Send the video.
Frankie sat at her dining table, finger poised over her laptop's mouse.
Don't send the video?
She had two hours to make a final decision, but she was no closer to it now than she had been two weeks ago. She'd drafted, deleted, then redrafted her email to the judge so many times that she almost had the thing memorised, but every time, it got harder and harder to sign it with her name.
The USB Josh had given her stuck out of one of the ports on the edge of the computer, a red light flashing to let her know it was working.
Sometimes, Frankie managed to convince herself that she didn't need the video, her case was strong enough without it. She had multiple witnesses, however straight-faced they happened to be, and confidence. But just not the right kind of confidence. She knew that she would have no trouble faking her way through her defence, but there wouldn't be a defence to fake if there wasn't any case to begin with.
She needed to send the video. Sending the video meant guaranteed proof, a guaranteed victory. But sending the video also meant a guaranteed broken promise, and Frankie wasn't about to pull a stunt like that so early on.
From next to her, Frankie's phone began to ring interrupting the silence that had been steadily closing in on the afternoon. She closed her laptop and as she picked it up, she felt her stomach twist into a tight knot.
She hadn't spoken to Winn since she'd woken up in his apartment a few nights before, mainly because she didn't exactly know what she would say to him if she did. She couldn't remember exactly what had happened, but all she could think about was the way he'd looked at her when she'd woken up the next morning.
Frankie let the phone ring out, but less than a minute later, it started vibrating again. Whatever Winn wanted, he clearly wasn't going to let up before he got it.
Clenching her jaw, she answered the call with a practised air of dismissal.
"Look, Winn, I'm really sorry but I can't talk right now."
"Ok, ok, I'll make it quick." His voice came through the other line sounding slightly panicked and for a moment, Frankie wondered if she'd been ignoring him in the middle of an Earth-shattering disaster.
"Are you alright?"
"What?" Now he just sounded confused. "Yeah, of course I'm ok. Why wouldn't I be ok?"
"I don't know, you sounded like you were in trouble."
Frankie fully expected Winn to reply with some kind of joke, so when there was only silence from his end of the call, she began to grow slightly nervous.
"What did you need to talk about?" She asked, a broken nail on her thumb catching her attention.
"You don't- you won't remember... um-" Frankie's heart rate began to climb steadily the more that Winn stuttered. "You don't remember what we talked about on Friday night, do you?"
Whatever it had been, it sounded important. Frankie just hoped that he hadn't gone out of his way to tell her something that she'd now completely forgotten because that really would have been a problem.
Then, she was struck by a sudden thought.
"We didn't- I didn't... I mean. Like,"
"No! No, no, no, no. Definitely not. Nope. Uh uh," Winn practically squeaked, his reply a little too quick. "We did not do that."
If Frankie wasn't so pressed, she would've felt slightly offended. Was it really that revolting of a thought?
"No, you talked to me. About something."
"Winn, you're being vague and it's starting to scare me a bit."
"I'm sorry, I just... You came over, and we talked..." he paused. "About Brad."
"I..." Frankie broke off, confused. "And? About what?"
There really wasn't that much to talk about, unless her drunken self had thought it was a good idea to run on over to Winn's in the middle of the night just to make him jealous, which, if his earlier assurances were anything to go by, was likely a lot harder to do than she thought.
Unless...
"Oh my God," Frankie whispered, finally realising what Winn was talking about. "Oh my God. That's so stupid, what was I thinking..."
"Hey, hang on," Winn interjected, his voice getting even higher. "Look, I get that you probably weren't planning it like that, but I just want you to know that I'm here for you. Always. And if you ever need a place to crash or someone to talk to, I-"
"Winn, I really appreciate that, but... Look, I don't know what I told you the other night but trust me, it's really not that big of a deal."
"Frankie, I want to help, I don't know how to help."
Frankie sat up straighter in her chair, almost trying to prove to an invisible crowd that she really believed what she was saying.
"You don't have to help, Winn. There's nothing to help with anyway, there's no problem."
Her phone buzzed again in her hand and pulling it away from her face, Frankie read Brad's name on the screen.
