by Sam Wilson
“You are family Joe and I will not allow you to be on your own right now”
“Charles, I…”
“Not now Joe, we need you. Helen will not forgive me if I do not come back with you”
“Ok, let me grab a few things and I will meet you in the car”
“Sure son”
Twenty minutes past before he came back down, the house holds a connection to Michelle and Charles, and it’s understandable that he wants to be close to them, they got to the family house with everyone present except for Frank, he’s still at the office, they all expressed concern for his well being. Frank busy himself preparing to defend his right to try the case, his first case and the fact that he is so close to the case is irrelevant in he’s eyes, they already have someone ready and eager to take over from him, Sean Borowski. He was Frank’s opponent in the race for the office and has been his opponent since law school; he has more experience and will take the opportunity to prove he is the one they should have elected in the first place. His job is on the line; his sister’s death suddenly hit him. Here he is, thinking about a way to save his job while his family is suffering without his support, and he wants and should be there for them then he hoped they understand what he’s doing and maybe get some peace from that. He knocked at the Major’s door and went in.
“Have a sit, son” Thomas Willet said pointing to a comfortable suffer in front of him, Willet is no relation of the first Major of New York, who was in office from 1665 to 1666 and again in 1667.
Frank sat where the major instructed expecting what has been playing in his mind, pleasantries, and display of concern first.
“How are you doing son?” he asked attentively looking at him
“Well, I’m fine considering what has happened”
“That is good to hear and that is precisely what I will like to discuss with you. You see, we (pointing to his deputy Mr. Samuel Tate) understand if you step aside on this one (Frank raised his hand about to protest) and before you say that you are fine, let me just say we know you are strong and well able, the position will not be taking from you and that I’m sure off. Now, to be clear, this is way too close to home for you and that may affect jury decision”
“And it ‘s not that alone, think of your family, this will give you time to grief with them, go be with your family” Tate added sympathetically
“I appreciate your concern and you are both right, I should be with my family but we all grief in different ways… if I was in your position, I will be doing the same thing. I’m close to this case, I’m aware of that; we will get criticized in the media… especially you Mr. Major for letting an inexperience D.A try a case involving the death of his sister, making it a personal vendetta. But I can assure you, that is exactly what we want. When the real perpetrator is caught and in court, I will make the jury and the people of New York see a D.A that has put personal feeling aside for the sake of justice and sympathies with the husband. Sure the defense would try playing the bias card but rest assured it will not work”
The major and Tate looked at each other impressed, the meeting went on for another two hours before they were interrupted by the ringing of the major’s phone, he got up angrily and barked into the receiver.
“I thought I said no phone calls”
He listened then sat down; he listened some more before putting the receiver down.
“You are not going to believe this… the driver of the car, a Mr. Daniel Harris was arrested a couple of minutes ago”
Tate and Frank smiled nodding their heads in agreement but waited for the major to finished talking, it looked like he had something hanging on the tip of his tongue.
“And the police was called to a gruesome scene this morning where the owner of the vehicle was found cut in half with a machete… the crime happened late last night”
There was silence in the room for a few minutes before the major continued
“There is more, evidence was found to support an eye witness’s statement, and they know who it is. It is your brother in-law, Joseph O. Riley.
A chill went through Frank freezing him to the chair he is sitting on.
“The game just changed Frank, I’m sorry to say but you may not be right for this one” the deputy said cementing his earlier comment.
Late last night Joseph went out for a stroll, He met Charles on the porch when he came out of the house and he offend to join him but he needed to clear his head and declined his offer. Frank called to talk to everyone and asked for Joseph but he was out at the time, his father told him. He called his cell but there was no answer, he wanted to call later but fell asleep, he has been a hard for all of them. At two in the morning Joseph arrived home drenched in blood, found his late wife’s parents in each other’s arms sitting on the stairs, waiting for him. He came through the back door hoping them were at sleep, they looked in shock at him, and all he could do was stretch out his hands saying.
“I killed him, I killed, I, I…” he stuttered admitting the obvious with fear in his eyes
Charles took him by the hand and led him upstairs into the bathroom to wash him self, he came out and told them what he had done, expressed no regret and promised to go to the police but Helen and Charles convinced him to stay the night and think about leaving town. They ate breakfast in silence the next morning; Peter has come to visit stopping the plans they had in place, Gerald also came over and Frank was expected at noon. Precisely at 12:15 Frank came escorted by the police, he left the police outside and went in alone and immediately Joseph saw him, he knew his time was up. They hugged and everyone else joined them, he spoke to Joseph directly.
