Conflict of Interest

Chapter Twenty

A/N: Okay. I'm updating at snail's pace. I know. I'm sorry. I suck. But, um...for some of you I think this might be the moment you've been waiting for. Or at least one of the moments you've been waiting for. So. Yeah. Enjoy. :)

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Carrie

"The defense has upheld throughout the course of this trial that the irrefutable, concrete evidence that has been presented to you is somehow insufficient. We have heard the defense counsel attempt to challenge the work of celebrated detectives, exemplary crime lab technicians, even the work of the Chief Medical Examiner, to try to burn a hole of doubt through a case that has already been formed. They've drawn up this uncorroborated premonition that the highly trained and very objective officials who have promised their candid testimony today are somehow trying to mislead you. But facts are stronger than premonition."

"No, that's stupid," I admonished myself out loud. 

"But facts are strong, and premonition is not."

That's even worse. 

I put that damn summation down in utter frustration, having known a long time ago that even if I tried my hardest, the words wouldn't come to me tonight. It was past eleven at night now, and I had court in the morning, but I was trying not to think of it. I kept seeking refuge in this fantasy I was drawing up, where come morning I would walk into this trial, stand up to read my closing argument, and the words would just come to me like I was a prophet.

Yet, prophetic visions are few and far between. Planning is something you can always count on.

The rain outside felt like another way to dramatize what was going on in my life. It was dark, and my thoughts were loud and scattered, the clouds were harried, and frankly so was I. I sighed at the sound of it, attacking the glass of my windows and leaving noises that sounded like gunshots resonating through my entire apartment.

No, I definitely wouldn't be getting any work done. I'd probably have to wake up early and finish what I hadn't tonight, which would mean that I'd have to set back a meeting I'd acquiesced to have with a colleague, which meant...

I was shaken from that thought by what sounded like someone at my door. I wasn't expecting company. In fact, I hated company. The first thought in my mind was that it was Kim, coming at me with one of her malformed apologies, maybe offering some variety of alcohol to make up for it. I decided that if it was, I'd shut the door in her face, but then I decided it probably wasn't. I'd been out of line with her too, maybe even more so, and I knew that she only apologized when she was positive she was at least 75% at fault.

I considered then that maybe it was someone showing up to take my life, which wasn't far outside the realm of possibility, but this was a strange time for my attempted murder. Everyone I was prosecuting at the moment had been remanded for the duration, or had just been put away. No, I was pretty sure I wasn't in mortal danger. At least, not today.

So then, I didn't really know who to expect. Maybe it was just the wind. Maybe I was hearing things. Or, for all I knew, maybe it was the DA checking up on me to see if I really was sleeping. Which of course I wasn't. I was sitting there drawing up guesses as to who was hanging out outside my door at eleven at night.

But I felt strangely calm for someone with an unknown stranger at her door, or at least I had been, until I heard that door open.

Who the hell had I given my key to?

I didn't know whether to approach the situation head on, or make my way for the window and hope for the best. I decided, though, that I lived in a loft apartment, and my chance of survival was probably worse if I jumped than if I faced an armed stranger making an attempt on my life. No, I didn't feel like defenestrating myself, not tonight, so I figured, what's the worst that can happen?