Chance Encounters

Paris stood up, blinking a few times, walking over towards the cell bars towards her. Mattias pulled on her arm, whispering a warning into her ear that he could be a serial killer but she pulled away from him impatiently. "Shut up, Mattias!" she hissed and he complied, muttering something under his breath, which she didn't quite catch. Paris looked puzzled at the stream of Norwegian and she turned back to him, biting her lip slightly, trying to hold back a smile. He grinned, " telling me why you're here?" She grinned back, "I'm your lawyer, and so is he, but he doesn't speak English, so technically I'm doing the whole talking thing, and he does the research. Works well for me."

Blair stood up, tapping on Paris' arm, "Friend of yours? Mind introducing me? I mean, I'm more in trouble than you least I think I am." Paris grinned and Mira held her hand out towards Blair, shaking his firmly, "Miranda Lorenzo, and this," she pointed to Mattias who was now busy chatting up a female officer, "is my ex-cop lawyer partner, Mattias Gasseholm. Don't bother talking to him, he doesn't speak English, that's why I'm here." Blair grinned, "A pleasure, Miranda, I'm sure." He bent to kiss her hand and she pulled it away hastily. "Sorry, already spoken for." Blair flushed, murmuring his apologies and she shrugged, "Don't worry, happens all the time." She winked at Paris and he smirked a little, trying not to laugh.

Mattias wandered over, "If you want to interview them now, here's the key." He pressed the key into her hand, pinching her rear and she jumped, "I suppose that's payback for the snub?" He nodded, smirking and she scowled, "God Mattias, you're such a bastard. Get over it, he's an old friend of mine. You're just jealous." Mattias laughed heartily, throwing his head back. "You know something Mira? You're right, I am jealous. If I had gotten to you first." She snickered, cutting him off mid-sentence, unlocking the cell door and leading Paris and Blair, who were thoroughly bewildered by this point, not understanding a word of Norwegian, into the interview room down the hall.

"Please sit," she said, indicating two chairs on one side of the table. The sat obediently and she took a seat on the other side, Mattias swaggering in, apologising to her and sitting down beside her. She noticed with a smirk that Paris was eyeing Mattias up and down. "Why are you in here?" she asked Mattias and he replied, "Well, I didn't think I should leave a lovely lady such as yourself at the mercy of these two." "Well then watch from behind the mirror!" she snapped impatiently. He glowered at Paris and Blair before getting up and stepping out of the room.

"That's better," she said, now in English, folding her hands and resting them on the table. "Now would you mind telling me why you're here, in your own words? As you probably guessed, I've already heard about what happened from the officer who brought you in. I'll interview you both, one at a time. She motioned to Paris to leave the room, speaking aloud in Norwegian, knowing Mattias could hear her from behind the mirror, "Mattias, keep him company while I interview this one. Be nice!" She turned around and saw Mattias standing beside Paris who was watching what was going on inside the room with interest.

"Now, Blair, please tell me what happened in the church." Blair stammered, "W-w-well.I had my lighter and I lit my c-c-cigarette, then I noticed an old newspaper on the ground, so I crumpled it up and lit it, giving us some warmth. Paris had already dozed off by this point. I closed my eyes for a second and suddenly the church was on fire. Somebody had obviously poured gasoline on the aisle carpet because it was alight almost instantly. I woke Paris and we grabbed our stuff, getting out of there as fast as we could, finding a police car waiting outside for us. It brought us here, we stayed the rest of the night and now, here I am." She nodded understandingly, "And are you or have you ever been involved with the Black Metal Mafia or The Inner Black Circle Of Norway?" He shook his head fiercely.

She nodded thoughtfully, making notes on the writing pad in front of her, stifling a laugh when she realised how ridiculous it was. She stood, opening the door and signalled to Mattias, speaking quietly to him, "Mattias, I need you to take Blair here down and get him on the record, then escort him back to the cell. I'll do this one myself right?" Mattias nodded, grinning, and she turned to Blair. "Go with Mattias, he'll get you on the record, and he'll take care of you." Blair nodded and followed Mattias down the hall. She then turned to Paris, holding the door open, "Your turn." He grinned and strolled into the room, taking a seat as she shut the door quietly behind her.

She took her seat, smirking a little, "Well, well, well, Paris Prospero. What a surprise to see you here in Oslo. I thought you'd be somewhere more exciting." He shrugged offhandedly, "Always wanted to see Norway and what might you be doing here, Miranda Lorenzo?" She grinned, "Work, as you can see. They needed an English-speaking translator to be Mattias' partner for a few weeks and unfortunately we hit it off." She grimaced, "He's such a typical male, but, yeah, he does the research, I do the talking, so it's fine with me. He just gets on my nerves." Paris grinned, "I remember a time when I got on your nerves." She chewed on her lip, trying to remember. "Ah, yes, but that was different. You were being cold and ignoring me, but Mattias is too devoted to me. There's a rumour flying around the office that he's going to ask me out but, as you already know, I'm spoken for." He smirked, "Yes, I should know, shouldn't I? He better not go there, or he'll have me to answer to, and it won't be pleasant to say the least. You'd have to translate of course."

Mira smirked, "Anyway, let's get down to the questioning. We can talk later. So, is Blair's story true? You were asleep when he lit the paper and then set the church alight 'accidentally'?" Paris nodded, "Yeah, I was tired. He'd slept on the plane on the way over, but I couldn't." She nodded, making a note on the notepad, "And why were you in the church in the first place?" "The hotel, which was across the street, was either shut or abandoned. We saw the church open so we walked over and decided to crash in there for the night." She nodded thoughtfully, making a few more notes, "Well, they can't prosecute you for arson, but there's a fine for vagrancy, which is about 1000 kroner, I think. Do you have that much?" He nodded, "There goes part of my spending money. I think I'll just go back to Belfast after this, I can't be bothered to travel any more."

Her head snapped up and she looked at him, "They rented me a two-bedroom apartment for the time I'm here. If you want, you can stay and we can fly back together in a few weeks after I've finished up here. I think your friend will be here for a while yet." He nodded, a smile creeping over his face, "That'd be great. I wasn't really thrilled about having to fly back alone." She smiled, "Well, you can hang around with Blair while Mattias and I prepare for his defence in court. His defence won't be done until we're gone, so I'll have to write out in full the notes so that his partner can pick up where I left off." He nodded and they stood, making towards the door. Just before she stepped out of the room, she turned and leant towards him, kissing his cheek gently, "It's great to see you again, after so long." He grinned, "Great to see you too. Come and get me when you're finished." She walked down the hall towards Mattias and he turned the opposite direction, steeling himself for Blair's outburst as he walked towards the cell.