A short novel by KEN GANDY
It wasn't my idea to go to the party last night. I just knew I had a gut feeling, that something was going to happen. But nothing could prepare me for her.
From across the room she noticed me. It wasn't the look that got me, but the way she looked at me. Sort of like she could see right into my very soul. Like all my secrets had been told in that very instance.
Before I knew what happened, the cops were there, and I was standing over her with a knife. The blood dripped off the corner end of the table, now splattered with evidence being leaked into the camera's view.
Signs all over the room told a tale, that more than death had happened here. But was it an accident, murder, or revenge that would matter when you have to.
STAND ACCUSED!
Day 7: The Evidence Revealed..
Jack Benet was a man from the Norfolk, Virginia. He moved to Delaware out of pure luck. It was supposed to be the best time of his life. He had just got out of the military, and was moving up north to get on with his life.
He had been deployed out to the war for 8 years on the front line. Now he was standing in a unknown club, walking to the bar with a pounding headache. The music from the speakers would not let up. The drinks spilled over the bar counter from every passing drink.
The bartender passed him a glass with a message on a napkin.
DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?
The words were muffled by the beat, but they meant something and as soon as he heard them, they struck a cord. The bar scene was packed with people, and he wondered who could have sent him a drink with a message like that.
The bartender pointed towards the back, of the dark filled club. A small light flickered from the red candles seated on each table. Some use it for mood, but she was using it to light her cigarette. She motioned him to come closer, and as he did, she looked strangely familiar. As if he knew her.
The closer he got to her the colder the room became. He could see the steam from his breath begin to rise out of the shadows as the temperature got lower. It felt like death had come to greet him at the table side.
Her red lips gleamed as she tilted her head. The fire in her eyes were not enough to heat anything in this room except her soon to be dead cold body. He got to her table, and looked at her. She smiled and said "don't I know you?"
She looked into his very soul, and for whatever reason he knew that she had to die.
Day 6: Blood Is Thicker Than Water.
Little did the prosecuting attorney realize that morning, that he was kissing his daughter on the head for the last time.
He rushed out the door of his downtown office across from the bus station. Police were there with a car ready to take him to the the scene of the crime.
The thought of him demanding to be brought down here in the middle of a murder case that involves his child, was pure disbelief. Imagine the thoughts in his head as the car traveled down Market street to the scene of the crime.
Tears were facing a losing battle, as they fought for emotions to show. The fear was a new skin waiting to creep up and devour the heart. Flash backs came over his mind, as he pictured every case he ever fought.
Every picture spelled out the words...
DADDY AVENGE ME!
Each step one by one was a cruel joke being played on his mind as he entered the building. The walls were red from the blood splattered all over.
He was called into the back booth in the club. Now flashlight's told the story as they waved over her body. It was like she was a singer on a stage, singing her death song, and the spotlight never left her side.
He couldn't make out the face of the victim, due to the red hair she now wore as a badge of the event that sold out seats of this new audience of cops, and reporters.
He moved closer to the body, and knelled down with his out stretched hand. He slowly moved the curtain made of hair away from the face, He saw the same soft, blue eyes of the lady staring straight back at his.
He began to cry for his daughter now laying there with no traces of life left on her now pale skin.
He died that night too.
“Get those people out of here.” Someone in the back called out. is there no respect for the dead.
The clicking sound of the camera taking pictures, was like an episode of Paparazzi on display. Flash burns found their way into the frames of every mind. Hot white burning light which left no stone unturned.
Or so they thought.
As they took the body out on the stretcher, a long silence filled the air. The only sound heard was from an object falling to the floor from the clutches of a dead woman’s hand.
A simple button.
Day 5: A Torn House
“If you was not coming home last night you should have called me!”
Brent Walker was upset with his girlfriend. He was upset with the fact that she never had time for him, or the family he was trying to have with her.
“Why do you think that I have to tell you everything, especially when you out there cheating with all those girls, on Facebook!” she replied.
The door slammed with such force, as she left to go out shopping with her girl’s.
“I don’t know who he thinks he is…” The thought was interrupted by the cell phone ringing.
Mindy was upset with life.
Getting back the one thing in life that had been so deep and sincere, her dear sweet mother had passed on.
Her father had work to take up his time.
As if he would really die, if he spent one minute in that house with girl. his attitude was more like, I made it without a father, and so can you.
What's good for the goose, isn’t always good for the gander. She got stuck with the bad part of the apple.
And that’s how she turned out.
SPOILED ROTTEN TO THE VERY CORE.
I guess there are some pleasures in life, that seem to be the most least possible to have. We crave for so much.
In her mind she felt like the queen and living in her fancy life was no option.
That is what made things so different about this case.
What was a woman like that, doing in a known drug infested bar like this.
Her dad was sitting at the kitchen table holding on to a picture.
