Chapter Eight

Born from the Dead

Athena fumed on her way over to the crime scene, but was relatively calm by the time she got there. Officer Oldaugh was still there, along with a half dozen police officers. Where was the detective on the case?

They noticed her before she could say anything. "Hey, Miss! You can't play over here! This is a crime scene."

Athena suppressed a growl as she smiled. Somehow, she had enough sense left to not go off on them. "Yes, Officer. I remember. I was here last night."

"Hm..." The older man gave her the squinty eye, then nodded. "I remember you. You and your friend came with me to this house. You don't live here." He paused. "What are you doing back here again?"

"I'm here to represent the defendant, Mr. Khadga Pakhi." Athena spoke with a straight face, looking the man straight in the eye. Maybe someone today would take her seriously.

Her hopes were shattered when the policeman laughed. "Hoo boy! Aren't you a little old to play dress-up, kid?" he said in reference to her outfit. Upon seeing the badge, he continued. "What'd you do, take that off your daddy's desk?"

Athena was about to lash out when-

I wouldn't if I were you. Miss Cykes, if you act childish in response to their accusations, you will only seem more immature than you already do. A defense attorney should remain professional at all times if they wish to be taken seriously. Surely you were taught something about professional conduct at your office.

The worst of times were when Athena had to force her biggest smile, after all. Hadn't Mr. Wright told her that?

So Athena kept up her smile and addressed his assumptions as politely as she could. "I understand there may be a mistake here. My name is Athena Cykes. I have been a lawyer in the state of California since last spring. The defendant himself has asked me to take his case. I have the letter of request right here, if you need to see it. Where is the detective in charge, if I may ask?"

"Nowhere. The last detective this town had quit last month." He ripped the letter out of her hands, eyes going wide as he read it over. "No way this is legitimate. Aren't teenage girl lawyers a European thing?"

"They're an American thing as well, Officer. The minimum age for a lawyer to stand in court in the state of California is seventeen. I more than meet that requirement."

He still didn't look like he believed her. But the man was quickly running out of arguments. "No lawyers at the crime scene until the police are done with their investigation. I don't know how you city slickers do things, but here, we have strict rules and the rules are followed, you see? No Dark Age of the Law nonsense starting up in this town."

"Thank you very much, Officer. I'll be back in a short while to investigate. But before that happened, I was hoping to ask you a few questions."

"No questions until the cross-examination, kid! You want to defend somebody in our county, you need to follow the rules."

No way was that really a county rule. Athena had a feeling the man was just making it up. "...Fine. But the sister of the defendant told me she spoke on the phone to one of the police officers on the investigation. Could you at least point me in the direction of that officer?"

"What's it to you?"

He might have actual information for her, for one. "It's Ms. Pakhi's wishes that I deliver something to him. I'm just helping my client and his family, here."

He snorted. "Must have been the rookie. He was talking about some girl earlier." Oldaugh pointed her to a house across the street. "He's over there. Don't come back until we're done, y'hear?"

Athena beamed, still simmering on the inside. "Yes, sir! Thank you for your assistance."

The officer and his underlings got into an argument as she left, but Athena was no longer paying attention to them. "Arrogant jerks!"

Appearances may not be everything, but they do have quite an influence on how people perceive you. If you look and act like a rash teenager, people will treat you like a rash teenager. It's that simple.

"I'm not changing who I am just so some boorish old cop will respect me. I'm a lawyer whether he thinks so or not."

If the man could have sighed, Athena imagined he would. Your choice.

Athena did her best not to linger on it, turning Widget to sleep mode and setting him aside before she approached the younger cop. She didn't want to take any chances with this guy.

Lida was right. The guy looked Simon's age, give or take a few years. Unlike Simon, however, he still had a youthful glint to his eyes, and gave her a friendly wave when she walked up. Athena was careful to smile back.

"Morning, Officer."

"Mornin' Miss! Don't think I've seen you in these parts before."

Lida said she'd flirted with this guy to get information. That would have been fine, if Athena had any clue how to flatter somebody. Her last date was two years ago, and he'd asked her.

"I'm traveling here from the city. Do you live in this town?"

"Yes siree! Lived here my whole life. I almost moved to the city a few years ago, but it's so crowded down there, and the air just ain't right. You know what I mean?"

"It is nice up here. I've... met a lot of great people in town today."

Is this your attempt at gathering information? It's pathetic.

Oh, Athena would love to see this demon do better. She tried to convey as much nonverbally, but she wasn't sure if he got the message.

She was so absorbed in her conversation with Gavin, Athena almost missed the officer's cheery response. "Oh really? Who've you met?"

