89. She Would Rather Drink Her Own Piss

       “Wave,” Nicole mumbled from the bedroom doorway. “You need to get ready.” 

       “I will ,” she huffed. 

       “Yea, you said that 10 minutes ago, too.” 

       It was obvious that the brunette was not excited to be going to court, for she had been playing Pac-Man on the arcade system in their room that never got touched by anyone but Wynonna anymore, it seemed. Also , she was standing in a towel because a shower was all she had done to get ready thus far.

       “Hold on , Nicole. God .” 

       The redhead rolled her eyes, walking into the room and moving her out of the way, grabbing the joystick and making her die. “ There . Now let’s go.”

       “You asshole !” Waverly gave her a shove before turning away, grabbing her clothes off the bed and storming off to the bathroom to change. Nicole watched her go with a glare. She understood that this was going to be hard for her, but she had been treating her like shit all morning. First, she refused to eat the breakfast she had asked for because she wasn’t hungry anymore  but proceeded to get mad at her when she threw it away after it got cold because she was being wasteful . Then she crabbed at her after she took her shower because she had used all the hot water . 

       It was only 8 AM and it had already been a long day. 

       Nicole let out a breath and decided that she needed to go get some air, so she pushed her hands into her dress pants’ pockets and walked out of the room. 

       She turned her head, though, when the bathroom door cracked open as she passed. Waverly stared up at her with sad, guilty eyes, and the older girl turned towards her with a sigh. “I’m sorry,” the brunette mumbled softly. 

       “I get it’s a lot, but you’ve gotta stop acting like I’m the bad guy here. I’m just trying to help you.” 

       Waverly’s face saddened even more, and she slowly pulled the door open, reaching out for her. Nicole walked into the bathroom, wrapping her in a hug and sliding her hand up and down her bare back. “I’m just scared,” she breathed out into her light teal button-up. 

       “I know, Baby . . . It’ll be ok, though.” She held her close for a few more seconds, only letting go when she realized that she had let her towel drop before she had even opened the door before. 

       And Nicole Haught hadn’t seen her wife naked in 20 days.

        Not since the morning of the day it all happened. She had been more than ok with giving her space and privacy because it was clear that that was what she wanted. She didn’t question it nor try to push her into doing anything because she got that there were things going on in her head that she probably wouldn’t understand, and she respected that. 

       But, damn , was she still the most gorgeous thing she ever laid her eyes on. 

       The redhead pulled back and slid her hands to her sides, framing her ribcage with a squeeze as she looked down at her for a second. She raised her eyes back to her’s with a soft smile, “Hi, you.” 

       Waverly glanced down at herself before looking back up at her. “Hi.” 

       Nicole hummed a little, reaching up and cupping her cheeks gently as she leaned into a kiss. “I love you.” 

       She pushed her fingers into her front pockets, keeping her there for a second longer as she pushed a couple of pecks to her lips. “I love you, too. Now let me get ready.” 

       “Can I stay in here?” She asked with a raise of her brows when she lifted her eyes to look at her. 

       “As long as you don’t be a pervert,” she answered with a knowing look. 

       Nicole shook her head with an eye roll above a smirk as she hopped up onto their bathroom counter. “I would never .”

       “Mhm.” She bent down and grabbed the hair straightener out of the bathroom cabinet, and Nicole gave her butt a little tap, getting an immediate glare. 

       “You have a cute butt, what can I say?” She defended, swinging her legs with a dimpled smile.

       “Didn’t I just tell you not to be a pervert?” The brunette questioned, plugging it into the wall, not realizing that she could see her smirk in the mirror. 

       Nicole let out a little huff, jumping down and moving behind her. She slipped her arm around her front, cupping her as she shoved her hips forward and kicked her legs apart to pin her thighs against the sink. Waverly let out a gasp, snapping her eyes up to her face’s reflection. “ This is being a pervert, Baby.” 

       “Making me watch you fuck me?” 

       Nicole pulled her lip in with her tongue, watching her face as she slipped her finger through her folds, letting her other arm come up to wrap around her middle as she spread her wetness around. “Mhm.” 

       Waverly’s brows came together with a little moan as she slid her finger up and began slow circles, moving her eyes from watching her hand to meeting her eyes. The redhead smirked a little, dropping her head and pressing gentle kisses to the side of her neck, trailing them across her shoulder. “ Nic .” 

       The Sheriff sped up the roll of her finger, sliding the hand curled around her middle up and pinching her fingers around her nipple. Waverly’s hand squeezed around her wrist, the other coming up and cupping her cheek as she bit her lip. “D’you like that, Baby?” 

