C14 Joana

I kept quiet for a while. I really thought I was the best, but for that case... My instinct and logic confronted each other. Was he really innocent or just very good at diverting attention to other things?

I spent so much time reflecting on it, that the waiter even came back with our orders, satisfied with himself with all the efficiency and speed. I blinked, taking control of my own thoughts.

"He simply has too many problems to trust someone else," I vented to Jessy, as he devoured my plate with fries. Unlike my sister, I had chosen a full meal instead of a hamburger, but I didn't give up the potatoes and soda. Balance was everything. "He wrapped me up during the entire visit so that I didn't have time to ask about what happened the night he was arrested.”

" Have you ever tried asking Hazz? " suggested Jessy, arching a well-made eyebrow.

" Now, Jessy. I've already told everyone that I could have some idea of the facts "I sighed, rolling my eyes.

I deserved a little credit. She was a natural stalker, and had extracted information even from the police officers who were involved in that operation, and who were mysteriously removed from their positions a few weeks after the event. Everyone seemed to be involved in some soap opera plot that I was still trying to understand where it started and where it ended.

And the worst part is that, despite finding Pablo Sinclair a tremendous hottie, being interested in your case was just an attempt to find out who could be messing with my life and that of my sisters at the same time. In the previous months, Jessy had suffered an attempted kidnapping, and was only free from the torment for having been protected by Hazz Sinclair, Pablo's brother.

Coincidentally, he was in the wrong place, but at the right time, just like his brother. The two men did not show me to be strongly connected to what happened. They seemed too oblivious to the dangers, and had a nature that was totally contrary to the facts. Anyway, despite my infallible sense to understand a person's intentions, it was always good to be careful.

So, despite loving my sister's new boyfriend, I was determined not to totally involve him in that story. Only my mother and I actually knew that list of possible enemies that could be involved in Jessy's kidnapping attempt and those strange situations that we were involved in from time to time.

"You are so persuasive, Jo," said Jessy, wiping her mouth on a napkin. She had devoured the hamburger in record time that day. I should be having a dog day too. " Why couldn't you get that out of him already in this first presentation? Are you losing your way?”

"I'll never lose my way to deal with men, sis," I replied with a dry laugh. "Only that the problem with that guy is that he has an aura of those who know how to deceive people, despite appearing a disproportionate innocence to his countenance. I was in doubt every second that he answered any question. I even thought about asking what his full name was, to see if he would lie. You know, we use this type of interrogation when the individual is being subjected to the polygraph test, popularly known as the truth test.”

"Stories class, I like that," said Jessy, mocking.

I rolled my eyes again, even though I smiled. My head was already hurting, and it was not even after two o'clock in the afternoon. I still had to go back to the office and check the progress of the process documents that I still kept ahead of, coordinate my team to always have excellence in cases, and still attend a very important and decisive dinner.

It was a miracle that Jessy could have accepted my invitation to lunch, considering that she was the busiest sister among all of us, and that now she had a man to share the few attentions she could give us. Speaking of him, she was from time to time checking her cell phone, waiting for some message, I imagined.

"How are you? "I asked suddenly, changing the subject. Jessy blinked. "You and Hazz," I explained, " how are you dealing with this relationship?”

"It's not a courtship," she said for the thousandth time, and I laughed. "We're just getting to know each other better. He has plans to take a trip to the countryside and introduce me to his brother. I’m thinking of taking you or one of the other girls to relieve stress.

" Don't even think about taking me to the countryside, I would go crazy with so many wild animals around me," I grumbled like the good little girl I was.

Jessy laughed.

"They are not wild animals. Cattle is necessary for our lives, you know?”

"Yes, but that life is not for me, so leave the cattle there and leave me quiet here," I replied without any softness.

"If you're pissed off for your failure with your client, you shouldn't be playing on me," Jessy replied, opening an ironic smile. "You know you can drop the case if he doesn't offer any help, don't you?”

I held my tongue so I wouldn't start saying that the family lawyer wasn't Jessy and that she didn't even know half the mass to keep talking nonsense. Of course I could abandon the case, all Pablo's other lawyers had done the same thing, and now I understood why.

The man was a door in terms of being sincere and honest. No wonder I was in jail. I didn't believe he was innocent, even without proof to the contrary. Proving that he was only in the wrong place would be the most complicated challenge of my life. He seemed to like that situation, as if being in jail was better than life outside it.

"I'm not going to give up for anything in this world," I replied with a cross of arms. "He'll have to put up with me. For better or for worse.”