MADMAN'S DEMISE

13

I breathed out in liberation. The first part of the nerve-wracking testimony was finally over, and I was proud of my every response.

I carefully glanced up at Brandon whose eyes were already darting my being. His straight face flickered in happiness, I could see it even from my distance. I blinked carefully, spoke through my eyes, telling him I loved him and that everything was okay. He spoke back to me, his eyes gleaming with hope and pride.

But I had to force my eyes away from his exquisite appearance as Judge Sawyer started speaking again.

"The defence may cross-examine the witness."

The nervosity pinched me again. I knew I was still in for the worst. But since Arthur purposely was here not to be found innocent, his attorney, Frederick Harding, was probably not as good as Roscoe Van Doren.

The old, bald man walked over to me. He did not look as polite and professional as Roscoe. His posture was rather sunken, and every breath leaving his lungs appeared as a sigh. This man was only here because he had to, not because he wanted to. He cleared his throat loudly, making my gut curl in disgust before he started talking.

"Ms. Frazier. Earlier you told us you have been treating Brandon Barlowe for a bit more than a year, is that right?" Inquired Mr. Harding.

"That is correct, Sir." I nodded.

"Tell me, during this year, did you ever resign the patient for any reason?"

I knew this was coming. All I had to do was keep the strength and stay confident, that way I could outsmart him.

"I did." I responded shortly.

"How come you did?"

"There was an unfortunate occasion at the institution where Brandon was involved, and I was there witnessing the happening. I was still new at my job and was not used to such accidents. Thereafter I did not consider myself stable enough to further treat the patient, so I resigned as Brandon's treating nurse." Once again I was pleased with my answer, even if half of it was a lie. Mr. Harding sighed again.

"And when you mention this unfortunate occasion, you mean the death of Joseph Acker?" Frederick barely finished before I heard Mr. Van Doren's voice.

"Objection, Your Honor, leading!" He belted.

"Sustained; rephrase the question." Sawyer remarked.

"Ms. Frazier, you mentioned an unfortunate occasion that happened at the institution, what occasion did you refer to?" Arthur's attorney spoke again, ironically rephrasing the question.

I didn't like being forced to talk about this since it was yet not a public writ. But Frederick already put the words in my mouth by revealing Brandon's involvement in Acker's death, and albeit it was no secret, I didn't want to make it worse for him by speaking about it in front of the partially unaware crowd. But I had no other choice now.

"I was referring to the death of Joseph Acker." I finally stated calmly, refusing to let him own me and allow him to believe that there were questions that could break me.

"Please correct me if I am wrong, but was not Brandon Barlowe the one responsible for Joseph Acker's death?" The rudeness came through his growing confidence. He still believed his questions were surprising to me.

"Yes Sir, he was."

"So, even though you watched Mr. Barlowe kill another man, with your own eyes, you still believe he is not capable of manslaughter?" Frederick strained his eyes, looking at me like an exposed phoney. But I tightened my shoulders, and held my head high.

"That is not what I said." I replied determinately.

"But I believe you did say that, did you not?"

The annoyance grew inside me. This guy was trying to tease me. He wanted me to get frustrated and therefore make mistakes.

"What I said was that I do not believe Mr. Barlowe is capable of killing women and children. That had nothing to do with Joseph Acker." I stated proudly.

"So you do think he is capable of killing men?" He narrowed his eyes again, frustrated by my strength. Now he was only trying to make a fool out of me in front of the jury to make me appear as an unreliable witness.

"I do think Mr. Barlowe's revenge on Joseph Acker was inevitable. I believe it was a matter of provocation and self-defense. It would never have happened if the authorities had done their job properly, which explains why there is no case of the matter. Joseph should not have been transferred to St: Nicolai in the first place, therefore I consider the authorities responsible for Acker's death, and not Mr. Barlowe," I explained, proud of my well-formulated language.

"And to clarify my previous statement, I do not think Brandon Barlowe is capable of killing innocent people. Joseph Acker was not innocent and it was only a matter of whom was first to notice the other in that room that day. If Acker would have laid eyes on Brandon first, he would not be sitting here with us today."

Frederick Harding looked at me with an ugly grin. He enjoyed getting on my nerves. But he still didn't conquer me.

"I have one last question, Ms. Frazier. After what Acker did to Mr. Barlowe's family, do you think the killing was justified?" I was shocked by his question, but once again Roscoe interrupted in objection for irrelevance and Judge Sawyer sustained the call. But I didn't care the question was invalid. I was too offended by his attacking conclusion and I refused to leave the whole courtroom curious about what my answer would be and where my morals were lain.

Now I was the one narrowing my eyes at Harding. He made me angry. So before he managed to continue talking, I strained my posture, breathed in and opened my mouth in one last statement.

"Absolutely not!"