Hellcat

Chapter Thirty-Two

Foggy sighed heavily, looking through the files that had been brought to us. "It's worse than I thought," he mumbled, setting the papers back on the empty hospital bed we were currently using as a work station. "Thirty-seven separate murder charges. What about you?" he asked, glancing at me and Karen. We had been digging through all of the charges and paperwork related to the Punisher case. "Uh, 98 lesser..." Karen started with a sigh. "I mean, felony assault, burglary..." she started as I continued through the papers. "Criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment," she paused, shaking her head. "And any number of criminal mischief charges," I added with a sigh of my own.

"We're so screwed," Foggy mumbled, shaking his head as fear flashed through his eyes. "You ready to go in?" Karen asked him, keeping her voice soft. "No. But considering the arraignment's in a couple hours, we don't have much of a choice," he told us with reluctant resolve. "If its Frank Castle you're scared of, don't be. He's tied down, probably too weak to fight. But if he tries anything, you got me to kick his ass," I tried to tease, resting a hand on Foggy's shoulder in the hopes that it would ease his worries. He gave a small nod as Karen gathered up her files and stood from the edge of the bed. "Time to play twenty questions with a killer," Foggy huffed out, voice quivering slightly.

"I've reviewed the charges you're facing," Foggy started as we stood in front of Frank Castle, careful not to get too close to the red tape. "It's my understanding that you wish to plead guilty to all of them?" he continued, trying to keep his voice steady. But I could hear the nervousness in his words, and I knew Frank could too. But Frank didn't answer, just stared at me through half-open eyes. "I'm gonna need a... verbal confirmation if we're gonna continue," Foggy said simply. The room remained silent for a long moment before Foggy let out a frustrated chuckle.

"Look, you asked us to represent you. In order to do my job –" he started to explain when Frank interrupted him. "I'm guilty," he responded plainly. "Great, uh..." Foggy stammered. "I'm not talking to you," Frank spoke up once more, eyes still locked on me. "What?" Foggy asked in confusion. "Her," was Frank's reply. "I need to talk to her alone," he added. "Absolutely not," Foggy protested. "It's fine, Foggy. He won't hurt me," I said, glancing back at him.

Karen stood from the chair she had been sitting in, looking at me as if I was crazy. "What are you doing?" she whispered to me as Foggy came and joined us. "Let me do this," I responded, gently taking her notepad and pen from her. "Matt will be... I don't even know what he'll be if I let you talk to him alone and something happens," Foggy said, keeping his voice low even though it was shrill with worry. "I can handle myself. Nothing is going to happen. Now, if we want to get anything out of him, you need to leave," I insisted, glancing between the two of them. Karen was the first to nod, taking Foggy's arm and heading for the door. He followed begrudgingly, almost dragging his feet.

When they were gone, I stood near the end of Frank's bed, mindful of the tape. "If you're feeling up to it, I think that –" I started with Karen's notes when he interrupted me. "My family. What do you know?" he asked me. "We can get to that later," I said, glancing up at him before returning my gaze to Karen's notes. "What do you know... about my family?" he asked, voice stern and sharp while still not as strong as I'm sure he meant to sound.

"Uh, Karen has all of our paperwork on your family, but..." I trailed off, heading for the stack of papers she left on the chair. Digging through, I found a copy of a police report. "Have you ever seen this? Police report, complaint number 211974." He didn't respond so I went on to read the report. "Victims were stopped at a traffic light northbound on Buellton Ave, when an unidentified male suspect began firing a 9mm handgun at their vehicle. Juvenile male, juvenile female, and adult woman were found dead at the scene. Adult male driver was critically wounded and taken to Metro-General," I read from the report.