Deconstructing Bridges

Chapter Fourteen

As expected, the process of bringing Rose out of prison had taken a while. Krause and Bethany had argued long and hard over the terms with the judge acting as a referee before finally signing off on the deal. Bethany had wanted to push for her to be released to her own home, while the prosecutor and judge had disagreed and finally they had agreed on placement in a police apartment. An ankle tracker. Surveillance on all the doors and windows. A police guard at all times. A back-up car on the street.

Rose (or Nichole, as Matthew was trying to think of her) remained practically oblivious to every argument that took place in front of her during the negotiation process. Every answer required of her was given by the merest incline of the head. Bethany tried desperately to make her smile by encouraging her that things were going to get better, but was getting zero reward. Matthew could not shake his curiosity about the relationship between the two women. Contempt from the client and an almost over compensatory gestures from the lawyer. He wondered about her almost undeniable connection to Owen. There were so many answers to learn. Owen continued to play hardball, despite his lawyer, who was still a firm advocate for him but now seemed exasperated with his continued silence. He wanted an immunity agreement before he would agree to disclose any information, and there was no way they were going to just hand that to him.
It was up to Matthew.

Matthew went to the station early every morning before then making his way to the house. His interactions with the team were now even more awkward and stilted. People didn't know how to react around him. He'd gone from being the pitied man to now being the man they had to be careful around. The eggshells were more fragile than ever, and his only conversations consisted of a debrief with his captain. Everyone else stayed out of his way. Hayley was never around during the brief moments he was there, and even Eddie made a point of looking busy. So he left as soon as earthly possible. His desk was not his workspace anymore. From morning until evening, he remained in that apartment, either pretending to watch some stupid sitcom, trying to sort through the evidence that he was allowed access to or attempting to get a word out of the woman who couldn't seem to stand the sight of him.

Up to the point where she was moved into the apartment, Rose still had not eaten or drank, and there had actually been concerns that her first stop would be at the hospital. They had asked repeatedly what she wanted. Her hollow eyes simply stared back.
Matthew had hated seeing her like that. The Rose he remembered was strong, vivacious. The Rose he remembered was the first to comfort, rather than admit weakness. The Rose he had married never showed that she needed any help with taking care of herself.
The Rose he'd imagined her to be over the past weeks was evil, manipulative, calculating, but above all she was strong. Physically, and also clearly mentally if she could portray a persona so effectively for such an extended period of time. This person was different, she seemed stripped of that strength and it was killing him to have to see it.
After the first few days in the new surroundings, the arrogant shield lowered back over her eyes, the smirk emerged whenever he attempted to speak with her, the eyebrow raised indicating she knew exactly what he was up to. One word answers were her specialty. Either that or simply turning away and ignoring him. Only this time he saw the act for what it was. A deflection. A cover for the emotion beneath rather than a sign that the emotion didn't exist. It didn't make him angry now. It only saddened him more than it should have.

It was hard. Being faced with this every day was harder than he had imagined, yet he could not simply hand it over to someone else. He didn't want to. The haunting idea that he had gotten this all so wrong ensured that he could not step away and give it to someone else. He hadn't wanted to know, but now he had to find out exactly how the sole remaining Lawson had ended up in his city and in his house.

Every day he brought food and a collection of television shows and movies from their home collection. At the start she would often stay in her room, but over the last two weeks there had been progress, though fledgling. She still refused food, but at least had begun accepting beverages, and so he began blending the green smoothie concoctions she used to have in the mornings. Spinach leaves, bananas, berries, plus Matthew would add an extra scoop of protein powder as a way of trying to encourage more sustenance for her body, particularly as she was still only drinking a quarter to a half of what he made for her. She was dropping weight but she was getting something's to her body, at least, and the dark circles which had taken up residence beneath her eyes had begun to fade slightly. He still brought food which was refused, he'd still attempt to coax her out, but she much preferred solitude, and invariably he ended up eating alone, talking only to the officer in residence.