After the Verdict

"Your Honor, it is the opinion of the jury that the defendant, Jefferson Adams, is guilty."

The words were still ringing in Andrea's head like an echo that would never fade.

The jury had deliberated for three hours before the call went out that the court was reconvening to announce the verdict. Andrea had hid in her office pretending to do paperwork. She would have normally waited in the courtroom itself, but she hadn't wanted to run into Kyle if he'd had the same idea.

She had had no luck finding Adams' family. By the time the bailiff had called her back in to court, she had almost managed to rebuild her confidence in victory. So when the verdict had been announced, it was like a punch to the gut.

The next steps were as unpleasant as they were necessary. Meeting with Adams to discuss what would happen next, the possibility of filing an appeal. As he had been to jail before, he knew what to expect and didn't seem to have the spirit for going through the appeals process. He agreed that they might as well try, because what harm could it do?

Andrea asked him if he had a message to give to his family.

"Tell them, 'I'm sorry,'" was all he said as he was led away.

Meeting with Adams' wife was worse. While she never said that she blamed Andrea for losing the case, there was bitterness in her voice. Andrea couldn't help thinking about what she could have done differently, what she should have done differently. She regretted getting Adams' son involved in the trial; she had thought it would help them win their case, but it just meant the boy had to see his father be declared guilty.

They didn't stay for long. Adams' wife said she needed to get her son home.

This day of the trial had started first thing in the morning. Even with the deliberations, it was still only early afternoon. Andrea hadn't had the stomach to eat anything while the jury was deliberating, and honestly, she was even less hungry now. But she knew she needed to get something to eat, and the idea of going out to a restaurant right now felt too much like celebrating. She decided to head to the courthouse cafeteria instead.

The lunchtime rush was over, so the room was sparsely populated. Andrea grabbed a tray and looked over what was left to choose from. The quality of the food was surprisingly good, but the best items went quickly, and it looked like it would be a while before the buffet would be restocked. Andrea decided to just grab a few things from the salad bar instead.

Joining the line at the checkout, she saw TV news in the corner of the room was still reporting on the missing college girl. It still seemed odd to Andrea that it was getting so much news coverage when she had only been missing for three days.

Some of Andrea's rowdier friends in college would sometimes disappear for a week, only to reemerge with an abundance of new wild stories of their exploits, and that had never made the news or ended up with search parties. Andrea had to assume that whoever the girl was, it was more out of character for her to not show up for class. Either that or her family were just good enough at kicking up a fuss to make it into a big deal.

Andrea hoped that the girl would show up safe and show how ridiculous all this drama had been. Probably she was—

"I see you went for the salad too, eh? I guess great minds think alike," said the person who had joined the line behind her.

Andrea recognized the voice. She had heard insufferable hours of that voice, so much that some nights she would hear it in her dreams. No, not her dreams, her nightmares!

What were the odds that Kyle would have decided to eat in the cafeteria at this exact moment? Andrea considered just ignoring him. Just pretend she hadn't heard, pretend she didn't see him. Maybe she should pretend to be on a call… could she slip her Bluetooth headset in her ear? …probably not without him noticing unfortunately…

He was standing so close behind her, she had felt his breath on her neck when he spoke. It had made her shiver… with disgust! Didn't he understand the concept of 'personal space'?

Andrea just kept staring at the TV as the news anchor reiterated the same handful of facts that were known about how the girl had gone missing. They really didn't have anything new to say for the amount of time they were spending on the story… Andrea just needed a moment to figure out how she was going to react to Kyle's unwelcome appearance…

"Hey Blondie, do you need me to get that for you?" Kyle asked.

Andrea realized she had been so lost in thought while staring at the TV that she didn't notice the line had moved forward. The girl at the cash register was waiting for her patiently. Andrea rushed forward to pay; there was no way she was going to let Kyle buy her lunch.

For a moment, Andrea thought about using the brief window while Kyle was paying for his meal to just bolt for the door. It would mean dumping her food; you weren't supposed to take the plates out of the cafeteria. Andrea had just a little too much pride to do that. She picked a table to sit down to eat and just hoped that Kyle would choose ANY of the other free tables to sit at instead.

No such luck. Kyle sat down directly opposite her and started digging into his salad, piled high on his plate and dripping in dressing. Andrea couldn't see how he wasn't getting it all over his suit.

'Just like in court,' she thought. 'For all the trouble he makes it never seems to stick to him.' Andrea couldn't see the point of picking a healthy option if you were still going to eat so much of it.

"So Blondie, you got any plans for the evening?" Kyle asked.

Andrea thought about giving a sarcastic response, some sort of pointed insult. But in this case honesty was probably going to be the most cutting.

"Paperwork, to begin filing Adams' appeal," she said bluntly.

"Ah," said Kyle. They both lapsed into silence, broken only by the sound of Kyle's chewing.

Swallowing a mouthful, Kyle asked quietly, "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Oh? Worried that I'll end up undoing all your hard work?"

"No!" Kyle exclaimed. "No," he said more quietly, "I just don't think that it's fair to Adams to raise his hopes again like that."