Vivian Parker: A Mother's Verdict

March 21, 2022 "Any problem?" The typically jovial Agatha has a worrisome look on her face. She ignores me the first time. Maybe she is lost in her thoughts. I take Naomi inside the classroom to meet her fellow kindergarten mates. "Agatha, why do you look so sad?" I tap her for a better effect. "Oh, sorry Mrs. Parker. I was just thinking about what happened at the hospital." She finally snaps back to reality. "What hospital?" My guard is up now. "You haven't heard yet? The devil was at work last night at the specialist hospital across the street... It's already all over the news. A gory situation to be honest." My nerves are killing me. My husband, Ryan, works in the same hospital. I haven't checked the news today, I rarely do. If something happened, why hasn't Ryan called yet to inform me? Or did anything bad happen to him? "What exactly happened at St. Patrick’s?" I can't stand the speculation anymore. "Oh yeah, that's the name. Doesn't your husband work there too?" Agatha just can't go straight to the point. She has a penchant for long conversations. "Yeah, Naomi's dad works there. What happened there, Agatha?" "I heard that several fellows were killed early this morning. Maybe it was a mental patient running wild or something but the news hasn't shared the full details with the public." She hands over her phone to me. The homepage of the website she's on reads: three confirmed deaths in a shooting in a children's specialist hospital in Seattle. Immediately, I pull out my phone to call my husband. The call isn't going through. Fuck, maybe the police jammed the network at the hospital. My heart is racing now. I need to know if Ryan is okay. It doesn't matter that I am running late for work already. Mr. Clarke, my boss, can go shove his lateness query up his ass. I won't care a bit. Kissing Naomi goodbye, I make a dash for St. Patrick’s. *** The hospital is only a few yards away from the Stenson Pre-school, which Naomi attends. I run down there to see the whole place packed with police vehicles and barricades. A large number of reporters are also on the ground to cover the story. I can see two ambulance vehicles lined up outside. Almost everyone seems to be in a panic. The whole commotion only makes me more anxious. "Officer, my husband is in there. I need to see him." I approach the first police officer I meet. "Sorry ma’am, we can't let anyone inside the clinic for now. Your husband will meet you shortly when we have cleared everyone inside the building." "Deputy Collins, you don't understand. I need to know if my husband is okay. He is a Dr. and was on duty last night. I just need to confirm if he is okay!" I can't control my rising voice. I pick the officer's name from his badge to help my cause. He still won't budge. "Sorry ma’am, we can't let you in. You have to wait outside or go back home. Your husband will be with you shortly." "Okay. Can you help me confirm if he is okay? Just help me confirm that he wasn't part of the person shot or maimed?" I plead further. My eyes are teary now. It's been ages since I felt the way I am feeling now. "Sorry, I can't share such information with you, ma'am. It's classified information for now. We will share everything with the general public when we know everything." Officer Collins won't be of any help to me. Neither will any of the tens of uniformed personnel roaming outside the building. I need to get in myself. That's my best chance at finding Ryan. I walk around to the left wing to find it closed. More people are starting to crowd the entrance of the clinic. Most of them are concerned parents of the clinic's patients. I know my way around the building for Ryan has been working here since I met him. After hundreds of (or maybe up to a thousand?) visits here in the last decade, it is no surprise I understand every entry and exit channel into the building. An idea pops up in my head. The secret emergency staircase at the back. Well, it's only a secret to non-staff of the clinic because Ryan and I have used those stairs for some alone time, especially during the early days of our relationship. I do miss those days. Filled with passion and pure lust. Also back then, we had no parental tag to live up to. While I wouldn't mind going back to those days from the past to live out one of such days, I would never exchange my life from ten or eight years ago for my current life. Now, I have two beautiful children to call mine. After a zillion years of having big brother Jeremy as my only family, I finally have a real family to come back home to every day. With all these in mind, I sneak away from the crowd to the back of the building. Only one officer is at the back. "What are you doing here ma'am? There is no entrance or exit from this end and no one is allowed inside or outside for now." He takes me by surprise. "You're Deputy Donovan, right? Deputy Collins said I might meet you here. My superior, the state's major reporter on this situation will like to speak with you at the front of the building." My sharp eyes come in handy once again. Reading off a stranger's name tag is a skill set of mine that has helped me on numerous occasions in the past. Today is no different. "Oh, the state's major reporter wants to speak with me? Where's he?" He appears to believe the lie. "Not a he. It’s a she. But thanks for assuming anyway." "Oh sorry for that ma'am. Just an honest mistake." He shrugs off my complaint with little