by C.P. Murphy
Chapter Thirty-Two
When court was called back to order the following morning, Judge Harrison looked to Richard Young and asked, “You’ve called your last witness yesterday. Am I to presume that is correct?”
The District Attorney looked towards the defendant and then up to the judge. He wasn’t sure how this turn of events would go over with them. “No Sir Your Honor,” he stated. “I would like to call Patrick Buchanan to the stand.”
Uproar arose in the crowd and, like the day before, Harrison had to demand order by banging his gavel. He wasn’t sure what Young was up to but had no time for interruptions such as this. “Mr. Young, he isn’t on your list of witnesses. What is the meaning to all of this?”
“Your Honor, I object,” Maxwell shouted. If anyone would have tricks up his sleeve, it would be him and not Young. “My client has never met Buchanan before she disappeared and I don’t believe that Buchanan has anything to say that could leave the jury to believe my client is guilty.”
By now the judge was disturbed and wasn’t in the mood to play with the two fighting attorneys. He pointed his finger at both of them and demanded that they come forward to speak with him. At the sidebar, Harrison questioned the District Attorney, “What’s this all about?”
“I feel that Buchanan has sufficient testimony to prove a motive.”
“That is crap, Your Honor, and you know it,” Maxwell insisted. Young was stalling in the trial, perhaps he didn’t want his key witness to be cross examined just yet.
“If it’s crap, Maxwell,” Young almost shouted, “Then you would have no problem with him speaking his word. What do you have to lose besides this case?”
Again the judge had enough. Maxwell wasn’t happy about the change in the witness list but it wasn’t his court. “Fine,” he decided. “I’ll let him testify but I hope for your sake he comes through with a motive.”
The men turned back to their places though the defendant’s attorney wasn’t pleased. Young glanced at Patrick to let him know that it was all right for him to come forward. As Patrick passed him, Young whispered, “You realize that he will come back and fight everything you tell me.” Patrick continued up to the stand, was sworn in, and took his seat waiting for the questions to begin. Young looked around the room and could see everyone sitting on the edge of their seats. He began, “Mr. Buchanan, did you know the defendant before Miss Samuels was killed?”
“No, Sir,” Patrick answered but continued on to explain himself. “I’ve never met him before but knew of his demeanor from Amelia.”
“Can you please tell the jury why you think you know what Van Martin’s motive was?” Young wasn’t convinced that this would help his case or not but maybe there would be some kind of reaction from the defendant’s face to make the jury believe what Buchanan was saying.
Patrick took a deep breath and looked out to the Samuels family. He had forgotten that Anna would sit there anxiously waiting to hear what he had to say. At that moment he wished that he could yell out to her and tell her to go home. Everyone was staring at him, waiting for him to speak. “Between Miller’s testimony and the autopsy report, we know that Amelia was raped by her killer.”
“And how does a motive fit into that statement, Mr. Buchanan?”
He swallowed and licked his dry mouth before continuing. Many of the villagers accepted him for who he was but admitting what he shared with Amelia was bound to tear them away again. “When Thomas Van Martin raped her, he found out she wasn’t a virgin.”
The crowd was outraged and made more noise than ever. Henry was sick to his stomach and couldn’t even look to his family to see how they were reacting. He wanted to scream but couldn’t find the strength in him. It was no wonder why Patrick had asked him to understand the day before.
Anna glared her eyes ahead at Patrick and couldn’t believe that he dared corrupt her sister’s reputation the way he did. For a moment in time, he wasn’t the man she thought him to be but in time she too would come around to forgive him. Thomas had heard more than he wanted to and decided, once again, to play the innocent victim and mournful fiancé. “You son-of-a-bitch,” he screamed as he jumped from his seat. “She was my fiancée, not yours.”
Harrison used all of his might to bang his gavel that seemed to be unheard. “Order, I said order in this court,” he demanded. It took several minutes for Maxwell to calm his client and for the rest of the room to return their attention to the testimony.
When all was quiet again, Young continued. “Are you suggesting that Thomas Van Martin killed Amelia because his fiancée wasn’t pure?”
“Exactly,” was all that Patrick could say. He had let them all down but worst of all, he had let Amelia down by revealing their secret. He heard Young announce that he didn’t have more questions and knew that Maxwell was coming to take his shots.
“Mr. Buchanan, you were once on trial for the same murder; were you not?” Maxwell was determined to bring Patrick down and clear his client.
“Yes.”
“And by some miracle that an Army General appeared and cleared your name, you were freed. Isn’t that the truth?”
Patrick nodded but received the same advice that Jacob had received from the judge. Making himself heard, Patrick answered. “Yes that is true.”
Maxwell paused from questioning Patrick and turned his direction to the jury. “Gentleman, this man here was found not guilty by chance but many still believed he was the killer even after he was declared innocent. Now he tells us that the victim has had sexual relations and we can only assume he meant with himself. He says his word is proving my client had a motive to kill but perhaps it was his own motive he is speaking of.” He paced back and forth for a minute before turning back to Patrick to continue pressuring him for answers. “Did you force yourself onto her?”
“No way,” Patrick insisted. “Amelia and I were in love. She was devastated by her best friend’s ploy to separate us and decided that she would not allow others to determine her fate for her. She wanted me to make love to her.”
“So you gave the lady what she wanted?”
