Topic: Courthouse Meetings

Jin

Date: 2010-06-13 04:16 EST
Riley's cell phone rang sometime late Friday night/early Saturday morning. She rolled over in bed and stretched out an arm to fumble on the nightstand for the accursed device. Her fingers found a warm, naked male torso instead. Temporarily distracted, the phone went to voicemail. "Hello, you've reached Riley O'Rourke. I'm sorry I missed your call. Please leave a message after the tone and I will get back to you as soon as I can." Beeeeeeep.

The first few seconds of the message was distorted jumbling, muttering and grumbling as Jin fumbled with the awkward phone. "Hello, Riley?" He said, pausing. "It's Jin. Sorry to call you so late, but we took Judah in and interrogated him. He's asked for a lawyer so we had to stop. Can you come in tomorrow morning" We need to talk about this. Thanks." The last word was followed by the dull click of the phone hanging up.

The phone vibrated across her nightstand, doing a silly little jerky dance and then tumbling to the floor. "Oh, damn it," she cursed and rolled over again. "Can you grab that for me?" A naked male arm reached out from underneath the covers of the bed, snagged the phone and handed it to her. She accepted it and sat up, pressing the phone to her ear and listening to the message.

"Double damn," Riley grumped before practically throwing the phone onto the nightstand again and snuggling back down into bed and falling back asleep.

The next morning, Jin dressed hastily (which could be said about any morning, honestly) and hurried to the offices, briskly walking through the halls and glancing around in search of Riley. He didn't see any sign of her at the moment, so he walked into his office and started looking over the files from the case and the notes he'd taken down after he'd gotten home after the interrogation.

The next morning, at approximately 10 a.m., Riley entered the Courthouse. She wasn't entirely awake yet, so she was in a rather grumpy mood. Add to that the fact that she was here - again - on a Saturday - again - and having to deal with the Bishop/Delahada case - again. She headed into the MoJ suite and rapped softly on Jin's door.

"Come in." He said absently, rifling through papers again and again. Then he glanced up, eyeing the door and hoping to see Riley walk through.

And lo and behold, it was indeed that august person!

"Hey, got your message last night. What's up?" She was carrying two cups of coffee and a bag of ...wait for it....doughnuts.

His attention zeroed in on the bag, admittedly. Jin had fairly keen senses for being mostly human. After staring for about ten seconds, he shook his head and glanced up at her, flashing a quick, albeit sleep tinged smile.

"Good morning." He greeted before leaning back in his seat. "Well, as I said, Judah requested a lawyer before we could get much done. But he seems to know who he is now; we showed him the autopsy photos. He didn't say much beyond that. He demanded to see Aoife."

She walked deeper into his office and set one of the cups of coffee down in front of him. Then she delved into the bag and drew out a cinnamon-sugar-encrusted doughnut and hand it to him.

Her brow arched. "Bishop wanted to see Aoife?"

He slid the cup of coffee over, reaching out to accept the doughnut. "Thank you." He said, taking a tentative sip of the hot drink before setting it back down.

"Yes. Before Sal killed him...again, he had been hanging around the inn with her regularly. I think she may have been letting him stay at her place, I don't know. They seemed to be getting fairly close and he wanted to see her. For the record, I don't think that should happen."

She smirked and sat down in the nearest chair. "Me, either. Well...Jin, first things first. I"uh...really, really hate to ask you to do this, but I think it'd be in everyone's best interest if you recused yourself from this case." She let him see in her eyes just how much she regretted having to ask him to do this.

He nodded, taking a bite of the doughnut as she spoke and chewing slowly to mull the idea over. "I know. I will, don't worry. Just want to make sure you know everything we learned from last night first." He took another sip of his coffee, setting it down again. "Also, the press is going to want information. I know Fenner's just eager to tear us a hole with this case, how much are we making public?"

Just the mere mention of the journo made her stomach turn. She shook her head. "Honestly, as little as possible. I'll take care of it. I'll be blunt with you, because you need to know this about me. I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to information coming out of this office. I'd like to be the main go-to for the press, if you don't mind?"

He chuckled and nodded slowly. "Of course. That's not a problem for me." Jin assured her, grabbing a napkin to wipe his hands before setting the doughnut down on it. He reached over to pick up the papers from the interrogation, photos and the like, and the notes he'd taken. They were slid across his desk to her.

"That's all the information I have on the case."

She nodded and took up the file, glancing through it briefly. "No idea why he wants to see Aoife?"

Jin shrugged, noncommittal. "I don't know. I have no idea how close they were, what they talked about, how much she knows about him and vice versa. I just know that they were spending more and more time together before Delahada killed him again. As much as I hate to say it, I think she'll have to be brought in for questioning."

"Oh, I totally agree. I'll send someone 'round today. Do you know where she's living?" She finally took a sip of her coffee and grimaced at the taste.

"Yeah." He reached for his pocketbook, tearing a page out and writing Aoife's address down on it before setting it atop the papers. "Try to be nice, I don't think she really knows much about Judah. When he regained his memory last night, he seemed different. Evil is a good word to use, and Aoife isn't a bad person."

She smiled softly. "I'll send Neo. He's warm and fuzzy, isn't he" Don't worry, Jin. I swear I'll go easy on her. I just want to know what her involvement is in all of this."

"Alright." He nodded again, grabbing his doughnut back up. "Thank you."

She nodded and rose to her feet, prepared to go into her own office and get started. "Anything else crop up?"

"Not that I can think of." The Deputy replied, tapping his pen against the edge of the desk as he stared off to the side thoughtfully. "I think Judah's done plenty more than what our friend Mister Delahada says, though. Something about the way he looked at me. Like an animal."

"He's dangerous."

She nodded. "Duly noted. Well, I'll be in my office if you need me." She held up the folder and said, "Thanks for this." And then she quickly headed out and into her own office.

He nodded, scooping his coffee up again. "Best of luck to you." He replied, turning to begin digging through his other case files in search of something to keep his mind off the Judah/Delahada case.

((The text above is a scene played out between Riley O'Rourke and myself, edited and posted here with permission.))

Jin

Date: 2010-06-13 20:47 EST
Jin was in the Red Dragon Inn, exiting the bathroom. He glanced around before scooping up his beer from the table he'd left it on and walked toward the front door. He slipped out and onto the porch, lingering for a moment by the doorway as it swung shut behind him before sidestepping toward the swing.

Judah was just walking. Just walking, you know" Didn't mean anything. Hands in his pockets, city he didn't know laid out all around him

David would have preferred to be outside, himself, but that had to wait another forty minutes or so, until he was off-duty. For now, he was stuck inside, keeping an eye on things.

Judah's hair was cropped close this time, though he didn't know it was any different from any other time. The lingering day's heat laid a hand on his head like a benediction. And his head, f**k, it was full of hard bop; music made by men who thought the world was going to end and didn't know what to do afterward; when they survived it only to look at the most horrible thing humanity could to do itself, up close and personal. The kind of s**t that stripped your soul bare. Horns built a maze of sound around him. The sound of brass spiraled upward into infinity. Charles Mingus and Miles Davis were his gods, that night. And he loved it, because it gave him something. He didn't have a name. He had to have something. So he smiled a heroin smile and rode a dizzying wave of jazz up onto the porch of the Red Dragon Inn.

Why was he here" No idea. John Coltrane sobbed those sweet fine notes under everything he saw, lit it with sweet sparkling light. He laid a hand on the railing and was amazed that the whole f**king building didn't go up like a bonfire.

Jin paused where he stood, lingering again like he so often did. He took a sip of his drink, still not quite sure if he liked Badsider or not. But it was something to do while he waited there. He turned, eyes falling on a familiar face. He went still, staring at a dead man.

The dead man swayed back and forth minutely to the rhythm of the Blue Train in his head, rubbed at a line of triangular tattoos on his left arm. His eyes were half-closed. Inside the Inn, David finished off his second glass of water but didn't bother getting up to get another. That was plenty; he didn't want to spend the rest of the night getting up every twenty minutes to use the bathroom.

Even dead men get it if you give them long enough. Deadman, aka Judah Bishop, aka William, aka Michael, aka Will—that cat cracked an eye open and stared back at Jin, took another sip of his drink, brows furrowing for another moment. Then he remembered the whole thing he'd been told before and pushed away from the wall he'd been unconsciously leaning against. More staring ensued.

That opened Judah's other eye. He regarded the stranger in a silence threaded through with piano as gorgeous as a pair of spooky eyes

"How do you feel?" Jin asked, keeping the suspicion graciously from his tone, if not his stare.

Some time before, Riley had gone to answer a phone call. She finished around the time Judah came up to the inn and glanced between him and Jin. Her eyes flew wide with recognition when she realized that she saw Will...Judah...Whomever. She took a deep breath and forced a normal smile onto her face for Jin. She knew that he knew who their companion was.

