Metropolis - Lower 56th Prison Conference Room

Tuesday, May 5th, 2089 | 2:53pm

After they reached one of the precincts conference rooms, the guard came to a halt. They waited again as he went through the process of opening the door through retinal identification. Chris had to force herself to stand still and keep her hands at her sides. She wanted to wring them in discomfort, but she didn’t want to let on any weaknesses, at least not in front of people she didn’t know. Chris had signed on to give Castiel Suerte a shot, but she had no idea who he was or what he wanted. So far, she hadn’t been able to get a good read on him.

Unlike her, he stood ramrod straight and still as he waited for the guard to finish opening the door. When he noticed Chris’ surveillance of him, he looked at her and flashed her a grin Chris knew would melt dozens of hearts in an instant. Fortunately, hers wasn’t one of them. The situation being what it was, left no room for fanciful thoughts of romance. Seeing as her sister was still MIA as far as she was concerned, his relaxed attitude was actually grating on her nerves a bit.

Having had the walk from the cell to consider her new predicament, Chris was now sure there was something fishy going on. The man was in his mid-thirties as far as Chris could tell which probably meant that he wasn’t an entry-level lawyer at his firm. In fact, his clothes already went a long way in proving the exact opposite on their own. With his high-end brand-less suit, this man would never have been in charge of a mandatory pro-bono case. He was here because he wanted to be. So the real question was why.

Chris couldn’t think of a reason why she would be of interest to anyone, much less anyone as high-end as this man obviously was. She considered the storage locker paintings for half a second before immediately shooting the possibility down. Being poor, she’d chosen run-of-the-mill self-storage with minimal security procedures in place. If someone knew what was in there and wanted access to it, they’d just need a free afternoon and some bolt-cutters, no need to stage a crime and send her to jail.

She watched the lawyer carefully as the guard messed up his input sequence and had to start the time consuming process all over. It gave her enough time to realize that if Suerte was as wealthy as she assumed he was, then he must have some ulterior motive for helping her. Money is power and powerful people always have an ulterior motive, Chris just couldn’t see how she factored into any of it. If he was as rich as he seemed, then he probably didn’t even work the usual fifteen hours a week. With his apparent status, he could almost forego work altogether if he so pleased.

If a man like him was willing to sacrifice a whole day’s work on her… Well, she didn’t have an answer for that. Men like him just didn’t do things like that unless there was something in it for them or they were somehow forced to…. That thought gave her pause as she considered the possibility of a much greater power behind the scenes, but as her mind headed for the suspicious conspiracy theory paths it had learned during her years of mind-numbing work, she decided it was time to retrace her steps and wait until she knew more. As if agreeing with the decision, the door then finally beeped in acquiescence to the guard’s second attempt.

The room behind the door was different but identical to the one she’d visited earlier in the week with Barry. It was windowless and bare with the exception of a steel table and four chairs, all of which were bolted to the ground. The only decoration that added some color into the room was the flashing red light on the camera in the corner. Suerte stepped aside and motioned Chris into the room. The man truly was a specimen of impeccable chivalry. Most girls would have blushed at the beautiful man’s dashing smile, Chris nodded and walked by him, into the room.

As she made her way around the table, he followed her in and closed the door, leaving the guards to fend for themselves outside. The moment the solid metal door closed, they were allowed complete privacy for an hour. The camera in the corner would be visually recording everything that happened, but anything they said would remain confidential. Trying to settle down, she took a deep breath and tried to be less suspicious of her lawyer. There was always a possibility that he was exactly who he claimed to be without a hidden agenda. Maybe she just needed to accept good fortune as it came her way for the very first time in a very long time.

Suerte took a seat opposite from her, opened his suit button with a smooth practiced motion and once more smiled at her as he laid down his briefcase. Any more smiles and she would be sick. He took out a stack of folders and neatly placed them in front of him. Every move he made was meticulous and thought out. Despite herself, she got caught up in the graceful movements of the Herculean man and before she noticed she was staring straight at him, and he was staring right back.

“S-so, how does this work?” she stammered, trying to cover up the discomfort she felt. She hadn’t expected to be caught staring like a teenage moonstruck girl.

“Well,” he said, smiling indulgently, “usually when a lawyer and a client get together, they discuss the case and the strategy they will take in court if and when it comes to that.”

