Paint the town red

Chapter LI

On Monday, when I came to the station, the first thing I did wasn't go to my office, but to Frederick. I wanted to know if he had received a notice with the date of the court, and if there were any complaints from the D.A's office. So even without leaving my outerwear, I was already knocking on the door of the boss's office. He reacted almost immediately and when I heard the familiar "Come in!", I immediately opened the door and entered the office I had known for a long time. Frederick himself had recently come to the station, so his office still smelled of our coffee machine.

"Did you want something?"

"Yes, I wanted to... I wanted to find out about the court date."

"Oh, that's..."

He took out one of the still-closed envelopes on the table and handed it to me. Fred told me to open it, because he hadn't had time to sort out the morning mail himself yet. Taking a paper knife from a glass on the boss's desk, I carefully opened the envelope and took out a sheet. I spread out the sheet and read that the court hearing for Max's case is scheduled for this Friday.

"Well, when will the court be?"

"On Friday."

"Pretty fast. I told you that you prepared the case well, so the D.A's office immediately launched it."

"And the subpoenas? Should I deliver them, call them, or mail them?"

"We'll send them out ourselves, and you better prepare for the court itself."

I nodded, and Fred sat down at his desk, after which he told me to sit down too. I sat down, and after waiting for a short moment, he sighed and looked at me with regret.

"I should've taken you off the case so they'd leave you alone now."

"I would've been called in for questioning anyway."

"For questioning, alone. And in court. And you wouldn't have to see Verstappen so much."

I bit my lip from the inside, and Fred added that he saw how anxious I was after each interrogation, and that Liam went to bring me to my senses every time. He said that I could be absent in the courtroom while the hearing was going on, but only come to testify and then immediately leave to avoid worries, but I refused. By some miracle, I managed to assure him that I'd be fine and would've no problems staying there from start to finish. It's probably easy to lie to people when you don't believe a single gram in your own words.

We would've talked with Fred longer, but he got a call, and I didn't want to bother him with my presence, so I quietly said goodbye and left the office. It's time to go to my office to take a look at the case and refresh my memory with details that will be useful to me at the court.

The rest of the day passed quite calmly: Mick came to me to sign the interrogation protocols, then Esteban and Logan came and asked how things were going, and, of course, Liam came by. I didn't have a very long conversation with everyone, because I still hoped to work, so after talking for at most twenty minutes, I tried to subtly hint that it was time for them to go. Thank God they understood this and retreated from my office.

Tuesday was no less calm, except that there were fewer visits, but there were many times more phone calls. The families of the victims were served with subpoenas and they all started calling and asking for details that I cannot disclose yet. But after the call from Pierre's mother and her words that I kept my word and caught her son's killer, I wanted to burst into tears right in the office. Of course, I didn't allow myself such weakness in the workplace, but at night emotions came over me again and I just lay and sobbed into my pillow. The feeling of helplessness, doom, incredible pain and overwhelming longing came over me again, so I just gave free rein to my emotions.