"Jin, come inside with me please?" She had to make Jin shut up; to make him not talk at all. David was inside. David had weaponry, handcuffs, and a badge. David probably needed to be informed about what was going on outside. She edged towards the door, casual, oh-so casual as only a Cat could be.

Given the way Jin had been staring at him, Judah hadn't expected that at all. No, he'd been braced for a punch, an accusation, or a pick-up. His lips turned over the name "Jin." He watched the exchange, and wondered why he was suddenly uneasy.

Jin turned, his eyes on Judah until he was facing Riley entirely. "Are you sure?" He asked while casting another suspicious glance toward the dead man.

She forced a friendly, confident smile onto her lips, a smile that very nearly reached her eyes. "Yes, there's...some work stuff we need to discuss." There was a slight hesitation to her words, but she tried to play it off as hardly worth noting.

"Right." Another look was shot toward Judah, and then he reached out and opened the door for Riley, nodding. "After you."

David glanced over when the door opened again, wondering if the Chief was finally done with her phone call. Riley went inside with alacrity, caramel-brown gaze moving over the crowd until she spotted David. She hastily made her way towards him now, with absolutely no hesitation. Whatever this...thing...was that was between them could wait until....you know ...later.

When he saw her coming that quickly, he knew immediately that something was going on. He stood, moving up to meet her. "Trouble?"

She nodded and spoke three words, just three words to him. "Judah Bishop. Porch." Then she took a step back, moving out of his way.

Judah watched them go; shook his head. He turned, leaned on the railing. He was looking for something. Don't ask him what, he didn't know.

Jin remained back by the door as Riley walked over to David, glancing over his shoulder toward the door again.

Art Blakey paved the street with his Moanin'. He sighed and shut his eyes. How do you feel" Jin knew him. He needed to go in and ask. Pushing off, Judah turned and started across the porch to the front door.

What the hell" The dead guy was back again? This place was like the f*cking Twilight Zone sometimes, David thought. He nodded and headed on past her to the porch, opening the door and stepping outside with alacrity, eyes already searching for the dead man. He turned out to be quite easy to find, standing there in plain sight at the railing. David walked right up to him. "Excuse me, sir," he said, one hand at his belt, not exactly near his gun, but not far away either

And Judah came face-to-face with David. Hazel eyes dropped to the hands, flicked up to the man's face again. He tensed up, then: it was a subtle thing of squared shoulders, feet shoulder-width apart, hips loose, weight on the balls of his feet. He kept his raspy voice courteous.

"Is there something you need?"

She followed, hot on David's heels. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she noticed the subtle changes in Judah's body language, the sudden flood of tension that flavored the air now. She moved silently out the door and ranged to David's left, the three on the porch now making a triangle. She glanced at Jin, meeting his eyes for a moment.

"Yes, sir," David replied. "You are wanted for questioning in regards to an ongoing murder case. I'm going to have to ask you to come down to Watch House with me." He was perfectly polite about it, but it was obvious this was much more an order than a request. He remained relaxed, though he'd certainly noticed the man tensing up.

The moment Riley and David were outside; Jin twisted and stepped out as well, watching Judah closely as David questioned him.

He took a single step back, said. "I think you've got the wrong man."

The Constable stepped forward exactly the same distance as Judah retreated. "I'm afraid not, sir. Please don't make this harder than it needs to be."

Meanwhile, Riley remained silent, letting the Watchman do his job, as he'd requested. She would, however, step in if David asked.

"F**k harder." And the dead man pivoted and bolted for the steps.

Sh*t. Why do they always try to run" David asked himself as he lunged forward with impossible speed sweeping one leg out at the man's trailing foot. He pulled the blow carefully; aiming only to trip him up, not break bones.

When Judah had turned and made an attempt at escape, Jin had stepped forward. He paused when David went into action, but it was only for a brief moment. The detective stepped around the pair, keeping out of David's way while putting himself closer to Judah.

Judah staggered, caught at the railing on the steps and stopped the fall from becoming a headlong plunge. And Riley was right there, too, having caught the minute tell that Judah was about to run. She circled around in front of Judah, cutting off any chance of escaping that way.

In an instant, David closed with the man, reaching out to grab the hand that was on the railing. He got it; Judah swung with the other. And he was still trying to get his feet under himself. Obscenities tripped from his lips like free styling.

Riley took a step forward, watching Judah, watching David, watching Jin, even. She'd take her clues from David, though if Judah/Will managed to punch her Watchman, she was going to use the full force of The Law and sucker punch him in the kidneys.

His free hand came up in a circular, open hand block to deflect the blow, while at the same time pulling on the captured hand to keep Judah off-balance. David knew from almost the first touch that the man couldn't match his strength, which he used to spin the man around and pull his arm up behind his back.

He was spun and yanked up onto the tips of his toes; a grunt of pain shut off the flow of curses as his arm threatened dislocation. Judah had inches on David. It hadn't mattered. David's free hand dipped to his belt and pulled out the cuffs, clicking them onto the arm he still held. Then he reached for the other arm, aiming to bring it behind to join the first one in the cuffs. He was once again careful to hold back from using full force on the man.

"Stop struggling, you'll just hurt yourself," he said calmly in the man's ear, not even breathing hard.

"I. Didn't do. F**king anything. I don't know anything about any f**king murder." He tested the cuffs, fingers twisting, and glared murder at Riley in front of him.

The breath she wasn't even aware of holding blew out in a relieved sigh as she saw David take Judah into custody. Riley straightened and the tension that was singing through her body drained into the ground at her feet. She flicked a glance at Jin and then looked back at Judah.

"That's what we're going to explore, Mr. Bishop."

"My name isn't Bishop. I'm telling you, you've got the wrong guy."

David almost started to read the guy his rights, out of long habit, but then remembered there was no Miranda Law here. Instead, he kept a firm grip on the cuffs, holding the man's arms back just at the edge of discomfort. He tapped his badge, repressing the urge to ask for Kirk or Spock or someone, and instead said. "I need a wagon at the RDI for prisoner transport, ASAP."

"We'll explore that, too." They all said that, every single one who'd ever been taking into custody had sworn up and down that they were innocent, that they had no idea what was going on. Well, all of them except the whack-a-doos who wanted to be arrested.

Jin's arms crossed over his chest as he watched the scene unfold. He nodded approvingly at the speed and efficiency with which David apprehended and secured Judah. His attention flicked to Riley for a moment before falling back to Judah, locking with one of those ceaseless stares of his.

Panting, he finally gave up and yielded to the stress David was putting on his arms. His flat hazel stare was turned inward as he thought furiously for something, anything to explain this.

Now that the prisoner was in hand, so to speak, he turned part of his attention to Riley. "Chief?" he asked questioningly, wondering if she had anything she wanted to do or say. Judah's gaze settled on Madison out in the street. There wasn't the slightest recognition there.

Riley nodded to Jin. "It's his case. Let him be in on the collar." She took a step back, letting her super-duper effective Justice League bunch take over. "I'll be on my cell if you need me, though."

He nodded, turning to Jin. "Deputy?" he asked. The wagon would be there momentarily, the Watch House was pretty close by.

Jin shook his head, gesturing toward the street. "Just get him secured for now."

Another nod, and David urged Judah forward, down the stairs from the porch to street. He could hear the wagon in the distance already.

Riley remained silent, her eyes moved over to where Madison stood, memorizing her face. There'd be time for talking to her later. For now, she nodded to her Watchman and her Deputy and then turned, headed off into the night, going home to the safety - and more importantly, sanity - of her loft and her Leopard.

Jin stepped down, following after David and Judah while glancing over at the other girl for a moment. Judah walked. What the hell else was he supposed to do' And he looked back. How could he not, with Madison staring at him like that' He half-expected her to shoot him when his back was turned.

The wagon arrived, another Watchman jumping out to open the thick oaken door with the barred window. He herded Judah into the wagon, putting one hand on the top his head to push him down a bit. "Watch your head," he said as he half-assisted, half-forced the man into the wagon, the climbed in beside him.

"Deputy, coming with us?" he asked, motioning to the extra space in the wagon.

"Yes." Jin nodded, climbing up into the wagon after David and Judah and taking a seat in the free space provided.

Judah managed not to crack his head open, and kept his trap shut.

He swung the door closed with a solid 'thump', and then called out to the waiting Watchman, "Let's go." A moment later, the wagon lurched into motion, heading down the road towards the Watch House.

((The above scene was played out between David Lo, RileyORourke, Judah Bishop, and myself. Edited and posted with permission.))

Jin

Date: 2010-06-13 20:49 EST
At the Watch House, David jumped out first, and then reached to take Judah by the arm and pull him out of the wagon. Judah had stretched his t-shirt all to hell; it was hanging half off his shoulder. When David pulled, he went, sullen-faced and silent

Jin climbed down and out of the wagon after David and Judah, closing it behind him before turning to face the Watch House. David led Judah inside, telling the Desk Sergeant who the man was, then took him to one of the interrogation rooms and sat him down in the steel chair bolted to the floor. Judah's eyes had darted from place to place as he was herded, looking for exits and escapes. He transferred one end of the cuffs to the arm of the chair, and motioned to the chair across the table from it.

