Chapter Twenty-Four
Then, it was the moment Daphne was waiting for. The Lawyer would make her opening statement to the jury. As she stood before them, the Lawyer appeared to be confident; that was all Daphne could hope for.
"My colleague is right. Daphne Blake does have a reputation in this town as a founding member of Mystery Inc., but it doesn't deserve to be tarnished by evidence presented against her," the Lawyer said. "Not everything is what it seems to be. What's on the surface is covering the truth, and the truth is, my client is innocent of these crimes. Daphne was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she had the right intentions when she got there. To try and save the life of a man who was dying from a cowardly and vicious attack. But when the police got there, they arrested her, and despite what Robert Ballard's dying words were, I will present a reasonable doubt that Daphne is innocent, and a verdict of not guilty must be given,"
Daphne observed the jury, and there was no doubt that none of them believed a word the Lawyer was saying. One juror looked at Daphne, and she had a hateful expression on her face. It was as if she had already decided that she would vote guilty before the trial even began. As Daphne looked away, she was shaking and did her best to hide it. As the Lawyer returned to Daphne, the Lawyer could see she was shaking.
"Calm down," the Lawyer said. "We're just getting started,"
Daphne had no idea if she could calm down, but she did her best.
XXXXX
Due to stress, Daphne could only remember portions of the trial. What she naturally remembered the most was being on the stand. The Prosecuting Attorney loved questioning Daphne as he felt he could have a field day with her. What made things worse was that Michael and Katherine Ballard were sitting in the back row of the courtroom that day and listening to every word Daphne had to say.
"What interests me the most about the days leading up to the victim's death was the way you continuously emailed him," the Prosecuting Attorney said. "It was every day right up to the very end. What's your explanation for this?"
"I never emailed him," Daphne said. "My account was hacked. I had nothing to say to Robert,"
"But our records indicate differently," the Prosecuting Attorney replied. "All the emails were sent from your personal computer at times when you were the only person who had access to it, and there's something else that's of interest to me. You concluded every email with the phrase, 'Catch you later, my friend,'. Now, that's hardly the act of a friend, wouldn't you say?"
Daphne began to shake and did her best not to show it.
"Look, I've already told you!" Daphne said frantically. "I never sent those emails and I have never signed off from an email using that expression!"
"Then why are you shaking, Miss Blake?" the Prosecuting Attorney asked smugly.
"I'm scared for my life because I didn't kill Robert!" Daphne said, nearly shouting. "When I got there, I saw that he had been attacked, and I tried to help him!"
The Prosecuting Attorney refrained himself from rolling his eyes.
"Yes, I'm aware of that part of your story, but it's very flimsy," he said.
"Why is that flimsy?" Daphne asked, frustrated.
"Because you could have attacked him, left him alone and then returned two hours later to save him to make yourself look innocent," the Prosecuting Attorney said.
As Daphne and the Prosecuting Attorney continued their exchange, Michael and Katherine Ballard became more convinced she was guilty.
XXXXX
The Warden wanted to go to the courthouse more than anything, but he knew it would be a mistake if he did. He knew he had to be patient in order not to look suspicious. All he could do was watch the news in his office daily. As he watched, the Female Reporter was on screen in front of the courthouse.
"It's the sixth day of the trial of Daphne Blake, and the evidence against her keeps getting stronger," the Female Reporter said. "Things don't look good for her, and it's only a matter of time before the jury is sent in for their deliberations,"
The Warden loved what the Female Reporter had to say.
"It won't be long until you're here, Daphne, and you'll be mine," the Warden said to himself.
As he continued to watch the news report, the Warden felt himself getting hard, and he deludedly believed Daphne would get wet when they would finally be together.
XXXXX
Thanks to complex wheeling and dealing, Daphne was finally allowed to return home, but she always had to wear an ankle bracelet monitor. Daphne looked at it in bed, and Fred noticed it.
"Don't worry," Fred said. "You won't be wearing it for much longer, and soon you'll be rid of it,"
"Yeah, because I'll be going to prison," Daphne replied with fearful sarcasm.
That wasn't what Fred wanted to hear, but he could understand why she had said it.
"Daphne, don't think that way," Fred said. "We've both looked up the Lawyer's record, and we know how many cases she's won. Ninety-nine percent of them,"
"And I'm going to be in the one percent category," Daphne said, tearing up.
Daphne rested her head on Fred's chest and cried.
"I didn't do it, Freddie," she cried. "I didn't do it,"
"I know you didn't do it," Fred replied sensitively. "So, how about we just turn off the lights and try to forget about it until tomorrow,"
"How are we supposed to forget about it?" she asked.
Fred answered that question by turning off the light, and they were in darkness.
"Oh," Daphne said, feeling a little better.
They kissed each other slowly and began to undress. They loved how they felt to each other in the dark. To Daphne, it felt nice that they couldn't see each other: Just skin on skin in the dark. Without fail, Fred put on a condom. They kissed each other some more, and Daphne got on top. Fred penetrated her, and he started thrusting. Daphne loved the sensation.
"Uhhhhhhhhh!" Daphne moaned.
They both began to thrust in the dark and loved that they could thrust with each other's rhythms. They were loving the mystery of their sex until both of them saw something they didn't expect. There was a flash of light, but it didn't come from lightning in the sky, as there wasn't a storm that night. It came from a camera outside.
"Jeepers!" Daphne said, horrified.
Someone outside was photographing Daphne and Fred having sex through cracks in the shades that hadn't been completely closed.
"God!" Fred said as he couldn't believe what was happening.
Daphne got off Fred and reached for a blanket on the floor. As that happened, more photographs were taken with flashes illuminating Daphne as she was naked but covering herself up. Fred got off the bed, picked up a blanket off the floor and covered himself.
"Oh, my God!" Daphne said, horrified.
"That goddamn bastard!" Fred shouted as he ran out of their bedroom and their house.
By the time Fred ran outside, the photographer was gone. From outside their house, he could hear Daphne crying, and he ran back inside the house to comfort her as fast as he could. It was horrific enough that Daphne was facing the trial for her life, and the last thing they needed was their sex life to be photographed. There was nothing they could do about the photographs being exposed in the media in the immediate future.