"I'm sorry, Brad's on the other line, I've gotta go."
"Frankie..."
"I'll see you 'round, Winn."
Without waiting to hear his reply, she ended the call.
Flicking through to Brad's line, Frankie answered as cheerily she could.
"Frankie, finally. I've been trying to call you for an hour." That was a lie, her phone could easily prove that much. She ignored Brad as he launched into a story about something that happened at his job, her mind buzzing from her conversation with Winn.
She wasn't mad at him, but she couldn't say she was completely happy either. She had no idea what was causing her to feel the way she did, but the deep, gouging sensation in her gut was an indication of something and this time, she wasn't going to ignore it.
Frankie stared once again at the email that had been defining most of her thoughts for the past week.
She finished typing it out and attached the video, pressing send before she could convince herself not to. She may not be able to figure out her own feelings, but the least she could do is make sure that Josh and everybody who came in contact with Rosalie Baker wouldn't have to suffer because of it.
Page after page of DEO files flicked past Alex's eyes faster than she could read them. It didn't matter. She'd already gone over every single one in astounding detail at least a dozen times each. None of them were helpful.
Her father's name was flagged almost two thousand times over the course of six years. He had been an incredible agent, she knew that much from reading each and every single admission. But she couldn't for the life of her find any files detailing what had happened the night he died.
The one Winn had found had been useful in finding the rest of her father's details, but this was something she needed more of. From what she knew, Hank, J'onn, she reminded herself for the millionth time, had been the one who had wiped them all, but she wasn't about to ask him to run a sweep of the recycling bins.
She believed his story, but still, she wanted to see the words for herself. Killed in action, dead on arrival, it didn't matter, she just needed something.
Something to prove that she hadn't just made the whole thing up.
Frankie watched as Josh slowly began to deteriorate.
She tried to pretend it wasn't happening, but the desperate glances he was sending her after every question the lawyers threw at him were particularly hard to ignore. It didn't help that he and the friends that had agreed to come along seemed to be telling five different versions of the story.
She understood more than anybody that what she was asking them to do was difficult, but she would have hoped to elicit at least a little more organisation out of them.
The video, despite being filmed in a dark room and hard to make out anyway, had been blurred as per her request. The audio was still clear, but there was no way to see what was actually going on. From what she'd been able to pick up from them, most of the jury didn't really mind, but if the way Baker's lawyer had nodded to his team like it was the final brick in their mansion of success, then maybe, just maybe, it was going to be a problem.
Carlos Anderson was a better lawyer than Frankie. That wasn't even a question. He'd defended some of the biggest pharmaceutical cases in recent history and made more money in a month than she saw in six. She'd studied his cases in school, presented on his techniques.
Frankie had no idea what he was doing leading Baker's team.
There wasn't anything for him here. It wasn't his area, he wasn't going to gain any valuable experience; Frankie knew that the only thing stopping him from backing out was the big fat paycheck he'd earn when it was all over.
"And you don't want to explain again what happened that night?"
Anderson stood tall with his hands in his pockets, staring at Josh. His half-smile made him look almost like a hyena, just waiting for its prey to stumble before it moved in for the kill. It made Frankie feel sick to watch and every nervous look Josh sent her only made it worse.
"Mr Anderson, the witness has already answered that question multiple times, maybe you should try using your ears."
But Anderson didn't look put off. If anything, he almost seemed glad that someone had brought up Frankie's incompetence. Even the judge was watching her slightly exasperatedly. At least someone was enjoying the show.
Despite how it may have seemed, Frankie hadn't completely given up. She had a plan. It just may have not been going as well as it could have at that particular moment. No big deal, she just had to wait until she could get Detective Sawyer alone.
Clearly, Anderson had something up his sleeve as well because, after a few moments of silence, he stood up a little straighter and spun around from the bench as though he'd just had an epiphany.
"Now, if I'm not mistaken, this is your first case, is it not, Ms Danvers?" When he turned away from Josh, Frankie caught the grin he sent Baker back at their table. Before Frankie could reply, he continued, not looking at her, but instead addressing the jury as though he was asking them. "Your first dip into the world of defence, fresh off the desk..."
