The door slammed open with a loud bang as the doctor stormed in the room.

“What is going on if I may ask?” he said, and sounded irritated like a grumpy school master who caught a bunch of misbehaving children.

Kate was standing at the window, dressed in her jeans and bra, with Ben trying to coerce here back bed by her shoulders. They both froze at the doctor’s question.

“Back to bed with you!” Doctor Hassan ordered Kate, then he turned to Ben. “You! I told you no more than five minutes. Yet here you are, wrestling with my patient!” He gave each word a little more emphasis with a finger poking the air.

“I… I just…” Ben didn’t seem to find the right words.

“I’m leaving!” Kate said, pulling on her socks.

“Miss Robbins, you are in no shape to leave,” the doctor said.

“It’s Detective Robbins, and I’m perfectly fi—“ Kate stood up straight, then with the same motion fell right forward. She felt Ben’s arms around her, but all she saw was darkness for a moment. Then she was sitting on the chair, her hand clutching her throbbing head.

“My point exactly,” said Doctor Hassan, not exactly in an unkind manner.

“I need to go,” Kate said, almost pleading. “The interrogation… I need to be there. Can’t you just give me some painkillers?”

The doctor scoffed. “Painkillers! Painkillers, she says. Like it was that easy. You have a concussion, and you should be lying down, not running around interrogating people. I’m sure your colleague over here is more than capable of doing that on his own.”

Ben put a hand on her shoulder. “He’s right, you know. No offence, but I don’t think it would help the case if you fell off your chair right in the middle of the interview.”

Kate clenched her teeth and got to her feet. “I sign whatever I need to sign. But I can’t miss this. I’m sorry. Ben, no offence, as you said, but it’s my case just as it’s yours, and after the little shithead smashed my face in, the least I can do is look him in the eye and show him he can’t stop me.”

*

Fighting the waves of nausea Kate closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see Sadie’s blue eyes, full of worry, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. She recounted her conversation with Sheriff Conolly and Lieutenant Mendosa, so that Ben is up to speed for when they bring Pierre-Peter in.

Once at the station, she braced herself to come over the dizziness that was creeping up on her, and leaning on Sadie’s arm she made her way to the break room. When Ben’s phone rang, she squeezed her eyes shut to fight off the stabbing pain behind her ruined eyebrow. She felt a warm hand on hers, and couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Officer Briggs passing her a glass of water a couple of painkillers.

“I’ll find you a blanket as well,” said Sadie in a soft voice, “and you can lie down here while we wait for Mike to be back.”

*

Kate let out a shuddering breath as she was brought back from sleep by a loud bang. How long was she out? Minutes? Hours? Her eyes slowly focused on the blob moving towards her. She pressed a hand to her forehead as she sat up.

“Lieutenant Mendosa?” she asked, bewildered.

“Robbins,” the Lieutenant barked, “when I told you don’t do anything stupid, this is exactly what I was talking about. What the hell were you thinking?”

“Sir… I…,” Kate felt like her mouth was full of cotton balls, and the room seemed to tilt as she raised her eyes to meet her superior’s.

“Sir, with all due respect, she’s not well. I’d like to ask you to postpone this discussion.” Ben appeared behind the lieutenant, his voice having a certain vibe to it, anger boiling under the surface. Lieutenant Mendosa spun around on his heels and stared into Ben’s face.

“Shut up, Petersen!” he shouted. “Just shut the fuck up!”

“It’s my fault,” Kate said quietly.

“Nobody contested that, Robbins,” the lieutenant answered, and suddenly sounded calmer. “I should suspend you for disobeying orders, taking unnecessary risks, and for being so thick in the head, but as I heard we are at least making some progress, so I might overlook it this time. Officer Briggs just got a call from Officer Simmons. They got the Meyers kid. Will be back at the station in about ten minutes.”

Lieutenant Mendosa turned back to Ben. “It’s up to you whether you take Robbins with you for the interview. I expect you not to screw this up.”

Kate staggered upright and grabbed the lieutenant’s sleeve when he was halfway out the door. “Sir, we got him! I won’t screw up, I promise.”

“Like I said, it’s up to Petersen whether he allows you to be there,” said Lieutenant Mendosa, before he tugged his sleeve free from her grip. “If I were you, Robbins, I wouldn’t show that face in public for a while. You look like shit.”

“Yes, Sir!” Kate said to the lieutenant’s back as he left the room with heavy footsteps.

Ben’s hand fell on her shoulder and Kate leaned into him, closing her eyes and breathing slowly in an attempt to calm herself down.

“He’s right, you know,” she said and pressed her face to Ben’s chest.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, stroking her hair. “You are fine, and that is what matters.”

Kate squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears that threatened to overfill, and she was looking for the right words to say when Sadie appeared at the door. For a moment she seemed to freeze at the sight of them, but composed herself quickly and addressed them in a formal tone.

“Detectives, the suspect is here in the interview room, all ready for you.”

Ben let go of her and took a step towards the door. “Thank you, Sadie.”

Officer Briggs regarded him with an unreadable expression. “This way, Detective,” she said and left the room.

*

The bright light from above sent a stabbing pain down the side of her head from time to time, but Kate kept her jaw clenched, not letting it show. Peter Meyers stared at her from the other side, his mouth slightly open.

“Let’s keep it short and sweet, shall we?” Kate asked, and the young man on the other side seemed even more confused than before.

