The Untold Story

9. Not of her own accord...

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nathan asked again.

"Yeah. I'd rather not talk about it if you don't mind," Natasha said. Nathan looked like he wanted to argue but decided against it.

"I came to tell you we're processing Max's charges so we'll need you at the station."

Natasha felt sick at the mention of Max's name. She fiddled with the zipper on her sweater trying to work up the courage to say what she knew he wouldn't like hearing. "I've changed my mind about that."

Nathan eyed her sternly. "This again? Really, Natasha, must we go round in circles all the time?"

Natasha couldn't bear to look at him as he chastised her and she kept her head down, not saying anything else.

Feeling bad for what he'd said, Nathan switched to a softer tone. "Look, I know you're scared but I just need you to trust me. I'm not going to let him hurt you. All you have to do is tell the truth."

The truth, what a noble idea but in all reality, it was only a shorter path to the end of her life as she knew it. She still didn't look up but Nathan continued to speak to her.

"You're hiding something and it's eating you up. I can help you but you have to be completely honest with me. Can you do that?" he asked her.

He seemed kind enough but could she really trust that anything she told him wouldn't land her in jail? His duty was to uphold the law above anything else after all and he had no obligations towards her. Suddenly she felt a warm hand take one of hers and hold it gently. She looked up, surprised at the contact and met blue eyes filled with warmth and kindness that made her want to bare her soul and tell all her secrets.

Nathan dug something out of his jacket pocket and placed it in her hand before letting go of it. Natasha looked down at her hand and saw his badge. She looked back up at him, confused.

"As long as you're holding that, you're speaking to Nathan Henderson, a 28 year old guy who loves fishing and coaches' baseball occasionally. Not Detective Henderson," Nathan explained. "You can tell me anything and I promise it will stay between us. I just want to help you but I can't do that if you're not completely honest with me."

Natasha stared at him and looked down at the badge again, turning it over in her hand. He was putting a lot of effort into getting her to trust him. Could she risk it?

"I can take off the formal suit jacket too if that helps?" Nathan teased flashing her a crooked smile.

"Uhh, no. The badge will do just fine," Natasha laughed nervously.

"So what do you say to an off the record conversation?"

Natasha still looked hesitant so Nathan suggested something else.

"How about a little quid pro quo then? I tell you something and you do the same in return?"

"What are you going to tell me?" Natasha asked although she could hazard a guess.

"The reason you were arrested," Nathan replied. After short deliberation, Natasha nodded her approval and Nathan gladly went on.

"Have you heard of Optography?"

Natasha racked her brain trying to remember if she ever heard the word. Eventually she shook her head.

"It's a technology that is mostly still being developed and is very expensive. I don't know most of the technicalities behind it but in simple terms it's based on a theory that the image of exterior objects imprinted on the eye is conserved there and can be retrieved. So when a person dies, the image of what they last saw can be obtained by taking a picture of their eye and developing it. It doesn't give a full picture but it provides a grainy image that you can work with," Nathan explained.