Court Out - By Elle Wynne Page 0,96

contacted your temp agency, please rest assured that no-one will employ you again.”

In a softer voice, he turns to me and puts his arm across my shoulders. “Come on Lauren, let’s go have a chat.”

I try not to laugh as I see Carly looking daggers at both of us. I give a cheery wave for good measure and we make our way across the room into Sebastian’s office.

We go through the large wooden door and he shuts the door behind me. “So, what do I owe this pleasure to?” he enquires, giving me a tight hug.

I look at him and desperately wonder where to start. He instantly recognises my distress and pulls me down onto the chaise longue.

“What’s the matter? If it’s Carly, then don’t worry, she’ll get a proper bollocking from the agency.”

“No, no, it’s not. Although she was a total bitch,” I add. “It’s Serena.”

“Oh, of course, you had the dress thing today didn’t you?” he remembers. “I’m guessing it didn’t go well?”

“You could say that!” I cry. “I found out that not only has she been shagging someone who isn’t her fiancé, it was her that set me up!”

At this, I burst into hopeless tears. It takes me a while to regain my composure and when I am eventually able to focus on Sebastian, his expression is unreadable.

“Tell me everything,” he says in a serious tone.

I do. I tell him about my suspicions, about the hen do, about Facebook, about the texts and finally about the cheque book.

“Ok, lets think laterally. Is there any other explanation? Maybe she found your cheque book and was trying to return it to you?” he suggests, running his hand through his hair whilst pacing up and down his office.

“No. She knew why I was arrested and the significance of it. She’d have mentioned it straightaway.” I exclaim. “She’s suddenly acting like she’s won the lottery too. It’s bloody obvious, isn’t it?”

Sebastian doesn’t make any assertion to the contrary and I know he’s struggling to think of another explanation for all of the circumstantial evidence.

“What about your signature? How could that have been forged?”

“Easily, it’s on every brief I’ve been on. Serena, or anyone in Chambers would have had no problem in getting hold of it.” I reply, the reality of the situation becoming instantly clear.

Sebastian picks up the cheque book and walks over to his desk. He rummages through the drawers and produces a pencil from an expensive looking tin.

“What are you doing?” I ask, “If I have to take that to the police then I don’t think you should graffiti on it!”

“Well we need proof before you do go to the police. They could say you have more than one cheque book Lauren.” He holds the book up to the light streaming in from the large window and flicks through the remaining cheques. After a moment of scrutiny, he stops, picks up the pencil and begins to scribble.

“Sebastian, I think that only works in movies...”

“Look!” he exclaims.

I rush over and see that using the pencil he has managed to shade in the imprint of the forged cheque that must have been written on the page prior to this one. I’m shaken as I’m immediately reminded of my time in the police station.

“And what do we have here?”

Sebastian opens a page near to the back of the book and I can see numerous attempts at my signature. Someone has used a fountain pen in an attempt to imitate my loopy writing. Maybe it was traced off a brief? Despite my exhilaration that perhaps the police might believe me now, I’m overwhelmed by a feeling of despair. I now have proof that someone, most likely Serena hates me enough to put me through this, see me get into a world of trouble, see me lose everything. Anyway, the police might not believe me. It is my cheque book, I still can’t prove anything.

“You need to go to the police now, Lauren,” says Sebastian, his green eyes fixed insistently on mine.

I know he’s right, but something still makes me want to believe that Serena couldn’t have done this.

“Why?” I ask, helplessly.

“Well, from what you’ve told me, it’s obvious. Rivers seduced her to get her on side and she was paid off for her role in getting Hobbs off. They were all in on it!” He pauses and places his hand gently on my shaking frame. “Don’t worry sweetheart, they’ll all get what’s coming to them. Come on, we’d better go; as you often