A Murder of Our Own
Michael Thompson
A Murder of Our Own
Michael Thompson
Copyright © 2015 by Michael Thompson. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental. Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.
Chapter I
The court was just adjourned before the judge. They had just discussed a case of a murder of a freshman that just attended Postman Challenge University. She was a young girl, only eighteen years old. She haven’t had time to chase her dream before, she was strangle and left in the woods. Forensics shows that she was conscience during her strangulation. She was the only person to see her murderer which, makes this case even more twisted. She probably looked her killer in their eyes as they pressed down on her windpipe. She could have stared deeply into their empty soul as they squeezed the last of the air from her lungs as they pinned her down. Her body was found a few hours later by a couple hiking along the trail, lying cold and still. No pulse, no warmth, no breathing. The prime suspect is her boyfriend Connor Davenport. Honestly if you couldn’t suspect that, then who?
“Connor, if there is anything that you are not telling me, I need to know now.” His lawyer, Christian, said. “If you lie it only going to make you look guiltier and your chances of winning is little to none.”
“I know this already. I told you all I know.” He responded.
Connor, was the captain of the football team, he has been suspended now due to the burden of such an ugly accusation. They wondered what people would think if he actually was a murderer. They assumed that his burden would bring burden to them and the college. Connor is a good teen though. He doesn’t drink or participate in drug related activities and have exceptional grades in his classes. But that night was reported to be agitated the night of the murder, enraged about something his girlfriend did or said. That’s what leaves everyone to believe that he had done it. He denies it and has an alibi but it is useless because no one can back it up for him. He has no proof that he was there because everyone that surrounded him was highly intoxicated from a party they attended. All the police know is that he had last contacted her and now she is dead.
His lawyer looked down and saw that it was his alarm that had silently vibrated violently during the testimonies. He had an appointment across town with someone. He had to leave right away, so he did. He closed and locked his suitcase and left out of the town hall.
He walked down to a firm building all different doctors of different expertise. Dr. Stein, Dr. Denise Harper, Dr. Kevin Constantine, and Dr. Kyra Black, name were presented on a wall directory. He had to see Kyra who was a psychologist. He venture up the stairs to her floor and knocked on her door to see that is was cracked. He walked into the room and saw that she was eating a salad. She was startled at his appearance and straightened herself.
“I didn’t know I was expecting anyone right now.” Kyra said.
“Is this a bad time, because I can come back later.” He said as he was turning back for the door.
“No, come in. It must had just slipped my mind that I was expecting you. Sit.”
He said down having his head immediately fall into his hands. It was a dead giveaway that something was wrong with him. It wouldn’t take a genius to see that something was bothering him.
“What’s bothering you, Christian?” Kyra asked.
“Nothing.” He said.
She can hear right through his lie.
“You can tell me. This is what I’m paid for. If not I would probably just sit here doodling in my little notepad.”
“I thought that what you guys do anyways?” Christian said with a smile on his face.
“It’s good to know that your sense of humor is intact. But what’s bothering you? A case got you stumped?”
He laid back on the Chase he sat on. “More like the case is stumped. I have little to no information on how to help my client which makes it hard for me to solve the case.” He took a deep calming breath. “I just don’t know what to do.”
“Why did you go into this field for your career?” Kyra asked turning for a different subject.
“Because I thought I was the type of person that made good points in cases. I thought I could be the guy to help the innocent.”
“You think your client is innocent?” She asked.
“The only thing my client is guilty of is being a total douche.” Christian said with an underlying anger.
“Why do you say that? Do you know him personally?”
“No. But I know his type. His family is wealthy, he got the pretty girlfriend, and he is the captain of the football team. He has such a good life.” Christian said with a tone nearing envy.
She took notes. “You think his life was good? Why?”
“That’s what I grew up to believe. His life is the life that everyone want to live. I was just a geek in high school and college. I was never on sports teams and throughout my childhood I was an outsider because I had this brilliance that so many people seen in me when I felt like I was like everyone else.”
“What happen throughout your childhood? How did all your academic advancement begin?” Kyra said changing her posture and picking up a pencil.
He took another deep breath and re-relaxed his shoulders.
“How it all began,” Christian said fading back into the nostalgia of his childhood, “I just remember one day sitting in my class doing a puzzle. All the pieces were jumble so that it made it impossible for me to put it together by the time my class ended. There was a lot, five hundred or so and I just remember not even failing to put each individual piece together to make the picture. I just matched them up in my head and soon enough I was down to last piece. The picture was incomplete because one piece was missing. I went up to my teacher and asked her if she knew where the missing piece was. She didn’t but she came over to see my work. She looked down and smiling with delight. “Oh you solved the beautiful puzzle. How many were there?” She said. I handed her the box and when she saw the number she, her face changed. She was completely baffled in the amount of time that I finished. She called the principal and they talked about me. He decided one day to keep me after school. They gave me puzzles and worksheets. Some I wasn’t familiar with but I still tried and I got them right. At a parent teacher conference Mrs. Downley called me a genius. My parent laughed because they didn’t take her seriously. When she saw the solemnness on her face. They knew what to do. A few weeks later I moved into a third grade class and then to a fourth. I was only five then and all I remember is feeling like an outsider. I had no friends, while everyone else were in their own cliques. I was just the young boy sitting alone. Until I met this one girl in middle school. Abagail she was bright. She lit up the days with her smile but I could tell she was troubled.”
