Chapter Two

Ruby wasn't sure how long she had been sat there for, but she was aware of the golden light now illuminating the once dark room. Her mind was fighting with her as the anxiety settled in her mind and stomach, trying with all its might to bring her back to that moment of being in Karen's apartment with a dead man lying on the floor, his blood soaking the dark carpet underneath him. She knew she was working on autopilot, trying her best to ignore the corpse in front of her, but as soon as she was alone, it was as if her mind knew to haunt her with it.

Karen had called her in the middle of the night, she'd gone to her friend's side immediately and without question, hadn't truly expected the reason for Karen's call in the first place. She'd assumed that Karen needed help getting him out of her apartment for whatever reason. Him being dead had been the last thing she expected to find once she'd arrived, and she had immediately been thrusted into a situation she had never imagined to ever be in. She couldn't remember just how long she had been there before Karen was pushing her out of the window as people kicked down Karen's door. And it was only then that she had realised that Karen had called her and only her; there was no way she would've been calling everyone in her contacts list because there was no way in hell, she could've told anyone else about it. How had the cops arrived so quick? Who had alerted them?

She released a panicked breath. She tried to ground herself by placing either hand flat on the wooden floor on either side of her. It was a technique that she used all the way through college, and it helped her with exams, but Ruby wasn't sure if it was ideal or would even help with the flashbacks of seeing a murdered man in her friend's apartment with her friend who was adamant that she had no responsibility for his death. Ruby didn't know what to believe. Her friendship with Karen had been great and there was no way in hell that she had a bad bone in her body; in fact, she hated anything to do with violence. But her friend had a dead man in her apartment, and oh god, she had been there with them. Her mind stumbled upon every inconceivable conclusion to this: with her and Karen being locked away for murder and manslaughter and everyone knowing their names for the wrong reasons.

Oh, God!

She emptied the contents of her stomach in the toilet that she had only just gotten to in time. It didn't help that she hadn't slept the alcohol off properly, and she could tell her limbs were as clumsy as her thoughts were.

When the coast is clear, come back. Look in the vent… Keep it safe for me, okay? Karen's voice filled her mind as she gripped onto the sides of the toilet, as if holding on for dear life. Her knuckles grew white.

She brushed her teeth to erase the bitter taste of acid in her mouth, rinsing her mouth out with mouthwash in the hopes that it would keep the need to throw up away. It didn't help with the nausea that swirled around her stomach, a new constant feeling that had settled deep since last night. It was still early enough which gave her enough time to try and settle her nerves as best as she could; to try and find some normalcy in her daily routine. Usually she'd still be sleeping, hitting snooze on every alarm until the final one—the one that blared out an annoying tune that had worked since college—would fill the room to notify her that she was going to be late.

So, she showered, washing off the invisible blood that stained her hands. She felt dirty still. She allowed her hair to dry naturally into the curls she'd always tried to hide, a habit she'd incorporated into her daily routine ever since she was young. She downed a glass of water, ate a slice of dry toast, in the hopes that it would at least soothe her nervous tummy. Her attempts were futile. Even the simplest action that didn't require any thought, even just the mere notion of sitting on the couch and resuming the show she'd been watching seemed too unnatural at the moment. Her physical body was in her apartment, but her mind was back in that apartment. It was as if she was waiting for her door to be knocked down and with her being dragged away by the police.

An incessant shrill sliced through the tense air as her phone rang. It was an unknown number, and her mind immediately went straight to the worst case scenario. Lifting the phone to her ear, she readied herself. She didn't know what she was preparing herself for, but it was pure fight or flight.

"It's me."

Karen's voice on the other end allowed relief to wash over Ruby's body.

"Are you okay?"

"I can't talk much… the call's being monitored. But I'm okay, well, as okay as I can be," Karen said, but Ruby knew that she was trying her best to keep a brave face regarding the situation. "I have two defence attorneys. They seem… like they know the job but apparently, they've only been practising law properly for one day."

