"Oh, I reallyyy like James," Charlotte said out loud as soon as she woke up.

She remembered the dream she was having clearly, as soon as she woke up. It was about James.

Charlotte never dreamt about anybody, not even her ex, who she was with for a long time.

Charlotte knew she liked James after they spent time yesterday. She also knew that James could never like her the way she liked him. He was a great guy, clearly. He could never look at someone like her.

Besides,  she saw the look on his face when he spoke about the lady he lost the opportunity to be with because he hadn't worked on himself. He liked her a lot. Charlotte couldn't imagine that he'd ever think of her with such a look of admiration on his face. Besides, what was worth admiring about her?

James Anderson challenged Charlotte in ways no one ever had. He made her want to be better. Better wasn't a word Charlotte knew to exist before she met him because, in Charlotte's mind, she was already the best. Yet, here she was trying to be a better person overall.

.

.

"Hey Dad,"Charlotte said as she popped her head through his door at the station. She hadn't spoken to him properly in a while and she missed him.

"Hey Char. How are you this morning?" He replied cheerily.

"I'm great, Dad. James and I are gonna interrogate Winfield again today. Hopefully, we make some kind of headway."

"Hopefully. He's proving really tough to deal with, and his lawyer is already trying to negotiate bail. Bail in a murder case is despicable, the nerve of these people."

"This case is something else. By the way, dinner at my place tonight?"

"I'd love to." He replied, beaming

"Okay, see you. Love you." Charlotte said as she closed the door.

"Love you too." She heard him say before the door was shut.

"Aww. Isn't that cute?" It was James, he was leaning on the wall right beside the door.

"How long were you standing there?" Charlotte asked, completely flustered but not for the reasons James thought she was.

"Long enough to know your dad calls you Princess Chocolate Sparkles," James replied with a straight face.

"He doesn't call me tha..." Charlotte immediately stopped talking when she realised James was simply teasing her.

"I hate you." She said as she walked away.

"I'll take that as a compliment," James said as he followed.

.

.
"We have evidence piled up against you as Lily Plugger's murderer," James said as he folded his arm and stared into the cold eyes of Paul Winfield.

The interrogation room felt chilly today for no reason. It irked James even more.

"Number one, I thought you were accusing me of hiring someone to murder her, so that would mean I'm not the murderer. Technically, of course. It's a technical issue." Paul Winfield replied like it was all a joke to him, James was sure it was. "Number two. What evidence? The unreliable confession of a clearly desperate witness?"

"We have a recorded phone call between the two of you," Charlotte spoke up.

"And did I confess to murder?" He replied sarcastically.

"You practically did," Charlotte replied.

"You know what, Detective?  When push comes to shove, 'practically' is not enough proof." He replied with a mocking emphasis on 'practically'.

"Oh, it is. We have more than enough proof, and when 'push comes to shove'. We will prove you're guilty, we just wanted to give you an opportunity to lighten your sentence by confessing, but it seems you'd prefer it the hard way. That is, being sentenced to life."

"Look, Detective. Who is this witness you have? I'm sure it's just one of the multitude of people who hate me."

"And why do they hate you?" James asked, not even trying to mask the irritation in his voice.

"Well, you know who I am. I am a very respectable man. I always lend a helping hand. I am loved by many. I will always have throngs of people who dislike me. It's very likely it's just one of those haters disguised as a witness trying to get me locked up for a crime I didn't commit. I mean, have you done a background check on them? Imagine how awful it'll be for you both when it's discovered I've just been locked up here for days for a crime I didn't commit."

"Is that a threat?" Charlotte immediately asked

"It's not except you are agreeing you don't do your jobs right."

"Aren't you curious to know who your accuser is?" James asked as he watched him intently. He couldn't be fooled by his sidetracking. He'd noticed he hadn't bothered to ask who his accuser was.

"Well, you could tell me if you want."

"It's Jamie Gerard."

There was a short pause. Paul's face was hard to read.

"I've met him before. Helped him and his family out of a debt they owed. Figures. He probably expected me to do more for him."

"There is a recorded phone call between you and Mr Jamie where you specifically promise to give him 10 million for him and his family to escape. Escape from what and why?" James said, completely ignoring what Paul had just said.

Paul was silent for a few seconds. It was obvious he hadn't expected these straight-shot questions. He had banked on the fact that the police wouldn't want to play all their cards by stating what they had on him because they were afraid he would find a way to twist the evidence.

However, James had sensed this and had decided to change his approach of questioning and just take the bull by the horns.

"I have no idea what phone call you're talking about." Paul eventually decided to respond after a few moments.

It was clear he had decided to play the ignorance card till he could manoeuvre an alibi for that phone call.

"I'm pretty sure you do," James replied as he leaned back into his chair.