GCPD HQ, July 14th Early Evening

[onlysmokesnics]

Hayley sat, a little fidgety. The room was nearly bare, white walls, a table, two chairs. The sort of room you interrogated someone in. But now, well, she was being given a sliver of hope. She was meeting a lawyer, the lawyer Hinata had contacted to help save her from all these bogus charges

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[glasses_justice]

As an attorney visiting a police department, you were treated with a certain amount of respect, but the grudging variety that implied no one trusted you not to ransack the place when they weren't looking.

To most cops, lawyers existed to keep guilty people out of jail. It wasn't worth the argument.

And so Alex found herself entering the interrogation room with the usual red tape in place. Nothing too arduous. Even here, people must fear getting sued.

"Ms. Fitzpatrick?" Alex asked, crossing the room and holding out her hand. "Alex Cabot. I've been hired to be your attorney."

[onlysmokesnics]

Hayley nodded, somewhat excitedly. "They told me. Hinata came through for me, I knew she would." And in the same breath, she added "I didn't do it, by the way. I didn't."

[glasses_justice]

"It's okay," Alex said, sitting down across the table and nodding. "Hinata is the one that contacted me, yes. Take a deep breath and we can start at the beginning."

She was speaking slowly and clearly. The girl had had a shock, and being arrested for murder was enough to scare anyone, much less if it was your own family found dead.

"I've filed some preliminary papers with the court -- they'll be sending evidence over, and I'm petitioning them to allow bail. Hinata has offered to pay it, if that's acceptable to you. She's the one who hired me, but I'm your attorney -- you get to make the decisions."

[onlysmokesnics]

"She... she's willing to do that for me?" Hayley said. "I really don't want to stay in here, if I can help it." She took another deep breath. "This place is awfully scary and it makes me feel like I'm a criminal."

[glasses_justice]

"She is," Alex smiled gently. "If the court agrees, I recommend taking it. No one does well in prison."

There were plenty of little perks. Someone who had slept well the night before was going to look more like a competent, trustworthy person to a jury.

"Before we start, I want to say that I need you to be perfectly honest with me. If there's some detail that you think will make you look bad, and you try to hide it, that's only going to make things worse. If I know about it, I can handle how it comes out, but if I don't, we'll both be blindsided. I can help you, but only if I know what we're up against. Okay?"

She was going to carefully avoid any of the questions she shouldn't ask, naturally.

[onlysmokesnics]

Hayley nodded, three times in a quick bob. "I won't hold anything back. I promise, there's nothing I won't tell you."

She meant it too. She didn't have anything to hide, as far as she was concerned.

[glasses_justice]

"Wonderful," Alex said. She opened her briefcase and pulled out a legal pad. There were also papers in there Hayley needed to sign, and forms to fill out, but they could get to all of that in due time.

"Hinata told me that you've actually no memory of the events of the day in question, after a psychiatric appointment. Is that still the case? Nothing's filled in at all?"

Which was also a polite way to offer Hayley a chance to change her statement, without having to ask point-blank if she'd lied to Hinata.

[onlysmokesnics]

Hayley shook her head. "I... I don't even remember the end of the appointment, actually," she said.

[glasses_justice]

"Okay," Alex said. "Hinata said they found the murder weapon with you. Were there prints on it? And there were clothes that were a match to those seen by an eyewitness, but not necessarily proven to be the same clothes. Were you wearing them or were they in your possession?"

[onlysmokesnics]

"I was wearing them," Hayley said. "It was the costume I was wearing when they first arrested me. Before I came to Fandom."

Well, she did say she should answer honestly.

[glasses_justice]

She did. And it was better to hear this now than to find out at trial when someone else brought it up.

If it helped, Alex didn't seem to react much to that, beyond taking more notes.

"Your costume, or a replica?" she asked. "Have they conclusively tied that costume to any of the crime scene evidence? And where did the gun come from -- was it yours?"

[onlysmokesnics]

"I never owned a gun in my life," Hayley said. "Never fired one, either."

She took another deep breath. "The costume was... I don't know if it was the same one. I know they said it got stolen from here last week, so it could have been. But they already know I didn't steal it."

[glasses_justice]

"So it's not yours," Alex said. Stating the obvious, but it was a nice bit of good news. "That can help us. No prints on it? And if they know you didn't steal the costume, how are they speculating it came to be in your possession?"

[onlysmokesnics]

"How am I supposed to know?" Hayley said, looking at Alex like she was crazy. "I can't read their minds!"

[glasses_justice]

"It might have come up," she explained, waving a hand. "How do they know for sure you didn't steal it? Do they know who did?"

[onlysmokesnics]

"I had an alibi," Hayley said. "My roommate at the halfway house vouched for me that night. But she left two nights ago so... yeah."

She frowned. "I almost wish she was still around to vouch for me again."