How to Kill a Man in Thirty Seconds

Chapter 44: The Courtroom

Days dragged into weeks before the day of the trial arrived.

The courtroom was drowned in silence as we slipped in. The judge, a stout woman with a head of greying hair, was already seated at the front. The downward crease of her brows, and her prominent frown, told me she was not one to be taken lightly.

The audience was hushed, their faces grave. Their sympathetic gazes followed my mother and I as we seated ourselves at the front of the room. My mother's eyes were downcast, her knuckles turning white as she nervously grasped her handbag.

Anger rushed me as I spotted Mary Clark sat beside her attorney. The latter was a young woman, with short cropped blonde hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. She was clad in an ill-fitting pantsuit, but her black eyes skimmed intently through her files. She had not glanced up as we entered, and only paused now to murmur a word or two into the ear of the rigid woman seated beside her.

Someone sank into the spot beside me then, and my gaze shifted. It was Adrian. I felt my heart swell with gratitude even as he smiled comfortingly at me.

The prosecution- a middle aged man with neatly combed black hair and a tailor-made suit- began his case. The wrinkles lining his face were testimony of the decades of experience he carried, and his voice was commanding and assertive as he addressed the jury, "On Christmas morning of 2010, the mutilated body of our victim Anthony Green was discovered in the Red Hills Motel. His death was gruesome. Shocking. So grim it sent waves of horror across our nation. The father of two, had been poisoned. Pummeled mercilessly. Stabbed. Before being shot to his death, the night before Christmas."

Dread consumed me at the words, even though they were sentiments I'd heard a thousand times.

"Through this trial," he continued, "We will prove that the defendant Mary Clark is guilty of premeditated, first degree murder. We will show, through multiple testimonies, why the defendant showed Anthony Green no mercy that night."

The prosecutor clasped his hands together, "We will show that Mary and Anthony were not strangers, but that Mary's sister Amanda Clark was working under Anthony for years. We will prove that Mary believed that Anthony was the driving force that led to Amanda's depression." He paused earnestly, "We will prove, members of the jury, that Mary loathed Anthony because she believed he was responsible for her precious sister- her only living family- hanging herself a week before Christmas."

My heart stopped in my chest.

I blinked twice, his words echoing in my mind, refusing to sink in. Anthony. Driving force. Hanging.

No!

It couldn't be.

The prosecutor didn't stop.

"At exactly 8:12 pm, as Mary's phone records show, she messaged Anthony. Mary lured Anthony into the motel, promising him a night of fun." With the press of a button, the projector beside him buzzed to life, the messages appearing.

"As we see here, he agreed. At exactly 10:00 pm, he texted her, informing her that he had arrived." The man paused heavily, "That, ladies, and gentlemen, was the last anyone heard from Anthony Green. He didn't return home to his family that night. Didn't call anyone. Didn't text anyone. And was not seen again, until his decaying corpse was discovered the next morning."

The world slowed down around me.

I blinked. The prosecution's words rang in my mind. I blinked again. Tried to make sense of the words.

They didn't.

My gaze flickered frantically to Adrian. I realized he had been watching me, his face ashen and his eyes wide with concern. As if he knew this wasn't what I had wanted. As if he knew I would've preferred never knowing, over this.

Horror seized hold over me. I suddenly felt the need to defend my father, to protect him from these sickening accusations.

"He's wrong," the hushed words escaped my lips before I knew it, and I shook my head frantically at Adrian, "He's not making any sense. My father would never-"

"SILENCE!" barked the judge suddenly, banging her gavel with unrestrained force. I flinched in my seat and realized that all eyes had turned to me. My mother's eyes mirrored mine. They were filled with horror. 

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A/N- So were you expecting that?? 

Sorry for the long wait but I really wanted to complete the entire scene before I updated again. Thanks so much for reading and don't forget to leave some feedback<3 Double update today<3