The Murder of Bella Abbott (Friday Barnes)

~16~

                           ~how this goes~
Time stopped

It was time to put together to court case.

Mr and Mrs Abbott had stopped the timer until they closed the case because the case had been solved.

The only thing left was the court case.

Once again, the four of them sat at the conference room table, going over their case.

"We have all the evidence, we just need to know everything off by heart to give a more convincing case." Arthur said, typing on the laptop.

Melanie was on her phone, looking into who was going to be Dylan, and Marissa's lawyer.

"Daniel Reed." She said after a moment. "He's a public one that the court provides..." she read further.

"He's crap, we're fine." She said turning off her phone.

"Great." Arthur said, smiling widely. "We're sure to win, we just need to triple check everything and make sure there are no holes."

They went over the case multiple times.

They even started roll playing so they had some idea of what was going to happen on the day.

Agent Gillard had made some calls and had told them that the court date was going to be in 3 days.

That was all the time they had.

Ian was doing laps of the table, reciting the evidence.

"Their relationship was poor from the beginning, his fingerprint was in Bella's blood, the blood in the back of his truck matches Bella's, the body was found at his friends house."

But they had interrogated Dylan again that afternoon, and he had spilled even more information.

Apparently, he had cut her apart with a circular saw but refused to tell them where this saw was.

He also told them the Marissa had nothing to do with this. He said it over and over again, like he was trying to convince himself more than them.

Fridays brain felt like a bunch of tangles wires. She couldn't follow a train of thought for more than a few second without forgetting or reaching what felt like a dead end.

When the day gave way to night, Arthur went home and Melanie drifted back to their apartment.

Friday was staring at the far wall, completely zoned out.

Her mind was buzzing, but most of all, she was worrying about what she would do if she couldn't think straight on the day of the trial.

She would be useless to them if she couldn't remember anything.

Someone shifted beside her and the ice that had frozen over her brain shattered, letting her back into the real world.

"How long have you been sitting there?" She asked.

Ian looked at her, "I just sat down."

Friday nodded, looking at what he had in his lap.

"What's that?" She asked quietly.

It was a large package wrapped in plastic and duck tape.

Ian looked down at it. "It isn't much." He said, handing it to her.

She began to pull at the tape.

"I saw it a few days ago. I knew I had to get it for you." He said, a shy grin spreading across his face.

Friday broke the plastic and pulled out the contents.

A brown cardigan fell into her lap.

Friday wanted to cry.

"A brown cardigan!" She said happily.

Ian took the plastic and scrunched it into a ball. "I know you haven't really felt like yourself lately. You still have the blonde hair and you're wearing someone else's clothes. I thought this might help. Especially with the upcoming court case."

She pulled it on, already feeling more like herself.

Ian stood up and went over to the bin in the corner of the room, throwing the plastic ball in.

Friday stood up and her legs gave out as she hadn't gotten out of the chair in hours.

Ian grabbed her arms and held her up.

He smiled, small but brilliant.

She brought his face down and kissed him, his shirt crumpling in her fisted hand.

"Thank you." She whispered.

Someone let out a squeal.

Ian smiled. "Melanie is behind me, isn't she?"

Friday nodded, her smile wide and stupid. "And she's filming again too."

Ian laughed, turning to see Melanie, who was standing in the doorway, phone in hand.