       She met her eyes again, feeling her breath against her ear. “I love it. I’ve missed you- This you.” 

       Nicole let out a low, rumbled hum with a deadly smirk that made her weak in the knees. “I’ve missed you, too.” She scraped her teeth across her earlobe, grinding into her from behind. “We need to do this with the strap sometime, hmm?” 

       “ God , yes,” she agreed, letting out a sharp moan as the redhead drew her hips back, crashing them back into her as she sucked her pulse point. “ Fuck , do that again.” Nicole complied, leaning them forward a little and meeting her eyes as she snapped forward again with more force, letting out a little groan near her ear. She spun her finger faster with more pressure after hearing her breath pick up with a whimper as her eyes closed. 

       “Mnmm,” Nicole muttered, biting at the skin on her shoulder. “Open your eyes. Keep ‘em open ‘n look at me. Look at me ‘til I make you come.” 

       “ Shit ,” she breathed out as she did so, sliding her hand down her arm for a second in search of something to grip onto before deciding on the ledge of the counter, letting out a high-pitched whine. “Don’t stop, don’t-” Nicole thrusted her hips forward once more just as her orgasm hit. Waverly let out a wailed moan as her back arched, causing her to stand up straight and force them back a step or two as the redhead held her upright with her arm tightly wrapped around her. “ Fuck, oh my God .” The Sheriff kept her finger going until it finally let up, for it lasted almost the length of two. She ran her thumb across her side, keeping her eyes on her as she brought her hand up to her mouth with a smirk. 

       Their eyes only pulled away from each other to look towards the sound of the meow coming from the counter, seeing that Geronimo had hopped up there at some point and was staring right at them. Nicole let out a little chuckle, “ Now who’s the pervert?” 

       Waverly shook her head, pulling out of her arms and walking over, picking him up before turning back towards her. “Still you.” 

.  .  .

       The couple arrived at the courthouse just in time for them and Jessie to go over with a few final things with their case staff before they were ushered into the courtroom. Nicole walked behind the table and pulled Waverly’s chair out for her as she sat down in her own, running a hand through her hair as Jessie sat on the other side of the brunette. The redhead looked towards her wife, pulling her finger away from picking a hole in her thumb before dropping her hand to her thigh with an assuring squeeze. The brunette turned her head towards her and she gave her a little smile. She returned it, letting her eyes shift their focus past her and watch Patrick Owens and Dominick Reinhardt as they walked in and took their seats. A little bit of pride welled in her chest, for she could see that there was obvious fear etched lightly on both of their faces.

       After a couple of minutes, everything seemed to be beginning, for their attorney, Seamus Clay, was standing in the front of the room. He looked towards the judge, getting a nod, allowing him to begin. “This lawsuit is Mrs. Waverly Haught and Mrs. Jessie Hanna against Mr. Patrick Owens and Mr. Dominick Reinhardt for withholding information about their offender’s release from federal prison and records tampering. They are requesting that both Mr. Reinhardt and Mr. Owens be disbarred, and are each suing for $100,000 in compensation.”

       Waverly and Jessie’s heads snapped towards Nicole with bulged eyes. “ What ?!” They both scream-whispered. It was apparent that they had not been informed just how much they were suing them for. 

       Nicole put her hand out to calm them down. “ Hey . Trust me, it’s fine. It's to scare them.” They let the shock wear off, eventually giving her a nod and sitting back in their seats as Mr. Clay continued over them. 

       “In April of 2016, a man named James Hardy was charged with two counts of attempted sexual assault, one against each of our plaintiffs. He was sentenced to four years, two with good behavior, and it seems that he behaved in there, for he was released late on April 11th of this year. There was a small problem, though.” He began to pace the room but kept his focus on the jury. “See, neither Waverly nor Jessie were informed that Mr. Hardy was being let go. And they didn’t know until he decided to pop by the bar that Waverly works at the next day.” He paused, turning directly towards the jurors. “And by pop by , I mean sneak up on her in a back alley and force her against the wall, proceeding to belittle her by saying everything that happened to him in prison was her fault, shame her for her marriage to Sheriff Haught, here, and rip her wedding and engagement rings off her finger, causing damage to them when he chucked them down the alley.” The attorney began pacing again. “He was soon scared off by a family friend, but it seemed that it wasn’t enough for him. When Mrs. Hanna arrived home from work that night, she was greeted by her garage door that had been beautifully decorated with spray paint, depicting every hateful slur you could imagine. Slut, whore, bitch, cunt, you name it. It was on there. And she was standing in her driveway in shock when she got a call from Sheriff Haught, for she was worried she was his next target, and she couldn’t have been more right, though we don’t know which had happened first.” 