“I’m sorry Joe”
“It is perfectly alright, I have no regrets”
With that he followed Frank outside and into police custody, his brother and Gerald was bewildered wondering what is going on, Joseph was red his rights and driven to the station. Helen couldn’t stop mourning that she is losing another person she loves, the neighborhood was abuzz with gossip as they watched Joseph been driven away. Something else shocked the family; Frank is going to try Joseph’s case first because that is what the major wants instead of the twenty-five years old man, Daniel Harris case. They all objected but “this is what I do,” he reminded them, Frank has a real dilemma with pressure to remove him from the major’s office, the doubt pouring in from the public and made worse by the media and Borowski and his family’s objections, he knows he’s about to cause them more pain than they can bear. In cases like this, life sentence is warranted, his relationship with his parents and brother worsened as the trial move ahead, his girlfriend moved out of their shared apartment and Borowski was still playing to the media thereby putting the major in a difficult position.
A week after Joseph’s arrest, Michelle, and the baby was finally led to rest. The funeral was dreadful and Frank stayed in the rain after everyone had left and red an apologetic note to his sister and Charles the baby.
Dear Michelle
I missed you and Charles more than I can bear, we all do. I’m sorry for the fight we had that I didn’t did talk about or apologies for, I was young, stupid, and stubborn and didn’t know how to act. Please forgive me.
I’m about to do something that may not please you and for this I also ask for your forgiveness. Take care of Charles.
I love you very much.
See you when I see you.
Rest in peace.
He folded the letter, puts it in a bottle and pushed it into the grave. His parents stood a distance away watching him, after he had driven away, his father dug the bottle out and red the letter to his weeping wife, they understand he has a job to do but can’t help feeling hurt and betrayed, they hoped he will see things from their prospective and change his mind. His brother Gerald visited his office a week before the start of the trial, he tried to convince him to stop what he called, power madness. They had a verbal fight and Gerald stormed out of Frank’s office, Gerald and their parents are partly paying for Joseph’
s defense and it’s not cheap, besides it wasn’t about the money, it is about family. They are trying to save a son, a brother, a friend and a father but a member of the family is trying to lock him up and throw away the key. Frank feels different, he doesn’t want to hurt his family but up hold the oat of the office he has been sworn in, crime is a crime, no matter who it involves and he will not show leniency towards a criminal because he or she is family, it will defeat the purpose of been the District Attorney. In Joseph’s case he has unkindly killed the wrong man and he has to answer for his crime.
Joseph does not blame Frank for wanting to do his job, the only regret he has, is killing the wrong man. He would have gladly accepted the death penalty for killing the right man but this he hadn’t anticipated. He woke up one morning to find Frank sitting outside his cell at the private wing of the prison.
“What are you doing here Frank?”
“This is unorthodox but I wanted to talk to you”
“Unorthodox? Fancy word but then again you are a lawyer. is it that right? Unorthodox brings me back to my question, what are you really doing here?
“Believe what you want about my reasons… I understand you have wavered your rights to a council and plan to defend yourself”
‘That is right, this way your family can save their money… we both know they don’t have that much to spare”
“I like you to… no, I beg you to accept council and pled insanity”
“What for?”
“You might not feel like it now but after a few years you might want a life. I’m very sure that is what Michelle would have wanted”
“Don’t you speak about her, since you left, all she wanted was to see you, waiting for the day you will come home. Five years later you came back and didn’t have the time to spend with your family except wave at them from every podium using them as support post to look the part for strangers. Your ambition is going to be your doom, now get the hell out of here, I will see you in court Mr. District Attorney”
He screamed at the top his lungs for the guard to remove Frank and as Frank was been escorted out, he said.
“Thanks Frank for trying”
But it wasn’t loud enough for Frank to hear. Frank drove home lost for words, his emotions weighted heavily on him, on the way he dropped by his parents looking for little comfort but no one was home and he wasn’t informed about any activity or engagements they had planned for that day. That hurt him, he called his father’s cell first then his mothers and lastly Gerald’s cell phone and they were all switched off. He waited outside the house for hours and at an hour before midnight he went home distraught, were can they be? He woke up the next day on the floor surrounded by the mess he made the night before, as someone with zero tolerates to alcohol he got himself drunk on Russian spirit and trashed his apartment. His house phone started ringing but he couldn’t find it on time, it was buried inside a torn sofa bed, the call prompted him to check the time and it was ten. He’s two hours late for work, he got ready without proper shower under thirty minutes, and at work fifteen minutes later. After five hard and challenging months of court battle, Joseph was pronounced guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection, to the surprise of everyone in the courtroom that afternoon. Frank is too good and stacked against the over whelming evidence the outcome was inevitable, the family of Michael Cardoza cheered when the verdict was red and later when Joseph was led away through the back room, to the armored prison vehicle waiting to take him to Sing Sing correctional facility at Ossining New York. Frank had one answer for the public when a journalist asked him
“Mr. Geraldo, do you feel justices has been served by this verdict?”
