Beneath The Orange Sunset ✔️

50

~50~

Sebastian Denis arrived at Palais de Justice in his Citroen SUV. Dressed in a burgundy long sleeved T-shirt, the natural hue hid his body perfectly well behind the tinted car. He preferred driving his SUV whenever he came around this part of town. It was his official car and the automobile eased tension from preying eyes of the public.

His eyes rested on his Quartz wristwatch. He was five minutes early just as he promised. He looked at the front of the courthouse watching the few people climb up and down the fifty or so stairs. It dawned on him that in a few days he will be attending a court hearing in this place. He had to be ready.

He had contacted Juliette during the day. He had informed her that he would be representing her and Maxime. She had sounded excited to schedule a meeting with him. They needed to talk.

He saw her exit the court house and made her way down the stairs. Her height was unmistaken. She was wearing a grey formal skirt suit. Juliette had aged in this few years, Sebastian noticed. Her face was bare and her hair laid loosely over her shoulders. Stress wrinkles lined her face.

"Oh my god, Sebastian." Juliette greeted as soon as entered the cool interior of the waiting SUV.  She shook hands with the man whose facial expression remained the same. "How? I mean how have you been?" She asked formally, feeling really excited to see him.

"Been great," Sebastian assured. He started the ignition.

"You don't know how relieved I am to see you." Juliette said she she unlatched the seatbelt and crossed it over her chest. She went ahead to tell Sebastian her side of the story plus the latest discussion she had with Samuel and how she truly felt hearing that he was interested in handling Maxime's case.

Sebastian briefed her on his progress collecting evidence of Fabien LaPointe.

"How did it go?" Sebastian asked.

"Successful." Juliette nodded. Her eyes was on the road as Sebastian looped through traffic and glided down the road.

"You did the necessary documenting and everything is in place?"

"Yes."

"Good," Sebastian sighed. "So we head to court in a few days. I would never have believed it will get to this."

Juliette smiled. She always knew it was a matter of time before Emile snapped.
"She thinks she can just come in to the family and turn everything around to her favor," she muttered.

"I carried out an underground check on Fabien, he has more incriminating issues up his sleeves than anybody I know."

"They're both crooks." Juliette intensified.

"I hear Emile hired Martins Berger."

"That man," Juliette cracked a dry laugh. "She can hire whoever she wants, I bet her this time she will fail."

Sebastian shrugged at her agitation.
"He is one of the best in town. We will have to maintain our own words and not contradict ourselves because Berger is quite ruthless in court."

"I understand."

"We need more witnesses. If we can get one more person to testify against Emile, then the ruling will be on our side. Anybody you can think of?"

"None, except Samuel. There used to be a maid in the mansion but she wasn't attentive enough. I don't think she is that bold to speak against Emile in court."

"What about Antoine?"

"Antoine? He's been brainwashed by his mother obviously."

Sebastian inhaled.
"Let's keep our fingers crossed, as long as we have the right information, we will succeed at least for the first hearing."