       Nicole spun the now-repaired rings on Waverly’s hand with her thumb, raising her brows at her to check in, and she gave her a little nod, signaling that she was ok. Mr. Clay began again. “Why Mrs. Haught’s form of attack was physical and verbal, and Mrs. Hanna’s was property damage and hate speech, we are not sure. As you notice, Mr. Hardy is not here to answer those questions, for the women have both agreed that they are not pressing any sort of charges against him in hopes to give him a reason to leave them alone. But they sure as hell are searching for answers from Mr. Owens and Mr. Reinhardt because the reason James was allowed to attempt any of these attacks was because their families were not able to prepare for his release. Sure, there is no way to say that none of it wouldn’t have happened anyway, but that does not make what they did legal.” 

       Seamus turned, walking over to the defendant’s table before pivoting back towards them. “During James’ trial, Mr. Owens presented as his lawyer and Mr. Reinhardt his attorney. And after Sheriff Haught heard of the attack on her wife and Jessie, she knew they had something to do with it. She was well aware that they were not happy with how the trial went, nor what went down during the court hearing itself. Not only did James go against Mr. Owen’s orders and speak to Waverly while she was on stand, admitting his guilt to the courtroom after she purposely egged him on, but it was clear that Sheriff Haught and Mr. Reinhardt did not get along well while she was on the stand. She was up to testify what she witnessed during her then mere acquaintance turned girlfriend , and now wife’s attack, for she had intervened before it turned into something far more terrible than what it already was. And during so, he had, some would say rudely , questioned her judgment call as a police officer in taking Mr. Hardy down with a beer bottle. She was very quick to explain her reasoning in a way that left Mr. Reinhardt speechless and no doubt furious.” He quirked one side of his lip a little. “When Sheriff Haught is called to the stand, we’ll hear what went down so you all can judge for yourselves. Trust me when I tell you you’ll feel some secondhand embarrassment for him- I know I did when I saw it live myself.” 

       A small blip of chatter passed over the jury, but they quickly quieted down. Mr. Clay turned his head towards the defendant’s table, looking at their attorney. “Mr. Port, did you have anything you’d like to add?”

       “No, Sir,” he answered. 

       Mr. Clay nodded, turning towards the court clerk. “We’re ready when you are.” 

       She nodded, standing and walking over to the table next to the judge. “The court calls Jessie Hanna to the stand.” 

       Waverly gave her hand a squeeze, and she looked towards her before standing and heading over to get sworn in. She took a seat, scooting the chair in as Mr. Clay approached her. “Hi, Dear,” he said with a little sigh. “So sorry you have to be back up here again.”  

       She leaned her head on her fist, shaking her head. “Trust me, me, too.” 

       He pulled a remote out of his pocket, pointing it at the TV across the room and clicking the button, allowing a picture of her spray-painted garage door to pop up on the screen. “Alright. Can you confirm that this is what your garage door looked like when you got home?” 

       “Yea,” she mumbled, tracing her eyes over the view that she hadn’t seen since the day it happened as he slowly clicked through a few closer shots of it, for Topher had been quick to repaint it that night when he got home. 

       “And can you confirm that it was not there when you left that morning?” 

       “Yea. It definitely wasn’t there. I left at around 4 in the morning, so I’m not sure when he did it cause my neighbors all said they didn’t see anything or notice it until I was . . . having a mental breakdown in my driveway.” 

       Mr. Clay nodded, “So when you saw it, did you immediately know who had done it?” 

       Her brows raised a little as she thought about it. “Honestly, no. I didn’t. I was dialing up Nicole- uh, Sheriff Haught, whatever. I was just about to call her after I had called my husband cause he told me to, but then I saw she was calling me, so I answered it. She was freaking out, going on about how he got to Waverly and he could be coming for me next and I needed to get somewhere safe, and it wasn’t until then that I realized she was talking about Champ and that he got out.”

       “Which you had absolutely no clue about, correct?” 

       “No,” she said with a strong shake of her head, letting her eyes dart to the two on the other side of the room with a small glare for a second. “I had no clue at all . I figured he had screwed up or something and not made parole cause I expected at least a month's advance if he were to get out in April.”

       “What did you do after you got off the phone with her?” 

