Once they had all taken the time to remind Judge Avril of the facts of the case, with Nelo being arrested for possession with a warrant drawn up for an arrest for dealing, with the shoddy work done in the fingerprint lab, comparing his prints to that in an altogether entire different case, involving a drug induced attack on an eighteen year old girl, his appetite had been wetted and he felt ready to delve in at the deep end. Judge Avril began by asking what the information was on the eighteen year old girl who had been attacked, the look of shame on the sixteen year old boy in front of him, almost convincing him of his guilt. “She was mugged at knife point by three doped up guys, who cut her face when she tried to runaway from them, Judge.” Geoffrey recalled, reading straight from the file in his hand, going on to admit that the girl was terrified they were going to kill her so she gave up her bag and tried to run only for one of the men to grab her and hold a knife to her throat. He explained that the guy had thought she was running because she had something else to hide, but the Judge didn’t find his answer in any of the explanations, having to ask again what it resulted in.

“Nothing your honour.” Angelo interrupted the ridiculous story they had twisted the facts into. “She was half drunk and was falling all over the place. Three witnesses from across the street saw the guy take off her jacket and search it, letting her go.” He explained with a sigh, folding his arms decisively, glad that Nelo had taken his and Jacob’s advice to heart and kept quiet. “She started to run off but fell over and ripped her sleeve on the bench she used to help herself to her feet. She claimed that the three boys had tried it on with her and that she’d only just escaped.” The uninterested tone of his voice suggested to the Judge that the story he had just been told wasn’t quite true, but when he asked, it was Piers who surprised him by admitting that it was a lie. He admitted to speak to Angelo’s witnessed and corroborating the story and after a search of the scene of rime, interviewing two of the three men who the girl had identified as her attackers, leaning forward in his seat as he gave Angelo a discrete glare for bringing up the fact that they’d jumped the gun.

“Mr Josephson here, fitted all the descriptions of the third perpetrator and so when he was arrested, we already had the knife, found on one of the other suspects, which had some unidentified prints on it. We tested Mr Josephson’s prints from those on the knife and were able to rule him out.” Geoffrey waited until Piers had stopped talking before he went on to say anything, explaining they it was precautionary and because of a positive ID from the witnesses in a line up, they were sure they would get a result, even though they could all see that Judge Avril, not usually a patient man, was sitting quietly deliberating over it sceptically. He asked if they still intended to link him to the crime, seeing Mr Morton’s desperation for a closed case bringing too much of a rush to the evidence and the entire investigation, he wasn’t surprised by Piers’s answer, that the line up confirmed the defendant was at the scene.

“We just don’t have any evidence to prove it.” Geoffrey sighed unhappily, shrinking under his boss’ glowering gaze. So maybe he shouldn’t have said it out loud, but it was the truth after all. But when the Judge asked why they weren’t discussing it in front of a jury, it was Angelo’s turn to explain just what a cock up Piers had made out of his case.

“Because we can provide Mr Josephson’s whereabouts on the night of the crime.” Angelo smiled thankfully as he paced the floor again, all too able to see the hope in Nelo’s eyes as he glanced up at him. Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, he tried to keep that hope alive by continuing. “You see Judge, nobody asked him where he was, or what he was doing at that time. In fact, he hasn’t been questioned as to that crime at all. It was only when the charges were added to his arrest warrant that we were even aware that he was a suspect and had already been forensically tested to items from the scene.” He explained, glad that even if there was no possible way for him to be set free from all the charges, they could at least take away the scariest charge that had the poor kid crying himself to sleep.

“Without your authorisation?” Judge Avril scolded Piers and Geoffrey harshly for forgetting the boy’s legal rights.

“Without our knowledge.” Jacob piped up with a smile. “Of course we would have let them interview Mr Josephson and taken all the forensic samples they wanted, but some courtesy wouldn’t have been impossible. If we’d have known in advance, we could have saved the State the cost of such tests, by providing them with his alibi and the witness who could corroborate it.” He grinned with a slight shrug, going on to admit that over all the drug investigation that Nelo had been arrested for had been treated in the same haphazard way as the assault case. He hadn’t been questioned and they hadn’t done any tests to rule him in or out of the case, they just took the word of a crack addict that he had been there.

Angelo couldn’t help but round it off to a close. They were discussing all the facts, but not getting anywhere and he had places to be. It was still only nine o’clock in the morning on a Saturday, not even a work day and he’d been up since six and would have appreciated getting to go home and get some sleep. “Now we’re not disputing his involvement, but we would like to run something past you. Hence the reason we don’t want this going to trial.” He began seriously barely even able to finish his sentence before Piers burst into protests that he couldn’t honestly expect it not to go to trial because it was possession of a class A drug, with the intent to sell and that Nelo lived two blocks from a high school. But Piers was desperate to get D’Angelo into a courtroom and see how well he fared up against twelve angry jurors. “A high school which he attends without fail. He’s never missed a day since he was sick last year with tonsillitis. He might be a drug dealer Piers, but he’s never used anything, not even an aspirin.” Angelo reminded them all.