concern. We walk together toward the building's main entrance. I make sure to stay behind him and reduce my walking pace as he walks further. When the gap between us is more than ten yards apart, I make a U-turn back to the rear of the building. He must have been elated about being interviewed by an important reporter that he never noticed my absence. Discerning the secret passage is an easy task. Underneath the large tarpaulin covering meant to shield the sewage pipes, lies a small green door. It's always left open. Finally, I am inside the hospital building! Wasting no time, I hurry up the stairs to the fifth floor where Ryan's office is situated. The entire fifth floor is empty when I get there. The ER section, the private offices of the doctors, and even the staff lobby room. I check every one of them to the last one. Where could they all be? "The whole staff is downstairs on the first floor undergoing interrogation. You shouldn't be here, ma'am." I turn around to see that the strange voice is a police officer. How many are here? At this rate, I won't be surprised to know that the entire police force of Seattle is here. "I just came to pick something from my office. I will be down there in a bit." "Okay, you can go ahead. I will wait until you're done and escort you back to your colleagues." Sorting out the key to Ryan's office from my spare key bunch is no easy task. I fumble at four attempts of mismatched keys. "Having a problem there, ma'am?" The poke-nosing officer must have figured out the weirdness around me. "Sorry, Officer Hillary. All the troubles from hours ago just make me a whole mess. I can't even sort my own office key." I laugh hysterically. He must be feeling that something is wrong with me upstairs. After the next fumble, I finally get it right. Ryan's office door is open to my delight. I enter inside and shut the door behind me. Knowing that the officer might be eavesdropping from the outside, I manage to keep my ramblings inside my head. Five minutes of reflection on the sofa helps me gather my cool. "Officer Hillary, I am done now. Let's get back to the rest of my colleagues then." I announce to the frowning officer. We take an elevator down to the ground floor. I can see a dozen doctors and nurses hanging around in groups of threes and fours. Other hospital staff were down here too in a queue outside the reception room. I head over to join the closest group from the elevator. "Where's Ryan?" "The best attorney in the whole country! How did you manage to come in? I thought no one was allowed..." "...shush. Not now, Jaden." I cut him off. Officer Hillary is yet to leave so I can't risk being caught. I glance back to see the officer squeezing his face. Maybe he heard it all. We lock eyes for a split second before he heads back to the elevator. "Where's Ryan, Jaden?" I ask again, ignoring the greetings of the others. "I saw him not long ago at the other end. He should be around here except he just got to his turn." "What turn?" "His turn to enter the interrogation room. The police are questioning every one of us in turns." "Thanks, Jaden. Got to go find him." Jaden winks at me as I leave. I breathe a sigh of relief. At least, I can confirm that Ryan is safe. As I walk through the floor in search of my husband, my initial fear no longer lingers. A new fear has awakened. I look so different compared to everyone around here. While the doctors and nurses are moving around in their dazzling white gowns, I am suited up like a corporate lady. The other staff like the janitors and care-workers have their uniforms too. It won't take much time for one of the numerous officers around to notice that I don't belong here. "Vivian?" The voice I long for calls out my name. I turn away from the all-female group I had been speaking with, my disguise plan, to see Ryan walking towards me. He looks very down. "Ryan. I had to rush down here immediately after I heard what happened." I leap into his embrace. Warm and nerve-calming, I really need that hug. "We will soon be dismissed by the police in about a few minutes time. How did you get in here?" His look doesn't match his question. He already knows the answer. "You passed the secret emergency door, didn't you?" I smile. I feel like my naughty fifteen-year-old self again. "So what happened here, Ryan?" His face changes to a more worrisome look. "It's just all messed up. Leon Pierce is dead." "Leon Pierce is dead? Leon, the clinic's director?" My raised voice brings some sneaky eyes toward us. "Yeah. He was shot around five this morning. Also two nurses got shot too. Gabriel and sweet Mrs. Williams. They are all confirmed dead now." Ryan shivers as he speaks. "And have they caught the murderer?" I ask the most pressing question that comes to my mind. He looks at me blankly without any reply. He is starting to cry now. Silently, tears drip down the corner of his eyes. "What's the matter, Ryan?" His continuous silence makes me more anxious. "Please, clear the way. All persons should stay away from the center of the passage!" An announcement is made over the speakers. Half-a-dozen of police officers emerge from the outdoor patients' consultation room. A man in his white gown emerges with them. He is in cuffs. Oh, my God! It's Bennett! Our very own Bennett Stoll is being dragged by the police like a criminal. Now I understand why Ryan couldn't say a word earlier. No word can describe what just happened. Or even what is about to happen next.

