Six Feet Under

chapter ten

[ 10/31/2015, Clairmont County Courthouse, 1000 ]

"Where were you at the time of the murder?"

Staring directly at the judge rather than the prosecutor asking the question, she answered: "At the burger joint on Sixth Street."

"Did anybody see you there?"

"I don't remember," She rolled her neck to relieve the ache that had settled there. "It was seven weeks ago."

"Why were you at a burger joint at three in the morning, Madison?"

She fixed the well-dressed man pacing the courtroom with a decidedly unimpressed look.

"I was hungry," Madison replied evenly. "My maid was away."

"Were you the one who sent her away?"

"Yes, I felt that she deserved a break."

"Did you have any other reason to send her away?"

"None," she moved her long-suffering gaze from the judge to the officer in front of her. "None at all."

"Was there anybody else in the house?"

"No, my sister Adelaide was in New York City."

"Were you on good terms with the victim, Madison?" he asked, almost mockingly, trying to rile her up. "Did you have a fight with her on the day of the murder?"

"We've always been on good terms," she replied, face pleasant and neutrally blank. "Cécile considered me to be her daughter."

"And I love-" she stuttered then, her composure cracking just for one moment. "-loved her."

Her shoulders shook briefly before she composed herself and straightened up.

The courtroom was silent as the officer spoke again.

"So, Madison Greene leaves her home at an ungodly hour in the morning and comes back to find her stepmother shot dead." He swept open his hands. "Are we to assume that she does not play a part in her murder somehow, considering the fact that nobody else had been in the house before, during, and after the time of murder?"

Madison clenched her jaw angrily.

"Objection!" Beauregard leapt up from her seat. "Speculation!"

Lawrence spun back.

"Please allow me to continue, Miss Beauregard."

"You may speak," the judge interrupted. "Mr. Lawrence, please have a seat."

Beauregard got up, triumphant.

Madison looked away, because perhaps she was a little bit tired of this circus game of lies and porcelain smiles where anyone can be made guilty if the evidence is tilted just right when the light hits.

[ 10/31/2015, Clairmont County Courthouse, 1100 ]

Adelaide fidgeted with her newly manicured nails and avoided looking at her sister.

Guilt rose up in her chest, blocking her airways and choking her slowly. She could've given Madison an alibi, but she didn't.

Did Madison know? Did she simply choose not to say anything?

She pushed the thought away and laced her fingers together to stop them from fidgeting, forcing her eyes to focus on Madison's hunched over figure that looked painfully small behind the wooden table piled with papers. Her nails tapped against her leg again, a small movement that let loose the nervous energy coiled tight behind her stomach.