She immediately knew exactly where he was going with all of this. Discrediting the opposing lawyer, while morally questionable and frankly just a dick move, was effective nonetheless.
"I ask you, Ms Danvers... what makes you qualified to be defending Mr Lucas?"
Frankie thought hard about her answer. She tried to remind herself that she wasn't the one on trial, their lawyer was not supposed to be questioning her authority. He finally turned around to face her, and when he did, she could see the sleaze dripping from his innocent expression.
It was clear that he thought he had backed her into a corner.
The judge was watching her expectantly, and no matter how much she wanted to prove Anderson wrong, he was at least partly right.
Despite how much she really disliked him, Frankie pictured Crawford standing in front of her, his hands jammed into his blazer pockets, moustache perfectly shaped above his upper lip. His goal had never been the balance of justice, more like the maintaining of his stellar reputation but still, the same piece of advice separated itself from his barrage of last-minute wisdom:
Always object. If you think something's wrong, there's no harm in making sure you're right.
"Objection, this line of questioning is in no way relevant."
Now that Frankie thought about it, she realized that this advice probably wasn't too sound. The judge considered her carefully, his gaze narrowing. After a second, he relaxed in his chair, looking back to Anderson.
"Sustained."
Frankie could've sworn she'd caught the slightest hint of a grin flashed in her direction. She sat up a little bit straighter.
Morally questionable, but still effective.
Anderson's grin was wiped clean from his face pretty damn quickly, but before he could regain his composure, there was a crash from the back of the courtroom. Frankie's head whipped around before she even realised she was doing it and it took a second for her eyes to catch up to the rest of her body and even when they did, she still wasn't quite sure what she was looking at.
The door to the courtroom was swinging wildly on its hinges as a woman tried to regain her balance. A very familiar beige coat hung off her shoulders and when she turned to face the rest of the room, Frankie felt her heart stop.
Almost immediately, Kara began to babble some incoherent apology as she collected herself. One of the security guards that were posted near the judge must have been glaring at her because she stopped suddenly and looked directly at Frankie.
Her mouth hung slightly open, her eyes wide and guilty, and the slightest touch of pink crept steadily into her cheeks.
Trying her best not to react the way she normally would've in this kind of situation, considering that it involved swearing and other generally un-ladylike behaviours, Frankie slowly turned her body back to the front of the room. She could only hold Kara's eyes for a few seconds before she was reminded of their last conversation. What on Earth she was doing there, Frankie couldn't have guessed.
"Shall we continue?" The judge asked, still watching Kara suspiciously.
Frankie heard a few stifled giggles from behind her and another "I am so sorry..." from Kara but kept her head determinedly to the front of the room. Never had she wanted to throw hands with an invulnerable alien so badly.
"Very well. Mr Anderson, are you finished interrogating Mr Lucas?" Anderson nodded, already moving back to his seat. "Then, Ms Danvers, I invite you to begin your examination."
Ignoring the rustling that echoed from the benches behind her, undoubtedly from Kara trying to find a seat right smack bang in the centre, Frankie stood up. As Josh passed her on his way back to his seat, he gave her a weak smile that she tried desperately to return. If there was one thing she was good at, it was pretending that she wasn't slowly losing her mind.
Frankie could feel her heartbeat quicken with every step she took towards the bench and each time she raised her eyes, she caught the gaze of a different member of the jury. Each person she made eye contact with had the same, bored expression on their face.
This plan had been brewing for a while, but Frankie still wasn't sure if it was perfect. She was going to need courage, lots of courage, but if it worked, it was a guaranteed victory.
"I'd like to start by calling Detective Sawyer to the stand."
Sawyer stood up, her dress uniform done up tightly to the last button. Frankie had to admit, it did look good, but it was no excuse for the fist bump she gave Anderson on the way over or the way she dropped into the witness chair at the bench as though she owned the entire room.
"If it's alright with you, Detective Sawyer, I'd like to just run over what happened one more time."
Sawyer nodded nonchalantly, her arms folded in front of her.
"Great. Interrupt me if I'm getting something wrong," Frankie said, readjusting her grip on the evidence file in her hands. This was her moment. There was no way she was about to screw it up. "So you were the officer who was investigating-"
"Whom."
