"Suppose…"
Chapter 3 - Beginnings
Chicago. 1:00pm
Vail rummaged round in his briefcase and checked for the fourth time that he hadn't forgotten anything. He always felt nervous without Naiomi watching over him, and today he hadn't had time to call into the office as he usually did before an important interview. The sound of footsteps behind him caused him to turn round with a start. Aaron stood in the doorway. His freshly washed hair floated gently around his face like a halo, and though his thin frame caused his suit to hang rather than be worn, he gave the impression of utter contentment as he leaned slightly on the frame and said in his soft voice:
"I hope I didn't scare you, Mr Vail."
Vail breathed a sigh of relief. He had for a second thought there was an intruder in the house. Then he remembered that he had said Aaron could stay with him for a few weeks until he could find a more permanent home.
"No, you're alright Aaron. I like the suit."
"Thanks Mr Vail. It's not expensive or anything though."
"You look great. Trust me."
Vail picked up his case and checked his appearance in the mirror. Not bad really. Okay his tie wasn't straight and his shoes had seen better days, but he was an attorney not a male model and he didn't expect to be changing his habits anytime soon.
"Right, I'm off now. You sure you will be okay here Aaron? You can watch TV or read, and help yourself to food from the fridge."
"Thanks again for everything, Mr Vail. Good luck with your interview."
"Thanks Aaron. See you later."
Aaron's brow creased for a second or two as he thought, then he quickly looked up with a start just as Vail opened the door, and called after him.
"Oh Mr Vail!"
"Yes?"
"Could you please not tell him I'm here? It might be kinda awkward, y'know?"
"Sure."
Vail nodded, then realising he was already late made a run for his car through the rain. Aaron followed him to the door and gently guided it closed.
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1:40pm
Everything was grey, from the bleak expanse of the parking lot to the dull walls inside. Vail shuddered as the heavy door slammed behind him, and glanced nervously round for a friendly face. He found none. Summoning his nerve, he walked over to a large counter and tried to look as authoritative as possible:
"I'm here to see Alex Merren."
The burly officer in his too-small starched uniform gave him a withering look.
"What do you want with that little bastard?"
"The name's Martin Vail. I'm an attorney, soon to be Mr Merren's attorney; and if you don't uphold the innocent-until-proven-guilty on my watch I'll have you hauled in for unfair treatment. Do you understand?!"
Vail looked calmer then he felt. The officer looked slightly perturbed, but soon recovered. His eyes narrowed, and he hissed:
"Whatever. You'll see soon enough he doesn't have a hope in hell. He's gonna fry, Mr Big-Shot attorney. You with him, if you are so stupid as to try to defend the murdering little shit."
Raising his voice, his tone changed to monotonous drill.
"Down the hall. Turn left. Straight ahead 'till you come to a gate. The guy there will take you in, No guns, no cameras."
Vail glanced at the officers name badge, and jotted something down on a pad. Smiling sweetly up at the glowering man, he said:
"Thank you, Officer Dolan. You've been most helpful."
He felt the man's eyes burning into his back as he wandered into the bowels of the prison, and the lights grew ever dimmer.
Ten minutes later, Vail had been stripped of everything but his legal tablet, his pen and a few papers. His pockets felt strangely smooth and light as he quashed his bubbly anticipation and put on what he thought was an impassive expression. The guard led him down a flight of stairs, and then he was looking upon a dingy corridor, the walls crisscrossed with damp. Walking slowly, Vail peered into the cells with a mixture of fear and curiosity. Men lay as if in a trance, others reached pleading hands towards the guard, who refused to look their way. One man hurled himself at the door, yelling torrents of abuse and frightening Vail out of his wits. He rushed to catch up with the guard as he stopped at a cell more than halfway down the long corridor.
"This is it."
Vail looked nervously inside. A skinny teenager with a tangled mess of black hair sat hugging his knees on a narrow bed. His face was pale and pinched with cold, and he had a contained fierceness about him, even in confinement.