Suerte gave her a moment to let his words sink in, steepling his perfectly manicured fingers in front of him as he waited. Chris eyed him suspiciously, still not being able to shake off the feeling of dread she’d acquired on their way from the holding cell.

“Usually.”

He nodded.

“But not today,” she said, probing.

It was a test. She wanted him to refute her, to tell him that he really was just there to represent her interests, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that a man like him would never come help her. At least not without something in return.

Chris held her breath, waiting for the charming lawyer’s response, but the way he raised his brows in surprise already told her more than enough. She was right, there was no such thing as altruistic philanthropy.

“Well…” he hedged, “Why don’t we talk about your case first.”

Chris straightened her back against the chair and set up her usual defenses, masking her emotions as well as she could, which unfortunately wasn’t very well at all. As a child, she’d always worn her heart on her sleeve and although she’d gotten better at keeping her feelings to herself over the years, she’d never been able to completely shake the expressiveness she’d inherited from her father.

“Alright,” Chris said, “Let’s.”

She crossed her arms, instinctively setting up a defense barrier between herself and her new potential enemy. Meanwhile, Suerte took out a black little stick and held it out for her to see.

“Mind if I put this meeting on the record?”

Chris pursed her lips, and considered. She couldn’t see him using anything she said against her, especially since she was innocent, if anything it could actually help her. Depending on what it was Suerte wanted from her and what he said on record…

“Do I get a copy?”

He smiled, but said, “No.”

She appreciated the straightforward answer without bullshit excuses.

“Didn’t think so,” she muttered and shrugged before saying, “Yeah, sure. Go ahead, don’t see why not.”

He nodded his thanks, activated it and set the slim black stick aside, about a hand's-width apart from the folder stack. He placed it in perfect parallel without even looking at it. Chris shifted her eyes back to the folders and saw how neatly the pages were all bundled together. It looked like a stack of freshly unpacked paper, the kind you’re usually never able to go back to. Her eyes then wandered back to the man for a closer examination of his person.

There wasn’t a hair out of place on the perfect head of voluminous hair. His eyebrows were perfectly sculpted and his jaw, although perfectly shaven, had a uniform perma-stubble that made his face all that more pleasurable to look at. His suit looked like it had been ironed onto his body and if she hadn’t already made up her mind about the man’s compulsive meticulousness, the tie would have convinced her. It was tied in a perfect triangular knot made up of three parts of the tie that wove into each other. Chris was still admiring it, when Suerte spoke up.

“How about we cover the basics first, just to make sure we are on the same page?”

Chris doubted that would be the case but nodded anyway.

Suerte took the first folder from the stack and moved the rest of the stack aside, to the left, once more perfectly placing it without a glance. Left with only the first folder, he set it squarely in front of him on the table and opened it.

“Let’s see here,” he said. “Christina Faith Bolen, born on the 15th of May, 2067 in Metropolis’ 56th district, currently 22 years of age.”

She nodded.

“Parents died on the 2nd of February, 2083, leaving you with an eleven year old dependent.”

Chris nodded again, a little slower.

“The state took her off your hands, but you chose to take her back after acquiring your GED six months later, foregoing a real basic school diploma.”

Chris nodded, and tried as hard as she could to keep the rest of her face blank. The information wasn’t secret, but you would have to go look for it to actually find it. It worried her that the man had gone through the trouble.

“Currently enrolled in Metropolis’ 56th district university’s business program, set to graduate on the 22nd of May of this year.”

She nodded, suddenly wondering if it would even come to that. Even though she’d been locked up for the last three days, she’d never considered the possibility of not getting out. The sudden morose thought scared her and she pushed it out of her mind, trying to convince herself that everything would be fine. It had to be, she needed it to be, Rin needed it to be. If Chris ended up in prison, her sister would have absolutely no one, and Chris made a promise to herself. Taking care of Rin, that was her priority. Rin was her responsibility, her only responsibility. It was her fault that things had turned out the way they did, and she needed to deal with the consequences to try and make up for it.

“Works ‘part-time’ at the SuperMart on 48th and 21st street and yet… “ he said, raising his eyebrows, “has an average workweek of over eighty hours a week.”

His expression clearly showed that he was impressed and maybe even a little skeptical of the fact. Chris merely nodded to ascertain him that it was true. It wasn’t surprising that someone like him would consider her work-hours to be outlandish. If he really was brandless, then he probably didn’t even work the standard twenty hour work-week. He probably didn’t have to, which made the effort he was putting into her case all the more surprising.