"Mostly police officers," Athena admitted. "I must say, you all are very... organized, compared to the city. Sometimes, things can be a bit hectic down there."

"I know, right? Did you hear that story about the defense attorney who took a whale to court?"

Athena knew exactly what he was talking about, but he sounded eager to tell her. So she feigned ignorance. "I can't remember. Why was an animal tried in their court system?"

The officer delved into a story he found on the internet, one rife with speculation and inaccuracy. But Athena had to admit, he was a compelling storyteller. She smiled and laughed at the appropriate moments, sometimes at Gavin's prompting. She hadn't felt this fake since that time Apollo asked her if she'd been to the Space Center. Or that time the Phantom first told her about "the scary Prosecutor Blackquill". She thought the guy would expose her at any moment. But he never did.

Was Gavin right? Were most people really this oblivious to dishonesty? Athena almost felt bad for them.

But she had to steel herself. How else was she going to find a lead before court began?

When he finished, she just shook her head, smile plastered to her face. "I have never heard that story before."

"Yeah, the city sees some crazy cases. I like this town, but sometimes I wish I got to see stuff like that. The case I'm on right now is soooo boring."

"You want a trial with an orca defendant?" She teased. "I'm sure this town has plenty to offer. Why, what case are you on right now?"

"You see this door I'm standing in front of?" He gestured behind him. "I'm guarding the town's only prosecutor right now. She's talking to Old Man Seamus. Guy says he saw some hooligan attack an old lady: Ms. Singh, to be exact." He pointed to the house Athena was just at. Had he not seen her there earlier? "Prosecutor's trying to get the guy's story straight, and I'm here to make sure nobody tries to bother them. My entire job is just to follow her around and make sure she isn't pestered."

"Yeah, that is boring," Athena admitted. "Who is this Seamus you're talking about?"

Yes, very subtle. This man would have to be an idiot to-

"Aw, you're gonna love this story!" His eyes lit up. Athena heard genuine happiness in his heart, and felt hers respond in kind.

Idiot, it is then. Who would have guessed?

"Old Man Seamus has got to be the oldest guy in town. I'm pretty sure he's ninety four or something crazy like that. He drives the police station nuts with his constant calls."

"What does he call about?"

"Noise complaints, mostly. The occasional suspicious activity claim, too, but nothing like what happened here. Ironically, the one thing he didn't call the police about was the one thing that actually happened."

"Ha!" Athena laughed. "I wonder why he didn't say anything about this one."

Her witness was an old man the police thought was nuts? No way was it that easy. She'd tear his testimony apart in under an hou-

...No, she would speak to him with respect, and listen to the voice of his heart until she knew the truth about what he saw. She wasn't disrespectful to the elderly. She loved Grammie!

And Grammie was a witness, too. She'd never treat Grammie badly like that. What was she thinking?

"Excuse me? Miss? Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Athena admitted before catching herself. "I mean, I was here last night. I saw the police find the old lady's body. They dug her up out of her own yard."

"You really shouldn't have seen that. I'm sorry," he clapped her shoulder. "Hey, if it helps, I squirmed when I saw the body, too. And I'm a trained cop!" He gulped. "Still my first murder case, though. And my first body..."

"You don't have many murders up here, do you?"

"Not at all. Especially not on this side of town. Almost everyone who lives here is retired. Why bother murdering someone if they're gonna drop dead in a few years anyway?"

"I'm not sure I'd look at it that way."

He froze, slowly realizing the implications of what he'd said. "Not that I- anyway. Everyone in the town knew the victim, and we all looked out for her. It must have been that outsider."

"Outsider? You mean her grandson?"

The police officer shrugged. "Not much of a grandson, if he was the one who killed her. What kind of family would beat an old lady to death?"

Athena hid her smile. "She was beaten? With what?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss! I'm sure you don't want to hear all the gory details." He looked like he had more to say, but the sound of footsteps coming from inside the house cut him off. "You should probably get going. Don't want to let the prosecutor know I wasn't doing my job."

Athena didn't want the prosecutor to see her either. "Bye, officer!"

Athena walked away as fast as she could without running. It would be more suspicious if she ran.

Once she was a good distance away, Athena watched as a middle aged woman with wispy hair and a wrinkled frown left the house. She barked a command at the man Athena had been talking to, but Athena was too far away to hear. She waited for them to leave her line of sight before she came out.

As she walked up, Gavin felt the need to comment: You got quite a bit of information, I'll grant. But you should be experienced enough to know that not all witnesses are that easy. That man was practically itching to give you a case.

