I have no excuse. But...

Well, the last chapter is mostly written? So I didn't abandon this story, I just...took a vacation.

A really long vacation.

You can save all your lies
Cause I've heard them all before
Tell it to the rain

~ The Four Seasons, "Tell It To The Rain"

As the judge called Kyle Idle back up to the stand for the third time, one thing was clear to Diego.

The choir boy had lost his shiny innocence.

Idle now had the angry, haughty look of a man ready to attack. Desperate, and just a bit deranged. He glared at Diego when he walked to the witness stand, but Mia was the one who cleared her throat.

"Alright, Mr. Idle," Mia said, flipping her hair, "let's settle this once and for all, shall we? On the day of Joe Holland's murder, what were you wearing?"

Idle shifted his glare to her. "I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I was dressed in plainclothes, as it was my day off."

"Were you wearing that the entire day?" Mia pressed. "Even after returning to arrest Mr. Cadaverini?"

"Yes. I never changed my clothes that day." Idle tilted his chin up. "I swear it."

Mia stared at him for a moment. Then, she said, "Well, that presents a bit of a problem, you see. Viola's testimony contradicts that idea. She claims she saw you in your uniform, without a gun."

"She's wrong," Idle insisted. "Listen, I love Viola, but...she doesn't want to implicate her father." He gave a reassuring smile to the spectators' seats, where Viola was staring down morosely. "She's confused. I'm sure she didn't mean what she said."

"...Hmm." Mia folded her arms and leaned forward a bit. "So, Viola is...mistaken. Let's examine that, shall we?"

Mia walked around the defense table. Idle pursed his lips. "What is there to examine?"

"Let's go over your story one last time, Mr. Idle." Mia inhaled softly. Diego could see her knees shaking slightly as she walked. Still, she held it together pretty well; her voice was carefully modulated and calm as ever.

"You requested the day off for your girlfriend's birthday. You arranged to meet her in the park at lunch. Instead, you spotted Joe Holland being murdered by your girlfriend's father. You rushed home to your apartment to call for backup, ignoring all stores and pay phones you passed." She waved her hand as Idle started to interrupt. "I know, I know. You were panicked."

Idle narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, that's correct."

Mia started to pace up and down past the witness stand. "...What time were you going to meet Viola in the park?"

"Wh-? 12:00." Idle straightened his back. "We were going to go for a walk at noon. But she had to push it back to 12:30, because she couldn't sneak away."

No contradiction there, Diego thought, frowning. But why would he lie about that? Apparently, Mia was thinking along the same lines. She tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"But before you could meet her, you witnessed Officer Holland's death."

"Yes." Idle crossed his arms and gave her an impatient look. "Look, I can prove that I didn't meet her at 12. I have the text she sent me saying she had to reschedule."

Diego and Mia both looked up at the same time. "Text?" he said quietly.

Mia was louder. "Did you say text, Mr. Idle?" she asked. "As in, Viola texted you to say she had to reschedule?"

Of course. They'd only gotten the call log for everyone's phones; they hadn't gotten records of text messages. Diego grinned suddenly, looking like a Chesire cat. Mia met his eyes and smirked.

"What time did you receive that text, Mr. Idle?" she asked. "Do you remember?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, right around 12. I was already waiting for her when she texted me."

Mia picked up her notepad. "Now, let's be clear...you said you saw the murder occur at 12:10 pm. You were forced to return to your apartment, all the way across the city, to charge your phone." She bit her lip. "But you also received a text at 12? Now, Mr. Idle, that is a blatant contradiction."

"Objection!" Neil flicked the brim of his hat. "The phone coulda died in those ten minutes. Hell, it could've died at 12:09, and he'd still be in the same predicament."

"Indeed." The judge nodded. "It is a bit suspicious, but I've certainly had worse luck myself."

Mia frowned and said, "So, Viola was the one who rescheduled, then you saw the murder."

"Right." Idle sighed. "Can I go now? This is such a waste of my time."

"Excuse me, sir," Mia said coolly. "This is a murder trial. There are very few things I can think of that are more important."

Mia tugged down the jacket she was wearing and continued. "After you called for backup, what happened?"

"Officer Randall joined me at the park," Idled said, rolling his eyes. "We arrested Cadaverini."

"Hmm. Exactly what happened when you arrested him?"

"We showed him our badges, I slapped the cuffs on him, and Randall took him to the squad car." Idle said all this mockingly slowly, as if Mia were too stupid to understand. "Just like on TV."

"You slapped the cuffs on him? As in, you used your cuffs to restrain my client?" Mia flipped her bangs. "You're certain about that?"

"Yes!" Idle slammed his hands on the stand. "My cuffs, on his wrists! How hard is that, you moron?"

Mia raised an eyebrow. The judge looked scandalized.

"Officer Idle! There's no need for that kind of language in my courtroom."

Mia held a hand up. "It's alright, Your Honor. Better a moron than a murderer."

"Excuse me?!" Idle sneered at her. "What did you just call me?"

"A murderer," Mia repeated. "Tell me, Officer Idle, where do you keep your cuffs?"

"On my belt."

"Your uniform belt?" she pressed.

Idle eyes widened as he realized his mistake. The courtroom went deadly silent; Diego didn't even dare set his coffee mug down, for fear of breaking the tension. Finally, Idle growled in his throat.

He slammed his hands on the witness stand. "What does it matter what I was wearing?" he shouted. "He did it! He's a mobster, he's a killer, you don't even know half the things he's done!"