Frankie frowned. "I'm sorry?"
"You told me to interrupt you if you were getting something wrong." Sawyer smiled innocently. "It should be whom."
"'You were the officer whom was investigating Ms Baker's case'?"
"Yes."
"That's not even remotely grammatically correct."
When Sawyer's smirk only grew wider, Frankie sighed. She was not about to screw this up.
"Where are you at in terms of investigating my client's claims?"
"We're in the process of closing the investigation."
Frankie fought the urge to break out into a wide grin. If everything kept going like this, then maybe, just maybe, she still stood a chance.
"On what grounds?"
Sawyer threw Frankie a look, one that she knew well from Alex's habit of acting like Frankie was too dumb to understand whatever medical term had come up in the conversation. "There isn't enough evidence to keep it open. I got orders from the men upstairs and I'm just following through on them."
"Funny you should mention the men upstairs." Sawyer was really just putting the pieces into place for her at this point. Barring the small hiccups earlier, everything was going exactly as it should have. "I assume you've provided the court with a copy of the official document authorising the closure?"
"Of course."
"What reason is given on that form?"
According to the looks she was getting from the judge, Frankie knew she needed to hurry it up, but all she needed was a few more minutes.
"I've gone over this, the case was closed on the grounds of, and I quote, 'insufficient evidence to indict the suspect.' You can read it for yourself."
"I have reason to believe that isn't true."
Frankie was about to continue with her gripping speech, already planning her victory pose in her mind, before Sawyer interrupted, an eyebrow raised condescendingly.
"Danvers, have you got any proof?"
Frankie remained silent. This wasn't supposed to come until later.
"Seems to be quite a common theme today."
She was going to convince the jury with her words and hard-hitting statements before the question of evidence came into play. But it didn't matter, she could skip to the end too if she wanted.
"Were you or were you not involved in acts of bribery and corruption within the NCPD?"
The moment the words slipped out of her mouth, Frankie knew she'd done something that couldn't be taken back. For a second, one tiny moment, the entire room went silent. She could hear her own heart pound in her chest, the kind of pounding that came when you let slip a secret that you'd been holding on to for years. The rhythm in her chest was faster than one she'd felt in a long time and Frankie couldn't help but wonder why anyone would ever do drugs.
The silence was only meant to be momentary, though, because the room erupted in whispers only a second after she'd finished talking, the second that everyone had processed what she'd just said.
"Was there a monetary reward for you or other detectives involved in the investigation given to you by the defendant?" Frankie had to strain her voice to be heard as the jury's whispers turned into words, and then shouts, most of them calling attention to Frankie's complete and utter lack of respect.
The judge called for quiet, and almost instantly, it was received. Frankie was shocked at the level of power a few simple words held but didn't speak again, the quiet almost like a spell that constricted her throat as well as everybody else's.
"Ms Danvers, I must ask you not to make claims you cannot support." He watched her from the bench, glare prominent even under his bushy greying eyebrows. "Is your examination complete?"
It took a while for Frankie to swallow whatever adrenaline was still coursing through her body, and when she did, her voice came out smaller than she'd ever heard it before.
"Yes, Your Honour."
"Then please be seated."
Before Frankie could move, Anderson stood up from his seat and held up his hand. "Your Honour, if I may," he said, gesturing to Sawyer. The judge nodded, and before she could even pretend to have any dignity left, Frankie was ushered back into her seat. Anderson grinned even wider as he took the floor and suddenly the hyena was back, only this time, it didn't need to wait for an opening to attack. Its prey was already dead.
"Detective Sawyer, I just have one question for you."
Sawyer nodded, her gaze following Anderson carefully as he paced back and forth in front of her. Frankie could clearly see that they'd practised this part of the case one too many times for it to still be considered a natural delivery.
"Of course."
"I want to draw the jury's attention once again to exhibit C." The video again popped up on the screens overhead. The jury turned to stare at it expectantly as though they believed they were going to see something different.
