Chronicles of Humanity

Part One - The Murder Incident

Chapter 1

The phone was ringing as James returned home from a long, grueling day at the office. Perhaps his wife was upstairs preparing a bath for him, as he spoke to her before leaving the office and had talked about his day. A client he had recently secured, worth roughly 100 million dollars in sales per year, had recently threatened to pull their work due to unsatisfactory quality. After long-winded accusations were thrown about at the unannounced executive team meeting, the President of the company, Mr. Ralph Colman, had charged the team with preparing a 50-page corrective and preventive action document that would be delivered to the client at the end of the week. James was to make sure the document was complete on time, and hand deliver it to the client in lower New York, just north of the Pennsylvania line, a roughly 300 mile trip.

As he pulled his 2010 BMW M3 into the garage and made his way into the house, his mind raced with the thought that Mr. Colman was calling to review the details of the meeting, and to make sure James had arranged a meeting with the client for the end of the week.

James rushed in to answer the phone, which by this time had been ringing for about a minute since he first heard it. His thoughts of Mr. Colman soon shifted to much graver matters, as before him on the kitchen floor, his wife lay in a pool of blood, butcher knife still in her chest. James fell to his knees, his world shattered, the phone still ringing, rather annoyingly by this time. James quickly dialed the police using his cell phone, barely able to hold on, as he was trembling terribly in shock.

"Sheriff's Office", the clerk answered with a light voice as she spoke. "How may I direct your call?". "This is James Treadway, my wife has been murdered! I need a car and an ambulance to come out to my house right away!" James exclaimed while his emotions tore him apart from the inside. "I have your address as 22 Church Street, is that correct?" her voice now slightly trembling. "Yes, that is correct, please hurry", James said in a voice filled with sadness. "Ok James, the deputy is on his way. The Police Chief will now call you", said the clerk. "Please hurry", James repeated, as he ended the call.

What seemed like an eternity all rolled up into just a matter of a few seconds passed and his phone rang. "James?", James?" James could hear the police chief ask repeatedly from the cell phone speaker after answering, but by this time had dropped due to trembling out of control. He picked up the phone, as he reached for some tissue to wipe his face. "I am here O", by this time James was unable to control his pain.

"James, Deputy Phelan is on his way, and I will be there as well. Please don't touch anything. Can you tell me what happened?" The range of emotions that rushed through every fiber of James's being as he explained to the Police Chief what he could about the scene, while fighting back the ever-growing desire to grab the knife and plunge it into his own heart, flooded his mind with "what-if's", "why me's", and "if only's". "I came home from work, and found...Marilyn...on the kitchen floor. There's a lot of blood, and a knife sticking....", he could not even finish the sentence before completely breaking down.

"Hang in there James, the deputy should be there any minute. I know it isn't easy"." I am on my...". As Oscar continued James heard the sound of sirens approach from outside. "Gotta go O. The deputy is here", he said, and then ended the call without waiting for a response.

James greeted Deputy Phelan Hill, along with two paramedics, at the front door. He motioned them into the house. "She's in the kitchen," James pointed toward the doorway off the back side of the living room." Phelan removed his hat as he entered the house, and quickly made his way to the kitchen. "Did you check for a pulse," Deputy Phelan asked as he knelt beside Marilyn's body, his fingers resting gently against the side of her neck. "No, I saw her here and quickly called the station," James answered.