“What are you proposing Mr D’Angelo?” Judge Avril asked, curious as to what he had to offer that would be of any use and that would be able to keep such a juicy case out of the courtroom and away from the press.

“Nelo is only sixteen Judge. He’s a smart kid, straight A student and has plenty of promise to be something really great. Hell, he helped us prepare his case.” Angelo explained with a smile that made Nelo realise, for the first time, that someone actually thought he was of any use. “But he’s had his problems…his mom left him when he was born, she was only fifteen and he doesn’t know who his dad is. He got stuck in a bad neighbourhood and got kicked from place to place with foster care. He’s not asking for sympathy…just for someone to care.” He continued, patting the young guy’s shoulder as he paced the floor in deliberation. “He’s willing to admit that what he’s doing is wrong, but it’s no picnic for him either and he has to eat somehow. So…what we’re proposing is that he does two years in juvenile hall…”

Piers burst into a protest again, getting to his feet, angry that he wanted to railroad the entire case down to a misdemeanour. But Angelo just returned to his steady pace as he walked back and forth in front of the single window of the Judge’s chambers. “He’ll do his two years in juvenile hall and in return he’ll give you the name of his supplier, the other scouts that run along with him and the last name of his boss. Which of course, means he’ll have to go into witness protection, but he’s got no family as it is and understands that it’d be for the best all round.” He explained in length, continuing where he left off and astounding everyone with his surety and the fact that they had obviously thought out the consequences of their actions before deciding on them.

“I’ll do anything Judge…don’t send me to jail…I’d never make it out again.” Nelo pleaded suddenly, his hands gripping the desk in front of him in desperation as he stared at the Judge, oblivious to the sigh of disapproval from both his councillors.

*****

It didn’t matter how dark it was, or how tired he was from having worked all day in his classes, Ryan wasn’t going to let his friends get the better of him. They were playing the best and most exciting game of every week, their midnight play-out to see if they could better their score from the week before. It was a constant battle, each of them running about in the darkness, blocking each other and trying to distraction the other team as much as possible as they sneakers squeaked and slid over the basketball court to their movements. But just because he was mad, for so many reasons, it didn’t mean that it would take his focus from the game, if anything Ryan was more connected with each and every move and each shot he took as he tried to take his mind from the predicament that had caused his anger all those two weeks ago. It didn’t seem like such a long time ago to him, but his friends continued to insist that, since he was a talented basketball player and not bad looking as well as living on campus, he should have been able to get over his break up long ago and should have started dating again. He didn’t know why they felt that way, but they were persistent and it only made him more determined to keep his focus in the game and beat their asses the only way he could without feeling guilty.

“Come on Ryan, you’re playing like a girl.” Devin taunted him, standing between his little brother and the basket, his arms held out above their heads to block his view of the shot. But nevertheless, he bounced the ball to his right and then to his left, a smile on his lips as he listened to his brother trash talking to his face. “You’re not going all weird on us now that Ruby’s gone, are you…?” Ryan ignored the teasing and took the upper hand, faking a left before passing his friend, ducking underneath his right arm to get a better aim, the ball sinking straight into the basket.

“I believe that’s…five to two.” He smiled, patting Devin on back with a sarcastic smile of apology as he passed him on his way back to the centre of the court, his best friend Niles throwing him his bottle of water as he approached, laughing at just how obvious his frustration at their constant teasing was as they clasped hands, sliding them apart again slowly as they walked past each other, each on a different team.

“You know, I’m beginning to think that this thing with Ruby is improving your game.” Niles laughed tormentingly, as they each took they places on the court again and Devin stood underneath the basket, analysing their positions, bouncing the ball from one hand to the other as he decided what move to make next. “Maybe it was a good thing for her to be such a scheming little bitch.” He joked, making a few of his team mates laugh along with him as Devin passed the ball to Brody, no-one able to see their friends reaction to that one particular tormenting comment as Ryan straightened in anger.

“I don’t think it’s ever a good thing to be cheated on Niles. No matter what it does to my game.” He sighed, backing off from the game as he lifted his bottle of water and collected his things at the sidelines, angry that his friends were such idiots that they couldn’t see how badly it had hurt him and just how badly he was taking the entire break up, not to mention their constant teasing. It wasn’t doing anything for his mood and he didn’t see why they thought he should be okay with it.

“Ryan…come on, you know I didn’t mean it.” Niles called out, but he didn’t seem to want to listen and wandered off into the darkness on his own, his duffel bag over his shoulder as he buried his hands in his pockets, trying to forget all about the disaster his six month relationship with Ruby had turned into. And no matter what effect it had on him, no matter what he had felt about her, he didn’t think there was anything funny or anything that could make him feel good about being cheated on by someone he’d trusted. It didn’t matter if his grades improved, if he worked his butt off to rid himself of the frustration and anger that he had and got accepted into a great job he loved, that paid well. It didn’t matter if he changed everything about himself to make things less familiar, to make it feel as though it didn’t matter what she had done, if he won the lottery or suddenly found the woman of his dreams lurking behind the face of one of his female friends, that he had been too blind to notice before. Nothing made it alright for his girlfriend to cheat on him and not when she had done so with such a calculated cruelty.

