Diary Of
An Unrequited Love
Chapter Six
I looked
over at Aunt Faye. We both exchange the
same look.
How could they try to make one of
the key witnesses be uncrediatable? It
was something that happened a good three years ago.
People made mistakes.
There was no telling what kinda of
dishonest things that Madison had done in her past.
I looked over at my aunts and uncles
on my dad's side of the family. They all
had very joyous looks on their faces.
I could tell that August and Elly
were both laughing. They were both happy
about the fact that it was possible that one of the key witnesses in their
mother's murder trial could have been made uncrediatable.
"Please have a seat Ms.
Horrowitz. I need to take some things
into consideration." She looked over at
Christopher. "Do you have any further
questions for the witness Mr. Taylor?"
Madison glared at Christopher.
Christopher nodded his head and
stood up from the table. He walked over
to the witness stand.
"You work at a dry cleaner's right
Mr. Sawyer?" Christopher asked Kevin.
"Yes."
"What are your job
responsibilities?"
"I pretty much close the store.
I open it on Saturdays once a month.
I iron clothes that people bring in, some I
dry clean and some are sent off to be dry cleaned."
"How long have you worked there?"
"I started the last semester of my
junior year of high school. So I guess
roughly around a year and a half." Kevin
answered.
"How many people work there?"
"There are four.
Mr. Baughman the owner, Jill, Quinten and
myself. Quinten and I are both part time. Mr. Baughman is getting older so he
isn't able to work as much as he used to."
"What are they hours of operation?"
"Monday through Saturday nine to
eight and Sunday ten to seven."
Christopher walked over to his desk
and picked up a piece of paper and wrote on it.
He then walked back over to the witness stand.
"How many hours does each employee
typically receive?"
"I usually get around twenty,
Quinten around fifteen and Jill thirty-five and Mr. Baughman will work a couple
of hours here and there."
"There are seventy five hours at
minimum to run the store. That means
that there are never two people working at the same time.
Correct me if I am wrong."
"That's correct sir"
"How is the cash control at the
store?" Christopher continued his interrogation of Kevin.
"It's perfect.
Always right on the money."
"Well seeing how you always work
alone that would give you the perfect chance to still money.
Have you ever stolen any money?"
"No."
Kevin replied.
"Like I said the cash is always perfect
there."
I could see what Christopher was
doing. He was trying to prove what kind
of person Kevin really was. He wasn't a
lying person that couldn't be trusted.
If I could have got my hands on that
Madison she would have regretted it.
"Have you ever done any volunteer
work?" Christopher asked.
Kevin nodded his head.
"Yes, my senior year at high school.
I along with Ryan and a few of our other friends volunteered one day a week to
go to the nursing home and spend time with the elderly."
I remembered that.
It was Haleigh's idea.
She had wanted Kevin, Mike and myself to start volunteering with her on Saturday
mornings. It was actually pretty fun
hearing some of the stories that all of the old people had to tell.
"So, you volunteered your own time to
go to the nursing home and you are obviously a pretty trust worthy employee to
be left alone inside a store by yourself with cash money that you could easily
take at any time?"
"I suppose so."
Kevin replied.
Christopher looked at the judge.
"I have no further questions your
honor." He looked at Madison.
"I feel that the witness can be trusted.
While most teenagers are getting drunk and
partying he spent his Saturday mornings volunteering at a nursing home to sit
with the elderly. He has proven himself
to be a trustworthy employee of almost two years.
There is no need that he shouldn't be a
credible witness your honor."
Judge Davis nodded her head.
"I agree.
We all make mistakes growing up.
I don't see how cheating twice in high school
should be grounds for the witness to made uncredible."
She looked over at me.
"You may have a seat Mr. Sawyer.
Kevin got up and walked off the
witness stand.
As he made his way back over to
where he had been sitting at next to Aunt Faye and me, I saw my cousins giving
him the evil eye.
He sat back down to my left.
I reached over and squeezed his
hand.
"Thank you for everything." I
mouthed.
"I would like to call Sheriff Ronnie
Bartlett to the stand."
