Innocent

1

Justice is truly a hard matter to achieve,  each human being should stand for fairness and it is what lieutenant Daniel St. Patrick believed most, in his twenty years of practicing law, he fought to find the truth and protect the victims, his motto: don't let your personal judgement affect your goal of obtaining justice. His work required patience and perseverance, so when he was called in the middle of the night to a crime scene , he was obliged to leave his wife and son behind while they were still sleeping, knowing he'll be out for a while before seeing them again.

Arriving at  destination, he noticed the chaos invading the place, rain fell heavily and police officers encircled the place from everywhere, many reporters were present taking pictures here and there almost blinding him with their camera's flashes. His superior, Captain Cooper, who was present on site before him, handed him a file, speaking loudly so he could be heard amid the noise "the suspect" Daniel opened the folder taking in the name marked in bold Jessica stone  his boss continued " Jessica Stone, 26 years old, actress and this... is her house " a celebrity? It explains the reporters "but this isn't everything, the victim is Bradley Jefrson, 50 years old, deputy and president of Steel holdings, he had been stabbed several times" Daniel knew this man, mostly from tv and newspapers, it looks like there would be so much media coverge in this  case " let's get in " he proposed, the captain nodded and the two policemen headed towards the big house.

The interior of the house is focused around a large central hallway serving as the main avenue of traffic and entrance area to the adjacent rooms. The hallway flows into a large central wide staircase as a center, Daniel followed captain Cooper towards the living room their footsteps echoing loudly on the marble floor ...there , a body could be seen lying next to the sofa , Daniel scanned the place –it was his first move every time he came into a crime scene – his gaze fell on a women sitting handcuffed in the far end of the room, she looked calm a contrast against the busy croud around her, her white satin nightgown almost red from blood and when his eyes fell on her face she looked up and at their eyes locked, she had an unusual gaze , her sea blue eyes seemed numb, almost lifeless... she looked like a doll, her small and frail body added effect to it. Some man who was standing beside her tried to stop a policeman from taking her ,his screams echoed in the room "she's not going anywhere without a lawyer, he'll be here shortly "but it didn't stop the policeman from grabbing the woman from her left elbow , she obeyed standing numbly, the screaming man continued his protest trying to come between the policeman and the woman " I'm her manager and I forbid you touching her " Captain Cooper tapped Daniel on the shoulder drawing his attention back to him " you know that the department of justice asked for you especially ? "Daniel nodded "yeah ,they didn't want me to have a break purposely I suspect..Or else who would take the shitty cases " his gaze fell on the dead body again . He noticed something strange on the body, crouching down to have a better look; the victim's black suit jacket had white stains, paint? "white paint stains, no way he got this stains here ...maybe the body had been moved? " the captain noticed the stains and nodded in agreement " we'll start first by taking the testimony of Ms Stone here and then we'll proceed to examine the evidence we have and see what the autopsy says" Daniel looked back at the woman who was still standing head down this time, he noticed she was barefoot and had many scratches all over her toes, without hesitation he crossed the room quickly to where she was, she seemed startled by his sudden apparition " Miss Stone " she looked at him with eyes wide open , her manager cut him " she can't talk until her lawyer comes, step back please " Daniel felt irritation over this guy " look, I'm a lieutenant and your bullshit won't work here" he turned to her " we need to take your testimony, be it here or at the police station, you choose !" the woman turned to her manager and with a very smooth and calm tone spoke "Ben, it's ok ...let it be, hum? " the manager sighed in defeat and moved back " I'll do it here" she spoke looking at the body " but in another room please " Daniel felt a little regret because he was a bitt harsh but brushed it off quickly.

 They sat in the dining room, the woman -no Jessica- looked pale under the bright artificial lighting of the room, Daniel took out his recorder and placed it on the table "we are the 14th of july 2019, this is Jessica Stone 's testimony" he posed for a moment then continued "what happened tonight Miss Stone ?" looking down at her folded hands on the table, she appeared hesitant for an instant but her small voice cut through the silence of the room "I...I met him earlier this evening, we were supposed to discuss buisness deals over dinner...things escalted quickly and I stabbed him three times with my kitchen knife that I throw in the garden " as she finished her sentence she looked up at Daniel with a sad expression of defeat, he on the other hand sat clueless it was rare for a suspect to confess a crime so easily it seemed almost too easy, something fishy screamed of it " Jessica, I can call you like that ? What kind of relation did you have with the victim ? Was he your lover ?" She smiled in response as if she had some inner dialogue that he couldn't hear, Daniel noticed how beautiful she looked just by smiling ...he read before that to be a movie star you should have a unique smile and it somehow made sense now, what could she possibly be hidding under it ? was she a devil celebrating its achievements ? "How I met him? "her smile Fadded " I met Bradly a few months ago in a charity event, since then I have been recieving his advences that I pushed many times.... but this time he came to my own house and ..." disgust was all over her face instantly, she must have remembered tonight's events. She sat silent not wanting to continue " and you decided to kill him ? because he liked you ? you're a beautiful woman and actress who I suppose has many male fans ,would you kill each fan who tried to flirt with you" she shook her head " he was disgusting, he sinned " she said grief all over her face ...was it an act ? how could he read her emotions so easily " a sinner ? " he asked " lust was the end of him" Daniel was confused " I planned everything" she said calemaly " I wanted my revenge, since people like you couldn't avenge me " she looked angry " revenge ? What do you mean ? " Jessica tried to avert his eyes " he raped me, some weeks ago, when he asked for a meeting through one of his companies, I didn't know it was him I just thought I had to do some advertising job and I fell in his trap, he did ...he did what he did and since then I've been so angry and tonight when he came " asking for more" I got enough I ..." a tear fell on her cheek as she trailed off, it wasn't the first rape victim he encountered ,during his long career he had seen worst then this even children being victim of rape but why was he so angry and sad about this so suddnely ? " why didn't you report it ? " she wiped her face " I tried but the justice is corrupted, nobody took me seriously ... people arround me thought I should just drop it for my own good.. not to ruin my career and get in trouble with a powerful man" she smiled devilishly " I am so fed up lieutenant, fed up of people using me and not feeling guilty about it" Daniel didn't know why he felt guilt, he wanted to comfort her in any way. He shouldn't have those feelings, who was she ? No one he should care for...They were just strangers, heck she was a criminal but he knew deep down that this woman will change his life for ever.