“Lives in Metropolis’ 56th district, government-funded shelter B2, module 6B—”

“Government-funded my ass,” Chris muttered thinking of how Nova Inc. Been in charge of the shelter areas for as long as she could remember. Rent was cheaper than anywhere else by a long shot, but in turn, the company pretty much owned everyone’s consumption. Any and all shops in the shelter areas were owned by Nova Inc. Or one of its subsidiaries. The same was true for all the other shelters, but not always with the same company. It was just the way things were, for as long as she could remember. Her parents had talked about a time when the government had more say than the companies, but that time was long gone and Chris couldn’t remember it even though a lot of the changes had happened in recent years, during her lifetime.

Suerte grinned at her outburst, but didn’t comment as he continued on with his increasingly disturbing report on her person, “Currently has a 16 year-old dependent of the name Tamara Bolen. Relation: Sister.”

Chris nodded again, feigning nonchalance, but felt her heart swell at the thought of her sister being dragged into her mess.

“Rin attends Metropolis’ 56th district tier 1 high school.”

Internally, Chris froze at the mention of Rin’s nickname. So far her accommodating lawyer had stated facts that could mostly be discovered in public record, but the fact that he knew her nickname, even if it was widely used among her sister’s friends, meant that the man hadn’t relied on just the records. The mental image of someone secretly invading her sister’s life, made Chris apprehensive. At the same time, it also dawned on her that the man across from her probably had all the information she wanted about Rin’s well being in one of those pages in front of him. Chris tightened her crossed arms around herself, trying to decide on what was more important. The knowledge her sister was safe, or keeping her vulnerabilities hidden from this man.

“Yes, she’s a very good student,” Chris said, sticking to the subject of her sister to see if he would say more.

“So I see,” Suerte said, watching her closely.

Chris gnawed at her inner lip and realized she’d already given herself away by saying anything at all when she’d been so stoic about his report on her. Sighing, she resigned to the fact that he probably already knew anyway. From her history with her sister, it wouldn’t be too hard to work out her priorities in life.

Dropping all pretenses, Chris asked, “Can you tell me if she’s safe?”

Suerte raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, “You haven’t talked to her yet?”

Chris pursed her lips, regretting her question after all. However, seeing as she’d already dipped her toe in the water, she figured she might as well plunge right in. At least she was sure the man could provide her with the information she wanted and be sure of it. A sour taste coated her mouth as she thought about Barry, who she’d also asked to look into Rin’s safety. That had been over 24 hours ago and she hadn’t heard from him since.

“No, I haven’t,” Chris said, feeling incompetent as a sister and the supposed caretaker. What kind of person was she that couldn’t even take care of her own sister?

Chris was judging already judging herself, so she found herself looking away from Suerte, not wanting to face his judgment as well. She expected him to say something else, but when he didn’t and the silence thickened, she looked back at her lawyer to find him swiping at his forearm. Chris blinked in surprise. She hadn’t seen someone with an implant, but she’d heard about it on the news. However, seeing as the big companies advertised hundreds of different projects they had planned, or were ‘developing’, she hadn’t expected to see someone with a bit implant for quite some time, if ever.

“Sorry about that,” Suerte said, before once more turning toward her. “Where were we?”

Suerte looked down at the folder in front of him and straightened it slightly.

“My sister,” Chris said.

Chris watched as the compulsive man adjusted imperfections invisible to her before she saw something surprising. So far, Suerte had been completely composed and methodical in all of his movements. His eyes and body language gave nothing away, but as he stared into the folder in front of him, she saw an internal struggle which she did not comprehend. Finally, after what felt like minutes, but was probably only really seconds, Suerte gently closed the folder with enviable precision and set it aside to his right, on the other side of the slim black recording device. Though, if he had a bit implant, she really didn’t see why he needed one. From what she’d seen on the vids, the implant functioned just as good, if not better, than any standard smart device.

When Suerte finally looked back at her, his gaze, though as direct as always, was suddenly different in a way she couldn’t really explain. It was as if he was seeing her as a real person for the first time. Caught off guard by his penetrating stare, Chris found herself shifting backwards in her chair a bit.

“Chris…” Suerte said, “is it all right if I call you that?”

Chris bobbed her head in acquiescence.

“Good, then let me ask you something,” he said. “Exactly how much do you know about the situation you are in?”

