Guest: boy, he's really getting on your nerves, isn't he?
Let's see who's side Zoe will be on
7
She had been working with law enforcement for years, and overtime Gillian had come to think that most, if not all, precincts in D.C must have shared blueprints down to the smallest details. Of course there were practical reasons for it, the layout had to serve the purpose, but as they walked in the detective room of the 99th Gillian truly felt the space looked exactly like any other they had visited before to interrogate dozens of suspects. With the notable exception that the current one was the first where Cal was going to be on the wrong side on the table.
Once they were in, Gillian asked for Detective Carson and when she was pointed to the interrogation room she exchanged a worried look, hoping the location didn't necessarily imply that Cal had gone against his own interest and decided to talk. The fear was short lived however, and Gillian let out a small sigh of relief when she saw the detective outside the interrogation room, talking to someone and showing the clear demeanour of someone who didn't like to wait. On her side, Zoe briefly scanned the man talking with the detective and, recognising her own kind, she came to the conclusion he must have been Burns' attorney. She found it a touch odd, lawyers of the accusator were not usually involved in the interrogation process, but she put it down to a dedicated attorney and moved in to introduce herself.
Detective Carson seemed honestly relieved for her arrival, likely eager to move things along, and to no one's surprise he made it clear that the only person coming into the room with him to join the waiting Cal was going to be his legal representative. Gillian had hoped for a little exception but had to go with it, standing where she was while the cop opened the door to the room and hoping to at least catch a glimpse of him. She did, and for some reason the fact that he was slouched down on the chair as usual - and mildly bored - oddly comforting.
Gillian bit her lip and watched Carson and Zoe going in, but then the lawyer stopped and came back closer to her, asking in a low voice.
"Why did you go and meet with Burns?"
The question caught Gillian by surprise in a strange way, mostly because she had expected it to come way earlier.
"Cal," she mumbled then. "He thought he could use some closure."
Zoe didn't react much, just a quick nod of the head and then she went inside the room.
The small sense of relief she had proved when seeing Cal didn't last long, when the door closed again and Cal was out of sight Gillian started feeling nervous again. During the drive there, answering Zoe's questions had helped her going through things in her own mind, and the lawyer had spent the last part of the journey making some phone calls that had helped easing Gillian's tension; but now they were there she no longer had access to further development, which drove her crazy no matter how much she trusted Zoe to keep the father of her daughter out of jail.
Not knowing what to do with herself, Gillian fidgeted on the spot for a while then started to look around for a place to sit. It seemed that her only options were next to a passed out drunk woman and a seemingly harmless teenager, but on a second look she spotted the cuffs locking him to the wall and the shackles at his angles and opted to pass.
"Foster?"
She turned around hearing the familiar voice, albeit one she had not heard in a while. When she and Cal had started exploring the change of pace in their relationship he had pretty much cut Detective Wallowski out of the picture. Gillian hadn't asked him to, but he had provided an explanation on his own initiative: he hadn't tried to justify the dynamic between them, he had admitted it was a messy thing that didn't mean much to either of them and knew that it didn't make things any better. Then, to Gillian's major surprise, he had confessed that he had grown tired of Wallowski's uncessant standoffish response to their work, culminating in the way he had been forced to fight her on Claire's case, one he happened to care very much about.
With all that in mind, what Gillian found mostly awkward in the way the detective approached her in the corridor outside the interrogation room was that both were clearly trying to figure out what the other was doing there.
"Detective," Gillian gave her a small nod. "I thought you were on the 14th."
Being naturally cordial and highly trained in speech patterns and language, Gillian easily managed to give her statement a neutral tone. It didn't take much effort, much like with Zoe she had put whatever animosity towards the detective behind her, and was truly curious as to what might have brought a homicide detective to a different department on an entirely different precinct.
"A colleague from cybercrime down the hall had something that seemed to be connected to my current investigation so I came over to check it out," Wallowski explained. "You are here on a case?"
"No, not exactly." At first, Gillian thought about leaving it at that but a sudden thought creeped inside her brain and she opted for a bolder choice. "My ex-boyfriend has been giving me some troubles, he may be trying to turn things in his favour."
There was just the time for the detective's face to react to the matter of fact statement and start processing the layers within it then, as if on cue, a uniformed officer went into the interrogation room carrying glasses of water. The door was open for all but a handful of seconds, but once again Gillian was greeted with a quick glimpse of Cal, now sitting a bit more straight and more engaged.
"Come with me," Wallowski said then.
