Time Stands Still

Chapter 18

I decided to invite Simona to come over under the guise of a relaxed evening with some wine, but she probably also knew that it was to tell her news about the case. She wasn't stupid and she really knew me too well.

Simona was already waiting in the parking lot when I finally arrived from my relatively short workday. Rhys had sent me home earlier in order to stop me from procrastinating from telling the news to Simona. I still took a slight detour.

Simona stepped out of her blue jeep and walked towards me with bold steps. I was surprised how she could still be so confident despite the news that I was about to tell her.

"So should I already drink something before I get the news or do you think that I can handle the news without any help?" She asked me. A smile was playing on her lips, but her squinting eyes told me that she was worried.

"I think that you might need the help," I admitted.

Simona's smile got bigger, but her eyes remained squinted. "Let's drink then," she laughed a little, but it sounded too forced. "It's what we always do anyway."

So when we walked in, I grabbed a white wine from my fridge that I had already bought the previous day. I had already known that whatever I was going to find out, was not going to be great news.

We both had two glasses. She talked about some of her clients, while also trying to ask if any of them had anything to do with the notes. I quickly reassured her before talking about some of the cases that I had finished. We both needed a laugh.

"Okay, lay it on me," she said as she finished her last sip.

I sighed. "Well, it's Fernando." I blinked. Never had I been so blunt before.

"Fernando, my cousin Fernando," she asked.

"Uh huh," was my elegant reply.

She started to laugh then. I couldn't help but frown. I felt stupid. It's like I had missed a hilarious joke. Simona took notice of my expression and quickly stopped laughing, but the face splitting smile remained on her face. "I could have heard that without the wine."

I frowned. "So you don't care?"

Simona shrugged. "Well, I still want it to stop, because quite frankly he is creeping me the fuck out, but I don't care that it's him, you know?"

"No, I don't really know," I told her with a firm shake of my head.

She rolled her eyes. "Look, Fernando and I have never liked each other, okay? He was always a douchebag and creeper to me when I was younger. I think that he creeped everybody out in the family."

"Oh." It seemed like all intelligent vocabulary had left my mind.

"So it doesn't really surprise me that he is the one to do this. He is probably mad that I split up the family. He always got mad and violent at anyone trying to ruin the family. So nothing new, but he's still kind of dangerous. I'd really appreciate if you can make sure that he stays the hell away from me."

I frowned before nodding. "But then you'll have to go the police with me."

Her eyes suddenly flashed in anger. "You know that I hate going to the police. You can absolutely forget it," her voice was raised but she wasn't screaming yet.

"I don't really like the policer either, okay? But they do help, you know. They can at least get you a restraining order and if he violates it, he'll go to prison. That's the best plan I have right now. Everything else would be plain illegal," I told her in a slightly raised voice as well. I hated punishing people myself. It reminded me a little too much about the Razor Company.