“Well…” Chris started, unsure of how forthright she wanted to be.

She sighed as she looked at the immaculate Adonis in front of her, and decided it didn’t matter. If Suerte didn’t already know everything about her, he would be able to easily find out.

“I was at work on Saturday, when two policemen suddenly showed up out of the blue and arrested me.”

Suerte nodded, their roles inverted, motioning her to keep going.

“They said I was accused of killing Eddie…” Chris said. “But it’s just a huge misunderstanding. I wasn’t even home when they said it happened.”

Chris gritted her teeth just thinking about how none of the policemen had been willing to listen to her side of the story.

“They told me to wait for my lawyer, which I did….” Chris said.

“You only saw Barry yesterday though,” Suerte said. It was a statement, but Chris knew it was an invitation for her to elaborate on it if she wanted.

“Yeah…” Chris said. “Apparently it was already too late on Saturday and Barry never did show up on Sunday. I only saw him for half an hour and most of the time he was talking about someone else’s case.”

Suerte just raised his eyebrows in response.

“They gave me the option to call for my own representation but…” Chris said, “Well. Not only do I not have money, I also don’t know any lawyers. So instead I used all of my calls trying to reach my sister. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to reach her at all, not even when I tried the house directly.”

Chris probed for some information on Rin once more. However, if Suerte noticed, he didn’t let on. Instead, he gave her a piece of information that chilled her to the bone.

“That last part does not surprise me,” Suerte said. “Your home has been blocked off by the police.”

“What, why!?”

“Because it’s the place of a crime scene.”

Chris’ eyes widened in shock, she leaned forward, needing to know more.

“W-.. Y-you mean…” Chris wasn’t able to finish her sentence.

Suerte eyed her evenly for a moment before speaking again.

“Yes, Eddie was murdered in your house.”

Mouth dry, Chris slumped back in her chair as she thought about the connotations of that piece of information.

Rin.

“M-My s-sister…” Chris croaked.

Until then she’d been worried, very worried, but now she was petrified that something might have happened to Rin. Suerte’s silence on the subject worried her even more and she suddenly felt an urge to throw something at him, or at least shake him to get at the information he was hoarding and she so desperately needed.

“P-please…” she begged.

“Edward McKlose was found dead in your trailer at circa 11pm on the 2nd of May. It was announced by the police by a certain Shelby Watts, a neighbor of yours, and the police was at the premises shortly thereafter.”

Chris felt sick. She wanted to say something, tell him to tell her about Rin, but she couldn’t find the words, not when they could give her an answer she didn’t want.

“He was stabbed to death,” he rattled on matter-of-factly, seemingly unaware of the internal war she was going through. “The murder weapon was a kitchen knife found next to the body. Your prints were all over the crime scene, but more importantly, they were all over the murder weapon. You are the main suspect, the only suspect.”

He paused for a moment, letting his words sink in.

“They have determined you are guilty. You have been offered life with parole if you settle before court,” he finally concluded.

The reality of the situation finally struck, and Chris realized she really might end up in jail. The blood drained from her face as the rest of her life flashed before her eyes. She’d worked for so long, tried so hard and it was all going to be for nothing.

“B-but… I didn’t do it.”

Suerte eyed her flatly.

“Do you think it matters?”

“B-but why?” Chris asked, as it suddenly dawned on her. “Oh. Is that why you’re here? You’re trying to cover for who actually killed Eddie…”

Suerte’s flat stare remained unchanged, unaffected by her words, until eventually he sighed.

“No,” he said. “I am not representing Eddie’s killer. In fact, we haven’t been able to ascertain for sure who was responsible.”

“We?” she asked, wondering if he would finally reveal who he was working for. No way was Fieldgreen Incorporated, a company she’d never heard of before, capable of fielding as many resources as Suerte was apparently able to wield.

He simply smirked in return.

“Why would anyone want to frame me though?” Chris asked, “I don’t have any enemies…. Heck, I don’t even have any friends!”

“That is indeed a mystery…” Suerte said noncommittally.

Chris sighed and leaned forward with her elbows on the table, supporting her head with her hands as she stared down at the gleaming metal surface of the table. It felt cold against her skin and there were a few imperfections here and there, faint scratches and dents left by all the other occupants that had cycled through the same room. Occupants with more resources, occupants that weren’t swallowed up by the system like she would be. She knew what it was like, money was power and she had none of it.

