June 17, 1989 (Present day)

The unmistakable blare of the alarm that indicates the opening of a cell filtered towards the hall as Jody Allen walked in, as nervous as a Christian Scientist with a severed artery, hands in her pocket, her head down. Despite the confidence she had told herself numerous times that she had, first of all in front of the mirror and other times in her head, she still felt self-conscious as she made her way across the police common room filled with different police men at their desks.

She walked up to a lanky salt and pepper haired cop who sat behind a metal desk, looking as bored as an old hound ordered to 'fetch!', a cigarette hanging on his lips. There was an open book with a pen in the middle of the desk in which visitors signed. She placed her hands on the edge of the desk as he nodded absently at her.

"I'm here to see Mr. Regan Walberg."

His round eyes popped in excitement, his boredom evaporating as quick as a wink. "So you're the one? They're waiting for you in the Chief's office." He pointed with his cigarette, down the hall, at a large wooden door which was partially open, then gave her a lazy smirk. "Good luck lass, ye are gonna need chunks of it."

Jody gave him a stiff smile, holding her breath so as not to inhale the god-awful stuff, and turned away from him, walking purposefully towards the door. She didn't care what he meant, all she knew was that she was offended. Was it because she was a woman? Or because she was a person of color? She let out a depressed sigh. Being offended was something that came to her very often and she was sick of getting used to it, but she was not going to let it get to her; she had a job to do and that was what she was going to focus on.

As she neared the door which had nailed on it a pale yellow plaque that bore CHIEF OF POLICE in large letters, she could make out the muffled sound of female voices, which became audible enough for her to hear as soon as she got to the door.

"Of all the attorneys to get for Reg, its a woman you could find? And a negro, to worsen it?"

Ouch. That hurt. Jody shut her eyes. This was not new to her. Her skin color had been used to discriminate her from the moment she was old enough to notice. But it wasn't going to stop her from doing what she was here for. She could only hope that someday, the future generation would learn to love all skin color and all race impartially, but in the generation in which she was born, it was like wishing for the moon itself.

"She was the only one who volunteered to take up your brother's case," another female voice spoke. "We had no choice, or don't you want him out of this situation, Reggie?"

Jody could imagine 'Reggie' rolling her eyes. "Of course I do mom, and I'm sure with this attorney, she would strike up a good deal and get him a jail sentence of about ten thousand years."

That was it. Jody had had it up to her neck and couldn't just pretend that the sarcasm in the woman's voice hadn't hurt. She also hated the way she was talking about her like she was some animal – fudge it, even animals should not be treated this way. She needed to do something.

Just as she was about to push the door open in anger – and she had every right to – the door opened and her client walked out of the office, escorted by two policemen. His hands, which was the first thing she looked at were cuffed. Since she was standing by the door, she moved back to give them allowance because it was evident that they had not seen her. One of the policemen even nudged her with his elbows, almost sending her spiraling but she held the wall for dear life; today was not the day to hug the wind and kiss the floor.

The door opened again and two women escorted by Major Walberg walked out. Jody studied them. The younger of the two, which should be Reggie – Regina Walberg was a fake-blonde who looked twenty-something-ish. She had a stunning physique that put that of Jenny Howarth to shame and had a nice skin tone but her heavy makeup surely made the skin cry out in agony.

Why can't whites understand that their skin goes best with light makeup and not with one that carry crazy pops of color that yell, "Look at me – I'm wearing makeup!"? Not that she was a makeup specialist per say, but with one of her friends who was into that line, she sure knew a few rules. On her ears and neck were silver earrings and necklace that probably cost more than her whole family's net worth.

The older woman who bore a striking resemblance to the fake-blonde except that she had dark brown tresses, was more subtle in her appearance. She had a mole on the chin which made her look interesting, so to speak. The trio walked in silence towards the hall without as much as giving her a second glance. She didn't blame them – couldn't blame them, she probably looked infinitesimal in her black suit and pants, which were new, by the way. She had gone out of her stingy ways to buy herself new clothes for her new job.

She wouldn't call herself stingy though, she was more like, frugal or economical - yes, that was the word, economical. She didn't see the need in wasting hard earned money on unnecessary things like a two-week hair-do or clothes that were in vogue. She would rather buy clothes when her incumbent ones were thread bare and buy shoes when her toes were poking out of the former ones. That didn't make her stingy. At all.

"Uh, excuse me? Major Walberg?" Jody said going after them.

The three of them turned simultaneously and grey eyes stared back at her. Phew, she thought, it's a grey-eyed family.

"I'm Jody Allen the – "

"The attorney," Major Walberg said extending his hand for a shake, smiling at her. "We were expecting you."

"She's the attorney?" Mrs. Walberg asked and the Major nodded at her.

"You don't know how grateful we are that you decided to take this case." the woman said smiling and, briefly shaking Jodys hand.

Regina Walberg gave her a distant nod.

"Thank you. I'll go see my client now, where is he?"