He stopped almost missing his step, raised his head buried well-nigh under microphones. He took a deep breath.
“Justice remains to be serve,” he said reassuringly.
Yes 2004 has not been a good year for the Geraldo family.
2
GHOST IN THE PARK
Lurking in the shadows like a hostile militant, he watched their every move. Calculating what course of action to take next without losing sight of what this is all about. Dominic Peren slide down like a snake from his vantage point and easily blended into the moving crowed, just another touristic face roaming the streets of England’s capital.
He thought about it, emptiness. The void we all live, even when among people, what is life worth? An existence full of nothing, is this what it has come to?
He hailed a black cab and arrived at work twenty minutes later, thanks to London’s traffic. Lunchtime is over.
He made it home before seven in the evening, unlocked his front door, and stepped into his one bedroom apartment, overlooking the train station at earl’s court. The noise and vibrations from the passing tube at the underground shook the old building, something he has become used to.
“Hello love” Lily said planting a kiss on his right cheek
“Hi, how was your day honey?” he asked tenderly reciprocating her kiss, full on the lips
“My day was great, how was yours?”
Horrible he said in his head
“It could be worst just like any other day at work”
“Well get yourself out of that suit and let’s have dinner”
“One minute” he retorted holding a finger up
“Okay, your minute is up” replying in a jolly fashion
He smiled and escaped through the open door into the bedroom, they ate grilled catfish and vegetable dinner over Kenny G’s instrumental melodies. Additional formality he has also become accustomed. He is tired so the songs worked magic, as always, in making him sleepy, maybe that is what she wants, and they haven’t had sex in three and a half months. Today might be different; she took the time to cook instead of the normal take away.
“Dinner is fantastic honey,” he said with a smile as his thoughts continue to dance in his head.
“Thank you, glad you are enjoying it”
He looked around the room and it is filled with candles and the mood music provided a different atmosphere than usual. She is happy, bubbly, and flirtatious, it might happen tonight. White wine washed the fish smell from their mouths as they settled in front of the television and made out like teenagers in heat, minutes later they were in the bedroom still eating each other’s face off but she stopped him when he wanted to take it further. She wasn’t up for it and he knew better than to press her, he fell asleep an hour after she had.
He zoomed in, as a sniper would, adjust his scope for the right kills view, biding his time. Locked in a tight embrace, she closed her eyes holding on to the moment then she kissed him passionately, he breathe in deeply and exhaled the life out his lungs. She is like a flower, a rose if he had to choose, the kind the man she is with does not deserve. He took half the day off; he followed their mini cab closely to a house in north London, a very nice and quiet Jewish neighborhood, it has a big park, tennis and football club, a secondary school, and other many amenities. He paid the taxi more than he had desired and watched the house a stretch away, then forty-five minutes later he jumped into the garden from the back and stealthily entered the house by picking the sliding door’s lock, something he has done many times in the past. There seemed to be no activity in the house, he listened from the bottom of the stairs but couldn’t here anything then he proceeded up, the sounds resonating from the room on the left was infectious and unmistakable, fifteen minutes of dabbling in other’s moments of amour became a bit too much and he retracted out of the house.
Four hours later they finally came out of the house as a Mercedes mini cab drove onto the drive way, they kissed and went their separate ways, the time is 06:00 pm and it was time four him to go home to his wife. The black cab stopped by the mini supermarket at the beginning of Earl’s court just off Kensington high street, he paid the cabbie cringing, he either has to buy a car or start using the tube which he hates. He picked up a bottle of her favorite Chilean white wine, Vina Maipo Gran Devocion Sauvignon Blanc. She
once explained how the wine exude and bring an exciting and romantic air to every dinner table, she went on and on ending hours later with where it was made, a place called Casablanca valley in Chile. He listened without the slightest interest but nodded his head occasionally agreeing and responded with Questions and statements like
“Wow honey where did you get all that information? Or Oh really, that is exciting or Em… Interesting, you know people don’t seem to appreciate the time and effort that goes into making wine”
Then after all that exciting talk they will go to bed like all married couples, today is not going to be a far cry from the bore that defines his life. Advancing into the apartment he saw the unpacked plastic bags containing their dinner, it’s Chinese, Lily most have just come in and probably changing into her normal long flowering almost see thru dress, she has a lot of them. The tube train welcomed him then came the voice from the joint dinning and living room.