Poverty was going to consume her in the end anyway, the poor were never innocent. She’d busted her ass and it was all going to be for nothing. In two weeks she would have finally been able to join the educated work-force. Without a degree, she could only apply for automatable entry-level jobs. Jobs that were on their way to extinction, she thought she’d avoided the culling, but it seemed like she’d celebrated too soon. If convicted, she’d never be able to get a job, even if she did make it out of prison.

Gritting her teeth and straightening her back, Chris decided that the only course of option left to her was the one she’d always taken. Fight. She had no clue who was plotting against her or why. If she were to believe Suerte, he didn’t know either. Somehow, she believed him when he said he didn’t know who it was. She might have read him wrong, but she decided to go with her instincts on the matter and trust him, at least for her purposes.

“Help me,” she said with conviction and a glint of steel in her eyes.

“Help you?” Suerte asked. “Isn’t that my job already as your lawyer?”

“So you say,” Chris said, not even trying to conceal her skepticism where he was concerned anymore. “And yet I’ve asked you about my sister multiple times and have still not received an answer.”

Suerte’s unresponsive yet direct gaze, gave nothing away. Aggravated, Chris breathed in sharply and closed her eyes. She’d never had trouble containing her temper before, but then again she’d never had to deal with this kind of situation before. After letting the pent up breath out in a measured, steady stream, Chris looked back at Suerte.

“If you went through the trouble to find out all of those things about be in the last three days… and I assume it was last three days since you claim no involvement in my arrest, then you’ve got to know where my sister is. Especially considering all the information you gathered up on not only me, but her as well. So please, just tell me if she’s all right and then you can tell me why you’re really here.”

Suerte’s gaze never wavered and Chris had no way of knowing what he was thinking about her outburst. She almost started regretting it by the time he finally took it upon himself to respond.

“Well,” he said. “I really am here to help you…”

His tone carried the message of a caveat. `

Chris straightened and asked, “But?”

“No buts, not really anyway… it’s more of a proposal,” he said. “And your sister is fine by the way.”

“Propo— Wait, what? She’s okay?! Where? How? What happened? Where was she during the… t-the… crime? Where is she now? She needs a place to sleep… eat…” Chris rapidly rambled through the worries that had been plaguing her for the last couple of days until she realized she wasn’t giving the man a chance to answer. She clamped her mouth shut and tried to remain still so she wouldn’t miss anything.

Suerte smiled softly, an expression she hadn’t thought the precise and machine-like man to be capable of. It gave her the chills, she didn’t want to find the man sympathetic. She preferred him as a sterile executive being. Chris needed to remain vigilant around him, it wasn’t the time to be compassionate. He sure as hell wouldn’t be.

“She’s staying with a friend of hers, a certain Melanie Masters,” he said, finally giving Chris something substantial to hang on to. Chris knew Melanie, Rin had never brought her around the trailer, but she’d met her on days where her presence as Rin’s guardian was requested at the school. Rin was ashamed of their living conditions, especially since most of tier 1 students came from much more affluent backgrounds. Chris didn’t blame her for it, she blamed herself. If she were a better caretaker, her sister would never have to worry about those kinds of things.

“As far as I know, she wasn’t near the crime scene when it happened. Since the police shortly took command of the situation, I doubt she had a chance to go back in before they zoned it off. As for food… I can only make assumptions.”

Chris slumped back down on the chair, feeling like a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was in prison with a murder charge hanging over her head, but those problems suddenly seemed far more manageable. Rin was alright. Chris sighed and looked at Suerte. Having just given her the best information in the world, he was a lot more appealing. She was about to express her deep thanks, when she realized what he was doing. Chris immediately pursed her lips and brought up the same guard she’d just promised herself to not drop.

Although there was no guarantee that the conniving man was speaking the truth, Chris chose to believe him. If there was indeed some kind of ‘proposal’ involved, he would have nothing to gain by antagonizing her with lies which would become apparent in the next day or two. Clearing her thoughts of Rin was easier once she knew that her sister was safe, and she finally gave Suerte her undivided attention.

“Thank you,” Chris said simply, trying to keep as much emotion out of her voice as possible. He did not need to know how close she came to walking into his trap.

He nodded once, acknowledging her gratitude.

“So,” she said. “You were saying about a proposal?”

“Yes,” he said, “I want you to plead guilty.”