       She swallowed a little, scratching her forehead. “I went inside like she told me to. I triple-locked all the doors and windows and then sat with the Deputy she sent over until Topher got home from work in Calgary.” She let out a breath. “I was terrified. I mean, I figured he was coming after me. Why wouldn’t he? He went after Waves the first second he saw her. And I wasn’t sure what he was capable of doing after I heard what he did to her.” 

       He nodded again, leaning his hip against the judge’s stand. “And how have you been sure that he wasn’t going to come after you since then?”

       Her eyes widened a little, passing over Nicole’s face. “I, uh, well, I knew Sheriff Haught had it handled,” she said simply. They all had spoken many times about how they were going to dance around the subject, going over all the answers they would give if they were asked any questions relating to what happened after . 

       “How so?” Mr. Clay asked with a raised brow. 

       Her jaw clenched for a second, but she shrugged. “I trust her with my life. She told me everything would be fine, so I believed it. Sure, it may have been a thought in the back of my mind, but I had her word on it, so I tried to move on a little from it.” 

       He nodded, looking up at the judge with a smile. “Thank you, Your Honor.” He walked back over and took a seat as Mr. Port approached. 

       “So, Mrs. Hanna,” the bigger man started. “Are you sure that it was, for a fact, James Hardy that graffitied your house?” 

       “Yes, Sir.” 

       “How? Did you ask him?” 

       “ I didn’t. Sheriff Haught did,” Jessie answered with a raise of her brows. 

       “When did she do that?” 

       She tipped her head a little at him. “I’m sure you can ask her that, Sir.” 

       He stared at her with narrowed eyes for a few seconds before nodding with a huff. “Alright. So. You are aware that it is possible that Mr. Hardy still would have targeted you even if you would have known about his release?” 

       She nodded annoyedly, “I’m well aware, Sir. But that doesn’t make what your clients did legal, and thus, it means they are responsible for everything that happened because now we just don’t know what would have happened if they wouldn’t have schemed.” 

       Mr. Port pushed his tongue against his cheek, quickly realizing that he wasn’t getting anywhere with her. He looked up to the judge. “That’s all, Your Honor.”

       “Mrs. Hanna, you can find your seat,” the court clerk said. She let out a raspberry as she walked over, squeezing Waverly’s arm as she was called up right after her. 

       “That was good, Jess,” Nicole mumbled as she took Waverly’s seat while she got sworn in. 

       “Was it?” She asked quietly.

       The redhead nodded, “Really good.” She ran her hand across her thigh with a squeeze, and the nurse let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, leaning her head on her shoulder.

       Waverly took a seat behind the table, wiping her sweaty palms off on her legs as Mr. Clay walked over. “D’you mind if we take a look at pictures first?” He questioned. 

       “No, go ahead,” she assured. 

       He looked towards the television, clicking his remote. A picture of her damaged rings popped up on the screen. “So these were what your rings looked like after they were found in the alley?”

       “Yea.”

       “And you had only been married for, what, less than a month?”

       She nodded, messing with her hands in her lap. “A few days shy.” 

       “How severe were the damages?” Mr. Clay questioned as he clicked through a few different angles. 

       “Well. the wedding ring was worse than the engagement ring, but together it would have been around $1,600 to get them repaired if we didn’t have insurance on them and a really nice jeweler that helped us out.” 

       Mr. Clay clicked to the next picture, and she swallowed, looking at her bruised hand on the screen. “This was from his grip on it?” 

       “Yea.” 

       “Why did he get so mad about it?” 

       “I mean, I’m sure you remember that she loves the dyke comment he made, yea? He’s never been ok with any sort of gay, so I guess him discovering I married Nicole after he saw the rings on my hand really pushed him over the edge. I don’t know.” 

       Mr. Clay nodded. “I do remember, yes . . . And he was never violent like this when he was with you, correct?” 

       “No, never,” she said with a strong shake of her head. 

       He raised his brows, clicking to the next picture, and she winced, looking away from the image of her bruised neck. A small murmur passed over the jury. “And he would have never grabbed you like this before no matter how mad he was at you?” 

       She shook her head again. “Never. Whatever happened to him in prison, it . . . It changed him.” 

       “So you think that if it was known that he was going to be released, maybe a rehabilitation therapist of some sort to get him used to the real world again would have worked in his favor?”

       “Oh, 100%,” she agreed. 

       He pushed the remote back into his pocket. “That’s all the questions I have.” Mr. Clay made his way back to his seat just as Mr. Port approached her, and she let out a breath, meeting Nicole’s eyes for a second, getting an assuring smile. 

