poking her first giant hole in the girl’s story. She’d talk this out until the girl painted herself into a corner.
BB glanced at the wall, and down at the floor, all the while patting herself on the back for such a good performance. Slowly, she brought her gaze around to BB again.
"There's people looking for me, and I just would rather the police didn't know, you know? I mean, you must get a lot of people like that, who just want to talk, and with someone who, you know, isn't wearing a badge. But, really, do you think you could help me? I just want a little advice, that's all, and I have cash to pay you for your time."
Nish nodded to herself, almost imperceptibly. “And who are these people?” she asked, neatly sidestepping the rest of the girl’s speech. “The ones who are after you? What do they want?” How detailed was the story she’d made up, was the real question. How far did she think this through before coming here?
Pretty much not at all. BB locked gazes with Nish for a moment, then reached into her bag to pull out the new recording device she'd treated herself to after the previous one had been destroyed at the protest.
"OK, fine, you got me. But since I'm here anyway, can I ask you a few questions? You're representing Sandra Bullock's stalker, right? I'm just looking to find out if the gun he had was loaded or not when he broke into her house. C'mon, it'll be an anonymous tip, no one has to know but us gal pals, right?" She offered Nish a wide, toothy smile, as though that alone would assuage any bruised egos.
Her eyebrows raised just slightly at the reveal, but only because she was surprised the girl had folded so quickly. Her eyes dropped to the recorder in her hand, but waited for her to finish speaking before reacting. She leant forward and plucked the device from the girl’s hands, deftly hitting stop and pulling the tape out before handing the recorder back to her with a pleasant smile and palming the tape. “Without confirming or denying anything you just said,” her voice was all business now, not a trace of the pleasant curiosity from a minute ago, “recording someone without their knowledge or consent in the State of California is a crime, and I could have your job over it.”
"Woah, woah, woah," BB said, raising her hand and the recorder with it. "I never hit a button! The thing's off, calm down. I'm just looking for some information, and email is so passive, and it's way too easy to shut someone down over the phone. Help me out here, a little?"
She glanced at the tape when the girl claimed she hadn’t been recording. “We’ll see,” she said, slipping it in her pocket. “And you must know that any clients I may or may not have would be protected by attorney-client privilege,” she added, speaking to her like she was four years old.
“I can make it worth your while.”
She smiled again, and again it was cold. “Are you attempting to bribe a public official in order to obtain privileged information? Because that is a Federal offence.” Her expression was passive, her slightly raised eyebrow the only hint that she was enjoying this.
BB drew the moment out a touch longer, as if waiting for some other shoe to drop. When it didn't, she sighed and rolled her eyes, though her wide smile was unabating. She shrugged.
"Can't fault a girl for trying, huh?" She tucked her recorder back into her bag, rising to her feet. "Don't worry, I'll show myself out before you gotta call the po-po. And you might wanna work on your receptionist. It was way too easy to get in here." Her grin widened, dimples creasing her cheeks. BB walked around the office chair, turning before she got to the door.
"By the way, welcome to Los Angeles," she added. "I hope you get used to this, if you keep it up with the kinda work you're doing." Nish tipped her head to her, this time a real smile on her face.
“I already am. Thanks for the amusing visit; I’ll remember your face.” It wasn’t a threat exactly, but perhaps a warning.
She escorted the girl to the door, and once she heard the door click shut behind her, turned to look at Jessica. The girl had heard much of what went on and had a slightly guilty look on her face. “Ohh, relax, that was fun,” she said with a smirk. “Although...call Josh and let him know we’ll meet at his place instead, I don’t want him to be seen coming in the building for a bit.” Jess nodded and got on the phone right away.