Ruby felt her heart drop at the prospect of her friend being represented by two people who had only just graduated. It wasn't fair that Karen was dealing with it all, but Ruby understood she didn't know what truly happened behind the closed doors and though she trusted her friend, did she believe her? Maybe it was an argument that had escalated and before Karen could realise, she had stabbed her colleague to death. The mind blocks many things out, and maybe this was one of them. "Let me call around, see if I can find better lawyers for you."

"And I'd have to pay them money that I don't have," Karen said, lowering her voice. "They said they're representing me for free and free is all I can afford now."

"I won't forget to take the cat…" she trailed off, wanting Karen to know she didn't forget about the promise she'd made to her the previous night. She didn't want to make it obvious in case the call was being listened to, but obvious enough for Karen to pick up on.

"Just be careful, it might take a while to find," Karen replied, and Ruby felt relief wash over her. Karen didn't have a cat; in fact, she was highly allergic to them.

"I've got to go. I'll call you if I have any more information, or my lawyers will call you if anything changes and I'm unable to."

And with a click, the call ended. Ruby stood there in the silence, still holding her phone to her ear. She was stunned, completely numb yet her mind was fighting a battle that wasn't her own.

Karen's apartment looked different in the morning light. With a bright, golden hue, warming up the city racing down the streets, roads and pavements, attempting to break through the dark and cold alleyways that clung onto the mystery that the tall buildings provided them through the years, Ruby watched the crowd around her grow larger than she had anticipated. The police tape blocked off the building from any access, and so everyone could only see the opening of the foyer to the building and the police trucks that parked haphazardly along the streets. Police officers stood guard, face stoic and expressionless.

Despite the pure lack of sleep, Ruby had seemingly put herself together enough that it didn't look like she was about to pass out. The tiredness clung to her like a heavy blanket draped across her shoulders, but after a cold shower to shock her back from the brink of completely losing her mind, she had dressed for work and had found herself walking to her friend's apartment building. A text from her mom had told her exactly what she hadn't wanted to happen: the news of the murder had spread across the city like wildfire, and whilst Karen's name was anonymous, they had identified a young woman as the murderer.

Whispered mutterings around her filled her ears and she listened as the stories each one of them told grew in hysterically. People are saying it's something to do with the Avengers again. Apparently, she grew tired of her boyfriend being an asshole and she just stabbed him to death, honestly sometimes I want to do the same to Brandon but he's good sometimes. The whole apartment was dripping with blood. It was a woman and I saw her get dragged out of the building and she was threatening police and everything!

Ruby blocked it out of her mind, and slipped away from the crowd. She walked the short journey to work and just hoped that she could find some respite from the news just for a little while, but she knew as soon as she stepped foot into the building, it would be everywhere.

And she wasn't wrong.

She sat at her desk and watched as her colleagues frantically paced, milled and stomped about the office. Most were on calls, speaking to anyone who would know anything about the murder, the murderer and the victim. As Ruby watched them go about their business, someone caught her eye. A man sat opposite her, his attention solely on her, and with a furrowed brow of confusion. Amidst the chaos, he was calm. It only took a moment for him to stand from his desk and approach her, but for Ruby, it felt like time slowed down.

"You don't seem to be as frantic as everyone else around here, Calloway," he said, and he tilted his head a little in an attempt to figure her out. As an investigative journalist, Ben Ulrich was a name everyone within the city knew about. He was an incredible force within the New York Bulletin, and whilst most shied away from the big stories that would throw your name into the paths of every bad person around there, he put his name out there. He shone a spotlight on all the immoral things happening within the city. He was an advocate for the working man.

"You know my name?"

Ben smirked. "Of course, I do. Why does that shock you?"

Ruby looked around her, motioning towards the office full of people. "Because you seem to be the only one who does. I get called by the wrong name multiple times a day by every single one of these people. Except you."