"Looks the part, doesn't he?" The guard said; though he too seemed uneasy. "Denied everything, and gave the cops on duty hell when they tried to cuff him - caught two of 'em by surprise. He threw himself round a lot in here too at first, now I think he must be hurting, 'cause he hasn't done nothing for a good hour or so."
Vail could see even from where he stood that the youth's knuckles and fingers had been bleeding badly, and his thin fame was covered in spreading bruises.
"You still sure you wanna go in?" Asked the guard.
"Yes, thanks."
"I have to lock the door behind you - "
" - I know. I'll be fine."
As soon as the door closed behind him, Vail regretted his decision. Before the echo had died the boy's head turned sharply in his direction, he registered a turmoil of emotions cross his face before it settled on undisguised fury and contempt.
"Who the hell are you?"
He sprang off the bed and walked up to Vail, getting in his face. Vail could see a single earring, a satanic inverted crucifix swaying hypnotically back and forth as Alex studied him.
"Well? What did they send you in here for?"
"My name is Martin Vail. I'm a lawyer. I came to offer to represent you in court."
"Oh, really?" Alex didn't look convinced, and his voice dripped with sarcasm. "What's in it for you? I've heard a hundred times today that I am going to fry. If we're so likely to lose then why do you want to put your ass on the line for me? I'm a nobody!"
He stomped over to the bed and threw himself down, his limbs shaking. Vail knew he had to tread carefully, the boy could go for him at any moment. His sanity was stretched to breaking point.
"I am here to see you get a fair trial. Now all you have to do if you agree to my representation is to answer all questions truthfully, and if you are innocent then you have nothing to worry about - "
"I am innocent, you asshole!" Alex yelled at him, his eyes suddenly wide and his wild gestures becoming violent. "Those bastards didn't give me a chance to explain, they just came after me and WHAM! They hit me 'till I saw stars then shut me in here. I was so scared I hit them back - now I'm also charged with "resisting arrest!" How do I know you're not the same?!"
"Look, Alex." Vail held out his hands in a pleading gesture. "I'm sorry. I promise I am trying to help you. I do not let innocent men die; I promise you that. You are innocent - so we will get you out of here. All I need you to do is to sign this form agreeing to my assistance, and then I can start to work out what happened and build a case, okay?"
Alex still looked mutinous, but reluctantly plucked the paper from Vail's hands and signed it in a sloppy scrawl. Then he sat back down on the bed, limbs coiled like a spider, waiting for Vail to begin.
"Please state your full name"
"Alexander Merren."
"Where do you live?"
"The Hollows, Chicago."
"How old are you?"
"Nineteen."
"He looks about fifteen." Vail thought.
"Any family?"
"They don't care about me. My dad was always drunk and my mother left him years ago. I bet he doesn't even remember me."
"Where does your father live?"
"Oh great - you're not gonna go to see him are you? He couldn't give a shit about me anyway!"
"It's just to establish background, Alex. I need as much information as possible. You don't mind so much if it helps you get out of here, right?"
"Okay, okay. He lives in Columbia, Maryland."
Vail jotted it down.
"Okay Alex, it's time for the really serious stuff. Just answer truthfully - remember this is an official paper - Did you kill Marie Burnett?"
"No, I didn't."
"The murder occurred at approximately 8:45am in Sycamore Lane that runs alongside The Hollows. Where were you at the time of the murder?"
Alex's eyes darkened.
"I was in Sycamore Lane - It's a shortcut to the back door of The Hollows! I didn't kill her though, that was…" He trailed off, and put his head in his hands as if the memory pained him.
"That was who? You saw the murderer?!" Vail's eyes opened in surprise.
