The hours following the riot were foggy in Nicola's mind but, in a detached way, she was aware she was in shock. She vaguely recalled answering questions she couldn't remember being asked and being interviewed by doctors, social workers, police and a bunch of white guys in suits. She had no idea if she gave them the answers they needed, or indeed if she had even been polite. She just wanted to get to her bed, cry, and then sleep for a week.
Through it all she held onto Melissa's hand and let Sophia take point. The girl didn't make it known she was police, so Nicola and Melissa kept it to themselves too. Perhaps she was still undercover? Just how high did the corruption go?
Eventually, Nicola got her wish and was free to return to her apartment. She was too tired to feel jumpy, but she suspected by tomorrow she was going to have to deal with the emotional consequences of all that had happened. For now though, sleep was all she wanted.
She awoke to the sound of alarms, and panic raced up her spine. It took her a few gasping breaths to realise the sound was her door buzzer. It took a few minutes until she was able to climb shakily out of bed and answer the intercom.
"Hi, Dr Kay, it's Sophia." Sophia's voice was a welcome one and Nicola buzzed her in, not bothering to do more than throw a robe over her pyjamas.
Sophia looked unreasonably perky considering, with any bruises she had received in the scuffle artfully concealed. Nicola wondered how often she had to cover up like that to make her such an expert at it.
"Hey, Dr. Kay. Got a minute?"
Nicola waved her in and went straight to the coffee machine, she was starting to wish there were spirits in the house - she had a feeling that she would be wanting her coffee Irish by the time they were done.
Sophia accepted the mug Nicola handed her and relaxed back in her chair. "How you holding up, Dr. Kay?" she asked.
"Nicola, please. When you survive a riot together, it's first names only."
"Fair enough! So, how are you holding up, Nicola?"
"Not sure. I survived, I feel okay, but time will tell. What about you?"
"I'm fine - a little tired." Sophia said casually. Nicola felt she was fishing, perhaps wondering how much Nicola knew or had guessed about her.
"I suppose you get a lot of this sort of mayhem in your line of work?" Nicola said, dryly.
"My line of work? Whatever do you mean?"
"Don't play coy with me, girl. You're no more a nurse than I'm a cop. You and that Ricky Johnson were undercover together weren't you?"
"You're a very astute woman, Nicola," Sophia said, carefully. "Yeah, we were. A re . The investigation is still on-going, so we will be staying under the radar. If you're comfortable with that?"
Nicola nodded, pleased that she had bothered to ask for her silence and didn't just order it. It felt like they were the friends she had thought they were, and 'Sophia' wasn't just a role the girl had been playing.
"Have you heard anything about the prisoners that helped us? Or the staff that were caught up in the riot?" Nicola asked after a few stabilising sips of coffee. It was best to get the hard stuff out the way first.
"TJ, Morris and Wolff are all well, and are being looked after – they're going to be transferred as soon as possible to prevent reprisals from inmates or staff. Ricky is fine too, although he is going to be out of the system while he recovers." Sophia paused and chewed her lip. "There was quite a high casualty count I'm afraid. Three guards and eleven inmates. Forty-seven serious injuries, six of them staff."
Nicola nodded. It was to be expected, but her feelings were very mixed on the subject. The deaths and debilitating injuries were appalling, and she was a doctor – it was her job to save people no matter what crimes they had committed, even if they were against her . That was fine in theory, but these were people who conspired to kill her, or were complicit in it. She wasn't sure how she honestly felt about that as a reality.
"It's okay to be angry, Nicola," Sophia said, obviously reading some of her feelings on her face. "Or to feel resentment or hate. It's human, and completely normal. Bottling it up or feeling guilty just makes it fester. Trust me, I know," she grimaced, but her eyes were still soft and kind.
"You seem pretty wise beyond your years," Nicola said. "I feel you've seen more in your life than you should. That saddens me."
Sophia shrugged her shoulders. "I have, that's true. But I've seen tremendous good in people as well as the terrible things they do to each other. Helping people, and seeing that kindness and bravery, makes it all worth it. That and the fact I get to kick ass while putting away the bad guysand I look damn awesome in a uniform." She grinned.
Nicola smiled back, and felt something loosen in her chest.
"More coffee?" Sophia suggested, waging her eyebrow and her cup in tandem. That girl drank coffee like it was her life's blood – Nicola could relate.
Nicola took her mug, but when she headed to the kitchen, Sophia followed, peering at the display of family pictures on the wall, a small smile on her lips.
"Do we know who was behind this?" Nicola asked as she ground more beans, not even sure she really wanted to know the answer.
"It goes as high as the governor I'm afraid."
All the warm feelings drained out of her. That man had hired her, shaken her hand, taken her out to lunch to talk about her work. He had seemed kind, a decent man trying to do his best in a one of the poorer jails.
And then he had tried to have her killed. Had been complicit it the deaths of scores of inmates who had never been given the chance to better themselves. Nicola was suddenly furious. "That bastard ," she gritted out. Her hands seemed to be shaking. "That fucking asshole ."
Sophia gently took over with the coffee machine, ignoring both Nicola's rage and how close she was to tears. The non-reaction helped a bit, and Nicola took a couple of calming breaths.
"We want to avoid a trial," Sophia said as she carried on preparing their drinks. "We have enough evidence to throw the book at the lot of them and you wouldn't believe how willing they all were to snitch on each other."
"Will it be enough?" Nicola asked. Not having to go through the whole sorry story in court would be such a blessing, and she fervently hoped they could find a way.
Sophia handed her a fresh, steaming mug. "They'll be offered individual plea deals, depending on the extent of their involvement. Once confronted with the evidence – of which there is a lot - it will be in their best interest to take the deals."
"Are you certain? If there's any chance of wiggling out, I would expect them to take it."
"Oh yeah, there's plenty. Apart from the evidence collected during my investigation, and the vast amount of eyewitness accounts, the obnoxious Dr. Evergreen gathered his own evidence about the deaths he helped cover up."
"So despite him being the one to send me the text to lure me in, he was one of the good guys?" Nicola asked doubtfully.
"Hardly. It seems although they were paying him to look the other way, there really is no honour among thieves and he collected information to save his own butt if things went horribly wrong and he needed a get out of jail free card."
"That sounds more like the Evergreen I know and loath. Is it a get out of jail free card? Will he get off scot free?"
Sophia grimaced. "That's the problem with making deals I'm afraid. He won't get away completely free though. He will see the inside of a jail, but most likely a minimum security place that houses the rich and the very lucky. But there will be other consequences too – he'll be struck off for sure, and I know there will be a whole heap of relatives of the deceased who'll suddenly have access to free legal advice and lots of incentive to sue."
"Well, that's something I guess."
They sat in contemplative silence for a moment, then Sophia gave a loud sigh. "I guess I should be off. Thanks for the coffee – and all of your help."
"Thank you, Sophia. I don't know what would have happened without you."
Sophia gave her a warm hug and a small card with a number on it 'for emergencies'. Nicola watched the other woman leave, and wondered if she would see her again.
She sat for a while in her empty kitchen, still in her nightclothes. What would she do now? Did she want to return to work at the jail? At a different jail? She had two weeks leave to decide, no need to rush things, but she had a feeling she would be going back. She had taken that job to help people, and just because some of them were murderous assholes, didn't mean people like TJ and even Wolff, and Morris, who had come out on the side of humanity, didn't deserve the respect and treatment she could offer.
But she had time to think about it, and in the meantime she had a life to live. She would get dressed, tidy up, call her mom, and then maybe see if Melissa wanted to meet for a coffee, or something stronger. Talking about it would probably do them both the world of good.