Gillian didn't question the instruction, not when she recognised the serious expression on the cop's face, and followed her to the room next to the one where Cal was. The observation room was empty, clearly a small thing like that did not need a big audience, and Gillian was so grateful that the detective's quick thinking allowed her to watch what was going on on the other side of the glass that she didn't even think about asking her to leave.
Only a few minutes had gone by and things must have moved rather slowly, because Cal was still in the process of sharing the timeline of the events regarding Burns. She didn't find it strange that Cal was speaking, he had probably been itching to run his tongue while sitting there. Sure, contrary to what most people thought the best policy even - or especially - for innocent people was always to keep their mouth shut, but even if Zoe had been brought up to speed Cal's first-hand recount was certainly more suitable to paint the picture of an insistent ex-boyfriend bordering into obsession.
"You claim that Mr Burns came to your home address that night," Carson asked.
Gillian saw the quick contraction of disgust on Cal's face at the appellative, which seemed rather out of place. Then Cal glanced over at Zoe to share his annoyance for the silly question, not liking the subtext that he was not being truthful, and Gillian groaned softly to herself bracing for an abrasive response. Thankfully, Zoe was in the room to tame him as much as she was there to help him and gave him a stern look.
"He came on Monday night, yes."
"Had he ever been there before? Maybe you invited him for something." Cal had to stifle a laugh and pushed it back down, before quietly answering no. "You also said your girlfriend didn't tell him she is in a relationship with you now. So how did he know to come there then?"
Trick question Cal, watch it! Gillian couldn't help but think as a few red flags went up in her head. But she should have known better, Cal was no fool and knew when to measure his words. Almost.
"You should ask him."
The detective tried a different angle asking if he'd like to guess, but Cal said it wasn't up to him and they moved on. The questions kept coming at a sustained pace but leaving little to no effect, boring rather than bothering Cal who looked more and more like he could fall asleep. Next to him, Zoe looked almost as equally annoyed but easily hid it by taking notes, throwing in there an eye roll every now and then when the detective's questions seemed particularly obtuse. One interesting detail, Gillian thought, was that the detective seemed fairly unengaged from some parts of the questioning himself.
"This ex of yours, was he really DEA?" Wallowski asked all of a sudden, curiosity but no judgement in her voice as Gillian nodded. "And the lawyer is-"
"Cal's ex-wife, yeah."
"Never boring, the two of you."
Not that she was in the mood, but Gillian would have had to agree. At least in the interrogation things were kicking into a different gear, with the detective finally getting to Burns' version of events. Cal had to gather all his strength not to laugh in the cop's face as he heard the fascinating scenario in which Burns had gone home after 'visiting' the Lightman household, and Cal had followed him and attacked him in his own house.
"Does he have any proof to support his version?"
It was the first question Zoe asked, actually the first thing she really said out loud and Gillian immediately took notice, stepping closer to the glass to study her better. Sitting next to her, Cal had a very similar reaction only he accompanied the peak of attention with a sly smirk of anticipation.
"Do you?" The detective countered. "I'm afraid it is a classic case of one's word against the others."
"Except it's technically two people's words," Zoe mumbled casually, looking up from her notes to square down the detective. "Any reason why you are not interested in hearing from Dr Foster on the matter?'
Gillian didn't know what might have prompted that question, but it was clear that it landed somewhere interesting when the detective slowly pulled back on his chair in a distancing move. The man seemed suddenly uncomfortable, and things didn't get any better when he tried to rebut.
"The charges are against Dr Lightman, there's no need to speak to her at the moment."
That was what his words said, but his face and body were communicating on a different register. He looked uncertain, and Gillian thought the inclination in his voice suggested the sentiment behind those words was not something he had come up with. She looked at Cal, who had caught on something as well, but it was Zoe who picked up the hint and ran with it.
"Perhaps then you'll want to speak with Andrea Rivers?" She asked, making a fair show that she was reading the name out of the list. "Or Peter Russell, or Mr Porter maybe?"
Only the last name rang a bell to Cal, but that was enough to suggest where the other two might come from and he let slip a little grin.
"Who are these people?"
"Andrea Rivers is the bartender of the establishment where Dr Foster and Mr Burns met, and she'd be happy to explain to you how he tried to physically stop her from leaving, to the point that one of the patrons, Mr Russell, felt the need to step in." Gillian had been in the car with Zoe as she made those phone calls and was not surprised, but could totally understand why the detective's jaw clenched and smirked, knowing the best was yet to come. "Or maybe you should hear Mr Porter telling you that he saw Mr Burns at Dr Foster address the night in question, yelling and screaming her name while banging on the door while visibly intoxicated."