"That one's yours," he said to Jin. "I'll be right back."

"Thank you, David." Jin said before he walked around the table, taking the indicated chair and resting his hands in his lap as he stared at Judah.

Judah rubbed the freed wrist, then at the other cuffed hand, while eyeing Jin across the flat plane of the table separating them. His face gave absolutely nothing away.

David went back out to the Desk Sergeant to pick up the paperwork for the case, including the autopsy photos from the other two dead Judahs. He brought those, and the reports back into the interrogation room and handed them to Jin. Then he went back to lean against the wall of the room.

His eyes skipped to the man against the wall, and to Jin once more.

"You know me." It wasn't a question.

A hand lifted for the papers, nodding once more to David as he accepted them. Jin flipped through the paperwork for a moment, examining the photos, then neatly put them all back in order and set the stack down in front of him, hands coming together to rest atop it all.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"I don't know."

"Mmhmm." He glanced down at the paperwork in front of him, then back up again. "Address?"

"I don't know." He repeated himself, and shifted his gaze back to David.

"When were you born?" Jin asked, but Judah only shook his head in response.

"Occupation' What do you do for a living?"

Meanwhile, David was assessing Judah, trying to determine if the man truly did not know anything about himself, or if it was just a front. He seemed sincere, but you never knew.

"I..." he looked at Jin, then down at his hand. Calluses ringed it "...something physical."

"Something physical?" He repeated. "What exactly?"

"I don't know. But you don't get these working at a desk job." The file-and-rasp of his voice was dry as he laid his hand palm-up on the table between them, showing off the evidence. He gave every indication of telling the absolute truth; if they had wards or spells lay on the room to determine it, they'd receive confirmation.

"Mmhmm." Jin had deduced that the man wasn't lying, thanks to the one time use of his Zone of Truth, which filled the area around him with the aura of the spell preventing anyone from lying. "It says here that your name is Judah Bishop, no address or date of birth, and that you're a bounty hunter."

Judah frowned off at nothing as if he were mentally testing the veracity of each individual word before shaking his head.

"Something you want to say?"

"...Not really, no. I just—I don't get why I'm here. What murder?"

His lips pursed, brow furrowing. Leaning back, Jin flicked a glance to David before turning back to Judah. "Yours."

His head jerked back; Judah stared at the man and started to laugh, rough and disbelieving. Jin lifted a few of the papers from the stack, pushing the autopsy photographs over to Judah. David watched closely, wondering how the man would react to seeing his own dead body.

He slid them toward himself, and all his laughter came to an end, dying down in the back of his throat as he stared. He flipped over the next picture, and the next, his hazel eyes flicking from one detail to another: the blood dried in the corner of his mouth, the unnatural angle of his head, the way they'd opened his—his body up, and—and his eyes, and"Jin let the next few moments ring on in silence as Judah examined the pictures for himself, simply waiting and watching his reaction.

He planted an elbow on the table and shoved the heel of his hand into the socked of his right eye as if he were trying futilely to stave off the world's worst headache. Jin couldn't even begin to imagine how odd it would be to see your dead body in a photograph, so he wasn't quite sure what to expect out of Judah when the man took a look. His brows rose, another glance ticked off to David before he leaned forward again.

"What do you remember?"

His breath shuddered in and out once, audibly. Then he looked up at Jin again, and a different man looked out of his eyes: someone that might prompt even Constable Lo to take a step back.

Well, his back was already against a wall, so there was no stepping back for him. Instead, he took a step forward when the man's demeanor changed.

Judah slouched back in the chair. His grin was a lazy, knowing thing, satisfied as a hunting cat who's just found dinner.

"Am I charged with a crime?"

"Resisting arrest."

"Yeah?" He laughed, a cat's coughing snarl. "I get my one phone call?"

"Tell me what you remember."

"I remember dying twice." He tapped the photos with a middle finger. "I don't know who did it. They got me from behind both times."

"Twice?"

"You've got two bodies, buddy." Judah pushed the photos back across the table to Jin, and slung his cuffed arm over the back of the chair as if he had all the time in the world. "If you're holding me, I want a lawyer, and I want to talk to Aoife."

"Doesn't mean you've died only twice. We'll get you a lawyer."

"And Aoife." Judah said, turning a steady stare on the man

"Not happening."

His brows kicked up at that. "You think?"

"You'll get a lawyer." Jin repeated, slipping the photos back into the stack of papers.

And Judah laughed again, low and rough, and shook his head. "You should have grown a pair when you had the chance. It's too late to come all white knight now."

David made a mental note to find out who this Aoife was, and see if she could be brought in for questioning as well.

Jin stood, stepping to the side and pushing his chair in. "See to it that he's taken care of, Constable."

David nodded, coming forward to transfer the handcuff back to the man's arm and stand him up. Judah was still chuckling, and rose without resistance. Even going so far as to hold his wrists together to aid with the cuffing. His eyes were almost completely closed, as if he were already dreaming

"One of the regular cells, Deputy, or the anti-magic ones?" he asked Jin.

"Anti-magic."

He nodded again and led Judah out of the interrogation room and across the building to the holding cell area. The jailer on duty opened the cell, and David took him inside, where he sat the man down and removed the cuffs. Then he backed out of the cell, keeping a close eye on Judah until the door swung shut with a definitive clang. Judah flicked an ironic little salute off his brow, and settled onto an elbow on the cot to wait.

Jin stepped out after Judah and David, tucking the papers beneath his arms. A hand brushed through his hair again, he released a long breath as he turned

The Constable went back to the front, nodding to Jin and the Desk Sergeant. "Prisoner is secure." The Desk Sergeant, of course, just nodded bored-ly.

"Anything else you need me for, Deputy?" David asked.

"Hmm. No, that's all. Thank you for the help."

Prisoner lapsed onto his back; hands folded behind his head; closed his eyes, and promptly went to sleep.

"Of course." He glanced at his watch; saw he was almost two full hours past his time for going off-duty. He made another mental note to ask Riley for overtime pay. Of course, that was assuming she ever spoke to him again. After last night, that wasn't an entirely sure bet.

"Have a good night, David. I'm going back to the inn." He nodded to the man, then turned and made his way out of the Watch House.

((The above scene was played out between David Lo, Judah Bishop and myself. Edited and posted with permission.))

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-06-17 21:09 EST
The night of 14 June was a busy one for the Ministry of Justice and the Rhy'Din City Watch. The following events take place in Interrogation Room A.

The paddy wagon rolled down the streets at a slow crawl. The ride was bumpy, cobbled roads were like that. Jin Mishin, Deputy Minister of Justice and Watch Detective, sat across from Madison Rye, eyeing her. He kept the questions to himself for now. The wagon slowed to a halt as they reached the Watch House. The driver hopped down and pulled the door open, reaching out to help Madison. "Please step out, Ms. Rye." Jin said.

Madison's eyes evinced little and remained on the window as the roads bumped past and the city lights twinkled. She kept her mouth shut. She kept her emotions on lock down. It was easy to break and she wasn't going to do it, not now. As they pulled up and stopped, her eyes finally tear from dream and she silently gets up and steps out, metal shivering on wrists like the cadence of her heart's haunted beat.

As he stood in front of the Red Dragon District Watch House, Jin slipped out a phone, punching in Riley's number. He left a quick message for her, telling her to come to the Watch House ASAP, then hung up. He reached for Madison, taking her arm and nodding to the driver as they walked to the building's doors.

Her teeth grit as he takes hold of her. In her mind, she's back on red-rust streets, being walked up the main with a hessian sack over her head and piano-wire around her wrists. She didn't expect to be back here, not tonight not again. Her chin lifts and she swallows hard. Keep on walking, girl, she tells herself, keep on walking, Acony-Belle.

They passed the front desk, nodding to the Sergeant. A moment later, the pair of them were directed to the interrogation rooms. He walked in and indicated a chair opposite the door of Room A. "Have seat, Ms. Rye. I'll get back to you in one moment." One of the Sergeants waited with her as Jin stepped back, leaving Madison to herself for a moment.

Her head sank to that noose repose as she trudged over to the seat, dropped down and maneuvered her wrists until their somewhat comfortable in shackles. Her eyes close. She can almost smell that county cell again.

Jin went back to the desk, asking the man present to dig up any files they had on Madison Rye, then checked his phone again for any response from Riley.

Riley hurriedly dressed in something that looked mostly professional and colour co-ordinated, kissed David and Daniel good-bye and slipped out of the loft. Fifteen minutes later, she walked through the front doors of the Red Dragon District Watch House.

"Riley." He turned as he waited for the paperwork regarding Madison to be printed out. "Thanks for coming at such short notice. This may tie into the Bishop/Delahada case."

She nodded and glanced around the room, eyes eventually settling on the figure of a vaguely familiar woman sitting in front of the interrogation rooms. She frowned softly. "Wasn't she....The night we arrested Bishop" Out in the street?"

