Until Proven Innocent

The local prison, or correctional facility as the actual term was, had 800 prisoners. Currently, 223 of them were convicted murderers or manslaughterers, and another 22 were not convicted yet, but remands in custody. The mysterious American client was number 23. As opposed to other legal systems, they were to remain there until they were convicted or acquitted; there was no bail system.

Since they were dangerous men, there were no weapons allowed inside. They were of no use, anyway, when you came face to face with the inmates. That was why a special task force was always on duty just in case.

In previous times, there had been two dangerous situations in German law enforcement where inmates were able to overpower the guards and took away their guns. Another time, an inmate was able to hold his psychologist hostage for seven hours, during which he raped her, but did not harm her physically. Luckily, no-one was badly injured - well, if you didn't consider the psychical wounds the psychologist had - but this prison had been the first one to try out a new concept with no weapons.

Instead, the guards were trained in psychology and conflicts were to be solved verbally. If they could not be solved like that, the task force could quickly intervene. It took them exactly seven seconds to overpower the rioting inmate - and you try killing someone in under seven seconds, without using a weapon. Well, that's an awfully hard task to do, which was probably why up until now, it worked perfectly.

With a weapon, yeah sure, no big deal. During my studies, I saw cases during which someone was killed by a screwdriver, a razor blade, a metal crucifix - all in under seven seconds. But unarmed? It was close to impossible. That was the theory, although I did believe someone could actually snap your neck in under seven seconds. But nothing had happened so far, which I took as a good sign. And most of the times it didn't even take those full seven seconds, that much I knew.

This facility in Lower Bavaria was a textbook example of the new concept, and it was frequently visited by politicians, and also by psychology students. Prof. Martha Weinberger, a famous psychology professor, had encouraged them to write their dissertations about the various aspects that made this prison so safe.

After two more calls from Bernhard, I'd given in. It was unfortunate, but the client was adamant to see his lawyer before the weekend, and of course, he was entitled to that in the German law system. The thing was just… sometimes they didn't know their rights too well, and then I could have waited a little longer until I see him.

It didn’t change anything anyway. After less than twenty-four hours in custody, I was not able to tell them any more than what they knew already. That they were to remain in custody and why. But he insisted, and Bernhard said if I couldn’t come today, on Friday afternoon, which was my only spare time during the week, he’d have to call a different lawyer. And well, I didn't want him to.

The prospect of a possible first murder trial after only two years of being an attorney, and of course Susan’s begs to see the good-looking guards made me change my mind.

Now I wasn’t too keen on seeing the guards, not because I couldn’t enjoy a ripped male body but because of… Thomas. Thomas Konrad was my ex, and I met him right there when I did an internship with the DA. Other than that visit five years ago, I’d never been in that prison building. Actually, I’d never even gone to visit a client in jail. You see, none of them had done something that was bad enough to be in custody until the verdict. Until now.

The reason why I knew Thomas was going to be there was because we only broke up yesterday, something Susan didn’t know yet. And I didn’t plan on letting her know so soon. I didn’t want her constant nagging at me, telling me how perfect she thought he was. Just ugh.

He was a control freak, plain and simple. But Susan thought it was caring, and it was only love. While she admitted he overstepped some boundaries, like when he forbad me to see one of our closest friends if I went alone, but she said he was caring. Ph. Caring my ass. And that was why I overslept, too. And why I was being even moodier than most times today.

Oh God, I thought as a horrifying thought hit me. I really hope Thomas didn’t speak to Bernhard about me… If Bernard knows I’m single… This is going to be the end of it all...

“Are you even listening to me?“ Susan interrupted her. So rude, right? It’s not like I care about her swooning over Thomas’ colleagues. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Susan. She’s pretty much the only friend I have who doesn’t secretly wanna screw me, and honestly I even doubted the latter part at times since she was pretty open about being bisexual. And, well, into my type of women. But today I hated everyone and everything with my entire heart.

“Vivian Keller,“ I introduced myself to the guard at the entrance. “Mr. Garner is waiting for me. This is my paralegal, Susan Bernstetter.“
“Now Miss Keller, I don’t suppose you’ve been here before,“ the young officer said. “I’m sure I’d remember a face as beautiful as yours.“

In another life, I would have found him cute. Really. He had a slightly upturned nose and one of his teeth was crooked, but he was cute. In his uniform he looked a little like Michael from Jane The Virgin. But no, not today.

“No,“ I said with a fake smile. I wanted to make a rude remark, I really did. But you know, I also wanted to get into that building, so I knew better than to do that. I bit my tongue and waited for further instructions.

“Only one person can go in at a time, I’m afraid,“ the blond man explained. “You probably know from the media that we do not allow any weapons here, so if you have any…“ I shook my head no. Not that I was even allowed to bear any outside of the prison. “It’s a hazard to you and only you if you’re not telling me the truth now,“ he warned me.

All other visitors were usually searched, that much I knew. Sometimes lawyers, too, but mostly no-one really cared. I think the reason for that was that nothing had happened in a very long time.

He kept talking to me about how dangerous it was to bring a weapon. Blah blah blah. You gotta be a special kind of stupid to bring a knife or something into a prison with 223 convicted murderers and expect that you can defend yourself with it. And that no-one can take it away from you and use it against you. Or that no-one could kill you with their bare hands.

Honestly, if the good Lord thinks this is it, then this is it. No-one can help you, not even Thomas’ testosterone pumped special force of muscle bergs. So please just get to the point and stop staring at my boobs.

“Got it,“ I said instead of what I really wanted to say.
“You will be led to a room where you can speak in private. There are no cameras, but you will receive a panic button. If you press that, someone is coming in in under seven seconds. If you don’t feel comfortable you can ask to keep him restrained.“

I nodded.

Another man took over. He led me through the large halls. The inmates were cheering and whistling. I suspected that they hadn’t seen a woman in weeks, even months maybe. I was intimidated by how large most of them were. I was sure they could easily snap my neck one-handedly, fuck those seven seconds. I pressed the little remote with the panic button closer to my chest.

With a loud beep, the door to the meeting room opened and revealed the inside. A sterile looking room with a desk in the middle of it with loops for the inmates hands, and some for their feet at the chair. There was one window to a large field outside. Some inmates were sweeping the floor. I knew they made about 30 cents an hour, not an awful lot. But most of them were glad they could afford their cigarettes with it.

Now I thought murderers were intimidating and fierce, and that they looked criminal in a way. But damn, this one was far from it. Now we were told not to trust our guts when it came to our clients, but when I saw this one I couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something terribly wrong with this case.

Notes

UPDATE :) Hope you guys like it!