Chapter 3

Theresa sat in anxiety as Gwen gave her testimony. She fidgeted and tore a piece of paper into a million smaller ones. Then the time had come.

It was her turn.

On shaky legs, Theresa stood from her seat and somehow made her way up to the witness stand.

"Please state your name for the record," stated the bailiff.

"Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald Winthrop."

"Please raise your right hand," the bailiff continued and Theresa did as she was told. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"

"I do," Theresa swore.

"You may be seated." Theresa took her seat as Ethan rose from his.

"Now, Mrs. Winthrop," Ethan began professionally. "You have testified earlier saying that the defendant in question attacked you. Would you care to elaborate?"

Theresa looked uneasy, and yet answered with a slight nod. "Well, I had gone down to the pool to do some thinking. I was alone. Everyone else was upstairs. I was down there when she showed up." Theresa started her story and it was as if it was all happening before her very eyes…

"What bothers you the most, Gwen, is knowing that your husband is in love with another woman. Your husband is in love with me," Theresa said, pointing a finger at Gwen before turning and walking away.

It was as if a fire had been lit inside of Gwen as she leapt for Theresa in rage. Gwen jumped on top of Theresa and grabbed her neck. Gwen's hand clamped down and squeezed hard. "DAMN YOU, Theresa! DAMN YOU TO HELL!"

Theresa's windpipe contracted at the sudden tightness and her lungs were soon screaming for more oxygen.

"Gw… Gwen…," Theresa managed to get out. "Gwen… you're…. you're choking… me…"

"That's the idea." And Gwen tightened her grip.

Theresa began to lose consciousness as her eyes fluttered; her brain was trying to save as much oxygen as possible. Gwen smiled to herself as she watched Theresa's body become even more lips and stopped fighting. She put her fingers to Theresa's pulse. It was there, but barely.

"I'm going to get rid of you once and for all, you bitch." Gwen looked down at the pool and plunged Theresa in. Theresa's left temple crashed to the pool floor, followed by her shoulder. An immediate crack sounded. Theresa's body floated to the top of the water, and Gwen could see the cut on her head.

Quickly, Gwen grabbed Theresa's neck once again and held in under water, making sure that she wouldn't receive any oxygen.

"I don't remember anything else, but I assume right after, you and Fox showed up," Theresa explained to Ethan.

"Yes." Ethan nodded. "So, basically, you're telling the court, that Ms. Hotchkiss attacked you for no reason other than saying things that she didn't agree with?"

"Yes, pretty much."

"And, would you please tell the court what injuries she caused you in this attack?"

"Umm.. well, I was in a coma for about two days-"

"On life support, correct?" Ethan interjected.

"Yes. I had a broken collar bone, a concussion, and," she stopped to point to her head, "a head wound that resulted in this scar."

"Right. Did you ever have the chance to fight back? Or did you have the opportunity to inflict any such injuries on Ms. Hotchkiss?"

"I never had the chance to fight back. Gwen grabbed me and immediately tried to kill me. I tried as hard as I could to fight back, but I wasn't able to and I couldn't even land a scratch on her."

Ethan swallowed hard, trying to erase the invading images of Theresa meeting death. "Thank you," he said, smiling uneasily at Theresa. "No further questions, Your Honor."

"Mr. Phelps," the judge began. "You may proceed."

Syd stood from his seat and walked to Theresa, nodding in Rebecca's direction in reassurance. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Lopez-Fitzgerald Winthrop." Theresa nodded in response. "Now, you say that my client, Gwen Hotchkiss, attacked you for absolutely no reason, correct?"

Theresa leaned into the microphone in front of her. "Yes, that's correct."

"And you're sure about this?"

"Yes. I tried the best I could to get away from her. I tried to go get Ethan, but she wouldn't stop. She-"

"And you very well knew that she was pregnant-"

"Yes-" Again he cut her off.

"And that she was having an extremely difficult pregnancy?"

"I did, but-"

"And if I'm not mistaken, you and my client have had your riffs in the past, correct?"

Theresa said nothing and Syd walked back to his bench to retrieve a yellow legal pad. It was tattered and old, but also filled with plenty of writing. "Now, it says here, that you and my client were engaged in a brawl in your home a couple years back, yes?"

"Yes, but that wasn't my fault! She attacked-"

"Yes, and it also says that you later attacked her with a pair of scissors and stabbed her in the back."

"I had a prenatal condition and-"

"And it also says here that you confessed to, were tried, and convicted of murder in the first degree…" Syd continued with the accusations.

"I only did it because I was trying to save-"

Ethan shot up. "Objection!"