"I know," Athena muttered under her breath. And to think, he hadn't even asked for her name, or been the slightest bit curious as to what she'd been doing there. "But what next?"

There are a few different paths you can take here. Either you try your luck once more at the crime scene, or you wait for the police to turn their backs and speak to the star witness. Either way, I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping your cool. Evidence is everything in court, and you need to collect as much as possible if you want to form a coherent case.

"Yeah, yeah." In the end, Athena walked back up to the witness's house. She made sure no one was watching her, then knocked on the door.

"What is it now? Are the forests burning? We bein' invaded again?" The door swung open, startling Athena.

She'd never seen someone so old before. The man's eyes were barely visible behind the wrinkled skin, and the way his back hunched... he might have been taller than her, if he were standing up straight.

"No, sir. I just need to ask you a couple questions."

"You people just left askin' me questions! Can't you get it all out in one go?"

"But, sir! Please, I have to know just a few more things."

Athena wasn't technically lying, but the way she said it... It was necessary for the case, but she still felt disingenuous.

But she couldn't exactly stop now. Not if she wanted to win in court tomorrow. "May I please come in?"

"Feh. What's one more hour of my precious time? You youngsters think just because I'm retired, I got nothin' important to do? I got precious seconds left on this earth, and if you all waste my time with the same damn questions, I swear-"

"Sir, if you want me to go quickly, maybe we could get started as soon as possible?"

"Don't you know better than to interrupt someone like that? Pah! You're even worse than that other lady." He looked upset, but didn't say more. Athena took that a sign it was her turn to speak.

"So, from what I understand, you witnessed Ms. Singh being attacked on the night of the murder?"

"Damn right I did! Not just any old creep! A hooligan."

"Can you identify this... hooligan, sir?" Athena asked. "Say, if I showed you a picture, would you know that person was the attacker?"

"The other lady already asked me all this! She showed me a picture, I said it was probably the guy, and she told me to be more sure about it. Do you have anything new to ask me?"

So the witness wasn't positive about his account. Athena would have to bring this up again in court. But if this was all the town had to offer up in terms of witnesses, what was there in evidence? Wouldn't they need concrete evidence to compensate for the holes in testimony?

Still, Athena tried to think of another question. "Well... what do you know about Ms. Singh's family?"

"Family?" He looked at her like she was crazy. Athena shrank back. It was just something Lida had told her about. But Lida hadn't known all the details, and it kept coming up.

So she asked. "Yeah...family. Did you ever meet her children?"

"Children, huh?" The voice in his heart changed from irritation to sadness. A deep, dark well, accessible to only a few. "How long has it been..."

"Did Ms. Singh not talk about her children much?" Athena wasn't sure Lida could tell her this. It was bothering her.

"Child, Miss. She only had one. We... don't talk about it much, in this part of town."

Now there was discord. Athena wasn't sure what to think. Why would he feel so much sadness over a neighbor with an estranged daughter? He wasn't anywhere near as upset about Ms. Singh being dead.

"Sir... please. This is important. For Ms. Singh's sake... what happened to her child?"

"Poor ol' woman. She wasn't even twenty-five when it all happened. How long ago was that...?" He shook his head in wonder. "It was after the war ended. I remember that much. The whole damn capital was falling. That year, Gonma had a falling out of her own. And then it all went south."

"What do you mean?"

"It's one thing to fight with your family, 'lil missy. We all do it. But her child was so young... and gone too soon."

...Gone? That couldn't be right.

"Are you sure that's what happened? I heard Ms. Singh didn't have the best memory. Are you sure that's what happened to her daughter?"

"Of course I remember! That lady was sure of it forty years ago and she was sure of it forty days ago. Even when the rest of town wanted to keep looking. She showed me the neck of the woods where it happened. I'd just gotten back from fighting against forces of man, and her kid went up against forces of nature." He looked her dead in the eye. "Mountain lions."

Athena pulled back, stunned. She couldn't speak. She couldn't even move.

How could it be? Why wasn't he as surprised as she was?

A/N's: I'm sorry this took so long. Not a year, at least, but still too long. I knew what I wanted to do, but I got bogged down figuring out how to portray it. And now that I have almost no time for writing, I get all my inspiration. Might as well finish entries before starting on new ones.

Since this case is just an arc in a larger story, I'm moving through it pretty quickly. Next chapter will be when the court trial begins, and the case will be over by Chapter Ten. As of now, I'm not exactly sure how long this story is going to be, but it's shaping up to be a big boy. Maybe even longer than Rebirth.

Still, thanks for waiting, and I hoped you enjoy the read. Leave your thoughts below, and I'll see you on the far side!