MADMAN'S DEMISE

28

Monday, September 1st

The weekend of emotional turbulence turned to an end, and it was time to get myself together again and prepare for the announcement of the verdict that was scheduled to take place this upcoming Thursday. I could never have figured the trial would be over after only a week and a half, but no one could be happier than me to finally have it over with. Undoubtedly, it was a huge case being raised, therefore I expected it to take time. But there were no more witnesses to call to the stand, no more evidence to bring forward, and no more examinations for the attorneys to make.

During the process it occurred to me that the amount of people involved in this was small. After Leo Myer's conclusive emergence last Tuesday, there were only a few more people who had been called to testify the following days. Family members, relatives and acquaintances of the people who were no longer alive. There was Pixie Carlton, sister of Joseph Acker and mother of Joyce Carlton, the pregnant seventeen-year-old. Barbara Smith, matron of Sister Salma's Orphanage and previous caretaker of Conrad Barney. And Patricia and Kenneth Parker, old friends of both Joseph and Marion Acker.

Most of them surprisingly depicted Brandon as a rather salubrious human being, although they spoke in disgust of him. Needless to say, they hated him for what he previously had been pleading himself guilty of. They abhorred him for being the one taking the lives of the ones they held dear. But still, they claimed that Brandon was never threatful, aggressive or somehow outrageous during the time Joseph was together with Nina.

Although they despised him, and probably didn't want to talk about him brightly at all, they'd sworn to tell the truth, which left them to describe him as the polite boy he was once before. A kind, caring, and mature young man who just held a lot of love and respect for his mother and siblings and therefore sometimes seemed abnormally overprotective. He had no history of violence or unstable mentality. There was no evil in his eyes. No blackness to sense within his soul, they agreed. Also they were aware the whole family had found it hard to deal with the sudden leaving of the father, and their statements were clear. They were all aware something like that didn't just make one a killer.

So overall Brandon was depicted as a gentle and kind boy by the defense witnesses, which turned out to be a good thing for the prosecution. But those people knew nothing of Brandon later on since they never saw him again after what happened to his family. They didn't know how his behaviour might changed after Joseph's brutal slaughter of his mother and siblings or what he was possibly capable of doing after finding them himself, dead on the living room floor in a big pool of blood. They didn't know any of it, of his condition or sanity or tendencies after that horrific trauma.

And there yet again, I came to realise, it was all in vain.

Their testimonies wouldn't contribute to anything. They had nothing to say about Arthur because they didn't know him, because they never met him. They had nothing to say about whether he could possibly be guilty of charge or not, which was what this whole raising was about. Them telling the court their beliefs about whether Brandon could be guilty or not wasn't predominant either. Not after that strong testimony of Leo Myer. So the call of those witnesses only seemed to me like a desperate move by Frederick Harding since Arthur probably didn't wan't to give him any more suggestions of people who'd want to come forward for his advantage. He called people who had nothing to do with Arthur and his proclaimed innocence, which made me realise it was his last card to play. Frederick needed Brandon to look bad since he couldn't manage to make Arthur look good.

Still drunk from the bottle of Château Lafite I finished at three AM, I sat on one of the wooden bench backs in the big Victorian courtroom next to Dorothy. My head spun, my vision blurry from the drunkenness and crying. I could barely concentrate on what was said. All I could focus on was the black silhouette sitting a couple of feet away. His golden hair was perfectly curled in his neck, his shoulders broad and square, giving the impression of confidence. My heart ached with every second looking. Even if I could only see his back and a tiny bit of his side profile, it still pained me, knowing I was glaring at the appearance of the love of my life... the love of my life who had just left me.

I grit my teeth, clenched my fists, chinned up, only desperately trying to suck it up and appear as my usual self, settled and alert, in front of Dorothy. In front of everyone.

I tried to focus on Judge Sawyer and his presentation of today's proceeding, knowing there was not much time left until the closing arguments would begin. It was only a matter of minutes left, maybe even seconds, until Roscoe Van Doren would get his one last chance of saving this. Saving Brandon.

I couldn't help it. One part of me was somehow still optimistic no matter how aware I was of the minimal likelihood of this turning into a success after all. Maybe the optimism was the only thing keeping me going still, knowing that that kind of end could not only save Brandon but myself as well.

As I listened to the judge, I was suddenly hit by a slight surprise. The closing arguments weren't to begin just yet. The defendant had chosen to testify. My heart accelerated. This was Arthur's last chance to prove his genuine meaning in this. This was Arthur's chance to rectify the sloppy wrong turn and testimony of Leo Myer.

"Is the defence ready with its case?" Sawyer asked, and Frederick Harding raised from his chair next to Arthur to stand before the crowded courtroom.

"Yes, Your Honor. I call the defendant."

Arthur raised then, and walked with the bailiff to the witness stand to get sworn in for his testimony. His slow footfalls echoed through the room, bringing tension and mystery to the already severe atmosphere. With his right hand in the air, the foreign man who looked so much like Brandon, swore he would tell the truth in front of the eyes of every single person seated in the room. My stomach turned, knowing I was one out of three people in here who knew the real truth. Who knew Arthur wouldn't tell it at all.

I swallowed hard, waiting for Frederick to start the examination, and I could see how Brandon slightly twitched and adjusted his position on the chair out of discomfort. I knew the appearance of confidence was just a facade. The veins in his neck clearly visible. His jaw sharp as a blade. He prepared himself, knowing there was a chance Arthur might betray him again, knowing he could just burst out in laughter and make a fool out of his son in front of everyone in here within just seconds. He prepared only to not let himself get disappointed and humiliated if that was what Arthur now planned to do.