"Yes. She knew Bishop. Says he kidnapped her. She maybe be able to help keep him locked up." He grabbed the stack of papers, then handed them to Riley. They contained all of the information the Rhy'Din Watch had on Madison. "She's wanted for murder and grand theft. She was tried in Lofton County, but never here. Says she was never properly convicted in Lofton."

"She just came up to you and turned herself in?" Riley shook her head; she could count on one hand the number of times that had actually happened. Hell, she could count in one finger the number of times that had happened. She took the file and flipped through it, giving the pages a cursory glance.

"Walked right up to me, handed me the Wanted poster, didn't resist."

"Well. Holy crap. Let's go talk to Ms Rye, shall we?" And then she's nearly bowled over by Aoife Duggan, who'd just rushed through the doors. Riley's mouth twitched in a smile. Dollars to doughnuts, David had just realised that he was supposed to be down here and is currently flipping out. She moved towards Madison, a coolly polite smile on her lips. Madison offered Riley a curt upwards nod.

He stared at Aoife. "I'll be in there in just a moment." He said to Riley before turning back to Dinner. "What are you doing here, Aoife?"

"I have an appointment," she answered.

Jin snorted, remembering Judah's request. "That's a mistake," was all he said, turning away from her and heading over to Madison and Riley.

"Ms Rye?" Riley was standing in front of Madison now, the smile maybe a tad bit warmer now. "I'm Riley O'Rourke. Would you come with me?"

Madison drew to her feet, scarecrow-lean and patch-worked in anxiety. She nodded, "Sure, sure..."

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-06-17 21:10 EST
Riley nodded and opened the door to Room A, taking a step back and letting Madison go in first. The room looked like every other interrogation room in every single corner of the Multiverse - single, scarred table, three chairs, mirror, bland walls.

Stepping inside, Madison gave the room a survey. She's been here before, with Andy Jacobs, on the other side of the table and in a very different locale. But now those tables have turned and she has to smirk a bit at that. Maybe she should blow some luck on her die before throwing them in future. She sucked in the still, stale air and headed towards one of those seats without a word, without trouble.

"Have a seat, Ms Rye." Riley nodded towards one of the chairs - the one that sat alone on its own side of the table. "Can I get you anything" Water" Coffee?"

Jin stepped in after them, crossing his arms over his chest. He remained by the door for a moment, shooting a look down the hall. After tearing his gaze away, he turned and examined Madison for a moment.

Madison did just that, lifting crossed-awkward wrists onto the table top. A shake of the head in response to Riley's question, chin kept up.

Riley nodded and stared long and hard at Jin before seating herself. The expression said clearly, 'Get your head in the game'.

"What's that son of a b*tch doing in town?" Madison asked, straight as an arrow, quick as a bullet.

Reaching out, Jin closed the door and stepped around Riley to take a seat in the adjacent chair, hands coming together on the table as he leaned onto his elbows. With Madison's question, he shot the Minister a look. This was her case, her information to give out.

For now, Riley ignored Madison's question. There would be time for that later, perhaps. She did a little paper shuffling for a moment, drawing out her silence while she acquainted herself with the facts of the case. Riley looked up, that cool smile on her lips again, the expression made false by the considering look in the lawyer's eyes. "Okay. Let's start with the basics. Name, age, date of birth, residence, occupation." Riley's hand is poised above a notepad, a pen clutched loosely between slender, manicured fingers.

Again, Jin remained silent. He turned to Madison again, fingers lacing with one another. It killed him to not be able to jump right in, to get all the information he could out of her.

Madison's lashes flutter a moment as if she's trying to make out something in the distance, judging how deep these waters got. "Madison Acony-Belle Rye Donaldson. Twenty four. Penny Moon Hotel, Rhy'Din." She looks as young as she says, but there's something about the woman that speaks about ages upon ages and lots seen and more done than the years credit her with otherwise.

Riley's had flew over the sheet of paper, taking down Madison's words perfectly. "So, Madison...is it okay if I call you that?"

"Fine," she answered with a nod.

Riley nodded, hand still moving over the page. "So, Madison. Tell me why you turned yourself in to the Deputy Minister."

A breath out before she began. "That wasn't my intent. I only came near him because I saw the son of a b*tch with this gentleman not a few days back. "I'm not arguing with his decision." She nodded to Jin. "Man's got to do what he's got to do."

"Judah Bishop" Is he the son of a b*tch in question?"

"Yes, I lovingly refer to Bishop as son of a bitch. Man's a dog. Doesn't deserve a name."

A side glance to Riley, then back to Madison. "Why?" Simple enough. Riley nodded and let the question stand. Her eyes meet Madison's face expectantly.

"My head was out for cash last year. Judah was out for carrion covered in dough. He was the first to collect." A shrug. "I want to know why he's back." She stretched out her leg, now, heel pressing hard to floor.

"So Judah was working as a bounty hunter and you were the mark?"

"Exactly."

"It went sour" The apprehension?" Riley asked.

Jin's fingers tapped the table, he leaned back, crossing his arms. Another glance to Riley, holding his next question on the tip of his tongue. Riley shot Jin a sidelong glance. His impatience was distracting her a bit.

Madison said, "Judah swapped allegiances, as I understand, half way through. He and a fellow called Sam, emancipated me. But on the road home Sam was abducted. Judah I haven't seen since our wonderful rendezvous in Lofton. What a swell time that was..."

"Tell me what happened there."

"Judah assaulted me on the evening of my kidnap, during the journey from point A to B, and continued to do so once I was in the care of the Hexx. Then I was free game for them. I'm sure you can understand my discomfort and alarm at knowing the man to be ....in town." Finally, her head drops, as she blinked away tears.

Riley nodded slowly, a bubble of sympathy forming in her breast. She squashed it down, though, never letting it reach her face or her eyes. Her hand was still moving over the notepad; she'd already flipped through three sheets of paper.

"Let's talk about these murders you're wanted for," Jin said, turning back to Madison.

Madison gritted her teeth, again and ricocheted her gaze to Jin. "What about them?"

"We'll start with a why."

Madison lifted her eyes skywards. "I was taking out the trash."

Caramel-brown eyes tick-tock back and forth between Madison and Jin. "Who hired you?" Riley asked.

Jin could relate. He nodded, glancing at Riley to make sure everything was written down. Then back to Madison, waiting for her answer to Riley's question.

"Sheriff in Lofton at the time of my husband's death."

"Deputise you? Or was it unofficial clearing up?"

"The latter. I come from a very different order. Teeth for teeth, eyes for eyes. You shoot or be shot. I am proud of what I did but I pay for all those deaths every day and don't expect an easy penance. But I killed men who wouldn't be missed. I did as I was ordered. I was a woman who had nothing left but rage. So I put it where it was best to burn." She took a shaken breath.

Riley nodded, pausing in the flow of questioning to continue writing. That's when Jin leaned toward Riley. A hand lifted, cupping his mouth. He didn't have to lean to close to her ear to whisper, knowing Riley'd be able to hear him well enough. "She has information on Judah. Information that may be able to keep him locked away. And she's not a bad person, just misguided. I believe we can make a deal with her." Jin leaned back, hands coming together again as he watched Madison once more. Riley made a thoughtful moue, weighing what Jin had just said. Finally, she nodded curtly. "We'd like to make a deal with you, Madison."

Madison tossed her head, getting a tendril out of her fierce-calm eyes. "Shoot."

Riley pursed her lips for a moment, scribbling something down on the pad while she thought. If anyone could see it, it mightn't be readable to them...unless they could read Japanese kanji. "Judah Bishop is...somewhat of a problem for this Ministry," she began. She paused and glanced over at Jin, wondering if he wanted to take things and run with them.

"Why doesn't that surprise me" What do you want?"

"Information," Jin said simply. "In exchange for..." He glanced at Riley again. It was her place to decide what Madison would and wouldn't get.

Riley seconded that with a nod of her head. And oh, they were dancing on thin ice. Irish step dancing. Clogging, in fact. She could see the cracks shooting out in all directions around them. Riley's forehead creased and she tapped the pen in her hand in a rapid tattoo on the notepad as she thought, weighed options, and picked up the pace of the dance.

"I'll be frank with you." Jin said, turning back to Madison. "I agree that the people that have died by your hand were scum. No one will miss them, likely not even their families. However, murder is murder in the eyes of the law and the only way to prevent you from being convicted of it, is to help us keep Judah locked away indefinitely. He can't die. He'll come back, but we can do everything in our power to ensure that he stays away from the city, it's people. Are you willing to help us?"

Madison bristled in her seat, weight shifted as she leans back. "It depends what method you're asking for, Lawbringer. I'll be frank. I'm up to my neck in sh*t and don't need anymore hurled my way. So be plain what what you want."

"I'll be willing to clear all the charges but one," Riley said. ?No trial, you plead guilty, serve whatever sentence I give you and we're quits."

