Page 49 of Bottoms
“The department has requested that you refrain from taking evidence out of the sealed bag unless you have significant reasoning to inspect it. You may put in a request for items to be sent to the labs, however,” Nik said, holding up a thick stack of paperwork. “These are all the tests that have already been run for each item. I want you all to pick one item of evidence and then look through this stack until you find the reports for that piece. Read through the results and start coming up with ideas that have not been tried. Because of the sensitive nature of evidence and how your findings can and cannot be used in a court of law, I have brought along an expert in criminal proceedings.”
My heart hammered in my chest. Nik smirked at me before heading to a door. He knocked, and the door opened.
Colten walked into the room, but his eyes didn’t meet mine. He stood like someone had tied a rod to his back, pushing his glasses back into place before smoothing his hair. His hard eyes assessed every student individually, and the temperature in the room seemed to get colder. Finally, his eyes landed on mine, but it felt like the room had been set on fire.
“This is Mr. Black. You are free to ask him or me any questions you may have. I do suggest you spread out. There are other examination tables all along this hallway. Please find your item and paperwork, then spread them out. I will be walking around the rooms with Mr. Black. Have your questions prepared for when we arrive.”
My palm curled around the bag in my hands, but I wasn’t very interested in looking through the paperwork. I headed to Nik and the reports while the other students tried to decide which piece of evidence they wanted to take for the assignment.
“TS-361,” Nik read the bag number before flipping through the pages to hand me a small stack of reports on the bracelet.
I took the stack but questioned with my eyes where I should head next. Nik just gestured in Colten’s direction before another student came up with their bag of evidence, ready to collect their paperwork.
I headed over toward Colten, getting out of the way of the students. There was enough chatter that no one noticed when I walked up to Colten and shyly said, “Hi.”
“There’s an exam table over there,” Colten said passively, as if I had asked for directions.
I headed in the direction he pointed, finding a door that led into a small room with a large table in the center and cabinets along the back wall. The lights hummed as I flipped the switch and closed the door behind me.
There were two plastic chairs, and I took a seat in one, removed my gloves, and set them on the floor with my bag. Holding my hands in my lap, I waited to see which of my boys would visit me first. Hopefully, there weren’t any important leads that this piece of jewelry could have brought to light because I was not here to research.
Nervous trickles filtered through my body the longer I waited for someone to knock. It came just as I was about to open the door myself to see what the fuck was taking so long. I opened the door, and Colten stood on the other side. We stared at each other, and my heart and mind seemed to disagree on what to do first. It felt like I was in the middle of a dream and didn’t know how to ensure it wasn’t a nightmare.
“Did you have any questions?” Colten asked, keeping his voice strictly professional even though it didn’t look like any other students were still in the room with him.
“I have a few if you have the time,” I said. Moving to the side so he could come in.
He strode into the room, shutting the door behind him and turning the bolt. Locking us inside. I couldn’t shake the nervous fluttering sensation as my mind flipped through the different versions of Colten. The sweet, caring, considerate one I had come to know intimately and the dark, hard version trained to be a killer alongside Fynn. I had no idea which Colten I was interacting with.
“Go on,” he said after a moment of silence. His tone was formal, even though it was just us inside a locked room.
“Why did you message me every day?” I asked, grabbing onto the first of many questions raced through my mind.
“I figured that would be obvious by now,” Colten snipped like he had the right to feel angry with me.
“You feel the same way about me that Fynn does.”
“Is that a question or a statement, Ms. Harlow?” Colten asked, impersonating a judge more than a lawyer. Tonight wasn’t the exciting trip I thought it would be.
Tonight was my trial.
“Question,” I declared, wanting to know his specific response.
“I see.” Colten took a few more steps into the room. Positioning himself on the other side of the table from me.
“Are you planning on answering any of my questions?” I asked, wondering about the purpose of this display. Other than showing me that he was upset. If he was so upset, why bother coming here tonight to invade on the only time I had to be with them?
“When you ask a question worth an answer,” he responded, his tone cold.
“Are you mad at me?”
“Did you do something I should be mad about, Nessa?” Colten said, crossing his arms over his chest. As usual, he wore a black suit with a white button-up. His favorite black tie, which he had tied around my eyes when I lost my virginity, was knotted neatly at his neck.
“All I’ve done is survive,” I sighed, heading back to one of the plastic chairs to sit in.
“You haven’t messaged me since you got your phone back,” Colten accused.
“I wasn’t sure what to say,” I said softly, pleading with him to understand. There wasn’t exactly an instruction manual for how to act when you were the prisoner of a murderer for me to consult for tips.
