"I'm here to meet Kate Littlejohn, our client is Mateo—" Sandra was cut off.

"They are waiting for you, Ms. Bell," the officer smiled at her and buzzed the gate open.

She made her way through the same maze she had the previous time until she reached the room where she could see Mateo and the back of Kate's head. The corrections officer opened the door for her, reminding her of the rules and she entered to a smiling and always polite Mateo. He shook her hand and thanked her for coming.

"Hi," Sandra said under her breath as she took a seat next to Kate.

"I thought we should focus on the first interrogation and his initial public defender," Sandra said as much to Kate as Mateo. She pulled out her files and began.

Sandra Bell's office was not the only thing messy about her. The legal pad she had written her notes on could not have been deciphered by anyone else. Kate glanced at it numerous times to get an idea where a series of questions might be leading only to be left completely in the dark by the illegible notes.

"When you were taken to the police station did they remind about your right to a lawyer?" Sandra asked.

"Yes, ma'am," he nodded.

Kate's lip twitched as she contemplated how unlikely it was that Sandra enjoyed the ma'am treatment.

As the questioning continued, the bright prosecutor caught on to what the other lawyer was zeroing in on. It wasn't a point she had considered initially, but the details between arrest and lockup weren't what she had spent her time on when she was first asked to look at Mateo's case. She was reminded why she valued Sandra's opinion and why the public defender was perfect for this case—she understood the law inside and out, but also knew how some looked at the law and tried to skirt it to accomplish putting someone behind bars. There had to be some cynicism in Sandra's view of the law. However, she never let on and she certainly never did so with a client.

Mateo, without knowing it, was leading the two lawyers to the very information that could have his entire case thrown out. The anticipation of what they both hoped was coming had them on the edges of their chairs. Sandra busily took notes and Kate sat rapt. When the next question posed seemed most likely to flip the case, Kate reached beneath the table and grabbed Sandra's free hand, holding it tight as she stared ahead at the young man. It was as if holding that hand tight for long enough for Mateo to speak would bring out the exact detail they would need to get him out.

What he said to them was more than they could have ever imagined having. There were at least three points worth petitioning the court over and at least three seemed big enough failures in the system to get Mateo a new trial if not have his sentence vacated.

...

"Oh, my god!" Sandra said as they exited the building and were out of earshot of the gate guards. "I have never had a case go like this."

"You did a masterful job of questioning him," Kate smiled, putting on her sunglasses and once again getting behind the wheel of Roger's Mercedes.

Sandra got in the car and continued to stare at Kate—not buckling her seatbelt, not saying a word.

"What?" Kate finally said in that sharp way she often made statements.

"You grabbed my hand."

Kate looked straight ahead, started the car and clutched the steering wheel.

"I did," she finally said.

"Okay."

Now Kate looked over at Sandra. She wished she was better at reading the nuances of her colleague's facial expressions.

"Okay?" she mimicked.

"Yes, okay."

Sandra buckled her seatbelt and straightened the hem of her skirt. She didn't look back over at Kate. She wasn't going to say any more about it.

Eventually Kate realized that was the end of any discussion recognizing what had happened. She put the car in gear and drove off the premises toward the turnpike back into the city.

They didn't say anything of importance on their way back to the office. Kate navigated traffic skillfully and took them once again to Roger's building's garage where they left his car and began their walk back to their offices. It was past five when they left the car and both women knew they didn't have any work to do when they got there, but neither woman wanted to say goodnight and go their separate ways. They talked about all kinds of things that did not relate to work in any way.

"Here we are," Sandra said, nodding to the building ahead of them that housed the U.S. attorney's office.

"Oh," Kate looked surprised. "I can walk you to your office. I don't have anything pressing I need to attend to."

Sandra smiled at this realizing Kate had wanted to walk with her to spend time with her not because they happened to be heading in the same direction.

"Do you have any plans right now?" she asked the somewhat confused blonde, finally receiving a shake of the head. "Would you like to grab some dinner?"

The way Kate Littlejohn tries to hide a smile is adorable in its awkward, self-denying way. She is not one to show outward emotion. But every now and then she let slip the fact that she craves human affection, too.

"Since you made me take this case, you're buying," Sandra nudged Kate's shoulder and began walking away, leaving the prosecutor to catch up.

Sandra didn't have to look back to know Kate was following.

To be continued…