Idle looked positively apoplectic now. Diego took a drink of his brew and saw Neil exhale, either in exasperation or relief. Mia, however, kept her sharp eyes trained on Idle.

"And Joey's no better, you know, hanging out with them," Idle continued. He huffed indignantly. "Like they're neighbors. The whole damn family's rotten to the core."

"Even Viola?" Mia moved closer, giving him a hard glare. "Even your girlfriend?"

"Don't make me laugh!" Idle snapped. "She's just another one of those worthless criminals!"

Above them, in the gallery, Diego could see tears sparkle down Viola's face. Poor kitten. Zeke opened his mouth to shout something at Idle, looking like he was about to get up and fight again, but Diego grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't do this," he hissed. "We're almost there, just...wait and let Mia take care of it."

Mia was already jumping onto Idle's words, paying not attention to Zeke behind her. "Then why did you date her?" she asked. "Why did you take her to lunch and buy her a cell phone and say goodnight to her?"

"Because she's a Cadaverini!" Idle, it appeared, had finally snapped. "I was going to bring that whole damn family down! She's already told me all about her grandfather, the lousy bastard! She was going to spill all the family secrets."

"But then Joey got in your way!" Mia matched his tone, slamming her file folder on the defense table. "He wanted to break you up! He wanted to ruin the whole damn plan!"

"That's right!"

"So you had to shoot him, isn't that right?" Mia folded her arms. "It was the right thing to do?"

"You know what? Yeah!" Idle laughed maniacally. "Yeah, I did! He was probably in bed with them! What sort of cop is friends with a mobster?! A dirty one, that's for sure!"

The gallery erupted into a frenzied murmur. Idle looked around, hysterical.

"I'm a cop! My job is to get rid of the bad guys!" He waved his hands around dramatically. "Shooting Joey was a damned community service! I should get a medal!"

The judge slammed his gavel down. "That's quite enough! I demand order!"

Once the courtroom had settled down, Mia went back to the defense table. Idle was breathing heavily, his eyes wild as they searched the courtroom. The judge called for the bailiff.

"Take Mr. Idle away, please," he ordered. Idle went with no fight, shoulders slumped in defeat. "Never, in my years on the bench, have I seen an officer of the law behave more disgracefully." The judge shook his head. "One would think the police department might have higher standards."

He sighed heavily as Mia returned to the defense table. Diego could see her knees shaking even harder, practically knocking together. "Relax, kitten," he teased. "The truth is out there now."

"Now, then, I think we can all agree on the verdict after that little display." The judge banged the gavel. "I find the defendant, Ezekiel Cadaverini, not guilty. Court adjourned."

Diego had to admit, he was pretty impressed that Mia's legs didn't give out before they got to the lobby, considering how much she was shaking. She collapsed on the couch as soon as they got out the doors, breathing a great sigh of relief.

"I'm impressed, kitten. If I ever need to fend off a wild pack of lions, I'll call you in for the job."

"Urgh...it's a pride of lions, by the way." She draped one of her arms over her eyes. "I'm just glad this whole mess is over. Maybe now Bruto Cadaverini will leave us alone."

Us. He kind of liked the way she said that: the two of them, together, a team. He walked over to the couch, towering over it.

"Might not be that easy, though. We did drag his precious granddaughter into this mess." Diego folded his arms and grinned down at her. "I doubt he's happy about that."

"Armando, you crazy sonnafabitch! You did it!" Zeke practically slammed his hand against Diego's back, causing coffee to splash out of his mug and onto the floor. "And you! Fey, lady, if I wasn't married, I'd kiss you!"

"Sorry, Zeke, but you're not my type." Mia peeked out from under her arm and gave him a smile. "I'm glad your name got cleared, though. I'd hate for Viola to have to visit you behind bars."

"Heh." Zeke ran his hand through his hair. "So I'm free to go? That's it?"

"That's it," Diego confirmed. "Good luck out there, Zeke."

Zeke took his hand and shook it. "Hey, listen, you two evah get bored, need a night out? Stop by my bowling alley on 5th. No charge for any rounds, free pizza, you name it! Hey, we got an air hockey table, too! On the house."

Diego chuckled as Zeke left the lobby. "Did you hear that, kitten? Just what every lawyer needs. Free air hockey."

"You joke," Mia said, finally getting to her feet. "But I dominate in air hockey. Maya and I go to this arcade every time she visits and play it."

"Oh, yeah? Well, you better watch out. The Queen of Air Hockey might just find herself dethroned."

"By who?" Mia laughed. "By the King of Coffee Metaphors?"

"Ouch. Not the King of Coffee?" Diego took a sip of said drink. "I'm insulted. I guess I better step up my brewing game, eh, kitten?"

Mia chuckled as they started out the courthouse doors. "You know," she said, flashing him a dazzling smile, "I seem to remember that you owe me a dinner. Anywhere I wanted, if I'm correct."

"Ah, I do recall." Diego quickly moved ahead and held the door open for her to step through. Her steps faltered, though, as she stopped before the steps and slowly lifted her hand. "You okay, kitten?"

"Diego. I think we have a problem."

He turned his gaze to where she was pointing. There, idling by the curb, was a dark, luxurious limo. Standing beside it, talking to someone through the window, was Viola.

And if Diego wasn't mistaken, the man she was speaking to could only be one person.

Bruto Cadaverini.

"Do you think he's here to see us?" Diego asked dryly, leading the way to the car.

"You know," Mia mused, "I think he just might be."