News of Bennett's arrest soon hit the general public. He is being accused of killing three staff of the hospital. Leon Pierce, a fifty-year-old man, and director of the clinic; Gabriel Prinsten, a thirty-year-old man, a nurse; Tolu Williams, a forty-two-year-old woman, also a nurse. They were all on night duty along with my husband yesterday. Now they are no more. I can't stay focused throughout my working hours. My mind just can't stop thinking of what would have led our charming Bennett Stoll to be the major suspect in such a gory case. Watching him taken away by the police was a heart-wrenching scene. I wonder how much worse it would have felt for Ryan. After all, they are each other's life buddies. Kathryn is with me in my office. A good friend of mine, she's here to pacify me as usual. Kathryn Torison is a junior partner who specializes in marital settlements and divorce cases. A strong and confident black woman. Her type is rare around Johnson Cobman LLP. She had joined the firm six years ago. Just a month after I resumed my maternity leave for Naomi's birth. Kathryn and I worked on a complicated marital case together involving a client of mine. From there, our chemistry kicked in. She has been my closest friend from the office ever since. Maybe the similarities between us helped foster our friendship. Kathryn is four years older than me, at forty-three years. She is a career mom just like me. We both have two young children. Kathryn had shared with me the story of how her career took a hit while at her previous firm. The successive birth of her daughters within a two-year span, plus the maternity leaves, meant she came back to a much-changed environment. A new boss and being left behind in the promotion chain. She blames herself for not putting up a fight for her career back then. Instead, she quit and joined Johnson Cobman LLP at thirty-seven. At the early stage of our friendship, Kathryn was always advising me about not making the same mistakes she made. Maybe her advice helped, for my career took a positive turn when I started dropping them, babies. My senior partner title and career earnings in millions of dollars both serve as evidence of a successful career so far. "Don't beat yourself up about the whole thing. Might be a false alarm. Let's just wait until we have the full information." Kathryn makes another attempt to pacify me. I give her the same response as her past attempt - silence. I need to be alone or better still, with Ryan. Not chitchatting with my office pal. How I wish Kathryn would understand me. "Mr. Clarke didn't give you the Morrison case, right? He is such an asshole. After the effort you put into the preliminary case, he just ignores you for the main thing. He hands the big cases to his work son, Jamie, as always. Such a prick." Kathryn's change of strategy gets me speaking. The Jamie bait is too good to ignore. "Well, when he loses the case once again like he typically does, it won't affect my take-home pay. So it's not my business." I frown. "Well it's your business, Vivian. You both are rivals in the criminal department. Won't look good for you if he keeps getting the bigger case out of favoritism." She argues back. Jamie is junior to me in terms of experience and ability. Mr. Clarke took a liking to him after he joined our firm three and a half years ago. I was about to embark on my maternity leave when Jamie was employed. The company needed more help in criminal law due to my intended absence. Coming from a rival top firm, as a junior partner, he worked under my supervision for a few months before the commencement of my leave. I came back six months after to find a new Jamie with equal status and responsibilities to me. In recent times, it looks like he might surpass me. "Well, that isn't my concern for now. Just need to hear back from Ryan. He hasn't called since he got home." Kathryn looks at me in pity. I am shaken to the core. It's pretty obvious to see. "Maybe he needs some time to reflect. We are talking about him witnessing his best friend being accused of multiple murders. And all this happened while in the same building. Let the man have some alone time to think." She pats me on my hair. Kathryn leaves my office thereafter. I spend