“What troubled do you think troubled her?” Kyra said.
“I didn’t guess. Everyone knew it. She was dying. She coughed and she was bullied and isolated because she was sick.”
“What was she sick from?” Kyra continued endowed by the story.
“She suffered from a terminal form of cancer. She never told me of the pain she experienced and always sat with me and we talked about the good thing that were happening in our lives. She spoke like she was living in the moment, like she didn’t care she could die. She spoke to me like I was just another person, like never cared about my intelligence. Probably because she didn’t care. She was the only one who knew me for who I really was. We were befriended all through middle school.” He paused and
took a deep breath.
“Please continue.” Kyra said.
“She got sick one day. I visited her at the hospital and she was so weak. She couldn’t even talk to me and her parent stayed by her side crying the occasional tear. Her mother handed me the necklace her daughter wore when we first met. “She wanted you to have this.” I took it and clutched it in my hand feeling a sinking feeling in my heart. I wouldn’t even say thank you. I couldn’t. I just left and went home. I wouldn’t allow myself to watch her die. But the news reached me that later that night she did.”
“How did you feel at that moment?” Kyra asked.
“Numb... There is no feeling that can describe the way I felt.”
The timer rang and session was over. Christian got up and gathered his things.
“What did you mean by no one care to know you anymore?”
Christian smiled. “To be continued, Mrs. Black.”
“To be continued.” She echoed back smiling.
He left walking down the stairs in his head imagining that night. He shook himself from the trance, going home to finish his study for his case.
Kyra got into her car that was parked along the street. She had drove off thinking of Christian’s story. She thought of all the possibilities of what happened. Neglect or maybe abuse. She found herself in this loop. She was hooked onto his story. She had to find out more but she had to wait. She could stop her mind from racing on the thought so she turned on the radio. It talking about the upcoming election for senate. Clyde vs. Henry. Her mind cleared and she continued driving home as the skied darkened into a purple hue.
She made home to her front door. She opened it up and sat her key into a bowl next to her door. She took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack and headed back to the kitchen of their home. Her husband Victor was cooking while there little baby Lily sat in the high chair.
“Hey guys! How was your day?”
“Easy.” Victor said kissing Kyra. “What about yours?”
“I had a new client. His story is interest because he is a genius.” She responded with such delight.
“A genius? That’s new. What’s his issues?”
“You know I’m not allow to discuss our conversation between clients. Doctor Confidentiality agreement.”
“Come on just give me a summary.” Victor pleaded
“No, I can lose my job.” Kyra paused sniffing. “What’s burning?”
“Oh!” Victor rushed to the oven and Lily began to laugh as she watched her father scramble to extinguish the smoke rising from the stove and up into the ceiling smoke detector. It obnoxiously beeped continuously as he swatted the smoke to and fro away from the sensor. It soon abruptly stopped.
“Anybody want take out?” Victor said out of breath, lowering down to his knees.
Christian was working to solve the case but his past kept relapsing and distracting himself from his work. He kept falling back to the day when he was kid, he imagine that necklace his friend had gave him. He had latched onto it as his parents argued on through night. Every couple had there issues, but those two insufferable. My father drunk heavily and my mother complain about his drinking. He imagined that his friend was talking to him again as if she was still alive.
“Thing may seem bad but you don’t have to be alone anymore.” She said holding onto his hand as they sat in the playground.”
He lapsed back into reality looking further into the case. He found nothing that could help him prove his client innocence that night. He kept looking for something that could help him but kept finding himself at a dead end. There was nothing that he could find that would get him out of the endless loop. He found himself pacing back and forth thinking of a way out. He just ended up with a head ache. He rubbed his head looking at the scattered pages of the details of the case as the moon settled into the horizon and the night was fading into day.
The next day he walked through the park downtown. The birds chirped and flew around to eat the small crumbs in the cracks and crevices of the concrete like scavengers. Some brought the scavenged food to their young to eat and the others just traveled with the wind soaring. Women and men jogged by on the occasion as he sat looking at the day go by. One of jogger was Kyra.
“Kyra?” Christian said.
“Christian? Hi, what are you doing here?”
“Trying to clear my mind. I keep finding myself at a dead end.” Responded with slight sadness in her voice.