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-06-17 21:14 EST
Madison said nothing, merely blinked.

"Anything," Jin said. "Any information you have, contacts, whatever we can use to keep him put away."

"First: What is the charge you are trying me on?" Madison asked.

"You told the Deputy you're wanted for murder, correct?" Riley asked.

"And grand theft."

Riley smirked at that. "Any other jurisdictions have paper on you?" She meant did Madison have records in any other place" Warrants, etc"

"From here to Kingdom Come. With all due respect, Minister," Madison threw her hands into her lap. "If I don't agree, what will be your course?"

"We'll try you for everything we can, up to and including stealing towels from the hotel. And you'll serve out each and every sentence, not concurrently. Separately. One right after the other."

"So either way I'm muzzled." She twisted her lips in a semblance of a smile. "What if I said you can't keep me....what if I said that that decision has nothing to do with what I want?"

Riley's brow arched at that, a little shiver of something sliding down her back. "Explain that."

Madison shook of the head. "You'd need to ask Karras that." Riley scribbled this name down and underlined it a couple of times. Someone, at some point in the relatively near future, would need to explain who that was.

"What does he have to do with any of this?" Jin asked.

"He owns me." Madison looked down. "I belong to him. So the decision....It's not as if sounds," Madison tried to explain. "But I am being as frank as I can. You'd need to discuss this with him."

Jin would have to remember later to ask Riley why slavery was still legal in Rhy'Din. He kept that quiet surge of anger inside, hands falling to his lap as he leaned back again; restless. "Of course. And where can we find him?"

Poor, poor Riley. With her Earthlie sense of justice and right and wrong. The idea of one human being owning another made her want to vomit. The idea that someone who thought that this was...okay...could keep her from closing this case and getting it the hell off her desk also made her want to vomit. The tapping of the pen against the notebook grew louder and more frantic. "I'm happy to serve your sentence. To assist you. But Karras is the one you'll have to answer to."

"So you'll assist us regardless?" Jin asked, a brow arched, skeptical.

"I will help. But Karras will know and Karras will not be pleased if I'm locked away. I'm warning you in advance."

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-06-17 21:14 EST
The rhythm of the tattoo slowed down, nearly stopped, in fact. Eyes narrowed, she studied Madison, her nostrils flared as she weighed what the woman's scent would tell her. Riley put the pen down and leaned forward. "Where you're staying now, is it....well-known that you're staying there?"

"Only Karras and a handful of others know."

"And these others" You trust them?"

"I trust them. Implicitly."

She nodded slowly, then she held her hand out to Jin, wanting his keys. He glanced down at Riley's hand, slipping his own into his coat pocket. The keys were pulled out, handed over. Madison watched Riley closely behind a casual exterior.

Riley stood up and moved over to Madison. She reached down for her hands. Surprise waltzed across Madison's milk-white features. She unlocked the cuffs and took them off before handing the cuffs and the keys back to Jin and returning to her seat. She picked up her pen and flipped open to a blank page. "Okay. Tell me about Judah. Everything you can think of. Anything you think will help us."

Jin took the keys and the handcuffs, tucking them away into his coat again. He stepped to the side, then back, leaning against the wall. His foot moved, pushing the chair away a bit. "What he did before you met him, when you were with him, anything you know about what he's done after."

Madison massaged her wrists with a wince:. "Have you spoken with Salvador?"

"Riley has, I believe." He glanced at Riley, then to Madison again. "I wasn't present at the time."

"It's been months, so the bruises are gone, the cuts are gone," Madison said. "I can only stand testimony to what was done to me. I don't know about the scoundrel prior. The night he came at me was the first I saw of him. Sam was abducted and I hadn't seen Judah until the other night."

Riley's mouth tugged up in a smirk and she shook her head. "I've seen Sal. He's not talking." She fell silent and continued jotting down everything Madison was saying.

"If you have spoken to Sal Delahada, well, I can't offer much more in the way. The only other solid evidence of what took place rests in Lofton, with the ones who wanted my head." Madison paused. "Maybe...I could speak to Sal. For you. All I know is it is worth keeping son of a b*tch locked up for good. Sal is my friend."

Christ. Riley made a mental note to have Neo install a revolving door in Sal's room. She chuckled. "Sal's suddenly everyone's friend. His family's the only ones I'm letting in to see him right now." She ripped a few sheets of paper off her pad and handed them over to Madison, along with another pen, brought out of her briefcase. "Write me a statement. Everything that happened with Judah, beginning to end. Names, dates, places."

Madison took the papers the pen and she straightened her back and considered the blank whiteness of those feelings and how white-hot they hurt. "Do I have to compose it right now?" She gave Riley a strained look. "This is really....I'm still torn about what happened last year."

Riley gave Madison a small, sympathetic smile. "If you wouldn't mind. I'm gonna need it before you go tonight."

Madison spun the pen between fingertips and down onto the sheet. "Better out than in, eh?" She flicked her eyes over to Riley with a ghost of a smile.

She nodded, flashing the sympathetic smile again. Then she piled up all the papers that scattered her side of the table and stood. Glancing at Jin, she nodded to the door. "Step out into the hall with me?"

Jin nodded to Riley after watching Madison for a moment, flashing the woman a quick and reassuring smile before pushing from his lean and walking toward the door. Madison traced a lingering look after Jin, all his silences and stares. She doesn't smile but gave him a look, maybe to wish him well.

Riley opened it and stepped out into the hallway, carrying the stack of papers and her briefcase. She left the door open and moved so that she could still see Madison, but hopefully Madison couldn't hear her as she leaned forward into Jin. "I need to ask you a very serious question and I need you to answer me as truthfully and completely as you can."

He glanced up at Riley, quirking a brow. "What's that?"

"Why are you pursuing this with Bishop with such single-mindedness?"

Their shadows fell across the patch of floor where the corner of the door bit. Madison's eyes moved between those shadows and the sharp, over-bright paper before her. Say you belong to me. Say it, deeper within your heart. A tight inhale and she got to writing.

A hand was stuffed into his coat. "When he regained his memories and looked at me, I saw an evil man who'd done more evils than the vague hints Sal gave Neo on the night of his arrest. He's not safe to be let free, for anyone."

"And it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with his interest in Aoife?"

"I don't want to imprison him because of his interest in Aoife, if that's what you're asking."

"That is exactly what I'm asking. You swear to me it's not because of that?"

"I won't lie, Riley. I hate that she wants to see him, that he has an interest in her. But those are not my reasons for this." He thumbed toward the door where Madison was busily writing. "He's evil, she's proof. I think we should let her talk to Salvador."

She nodded and held out the stack of files she'd collected earlier that night. "It's yours, if you want it. My plate's full with the other two."

Jin's brow arched. "Do you think that's wise?"

"Yes. I think it's wise. Go out to Lofton County, nose around, dig sh*t up. Bring it back."

He nodded, accepting the files. "What about Karras" And what were you going to do to and for Madison in return for her aid?"

When she done, Madison turned the two pages over so she could spare herself the gruesome facts and drew to her feet. She still felt like judgment loomed. That there was a price to pay. She wandered to the door until her lean shadow bled into theirs, and waited for them.

"I don't know and I haven't decided." Riley glanced at the door. "All done?" she asked Madison. Madison nodded and handed Riley her statement. Riley took it and added them to the pile of stuff for Jin. "Thank you for your help, Madison. We'll be in contact soon." Tucking a few curls behind either ear, Madison rubbed her palms together and smiled carefully at them both.

"I think I'll walk her home," he said to Riley, indicating Madison. "To learn better where Karras is so I can speak with him soon. If that's not an issue." The latter was meant for the pair, eyes flitting between Madison and Riley.

She shook her head. "No, that's fine. I'll see you in the morning, Jin." She moved to the desk sergeant and whispered to him. Madison was now the owner of a brand-new tail - a member of the Watch would be tailing her everywhere she went for the foreseeable future.

"Good night, Riley." Jin nodded to her, then turned to Madison. "If there's no objection, Ms. Rye." He said, motioning toward the doors.

"None at all." and out she stepped, trailing a glance behind her.

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-06-17 21:17 EST
Meanwhile, in Interrogation Room C...

A few moments after Riley left, David glanced at the clock, and leapt up. "Crap," he muttered, throwing his uniform on quickly and rushing for the door. "Got an appointment," he called out to Daniel, who was in the kitchen making some tea. He hurried down the stairs and out of the building, breaking into an inhumanly fast run that carried him to the Watch House in a matter of moments. He skidded to a halt outside the door, and paused for just an instant to compose himself, then walked in. "Chief," he said to Riley. "Deputy," he said to Jin, and gave a nod to the Desk Sergeant. Then he walked towards the woman he'd seen leaving with Jin the other night, the one Riley had identified as Aoife. "Ma'am?" he asked. "You're here to see Judah Bishop, correct?"

There was a slow nod offered from Aoife at his inquiry. She was just now stepping back into herself and tracing the walls of the room slowly, deliberately. "I am."