Sheriff Bartlett got up from the
front of the courtroom where he had been sitting a little ways behind the
prosecuting attorney. He walked up to
the witness stand and sat down.
The bailiff walked over to the
witness stand to swear Sheriff Bartlett in.
"Please raise your right hand."
The sheriff raised his right hand.
"Do you
affirm that the evidence you shall give to the court and jury in this trial,
between the State and the prisoner at the bar, shall be the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth?"
"Yes."
Sheriff Bartlett replied.
The Bailiff walked back over to his post behind the
judge's bench.
"Please state your name and
occupation for the court records."
Christopher instructed Sheriff Bartlett.
"Ronald Lewis Bartlett and I am the
county sheriff."
"How long have you been in law enforcement?"
Christopher asked.
"I worked as a regular as a regular
patrol officer for five years. I was the
sergeant for three years. I was the
chief of police for seventeen years and have served as county sheriff for the
past five years."
"So you have thirty years of law
enforcement experience." Christopher stated.
"Describe to me the events that happened on June 16."
"The call came in at the station at
around 3:55 P.M. It was an anonymous
call and no one knows who placed the call.
The number was untraceable and the person disguised their voice.
We didn't know if it was a man or woman."
Sheriff Bartlett moved in the chair,
readjusting himself.
"The caller had said there was a
shooting and everyone was dead. We got
the address of the house and several cops were dispatched over along with myself. When we went inside the house, it was the most
horrific scene I had seen in my thirty years in law enforcement.
The body of the mother was lying in a pool of
blood in the middle of the living room floor.
We had to step over the dad's body to get inside the house.
The two teenage boys were lying on top of
each other in front of the television.
The television was still on and a video game was on the television.
There was so much blood between the two boys
that they didn't even look human. On the
couch laid Ryan Wilson who was gasping for air, barely being able to
breather. He had blood seeping out of a
bullet wound in his forehead. His shirt,
which was supposed to be yellow, was red because it was soaked in blood from
being shot in his stomach. As soon as
the paramedics arrived, they pronounced everyone dead except for young
Ryan. They were taking him outside on a
stretcher when Cynthia Boyd pulled up.
She jumped out of her vehicle and was very nervous acting as she saw
them pushing Ryan out on a stretcher.
Around that same time a very distraught Kevin Sawyer pulled up.
He was in tears and ran to Ryan."
"Was there any words exchanged
between Mrs. Boyd and Mr. Sawyer?"
Christopher questioned.
"I had turned my back.
I heard Kevin ask her if she did it then I
heard a really loud slap which was Mrs. Boyd slapping Kevin and yelling that
she would never kill her family. I saw
her lean onto the stretcher and next thing you know Ryan started having a
seizure."
"What happened after that?"
"The paramedics loaded Ryan into the
ambulance. Kevin rode in the back with
them."
"What did Mrs. Boyd do?"
"She asked us if we could hurry up
and get the bodies out of the house so she could clean up the mess."
"Thank you."
Christopher looked at Judge Davis.
"I have no further questions your honor."
He walked over to his table and sat
back down.
"Do you have any questions for the
witness?" Judge Davis asked Madison.
"No your honor." Madison replied.
Judge Davis looked at Sheriff
Bartlett.
"You may be seated."
She then looked in Christopher's
direction. "Please call your next
witness counsel."
Christopher
got up and walked to the front of the witness stand.
"Lucas Frank."
A guy black guy with short graying
hair got up and walked to the witness stand.
He sat down.
"Please state your name and
occupation for records."
"Lucas Martin Frank and I am
Ballistics expert. I have a degree from
UALR in forensic science with a minor in criminal justice.
I have been a Ballistics Expert for the past
fifteen years."
Christopher picked up a remote off
the judge's bench and pointed at the screen directly behind Judge Davis.
The picture of the gun appeared on the screen
again.
"What kind of gun is this?" Christopher
asked.
Lucas turned around and studied the
picture as did Judge Davis.
"It as a type of semi-automatic
pistol." He studied the picture some
more. "That one in particular is a Smith
and Wesson .45 ACP. It typically holds
nine rounds."
"So there would be plenty of time to
shoot five people?"