It was then, before Zoe could even play the next card and 'kindly' share the contact information of the three witnesses with him that the cop let out a long sigh, and Gillian realised a big shift was about to happen. To her, Detective Carson had never looked like he was seriously trying to prove Cal's guilt but rather he was just going through the motions; as the interrogation went on the feeling had intensified, and Zoe's revelation seemed to be welcomed rather than a nuisance. Then, breaking from the Q format, the cop pushed pause on the recording machine and asked for a moment.
Zoe and Cal looked at each other, puzzled but optimistic, and waited for the cop to leave the room. Gillian didn't need to keep looking at them, she could easily predict how the conversation would go: Zoe would kick off with a snarky remark about Cal always getting himself in a pickle, he'd counter with a heartfelt plea that it wasn't his fault and they'd ended up agreeing on the fact that troubles just had a way of finding him and that Emily should not hear a word about it. So, instead of watching that exchange, Gillian left the room and walked back into the hallway looking for the detective. Carson was at the end of the corridor, deep in talk with the man she had identified as Burns' attorney, and judging by the man's reaction he was not pleased with the cop's update. That was fair, however it seemed more like a mild annoyance more than anything else: on the other hand, Burns standing next to him was displaying a much stronger reaction. Gillian had not expected to see him there, sending the lawyer seemed like the best approach, but there he was. She could see the frustration on his face, the contained anger in the way his hands clenched in tight fists and even though he didn't speak as the detective shared the updates from the interviews it was obvious that he was not happy with it. On the other hand, Carson seemed apologetic but also stern, more interested in getting his point across rather than listening to any counter.
Eventually, the detective decided that there was nothing else to say and walked away. Gillian didn't bother going back into the small room to observe, she instinctively knew Carson was coming back to tell Cal he was free to go, instead she stood in the corner and kept her eyes on Burns while Wallowski walked closer.
"That's the guy?"
Gillian nodded, too focused on the interaction between Burns and his lawyer to notice Cal coming out of the room with Zoe. He did see her however; the news he was good to go and no charges were going to be brought forward had put a smug grin on his face, which was briskly wiped off when he saw her concentrated frown and the sharp attention dedicated to something out of his sight. He turned to his left to follow her gaze and saw Burns, who was now speaking rather loudly to his lawyer and voicing his disappointment for the failed ploy. Interesting enough, the lawyer fought back with a scolding of his own and even with the distance and the two men trying their best to keep their voices down they could catch crumbs of the conversation, with the layer concluding his intervention by suggesting to his client to let it go when there was the chance of the tables turning on him.
The weirdly assorted quartet watched the scene from a fairly safe distance, the two experts filling the parts they couldn't hear by reading body and face features. When the confrontation was over, apparently with Burns' reluctant defeat, the former DEA looked around angrily as if to find a place to land his frustration and that was when he spotted them. Or her, to be precise, and the detail didn't go unnoticed by Cal who immediately stepped forward blocking his line of sight. The staring contest didn't last long but was intense enough to be felt by the women behind him, even with Cal just standing there with hands in his pockets without moving a muscle. They all knew him, but Gillian was the only one who could read that seemingly immobile stance: at that very moment he was like a snake ready to attack, pulling its head back just before snapping forward for a deadly bite.
Thankfully it didn't come to that, Burns was the first one to cave under the mindful pressure of his lawyer and eventually they left, walking out of sight. Only when they were gone Cal relaxed, immediately coming closer to Gillian and briefly squeezed her hand, not in the least bit surprised when she shrugged off his concern for her and turned it the other way around.
"What did the detective say?"
"That he was going to drop the charges, and he apologised for the misunderstanding," he answered quickly, wisely holding back on sarcasm. Then he looked over at Zoe. "That was impressive by the way."
"I'd like to take more credit for it, but it seemed like a no-brainer," she replied with a sigh, as if it really had been not much of an effort. "I'd say what was really impressive is that you managed to keep your mouth shut for so long."
"And there I was, paying you a compliment!" He growled much to their amusement, then he got serious again. "Thanks for the assist, Zoe."
"So what happens now?" Gillian asked.
"Nothing. We go back to work and we put this behind us."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Wallowski mumbled under her breath, raising her hands in a defensive gesture when the rest of the trio looked at her confused. "Listen, you two are the experts and all but that guy does not look like someone who is done with this."
