Chapter 9
Buffy had never testified in court before, not even at her parent's divorce proceedings. The prosecutor explained that he would ask her to explain what she saw as best she could. The defense attorney would try to tear Buffy's story apart, but as long as she just told the truth she would be fine. This was only a probable cause hearing, to determine if there was enough evidence to prosecute Caligo. Buffy figured she's have to testify again at the trial. Today Buffy testified that she'd seen the defendnt, still known as "Internuntius Caligo" plunge the dagger into Marcie. The defense attorney, Lindsay Mcdonald, asked Buffy if she'd seen Marcie move prior to that, or if she'd seen Caligo slit Marcie's throat. Buffy admitted she hadn't seen either of those things. Then Buffy was dismissed. Lindsay then presented his own evidence. The autopsy showed that Marcie had died when her throat had been slit, Caligo plunging the dagger ito her chest was post-mortem. The autopsy also indicated hesitation marks on Marcie's throat. While hesitation marks are more common with suicides they are not unheard of with homicides. The judge seemed to believe Lindsay was desperate to claim Marcie killed herself, but what other defense did he have. The judge kept this opinion to himself. Then Lindsay presented a piece of evidence that changed the hearing, a video recording Marcie made hours before her death. Marcie professed her devotion to Satan, said she was ready to join him in Hell. Although Caligo wasn't in this video Marcie thanked him for showing her the path, the way of true faith. The judge, prosecutor, and especially Buffy, were shocked at this. The judge examined this evidence. Internuntius Caligo might very well be a sociopath who manipulated Marcie into ending her own life. But there was no evidence of this, and the evidence seemed to indicate that he hadn't slit her throat personally. They might still be able to prosecute him for desecrating a corpse, but he could argue he was merely honoring her religious beliefs. At any rate this was not the purpose of this hearing. This was to determine if there was enough evidence to prosecute him for murder, there was not. The judge knew he had to dismiss the charges. For better or worse Internuntius Caligo was a free man.