“Not right away, I told her it wasn’t right,” Patrick explained. Hoping it was helping the family understand more than it did the jury. “She said she would rather marry me than Thomas and then seduced me.” He looked out to the audience who were giving him evil looks as if he was the devil. “I’m only man,” he remarked in defense.
Maxwell chuckled at the situation. Buchanan was putting himself into a grave and didn’t even realize it. “Mr. Buchanan, it’s my understanding that after your premarital intimacy the two of you argued and she ran from you. Could it be because she became remorseful for giving herself to you?”
If Patrick could have, he would’ve jumped over the stand and strangled the defense attorney. The man knew nothing of his love for Amelia or hers for him. “No, we argued because she found out why her father was making her marry Thomas. She didn’t like what she heard, but I knew that her anger wasn’t guided at me.”
“Oh that is right, Mr. Buchanan,” Maxwell stated as if he didn’t know what happened that night. “She ran off to marry my client as soon as she could.”
“As far as I know,” Patrick replied, “Yes.”
“And as far as you are concerned, that was enough to chase after her and murder her in cold blood.”
Anna was upset with what Patrick admitted but still knew that he wasn’t the one who had taken her sister away. She had listened to all she cared for and would not let them back Patrick into the corner. “No,” she stood and shouted. “He didn’t kill her.”
Phillip, who sat right next to her, stood and grabbed a hold of her but, Anna fought him to be let go. The judge was calling for order again and she could hear her father demanding that she be taken out of the building. She struggled, wanted to be there for her sister’s sake, but was too weak to get away from her strong brother-in-law. He took her outside and stayed with her until she calmed down.
Back inside the building, t
hings were settling down. Harrison instructed Maxwell to go on. He was satisfied even though Buchanan never had the chance to reply to his last statement. As far as he was concerned, it had put doubt in the jury. “Your Honor, I have no further questions.”
Patrick could step down and Harrison declared a recess. As the crowd dwindled out of the building, Patrick looked towards Henry. He would not run from the family over what was said so he walked right up to them.
“You’re a bastard,” Henry snapped when Patrick approached. All that Patrick had done was confuse the jury of who was the killer and that made Henry angry. He didn’t know what he would do if Thomas was found not guilty.
There were women standing in the group who had heard more than enough of unladylike talk and Patrick didn’t want to make things worse. He thought of the best words to use. “Say what you like, Henry but I told you, you and I were not that different. Your daughter loved me enough to want to give herself to me and we promised each other we would wed as soon as we could. Did you promise your brother’s wife you would marry her before the two of you engaged in premarital sex?”
Henry was glad that Ruth hadn’t been at the trial that day and didn’t hear what Patrick had just said in front of his entire family. He glared into Patrick’s eyes but could see that the man would not back down. He was right he told himself, and his relationship with Amelia wasn’t any different. Henry turned towards his family and asked them not to mention any of this Ruth and that they shouldn’t turn their backs onto Patrick for speaking the truth. “If I weren’t so stupid to begin with,” he said to Patrick, “She would’ve been able to tell me about you and by now you would’ve wed.” The two men shook hands, and the others returned to their seats.
Phillip had returned with Anna right after the commotion with Patrick had ended. He glanced around and whispered into Minnie’s ear. She returned the whisper, and he sat down next to her without saying another word.
Anna saw that her family was seated and were all silent so she sat in her seat saying nothing to them. She leaned her head towards Patrick and spoke. “Why couldn’t you have told me that before?”
“It was between your sister and me,” Patrick answered. “The only reason I asked to testify is because I’m convinced that after Thomas raped her, he was angered even more by what he had discovered.” He looked towards the young girl and then wiped a single tear that had formed in the corner of her eye. “Besides,” he added. “I told you yesterday you shouldn’t be at the trial, remember?”
Anna nodded her head but didn’t have the chance to respond. Several bangs from the gavel were heard, and the room became quiet once again. It was time to hear more.
It was then time for Maxwell to take over the trial since Young had no more witnesses he wanted to call up. The defense attorney wasted the rest of the day by calling up men employed at the brickyard, neighbors, and friends. They all spoke of Thomas as if he were the most caring man of all of Millersport. There wasn’t doubt in anyone’s mind that all of those witnesses were threatened by the Van Martins. One by one they all said that Thomas never lied, and that he was always there for them when they needed help with something. The men said that their daughters would’ve cherished the chance of courting him and that made the few families were against him to chuckle amongst them. Everything that was said in Thomas’ defense was believed by the jurors. They were men that weren’t from Millersport and some believed that was the only reason they could believe Thomas was a good man.
The testimonials made things look bad for the prosecution. Young knew that his only key witness was Jacob Miller but Maxwell was out to prove Jacob a liar. It worried Richard Young and the victim’s family could see it on his face. He turned back to Henry and whispered, “Don’t worry. We have a fifty-fifty chance right about now.”
Looking down at his notes and glancing at his pocket watch, Harrison knew that it was getting late. The last witness he knew Maxwell would call up would be Jacob Miller, and he had a feeling that testimonial would take awhile to wrap up. He adjourned court once again until the next morning. He lifted his gavel, dropped it onto the desk, and then stood to leave. This trial was more interesting that the last but Harrison was afraid that it was one person’s word against another’s and that nothing would be solved. As he left the Meeting house and walked towards the inn he was staying at, the judge hoped for the best.