       “Mrs. Haught,” the attorney greeted with a nod. “I, uh, I actually have some pictures I’d like to start with, too, if you don’t mind?” 

       Her brows furrowed a little. “Uh, ok . . .” He clicked his remote, and her stomach twisted in confusion, but she kept her calm on the outside. 

       On screen was a picture of Nicole- a picture of a disheveled , sleep-deprived Nicole in a baggy hoodie and joggers with her hood up, carrying a carton of Camel cigarettes in one hand and a 32-pack of Budweiser in the other. And from the looks of it, it had been taken zoomed in from a location across the street from the gas station she was walking out of. 

       Waverly swallowed a lump in her throat, looking towards the redhead with a questioning brow, but it seemed that she wasn’t as calm as the brunette, for Jessie and Mr. Barnes were each holding onto her arms, keeping her in her seat as she pushed against them, her face getting redder and redder by the second. “Nicole,” she said, glaring at her in warning when she met her eyes. “Stop.” 

       The Sheriff stopped resisting their grips, going rigid in her seat. “Wave, it’s not wh-” 

       She put a hand up to stop her, looking towards Mr. Port’s proud face. “What’s the point of this? Why was someone following my wife?” 

       “Well, she dug into my clients’ personal life. It was only fair that we had someone dig into her’s,” he said with a sigh. 

       “Ok, well for starters. If the point of this picture was to make me angry with her to help your case, you, unfortunately, didn’t succeed.” She watched his face fall. “D’you know why?” 

       He cleared his throat a little. “Why’s that, Mrs. Haught?” 

       “Well. For one. My wife doesn’t smoke.” 

       “To your knowledge,” he interrupted. 

       “ No ,” she said sternly. “She doesn’t. And if she did -” She let her eyes snap towards the redhead for a second, who seemed to be a few shades cooler than she had been. “ Which she has before - she would be smoking Pall Malls, not Camels. And second, the more obvious one to anyone that knows Nicole. She drinks Bud Light and only Bud Light. She would rather drink her own piss than a Budweiser.” She let out a sigh as she sat up straight. “So it seems she was buying all of that for someone else, Mr. Port. Who? I couldn’t tell you, but I’m sure that, uh.” She looked towards Nicole with a raise of her brows. “I’ll find out later.” The redhead sat back in her seat with a relieved smile on her face, giving her wife a nod. 

       Mr. Port met Waverly’s eyes, trying to hide the hint of disappointment in them. “Well . . . I guess it’s a shame that her purchase habits weren’t the main point I was trying to make with this photo.” The brunette’s brows quickly furrowed. “Mrs. Haught, I’d appreciate it if you could share where . . .” He clicked the remote and a view of the photo zoomed in more popped up.

       Zoomed into her visible left hand holding the cigarette carton, to be precise. 

       “Where these bruises on your wife’s knuckles came from?” 

       Bile made an attempt to crawl up her throat as she traced her eyes over the image. There was no doubt that the damage she had caused to Champ was visible on her swollen and bruised knuckles in the picture. 

       And now she had a decision to make. 

       She kept her eyes from Nicole’s face as she looked back towards Mr. Port’s waiting stare. “Sparring,” she said simply without a hint of a shake in her voice. 

       The man’s bravado faltered once again, his mouth falling open for all but a second before he righted it. “. . . Sparring?” 

       “Yes, Sir. That very day, I believe.” Some would call it perjury, but it technically wasn’t a lie, for she had sparred with Dolls a few times during that time. 

       “Ma’am, you’re aware sparring usually doesn’t leave your hands that battered up, correct?” He mumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest. 

       She let out a little chuckle, shaking her head. “You certainly haven’t watched Nicole and her training partner spar then.- Actually, go back to the first picture.” He begrudgingly did so. She smiled a little. “And that’s him right there.” She pointed to the screen. “You can see his head in the passenger’s side window of her cruiser that she’s walking towards.” It was then that she let her eyes fall to the Sheriff, watching the small nod she got in approval despite the fear that was obviously trying to wear away all over her features. She looked back to the attorney. “Anyway, I’d say she had a little extra anger bottled up during this time, don’t you agree?” 

       He ran a hand down his face, turning the picture off the screen. “I suppose so, Ma’am.” He sighed as he looked up to the judge. “That’s all, Your Honor.” 

       Waverly was dismissed, and she let out a shaky breath as she walked back over to their table, meeting Nicole when she stood as she was called up. She reached up and pulled her face down with a grip on the bottom of her cheeks. “You owe me,” she whispered through her teeth. 