"Well, they're idiots for one," Ben said, and glanced at the pile of folders already on her desk. He flicked through the first file, a contract for the release of the names involved with a big financial deal. "Is this what you always wanted to do? Sorting through someone's admin that they're too lazy to do?"

Ruby shook her head. "No, sir."

"Please call me Ben. Sir makes me feel like a headmaster whose power has gone to his head."

"No, it isn't, Ben," she corrected. "I wanted to be a journalist ever since I found out what it was. I wanted to tell the world about the injustices everywhere, and how by shining a spotlight on issues, that change can come with that. And yet I'm sat at this desk every day, being called Sharon even though there isn't a Sharon who works here, hating the fact that I can't use my words to change the world."

Ben nodded. "That's more like it."

He moved towards his desk, and Ruby watched in confusion, hoping that her own words weren't enough to make the man she idolised for nearly her entire life to walk away from her. Instead, he grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and returned to her.

"Then let's go out there and bring some justice to people."

He'd heard the call that Karen had made. He had been talking with Foggy outside in the corridor a few feet away from Karen. The girl she spoke to didn't offer much but was concerned enough to ask how she was doing which only made more alarm bells to ring.

Karen was innocent, for the most part that is. He knew she had nothing to do with the murder, and the blood on her hands was simply that. There was no immoral guilt associated with her that she was hiding from him: her heartbeat, though nervous about her situation, was calm and offered him the reassurance that she truly did not murder the man found in her apartment; the words she spoke never wavered with nerves, nor did she get a dry mouth which was often accompanied with lying. Everything about her was calm. So what else was she lying and who was the woman she spoke to?

As Karen was taken back to the holding cell, a familiarity when it came to not having sufficient evidence to charge her but still enough to keep her off the streets, Matt allowed Foggy to assist him to the front desk.

"Excuse me, do you know if the calls here are monitored enough to know what number a client called when given their one call?" Matt asked the lady. Foggy beside him stiffened at the question, with Matt earning a sharp elbow into his side.

"Sometimes," she replied. "It depends if they get us to call the number or if they have a saved number on their file if they're frequent visitors here. But the girl you were representing put the number in herself so we wouldn't know."

"Thank you," Matt said, offering a smile at the woman, and pushed Foggy away gently so that his friend could lead him away.

Outside, Foggy came to a stop. "What was with that question, Matt?"

Matt released his friend. "Just… asking questions. You know, getting to know the system. It is our first day after all, Foggy."

Foggy could only shake his head at his friend as they carried on walking away from the station. The Matt Murdock Charm was something he'd found out about since they met each other at college. To see girls fawn over him, offering to walk him to class, he'd wondered just how Matt did it. He would watch him in action and be in awe of the man's capability to have every girl around him become weak at the knees with a simple smile.

"So, you think she's innocent then?" Foggy asked as they crossed the street. Matt had his hand in the crook of his elbow, and he felt Matt shift.

Matt shrugged. "Yes. No. Maybe. She seems to not know any little detail other than waking up in the room with the deceased. There was some alcohol in her system but not enough to be completely black out drunk. So, she could've been drugged. Did they do a drug swipe on her when they arrested her?"

"No, they didn't," Foggy said. "Good shout on that. I'll call the station and get them to do one, if she's willing."

As Foggy called the police station, Matt allowed his mind to wander. Karen's apartment would be a gold mine with evidence. If Karen was set up, there would be evidence to someone else being in her apartment other than her and the deceased man. And if the police hadn't already picked up any evidence focusing on that, it would be ready and waiting for him when he would go to check it out later. But for now, admin would be waiting in the office for him until he and Foggy would head back to speak with Karen before she was moved to the holding cell overnight. It wasn't the most ideal situation, but it was the way the detectives worked, and he had to respect that. She was the main suspect in a murder case and wanting to keep an eye on her was their main priority and he couldn't argue with them on that. If she was as dangerous as they were making her out to be, even though he could sense that she was telling the truth, he had to bide his time and find the evidence himself.

