Twisted Fates Chap. Four

“Where was her body exactly?” asked the lawyer leaning over the counter where the witness sat.
“On the couch, half covered with the blanket… I thought she was asleep…” Said the man sitting opposite of the lawyer.
“And what is your relationship to Adrianna La Croix?”
“I’m her husband.” The man looked down and put his hands on the desk before him.
“ Oh Adrianna… “ he whispered and put his head in his hands covering his face, his long blonde hair falling over them slightly. He took a deep breath, dried his eyes and looked at the lawyer who looked sympathetically back. Adrianna’s husband was allowed to get off of the witness stand, and the restaurant owner came up next.
“Did you ever see the defendant, Aden Da Nerezza, at your restaurant where Adrianna so often dined?”
“Yes, every night she was there, I think,” said the restaurant owner.
“And, what was he doing there?”
“Well, from what I could tell, he was spying on her,” said the man.
“So he was obsessed with her.” The lawyer stated. He then turned and smirked at me. I squinted my eyes and snarled my upper lip at him. How dare he smirk at me? She deserved it, right? Suddenly my lawyer stood up.
“Objection, your honor. That’s not fact. It’s just his opinion.” The judge nodded his head and replied.
“Sustained. Go on.” The lawyer looked at me once more and continued.
“Did Aden ever talk to Adrianna or did he just look at her?”
“Well, I do recall one time he spoke to her. She had a private party with all of her friends,” he said waving his hand slightly. “She was very popular. Anyway I saw Aden steal a rose off of the table and walk over. I didn’t really see the rest because he was hidden behind another man. Seems like he’s pretty good at hiding, if you ask me.” The lawyer smiled at this and shook his head in agreement.
I looked down at the polished wood table that I sat at and folded my hands and said a silent prayer, not that it would help. God never answered me before. Why would he start now?
“I would like to cross examine the witness, Your Honor,” my lawyer stated.
“Very well, Mr. Wells. Let’s hear it,” said the judge while waving his hand lazily.
“How do you know he was stalking her? Couldn’t he just have been a regular customer at your establishment?”
“Well, Mr.… what was it? Wells? If he was indeed a true customer of mine, then he would have done more than buy some cheap wine and stare at Mrs. Croix,” the witness smirked, his brown eyes gleaming in the light. He shook his head which made the comb over job shake and fall out of place.
He shifted his weight, put one pudgy hand on the counter and continued,” What’s the matter Mr. Lawyer man? Afraid the evidence will be too over whelming?” He shook his head in a yes, I’m right and you’re not, kind of way and sat back. He then suddenly turned toward the judge. “Can I get off now? We all know what the verdict will be.”
The judge shook his head and my lawyer took one last look at the man with a combination of disbelieve and disgust and came back and sat next to me. Moments later someone motioned a recess and everyone got up, stretched and left.
I, of course, couldn’t leave, so I was put into a cell with thick iron bars. It wasn’t a very private cell either. The toilet and bed were right next to each other and anything that I could have hurt myself with was stripped clean. I frowned and looked down at the dirty cement floor, turned and lay on the bed. My head was spinning and all I wanted to do was sleep. It came at last and a sudden peaceful feeling surrounded me. I closed my eyes and slept. When I awoke, the bailiff was standing over me.
He grabbed me and dragged me into the courtroom by my collar. The stupid fool was so preoccupied with making me look like a dupe, that he forgot to put the handcuffs on me.
He slammed me down into my seat and went to stand next to the judge. The rest of the trial went… well, as well as it could have considering everyone was against me. It came to the part where the jury would decide my fate. When the jury returned from deliberations, the judge stood up.
“Jury, what is your verdict?” he asked his pink skin glistening. A frown started to appear.
“We find the defendant, Aden Da Nerezza, accused of killing Adrianna La Croix, guilty of all charges. The crowd behind me stood up and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Adrianna’s husband, Victor break down into tears. The judge turned toward me.
“Very well, Aden. I sentence you to life in prison with no chance at parole.” By this time my face was absolutely contorted with hatred and anger. The bailiff strode towards me and I blacked out. When I finally came to my senses, he was on the floor, with me on top of him. The audience, including Victor and the judge looked at me with a mixture of disbelieve and hatred on their faces.
“What… what happened?” I moaned trying to get off of the man under me.
“What happened? What happened?” a voice chuckled. ”Oh Aden, so naive. Kind of like that time that your miserable excuse of a father shot your poor mommy? What did you do Mr. Bravery? You hid behind the couch. Are you going to hide from me, Aden? Huh? Are you? Well? WHAT’S YOU’RE CHOICE?” The voice screamed while laughing hysterically.
“Who’s there? What happened? What do you want?” I screamed and the laughter began to fade.
Two police officers were called in after I flattened the bailiff and were dragging me out of the courtroom; they threw me into a padded room. Solitary confinement… just like my foster mother used to give me…