       “I know, Baby, trust me,” she breathed out, grabbing her wrist and pushing a kiss to her head as she moved past her and took a seat behind the table. She licked her lips, pushing her hand through her hair as Mr. Clay walked up. 

       “My my, Sheriff,” he sighed. “That sure was . . . quite an attempt to shatter your credibility, wasn’t it?” 

       She let out a breathy laugh despite the fear in her chest. “It sure was-” She looked towards Mr. Port. “And for the record, uh, those purchases were for my mother-in-law cause she doesn’t want her daughters to know she’s been smoking because of all of this, but . . .” She met Waverly’s eyes, watching as she rolled them at her with force. “Anyway.” She looked back to her attorney. 

       “Right. Anyway . . . So. After you learned about what happened to them, what is it that you did?” 

       “Well. I . . . I knew that those two had something  to do with why we didn’t know of his release. So I did some digging. I contacted the DA and found out that the information on Champ’s release hadn’t even gotten to them, so I knew that they must have had tampered with the paperwork before then.” 

       “And why did you think that it was them that did this tampering?” He questioned. 

       She let out a little sigh, shifting in her chair. “I mean, it sounds kinda weird, but there was no one else that it could have been. No one else had enough power or placement to be able to pull something off like that, let alone the knowledge of the case or a grudge against any of us.” 

       He nodded. “What did you uncover through your digging?” 

       “After I contacted the DA, I knew I already had enough evidence to continue on with it. I got all of our paperwork and the statement from them and took it, getting a warrant to go through their phones. And within about 5 minutes, I had already found text proof that they had done it.”

       He nodded with a smile, turning his heads towards the jurors. “Which all of you have copies of in the first folder sitting in front of you.” He gave them a minute to go through it, and Nicole looked down at her pocket, pressing the power button to stop it from buzzing against her leg as she got a phone call. Mr. Clay looked back to Nicole. “Sheriff, was that all that you found?” 

       She raised her brows, leaning forward onto her elbows. “It wasn’t, no. After getting all of those together, I took those to a judge to get yet another warrant, allowing me and my guys to search each of their houses.” She pursed her lips for a second as she paused, shutting her phone off again when it started vibrating. “And we found printed copies of emails that had been intercepted and the report papers that were supposed to have made it to the DA, but Mr. Reinhardt had taken them before they got there.”

       Mr. Clay turned his head to the jury again. “All of that will be in the folder underneath the first one.” He gave them some time again, but Nicole cursed under her breath in annoyance as her phone began to go off again. She pushed her chair back and was going to just shut her phone down completely, but when she noticed that this was the sixth time that Dolls had called her and that she also had a string of 911 and Emergency texts from him, her heart rate picked up. Her head snapped up towards the judge, seeing that he was already looking down at her with a questioning stare. 

       “It’s a work emergency. Can I take this real fast?” 

       “Go ahead, Sheriff,” he said with a nod. 

       She gave him a smile of thanks as she turned her chair away from the microphone and pushed her phone against her ear. “ What , Dolls? I’m literally testif-” Her face paled as his voice quickly cut her off. “What?” Her hand came up to cover her mouth as he explained it. “When?” She slowly nodded along. “Ok, yea- Hold on.” She shot out of her seat, moving towards the judge and putting her hand on his shoulder as she leaned to whisper in his ear. 

       His eyes widened and he looked up at her quickly. “Good heavens , go.” 

       “Can I?” She asked with a swallow. 

       “Yes, Sheriff. We have everything we need from you anyways.” 

       She nodded, giving his arm a squeeze. “Thank you.” She pushed her phone back against her ear as she rushed over to their seats. “I’m on my way. Don’t wait for me.” She shoved it in her pocket as Waverly shook her by the shoulders. 

       “Nic, what ?! What’s wrong?!” 

       She grabbed her blazer off of her chair, fumbling it on her body. “It’s- Wave, the Slasher’s back. It’s May 2nd, and he made damn sure that we were gonna find the body this time. It’s hanging off the Homestead arch.” 

       Her eyes shot out of her head. “ What?! ” 

       “I’ll know more tonight, Love. Good luck. Call me when you get something here.” She pushed a quick peck to the corner of her mouth as she turned and rushed around the table, sprinting out of the courtroom. 

       The brunette watched her go with her mouth hanging open. Jessie grabbed her arm, pulling her to sit down. “It’s Nicole, Waves. She can handle it.” 

       “You don’t know the pure Hell this case put her through last year, Jess.”