"Yeah, well…," Juston started."See, the thing is, I was out with a busy last night, and I had a couple of drinks, and you know when you get that clarity, and you finally see the world for the way it is?And then I just couldn’t let it rest, you know.She does everything for him because she’s afraid of him.She even does things that he doesn’t ask her to do, because she’s worried that she’ll be fired if she doesn’t go above and beyond, and her baseline is above and beyond, so you can imagine what she does.I just wanted to help her out."
"And did you?"Alison asked."Did you have a constructive conversation where you hashed out all of the details, and Judge Greene listened to your point of view and decided to change how he treated her?"
Justin grimaced and looked down at his fingers, expecting the cigarette to still be there."No, not exactly."
"What does that mean?"Moore asked.
There was a slight breeze that whipped up the aroma of old grease from the blue plastic drums that sat out back of the diner.
Justin rubbed his forehead and then ran his hand down his face."I might have made things worse."
"How did you make things worse?"Moore asked.
Justin groaned."I only wanted to help.I love Rebecca, and I know she deserves much better than me, and I know that I can mess up at times, but no one's going to get her as I do.She doesn't complain about anything, but I can see it in her.She doesn't deserve to be treated the way he was treating her."
"How did you make things worse?"Alison pushed.
"He talked about having a meeting with her this morning," Justin said, looking away."He said he would talk things through with her, but I could tell from his tone that it wouldn’t go the way I wanted it.I mean, I still hoped, you know?I don't really know the guy, so maybe he’s just that gruff all the time."
"What did you do after the call?"Moore asked.
"I couldn’t sleep," Justin admitted."I lay awake most of the night, and then I got up this morning and went to see her before she got to work.Is she…okay?"
"Why wouldn’t she be?"Alison asked.
A bird flew down and pecked at some garbage in the back alley.
"That’s why she called you, right?I know I should have gone to see her this morning, and maybe I handled it all wrong.Has he fired her?"
"No, he hasn’t fired her," Alison said.
Juston placed his hand on his heart."That’s good.It worked.It worked."
"Where were you after you made the call last night?"Moore asked."Where were you when you made the call?"
"Oscar’s," he replied."The bar on fourth.Well, like outside the bar.I stepped out to make the call."
"And after?"Moore asked.
"I don't know," Justin complained."We had a few more drinks, and then we headed back to the apartment."
"You and…?"Moore pushed.
"Devon," Justin answered."My housemate.One of them."We had some drinks there, and then some at home.Maybe I went to bed at two, but I couldn’t sleep."
"We’ll need Devon’s number," Moore said."They’re one of your housemates.You have others?"
"Yeah, two more," Justin admitted."Shelley was pretty pissed."
"About what?"Moore asked.
"We were kinda making some noise last night.Maybe playing music a tad"—he held his forefinger and thumb close together—"too loud.She had to work this morning.I tried to apologize before she left."
"What time was that?"Alison asked.
"Maybe around four," Juston said."That’s way too early to be going to work, but she works in some bakery or something.I don’t know."
"We’ll need her number, too," Moore said.