The Night Stalker of St Croix Boulevard

The Murder - Chapter 1

As the night retired into morning, Joseph wondered what misery would the day add to his life. He made his way to the bus station, through thick winter dawn fog, not greeting or acknowledging anyone doing so.
In his mind they were all against him, they greeted him simply because the fog and the fading darkness of the retiring night masked his true identity.

One of the commuters even made the mistake of asking him if he was heading to the courthouse for the trial of the murderer.
The poor half drunk bloke didn't realise he was talking to the accused, the main character in the trial. But he did not wait for response he continued walking his way, mumbling something that sounded like 'that bloody murderer' at the end.

At the station, men were standing in clusters discussing the events of the past weekend. Actually, most of them were asking about those events since they were too drunk to remember anything that happened during the weekend.
Joseph wasn't surprised nor impressed because he knew too well that these early busses and trains were filled with people occupying the lowest fringes of social life. Their dreams didn't reach too far, if they dreamed at all. All they ever did was to wake up, take a bath, if time allows, go to work , come back, abuse their wives and do the same thing again tomorrow. For these people, life wasn't a challenge nor a struggle to live.
Busses carrying people who knew the definition of the word 'privacy' travelled a little bit later , and Joseph silently wished he had the option of taking one of them, but that would have meant he'd be late for his final court appearance. He wondered how did he got himself into this mess. How was he going to get out , who was going to believe or even sympathise with an ex-convict.