"He's going through a lot, he spent the last 10 years working undercover and he's adjusting to-"
"Have you thought about a P.O?"
The detective's interruption might have been a bit rude, but in all fairness Gillian wasn't at all convinced by her own argument. What Wallowski herself didn't necessarily realise, was that she was in a good position to give that kind of insight: she didn't know Burns and the whole story with her and Cal, and she wasn't as involved in the events to have talked about it extensively. What she knew was that a man who should know better because of his profession had repeatedly forced himself into a situation where he was clearly not welcomed, and that he had taken the petty road when things didn't go his way.
"A protective order?" Zoe picked up on the suggestion, mulling it over in her head. "It might not be a bad idea."
"Do you really think it's necessary?"
"You already told him to leave you alone three times, for someone allegedly smart that's at least one too many. I get being hurt, and a bit detached, but there's a word for people like him."
She didn't say which one, but they were all versed enough with the world of crime to know she was talking about stalking. It was never a comfortable word to use, but it seemed even heavier when hitting close like that and even with their extensive experience in things of the mind it was hard to process it.
"Would we even have enough to get one? I mean," Cal waved his hand at the detective and squinted his eyes, "no offence but I've seen many cases of requests turned down even with bigger problems."
"Cal, I'm sure he won't come back now," Gillian tried to smooth things over as she got closer to him with a hand on his shoulder. "He's already been exposed by trying to press charges on you, it would be silly for him to further expose himself."
"I understand your point love, I really do," Cal spoke softly and took her hand to gently hold in his. "And I know this has all been out of character for him. But you already told him more than once and he's clearly not getting the memo." He came a little closer, giving her the kind of suffered smile that meant he didn't feel great about what he was about to say but felt like he had to anyway. "I was understanding and played nice with him one time too many times and he tried to send me to jail, I don't want to find out what he'd do if we give him another pass."
Gillian got lost in his words and expression for a few seconds, wondering how he could be so intense while also coming across so sweet and gentle. She also hated the subtext to his statement, guilt and regret for the consequences of having being a nice human being seeping through his eyes and voice. It was the same look he had given her in the bathtub a couple of days before, and she knew at that moment that it would have taken more than a court order to stop him from taking the blame for the events.
"Do you really think we should do it?" Gillian asked then, to all of them and none in particular.
"I can help with that. With him trying to press charges with so much evidence against it will work in your favour, and I know the right people to get it signed." Zoe spoke and welcomed the curious looks with mild surprise, shrugging it off quickly before explaining. "You kind of made it my business now, and frankly…Cal, what if Emily had been home that night?"
It was an easy blow but it landed, and strangely it hit Gillian as much if not more than it did Cal. His whole body immediately tensed at the thought, nightmarish scenarios going through his head with the certainty that if that had been the case he'd executed a very different kind of trick on the former DEA agent. While Cal's blood boiled, Gillian's froze in her veins considering the possibility: she didn't think Burns might have harmed Emily - then again, she'd never thought he could behave the way he had either - but she knew that a similar situation would have put a lot of strain on the young girl and her father and she didn't want to be responsible for anything even remotely close to that.
"What do we have to do?" She asked eventually, not with the defeated voice of someone who was caving to others' will but with the resolute tone of a person making a conscious decision.
"Put together a detailed timeline of the events since the first time he showed up, and all the other information she got," Walloswki explained as the pointed at Zoe briefly. "You can fill the form online, I will send you the link."
"We'll also have to clarify the terms of the restrictions, for example no contact and trespassing at your place of work and so on." The lawyer closed the explanation. "Once it's done we'll submit it to the judge to sign, then Burns will have to be notified."
"When will the order be effective?"
"From the moment he'll be served. After that, any violation will mean arrest."
Despite everything, the clarification made Gillian feel unease once again; one thing was trying to keep troubles away, creating them for someone else was not really her style. Cal read it on her face and gently caressed her arm with one hand, looking for a way to comfort her.
"It's just about making sure he stays clear of you, love," he tried to soothe her. "He's a smart guy, this piece of paper would be a nice wake up call. You're right, he's adjusting back into civilian life and he's not going to push that far. It's just a bit of insurance policy for you…and a bit of peace of mind for me."
It was cheeky, but effective. He couldn't help feeling responsible for things getting to that point and he knew that Gillian could see through him on that with ease, so Cal opted to bring it up in a way that would work in his favour. She easily picked up on it and gave him a side-eye look that called him out, but he replied with an apologetic grin and that concluded the silent interaction between them before they moved on to finalising the details.