𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲

𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 & 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗲𝘀

"Run that back" Rakim points at the screen with narrowed eyes.

Symere does what he tells him and rewinds for thirty seconds.

"Here?"

"Yes, that's enough."

Symere presses play and they watch the part again.

"Did you know at that time that this was illegal?"

Symere cringes a little bit while hearing his own voice on the tape. He hates how it sounds.

For the second time, he watches how Jordan opens his watery eyes and asks him to stop the interview.

Out of the corner of his eye, Symere can see Rakim shaking his head and muttering something under his breath before he reaches over to grab the remote out of Symere's hand to pause the recording.

"I don't believe him."

Symere turns his head to his friend. "What do you mean?" he asks him confused.

"I don't believe anything he says. Watch his body language. He's completely relaxed the whole time and suddenly when hearing Bourne's name he turns stiff and acts sad. This shit is so fake, I can't even watch it" Rakim rants and presses the red button to turn off the TV.

The smaller one doesn't know what to respond. To him, Jordan's reaction seemed genuine. Maybe it was different to see it on a screen than being there when it happened.

Symere follows Rakim with his eyes as he walks over to his chair and sits down with a loud sigh.

"Look, don't get me wrong. I know you tried your best, Sy, but you were way too gentle with Carter. I mean he was saying inappropriate things to you the whole time and you just took it. You shouldn't have broken it off just because he asked for it" Rakim says and looks at Symere with a serious expression while playing with one of his braids.

"I can't force him to talk if he doesn't want to."

"I know but you need to be more persistent. You're too nice."

Symere can't help but feel a little bit hurt when he hears the criticism. He was still disappointed in himself for not getting more out of Jordan and hearing now that he didn't do a good job from Rakim as well, makes him insecure.

Sometimes he hates how sensitive he is. Rakim wasn't even being mean with his words.

"How was your talk with the neighbor who made the call?" he asks him.

Rakim runs his hand over his face frustratedly. "Useless. Don't even ask. That guy couldn't stop crying for a minute."

"Come on, he's obviously still in shock over the death. It hasn't even been two days" Symere tries to defend him softly.

"Yeah, but shit like this is wasting our time. We need a confession from Carter. And honestly, we shouldn't be letting too many days pass now. He's probably already in contact with his attorneys."

Symere wants to make up for his mistake. "Let me call him. I'm gonna try and convince him to do another interview tomorrow. With both of us" he promises.

Right after the words leave his mouth, he already regrets the offer. Rakim's temper and Jordan's provoking attitude in one room? That won't go well.

But it's too late. "Alright. Go call him right now" Rakim nods.

Symere leaves and closes the door to Rakim's room quietly behind himself.

On the way to his own office, he stops in the cafeteria to buy himself a coffee. He's busy scraping some coins together to pay when he hears a snarky voice behind himself that's just too familiar.