Ryan decided to stop at the campus garden to get himself together before going back to his dorm room and finding that he was so angry, he let himself fall asleep and dream of all the things Ruby had done, only making him feel worse. The problem was, that he was so tired he found it impossible to stay awake most of the time. The emotional turmoil inside his brain was eating away at his energy and it seemed that the only thing that took his mind off anything, that allowed him some peace from the chaos, was to sit in the garden and be around something familiar. His parents had owned a small plant nursery when he had been young and he’d grown up around nature. They had lived out in the country until Ryan was a teenager and had moved so he was closer to the high school but he had always missed the freedom of the surrounding fields, that he had walked through often, finding the peace and serenity to think to himself about all his problems and never once feel the need to be anywhere else. And as he sat on the bench in the middle of the garden, underneath the large willow tree, he found the peace he was looking for, letting his bag drop to the pathway at his feet as he closed his eyes and leant his head back against the bench.

It was the last thing he wanted to do, but as Ryan sat there, he decided to rid himself of the awful truth once and for all. To admit it to himself and run through it just once, to allow himself the chance to forget about it, though he knew he would never forgive her. Although, he knew that no matter how much he couldn’t stand to be near her after what she had done, he found it much harder to ignore the fact that although she had cheated on him and, that alone was awful enough, she had done so with the one person that he had really thought of as family. Ryan had grown up with a group of three other boys that had lived near him out in the country, and when he had moved, they still kept in touch and visited him regularly. None of them had known about his relationship with Ruby, as she was a fairly new addition to his life.

They had only been dating for two weeks when it all began, though he was oblivious to it. Waldo had arrived at campus to see him, two weeks before his birthday, ready to go out and have the biggest celebration they could for his twentieth birthday and ready to apologise that neither Graham or Piers could make it because of work commitments. It was the only time that anyone could make it and since they had all started new jobs, or courses at college, he understood their inability to make it without question. Waldo had gone straight to Ryan’s dorm room looking for him and had found Ruby standing outside the door, crying as she knocked and called out for him. It had been a hectic week with it being his birthday and his parents had been insisting that they wanted to travel all the way down to campus to spend the day with him and catch up, so he had driven up to see them to save them the trip and had stopped in to see both Piers and Graham while he was there.

It hadn’t really been anyone’s fault he supposed, but when Waldo had admitted to the events of that day, it had seemed innocent, from everyone’s perspective but Ruby’s. She had been his girlfriend and been well aware of that fact when she had met Waldo, telling him she was just a friend and wanted to see Ryan because she was upset. And with his natural ability to always talk any woman round to his way of thinking, he had assured her that he was just as good a listener as his best friend was, offering to take her for a coffee so they could talk, since Ryan was neither there for his or her arrival.

They had gone for coffee and talked, supposedly getting on quite well. And when Ryan had arrived back in town, finding his best friend hanging around the basketball court, neither had discussed what he had spent his day doing, as Waldo hadn’t been sure that his best friend would approve of his new attraction for one of his friends. He had been guaranteed by Ruby that her relationship with his friends was nothing more than friendship but at the same time knew that neither had made a decision as to what their relationship was, though they had already arranged to meet up again. So, when Waldo had admitted to Ryan, just two weeks ago, that he was falling for a girl he knew, he had been intrigued and then shocked to find that the girl was in fact, his girlfriend. And when he heard that their second meeting had resulted in them sleeping together for the first time, he hadn’t been able to hide his shock from his best friend. His face had instantly lost it’s colour and Waldo had been worried that he might have confessed to falling in love with Ryan’s best female friend but when he had admitted the, more devastating truth, neither had known what to do.

Ruby had always told Ryan that she didn’t believe in sex before marriage and so they had never ventured near the subject, and in truth he hadn’t been too upset by it. He thought she was gorgeous, of course he did, she was his girlfriend and he liked spending time with her, talking to her and kissing her, but there was always something missing that he felt should have been in their relationship. There was some fundamental aspect that was missing, something that he had never found in her company, but regardless of that, he felt that no matter what they were missing, he had been a faithful boyfriend, never once contemplating the thought of asking her to go against what she believed to see if what they were missing was the more physical part of their relationship and he had never once considered cheating on her because he couldn’t have that physical connection.

Ryan was well aware that it might not have been an ideal relationship for most people, to be stuck in a relationship that he knew wasn’t going anywhere, when he knew there was something important missing, for an entire six months of his life, while he coasted through, kissing her and pretending that they would grow into something more. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew that there was no way he could ever blame Waldo for the disaster his relationship had turned out to be, simply because he knew that he had been entirely unaware of that relationship due to Ruby’s lies. And so, when the truth had come out two weeks ago, making him feel like an idiot for spending six months with a girl who didn’t even care about him as he had cared about her, regardless of the fact that those emotions were nowhere near to becoming love, he had given Waldo his best wishes and refused to stand in the way.

He acknowledged that if they really felt strongly about each other, then they should be together and if Ruby had just admitted that to him in the first place then there would have been no reason for the lies and deception that had made Waldo unable to trust her. He hadn’t been able to believe that anything they had shared was real and so they were alone. Ryan and his best