Ray had been scribbling down everything Clay was saying, but he looked up, to see him almost in tears. He pushed the box of tissues on the desk towards him, and, after a moment, the bowl of slightly misshapen chocolates, too. Cases where the suspect themselves didn’t remember what had happened had that extra element of difficulty, but Ray had been in this business for over twenty years. It was nothing he couldn’t handle, and, besides, something inside him was telling him to trust this kid.
“So, you work with space stuff? What is it that you do, exactly?” he asked. He’d gotten into the habit of making sure his clients were comfortable with him, before he started on the serious business. He figured Clay needed a breather before they jumped back into matter at hand. “And… don’t worry about not remembering everything. You’ve been through a whole lot; losing someone close to you is hard enough, without a murder charge on top of it..”
He tapped his pen on the notepad, thinking. Clay didn’t have to worry about not remembering, but Ray would, later. He didn’t show this concern, though. “I’ll take your case, by the way, if you’re sure you want me to. The more I know about the place and the people involved, the easier time I’ll have in getting to the bottom of this.”
Clay gratefully took a tissue from the given box, sniffling all the while. “I-I, uh... I work as an astronaut... I was supposed to have my first trip to the moon today but...” he trailed off, still in a state of disbelief, “...Otherwise, I usually stay in the station, training with the other astronauts or helping out with the engineers where I can.”
When Ray offered to take his case, Clay nodded quickly. “I’ll do my best to remember, but it’s a little... hard right now. All I can think about is the explosion and what happened after. But if I remember anything about the moment, I’ll tell you.” He wracked his brain to think of any other people who would’ve been involved, a sense of unease in the back of his mind, unable to be shaken. “As for the others... Aura Blackquill was there, past the window in the office. I don’t think Mr. Cosmos was there, since he was back in one of the control rooms... Since we’re so short-staffed because of under-funding, I think that’s it, sir.”
A sharp tang of guilt ran down his spine, but for what reason, Clay had no idea. He brushed it off as grief and paranoia from the incident, but it felt nagging, begging for his attention. He couldn’t handle this, not right now.
