Agnodice
Sebastian sat on the jail cell bench, the rusted chains creaking and groaning with each slight movement. He looked up at a small window in the cell, soft orange, and pink dawn rays slowly leaking in the room. He took a deep breath, rubbing his face, exhaustion starting to catch up to him. He could feel the stiff tips of new growth starting to break through his skin. He had been unable to sleep the night before, the worry of his daughter and what was to come of him tormenting him throughout the night.
He gazed at the sky for a few minutes longer, wondering if this was a time for him to pray or not. He had not seriously prayed since his wife died. He had never seen a point. What good was prayer if it went unanswered? Maybe that's too harsh, he would think right after. Scolding himself on forgetting that he still had his daughter. His daughter, who was now by herself.
He was deep in his thoughts, not hearing the door to the station open and shut. It wouldn't have mattered to him either way; he wasn't in the talking mood.
“You look like shit.” It was Deputy Halmil. He dropped his keys and hat on the desk and walked over to a simple wooden stand that had a coffee pot and a few paper cups on the top. “How do you like your coffee?”
The man in the cell was quiet for a moment, his eyes still on the sky. He took a deep breath. “Black with three sugars… please.”
“Sure thing.” Halmil reached down to the first shelf and brought up a container of sugar. “You know, I’ve been to the big city for some sort of cop training— like how to profile better, how to get confessions out of your suspects, some bullshit like that, but it’s been some time since then. I won't say I remember everything, ain't like I was gettin' quizzed on that stuff later anyhow.
"But they had a lil spot for coffee. No more fancy than what we got here but those city boys were sure proud of it, I tell you what! Asking if I had ever seen something so “innovative” like this before. Told me I could take this idea back home. I just laughed at them.” He shook his head, chuckling. “Those city boys sure do think they know everything, huh?”
Sebastian couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “You’ve told me that story a dozen times, Donald.”
“And it never gets old!” Halmil poured the hot coffee into a paper cup and then dropped three cubes of sugar into the cup. He handed Sebastian the cup, steam rising from the coffee. “I just let them believe that they’re smarter than me. I figured they deserve it with all their big city crime numbers being so low, a man has to take a victory where he can.”
Sebastian took a quick sip from his cup, the drink burning his lips and tongue. “I bet the coffee is just as shitty.”
Halmil laughed. “It’s worse!” He leaned against the metal cell bars, looking at Sebastian. “But talking of crimes… I don’t believe that you did what they’re saying you did.”
“I appreciate your words, if only they could sway everyone else.”
“But you know something. Just tell them what you know! Make this easy for yourself.”
“I can’t, it isn’t that simple.”
“Why not?!” He pushed himself up, coffee jumping over the lip of his cup and spilling to the floor but he paid it no mind. He stared at the man in the cell, his voice desperate. “I can’t sit by and let you do this to yourself! You're a good man, a God fearing man and you know what they’re going to do to you after your trial if you even want to call it that. You have to say something!”
Sebastian took another sip from his coffee, longer this time. It was as if he thought that if he kep his mouth occupied, he wouldn't have to talk. But Donald wasn't ready to drop the subject. Sebastian had never considered this man a friend, not a close one anyway. He felt bad that he as letting him down in some way but his daughter's safety was far more important.
“I appreciate that but it’s out of my hands. If not me, then someone else and I don't want that so it has to be me.” He said solemnly, firm in his decision.
Donald wanted to argue the point more but deep down, he knew there was no point. It was as he said: Sebastian is a good, God fearing man. A man who doesn't run from his judgment, even if it is not meant for him. A martyr for a cause that only he knows about.
The two men sat in silence, sipping at their coffee. Eventually, Donald left to go on his patrol, leaving Sebastian alone with his thoughts and his resolution.