"Now, this video could certainly show evidence against the defendant, that is if we could actually see what it was supposed to be implying..." A quiet ripple of laughter bounced across the high ceilings of the room and he smiled like he was some kind of comedian. Josh shrunk slightly lower in his seat next to Frankie. "I just have one small query."
Frankie's heart began to pound. Surely he wasn't about to call her out on the video. After everything she'd already done, he didn't need to go there.
Anderson's back was facing Frankie, but she didn't need to see his expression to know what it was. "Detective Sawyer, were you shown this video prior to the trial today?"
"I was not."
Anderson turned to Frankie.
"Ms Danvers, do you mind explaining to the court why that might be?"
"The video was presented to Judge Wilson prior to today and was kept confidential by the request of my client on the grounds that it contains images of a sexually-explicit nature. To my knowledge, that action doesn't violate any statutes."
"And you'd be correct if it weren't for the fact that confidentiality can only be in practice if at least one member of the opposing team has been given the evidence." Anderson's eyes narrowed, but his hands came out of his pockets and clasped themselves in front of him, showing everybody exactly how pleased he was with himself. "Considering that neither Detective Sawyer or I have seen the unedited version, I believe, Your Honour, that the action can be considered contravention."
Frankie sunk back in her chair. As if he really needed to point out the one loophole she'd exploited on top of everything else she'd already done that day.
"Mr Anderson, certain evidence can be withheld within reason. This video was part of that exception," Judge Wilson said, his gaze landing on Frankie for only a moment before flicking back over to Anderson.
"Your Honour, I'm simply calling into question the credibility of the evidence. This jury has yet to see one piece of reliable confirmation that the alleged event actually took place, and-"
"What are you implying about my witnesses?"
"Ms Danvers," the judge warned, cutting Frankie off from any further inappropriate comments.
Frankie clamped her mouth shut. She could sense Josh tensing from next to her, but tried to ignore him as best she could.
"All I'm saying is that it's difficult for me to understand why we should choose to consider this evidence viable when you've redacted the most viable parts. How are we supposed to trust you, Danvers, when you aren't even pretending to give us the full story?"
Anderson didn't stop there but instead turned to face the jury fully.
"Not only have you presented the court with evidence that cannot be processed, but you have acted incredibly inappropriately on more than one occasion and to top it all off, accused the NCPD of bribery of all things. I think you've really done more for my case than I would care to admit."
"It is not within your right to be reprimanding me."
"Maybe it's not within your right to be a lawyer."
The judge sat up straighter in his chair and glared at Anderson in disgust, but it didn't matter. The deal was more than sealed. It was so sealed by this point that it would have taken military-grade acid to open it back up again.
Frankie looked over at the jury, watching as they whispered amongst each other, this time quieter than before. She would be lucky at this rate to get another case before a year had passed.
"No further questions, Your Honour."
"Do you have anything left you would like to say, Ms Danvers?"
Frankie could sense the eyes of the entire room upon her. The disappointment, anger, confusion, it was all there. She didn't look up, and as much as she could feel everybody else willing her to make eye contact with them and them alone, just so they could show her how much she truly had failed, she willed herself to only look at the table.
The table was a piece of wood, the only emotions she was going to get out of it were the expressions she found in the faces in the patterns of the grain.
"No, Your Honour."
"Then I leave the jury to a period of deliberation."
The judge got up and gestured for the jury to follow him into a back room and after a minute, they were alone.
Anderson made a move to get up and come over to their table, but he must have thought better because he quickly turned around and headed into the gallery to meet with someone. Frankie couldn't bring herself to go up to Kara, so she simply sat in her chair, an empty hollowness filling every space in her body.
If she'd thought she'd screwed it up before, she'd definitely done it now. She suspected it wouldn't be long until the jury came to their verdict, so now, all she had to do was wait.
A/N
Sometimes, all it takes to get a chapter out is to just dedicate an entire Saturday to sitting on the couch and ignoring my entire family to write for hours on end.
I finally got around to watching Dead Poets Society and wow was it incredible. One of my lit assignments was literally just to write a DPS fanfiction (you could check out my AO3 if you wanted to read it lmao), so you can guess I was pleased about that.
K bye