“Oh wish I could help. “Kyra said with remorse.
“Yeah me too.” Christian saying looking down.
“What did you mean yesterday when you said no one else care to know about you.”
Christian smiled. He stood up and walked along the side of Kyra. “You are very eager to learn about me. But the story is to be continued?”
“I need to know in order to help you.” She said.
“You may help me Monday until then.” He walked away.
Kyra looked at him. She jogged along to catch up with him.
“Can I ask you one thing?” Kyra asked stopped look at him. “Who are you?”
Christian smiled again. “That’s a part of the, to be continue Mrs. Black.” Christian walked away.
Kyra face filled with disappointment but she jogged on in the opposite direction of Christian, continuing her exercising regimen.
Christian walked up the stair of the courthouse. He was thinking of going to the Judge’s office. He saw the Lynn talking to the opposing lawyer. Christian rolled his eyes in disgust. He knew that approaching them that, Brian Hoffman’s ego as inflated as big as his head was. He like to brag about his cases he won while Christian didn’t have as many at least that was of any importance except for one. He held his breath as he approached them a smile. That soon turned blank, expressionless face when he saw he caught the attention of Mr. Hoffman.
“Speak of the devil.” He said with a smile on his.
“Isn’t it impolite to talk about yourself? Christian said.
“Funny, but I don’t think that your sense of humor will win over the jury.” Said Jake.
“I will, if he is an innocent man and obliviously he is.”
“How could you be sure he is unless you were there?” Jake said thinking he had the upper hand.
“The same reason why can’t say he is guilty. Unless of course you were there then that will put you as a suspect to in this whole endeavor, counsel man.”
His face harden like stone.
“Now if you two are done acting like children, I would like to know what you are interrupting my lunch for.” Spoke Judge Lynn firmly.
“I would like to know whether or not you have any knowledge of the area where the body was found?” Christian said walking along the side of her.
“Yes, I jog that trail sometimes on my off days. What about it?”
“Do you recall seeing any camera in that general area?” Christian asked
“No. You would figure that people would do the humane thing and you it for its purpose. Where did the world go?”
She walked out the door to the outside and Christian stayed in place.
“I don’t know.” Christian said with a voice of disappointment.
Kyra ran the same trail that the girl was found dead. She saw nothing but the remnants of a crime scene. Police tape attached to the trees and swaying in the wind, grasping on to that night. She stopped to look at a memorial that was set up to commemorate the deceased. A man behind Kyra spoke startling her to the point where she stood frozen.
“It was a shame the way that girl was taken out of this world. Such a young and beautiful flower that didn’t blossom.”
“Yeah she is.” She said choked up recovering.
“You have a nice day mam. Please stay safe.”
“Thank you.”
She turn back looking at the memorial having something the corner of her eye. It was like a silver coin. It flashed periodically as the wind blew letting a few rays of sunlight through. She looked down at it and
saw that it was a diamond ring. She looked around and saw no one coming. She jumped up and grabbed some of the police tape from the tree and wrapped the ring and tied it up. She put it in her pocket and kept jogging on.
Later that night she was in her house pacing back and forth looking at the ring while her husband was out. She kept looking and the ring as it sat. She thought of the consequence of what she did. She thought and fear that whether or not she would be thrown in prison for tampering with evidence. All her hard work to get her degree and her family would be broken up. She may never get to see her beautiful baby girl. She cycled through pacing and sitting on the bed staring at the ring. She couldn’t take it back now that would mess with the outcome of the case. She blame herself for going there.
“I knew I was playing fire when I went there.” She said in tears. “Why did I pick you up when I could have called the police? Why didn’t I leave you there?”
Her husband came up from behind her and she screamed in fear as he cradled her.
“Kyra! Kyra! It’s me. Calm down. It’s okay, it’s just me.”
Her screams of terror turned to the calming tears of relief from her scare.
“No one will hurt you. I promise.” Victor said holding Kyra. “I promise.”
Christian was up late in his firm trying to find a clue or hint to what could help him. He reviewed the testimonies on where everyone was at that night some seemed realistic. They were at the party that night and couldn’t remember who they saw at the party. There was one person that said they saw his client, Alex, at the party walking where the body was found yelling at her. He looked further into the case and saw a flaw he could use. One less piece of evidence that the jury could use. That was enough to have someone’s perspective change on a case he took it.
It was a new day today and everyone appeared back in court. The jury entered and judge ordered everyone to sit. Mr. Hoffman brought his witnesses to stand. He questioned them and they responded with the same answers they did when they were interrogated by the police. It was an hour or so later that the magic witness came up to the stand. Mr. Hoffman stood with pure confidence as he asked her the similar questions she was asked when she was questioned the night of the murder. She answered the same questions as she did. Christian stood and looked at her then asked her question.
A Murder Of Our Own (Inevitable Darkness) Page 1