"Overruled!" The judge yelled back.

"And were later sentenced to the death penalty…"

"Yes, but it was-"

"Your Honor… Need I continue? This clearly-"

"Objection," Ethan began. "Your Honor, with all due respect, Mr. Phelps has absolutely no right to extend his professional opinion in the duration of this court."

"Sustained."

Syd put his hands up as if her were about to be arrested. "My apologizes, Your Honor." He turned back to Theresa. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes. I was reading off the crimes that have been reported between both you and my client. Now that I look, I see something funny… I see here that you have been reported as attacking my client many times, but none do I see here of her attacking you…"

Again Ethan rose from his chair in a split second. "Objection!"

"Overruled."

"Now, tell me, Mrs. Lopez-Fitzgerald Winthrop, do you think that it would be more believable that you, a woman that has many reports filed against her and a criminal record, was attacked for absolutely no reason by a woman that has no criminal record whatsoever? Or, would it be more prudent to suggest that you were the one that did the attacking and were simply hit with the bad luck this time around?"

Theresa was crying now. How did he manage to do this? "I told you…. she… she just… jumped on top of me…. I couldn't… I couldn't…" Theresa couldn't finish her sentence and cried into her hands.

Syd smiled. "No further questions."

Everything after that seemed to be a blur.

Theresa now sat in the bench right outside of the courtroom in which she had just had the worst experience of her life. Somehow that monster of a man, Sydney Phelps, had single handedly managed to convince the court that she was not the prey as she claimed, but the predator.

This was wrong.

All that Theresa could feel now was Ethan's hand on her back, gently consoling her.

It didn't help.

As Theresa's tears fell, she could hear herself speaking. "How did this happen?" Ethan wasn't sure what to say now. Suddenly, Matt approached.

"Theresa…. Look, I want you to know that I'm really sorry, honey. But, don't you worry, we're gonna appeal this one until the judge gets sick of us. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. We were so sure we had it in the bag."

Theresa wiped her tears and smiled up at Matt. "Thank you."

Matt bent down to hug her. "Always." He pulled back and shook Ethan's hand. "I guess I'll see you in the office tomorrow, bright and early?"

"Yeah. See ya tomorrow." Ethan said goodbye to his friend and partner and turned his attention back to his wife. She needed him.

Ethan turned and saw that Theresa's head was down; she was trying in vain to hide the welling tears. Ethan scooped her in his arms and kissed her hair.

"I just…. I don't understand… How could this have happened… I…." She said, her voice muffled in Ethan's shoulder.

"I don't understand it either. All she got was twenty hours of community service and not even a year of parole. I don't understand how any judge could just acquit a person of something like what Gwen did to you. "

"What can I say? I'm good."

Ethan and Theresa looked up and stared into the eyes of Sydney Phelps.

"Yes, you are." Rebecca laughed. "And in court as well." Sydney smiled down at the voluptuous Rebecca Hotchkiss-Crane.

"How can you live with yourself? Don't you care about justice at all?" Ethan demanded.

"Why, Ethan. You really have gone soft, haven't you?" Rebecca asked.

"My boy, someday you'll learn that in a courtroom, there are many more important things other than justice." Syd spoke to Ethan as if he were just a child.

"Such as?"

"The American dollar. It's a beautiful thing." No wonder Syd worked for celebrities. All he saw were dollar signs. Forget about the innocent lives, forget about justice.

Rebecca and Syd inched out, leaving Ethan and Theresa alone again.

Ethan sat hugging his wife when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He flipped it open and read the caller ID.

"I'm sorry. I have to take this. I'll be right back." Theresa nodded and smiled at him. Ethan kissed her lips tenderly and stood from the bench, speaking on the phone as he stepped away.

Theresa sat on the bench alone, until someone came up to her.

It was a little boy. No older than 12. He was dressed as if he had just gone to play outside and in his hand he held what seemed to be an envelope.

It was an envelope.

"This is for you," he told her.

"Oh… thank you. Who's it from?" Theresa asked, looking around to see another person.

"I don't know."

Before Theresa could ask another question, the boy was gone. She looked down at the envelope. A single word was written on the front.

Theresa

Theresa flipped the envelope over and pulled out the paper that was inside. She unfolded it and stared at the written words.

Quickly, Theresa looked up and scanned the room. That's when she saw her.

Standing in the corner, was Gwen. She had her arms crossed and stood quietly in the shadows near the door.

Theresa continued to stare at Gwen. Gwen smirked and pulled her sunglasses off her head and slipped them on, and as quietly as she had entered, she left the building.

Theresa looked down at the words again.

They sent hot chills up her spine…