Judah was in his cell, thinking he'd kill for a razor. His chin was itching like a b*tch and all he could think about was how good a bath would be, preferably with someone to help. He scratched at his chin, stretched lazily on the cot and rolled to his feet to pace a little more. But no, his lot was prison showers and jail house food. He was getting awfully goddamned tired of bologna, let him tell you what.

David nodded, motioning to the Desk Sergeant with a large envelope. "Please sign in with him, and empty your pockets into this envelope. I'm afraid you can't have anything on your person other than clothing when visiting the prisoner. You'll get everything back when you leave."

Ever the obedient one, Aoife stepped over to the desk. Picking up a pen she scrawled her name in loopdy loos. Placing the pen down she then patted her front pockets and back, showing the sergeant that she had nothing on her. Turning now, she waited.

"Okay, then," David said. "Come with me, please." He motioned to the door, then walked over to it and pulled it open for her.

Aoife didn't hesitate, not her. There was just a little hitch in her step as she passed through the opening. Already the walls were closing, reaching for her but she kept going.

David escorted her down the hall to another interrogation room, identical to the one Riley was in. He indicated one of the chairs on the near side of the room. "Have a seat there, please. Would you like something to drink" We have water, coffee, or juice."

Aoife froze just steps inside the room, a bit of a wild look darting like blue lightening across her eyes. Good thing she had a head of black hair to hide it. And that hair rippled as she shook her head quickly. "No. No thank you." It was a little stained.

"Okay. I'll bring Mr. Bishop in momentarily, then. Please remain seated at all times when the prisoner is in the room. Please do not attempt to initiate physical contact with the prisoner. If at any time you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, I will escort you from the room. Do you understand?"

It was an effort for her to look over her shoulder at him and nod again, more so to take those steps deeper into the room and around the table. The back of the chair was gripped and held, and she was looking around the room. Again.

David nodded in return, and turned away. At the doorway, he paused, and glanced back. "Would you prefer the door to be left open while I'm gone?" he asked. She seemed uncomfortable in there. A lot of people did. There was a slow nod from Aoife.

David left the door and open went back across the building to the holding cells, down the hall to the special cell. He saw the man in there, pacing back and forth, and stopped in front of the cell door. "Bishop," he said, "There's someone here to see you."

At the far end of the cell Judah pivoted like he was on springs, coming around with that same poised readiness. A lion's flat stare was fixed on David. "Who?"

"Aoife Duggan," David replied. "Do you want to see her?" His tone was neutral, almost flat.

Judah's pupils flared; he pushed off, strolling toward the man. "I didn't think that was going to happen." An ironic twist of his brow.

David shrugged. "Guess the Minister was in a good mood. You want to see her or not?"

Aoife hadn't sat yet. If it was possible for her to get any paler, her knuckles would be transparent in their strangled grip on the chair. She was staring longingly at the open door. Anyone with the slightest bit of enhanced senses would hear that thumping known as a heart as it fluttered like a hummingbird's wings in her chest. She might be holding her breath, too.

Judah put his hands out to be cuffed, showing too many teeth in his smile.

David shook his head. "Turn around, put your back against the door, and place your arms behind you through the slot."

Judah spat contempt in the curse, and did as he was told to do

David ignored the man's obscenity, pulling out his cuffs and fastening the man's arms together behind his back. "Take a step forward. Do not attempt to turn around," he instructed.

Judah took that long step forward. She was alive. That had been one of the things he'd been chewing over for days, now—the possibility that she was not, and that they'd simply decided not to tell him.

David opened the cell door, and stepped in, taking a firm grip on Judah's right forearm, using it to turn the man around and escort him out of the cell. As he walked Judah down the hall towards the interrogation rooms, he relayed instructions. "At any time, you may request to be escorted back to your cell. Do not attempt to rise from your seat. Do not initiate or accept any physical contact with your visitor. Be aware that I will be present at all times during your visit. Do you understand?"

"Yes." That was all. Judah's gaze ticked over the hallway, the cells he passed, the side of David's face.

Aoife was really trying hard to be patient, honestly. The chair was given up and now the pacing started. Back and forth, back and forth. Fingers were worrying at the hems of her sleeves.

"Good," David said. They reached the interrogation room, and he guided Judah around to the opposite of the table from Aoife. "Please sit down, Ms. Duggan," he said as he sat Judah down in the familiar steel chair bolted to the floor, then transferred one loop of the cuffs from Judah's left arm to the back of the chair, testing to make sure it was secure. He stood back, keeping his eyes carefully trained on the prisoner.

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-06-17 21:18 EST
She stopped mid stride when Judah was led into the room. Cuffed and in all his glory. Sitting wasn't really the hard part, but she managed. It was a very slow descent into the chair opposite his. Her heart was nearly leaping out of her chest with panic and forget the hems of her short sleeves.

Judah fixed on her the instant he was led into the room, and didn't look away, didn't blink, as he was cuffed to the chair. Eventually he sat because he was forced to. "I was starting to wonder whether you were alive." His gaze lingered on the pink mark on her forehead.

Taking another step back, David leaned against the wall next to the table. He was just out of arm's reach, but could be back at Judah's side in one long stride. He stayed silent, the conversation was up to them now.

Really, right now David ceased to exist in Aoife's world. She needed something to focus on before she lost it completely. Mist colored eyes roved over Judah's features before settling on meeting those hazels. "You...you remember. They wouldn't tell me anything."

"I dreamed about you," Judah said. And a beat later, he agreed. "I remember."

"That was fast. How long have you been here?"

"This is the third day." Judah said.

"Three days" I just found out" There they go, swirling, whirling storms seas now those eyes.

Judha's chin ticked sideways; he glanced over his shoulder at their silent sentinel, and back to her. "Jin knew."

"He's the one that told me. Riley told me last night after I was brought in for questioning that you asked for me. By name."

"They showed me...," he inhaled, exhaled, summoned the parody of a smile, "my own autopsy photos."

"That's it' That's what it was?" It was an odd question, but he would understand.

"That was when I..." He twirled a finger, tapped it on the tabletop. He wanted to touch her. He didn't want to give Lo-Down the excuse to pop him one. "Yeah. So I asked for you, and I asked for a lawyer, and your boss told me very politely to f*ck off."

"Jin's not my boss."

That kicked Judah's brows up. "He was. What happened?"

Aoife glanced at David now. "When are you releasing him?"

"I don't have that information," David replied neutrally.

"Don't bother," Judah told Aoife. "They've got their ass-cheeks clamped so tight it'd take Superman and the Sunshine Singers to get any info out of them. I think that's been pretty f*cking conclusively established."

Aoife studied David for a few more seconds, deciding that he was probably telling the truth. She shifted her attention back to Judah. "Why're you even here" What'd you do?"

"They arrested me because I was murdered, as far as I can f*cking tell, and they're holding me because I resisted arrest because I didn't want to be arrested for f*cking having been murdered." Another look over his shoulder. "Did I get that right?"

David didn't bother responding, the man's sarcasm flowing off him without a ripple.

"They can't hold you for that," Aoife sad, "I'm going to talk to Riley." And it better be soon. Her right leg was going a mile a minute under the table.

Judah lapsed back into the chair, a casual slouch that said that he owned the room and everything in it. "The stairs." Another elliptical allusion. "You need to go." He could feel the vibrations from her sewing-needle knee jerk through the table.

"The stairs. You want me to go?" This slowed that percussion slightly and got him a slight cant of her head.

"F*ck no, I don't want you to go." That was a little ragged, a little strained. The three days were beginning to tell on him. "But I remember. The cell. You freaked out in the cell." That was curt; he shut down his anger and drank her in::

"Fine." She wasn't echoing him at all, it more so for herself. "So you're okay?"

"As okay as I can be. I've slept in better hotels. Aoife..." He clamped his teeth down on whatever he'd been about to say and leaned forward again. "Look. I...you're not..." He scowled at the table.

Sometimes she had to remember to breathe. It was vital and necessary to live. This was one of those times. Blinking helped too. Blink, breathe. Ok, good. Oh yes, that woman. Madison. She focused on him again. "Stop. You and I have some business to attend to when I get out of here."

"I am not your responsibility." The cuff bit off everything he wanted to do. He paused and looked up at her, at that.

"But that's later. And I decide what?s my responsibility and what?s not." This is good. It is. Focus on something. The words just start rolling. She glanced at David. "I want to see Riley."

"Okay." Judah rubbed at his forehead, dragged his fingertips over his scalp, shut his eyes at her request.

"Are you finished here?" David asked, taking a step away from the wall.

She stood, taking no care to hide how much she wanted to be out of the room. Fast. "Yes."

David nodded. "The hallway outside the room will take you back to the front. You can collect anything the Desk Sergeant is holding, as well." He moved around behind Judah, waiting for her to leave before he unlocked the cuff.

