243. No Tears

Bridgeport, present day

J.D. was taken into one of the interrogation rooms for questioning.

The set up was pretty standard, the walls were grey and bare, in the centre there was a steel table with two chairs on one side for the detectives. His chair was on the opposite end, a single fluorescent light flickered directly above it.

“Am I under arrest?” J.D. wanted to know as soon as they were seated around the table. The detectives explained he was not; it was just a routine interview.

"In connection with what?" J.D. asked.

"The Clarkes."

A short burst of uncomfortable silence followed detective Richards' announcement.

J.D. could see it now, the beginning of the end. But he was determined not to panic just yet, and since he was not under arrest he thought it might be still too early to be yelling for a lawyer. And so he forced himself to relax in his seat and play along, see how far the detectives wanted to go.

"What about the Clarkes?" J.D. enquired. Outwardly he looked as cool as cucumber, but on the inside he was a hot mess. A lifetime ago his life's passion was to put criminals in the very same seat he now occupied. The irony!

The detectives wanted to know about the nature of his relationship with the Clarkes.

J.D.  answered truthfully, he told them about Michaela's blood lust, her attack on Joshua which led to them taking him in and supporting him.

"You left out the part where you bribed the Clarkes to conceal your daughter's crime,” Smith pointed out from the corner of the room.

J.D. denied the accusation. There was no bribery of any kind. And his daughter did not commit a crime. The Human Preservation Act hadn't come into effect when Michaela went to Hollow Creek.

Smith approached the table and opened the case file; she had a smug smile on her face when she pushed it towards J.D.

All color drained from his face when he saw the records from the print shop and copies of the bogus raffle tickets and the prize cheque.

“Do you deny arranging the raffle?"

This time he came clean. Yes he’d arranged the raffle, but only because Michaela had wanted to do something nice for the Clarkes without making it seem like charity.

"If we were bribing the Clarkes, why go through the trouble of concealing the source of the money? Why not give it to them directly?" JD made a valid point, but the detectives were long past being logical, they were determined to get their confession.

"Admit you bribed the Clarkes. You didn't want them to come forward about Michaela's bloodlust, and to keep them quiet you gave them the money, took their son in, only to dispose of him when you couldn’t control him!" Richards yelled.

And from there things took a nasty surprising turn, J.D. moved from being a person of interest to an outright suspect, the interview turned to an interrogation very quickly when the detectives informed him they had enough evidence linking him to the Clarkes murder. They knew about Joshua's attempt to rape Michaela in Appaloosa Plains. It was a strong motivation to have him killed.

“Why the girl though? What did she ever do to you?" Smith asked.

"I think we're done here! I want my lawyer!" J.D. put a stop to the barrage of questions. The detectives had to back off then.

Krisis had already called Jessica Rubin, their lawyer, and she was there in under an hour.

She fought like a lioness to get the detectives to drop whatever charges they thought they had on her client.

But Richards and Smith wouldn’t budge. They were confident they had enough evidence to go to trial. They were charging J.D. with murder. The testimony from the owners of the guest house and their guests in Appaloosa Plains, along with the police reports were enough to prove J.D had motive to have Joshua killed. The records from the print shop and his elaborate raffle scheme proved he had the means and money to hire a hitman and make sure it didn't trace back to him.

“That’s preposterous!” Jessica spat at the detectives. “You have nothing on my client, your evidence is circumstantial at best and no judge will waste his time trying this case."

The detectives disagreed. They were positive they had a strong case.

Things heated up when Jessica demanded to know how they'd gotten the records from the print shop.

Richards explained an anonymous source had come forward, and with a warrant in place they'd searched the firm for records of all their dealings with J.D. They assured her the search was above board and the records had been submitted into evidence, and she'd have access to it shortly.

And so J.D. was booked and processed; his fingerprints were taken along with his mug shot.

His cell phone, car and house keys and wallet were confiscated, and when the detectives found marijuana on him, they added drug possession to his list of crimes.

Since it was a Saturday night, and he’d only be arraigned the following Monday, his clothes were also confiscated and he was issued with orange coveralls.

Krimsyn and Michaela fell apart when Jessica came back from the holding cells and broke the news to them.

“How did this happen? You are his lawyer; you are supposed to defend him!” Krimsyn screamed at the other woman, and Krisis had to restrain her when she tried to go after her.

“I promise you, I’ll make sure he makes bail, and this isn’t over. They have nothing on him. He’ll get away with a small fine for the possession charge.”

“What about the other charges?” Krisis asked.

“It’s purely circumstantial at best, and I’ll push to have it thrown out during arraignment.”

“Can I see him? I need to see him, please?” Krimsyn sounded a little calmer now, all the fury had left her eyes, and only exhaustion remained.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Jessica told her before she went to speak to the detectives.

