“I bet if I asked Holly Castel, she wouldn’t say you never cause any problems.” Snow s napped back at him, flipping open a file folder in front of her with Craig’s name on it. A picture of a young collegiate girl was pushed out and turned around for Craig to look at. He glanced at her picture then rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling.
“I did my time. Time I shouldn’t even have had because I’m an innocent man. My conscience is clear, crystal freaking clear. I keep telling you guys.” He said, displaying his lack of intelligence in his broken grammar.
“So, raping an innocent girl while she is passed out doesn’t stick to your conscience?” McCraig suddenly burst off the concrete wall and rushed the table, slamming his hand down on it as he got his face inches from Craig’s face. Craig jumped back, frightened at the surprise and the brazen show of aggression. Snow put her hand on McCraig’s forearm and pulled him back gently, signaling for him to calm down. He turned around and went back to the wall, leaning against its cold concrete.
“Listen, I never did that. I didn’t touch that girl. Well, after she was passed out I didn’t touch her! I was passed out too! Read the file, we made out and that’s it. Then we were both passed the fuck out! I couldn’t and wouldn’t have done a thing to her. I don’t do that to women. I ain’t that kind of man, guys.” Craig pushed himself back from the table a bit and crossed his arms.
“Then why did a jury find you guilty, Craig? Why did a witness say he saw you on Holly, grinding away, while she was blacked out drunk at this party on campus?” Detective Snow leaned into the table as Craig leaned out, her questions rapid and fierce.
“He was lying, man! That mother fucker was always a liar. I don’t even know why I let him hang around with me in the first place! Pity, I guess. Guy had a fucking girl’s name, for fuck’s sake. I don’t even remember his damn name but it was a damn girl’s name, or a saint’s name, and he ain’t no fucking saint. Never should have been nice to that sneak. He was jealous I got more girls than he did. I ran NYU, I could have had any girl on campus that I wanted, I didn’t have to take nothing from nobody.
Stupid jerk, put me away for nothing. Why am I even here? I didn’t do anything back then but I served my time and I’ve been keeping my nose clean. Why the hell am I here now?” Craig’s voiced became raised in both anger and frustration as his rambling finally came to a stop.
Both detectives stared at Craig calculating where to go in their interrogation and how much to reveal. His outburst certainly intrigued Detective Snow, as she realized that if he flew off the handle that quickly then his impulse control was exactly on par with what they assume Kate’s attacker would be like. Snow pushed back in her chair as well and sighed, letting her arms rest on the table casually.
“Well, Mr. McDermott, we are thinking you might be back to your old tricks. Got a woman who picked your picture out of a lot of other faces. She’s claiming rape and you are looking pretty damn good for it.” Snow stated to him, carefully watching his face for clues.
Craig didn’t say anything, his face scrunched up into confusion and he stared back at Snow. He then turned to stare at McCraig, who was still standing in the corner against the wall glaring at him. Finally, he looked back at Snow and he opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again and breathed out in a loud exhale. He ran his hand up through his hair and leaned backwards again.
“For fuck’s sake. You asses with a badge want to take more time from an innocent man, huh?” He leered at them angrily, his hand smacking the table in frustration. Both detectives stared back at him, their faces stony and unchanging.
~~~~
There was absolutely nothing about the tedious morning metro commute that Kate missed. She felt herself trying to push away bitter thoughts as she was firmly squeezed between an old man coughing wet spittle into the air, not even bothering to cover his mouth, and a young girl wearing way too little clothes and headphones that blared music so loud, there was really no point to wear the headphones in the first place.
She had been able to avoid this awful daily ritual for over two weeks as she had been in the hospital and then at home healing. However, bills eventually started rearing their ugly heads again and Kate knew that she couldn’t hole up in her apartment forever. At some point, she had to get back to her real life and try to put these past two weeks out of her head. If such a thing were even possible.