She walked around the table, watching Judah the whole time. Her hands were fisted with the hems of her sleeves. They looked ruined actually. Her gaze touched briefly on David before she stepped through the door and out into the hall. She stepped into the front room and caught Riley just as she was exiting the other interrogation room. "I need to talk to you." Aoife said.

When she hit the hallway Judah blew out the breath he'd been holding and allowed himself to be pulled up and recuffed.

David leaned down, unfastening the cuff loop from the back of he chair and refastened it to Judah's arm. Then he straightened, pulling the man to his feet. "Let's go," he said, guiding him towards the door. He walked the prisoner down the hallway to his cell, put him inside and uncuffed him. He passed by Riley, who nodded curtly to him as she on the way to see Judah.

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-06-17 21:19 EST
A short time later, in the front of the Watch House...

David closed the door to the detention area behind him as he walked out into the front room. "You're free to remain in the front area," he said to Aoife. "However, do not try to interfere with either the Watch or the Minister's job, or you will be removed from the premises."

Aoife crossed her arms over her chest and resumed pacing. Back and forth. Back and forth. She glanced at the door, then at David but said nothing.

David went over to the Desk Sergeant and exchanged a few words with the man. Then he turned back to watch the pacing Aoife. After a few moments of silence, he said to her, "I've seen you around the Deputy Minister. You seem to be friends with him. Why are you mixed up with someone like Bishop?"

She didn't stop pacing, maybe slowed down a bit though to regard him with those eyes of hers when she passed him. "It's complicated."

"Isn't it always," he said. He was familiar with complicated. His life was pretty complicated right now.

Too bad she was fighting a panic attack right now or she might have picked up on something, maybe a tone. She was a little busy though. Pacing resumed, but he did give her something new to focus on. "You're new around here?"

He nodded. "Only been a Watchman for a couple weeks."

"You like it here?"

"Some parts of it," he replied. There was definitely a tone to be picked up in that one. "Others, not so much."

Again, she slowed and looked, really looked. "Really' Enlighten me."

"About which?" he asked, raising one brow a fraction.

"Both. Just keep talking."

Talking was not exactly something was known for doing copious amounts of. He sat on the edge of the Sergeant's desk and shrugged. "Got shot at with a crossbow. Didn't like that part much."

"That was just your Welcome to Rhy'din gift. What do you like?"

The briefest flicker of a smile curved his lips. "Some of the people."

Well, silly him that he just so happened to let that smile slip on her round about back his way. Remember she was focusing. When she focused, it was zen. "Like who?" Not that she knew many people here herself, but you know making conversation and all.

"Met a dragon the other night," he said. "She was interesting."

"So you don't like crossbows. And you met a dragon. That's interesting. Where're you from?" Babble, babble.

"San Francisco. That's on Earth." He had no idea if she knew what Earth was. Didn't even know if she was human, really.

"I know where it is. United States, right?"

He nodded. "That's right."

"Right. When did you get here?"

"About three weeks ago."

"And you magically got a job with this..." She unfurled a hand from it's clench on her arm and waved it around to indicate the this she was talking about.

He shrugged. "I was a cop, on Earth. Watch needed people. Ergo, I'm Watch now."

"It's a great choice of profession. Really. Do you like what you do?"

"Most of the time."

Another hitch and stutter in her manic walking. She looked at him. Might have actually stopped for a fraction of a second. "Elaborate."

"Stopping bad guys is good. Helping people is good." He shrugged again. "Dealing with people who think the Watch are the bad guys is...not so good."

"You don't talk much do you?"

"Depends on the subject," he said.

She glanced at the door that led to the rooms and cells, then to the other one that led outside. "Can I open that?"

"The outside door?" he asked, needing clarification.

"Yes that one. The one that lets air in. The outside."

He nodded. "Go right ahead."

He maybe got the word Go out before she was practically swan diving into the door, backing it open and holding it there. "Thanks."

"Claustrophobic?" he asked, one brow lifting fractionally.

"I like windows." That should be answer enough. She was leaning heavily against the door now, willowy legs and denim nearly mushy goo from all that pacing and thumping. "We all have our quirks."

"True enough," he replied, glancing out the door. Looked like a nice night out there.

"What's your name?"

"David Lo."

"Nice to meet you, David." There goes the head back against the door now. She's breathing a little deeper now, a little more normal. Scratch that for the pounding heart though. "You know my name."

"Likewise," he replied, nodding. He did know her name.

Moment of silence. She scrubbed her hands over her face, then threaded her fingers through her hair fisting handfuls at the base of her neck.

Silence was just fine with him. He lived that way most of the time. His eyes slid to the slice of night visible through the door again.

Ahh, but there are times when silence is the most powerful of screams. She recrossed her arms and stared over her shoulder outside as well.

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-06-17 21:20 EST
Meanwhile, in the detention area...

Riley, too, let out a breath and leaned heavily against the half-wall that contained the desk sergeant's spot. She hung her head down, rolling it back and forth, trying to work out the kinks and knots in her shoulders. "Not now, Aoife. I'm sorta busy. Call the office and make an appointment."

"Well, be unbusy. It's quick."

Riley straightened and let a flash of the frustration and annoyance shine in her eyes. "Talk to my secretary." She pushed off the wall and angled to cross the room.

"It's been three days," Aoife pushed. "You can't hold him for resisting arrest. Let him go and I'll take full responsibility for his actions. Current actions."

"No. You have no f*cking clue what sort of...creature that man is. You don't know sh*t about him, sweet-heart. I am not releasing him. Forget it."

"You can't hold him. You've got nothing."

"That's where you're wrong," Riley said.

"Really?"

"Unless you produce a law degree and a writ of habeus corpus signed by a judge in the next five seconds, I suggest you go home and put the animal out of your mind."

"Not happening. It's her, isn't it' Was it a pretty story?" Aoife asked.

"Good-night, Ms Duggan." Riley pushed past her, rounding the corner to see David leading Bishop down the hall back to the cells.

"I'm not leaving, Riley," Aoife called after the Minister.

Riley hung back for a moment, watching David do his job, and using the time to study the prisoner. David quickly unlocked and removed the cuffs, stowing them on his belt, then turned and walked back down the hall towards the front. He caught sight of the Chief approaching, and nodded to her, clamping down hard on the urge to touch her as he moved past.

Riley remained where she was, leaning against the wall, eyes leveled on Judah, watching him through the bars of his cell. Her legs were crossed at the ankles, arms crossed loosely over her chest as she stood there.

Judah straightened post-decuffing, scratching absently at the scars on his left arm, and turned around to find himself with company, and said, calmly. "Hi, Riley. How are Mindy and Daniel?" His fingers continued to move over the marching rows of triangles: up and down, up and down, hypnotically.

"Judah," was her answer. She moved closer to the cell, arms still folded across her. She ignored the question and asked one of her own. "You remember now?"

"I remember you." A steady rasp, a steady stare. He stayed where he was, maybe three feet back from the bars. "What do you want?"

"Do you remember Lofton County' Madison Rye' Sam' Bekah' Ali?" The questions come out, rapid-fire, machine-gun staccato. She stopped walking and stands a few short feet from his cell now, just out of arm's reach.

He studied her gait, the way she held herself, the cant of her head, the look in her eyes, and came to a conclusion about her. "You know, the golden age of hip-hop was the period between 1984-1994." He folded his arms, braced his feet apart and didn't look away. "That was some seriously innovative sh*t. The artists fused everything they knew about the world and distilled it into pure f*cking magic. They haven't done anything as good since, and AutoTune is a f*cking abomination."

Her brow ticked up. "I prefer the classics myself. Hendrix, Vaughn, Joplin."

"The older stuff is the better stuff. N.W.A. was classic. You know why?"

"Elucidate me."

"Because it hearkened back to soul, and the real R&B. Like Otis Redding. Ain't nothing better for getting a girl's panties wet than Otis Redding. That man could wring blood from a stone."

She shrugged. She didn't like Otis Redding What could she say' She was half-Japanese, half-Irish, rich girl from the suburbs of Boston. "Stevie Ray Vaughn always did it for me. Little Wing is like choirs of angels."

He tipped his head back, looked her over again. "Vaughn. Shame he was so fond of helicopters. He knew where it was at, I'll give you that."

That got a slight reaction, a tiny tug at the corner of her mouth. She moved a bit, shifted her weight from one foot to the other, arms uncrossing and coming to rest loose at her sides. Caramel-brown eyes were still trained on his face. "You've become a real pain in my pain-painstakingly sculpted rear, Bishop."

"Your f*cking genes got you that ass, princess," he said, after a moment of shared silence. "You let her think I was dead."

"You are dead. And I've half a mind to let Sal loose and let you loose and let him keep killing you. Hell, we'll just mark out a spot in the cemetery and call it Bishop Hill or something and just keep plantin' you."

"I'm not dead yet," he rasped, and rocked his weight back onto his heels. The muscles in his folded forearms rolled, as if he'd clenched his hands.

"Two bodies in the cooler downstairs say otherwise."

