The Door That Led to Where Read Online Free

AJ’s measurements to his wife, who sighed as she looked through the rails of unclaimed suits. Finally she pulled out one in grey.
    â€˜Go to the back and try it on,’ she said. ‘And here – take this shirt.’
    Apart from being made for someone altogether taller, the suit fitted AJ perfectly. Without a word, Mr Toker pinned up the trousers and the cuffs then stood back, squinting.
    â€˜Where is this job of yours?’ he asked.
    â€˜Baldwin Groat,’ said AJ. ‘In Gray’s Inn.’
    â€˜The suit will be ready tomorrow after three,’ said Mr Toker. ‘Thirty pounds is the price to have the skateboard back.’
    â€˜I owe you,’ said AJ to Slim.
    â€˜Big time,’ said Slim. ‘That skateboard is  …  everything.’
    â€˜I know,’ said AJ. ‘I won’t let you down – promise, bro.’

Chapter Four
    On Monday AJ turned up for work in the suit and a pair of brogues two sizes too big that he’d found on top of a clothes bank. There was no polite introduction to the workings of Baldwin Groat. Morton, the senior clerk, told him that if he was to survive there he would need wit and intelligence. AJ found himself thrown in the deep end of the legal soup.
    â€˜We don’t need more staff,’ Stephen, the first clerk, had complained. ‘We manage perfectly well.’
    â€˜Aiden was taken on by Mr Groat,’ said Morton. ‘Any complaints should be addressed to him as head of chambers.’
    Stephen was twenty-seven and had been at Baldwin Groat since he was eighteen. The son of one of the junior barristers, he had wanted to become a lawyer like his father but finding the examinations beyond him had gone for the option of being a clerk. Such was his position and so long had he stayed in that position that he saw any new clerk as a threat. AJ was no exception. Stephen instantly took a dislike to him.
    â€˜Does Mr Baldwin know about this new baby clerk?’ he asked the senior clerk.
    â€˜Is that any business of yours, Stephen?’ Morton snapped.
    â€˜No, but it’s –’
    â€˜It’s none of your business.’
    As far as AJ could make out from the junior barristers, the most dynamic of the QCs in the practice was Mr Baldwin. He was abroad on a case and AJ had peeped inside his room. A photo of the eminent Queen’s Counsel sat on the desk in a silver frame. AJ couldn‘t understand why he would want a picture of himself unless it was to remind him who he was. From the photo AJ decided that he was a man who took himself very seriously indeed, a man without a chin, and with a bottom lip much bigger than the top, which combined to squeeze themselves into a pout.
    Mr Groat, who had no photos of himself, or anyone else for that matter, was seen as something of an eccentric.
    Whenever they were alone Stephen took delight in telling AJ exactly how short his career in the law firm would be.
    â€˜When Mr Baldwin’s back you’ll be out on your arse,’ said Stephen. ‘One GCSE. You think Mr Baldwin will stand for that? He only takes the brightest and the best. You can’t say you quite fit the description.’
    AJ was used to bullies. They were to be found in every gang he had ever come across. He ignored Stephen.
    â€˜You don’t need to charge about the place,’ Stephen would say. ‘You just get us more work.’
    Again AJ ignored him. He would rather be doing anything than standing there looking like a hatstand as Stephen did.
    On the Friday of his first week, Morton called him into his office.
    â€˜You’re for it,’ said Stephen helpfully. ‘I didn’t think you’d last longer than a week. Never mind. You can put it down to work experience.’
    AJ stood in front of the senior clerk’s desk. ‘You’re a quiet one, Aiden,’ said Morton. ‘Do you like it here?’
    The idea that he might like or dislike the job was a