"Yes.
This particular model automatically loads
another bullet into the chamber as soon as the one before it is fired."
Christopher pointed the remote at
the screen again, this time changing the picture.
Six bullets, placed on a white
background appeared on the screen.
"What kind of bullets are
these?" Christopher asked.
"Those are the exact kind of bullets
that a Smith and Wesson .45 uses."
Christopher looked at Lucas.
"You examined the hand gun show in
the previous photo. Am I correct?"
"Yes."
"And what did you find?"
"After examining the hand gun, it
determined that out of the entire life of the gun, it was only fired six
different times."
"What about the bullets shown in the
above photo?" Christopher pointed behind
the judge.
"Well, according to the research
that I did, all six of the bullets were fired from the gun.
Thus proving my theory that it was only fired
six times in its lifetime correct."
"Did you find fingerprints on the
said gun?" Christopher asked.
"Yes."
"How many sets were on the gun?"
"Just one."
He replied.
"I lifted the finger prints and sent them to the state crime lab."
"Did the state crime lab have any
matches for the finger prints?"
"They had one."
Lucas paused.
"The finger prints matched those of Cynthia
Boyd."
Christopher pointed the remote at
the screen again. The picture changed to
a pair of women's blue jeans, a red blouse and a blue jean jacket.
The clothes looked so familiar.
I just couldn't place where I had seen them
at before.
"These clothes were the ones that
Mrs. Boyd wore on the day of the murders.
Did you or did you not run some kind of test on them?
"Yes.
I ran a gunshot residue test on them." Lucas
replied.
"What did your findings conclude?"
"There was gunshot residue all over
the pants, shirt and jacket."
"I have no further questions."
Christopher walked over to his table
and sat down.
"Would you like to cross examine?"
Judge Davis asked Madison.
"Not on this one."
Madison replied.
That was two witnesses in a row that
she didn't want to question. Either she
was a lousy lawyer or she had something big up her sleeve.
Lucas got down from the witness
stand and walked out into the courtroom and had a seat.
Judge Davis looked at Christopher.
"I believe the prosecution has one
more witness and we will have a recess for the day after that."
Christopher got up and made his way
to the front of the courtroom.
"Our next witness is Dr. Herbert
Whitman."
I watched as Madison leaned over and
whispered something into Cynthia's ear.
She must have liked whatever Madison said, because she smiled really
big.
An old guy got up from a couple of
rows behind me.
He was completely bald on top.
He wore a white lab coat.
His glasses looked like he had them since
1975. He was hunched over as he walked
past me and walked up to the witness stand.
The bailiff walked over to the
witness stand and swore the doctor in.
"Please state your name and
occupation for the court." Christopher
instructed.
The doctor cleared his throat.
"Doctor Herbert Alvin Whitman I am a
psychiatrist and hold a P.H.D."
His voice was soft and squeaky.
It was almost as if he were having trouble
speaking.
"How many years have you been in
practice?" Christopher asked.
"Approximately forty years."
He replied.
"How many times have you examined
subjects to determine their mental abilities for a court case?"
"Oh." Dr. Whitman paused for minute
to think of how many he had done. "Well
The first one I did was back in 1975. I
have done several a year since then so probably around
one hundred and fifty different cases."
"You examined Cynthia Boyd?"
Christopher asked.
"Yes."
"What did you determine?"
"I started by what is called
chemical psychology, which is where I test several different chemicals in Mrs.
Boyd's body. This was to see if she had
any abnormal levels of anything that would cause her to act out."
"And what did you find?"
"Everything was normal."
Dr. Whitman replied.
"What about interviewing Mrs. Boyd
and running those kind of test on her?"
Dr.
Whitman coughed and cleared his throat.
"Well, I ran a series of
psychological test on her. I tested her
for several mental disorders one in particular Schizophrenia, which would have
been the number one mental disorder to cause her to act the way she did.
She doesn't have it.
I also tested her to see if she happened to
have a temporary lapse in judgment during the murders.
She seemed perfectly sane and knew exactly
what she was during while she carried out the murders."
"Thank you."
Christopher said.
"No further questions."
