"I'm telling you for the hundredth time, I was getting something for a friend," the man they were questioning shouted in exasperation.
"But that wasn't your friend who came into the house was it, Todd?" Moira questioned gently.
I could see the frustration on Todd's face as he tried to explain his case again. I'm not really sure what Moira was hoping to gain through questioning a guy this long. Maybe she was hoping he'd slip and say something different than the last seven times he told his side of the story but that didn't seem likely, and I had a feeling he was telling the truth. Or... at the very least, his version of the truth.
"No, I've never seen this guy before. I don't know why he was at Jake's house," the person being questioned said again. "Can you tell me why nobody cares that I got shot?"
"You were grazed by a bullet," Moira stated. "It's unfortunate, but the woman whose apartment you broke into had the right to defend herself."
"The door was open. I didn't break in. Jake left the door open so I could get the stuff he needed from his built-in safe."
"Don't you think it's awfully convenient that Jake was doing all of that for you?"
"Are you saying that Jake set me up?"
Here Moira leaned back in her seat looking relaxed and comfortable during this wonderful interrogation. I bet that really pissed off Mr. Person of Interest.
"Okay," Moira declared, "I'm going to put you in a holding cell and see if your story checks out. She led the man out of the room and towards the direction of the holding cell. As they passed me I gave the man a kind smile and, despite the situation he was in, he returned it with as much sincerity as he could muster.
Hmm, maybe I should spend a little time talking to this man myself.
I waited for Moira to come back to the interrogation room. "We've called Jacob Miller in for questioning," she told me.
"I'm going to go talk to Todd over in the holding cell. I think he's telling the truth but there's something we're missing."
"Sounds like a plan. Mr. Miller will be here in about 20 minutes. Maybe we will actually be able to move on from this quickly."
Promising Moira I'd check in as soon as I was finished talking to Todd, meant it was time for me to go talk to the man himself.
I made my way over to the holding cell taking in the figure of Todd as he sat on the bed inside. He was probably mid-thirties with a shaved head, very skinny with full sleeves of tattoos. I thought there might be a certain amount of judging a book by its cover going on and I wasn't going to do that. The guy seemed okay enough to me when he wasn't being accused of something that he didn't do.
I sat down outside the holding cell leaning back against the bars. It was so uncomfortable but I faked it like a champ pretending that the bars were the best thing I was able to lean against all day. I briefly glanced at the man in the stall, Todd, he was looking at me warily.
I needed some way to break the ice. "Shit day?"
That was definitely a way to break it. Todd snorted at me. "You can say that again," he said sardonically.
"I don't know why I'm here," he moaned in frustration.
"Me neither," I stated simply.
"You don't think I broke into the house on purpose?" Todd sounded hopeful and completely surprised.
I shook my head, "No, I don't. I don't know why you were there, but I don't believe it was on purpose. I also don't believe your friend, set you up."
"Nahh," he agreed, "Jake wouldn't do that kinda shit."
I decided to go out on a limb and ask Todd to recount his story again, "Would you humor me and tell me your recount of the events again in your own words."
Todd rolled his eyes good naturedly and began his tale again.
He was asked by Jake to go to Jake's apartment and get something out of Jake's built-in safe. He had never been to Jake's apartment before. It was a new place. Jake had forgotten it and needed it to be picked up. No, he didn't know what Jake wanted, just a parcel that he left in the case. When he put in the code for the safe, it didn't open, which Todd thought as strange. Jake wouldn't be so careless as to give him the wrong code. He tried it again and it still didn't work. That's when the lady came in screaming about him breaking into her house and pulled the gun out, shooting him.
An idea struck me. Going off of my intuition I asked Todd, "What was the apartment number that you went to?"
Todd's brows wrinkled in confusion, He pulled out a paper from his pocket, "Jake's apartment number is 699." He looked surprised at his own utterance of the number, "Shit." he said quietly.
A lightbulb went off in my head.
"You were in the wrong apartment."
Jake raked his hands through his hair, "I was in the wrong apartment. Fucking dyslexia."
"I read that paper so many times and every time until now I managed to read it as 696."
"Hey, it happens, man. I'm hoping that now that the truth has come out, we can go explain this like adults and all is swept under the bridge."
"Even the part where she shot me?" Todd asked in surprise.
Yeah, even that. I just shook my head at him and went to tell Moira the exciting outcome of this case.
In the end, everything worked out. The lady whose house Jake accidentally broke into admitted to having her door open and to overreacting when she saw Jake there unarmed with his hands up. She apologized and they both decided that it was better to just let the whole thing go.
Now that the riveting case was solved, it was time to go see Ezriah. Apparently he has something to tell me.
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Ezriah was sitting across the room from me looking more open and, dare I say more vulnerable than I had ever seen him. He settled his scorching gaze on me and wasted no time pulling out the punches. "I want you to be my sub."
