Excerpt:

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click…

The murderer had placed his legs on the desk, back reclined into the office chair in a languid manner. He was tapping his fingernails against the glassy surface of the table, the clicking noise resounding in the room.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click…

The occupant at the other side of the desk was a figure shrouded in thick afternoon shadows, backlit by the flaming windows. He sat rigidly on his own chair, waiting. The tips of his hair were shining red and yellow in the sunlight.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click…

“So…” the murderer wrapped his tongue around the word pensively, and the vexatious clicking stopped.

The head of fire shifted, and eyes turned to stare attentively at the fainéant client – the murderer.

“You’re saying there’s no other choice?” The man finally completes the sentence, dragging out the last word in something akin to contentment.

The shadowed figure lets out an inconspicuous sigh, either at the dreariness of his predicament or the repetition of the question.

“Yes,” he replied, “there is no other option left… Unless you desire to die, that is.”

There was a harsh swipe of legs, and an instant later, there were no feet on the table, only a peeved murderer leaning over the desk with craziness in his eyes.

The murderer glared at his lawyer in petulance and whispered threateningly, “I wouldn’t hire you if I wanted death so much, you know?”

The lawyer nodded his head.

“Yes, yes. Nobody sane wishes to die…”

And the lawyer leaned forward as well, a dark look on his face. The shadows moved and flitted away, leaving a patch of his face visible in the office’s florescent lights.

“That’s why the only viable option left is to plead insanity.”

The metal tag on the lawyer’s breast pocket glittered in the shivering light. The word “Adelwolf” flashes for a split second, but the second half of the name remains in darkness.