"In the interrogation room, Miss Ally, the grey metal door down the hall." said the Major.

"Thank you, sir." And one more thing, its Allen, you greying old Methuselah. She smiled brightly at him and turned on her heels to go, but couldn't help but overhear fake-blondes cynical comment:

"I heard the only reason she took the case was because none of the attorneys in the government house wanted it, you know. They said she sprang on the opportunity as fast as a dog would lick a dish, but who can blame the poor thing, this case is probably the only one she'll get till she dies."

As Jody entered and shut the door to the interrogation room, the snide laughter of the cops that heard Regina Walbergs comment was muted. Interrogation rooms are always soundproof, and small too, she noticed, when she saw that her client had really broad shoulders. He looked so big that the 8 by 10 feet room seemed way smaller. There were only two chairs and a table in the room, it had no windows too, probably to avoid distractions thereby saving time. Well, time is money. This family was paying her by the hour, she had better get to work.

"Good morning, my name is Jody Allen, criminal defense attorney working Bethel County Courthouse, and I will be taking your case." She extended her hand for a shake.

From where he sat looking facedown, he slowly and somewhat reluctantly looked up and she found herself meeting a pair of very cold grey eyes that were almost the color the silver that was said to be in every cloud. So this is the famous Regan Walberg.

Surprise was evident on his face, as if just seeing her for the first time. She was not surprised though, because when hed been escorted from the Inspectors office, he'd literarily looked right through her like she was a table or a chair or a wall decoration.

Her hand was still outstretched and he was still looking at her with those grey eyes that were the watermark of the Walberg family. Jody could bet their pets were grey-eyed too. She stifled a sigh, getting impatient and embarrassed that he hadn't received her handshake – he probably didn't want to stain his immaculate white hand that was as pure as Madonna with dirt.

But Jody was determined and stubborn, her hand still outstretched even if it hurt like a having root canal without anesthesia. After a few seconds, he angled his head towards the table that was between the two chairs in the room and Jody frowned, looking at the direction his head had angled at and saw that his hands were still cuffed. She dropped her hand, blushing in embarrassment as if she had farted in the presence of Burt Reynolds. She took a seat.

"When I heard someone wanted to take my case I didn't believe it." He said, his voice gruff and low as if he rarely used it. She wasn't much of a science student but she knew Jean Larmarcks theory of Use and Disuse and hoped to high heavens it doesn't apply to unused voice.

Her father, now of blessed memory, had used that theory to make her do things she had been too lazy to do when she was little, frightening her with the fact that if she didn't use those parts often, they would degenerate and she would lose them. It took all the will power in her to stop herself from smiling.

"Well you should, Mr. Walberg. I was assigned your case by Judge Connors. I work with the public defense system now."

That last statement wasn't necessary, she said to herself as she reached for her briefcase. She placed the black leather briefcase on the desk and unclipped it open, suddenly aware of the tear a rat had left on the side of the case the day she had forgotten to wipe off an oil stain from it. It had been a disaster but she hadn't been able to afford to buy a new one yet so she had stitched it with a – this was very stupid – blue thread. She hadn't cared about the contrast it made but it seemed very glaring to her now. Oh God.

"I believe you know what you're getting yourself into?"

His very deep voice made her head snap up from her briefcase. Okay. That was it. She was offended. "Excuse me?"

He leaned in, his face very serious. "There's a reason none of the other attorneys wants to take my case. There's a reason the tape from the CCTV that captured the incident has vanished, there's a reason all the eye witnesses have chickened out from exonerating me. I just hope you know what youre getting yourself into."

Her anger vanished as quick as dew under the sun and was replaced by caution, perhaps fear. It was strange that the hungry-for-attention lawyers in her bar had not lunged at the opportunity to take the case of the most prestigious family in Bethel like a pack of starving lions, it was strange that after three years of gaining employment in the government house – which had been really difficult because of her gender and race – and not assigned any major cases, this particular one had been dangled like a juicy carrot in front of a rabbit for her taking. They had given her not just the juicy carrot but also the rabbit.

"I will not take umbrage if you decide to drop the case." He was saying. He rested his back on the chair and shut his eyes.

"Why should I?" Why shouldnt you? This is very suspicious, Jody.

He opened his eyes slowly and looked and his cuffed hands. From where she sat, Jody could see the red welts the pressure of the cuffs had made on his wrists. She felt sorry for him.

"Save yourself, lady. If you have people you love, save them by saving yourself." He looked straight at her, his cool gray eyes studying her face reflectively. "Run, while you still can. This is a very dangerous game and I played right into it. No one else has to suffer with me, much less you, because trust me, whatever you do will be futile and will only serve to put you and your loved ones in danger. So miss, Run. While you still can. Please."

And Jody thought, oh fuck. It was about time for some excitement.

~

A/N:

How was chapter one?

Thank you so much for reading! Please vote for this chapter, comment your thoughts, add to your library and reading lists and share :)

Till next time!