“I don’t know, what you are talking about,” he said, and let out a small, hysterical laugh.

“Yes, you said that already.” Kate’s voice was sharp. “In fact, that’s the only thing you keep repeating for the past half an hour.”

The public defender leaned closer to Peter’s ear, and whispered something. Peter nodded.

“My client is ready to answer questions, as soon as you have actual questions, Detective Robbins,” the lawyer said, and rustled with some papers.

Kate shrugged. “All right,” she said, and fixed her eyes on Peter. “Where were you on the evening of the 11th December?”

Peter looked at his lawyer, who nodded in return. “Home. With my grandma…”

“The whole night?”

“I… well…” Peter stammered. After another nod from the lawyer he continued. “I might have slipped out for a short while.”

“For any particular reason? Have you perhaps met someone?”

“A friend.” The answer was barely audible.

“What sort of friend? A girl?” Kate asked.

Peter shrugged. “Just a friend.”

Kate pushed a photo in front of Peter. From it Alice Draper smiled at them. Peter’s lips trembled.

“As you are aware, you are under arrest for the murder of Alice Draper. So ‘just a friend’ won’t do.”

The young man cast a desperate look at his lawyer, who seemed to be lost in a pile of papers.

There was a soft knock on the door and Ben left for a few seconds. When he came back he placed a mobile phone in a plastic bag on the table.

Ben leaned forward in his chair. “How did it happen? Anthony convinced you to do it? We know he loved her, but she was not really up for it. If you just helped him, you will get a lesser sentence.”

Peter grew paler. “I don’t know, what you are talking about!”

Ben pointed at the phone. “That’s your phone, right?” When Peter nodded, he continued. “According to your call history, Anthony called you around ten p.m. You see, he was a bit more cunning than you are. When we checked his phone, all the calls made on that day were deleted. So it’s up to you, Peter. Will you tell us what exactly happened?”

Peter Meyers rubbed his face, and swallowed. “Nothing, nothing happened! I don’t understand what you want from me! I don’t know this Alice girl! Never saw her in my life!”

Kate pushed another photo to the middle of the table.

“Familiar?” she asked, tapping the picture.

Peter nodded. “That’s my car… I mean, it was my car. I sold it a few weeks ago.”

“Convenient,” Kate said.

Peter looked at his lawyer, then back to Kate. “What do you mean? Why are you keep looking at me like that? I didn’t kill her!”

Kate slammed a fist on the table, and Peter and his lawyers both jumped in surprise. “We know you were involved in Alice’s death. We can pin it all on you, put you away for a long time, or you can help us get to Anthony. He planned it all along, and somehow convinced you to help him. Or he hired you! We have all the evidence. I’m not sure what did you think you will accomplish this evening when you attacked me earlier, but as you can see, it didn’t work, because here you are.”

“When I what?” Peter was practically shrieking. He turned to his lawyer, “What the hell is she talking about? Tonight? I was helping out in the restaurant!”

“Enough!” Kate shouted, and kicked her chair away as she sprung up. Leaning over the table she pushed her face up to Peter’s. “Why do you think your friend denied seeing you that night?”

Peter dropped his head into his cupped hands. “It’s not what you think.”

“What do I think?” Kate asked, looking at him with sharp eyes.

“Anthony is my best friend! We met when I got out… When I was…” his voice trailed off.

“When you were what, Peter?”

Tears filled his eyes. “Please don’t make me go back there!” he pleaded.

“Back there?”

“I was in juvie, okay? I got caught dealing drugs in high school. I was stupid, and I don’t do that stuff anymore. But Tony and I… we… We still go to these parties sometimes, and… you know. If they found out I’m still doing drugs and hang out with those people, they could just send me back again. To real prison this time! I’m still on probation! Anthony just tried to protect me! Please don’t send me back! I have no idea what he’s done!” He was rocking back and forth on his chair.

Kate took in a sharp breath. Juvie? Of course, they would never have found out. That sort of information was classified. But it explained a lot. The conversation with Vera Meyers floated back from the back of her mind: ‘Peter was different. Very sensitive. He was such a troubled child. He started making up stories, it was like he lived in his fantasy world, got himself in trouble with the teachers. Later he became acquainted with these older boys. You know, not so nice boys.’

Ben held up his hands. “Nobody’s sending you anywhere, Peter, if you tell us what happened. All right?”

Peter ran his fingers through his messy hair in desperation. “But nothing happened!” Tears started flowing down his cheeks. “I have nothing to do with this! You can nail me for the drugs, but you can’t put this… this… murder on me!”

Kate folded her arms and leaned back on her chair. “So what would you say if I told you, that we found evidence against you in your car?”

Peter stopped sniffling and looked at her, baffled. “My car?”

“That’s right.”

Peter’s mouth twitched and he leaned over to his lawyer’s ear. After a moment of muffled talking the lawyer nodded.

“I have not used my car ever since the end of November.”

“Is that so?” Kate’s eyebrow shot up on one side.

A nod.

“You want me to believe that?”

Another nod.

“And why is that, if I may ask?” Kate said, placing her elbows on the table.

“Because my brother needed it after he moved back with us. So I gave it to him. Even on the night you keep asking me about? Anthony picked me up, because Robert was out with my car, the whole evening.” Peter’s eyes filled with tears, like he just comprehended the meaning of his words.