The intercom rang on Elise Hadsworth’s desk phone, she picked it up and the attendant on the front desk told her that there was a hand delivered package awaiting her to collect.
“Is that Harold” she said to the voice on the phone.
“Yes Miss Hadsworth” Harold replied.
“Thank you Harold I will pick it up when I pop out for my Lunch.” She said back to him.
"Not a problem Miss Hadsworth, if I am not here when you go out I just ask whoever is covering me.” Harold replied.
“Thank you.” She said and replaced her phone on the base and turned the page on the newspaper she had on her desk. The coverage of the trial of a particular violent multiple murderer was across several pages. She had interviewed the accused as part of the prosecution team to produce a professional and unbiased diagnosis that contradicts the diagnosis that the defence team had put forward for the undisputed claim of the murder of his young neighbours.
His neighbours were described as undesirables, the prosecution raised an objection to this, they were also described as unwanted in the community, the prosecution also raised an objection to this, siting that to be unwanted would have to be a unanimous called from every member of the community. A community were they had friends living.
The defence put forward the claim that the deceased felt it was their right to play loud music at all hours and invite the numerous friends to party at their house. This was not disputed as the police had been called nine times in this period to complain. The prosecution stated for the record that, after an eight month period the accused had had about enough and entered his neighbour’s house with a shotgun and proceeded to shoot out the sound system. This too was not disputed and under questioning the defendant had admitted that when confronted by someone who thought the gun was a single shot, he states the second barrel was discharged accidentally and destroyed the shoulder of victim one, almost removing the right arm completely. In the shock and horror he adamantly denies knowing what happened next.
Eye witness statements say that the defendant reloaded the double barrels and put two fresh cartridges in between his teeth, he then shot the neighbours only using a single shot. It was reported by witnesses that the boyfriend had stood in between the gun and his girlfriend but the power of the shot and the close proximity of the discharge meant the boyfriend could not effectively shield his girlfriend and they were both killed instantly. He then slumped to the floor and attempted to shot himself but someone still present had pulled the gun away from him saying, “You are not getting away with it that easily” the gun subsequently discharged into the ceiling and shot one of the party goers who was trying to hide under the bed upstairs.
The defendant was punched and one of the shotgun cartridges slipped down his throat and in his statement he said, “That was the next thing I remember, choking on the cartridge and only managing to get it out by standing up and stumbling forward tripping over one of the dead bodies.”
The defence’s case was built up on the fact that although the gun was registered, he was not the registered owner and the owner had no apparent knowledge that the gun was missing. The defendants friend lived on a farm some distance away and could only summise that the gun was removed from its locked cabinet the last time he had visited, three weeks earlier than the incident. Premeditation and murder in the first degree was the prosecutions charges. The defence had have pleaded temporary insanity, stating that his intention was to scare the neighbours and what happened was a course of events that was not planned but happened, after the first person was shot the defendant had a psychotic episode that resulted in the murder of the neighbours. It was only his fight to save his own life that snapped him out of it.
Reading the article to the end her heart was trying to empathise with the defendant and his uncomfortable situation, but professionally she was split, because she was able to see the argument the defence had put forward but she was also able to agree with the argument the prosecution was presenting. Her job in this case was as the prosecutions psychologist not to state one way or another that defences argument was the one and only argument but to professionally answer the questions put to her and cross examinations from her professional point of view.
She looked up from the newspaper and looked out her window to get her eyes away from the blackening print of the newspaper, she watched the cars pass by below and the lunch time foot traffic of city based employees to that same place they nearly always go to because it is close to their office wherever or whatever that office actually is. She made a double take quickly as she thought she had seen someone right across the street waving at her, she dismissed it because when she looked back to the person she thought it was, that person was now talking and hugging someone on a motorcycle.
Thinking more about the hustling lunchtime traffic she thought about her own ritual of going to the nearest Starbuck to get her skinning decaf latte, ham and cheese baguette and blueberry muffin, her ritual. She grabbed her scarf from the coat stand behind her door and made her way downstairs, as she entered the lobby of her building she was the two people across the road, still embracing but the one on the motorcycle had dismounted and they were both now on the pavement. She made her way through the revolving door at the same time as Harold was coming in the opposite direction. This reminded her of the parcel that was delivered for her earlier, without getting out door she carried on around until she was walking to the reception desk behind Harold. In a joking manner she said, “Does your wife know how good you look from behind Harold.”
The joke taken as it was meant and Harold’s shoulders bobbed up and down from his laughter and as he went around to his side of the reception desk he whispered, “Not as good as yours.” And gave her a coy wink.
“Harold you are incorrigible.” She said.
Harold opened a cupboard that was underneath the desk and pulled out her package, “There you go Miss Hadsworth, hand delivered this morning for you.” And put it down on the glass top and tried to slide it over to her. It didn’t move too readily and Elise picked it up to investigate the reason why and found the sealing wax and then the stamp that had been pressed into it. With urgency she said, “Who delivered this?”
Harold replied, “A gentleman earlier today.”
She said, “Was he a courier?”
“No, not at all, in fact I have just seen him outside” he said, “He was getting on to a motorcycle with a younger lady.”
All four in this series
In Need of an End
The Forever Lecture
Inner Peace Forever
The 21st Century Journal
No comments:
Post a Comment