“Goddamnit!” Spencer yelled and she threw her glasses off. “Beverly!”

Beverly’s head shot up wearing a look of pure fear. Nothing was more frightening than having to face a very pissed off Spencer Carlin. She slowly got up, hoping to prolong the time to get from her desk to her boss’s office.

“Today, please!”

Or maybe not.

She hurried into the office and tried smiling but it ended being more of a cringing grin. “Yes, Miss Carlin?”

“What the fuck happened to my computer? I was opening the Jefferson case and the damned thing died on me.” The blonde’s experiences with technology weren’t all that pleasant. After a few crashes in Windows COS, she had decided to buy an Apple. But unfortunately it seemed not even MacOS XIV was crash free.

Beverly eyed the laptop and quickly found the problem. Now how to explain this to her boss without pissing her off even more. “Well it uh seems…” She trailed of, figuring there probably wasn’t a nice way of saying it and she would end up aggravating the blonde more.

“Spit it out, Beverly!” Spencer exclaimed and glared. She wasn’t being all that nice to her assistant but when in a mood like this she really couldn’t deal with the young woman’s timid attitude.

“The power cable’s not plugged in!” Beverly quickly rambled off and braced herself for tornado Spencer.

“Oh.” But tornado Spencer wasn’t coming. It wasn’t even close to a summer breeze. The blonde sat up straighter and grabbed her glasses. “I see. Alright. That’ll be all.” Spencer dismissed her without giving her a glance.

Beverly nodded but realized her efforts were futile as Spencer wasn’t even looking up. Valuing her life she almost ran out of the office.

This had to stop. The situation had gone from hectic to completely crazy, border lining unbearable. Stress could drive Spencer to a boiling point but once boiled, she also quickly cooled down. But this was a situation Beverly had never seen. Spencer never reached her boiling point. Every time she was close, she completely calmed down and went into an almost catatonic state. And dollars to donuts it had something to do with Ashley. After only the short time she had known Ashley, it was safe to say the lack of said brunette around the office was noticeable. Even Tim at the front desk looked a bit depressed.

Either way, it was time to intervene before Beverly lost it – she wasn’t good with the freaking and the screeching.

She picked up her phone and grabbed a case file. Quickly finding the number she wanted, she pushed the buttons on her phone and waited.

“What?” She suddenly heard from the other side. Apparently the brunette wasn’t in a good mood either.

“Miss Ashley?”

“Beverly?” Ashley asked stunned. “Are you whispering?”

“Yes. I don’t want Miss Spencer to hear me.” Beverly hissed. “Look Miss Ashley, could we meet somewhere, say in 30 minutes?”

“What? Hey, Beverly, I’m flattered really bu-“

“No! I don’t mean that.” The assistant rolled her eyes and cursed Ashley’s ego. “Just be at the diner across the street in 30 minutes. You know which one I mean. Do me a favour.” And with that she slammed the hook back on the phone. Some people just asked too many questions when there’s not much time. God, it had begun – the first steps of the freaking and the screeching!

“Who needs to do you a favour?” Spencer asked. When she had walked in, she heard her assistant rather forcibly demand this.

Beverly’s head shot up for the second time in less than ten minutes and she briefly was concerned about the condition of her neck. She couldn’t deal with a permanently damaged neck, right now. “Uh… My mother! Yes, my mother. She doesn’t take her pills like the doctor told her to. Frustrates me, you know.” She stood up and grabbed her purse. “I’m gonna take a break.” And with that the younger woman had left, leaving a very stunned Spencer behind.

The girl often made Spencer wonder if mental institutions checked their patients properly before releasing them. Because no way in hell a sane doctor would’ve released Beverly had she been checked decently.