Enforcer

by Black, Selena

  “Matt Harris,” the guard said and straight away moved towards the door to leave the building.

  Matt watched as the older man behind the desk shuffled around the papers in front of him until he found what he wanted and picked it up. He then opened a drawer to find a set of keys and got to his feet.

  “You’re in apartment 2C,” he said.

  “OK,” Matt replied.

  “I’ll show you the way.”

  He came out from behind the desk and walked towards the stairs. They were bare concrete and the soles of his boots scuffed against the surface as he started to climb.

  “Is it only people involved in the program that live here?” Matt asked as he followed.

  “Yup,” the man answered, without looking back.

  Nothing more was said as they climbed to the second floor and moved along to apartment 2C. The man opened the door, then handed across the key and the sheet of paper he lifted from the desk.

  “What’s this?” Matt asked.

  “Schedule for your counseling meetings and a list of names you can contact,” the man replied. “If you need anything else, you can speak to me or whoever is working the desk downstairs.”

  Matt watched as he walked away, then, moved inside the apartment. It was basic, but livable and probably better than anything he could have found if he’d needed to fend for himself on release from prison. A quick tour of the place revealed a living room, kitchen, small bathroom and a bedroom.

  “This isn’t too bad at all,” he let out when he threw himself down on the bed.

  He was up again in a matter of seconds as the thirst for a beer took hold. Opening the wallet returned to him earlier in the day, he took out the bank card to see if it was still valid. The expiry date was eight months away, so he decided to go out and try it. Not that there was a huge amount of money in his account, but he reckoned it should be enough for him to live on for a few months. Hopefully by then, he would be set up with a job and settled into a lawful life for the first time in as long as he could remember.

  The card still worked when he slotted it in a machine and he managed to withdraw one hundred dollars. He put the money and card in his wallet then explored his new neighborhood for a short while before making his way inside a bar near the apartment building.

  “What’s it to be?” the woman behind the counter said when he dropped on a stool.

  “Heineken,” he replied.

  A grin spread across his face when the woman popped the cap and put the beer in front of him. He handed over a twenty and quickly received the change. His mouth was watering as he lifted the bottle and he almost let out a satisfied groan as the cool liquid slipped down his throat.

  “Here’s to a new life,” he toasted himself quietly and settled down to enjoy his first taste of real beer in four years.

  Chapter 2

  Brigitte Sanderson tugged nervously at the hem of her skirt in an attempt to pull it lower on her thighs and worried again if it was too short. Her actions made her squirm in her seat and she forced herself to stop before glancing around to see if anyone noticed. No one was looking in her direction, but she reached for the hem again when she brought her gaze back to it.

  “Stop it,” she chided herself in a quiet voice. “It’s mid-thigh length.”

  The only problem with her words was that every woman she’d watched walking in the reception area of the state government building was wearing an outfit that was at least knee length, if not longer. It made her wonder if she was dressed appropriately for the interview although it was too late to do anything about it now.

  A glance at the watch on her wrist showed that she’d been waiting for twenty minutes and her nine o’clock appointment was fast approaching. She tried to prepare herself mentally for what was about to come her way, but there was no way of knowing what questions she’d be asked or how in-depth the interview would be. All she could do was act confidently and hope that her studies and previous work experience were good enough to put her in with a shot of getting the job.

  When it got to fifteen minutes after nine, her concern changed from what she might be asked to whether she’d been forgotten about. She got up to walk over to the reception desk and smiled at the older woman behind it.

  “Umm…, I was scheduled for a meeting at nine o’clock,” she said.

  “Who with again?” the woman asked.

  “I don’t know,” Brigitte replied. “I’m here for a job interview and the letter only gave the time.”

  “Is it in connection with the ex-offenders program?”

  “Yes,” Brigitte answered. “My interview was scheduled for nine this morning.”

  The woman checked the papers in front of her.

  “It’s Mrs. Johnston doing the interviews,” she said. “Let me check with her.”

  “Thanks,” Brigitte said.

  She watched as the woman picked up a phone to dial a number. The conversation was short and she got the gist of it before the handset was put down.

  “Running late?”

  “By about twenty five minutes,” the woman replied. “She’ll come out to get you when she’s ready.”

  “OK, thank you.”

  Brigitte returned to the small waiting area and dropped down on a seat. She tugged at the hem of her skirt again and couldn’t stop tapping her foot as her trepidation grew. When she saw the woman walking towards the waiting area, she knew the interview was about to start and put a smile on her face as she got to her feet.

