Roland woke up with a bunch of hands wrapped around him, much to his annoyance. His trio of flings clung onto him, and he groggily pried out their arms off him to get out of bed.
His naked body shone a little from the sunlight, as he stepped over the clothes and lingerie on the floor.
"Ugh, it's Monday morning. What am I even thinking?" He said, walking to one of the drawers in his vanity table.
He took out a bottle of pills. He poured a lot and popped them into his mouth without water.
But the headache was still there. It never really went away after he woke up, as he suffered mild tinnitus and migraines. He went to the bathroom to get changed and prepare to go to court.
As he washed his face, another man's face appeared in the mirror.
This too, never went away. It always appeared in every mirror he saw. But he knew this was just something from his mind, not a real apparition.
As soon as he wiped the mirror, the man would vanish, and he would see himself again.
Which could be sometimes worse than seeing that stranger's face. Nobody noticed how terrible he looked, because he was good at controlling his facial muscles to not show how saggy and heavy his lower eyelids were. Or he would cover it up with some powder, make himself look more appealing just like those male actors in Hollywood.
After taking those painfully long preparations, he'll be the ever so perfect 'Roland Faust' again.
"You girls should go home. Don't you have work or something?" He asked them as he got out of the bathroom, now fully dressed.
He was now wearing a suit and looked more like a model than some droopy eyed lawyer, which was what he truly was.
The naked girls in his bed stirred awake, mumbling with their soft lips and stretching their slender limbs. They were like a flock of graceful swans, but they were as loud as geese. However, Roland preferred their company over spending his nights alone with himself. He preferred that pointless loudness than the deafening silence.
"Stay with us a bit more, Roland~"
"We missed you so much, you know?"
"You look rougher than usual. Why don't you take some rest?"
Roland scoffed as he adjusted his cufflinks. "I can't. An innocent boy is going to be sentenced to life time imprisonment if I don't hurry up soon."
One of the girls twirled her hair. "Oh yeah. I heard about that case. It's connected to the other one from five years ago, right?"
"What other one?" Roland frowned. "Why haven't I heard about it?"
He was well-versed in all the most infamous cases in New York State. It's not possible that something would escape his research, since he had been dedicated to studying crime and criminal defense for 5 years now.
"Of course you wouldn't hear about it. It happened in Los Angeles, silly. But the lawyer was from New York, and the poor guy got his face ripped off or so I heard. Only rumors reached here, apparently the suspect got released and used hush money to not let the press know about his lawyer being killed by him."
Roland raised an eyebrow. "It was his own client that killed him?"
Another one nodded. "Yeah…. So I think you should back up now, Roland. Your handsome face is too much a price to lose over some kid."
But this only made Roland more determined to move faster. "I can't, especially since I know that now. Here you go."
He handed them a fat wad of cash and some credit cards. The three rejoiced, and Roland set out to court.
Paul Pheme had told him to look for the Wade Dalton case. That must be the lawyer they were talking about. Roland had almost forgotten about his conversation with that guy after everything that happened. And it was during when he was…..
He shook his head, trying to push off red camellias from his mind.
The sickening smell of roses came into the air, meaning that he was getting close to the New York State Supreme Court, Criminal Term. It was just a few blocks from Chinatown and right beside Columbus Park. The roses and other flowery scent came from that park, as a rose garden had been built on it.
Mostly white roses. It was actually common for many victim's families to either use these white roses for the funeral of their loved one….. Or as a subtle death threat to the suspect.
Roland rubbed his temples, as the smell just made his headache worse. He also had a bit of a hangover and lingering fatigue from the events of last night.
Instead of getting inside, Roland went over to a bench near a streetlamp. He knows a certain someone would be there, feeding pigeons or taking a nap in his grimy and tacky suit.
"Paul." Roland called out when he found him.
"Ah, Faust." Paul Pheme was in the middle of his pigeon feeding. "Your first session as Garcia's representative is today, wasn't it? You only took a week to prepare, and you seemed to have celebrated the night before too. You must really be confident about winning this... Or maybe just plain arrogant."
Roland had no idea how this guy could notice since he knew he had covered up signs of his inebriation last night. But that doesn't matter.
"I still have at least 30 minutes. The family is not here yet." Roland said. "So I figured I'll ask you about Wade Dalton. You told me to look him up, but I figured I'm better off asking you since you 'hear everything'."
"Haha, I don't. The walls do, that's what I always say. And nice little birdies." He let one of the pigeons perch on his fingers.
He rubbed its chest and it cooed softly. "You're here about Wade Dalton. I hope you haven't taken your breakfast yet, or you'd easily lose it once I tell you the tale."
Roland scowled. "Just keep it short. No need for theatrics."
"Oh, this one doesn't need theatrics." Paul's face then became serious. "It was a horror. That's what it was. That old man poked his nose somewhere he shouldn't have…."
He let the little bird fly away, looking up at the sky with a look that felt familiar. Roland knew that very well, that tired, wistful look…..
He can see it on himself all the time.
"It all started when he wanted to show-off to this young assistant of his. Just to prove a point, he went to the City of Angels, only to find demons lurking there. And the demons ate him up…. They ate him up even before he died."
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