the rest of the workday browsing online for more information about the incident. Multiple international news outlets have been dropping more insights on the case. It is said that the murder weapon was found in the suspect's possession - Bennett. The same gun was used to shoot the three victims multiple times. All the information I could get doesn't paint a good picture of Bennett. I still can't believe he really killed three of his colleagues out of the blue. Finally, four o'clock strikes. It's time to go home. I make a stop at Jacy's daycare to pick him up on my way back from work. I feel maybe Ryan might have forgotten to do that. He didn't. I am told that Ryan had come earlier by noon, as usual, to pick up Jacy. He is such a reliable father and husband. I shouldn't have doubted him, I shrug, as I drive back home. *** I arrive home to see Jacy and Naomi watching their favorite cartoon show. "Where's your father, Naomi?" "He is in his study. Daddy doesn't look happy, Mommy," she answers. "It's just a minor issue. Don't worry, honey. Your father will be fine. Have you guys eaten?" "Yeah. Daddy made pancakes and omelets for us. It tastes better than yours, Mommy." Her opinion of Ryan being a better cook than me is correct. He has always been a great cook even though he rarely enters the kitchen. I kiss my two children before heading upstairs. I want to check the kitchen to see if there are any pancakes left but change my mind. It's no use. The Ford-Parkers aren't ones to leave any remnants of a sumptuous meal. We devour anything delicious on sight. They would have done the same thing to Ryan's late lunch. I walk down straight to my husband's personal study. There he sits on his wooden chair, reading over some book. "Having a tough day, darling?" He sighs, turning to face me. "Or do you still need more time alone?" I add. "No, not that. Just struggling to understand the whole thing. Can't figure out why someone would frame Bennett for those deaths. He obviously didn't kill anyone. He never would." He is still carrying that worrisome look. "Have you spoken to him since his arrest?" "I am not his attorney or family. The police didn't allow me to talk with him. I pleaded with those guys for hours, Vivian. They never budged." "They wouldn't. Just normal legal protocol. Seems the state prosecution is already calling Bennett the prime suspect. They will be charging him for those murders any moment now." Ryan looks more pissed now. "Whoever framed Bennett to take the fall certainly did a good job." "And how do you know that it was an attempt to frame Bennett up? Who kills three people just to frame up a guy?" I am forced to ask for Ryan's conclusion about the case doesn't sit well with me. I expect Ryan to at least reflect some benefit of the doubt. Not this shoo-in approach that acquits Bennett of any wrongdoing whatsoever. "What else can it be? Or are you proposing that Bennett might have actually killed those people? Some people, that works with him for over five years? You do know who Bennett is right? Hope you know who we are talking about here, Vivian?" He goes all defensive. His reaction is one I expect. Ryan and Bennett have been friends right from their college years together. They entered the same medical school and have been on a similar career path ever since. So I understand why my husband might not be the most rational mind to discuss this case with. I struggle to come up with a befitting reply. I don't want to anger Ryan the more. I also won't buy into his argument that Bennett is completely clean of the charges against him. Except Ryan can show me a concrete reason why he feels so. "So why do you feel Bennett is being framed?" This is the best response I can come up with. "Why? It's fucking Bennett we're talking about. Vivian! Bennett Stoll, the mid-aged man who can't kill a cockroach, talk more of owning a gun. You aren't seriously thinking that he might have done it. Are you?" He looks right into my eyes. His eyeballs never move an inch as he searches into my soul for the answer to his question. "You do think that, right?" He finally gets his answer. "I am only being rational here, Ryan. I am an attorney for God's sake. What do you expect of me? Jumping to conclusions