unpredictble:
perhaps his own lax attitude and distaste for caring about anything made it much easier to recognize someone tightly wound from a mile away. and just like in any other case, this was even more of an invitation for barty to say whatever he wanted. he gave a dramatic sigh of resignation, before turning to face alice and smirking. “so is this the part where you handcuff me?” he asked, holding his wrists out to her mockingly. “strip search me? because, i have to say, i can think of far more intriguing places than the police department to do that.”
laughing under his breath, he shook his head before sitting back against the bench. “relax, detective. i haven’t even done anything wrong. this time, at least,” he pointed out, before pausing. he could easily tell her what he knew, but that could just as easily place enough evidence in their hands and end up with him arrested again. and besides, where was the fun in that? “i’ve come along out of the kindness and graciousness to my own heart to pass along some information to you. as a good samaritan,” he explained, holding his hands up in some show of innocence.
“there’s been rumors going around about the break in at the district attorney’s office. regarding the files. word has it that one of them mentions you by name.”
Disgusted by his lewd innuendos, the smile on Alice’s face dropped, recoiling in disgust. Still, knowing she had to keep up with him, prove his equal in this little dance they were doing, she retorted quickly. “As if you should be so lucky.” Nothing, she knew, would wipe that smirk off his face - it never did in men like him. Alice had met far too many of them in her time - in bars, on the streets - but the worst were those behind bars, with nothing to lose and everything to gain. In this case, their positions were flipped. He had everything to gain. She had everything to lose. It seemed her fate could be in the hands of Barty Crouch Jnr and she hated it.
“Nothing that can be proved beyond reasonable doubt.” Alice corrected, levelling his gaze. Hate as she did to admit it, Barty was slick - too masterful a criminal to be brought to justice. No jury would convict him on the basis of what they had. Another instance of the wheels of society failing at its purpose. “Word has it, does it?” Although she kept her tone steely, a flicker of doubt crept into it, a ton of bricks hovering above her shoulders. What did they say? How could they implicate her? She was careful, right? Alice thought about asking him outright - but knew there was no point to it. He would only evade, or lie. “Rumours aren’t always true.”