"No, no I didn't. I walked down there on the way back to my rooms. I'd been at work, and I wasn't really looking where I was goin'. Then I fell over onto something - It was that girl - only she was all cut up and there was blood everywhere. Then I saw someone in the shadows behind a crate. They stood up and ran at me and then I blacked out. When I came to, there was a knife in my hand and I was covered in blood. Lights and sirens came from nowhere and surrounded me, so I threw the knife down and just ran. God I was terrified! The cops ran after me and got me, and then I ended up here. You know the rest."
"You saw Marie's body, and then you blacked out?"
"Hey Mister, I know it sounds stupid. But the guy who did it must have framed me. When I woke up there was a knife in my hand and everything!"
"The Officer in charge says you identified the knife as yours."
"Yes! But I didn't take it with me that day - I was working! Someone set me up, you gotta believe me!"
Vail could see he was getting very agitated again, so he decided to call it a day.
"Okay Alex. I'm gonna follow this up. I'll get the guard to move you to a better room, and next time we meet we'll go over more details. I'm also going to get a doctor to look at you. Is that okay?"
"Sure, if it helps."
"That's the spirit!" Vail smiled. "Now get some rest. I'll see you again soon."
"Okay. Whatever." Alex turned over on the bed to face the wall.
Vail strode out of the jail without looking back.
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By the time Vail returned to his apartment, he wasn't in the mood for more interviewing. He kept thinking how close Alex had come to harming him - too damned close in his opinion. He meant to be much more careful next time, but it was going to be difficult to get the information he wanted. So far the forensic evidence against Alex was formidable, and even he couldn't see a way to disprove Alex hadn't taken the knife with him. The only avenue open to him was to establish doubt over the motive, and he intended to do a very good job. They hadn't told him the prosecutor's name yet, but Vail knew they would be very good. They had to be - they were facing him. The state could not afford to lose another 5 million dollars to his clients.
When he got back, Aaron had straightened the apartment in a cautious-visitor fashion, and he sat watching the TV. Vail reassured him that he wouldn't badger him with questions that evening, and so instead after dinner they discussed Aaron's studies, and Vail discovered that he was a lot more intelligent than he had even first thought. He seemed to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of his books of law, and though his communication and practical experience was virtually nil, his amazing memory had caused to form the beginnings of what Vail already anticipated to be a formidable attorney.
"We'll make a great lawyer out of you yet!" Vail laughed, after Aaron had out-quoted him third time running.
"That's very kind of you to say, but I have little or no experience."
"That's why you are here, working for me. I promise you, you will get a hell of a lot of experience here; perhaps more than you would like. However, it's essential in the field."
Aaron nodded.
""Will I have to help with Alex's case?"
He didn't seem to excited at the prospect. Vail reassured him.
"You'll never have to see him. It'll mostly be just paperwork, and I might ask you to come with me to do some research. He said he hasn't had contact with his family, so they won't know who you are anyway and I doubt anyone would be in a position to enlighten them."
"Okay then. Sounds good."
"You bet it does! With you helping me this should all be over in no time!"
A few cups of coffee and a lot of animated conversation later, and the chorus of yawning convinced Vail to call it a night. Just before he dozed off, he thought of the two boys - Aaron and Alex. One an angelic, sophisticated-but-poor law student, the other a violent, rebellious youth whom Vail believed was quite capable of murder. Their faces overlapped, and he had but one last thought before his mind drifted away:
"They couldn't be more different…"
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Okay, this ended up a lot longer than I thought, so part of what I wanted to include has been left for the start of chapter four. I think it should work out alright though, since I like the idea of stopping the chapter as Vail falls asleep. Apologies again for fans of the film and book who would like to skewer me for all the terrible things I have done to the plot, and also sorry for any too-English expressions, mistakes in Law or just general incompetence - nobody's perfect! Fans of the film - please excuse the Columbia reference, but I'm not good with place names in the US anyway so I take anything I can get. Thanks go to those people who have reviewed so far, I appreciate the help.
Thanks must also be handed out to BasketweaverJesser, who has helped me with some of the phrases in the last two chapters so that I don't look like an idiot. I'm always grateful for the advice!