without hearing the whole damn story?" I argue back. I only manage to increase Ryan's anger. He is boiling. I can see thick veins sprouting on his forehead. This is my reward for questioning the integrity of our family's closest friend. At the earlier stage of our marriage. It felt like I had married two best friends. Bennett seemed everywhere. I guess the inclusion of Naomi and Jacy into our family meant Bennett had to take a less prominent role. He never liked kids after all. What an irony for he works in a specialist children's hospital! Ryan ignores me. I stand there for a couple more minutes but he never says any more words. He has buried himself back into his book. Taking the hint, I leave for my room. I need a hot bath anyway. We can continue our talk over dinner. *** Our home is exactly what Ryan and I dreamt of. It is a decent structure with lovely internal decorations of our choice. The whole house is spacious enough to accommodate the running around of our kids. Just like we had imagined during our earlier dating years. In the kitchen, I make dinner with our kids lending me their helping hands. Bowls of cooked spaghetti, meatballs, chicken sauce, and green peas are nicely set on the dining table. After Ryan had joined us, I propose to Naomi to lead us in reciting the prayer before meal - Catholic style. "Are you both fighting?" Naomi must be smart to observe that we are ignoring each other for the better part of the dinner. "Why would Mommy and Daddy be fighting?" Asks little Jacy. "We aren't fighting kids. Just some misunderstanding that will be sorted out very soon. Daddy and Mommy will be okay and back to our usual self in no time." I take the initiative to explain to our kids. "Mommy, did Daddy make you angry? If he did, I will fight him for you like Superman fights the bad guys in Justice League." Jacy won't stop talking. I laugh at his childish thinking. It's nice to know that I have a son who is willing to fight for me. How comforting to hear that. "I will fight for Daddy instead. Me and Daddy will beat you and Mommy. Daddy is stronger than Mommy while I am stronger than you, Jacy." Naomi joins in the childish talks. She loves siding against her brother. They continue chatting over dinner despite my plea for them to observe their table manners. Later on, I leave the kids to enjoy their banter. Ryan finishes his dinner without saying a word. He is probably still annoyed yet I know that he would still come around very soon... Once everyone is done, I ask our kids to clear the table. Now alone with Ryan, I break the ice. "We still need to talk, Ryan. Why can't you understand my point of reasoning?" "I agree that you're a lawyer. So your rational mind is always on every time. But if it was Jeremy in the exact shoes that Bennett is currently in, would you propose that he might be guilty?" I shamefully look at the ground. Ryan is right. If it was Jeremy - my big brother - in question, I would definitely be on the defensive too. "I get your point, darling." I concede. "So why don't you take up Bennett's case? You're one of the best lawyers in this state. Bennett would need your help fighting those state guys." Ryan walks toward me. I lift my head toward his. Eyes locked into each other's, I am sure in my weakest defense. "I can't, darling." "Why not? Bennett won't mind. I am sure of that." "We are friends and close ones. With our relationship, I don't think I will be of the right mind to pursue this case. You know that the best lawyer is one with a rational mind. Someone with no attachment to Bennett will do a better job defending his case." I expect Ryan to find loopholes in my argument. He always does. "Your friendship with Bennett will only help increase your passion to get him acquitted. Which is a win-win situation for us. Wouldn't you defend Jeremy if he was the one in the police custody?" Not the Jeremy card again. Ryan is playing dirty here. He made use of my ride-or-die attachment to my brother, to help his argument. I don't have any more genuine reason to avoid Bennett's case. So reluctantly, I accept his proposal. "Alright, you win. I will speak with Bennett first thing tomorrow morning to hear his story. From then, I will take his case if he is cooperative."