  “Miss Sanderson,” the woman queried and Brigitte nodded her head. “I’m Mrs. Johnston. I’ll be conducting your interview, so if you’ll follow me...”

  “Of course,” she agreed.

  “Sorry about making you wait,” Mrs. Johnston went on as they headed away from the reception area.

  “It’s no problem,” Brigitte replied.

  “Did you find the place OK?”

  “It’s a little out of the way,” Brigitte said with a smile. “But my father gave me directions, so I got here with no problem.”

  “Does he work for us?”

  “No,” Brigitte answered. “He’s had dealings with the state government through his business ventures and has visited here a couple of times for meetings.”

  The small talk continued as they walked along a maze of corridors until Mrs. Johnston stopped at a door.

  “This is us,” she said and stepped inside her office. “Take a seat and we can get started.”

  Brigitte followed across the room to sit at the desk and remained silent as the other woman inspected the papers in front of her.

  “Your degree was in social sciences,” Mrs. Johnston said when she looked up.

  “Yes,” Brigitte replied. “It was a three year course and I graduated near the top of my class.”

  “That was a year ago,” Mrs. Johnston said.

  “It was. My father asked me to help at his company for a few weeks when I graduated and, well…, it turned out to be a bit longer than that. I’ve also been assisting at a couple of charities during that time.”

  “I saw that,” Mrs. Johnston said. “You were also active with volunteer work while you were a student.”

  “I like to get involved with local community work,” Brigitte replied. “So I have done whatever I can since I was old enough. When I saw the advert for this job, I looked on it as a great way to get a career underway that would allow me to help people. My father doesn’t need me so much now for his business, so it seemed like the perfect time to strike out on my own.”

  Mrs. Johnston nodded her head.

  “You’re aware of the men and women involved in the program?”

  “Ex-cons,” Brigitte answered. “One of the local groups I spent time with was a place that helped people struggling to get used to life on the outside after being in prison, so I have some experience in dealing with ex-cons.”

  “In this case, you’ll be directly interacting with them,” Mrs. Johnston pointed out. “You’re OK with that?”r />
  “Of course,” she replied. “I’ve done some informal counseling work before and it was something I enjoyed, so I’m keen to get more involved with it.”

  “We typically pair new recruits with an experienced counselor at the start of their period of employment,” Mrs. Johnston explained. “It’s a way to give them training and also keep an eye on them to see it they are equipped for the work.”

  “OK,” Brigitte said.

  “There will be training involved as well, which usually consists of a day at a college each week,” Mrs. Johnston went on.

  Brigitte tried to relax as the interview progressed, but she was too keyed up to really manage it. There was nothing thrown at her in the following forty minutes that she couldn’t handle and she was sure she dealt with the discussions in a professional and competent manner. Mrs. Johnston’s demeanor remained impassive throughout, so there was no real way of telling if her performance impressed the older woman. She certainly didn’t get the impression she was doing anything wrong though and asked a few questions of her own as the interview moved towards a conclusion.

  “Well, I think that brings us to an end,” Mrs. Johnston eventually said. “Unless there’s anything else you need to know.”

  “What’s the timescale for making the appointment?” Brigitte asked.

  “We’re looking to have someone in place by the start of next week,” Mrs. Johnston said. “So we’ll let the preferred candidate know by the end of this week.”

  “As quickly as that,” Brigitte said.

  “The program is moving ahead now and more people are taking up the offer to get involved, so we need to get more staff working on it,” Mrs. Johnston explained. “You’ll definitely hear one way or the other by the end of this week.”

  Brigitte nodded her head and the pair of them got to their feet as the discussions came to an end. They shared some more small talk as they returned to the reception area.

  “Thank you for coming in,” Mrs. Johnston said.

  “Thanks for giving me the opportunity,” Brigitte replied and smiled.

  They shook hands then went their separate ways and Brigitte walked out of the building to go home. She went over every aspect of the interview incessantly on the journey and reckoned she’d done as much as she could have. It was now simply a case of waiting until she heard something and all she could do was keep her fingers crossed that she was chosen.

  She tried to clear the morning’s events from her head and relax when she got home, although the discussions with Mrs. Johnston kept flitting through her mind. The fact that her father was away on business for a couple of days meant she had the place to herself and it was unusually quiet. She knew he would call to find out how she got on though, and a smile flashed across her face when she heard the ringing only fifteen minutes after her return. Moving through to the lounge, she walked over to the phone and picked up the handset.

  “How many times have you called already?” she said straight after he said hello.

  “Never you mind,” her father replied. “Why isn’t your cell phone switched on?”

