Mindful Beauty

17) His Tenderness

"It's been a while since I've been here." Ella sighed in remembrance as she looked at the prison ward through the harsh glare of the sunlight.

"It's time to put to the test that theory of yours." Damien agreed, rounding his vehicle to join Ella on the sidewalk.

"I guess so." Ella nodded, her heart heavy and her head racing.

She wanted to believe that Jamie was innocent, that the women really was as defenseless as she seemed, but Ella was practically an expert when it came to reading people and reading up on cases like these. There was something about the Jamie Parker case that had Ella feeling very unsettled. She just needed to find out what it was.

"Trust yourself, Ella. You're going to do just fine." Damien reached to grab Ella's hand and squeeze it endearingly before letting go. They were at work, and despite his urge to treat her as his girlfriend, they were on the job at the moment. It would be better for everyone if they kept their cool and focused on their individual jobs rather than each other.

Ella took a deep breath and entered the room where Jamie was already in.

Jamie Parker looked bad. She had deep and dark bags under her bleak and dull eyes now. Her cheeks seemed more sunken in, and so was the skin on her wrist, Ella noted. Jamie's hair also seemed more frazzled and oily, as if she had run her hands through it multiple times since the oil was concentrated in the front strands where people were constantly fidgeting.

"Hey, Jamie." Ella approached with caution. "How is everything?"

"I would like to know from you guys." Jamie coughed, seeming overworked.

Ella looked at Damien, waiting for him to explain the situation to the inmate. As far as Ella's awareness went, while she had learned quite a lot by working alongside Damien during these past five months, it still wasn't enough to be able to explain the situation in detail to Jamie.

"Investigating?!" Jamie's voice cracked, and she paused to drink some water. "Why? Can they not just declare me innocent or guilty already?! He's dead. I don't understand why this is taking so long. He's gone. David isn't coming back anymore." Jamie seemed to be in the middle of a breakdown. She was grabbing at her hair, panting to get enough air into her lungs as she cried, stomping her feet. "Huh?! Don't you get it? He's dead! I... I didn't meant to! He... He's never... I think I scared..." Jamie breathed even harder, cussing as she fought to reign in her emotions.

Ella saw how quickly the situation was escalating, and while she hated taking advantage of a vulnerable person, she needed to if she wanted to get the truth out.

"Who's dead, Jamie?" Ella looked carefully at Jamie, ignoring Damien's frown and curious look he threw at Ella. "Please, Jamie?"

"I can't... I saw him... David said... I'm sorry. I killed him... I killed him... I killed him!" Jamie was sobbing loudly, and Ella's heart broke.

While Jamie had committed murder, and she was a criminal, Ella couldn't really stand to see another person falling apart right in front of her and not feel the urge to help them, so she stood up and walked around to try to soothe Jamie.

"We're going to fix this, Jamie. I promise, I will fix this, okay?" Ella sniffed, feeling her own tears well in her eyes seeing how Jamie was falling apart. Ella placed a hand on Jamie's back, rubbing gently as Jamie shook, shaking her head as she wailed how she was done for.

After a few minutes that passed by very slowly, Jamie slowly regained some strength and calmed down. Ella's words and motions had helped to soothe her anxiety and desperation a tad bit. As Ella had told her, just hold on a little bit more until they gather more information to help her.