"She's agreed to a drug swipe so we should get a call back soon with the results," Foggy announced after a moment. "They weren't too pleased about doing more work but if she does have drugs in her system, it raises more questions as to why she doesn't remember a whole lot of what happened. Was she drugged? Was she spiked? It will blow the case wide open."

"Something isn't adding up," Matt analysed, allowing Foggy to navigate the journey back to their ramshackle office, weaving him through crowds of people whose smells, voices and mere presences were overwhelming for him. "The police are wanting to charge her so quick. They're willing to go from A to Z without even wanting to prove the truth."

"Well, they have a woman holding the murder weapon, chances are that's your suspect."

Something didn't feel right for Matt, and he wasn't sure whether to voice it to Foggy or not. He had reservations about telling him what he truly thought was happening; a huge cover up for something that even he wouldn't nor possibly ever be able to understand. Whatever it was, an innocent woman was going to be framed. Another statistic claimed to the powerful men who didn't care about tearing down the city they claimed to love with their bare hands.

Matt grew irritated, an internal battle between truth and reasoning happening inside of him. "We have somewhere to be."

The crowd had grown since Ruby had been there. She watched, almost in awe, of the amount of attention it was receiving. Murders happened every single day in the world and the fascination it brought was something that she couldn't quite comprehend. She wanted to scream and shout and tell people to move on, question why they were still standing there when nothing else was happening except people in white hazmat suits filed in and out. The crime scene investigators were leaving by the time Ruby and Ben Ulrich arrived, having found enough evidence that their presence wasn't needed any longer. Detectives remained by the door to the foyer talking amongst themselves, and Ruby grew uncomfortable. She felt her cheeks flush with anxiety.

She wondered what they had found, whether they picked up on the fact that it hadn't just been Karen and her colleague in the apartment that evening. That she had been there too. It was inevitable that they would find something of hers there; she'd read, listened and watched enough true crime, and knew that it was part and parcel of being human when it came to dropping DNA everywhere you walked. She couldn't remember touching anything in Karen's apartment. Karen had opened the door to her as if her friend had been waiting for her arrival by watching through the peephole. She had walked into the living room, noticed the boxes, then the body, and she simply remained in the middle of the room. And when the officers kicked down her door, she had climbed out of the window—

Oh, shit.

Did she touch the windowsill? Had she been able to climb out without touching anything? Panic rose within her and she felt her mind grow dizzy.

News reports were being broadcasted to the city, as journalists spoke to the masses, informing and enlightening them about the current affairs occurring on their streets. Ben Ulrich watched as everyone around him picked and poked at the scab of the city; the darkness of a city many flocked to in the hopes of a different life, where he knew the truth about just how dark it could get so well but a secret he had known could never or would never be heard.

"What do you know about what happened here?" Ben asked, and Ruby pondered for a moment. Was she honest, and tell him about her and Karen being friends, that she had actually been standing in the room with her and the dead man just hours before? Or did she lie, hoping that the man who had seen it all in the span of his career and had interviewed murderers would hopefully miss the panic radiating from her?

She chose the latter. "Just that someone was murdered."

"I heard through the grapevine that both the alleged murderer and the victim were colleagues," Ben said, his eyes scanning the crowd. "They both supposedly worked at Union Allied."

Ruby stared at Ben, almost in disbelief. That amount of information had been kept out of the media, and even the mutterings around her never came to that conclusion. Partners and ex-lovers, scorned, heartbroken, seeking revenge, was the narrative that was being written and painted for everyone to see. Ben's gaze moved towards her.

"And I'm assuming those two men in smart suits over there," Ben said, tipping his head slightly towards two people just adjacent from the crowd, two people who she had completely overlooked amongst the already heaving crowd. "Well, I believe they're Miss Page's lawyers."

She turned to look at Ben in disbelief.