With a happy and grateful feeling, Johan stepped into his office. He greeted Marianne, their secretary, and complimented her on her brightly colored blouse. "That looks good on you, that color! I'll just go prepare the lawsuit from that young lady you put me in. I saw she included a USB stick."

Marianne, grabbing the fabric of her blouse between her thumb and forefinger, reacted in surprise to his compliment, "Thank you, nice of you to say that about that color. Didn't you find it annoying that I shoved that declaration in your direction?"

"No, on the contrary! I don't want to brag about myself, but I think I'm the right person for it. You have sensed that well!" Johan raised his thumb. He could just see that she was beaming as he turned and walked to his room.

He was used to checking off his daily list first, which consisted mostly of checking his business mail. This time he was struggling with it. A mix of joy for Marieke and curiosity about Lisa's USB stick swirled in his head. With difficulty he could keep his attention on the emails. He answered emails as needed, but looked up when he heard the door open after a knock.

"Oh, lovely, coffee, I need that more than ever! I first did what I do every day, mail check, but I had great difficulty with that today! I can't say anything else but I'm glad I got through that mash!"

Marianne looked at him with a puzzled expression. Judge Simons was different than usual. First of all that compliment, and that openness about his new trial, and now he was describing his struggle with his mail check.

Johan saw the reaction to her face, and had an unexpected inspiration... as inspirations usually are unexpected...: "Would you like to come here for lunch later? Then I'll tell you what made me change so much. Your surprise was obvious, and I can vividly imagine it. Shall we do that, have lunch together?"

Marianne, who usually preferred not to be alone with a man, and certainly not with one of the judges, did not hesitate for a moment in this situation and promised that she would come. As she left his room, she paused behind the door, smiled softly, and knew it was all right. She didn't have to be afraid of this judge!

While Johan enjoyed his coffee, he took out of his safe the envelope he had received from Ellen through Marianne. He took out the USB stick and poked it into the entrance of his computer. He discovered a collection of folders, of the five perpetrators, he understood. He also saw her summary and decided to open it first. Quickly he read her summarized story about the BDSM, the abuse by her ex-husband and those five perpetrators about whom she filed her declaration, and about the rituals associated with it. He felt a ball of emotion grow in his belly. He felt her pain, her fear, and above all, a deep anger at what had been done to her. He opened folder after folder, looked at the screenshots Lisa had taken.

The realization of what the men had done to her to enrich themselves or gain more power infuriated him so much. He knew how the darkness had worked, and those guys obviously knew that too! And they had taken advantage of that. What a bunch of wretches!

Without noticing, his hands had clenched into fists. When his anger at the injustice reached a peak, both his fists thundered on the table. His empty mug toppled over and disappeared across the table. It didn't even dawn on him that his mug was falling apart into pieces.

He shouted out: "Bastards! Jerks! That call themselves gentlemen? They act like they're the cream of the crop? But they're just bastards, a bunch of idiots!"

He dropped his head into his hands, and cried, cried as he had never cried before, cried with roaring outbursts. All the misery he had felt in Lisa's details, he cried out, as if he were crying on her behalf.

He did not hear the knocking on his door. He didn't notice Marianne come in with a puzzled face.

She had heard how he was ranting, and she was not at all used to that in this quiet office environment of the courtroom. It had touched her, and she had wondered if Judge Simons was all right.

She walked cautiously over to his desk, "Judge Simons? Judge Simons? Are you all right?" He didn't respond, still full in his crying fit.

When she noticed that he calmed down a little, she took a tissue from the box on his desk and held it out to him, between his hands. Only now did Johan realize that he was no longer alone. With a tearful face he looked up, into Marianne's questioning eyes.

"Are you all right?" she asked again.

Johan nodded slowly, taking the tissue from her and wiping the tears from his face. "Yes, I'm fine, although I'm actually quite shocked by my reaction to what I just read and saw. You know what, Marianne, I have to go on now, but I'll tell you about it at lunch." He glanced at his watch for a moment, "Another hour or so, I'll see you show up. And... thanks for caring about me. It does me quite good!"

Marianne nodded with a friendly smile, "You're welcome. Good luck with whatever else you have to do and see you later!"

.

Johan opened a new email, which he addressed to Lisa. He already added the business invitation to the trial next Thursday as an attachment. He left out the standard mail that he wrote with these kinds of invitations and wrote an email from his heart.

When he had finished, he read the email again. Never before had he approached a client in this personal way. He smiled, it felt good! He had been taught to send standard letters, but fortunately he had never been forbidden to take a different approach. In the past, he had followed his learning. That would be different from today, and he was more than happy with that.

He clicked send and relaxed.

To chapter 202. Marianne having lunch with Johan

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