He walked over to his table and sat
down.
Madison stood up before Judge Davis
even asked her if she had any questions for the witness.
She was grinning from ear to ear.
She walked over to the witness and
stood facing Dr. Whitman.
"I have several questions your
honor." Madison looked at Judge Davis.
"Please proceed." She instructed
Madison.
"You said you have been practicing
since 1972?" Madison asked.
"That's correct." Dr. Whitman
replied.
"Do you remember the events in 1979
that led to you getting your medical license put on probation?"
She interrogated Dr. Whitman.
Christopher stood up.
"Objection your honor."
He said to Judge Davis.
"How could something that happened over
thirty years ago have any barings on this case?"
Judge Davis thought about what he
said for a brief moment.
"Over ruled."
She looked over at Dr. Whitman.
"Please answer the question doctor."
"My son and wife were both killed."
"That's a very vague answer."
Madison commented.
"It's almost as if you are hiding something
kind doctor."
"No, I'm not hiding anything."
"How were your son and wife killed?"
She asked. "Did you kill them?
Is that what led to you getting your medical
license put on probation?"
"No!"
He paused for a minute.
"Yes!"
"Which one is it then?"
Madison asked.
"Did you or did you not kill your family?"
"It was an accident."
He replied.
"There was a car accident."
"In which you were the driver?"
"Yes."
"Had you been drinking?"
She asked.
"I had a few."
Dr. Whitman was starting to get a
little shaky.
I was getting nervous myself.
One of the expert witnesses apparently had a
sordid past that was coming back to get him thirty years later during my
family's murder trial. Not a good thing
at all.
Madison walked back over to her
table and picked up a piece of paper.
"According to this document, you
were way past the legal limit. You were
drunk. You were a drunken driver and
killed your family." Madison
stated. "That must have been an awful
thing to live with. Is that why you
chose to write prescriptions and self medicate yourself thus causing you to get
your medical license put on probation?"
"I didn't mean to kill them."
He was a frail looking old man to
start with. Seeing him up there with her
badgering him with questions caused him to look even more fragile.
"But you did kill them."
She said.
"Then again in 1999 you were sued for malpractice after a combination of
antipsychotic drugs that you had written caused a near fatal reaction in one of
your patients." She looked right at
Dr. Whitman.
"You kind doctor have no idea what you are
doing. How do we know you examined my
client correctly?" She looked at Judge
Davis. "I have no further questions your
honor."
Wow was all I could think.
I doubt there was even any way that
Christopher could turn it around to make him look like a credible witness.
Aunt Faye patted my knee.
"It's going to be okay hun."
She whispered.
Judge Davis looked at Christopher.
"Would you like to cross
examine?" Judge Davis asked.
"Not at the moment."
Christopher replied.
Judge Davis slammed her gavel down.
"Court is adjourned for the day it
will resume Monday morning at promptly nine o'clock."
She stood up from her bench and
walked into her judge quarters.
***
I sat in the recliner, my eyes
closed, but not asleep. I had changed
clothes as soon as I got home from court.
I wanted to be comfortable, so I changed into a pair of blue athletic
shorts and a white t-shirt.
Kevin sat on the couch right next to
the recliner.
"What do you want to do
tonight?" He asked.
"I want to take your mind off of things."
I opened my eyes, turned my head and
looked at Kevin.
"I really don't feel like doing
anything but sitting around here the entire weekend and going back to that
stupid trial on Monday."
Kevin got up and walked over to the
chair where I was at.
"Hopefully it will get better."
He leaned over and kissed me.
"What do they always say?"
I asked.
"Things get worse before they will ever get better."
"Guess so."
I looked up at Kevin as he looked
down at me.
He looked so amazingly
beautiful. His blue eyes gleaming, his
smile, there were no words to describe that smile.
I could melt anytime he looked at
me.
"I love you."
I told him.
He leaned down and kissed me.
"I love you more."
There was a knock on the front door,
then it opened and Daniel walked in. He
was carrying two clear plastic bags.
"I hope I didn't interrupt anything."
He grinned at us.
He pushed the door closed with his
foot.
