Piper and I follow the old man through the small hallway, moving around bits of furniture poking out into the middle. We arrive in the crowded living room and find more cabinets than couches holding odd bits and pieces. We pick our way through the objects stacked on the floor, hovering over the seats, waiting for the man, who introduced himself as Spencer, to invite us to sit down. He waves us forward, and to one of the couches. Sitting forward on the seat, we both look to Spencer. He doesn't sit down yet, making sure that there is nothing he can get us before. Once he is settled in the armchair, he rests his arms on the sides, staring at us expectantly. Piper and I exchange a glance, not knowing where to start.

"Do you mind if I record us?" I ask, reaching into my bag and the tape recorder that I borrowed from Piper today.

"If you want," he says with a slight shrug. I click the button, placing it on top of the stacks on the table in front of us.

"You knew Nixon?" I ask.

"Yes," he responds, eyeing the recorder and then us.

"He didn't live here, did he?"

"No, his girlfriend did. You should know all of this," he comments.

"We do, sir, we just want to hear it in your own words," Piper says beside me. I look to her, and then back to the man, seeing that he is pursing his lips as he thinks.

"Do you know him?" he asks. I press my lips together, wondering whether it would be helpful or detrimental to our progress if he were to know."Yes," I say, as Piper denies it. He gives me a meaningful look.

"I don't know how he is now, but I doubt that he has lost his charm. He always got what he wanted, Nixon did."

"What do you mean by that? Other women?" Piper asks, leaning forward further on her seat. The man looks skeptical and lets out a small groan.

"No. He could if he wanted, but he seemed to love Grace too much to look for anyone else. I meant charm in the traditional sense. Everyone in the building loved him - he would always help out with carrying groceries, or would just go out of his way to say hello. He was a charming guy. Granted, there were sometimes that you could see the facade he put up for everyone, that we saw at the very beginning, but Grace made him a better man."

"You sound as if you don't believe he did it," I say, interested by what he's telling us. I've seen the charm that he can exude, but just because someone is acting charming and kind towards people doesn't mean that there's not another side to him. Spencer even said that he saw there was another side.

Spencer sighs before responding. "He was troubled, and that was obvious by the tough exterior he would put up sometimes. However, do I think that he could have hurt Grace? Most of the time, no."

"What do you mean by 'most of the time'?" Piper asks.

"They had wicked fights. Everyone on the floor was able to hear them when they did. They would scream, throw stuff. I never thought that it was physical, but obviously, people can surprise you, which he did for the people who knew him. We had never suspected him being violent toward Grace, or anyone."

At his words, I go back to my bag and get the case file out. I flip through until I get to the page that I want.

"It says here that a witness saw them fighting a couple of days before. Is that true?" I look up to Spencer and see he is looking with interest at the case file, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, that was me."

"Can you tell me what you said to the police?"

"You have it there, don't you?"

"Yes, but I want to hear it from you. You could possibly have remembered more information since the event," I say, closing the file, not wanting to look at the page any longer. I return it to my bag, waiting for him to tell us what he knows.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. The fight was, as usual, yelling and sounded like it would end between them. But then, as I told the police, the next day they were as loving and passionate as ever. Again, this was the routine."

"You know this because? Couldn't they have still harbored those feelings?" I furrow my eyebrows but allow him to answer Piper's question before I ask my own.

"They were making out in the corridor," Spencer answers bluntly.

"Yeah, but the police reports said that witnesses could testify that there were signs of domestic abuse, that doesn't scream loving to me." Spencer furrows his eyebrows looking to Piper. I flinch at the mention. When I read that Nixon had been accused of domestic violence in the lead-up to today, I instantly regretted getting involved with him. If it's true, then that means he's no better than Roman. I didn't and still don't, want to believe it. The person I know is horrified by abuse, so it made me believe that it's possible that it's people trying to justify the violence of the attack. But then again, I don't know him.

"As I said, it was the same every time, and nothing had happened before to my knowledge. The accusations of abuse were bollocks in my eyes when it came out, I didn't think he was the sort of person. He loved Grace, but he surprised us all, and that much I have already said." He pauses as if thinking about something before he continues. "You don't seem as open to believing as your colleague does."

I can partly understand why Piper is so hesitant to believe Nixon, she even told me when we outside. She doesn't want me to get hurt, or for this to easily be thrown out if it ever gets to court, so this means that she's being overly cautious and nit-picky. Although I know all of this, I still find it hard to not get angry at her. She's one of my best friends, and I would never fully get angry at her, but all the same, it seems like she doesn't believe in Nixon's innocence, and even me. I guess we really are playing good cop, bad cop.

I reflect on everything that I just thought. Why am I being so defensive over Nixon? I've known Piper for a much longer time than I have Nixon. She's trying to help me and I'm acting ungrateful. Of course, she believes me, and she's showing it by coming here with me, doing everything in her power to help. What's happened to me? I can't even trust my own best friend, without worrying about ulterior motives.

Instead of focusing on all the negatives, and Piper being 'negative', I think over everything that Spencer has told us, trying to find something that could possibly help us. I suddenly get a burst of inspiration and dive back into my bag.

"I'm a lawyer, sir, and-"

"Wait, did you tell the police about them making up?" I ask, flicking through the case file. I get to the page and skim over it, before flicking through the rest trying to find anything.

"Yes. Everything I have said today is near enough verbatim to two years ago."

"Well, it's not in here," I say looking up to Piper and then to Spencer.

Hi! I'm so sorry for the long wait, I will be posting four of the updates I haven't posted yet now. I am busy writing the second book of my published series, so it may mean that there is a wait again. I'm so sorry, and I wish I had more hands and time to write all of my books at the same time.

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