Washington State Detention Facility, Seattle. "I am here for my client, Dr. Bennett Stoll," I announce to the front-desk officer. A brown-haired female deputy in her mid-thirties is the one who attends to me. "Dr. Stoll got a new lawyer? I thought a lawyer already spoke with him yesterday." I ignore her question while searching for a document in my bag. "Do you have an appointment to speak with him, ma'am?" I finally find the document. It’s an attorney agreement signaling Bennett as my client. I hand it over to her. "Can I speak with my client now or do you need to ask for permission from your superior first?" I give her a smirk. "Tony, get this lady cleared. She is here for the killer Dr." She passes me to another colleague of hers at the checkpoint. Body searches have become a routine thing for me. The male officer didn't bother to check my bust or waist regions for obvious reasons. What if I had decided to sneak in something illegal for my client? I guess these officers don't care. Another officer leads me to an empty room. "Your client will join you soon. He's already on his way here." His words don't hold their worth for Bennett only comes in about twenty minutes later. Police and time-wasting, the former always assures the latter. "You can leave us alone now." I ask for our privacy once Bennett has settled into his seat. We sit opposite each other with the large metal table in between. The silence that grows after we have our privacy makes me the more nervous. I clear my throat aloud, to get back a sense of calmness. I will definitely need it going forward. "Hey, Bennett. How are you holding up here?" I go first. He laughs under his breath. "I am pretty much fucked up, Vivian. Can't you see it yourself?" He chuckles again. "Well, I wouldn't say you're fucked up. At least not yet. We still have a trial to face before we get to know if you're gonna be fucked up or not. I doubt that you will. At least if you're honest with me, Bennett." He avoids eye contact with me as I speak. It's a bad sign. Maybe he's trying to hide something from me? I am sure to find out later in our conversation. "You aren't even my lawyer, Vivian. So what are you doing here? I already got a lawyer helping me out." "I am your lawyer, Bennett. I have always been and will defend you in this case. It's not my will. Ryan wants it this way." I hit back. "And Ryan gets whatever he wants, right? Like he got you that time?" Bennett laughs louder this time around. I understand his remark. That's a story for another day. I don't have time for revisiting healed wounds. I only have some twenty minutes more with him. I need to make do with the little time left. "Can we just forget about our shit? Ryan begged me to take your case, Bennett. I am your best bet here. Using a state lawyer as your attorney for this case will only make you end up in jail." I argue further. He is still unfazed. "I know that you're one of the best lawyers around, Vivian. I just don't want to get you or your family involved in all this shit. It's my own shit so I am gonna have to dig my ass out of this one alone. You got to understand me, Viv." His face has gone soft now. He no longer carries the hard look from his entrance earlier. Using my pet name also strengthens his emotion. "Why don't you want me involved in this case? Is there anything you aren't telling me?" I am starting to get worried. "What happened that morning, Bennett? Did you kill anyone?" He goes into another long silence. Now my curiosity is getting the best of my initial fear. "If you don't talk, I will still take up your case. It doesn't matter if you won't cooperate with me. I am still your lawyer, Bennett." "Then I will have to fire you and get another lawyer. Just go home, Vivian. Apologize to Ryan and tell him I didn't want you to take my case. I will be fine on my own." His body language fails to match his last statement. Bennett looks like he has already accepted defeat. Condemned to spend a large chunk of his life behind the bars of a prison cell. "You can go ahead and fire me. But know that your best chance of getting acquitted of all charges is out of the window. Go ahead with it so that I can take my leave." I close my jotter and stand up from my seat. "Just get it all done, Bennett." He delays his decision. He probably has a lot to think about so I give him a couple of minutes alone with his thoughts. "So what is it gonna be, Bennett?" "You're sure you can get me out of here, Vivian?" I now have his full attention. "Of course. I will do whatever it takes to get you out. You just have to be completely honest with me." He nods in the affirmative. Gulping audibly, he looks me right in the eyes. "What do you want to know?" "First, let's start with what happened that morning. Tell me how it all went down. The whole truth, Bennett." His eyes wander about as he narrates his story. "Well it all started from the rumors going around that the hospital management was considering naming me the new director of the clinic. Pierce was getting demoted from his role due to claims of misappropriation of resources. As the rumors grew stronger, Pierce started picking up fights with me. He hated my guts. Maybe he felt I was after his job whereas I wasn't." Bennett stops to wipe his sweaty face across his shoulder. His cuffed