The Enigma's Anomaly

Trust Exercises

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Gerard says into the receiver. I'm right there with him. Mikey? Seriously? And I suppose his partner in all of this was the Easter Bunny then.

He sits upright quickly and I position myself to be level with him. His eyebrows are furrowed together and I think mine are too.

"Sir, we have evidence," the guy answers.

"Like hell you do!" Gerard answers, "in case you'd forgotten Mikey's my brother. He wouldn't do that, I'm more certain than you can imagine."

"We have evidence that any trial would-"

"Fuck your trial, it's not him!" Gerard says.

"We can't really take your word for it. This is a criminal investigation and the proof is there."

Gerard is boiling and I can't say I blame him. I'm almost one hundred percent sure that note wasn't in Mikey's handwriting. Mikey isn't a killer, I would know. Besides, the only emotion I've ever seen from Mikey towards Gerard was compassion. He and Gerard get along better than any siblings I know! He gave me dating advice. What kind of a murderer tells someone to go for it with the guy their trying to kill? What kind of a murderer would make sure his target stayed indoors? What kind of a murderer would make the guy he's trying to kill wear a bulletproof vest? What kind of a murderer would do everything in his power to keep his target alive?

No, Mikey didn't do this. I'm positive.

"Well you fucking should take my word! He didn't do it. I would bet my life on it. He's not that type of person, and even if he was, I'm the last person he'd kill."

"Sir I'm not trying to anger you, I'm just relaying the information," he says.

"This is bullshit, I'm coming to see him," Gerard says.

"You'll have to settle with a phone call," he says.

"Fuck that. I'm his brother I want to see him!"

"Until he's transferred to a different facility you can't see him," the man says.

"Well he shouldn't be transferred to another facility because he's not a fucking murderer!"

"If you could watch your language-"

Gerard flares his nostrils angrily, "Oh this is mild compared to what I want to be saying. Where is he now? When is he being moved? Has he seen a lawyer?"

"He's refused to talk until he's seen a lawyer, but he's in a holding cell right now. We won't be moving him until he seeks council," the man replies calmly.

"Well I'll get him a lawyer then," Gerard says. "Can I call him now?"

"He can call you."

"Fine. Tell him to call me, and tell him to flip off the guy that arrested him for me," Gerard says. He hangs up a minute later after the guy says he'll tell Mikey to call. He says nothing about telling Mikey to flip anybody off though.

"This is so fucked up," I say, and even that's an understatement. Gerard falls back in bed after sitting up and he looks so done. I don't want to think about how awful this is. I'm positive it's not Mikey, and I bet Gerard is too.

I look down at him and he looks so upset and miserable. I don't know what to do now. A minute ago it had been the best day of my life and now I feel like everything is falling apart. It's only ten at night, so we didn't even make it through the entire day without everything being spoiled.

"You believe that Mikey's innocent right?" Gerard asks looking terrified. It hits me like a hammer that Gerard isn't sure. That must be the worst feeling in the world for him. He doesn't know. He wants to believe it, but he doesn't actually know what to believe and it kills me to see that fear. He doesn't know for certain that the note was genuine, but I do. That seems to be the key piece of evidence in his defense, but there really isn't any way to be sure it's real.