"Nah."
Kevin replied.
"Didn't interrupt anything this time, I was
just trying to make Ryan feel better."
Daniel walked into the kitchen and
sat his bags down on the kitchen counter.
"Well, I just brought him his
favorite food from the Country Inn.
Hopefully that will help out some."
He walked back into the living room
where Kevin and I were at.
"Thanks buddy."
I replied.
"I'm sure I will be hungry in a little bit."
He walked over to the couch and sat
down.
"They are hard asses at work.
They won't let you off for nothing.
Sorry I couldn't make it today."
"It's all good."
I replied.
"What do you say if I take you guys
out? My treat, maybe some go karts movie
something like that." Daniel asked us.
Well, I knew that sitting around the
house all weekend wasn't the best thing for me to do.
All I would end up doing it getting really depressed.
I had been in that boat pretty recently and
didn't want to go down that road again.
My therapist had told me that no
matter what don't dwell on the things that I can't change.
Things will get better and when I feel down
the best thing for me would be to spend time with friends and family.
"I think it will be fun."
I replied.
"Hopefully it will take my mind off of things."
Daniel looked at his watch.
"It's almost four thirty right now."
He stated.
"How about we leave at around six?"
I got up from the recliner.
"Yeah we can do that."
I looked at Kevin.
"I hope that's okay with you."
"Of course it's okay with me."
He kissed me the slapped my butt.
"Go eat. You hadn't had anything in you all
day."
Daniel burst out laughing.
I looked at him.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh what Kevin just said about you
not having anything in you all day, it could be taken in a totally different
way that intended."
Kevin picked a pillow up from the
couch and tossed it at Daniel.
"Well, I know what your mind is on
today."
I walked into the kitchen and went
through the two bags that Daniel had brought with him.
I took out a Styrofoam container labeled
CS and opened it. Inside was my favorite
chicken spaghetti that they served at the Country Inn.
"Thanks a lot Dan."
I walked over to the drawer and took out a
fork. "This smells delicious."
"Well, I'm sure it probably tastes
better than whatever it was that Kevin was planning on putting inside you." He
laughed.
I looked at Kevin and Daniel and
shook my head. Kevin's face was bright
red, Daniel had embarrassed him.
"We haven't had sex yet."
Kevin told Daniel.
"We are going to wait until the right moment
when we both feel that it is right."
That was one of the first things
that we had talked about. We both
decided that it would be best that we wait until we both felt we were ready for
sex. That way we could have a
relationship that wasn't based just on having sex.
"Nothing wrong with that."
Daniel walked over to the couch and
sat down.
I took a bite of my chicken spaghetti.
My taste buds started screaming thank you,
because it was so good.
I guess I didn't realize exactly how
hungry I was earlier; because I chowed down on that chicken spaghetti like
there was no tomorrow.
"We can leave earlier if you want."
I shoved the last of the chicken spaghetti in
my mouth. "Then we can come chill here
after we are done."
Kevin and Daniel both nodded their
heads in agreement.
***
Daniel shook his head as we were
walking back to my car.
"Why do I always go mini golfing
with you and go kart riding?" He asked
me. "It just so happens that every time me or Kevin looked away your ball would be right in the hole
and you would have a high score." He
laughed. "And I think we were riding go
karts not bumper cars."
I shrugged my shoulders.
"I won fair and square."
"Well this time you might have won,
but just wait until next time." Kevin
piped up. "Your ass is mine."
"You two are just sore losers."
I unlocked the driver's side and got in the
car.
Kevin got in on the passenger side
and Daniel got in the back.
"You guys wana just rent a movie and
take it back to your place and watch it?" Daniel suggested.
"Yeah." Kevin and I both said at the
same time.
I was actually happy that Daniel had
come over. Otherwise I would have just
sat around the house being Mr. Gloomy all weekend.
I drove us to Video Visions where we
decided to rent a movie called Project X.
I had never heard of it, but Daniel insisted that he had seen previews
of it and it sounded really funny.
We got the movie and made it back
home. I had gotten so tired that I could
hardly keep my eyes open. I kept dozing
off until the sleep got the best of me.