He couldn’t lift his face to look at the picture of his once little girl, now dead and he didn’t know why.
He ripped up the picture in his hand, as to stop his thought’s of her ever returning back to him.
SOMEONE WAS GOING TO PAY!
But who?
Day 4: The Shiny Light.
Tears ran from my face.
It was hard seeing those pictures.
I was reminded that I was under oath. Anything I say or do will, and can be used against me in a court of law.
And today, I get a chance to live that to the fullest.
"Why won"t anyone believe me?"
I pleaded with the jury to see my words turn into lies no matter what I said by the prosecution.
"I don’t know who I am." I looked at the family all seated around me.
The only thing that was saving me from them, was the 6 inch thick, bullet proof glass, that separated the lookers, and the flashing camera's, that rolled footage of the whole case.
It was day 4, and they hadn't gotten by the first question..
(What is my name)..
"I don’t know how I got there nor do I know what happened. All I know is I woke up in a strange place, and she was laying there in a pool of blood, and her throat slashed."
The realization of what I had just said hit my mind, and I started to feel dizzy.
It took me every ounce of power left in my body to raise my hands, the blood smell never left them no matter how much they told me to wash them..
"I had a knife in my hand."
Those words seemed to damn me now to the life punishment I feared...DEATH!
But how can you punish someone when you don't know who they are, or even sure that they committed the crime. Even when you do have all the evidence, and it points at you.
Why would I want to hurt her? I don’t even know her.
And why would anyone want to hurt me.
I’ve got to get to the bottom of this.
For some reason his mind kept flashing back to the club, and a tall figure holding what looked like a gun.
Something shiny on his waist, caught the light of the disco ball as it turned.
He remembered reaching for it, but was hit with something hard.
He woke up surrounded by cops.
Day 3: The Driver.
Dennis drove that cab for years. He bragged to all his customers about how good he was, and how his knowledge of the city was a bonus for all his tips.
He kept saying to his fare, that he knew the fastest way to get to the club. So he was baffled, as to why she wanted to go down the interstate. A sure 20 min ride difference.
He kept checking behind him, as to make sure no one was dead back there.
“Keep your Face forward, and don’t look back here again.” the fare screamed out at the cab driver.
“Just drive like I tell you, and get me to the club…” The fare seemed to be drunk, and passing in and out.
This was the 4th club they went to tonight, but he didn’t mind. He was getting a lot out of this.
And soon so shall they.
He pulled up to the last club, and looked in his rear view. He noticed that the person in the back was slipping him a 100 dollar bill.
The driver smiled back with the satisfied look of another job well done. He pointed at all the people in the front and said “It must be jumping in this one. I haven’t seen this many cars parked up here in a long while. You sure your going to be ok?
The fare slipped him another 100 bill, and said wait for me, I’ll be back, and slipped in the club unnoticed by all.
At the same time a man walked through the club stumbling. He seemed to be drunk, but with a look of a man on a mission.
He knew this had to be the place. The night was coming t a close, and Last call for alcohol was playing over the speakers. This was the last club open anywhere.
Habit’s are hard not to keep from a person who knows you. And these are hard to break. This club was the only place to score everything you needed. Kind of a one stop shop.
Rushing to the bar to grab a drink, he stood next to a guy who looked like the type that could help.
He saw all the war medals on his jacket, and noticed everything about him. The way his hair was cut, all the way down to his ironed pant’s.
His shoes shined, and even his drink was different.
Excuse me sir. The man wrote on a napkin... DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?
Yeah it’s 3am in the morning. The soldier replied.
Here is a beer my friend. Thanks for the information.
He walked off to the bathroom, and that is when the girl walked in.
Day 2: The Setup.
Everybody in the club was shocked, when this guy came out from no where and started jumping all over this guy.
All we could see was the crowd cheering all around him, for the chance of a life time was here.
How often do a total stranger walks into a bar, grab the hands of a total stranger, and just start dragging them out the club.
Everything inside said that was enough. The fight started, and when the bottles went flying, it was time to go. Couple after couple, slowly left the club that night.
Eventually everyone got out except the fare! That was odd for him to be sitting here with the club closed and no fare to take home, so he left, and went down the street.
Before he got 2 blocks a man was waving him down. He was a heavy set man, one could say that he looked like a giant, dressed in an all black cotton jacket.
He was on his way home from the office. His car broke down along the side of the street just 3 miles back. You could see stains all over his shirt.
The cab driver asked what happened to him, was he hurt or needed to go the hospital.
He said that he cut his hand on the metal gas can he was carrying to get gas. He ripped his jacket too.
Funny he smelled like a bar.
The radio roared out, “ALL DRIVERS REPORT TO BASE, WE GOT A SITUATION OVER BY THE CLUB, DO NOT TAKE ANY MORE FARES TO THE DMG CLUB. “
That was all.
