The Twisted Tales

I wish I didn't have to

              It was another day at Peterson and Schwartz Inc. It was a large, multi-million insurance company based in central London. The tall building had glass panels on every side, giving the employees glimpses of the sun. Most of the building was owned by other companies, but the top floor belonged to Peterson and Schwartz. On this floor, teams of lawyers were paid to investigate the legal side of claims. On this Wednesday lunch rush, three of the lawyers were stood in the kitchen talking about a change in policy.

"Did you hear about why it changed? Why we no longer offer face to face talks with our members unless legal action is threatened?" The first lawyer asked.

"I heard it was to cut down on costs – it is cheaper outsourcing our call centres and forcing them to deal with most of the customer interactions." The second lawyer replied, while the third lawyer stayed silent.

"Well yes, but the big reason is because something went down a month ago, where one of our staff was assaulted by a client. The company made a large cover up, as this client would have been found in the right. I found out that it was through blackmail that they persuaded the client that the only way to prevent going to jail would be to drop the investigation." The first lawyer stated.

"Oh yeah is this the Blackwater case? Where the client put through a case to have insurance cover the cost of her house burning down because of a fault in the gas lines and boiler that were installed by a contractor of the company?" The second lawyer queried.

"Yes that is the one! We would have really been up shit creek if that one ever got out publicly." The first lawyer laughed.

The second lawyer laughed too, and the third lawyer excused himself from the conversation. He knew that case all too well as it was one of his. He completed the investigation and handed it to his supervisor, who quickly changed around his report and told him to report this. He had desperately tried to refuse giving the falsified report, but he was threatened with being fired. He had just had a newborn and could not afford to loose the job, especially as he knew that being fired would prevent him from grabbing another job easily.

However, if he did this the client would lose everything.

The third lawyer sat at his desk and logged back into his computer. The action forced his sleeves to be pulled back, exposing a small white scar on his forearm. He will always remember the day that Marie Blackwater walked into the meeting room, in ill fitting clothes borrowed from her mother, her eyes rimmed red from crying and a folder full of evidence. He could feel his heart breaking as he looked at the falsified report in front of him, knowing that he was trading her livelihood for his own. She had paid for the most comprehensive package that the company offered for ten solid years. The only time she had claimed was to get the gas lines and boiler sorted, and the company went as cheap as possible to get it fixed. The company chosen was owned by a close relation of the CEO, and even company was not the right term for it.

That day changed the third lawyer forever. It was not the new small scar on his forearm, nor the fact that his supervisor was happy with how the situation had turned out but the look in the woman's eyes as he took everything from her to protect himself. He wished that she knew why he said those things but doing that would be even worse than the real report. She had gotten angry, because she had a lot of evidence – he had hoped that she would storm out and get a real lawyer because she would have a strong case against the insurance company. However, she had lunged forwards and...

He told himself that he would not think about it anymore, but it was impossible to not do so. The company saw this as a win. That day, like many others, the company's profits increased and the people at the top had more cream to skim off of the company. The third lawyer knew that it was not right, it was illegal, but also knew that he was powerless to stop it. He did not have enough evidence to prove that the company was committing many crimes, and he couldn't handle it anymore.

Job hunting had never seemed sweeter.