Not Guilty

Case Closed?

     His head spun. Her brother had killed and yet she had taken the fall.

"I know what you are thinking."

     Her voice is that of a broken girl, resigned to her fate. He wonders why he didn't notice it earlier, and why he didn't notice the pain tucked away behind her eyes.

"No doubt you already know what my family does."

     He nods. The Suhn family had made a seemingly innocuous call, but their words were carefully chosen and laced with threats.

"Yes."

"My younger brother is the only male offspring of the family. It's just us two. He is expected to take control after my father's death."

     Nicole smiles, a dismal gesture, and twirls the pen in her hands as she examines her drawing.

"We were trained together, raised together," she sighs, "we grew up together, and yet we were never truly equals."

     He leans forward, interest piqued.

"May I ask what they trained you in?"

"Why?"

"It may be beneficial to your case."

     She leans back, scanning his face but concedes.

"Hand-to-hand combat and armed combat mostly, specifically knife work, gun training and Hapkido."

     Her eyes flick to her hands as she counts off everything she named and then nods.

"I think that's about it."

"And you were proficient in each one?"

     Nicole scoffs with a shake of her head, resigning herself to sketching once more.

"More than proficient. And yet here I am."

     He glances down at his notes.

"How did it happen? The shooting."

"My brother is a gambler," she speaks, her voice low as she picks her words carefully. "He's addicted to it. Gambling and alcohol... He can't stand losing either; he always gets so very angry."

     The sound of the pen scratches through the silence. He waits.

"So when he lost his poker match to Aaron Fields, he was angry. I left before he could ask me to do it, said I needed some fresh air and went out back to paint a bit, but he shot Aaron himself."

     He furrows his brow, leaning back into his chair.

"He killed Aaron and pinned the death on you."

     She nods, making a small scribble on the paper: her name.

"He is the son of a mafia leader. I am just a daughter. Who do you think my family values more?"

"They treat you like that?"

"I don't like it, but that's tradition. I'll be left here for a while until they get me out. They always do, but I don't like spending the time in prison."

     She lets out a huff of laughter, shaking her head as she finishes her last bit of shading. He smiles, the cogs of his mind locking into place. Leaning over, he unlocks Nicole's cuff from the table, causing her to look up, eyes blowing wide in shock.

"Thank you."

"What for?"

     Reaching into his jacket, he extracts a wire from his jacket and looks into the double-sided glass.

"Did we get everything?"

     Behind the glass, a woman speaks into the mic.

"Yes, we did. Bring her out."

     He places a hand on Nicole's shoulder, who appears too confused to move.

"Have you thought about a life outside your family before?"

     She doesn't reply. He picks up her sketch, a stunningly realistic portrait of himself, and hums. The eyes of the sketch glitter with the same inquisitive nature as the eyes of the man himself, and he expects the drawing to move at any second.

"You're a talented artist."

"Th-thank you?"

"Come with me."

     He opens the door, ushering her through before him, and they step into a brightly lit office. A woman stands near the door, watching Nicole's confused reaction.

"Nicole, I haven't been completely honest with you. I am Agent Colten Riggs, and this is my partner, Agent Xiulan Yu. We're both from the Interpol, and were called into handle your case."

     Xiulan gives Nicole a curt nod as Colten continues to speak.

"Your family did not send me as a lawyer to your case; in fact, they did not send a lawyer at all."

     Nicole's eyes blow wide in shock and she shakes her head.

"No..."

"They called me to strike a deal. We get you, permanately, and they get a free pass for meddling in the Korean national elections."

"They just left me?"

     Her voice is quiet, barely above a whisper.

"I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, Nicole," Colten sighs. "But, we aren't here to arrest you. We're here to team up."

"We've been watching you," Xiulan chimes in. "We've seen the damage that you have been able to do with your family, the same family that betrayed you without a second glance. And now we're offering you a choice."

"You can either be falsely convicted for a murder your brother committed due to insufficient evidence or..."

     Colten meets Nicole's questioning gaze.

"You can help us take your family down."

     The small smile on Nicole's lips is answer enough.

A/N: Hello, and thank you for reading! At this time, I have decided not to turn Not Guilty into a full story. However, if people really want me to continue I might, so comment and vote if you want to see what happens to Nicole!

If you enjoyed Not Guilty, check out my short story Bargain. It's got a similar theme with a light-hearted undertone. Thank you again for reading Not Guilty and I hope that you enjoyed it.