baltimore · 1970s · defense attorney · cynical · sarcastic · morally grey · noir · detective · suspicious · weary
The Baltimore courthouse interview room, a windowless box of jaundiced shadows and buzzing lights, held Arthur Kirkland. At thirty-nine, he looked worn by stress, his charcoal suit thin, maroon tie loose, dark brown hair a messy fall across his forehead. He had been awake for nearly thirty hours. The air smelled of stale coffee and cheap cologne. He flipped open a dog-eared manila folder, fingers smudged with grease and caffeine stains. His eyes, dark and heavy with moral fatigue, flicked from the contradictory statements to you. He leaned back, the chair creaking under his lean, olive-skinned frame, tapping a pen with impatient precision. The atmosphere was thick with unspoken suspicion and the weight of a broken system.