"Come check my pulse, kitty kitty." He showed teeth. It wasn't a smile. She'd flouted what she was, that night he'd been on the porch with them.

Eyes narrowed, nostrils flared. "I can hear your heart beating from here, Bishop."

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-06-17 21:24 EST
He inclined his head, as if hinting at offering his throat to her. Then he tucked his chin in against his chest and waited. She shifted again, crossing in front of his cell in a few long-legged strides to lean against the wall. He watched her go, and he breathed, and looked off at nothing for a moment; down the hallway, out into forever. Then he ticked his attention back to her. He seemed perfectly content to stand in place for the rest of the evening. "What do you want from me?"

"Answers. Explanations. You know, normal lawyer stuff."

"I don't know who Sal is."

"He sure has got a hard-on for you though, doesn't he?"

"I don't know why. I have never been to Lofton County. I don't know who Sam is. What were the other ones?"

"You wanna hear a theory?" she asked, deceptively sweet.

"Doesn't look like I'm going anywhere." His gaze cut back and forth. "Captive audience, et-f*cking-cetera."

"You're a liar. A duplicitous, back-stabbing, double-crossing, amoral liar. And yet....And yet..." She straightened, moving closer to the cell. He looked off at an angle as she ticked off the insults as if thinking it over. "And yet you've got Aoife so many completely and utterly duped."

He said, "Actually...no. Haven't lied to a f*cking one of you."

"But then, that's just part of the show, isn't it?" she continued as if he hadn't spoken. "You'll play whatever part, you'll put on whatever mask, you'll speak whatever lines necessary to get what you want."

"I don't bait that easily. Try harder. Maybe a little faster, too." He was thirsty. He would sell his f*cking soul for a Negro Modelo right about now. "And rub a little to the left. I like it there."

She waved her hand in the air. "What do I want from you? Isn't that what you asked me earlier?" He unfolded an arm to scratch at one uplifted eyebrow, and waited. "Why do people crawl all over themselves to tell me what a d*ck you are" Why do I have signed, sworn statements attesting to what a perfect monster you are?"

"You really think she's that stupid" That's sad. I'll be sure to let her know."

She frowned softly, thrown off by the question. "She who?"

"Aoife."

She blinked, pieces in the puzzle sliding home. She'll let that one go. "Maybe she woke up. Maybe she realized the truth."

"You're showboating again."

"Am I?"

The corner of his mouth quirked. He didn't move otherwise.

She took another step closer to him, almost as if she really was baiting him now. "What's it like" On the other side" Did you go down a long, white hallway' Did you see Grampa standing in the light, holding his hand out to you? Was Great-Aunt Lucy waiting" Did it hurt' When Sal stabbed you? When Sal broke your neck" Could you feel the knife slide in between your ribs" Could you feel the vertebrae crack?"

"Being stabbed hurts." He said in response, and took a step closer to the bars in turn. One more step put them within reach. He wrapped his fingers around them, looked through them at her. He watched her, intent as a predator. "It feels like being punched at first, you know?" His voice dropped, pitched for intimate conversation. "Then the pain starts radiating out from it, and it just fills up the whole world until there's nothing left but it and you." Not quite a whisper.

She stayed where she was. Her eyes were wide, breathing shallow. Was she excited" Or did she simply not want to get too deep a sniff of the man in front of her" "I let you go, and that'll happen. Again and again." Her voice matched his in tone and pitch.

"The pain has a voice. It is a place. And it's the only place you live, and the only sound you hear, no matter how far back into your head you go."

She was quite accustomed to pain, the sort of pain he was describing. The scores of tiny, white, paper-thin scars that marched up and down her arms and legs and over the small V-shaped patch of bare skin at her throat and chest attested to that. The ragged line of three claw marks that scored her back from shoulder to hip screamed that. The jagged slice across her belly from hip to hip spoke volumes.

"You know," he said, as if he'd read her skin, or read her mind. "You know."

"I know that you crave it, in an emo, I cut myself to see if I can still feel kind of way."

"I used to." He said, and grinned, and braced his shoulder against the bars. "Then I died the first time. You don't have enough to hold me, Riley. Let me go."

"But then where would I get such stimulating conversation?"

"That's what your lap boy Daniel's for. You want to know about Madison Rye' I collected a lawful bounty from Lofton County on her. She was charged with murder. She resisted me, and I used force to restrain her. In the process, half the f*cking happy citizens of Rhydin busted out guns and unloaded on me. Several people were injured, that I know of. I don't know whether anyone died, but I don't think so."

She nodded and took a step to the side, leaning against the bars. It was almost as if they were two old friends, shooting the breeze over the back garden fence.

"If they did, it wasn't my fault. I had no gun, and the only person I touched was Madison. Satisfied?"

Riley ORourke

Date: 2010-06-17 21:31 EST
"Hardly. I'm an insatiable kind of girl." She straightened and moved back a pace. "But, it's late and frankly, I'm exhausted."

"Delightful. Let me go."

"Fat chance, Bishop. You know I can't do that."

He shrugged, shook his head. "If you don't, I will."

"And Sal will find you again. You see, since his victim isn't actually dead, I can't hold him on murder charges any more. So, I'm thinking he'll be released again soon."

"F*ck Sal." He turned and walked back toward his slab of a bed, and stretched out on the mattress like a recumbent panther.

"Some Watchmen will be in to see you in just a bit. They're going to search your cell and remove anything sharp and pointy. I'm concerned for your well-being, Mr Bishop. I'm going to ask that you be placed on round the clock suicide watch."

"That lawyer." He reminded her, and rolled over onto his back, lacing his fingers behind his head.

"You betcha. When I can find one. Good night, Judah. I'll see you tomorrow. You want me to bring you something?" There was no response from the prisoner. She turned and moved silently down the hallway and through the door which led into the domain of the desk sergeant. She crossed to him and had a few words, relaying her instructions about the cell and prisoner search and the suicide watch.

And the instant the door closed, Judah found that silver piece and started cutting.

David turned when the door opened, and nodded. "Chief," he said, saluting.

"Oh, for god's sake. Knock it off, Constable." She was exhausted, weary, and it showed in the lines and angles of her face, the expression in her eyes.

He dropped his hand and stood away from the desk. "Need anything?"

The carotid was what Judah hit first, hissing and spitting through the agony of it. Dying does help to get over the fear of pain, it turned out. Then he started sawing his way up his wrists.

The door between the desk sergeant's domain and the cells opened and Riley froze, her lips skinning back from her teeth, a growl escaping. The bright copper scent of blood hit her nose when the air from the cells wafted into the front of the building.

David tensed at the sudden growl, taking a few steps towards her. His human nose didn't smell a thing, of course. "What?" he asked.

"F*ck!" she shouted and turned, dashing through the doors and sprinting down the hallway, pushing past loitering Watchmen. "Keys! KEYS! Open the door! C'mon, c'mon! The f*cker's gonna bleed out before you dimwits wake up!"

"Sh*t," David said, running after her, down the hall to the cells.

A Watchman who was going to be quickly receiving a promotion opened Bishop's cell door and reached for the sharpened silver coin in the prisoner's grasp.

Statue-still Aoife was in the doorway. There was the faintest hint of that metallic smell that reached her. Surprisingly, she didn't react as they had. She simply melted away from the door and into the night, letting it slide shut with a hiss. Maybe it was time to go to sleep...

David saw Judah's bloody form and skidded to a halt, turned and sprinted for the nearest first-aid kit.

Riley was there on his heels, tearing her shirt into thick strips. She slid across the floor of the cell and pressed her ruined shirt against the side of Judah's neck. "You f*cking assh*le, you sh*t for brains idiot," she was muttering under her breath as she watched the other Watchmen pressing their bare hands against the prisoner's arms. Judah's eyes rolled up toward the people looming over him where he'd collapsed beside the cot, lids flickering. Then he was gone.

She heard his last heart beat and she stood up, throwing the ruined, sodden mess of her shirt to her feet. "God damn it!" she roared.

His heartbeat spiraled upward like a dove's wingbeats, frantic for the sky. Then it faded into silence, and left the Watch with yet another hot mess to clean up.

David was back in seconds, shoving his way through the clustered Watchmen with a handful of bandages. He arrived just in time to see the life leave the man. He'd seen plenty of people die, and knew exactly what it looked like. "Son of a bitch," he said quietly, with great feeling.

She pushed her way out of the cell. "Clean this sh*t up. Put him on ice, next to the others." She left the area, and stalked into the Commander's office, slamming shut the door behind her.

David straightened away from the body and got out of the others' way. He went down the hall to the Commander's office. "Chief?" he said, knocking on the door.

There was no answer for a long time. Then the door opened and Riley emerged, wearing the Commander's jacket. "I'm going home." She left the Watch House without another word, without a further glance back.

((A great big holy crap thank you to the players of AoifeDuggan, David Lo, Jin, Madison Rye, and Judah Bishop for this wonderful scene. I've adapted it, edited it, and sliced it up into chunks to make it more readable.))