  “Oh…, I switched it off before the interview,” Brigitte answered. “I must have forgotten to turn it on again afterwards. It’s in my bag.”

  “Well, switch it on so I can get hold of you.”

  “I’m twenty two now,” she told him and laughed.

  “Yeah, well, I’m your father, so do what you’re told and switch it on,” he told her. “How did the interview go?”

  “OK…, I think,” Brigitte replied. “I didn’t make any cock-ups anyway and got on fine with the interviewer.”

  “You think you got it then?”

  “I wouldn’t go that far. The woman was playing her cards close to her chest. She said that an appointment will be made quickly, so I’ll know what’s happening by the end of the week. How are things going with you?”

  “I’m about to have discussions with a potential client.”

  “Good luck,” Brigitte said. “When will you get home?”

  “I’ll be staying here tonight and possibly tomorrow night if things go well,” he replied. “You’ll see me tomorrow or the next day.”

  “OK, I hope things go well.”

  “Thanks and switch your phone on,” her father said.

  “Sure thing, daddy dear,” she teased him in a cheeky tone, but he didn’t take the bait and all she got was the sound of the phone being hung up.

  She went to her bedroom and sat down on the bed to search through her bag. Bringing her phone out, she pressed the power button and waited for the screen to come to life. She let out a quiet laugh when she saw that there were four missed calls and brought up the numbers. Three were from her father, but the fourth was from her friend, Sarah.

  Brigitte screwed up her face and wondered if she should return the call. The pair of them were close when they went to high school together, although they drifted apart when they moved on to other things afterwards. That didn’t mean they weren’t still friendly and they kept in touch with each other to enjoy the occasional meeting. Getting together with Sarah usually meant going out drinking though and that typically ended with them in a club. She wasn’t sure she was in the mood for a night of revelry and threw the phone down on her bed without making the call.

  Getting her mind off the interview and her hopes that she would get the job proved difficult and the day passed slowly. With nothing of note that she needed to do, she tried reading a book, then watching some television to pass the time and keep her mind occupied. It didn’t really work and the events of that morning kept bubbling to the forefront of her mind. In the end, she decided that maybe a night out with her friend might not be such a bad idea after all and went to get her phone.

  “About time,” Sarah said and laughed when she answered the call. “I was starting to think you didn’t like me.”

  “You’re right, I don’t,” Brigitte replied in a cheeky tone. “But, you know, sometimes I put up with you.”

  “Well, thank you for that ringing endorsement of our friendship,” Sarah complained. “Maybe I should hang up then.”

  “You know I love you really,” Brigitte went on. “What were you calling about?”

  “Are you doing anything tonight?”

  “Nope,” Brigitte answered. “What did you have in mind?”

  “A little partying,” Sarah said and laughed. “I know you don’t get out much and that means you’ll never find a boyfriend to spice up your boring life.”

  “My life is not boring,” Brigitte squealed.

  “Are you seeing anyone right now?” Sarah asked.

  “Well, no, but that doesn’t make my life…”

  “When was the last time you were kissed?” Sarah went on and laughed.

  “Shut up,” Brigitte protested.

  She tried to remember the last time she did kiss a guy and was sure it was her last night out with Sarah.

  “Don’t worry,” her friend teased. “Come out with me tonight and I’ll find you a nice guy.”

  “Do you think I can’t find someone for myself?”

  “Hmm…,” Sarah let out and her laughter got louder.

  “Shut up,” Brigitte repeated. “I think it’s me that should hang up to end the insulting comments.”

  “Don’t do that,” Sarah said. “Meet me in Sonnets Bar at eight this evening and we can have some fun. We haven’t been out together for a while, so we’ll have plenty to catch up on as we enjoy a few drinks. If you’re nice to me, I might even snare us some cute men and you can have your twice yearly kiss.”

  Brigitte couldn’t hold in the laugh.

  “You’re…, what’s the word?”

  “Beautiful…, smart…, sexy…,” Sarah rattled off in quick succession.

  “No,” Brigitte said. “Crazy was the one I was thinking of.”

  “I think my words are better,” Sarah joked. “Just meet me at eight.”

  “OK, OK,” Brigitte agreed. “Be there on time.”
/>   “I always am,” Sarah said. “See you later.”

  Brigitte pulled the phone from her ear when the line went dead and a tinge of regret welled up straight away that she agreed to go out. On the other hand, she didn’t want to sit in an empty house and dwell on her chances of landing a job she really wanted. She moved through to the kitchen to cook herself a meal and sat at the kitchen table to eat.