The Innocent Man

Chapter 2

As I stepped foot on their lawn, a scream invaded my thoughts and I felt the damp grass brush against my boots. I inhaled sharply, slightly picking up my pace as I made my way toward the house, careful to avoid setting off the floodlights. I never wanted to kill anyone that night, but when I found that bloodied ax... My footsteps echoed in my ears as I followed the noise into the shed, filling the doorway with my broad shoulders. The light slipping in from the single lamp in the shed illuminated the pool of crimson by my feet, a steady ripple still moving through the otherwise motionless puddle. My attention turned to the glint of an ax, covered with blood, then to the trail leading away from the small puddle. I felt my stomach tie itself in knots as her scream invaded my thoughts, my eyes snapped back to the bloodied ax as I watched my hand reach out to it, tears beginning to well in my eyes.

"Mr. Deaux," Kennedy asked, worriedly, "Are you ready to continue?"

"Yessir," the words came out slurred and rushed, like spilling water from a bottle. I began to feel that burning sensation in my chest again as if my lungs were in a vise.

"All right, Mr. Donnahue, whenever you're ready," Kennedy informed, rubbing his temples as he awaited the next string of bullshit that would come out of Donnahue's mouth.

"I'd like to call the victim's wife, Miss Smith, to the stand," Donnahue stated, looking me directly in the eye as he did so. The hysterical woman shuffled up to the chair, covering her chest discreetly as she made her way by Donnahue. I shifted my weight, leaning forward slightly, as I watched her sob dramatically into a tissue, her shoulders quivering like they have so many times before. My eyes traced her figure, she's lost some weight since the last time that we spoke, and that bruise on her neck isn't new. That makeup did nothing to hide the bruise surrounding her left eye, or the smaller ones like fingerprints surrounding her neck and collarbone. My eyebrows furrowed as I squinted at her wrists, could it be... cuts? But she was never... Unless he made her become... Her wedding ring was also missing, as well as her usual assortment of necklaces and bracelets. Come to think, I've never seen her not wear her mother's brooch. Fury burned behind my features with the heat of a thousand suns. She wasn't even wearing black to mourn. Her clothes were the color of the blood in the shed. They were the color of the sky the evening we had our first kiss together. It was the color of her dress the first time we danced together, when we locked eyes across the room and made our way to each other only for the song to change when we arrived. It was the color I saw every time I looked at her with such amazement and wonder, the color I felt when we had our daughter. It was not the color I saw when she left, it was the color of the blood that once splattered across her face as she smiled down at him.

"Miss Smith, can you recall the events of the night?" Donnahue asked, leaning into her, causing her to place a hand on her chest once more.

"Well, I was in the living room with my daughter, when I heard shouting. She got up from the couch and ran into the kitchen. I got up from the couch and began to make my way to the back bedroom. Once I made it to the hall, my daughter pushed past me and hurried into the bedroom, holding a beer... Then I heard her scream, and I heard him yelling obscenities at her. He grabbed her hair and dragged her out the door, I tried to stop him but he... he just shoved me out of the way..." Miss Kate began, her lip quivering more and more with every word.

"Is that how you got the... the black eye, Miss Smith?" Donnahue asked, sounding genuinely concerned. I almost didn't recognize his voice without the usual sarcasm and rudeness attached.

"Yes... Yes, it is, Mr. Donnahue..." She replied solemnly, looking down at her hand in her lap while her free hand instinctively touched her eye.

"All right, Miss Smith... Do you happen to remember what happened next?" Donnahue pressed gently.

"Yes... I could hear her shrieking from somewhere far away, and a dull thud, like something falling, then a muffled cracking noise, like bone breaking, then everything went silent and I just heard what sounded sort of like metal hitting metal. A few minutes later my, my husband came back inside... There was a bit of blood on his shirt, but I tried to just hope for the best... I asked him, I says, 'Where's June?' Then he gave me a dirty look, and he took another swig of his beer, and then he told me, he says, 'She ain't gonna be bothering us any time soon.' I got worried and started yelling at him... I said some stuff that, I ain't proud of, but the lot of it is that I asked him again where she is, and what he did to her, and why I heard screamin' and a thud and then no screamin'. He started to come after me, and then he swung at me, but he missed and lost his balance, but then he got his balance back and he grabbed my shoulder, my, my left shoulder. He gave me a dirty look and then he yelled obscenities at me, and I tried to pull away and he grabbed my neck and made me stand there and listen to him yell..." Miss Kate finished, looking around the courtroom and dabbing at her eyes daintily like one would dab at a baby's tears. My lips parted as I looked at her, feeling my heart sink down in my chest. I glanced around the room, praying that someone else had the same look on their face that I feel like I've got on my own face. She actually loved him, I lowered my head into my hands, running my fingers through my hair, How could she possibly love him? Oh, dear god, what have I done? She loved him. This woman, so kind and so caring, she loved him.