Denial

'Hey, yo, Indigo.'

'Hey. What's up?'

'Just comin' for a drink with my old buddy Seth here, and he brought a coupla others too. You on your own?'

'Yeah, just fancied getting out of the fucking house. The kids are down for a nap, Wednesday wants some time alone, so why not go get beered up?'

'And I'm pretending my upcoming exams don't exist.'

'I don't need an excuse.'

'Ugh, yeah. I think that's why Wed wants some time alone, honestly.'

'It's awful.'

'Anyway, this is Jude, Seth and Landon.'

'Nice to meet you, I'm Indigo.'

'Nice to meet you too.'

'So what's Nyla doing tonight? Thought you were over living at hers so you could protect her.'

'She's got friends over. I didn't leave her on her own. Hopefully the asshole'll stay away.'

'I dunno who you're talking about, but smash his balls to paste if he acts up.'

'Nyla's ex, major fuckin' asshole, long story.'

'I already did kick his ass though so it's cool.'

'So what's new with you?'

'Still just wedding planning shit mainly. I told Abraxas to go eat a big fat cock and he threw a tantrum as expected, so that was fun. Gonna be moving in with Quinn soon, too. How about you?'

'Good for you! And oh, same old. I've been enjoyin' this livin' together thing. First time for me too, y'see.'

'Oh cool. Well hopefully it'll be good for us too. At least Richard's not coming along for the ride, I draw the fucking line there.'

'Who's that?'

'My misogynistic relic of a future father-in-law. He has his moments but he's a dick a lot of the time. Like asking me about my fucking virginity in front of Tate and Abraxas.'

'Whoa, really? That's awful!'

'I know right, I told him it wasn't any of his fucking business. Apparently he'd "prefer" his son to marry a virgin. I feel like we should fuck before the wedding just to piss him off.'

'Yeah, I think I would too.'

'Better hope he stuck to the same rule, back in the day, if he's askin' it of you.'

'I would, but that'd involve thinking about Richard's sex life, and I might have to pour bleach into my eyes if I did that.'

'Grim. Carmella told me all about him.'

'Oh God, I just bet she did. Anyway, he can fuck off, I don't want to spend my night out reminiscing about some ancient asshole.'

'Getting smashed it is!'

'What's your poison?'

'Cocktails. Usually vodka-based. Are you in here often?'

'Now how the fuck am I meant to get a round in with a vague answer like that? But yeah, I come here fairly frequently. Not for the company though.'

'Yeah, I know what you mean, mentioning no names. We do too. Purely for the cost factor.'

'And for the fact that balls in beer doesn't get you thrown out, huh?'

'Or at least, I'm guessing that's Stan's main reason for drinking here.'

'Hey, I don't do it that often!'

'Nah, I have an image to uphold.'

'Good, because if I ever see your nutsack again, I'm walking.'

'It usually makes the ladies walk toward me.'

'In your dreams, maybe.'

'The problem there is I'm not a lady.'

'Hey, you found yourself a place yet?'

'No, not yet. Edward's been looking into it but there's a waiting list, and since I do have a roof over my head, I'm not the biggest priority.'

'Wait, what?'

'I'm technically homeless. Sleeping on the Boss' sofa.'

'Eh, I ain't your boss any more, you don't have to call me that.'

'Oh fuck, sorry to hear that.'

'Yeah. It's not really convenient, but what can you do? My mum kicked me out. I'm 18. So...'

'...Well... Why don't you take my place? Once we've moved in with Quinn none of us are gonna need it any more. So it might as well go to someone who does.'

'What, take your house? Seriously?'

'Sure, why the hell not? I mean, it's not the greatest looking place in the world and it's only one bedroom, but you're one person so it's hardly a big deal.'

'No, that's awesome, thanks a lot!'

'No problem. I'll let you know when we've moved out.'

'Wow, nice one. That's worked out just perfect.'

'So what's new today?'

'I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you, Mr Mayor.'

'Oh dear. Go on.'

'It's about an investigation into an arson attack that happened about a month ago now. Your son brought in some evidence today that's pretty damning against you, sir.'

'Me? What is this evidence?'

'Photos. Photos of you setting fire to the property. And it looks quite legit.'

'And just where did he get those photos?'

'He said it was sent to him in the mail anonymously.'

'That was it? No letter or anything?'

'Apparently not.'

'Then that could be any old bullshit, couldn't it? In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Ellis had doctored those photos himself.'

'I... I mean, you didn't actually do it, then?'

'Of course not. Think about it. Why would there be photos of me setting somebody's house on fire? Who's supposed to have taken them? And why would they send them to Ellis, who's known to hate me, instead of going to the police themselves as a witness? Does any of that make sense to you?'

'No, I suppose not-'

'What time of day did this fire take place?'

'Early hours of the morning, sir.'

'So, I'm supposed to have been awake in the early hours of the morning to commit this arson, and somebody else just happened to know that I was there doing that, but simply took photos and sent them to my son weeks after the fact? Do you not find that utterly ridiculous?'

'The fire was reported by somebody saying they'd witnessed it being started, but they didn't identify themselves, and we haven't been able to track them down. It seems like the photos might have been taken by this person.'

'It's a very dodgy situation.'

'But it very much looks like you...'

'Photos of me are not hard to come by. All it takes is some skill with photo manipulation and there you go.'

'It... was your daughter's house, sir.'

'Which makes the entire thing even more implausible. Look, you need to steer the blame away from me, and fast. Make sure those photos are analysed, and make sure the conclusion is that they're fake. For Christ's sake, do not let this investigation go any further in my direction, and do not allow any of this to get to the press. Is that clear?'

'Crystal clear, Mr Mayor.'

'Good. Thank you. You can go now.'

'Hello, Abraxas. I need you to visit me as soon as possible. Is that okay? We have things we need to discuss. Thank you.'