hands don't make it convenient for him. "That morning at around half past four, Pierce called for me to his office. I arrived there to meet two other nurses in a meeting with him. I joined. There, he started accusing the three of us that we were the ones responsible for the missing drugs. We argued back and forth and I decided to leave for my office in annoyance. I left the others in the director's office. I hadn't even spent up to ten minutes in my office when one of the nurses, Gabriel, came in. He said he wanted to talk but something felt weird about him. I was even on a call when he came in, thereby interrupting my call. It was then that Gabriel brought out the gun to threaten me." Bennett's hands are shaking now. I already had my recorder on so there's no need to jot down anything. "What did he threaten you about?" I urge him to finish his story. "He said I needed to keep shut and deny everything that just happened. I asked him what happened. Then he confessed to me that he had killed Pierce and the other nurse. Pierce had brought damaging evidence against Gabriel so he pulled out his gun and shot him. He had to kill the other lady nurse to protect himself. While he was talking, I figured that he would kill me next too. So I caught him unaware and grabbed at the gun. It was during our struggle that I pulled the gun's trigger. I shot Gabriel right in his chest. He died almost immediately. I...I..." Bennett struggles to come up with another sentence. His stuttering grows as his story gets deeper. He is still yet to finish so I encourage him once again. "What else happened after Gabriel was shot?" "I didn't mean to kill the man. It was self-defense, Vivian. Then I panicked. I went to confirm Gabriel's claims. Inside the director's office, I found Pierce grasping for his life. Williams, the lady nurse, was already dead. I didn't know what else to do. I was scared. So I tried to escape and run. But someone had already checked the director's office and called in the police. It was during my attempt to leave that the police caught me." He manages to complete his story. "How did the police know that you were the one when you attempted the escape?" I have to ask this question to satisfy my intuition. "The police didn't exactly know that I was their guy when they took me in. They had closed down the whole exit points when I got downstairs. Then one officer saw me and told me to join a queue of some clinic staff. It was during my second attempt to sneak away that an officer arrested me. Further investigation around the clinic that morning made them discover Gabriel's body and the gun in my office. So they had to arrest me as the prime suspect. That's how I found myself here, Vivian." I breathe a sigh of relief. Not that I believe his story one hundred percent. But I can finally hold on to the hope that he is innocent. If his story checks out to be true, I believe we have a solid defense case here. "So you shot at Gabriel as an act of self-defense, right?" I ask. "Yes. Now I wish I never did. I wish I never even fought the man. I wish I left my life at his mercy." Bennett is now crying. His sobs are loud. Alerting the officers outside to make a quick check of what was going on. "Any problem, ma'am? Any problem, mister?" The younger officer asks while peeping through the door. "No problem. My client is just emotional from narrating his story." "Is that true, mister?" He still wants to get Bennett's confirmation. "Yeah, she's right. I just got emotional." "Keep the crying lower. Kind of a bad cry anyway. Hate to hear a grown-ass man weep like some toddler." He winks at Bennett before closing the door. Immediately, he opens it back to say something else. "Also, attorney, your time is almost up. Just gonna give you guys five more minutes to clear things up." With our privacy now back in place, I know that I just have to round up today's session. "Thanks for sharing everything with me. I will try to gather more evidence on your case and get back to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, stay strong for us." "Even you don't believe my story. You think it's just a made up shit, right? Like the police?" "You have told the police your story already?" I ignore his first question. This is more important. "Yes, they interrogated me and I told them a similar version to the one I just told you." "How similar?" I need to know exactly what knowledge the prosecution team will be working with. "Say like ninety percent similar. Is that bad?" "Yeah, kinda. Don't speak with anyone about this case again going forward. Not even your close friends or family. And definitely not the police. We will see before your initial hearing date." I proceed to park my things for I am ready to leave. "When is the initial hearing date?" I can sense the concern in his voice. "On the twenty-fourth of March. Meaning this Thursday. Just two days away." He doesn't seem pleased with my reply. The officers have now come in. "Your session is over." The younger one announces. "Yeah, I know. Stay strong for us, Bennett. I should have something for you on my next visit." I watch as the two officers drag him back to his cell. Hands in cuffs and legs in chains, a once reputable man is made to look like a common criminal. Hopefully, he won't be in here for long.