She came back moments later, and led Krimsyn to the holding cells. Richards and Smith were close by, this small favor was highly irregular, but since they had J.D. in custody they didn’t see any harm in letting Krimsyn see her partner.

Jessica gave them some privacy as she chatted with the detectives.

Left alone, they held hands through the iron bars and spoke telepathically. Since they were being watched they knew the detectives would use anything they said against them.

“Syn, you shouldn’t be here!” J.D. growled.

"I won't let you go down for this.” Krimsyn ignored his outburst and carried on with her own. “It’s my fault, if I hadn't asked, you would never have made that call, and so if anyone has to be behind those bars, it's me!"

"Are you insane? What kind of man would I be to let you go to prison for something we both did? What about Mickey? And Uri? They need their mom!"

"They need their father too!" Krimsyn argued.

"It's done! I don't want to discuss this anymore!" With that J.D. tuned her out and no matter how hard she tried to get through, he wouldn't entertain her.

With a tearful sigh, Krimsyn took his hand again. “I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry.”

And J.D.  caught hers and kissed it. "Don't be. We had to protect Mickey!"

"I know. But it doesn't make it hurt any less."

She leaned her head forward he kissed her on the lips. She closed her eyes as she took long gulps of his scent, she wanted to carry it with her always, she wanted to take it with her when she eventually went to bed, whenever that would be.

"Syn, no tears. No tears please. We knew it would come down to this. I need you to be brave for me. I need you to be strong for our kids!"

"I don't think I can! I don't think I can do this without you!"

"Yes you can! I know you have it in you. Remember rehab, you thought you couldn't do it then, but you did and you kicked all your demons then-"

"I had you and Krisis! I couldn't have done it without both of you!"

"No Syn, we supported you. But the fight came from you. And we’ll fight this too. But if it doesn’t work out, I know you'll do a damn good job of raising Uri and guiding Mickey!"

Krimsyn wished she could believe his words, but the truth is he was always the strong one. He'd held her together and raised her so high she'd convinced herself she'd never come down again. But now he was being forced to pull away, and leave her suspended in the air, the fall was too high, she didn't think she'd still be breathing when she reached the ground.

"I love you!" She said when there was nothing left to say.

"And you know you have my heart, always!" He kissed her hand again, his tears falling on her palm, she caught them swiftly and blew them away with a kiss of her own.

Across the room, Richards and Smith watched their interaction. There were no words, but through their brief touching of hands, the way Krimsyn leaned into J.D. only to pull back with anger as intense as the adoration in her eyes, the detectives knew they were communicating telepathically.

Their movements, the small gestures, and kisses they exchanged, it was all beautiful, like a sad song on rainy Sunday morning, like poetry in a foreign language, an unfinished painting.

"What are they doing? “Richards asked.

"I think they are saying goodbye,” Smith replied, fighting off the lump in her throat.

Richards turned to Jessica, their five minutes was up.

The lawyer approached the holding cell.

Krimsyn raised her hand. “Just a minute, please?”

“Syn, it’s okay. You have to go. Uri and Mickey need you. And I’m okay, really.”

"You don't look okay."

"I am. Relieved even. I'm glad I’m the one sitting here and not our daughter. Make sure she stays away from the internet, and don't turn on the TV. I don't want her to see all this ugliness."

Krimsyn nodded her head and quickly brushed away her tears. "I will. You know I will."

"And Uri, you know he won’t fall asleep unless he hears my voice, so I made him a CD with all with all his favorite rhymes, it's in my bottom drawer, inside the cover of our first album. Pop it in and he'll be out in five minutes."

Krimsyn laughed, it was a short sad laugh. They’d talked about this day at least a thousand times, and she never wanted to think long term because she was sure it would never get this far. J.D. though had known, and he’d prepared for it, and she loved him even more for thinking about the small things in the wake of what they’re facing.

With one last touch and a quick a kiss, Krimsyn left the love of her life and followed their lawyer and the detectives out of the holding cells.

Krisis and Leigh took her home; Michaela had left thirty minutes earlier with Cameron, along with Katie, Eloise and Devon.

Knowing the rabid reporters would be out front waiting to rip them to pieces they entered the penthouse through a side entrance.

Krimsyn dismissed the butler and the nanny she’d hired for the evening. She rustled up Uri’s things and a few of her own clothes. And half an hour later, they closed up the penthouse and headed for Krisis and Leigh’s beach house. They’d have some peace and quiet there for a few days; they’d need it to prepare for J.D’s defense…

AN: Apologies for the lengthy paragraphs, I had massive problems with my screen and GPU, but I've since upgraded both and the last few updates will be back to picture heavy.

Credits: the kissing pose in the second holding cell shot is courtesy of mypalsim. You can find the complete set here. Thank you for fulfilling my request mypalsim.