The cabbie looked at the man in the backseat.
Hey you want to go somewhere special?
I want to go home…
He put his head back and went to sleep.
Tomorrow he will kiss his daughter on the head before he leaves.
Day 1: What’s Your Name!?!
The court room was quiet.
The foot steps pounded the wooden floor. Each step taken was a sharp stake through my heart.
The heavy set man looked like a giant, dressed in an all black cotton jacket. If he meant to scare the living crap out of me, it was working.
Can you please state your name for the record please... He didn't even lift his head from the folder he was reading as he strolled back and forth, from one side of the court room to the other.
My mouth was dry to the very core.
It felt like blisters were forming every time my tongue passed over the roof of my mouth. Asking me to speak right now would be almost futile.
The lawyer's words fell flat on my ears. For a minute, I thought I had gone deaf in both ears. It was like my body had put up a defense shield to try to keep the allegation's from entering into what was now my safe room.
It was like a low humming tone that rumbled volumes of sound into the very deep, and now raised the truth for all to hear.
"I don’t know."
I spoke up quietly, "I can't remember.."
The jury all gave me a look, like how is that possible when everyone knows your name.
"You cant remember? Or is the truth of the matter that you don’t want to." The prosecuting attorney was a cruel tyrant. He never lost a case, and this one was an open and shut case.
Delaware is known for the punishment of harsh actions, and penalties you face when you are placed before court system.
Either good or bad, you get the book thrown at you.
Dealing with a murder case where you find the person accused, the murder weapon in hand, and the victim on the floor all in the same room... That is a gift to a lawyer.
"The driver license found in your wallet, with your picture on it, says your name is Jack Bonnet. Is that true?"
He turned red with anger at not getting an answer all this time.
"Come on sir, stop this game!"
The lawyer's face turned cold, and he transformed into a father.
A father of a dead girl.
A father who's now face, to face with the person believed to have killed his only daughter, in what some headlines said a rage of pure passion.
A father who is the top lawyer in this state.
A father who has one mission in life now..
TO SEE YOU DIE!
"Tell me your name!"
He turned and looked at me, and drew closer..
"Tell me your name!" His scream cut me in half. The fear sat in. He got right up in my face.
I could feel his breath on the tip of my nose.
Tell me your name!
He threw the pictures of his daughter, mangled and cut to shred's from the knife on the table connected to the witness stand.
I could see the eyes of the dead girl staring up at me from the grave.
I looked at him, and chased every corner of my mind.
Searching, but never finding the one answer I knew he deserved to have..
But got none..
"Tell me your name!"
This has been another Ken Gandy sneak preview.
Hope you enjoyed, and remember READ EVERYTHING!!!
Stand Accused by Ken Gandy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Nosedives 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at evenyouwillhavetostandaccused.blogspot.com.
It wasn't my idea to go to the party last night. I just knew I had a gut feeling, that something was going to happen. But nothing could prepare me for her.
From across the room she noticed me. It wasn't the look that got me, but the way she looked at me. Sort of like she could see right into my very soul. Like all my secrets had been told in that very instance.
Before I knew what happened, the cops were there, and I was standing over her with a knife. The blood dripped off the corner end of the table, now splattered with evidence being leaked into the camera's view.
Signs all over the room told a tale, that more than death had happened here. But was it an accident, murder, or revenge that would matter when you have to.
STAND ACCUSED!
Day 7: The Evidence Revealed..
Jack Benet was a man from the Norfolk, Virginia. He moved to Delaware out of pure luck. It was supposed to be the best time of his life. He had just got out of the military, and was moving up north to get on with his life.
He had been deployed out to the war for 8 years on the front line. Now he was standing in a unknown club, walking to the bar with a pounding headache. The music from the speakers would not let up. The drinks spilled over the bar counter from every passing drink.
The bartender passed him a glass with a message on a napkin.
DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?
The words were muffled by the beat, but they meant something and as soon as he heard them, they struck a cord. The bar scene was packed with people, and he wondered who could have sent him a drink with a message like that.
The bartender pointed towards the back, of the dark filled club. A small light flickered from the red candles seated on each table. Some use it for mood, but she was using it to light her cigarette. She motioned him to come closer, and as he did, she looked strangely familiar. As if he knew her.
The closer he got to her the colder the room became. He could see the steam from his breath begin to rise out of the shadows as the temperature got lower. It felt like death had come to greet him at the table side.
Her red lips gleamed as she tilted her head. The fire in her eyes were not enough to heat anything in this room except her soon to be dead cold body. He got to her table, and looked at her. She smiled and said "don't I know you?"
She looked into his very soul, and for whatever reason he knew that she had to die.
Day 6: Blood Is Thicker Than Water.
Little did the prosecuting attorney realize that morning, that he was kissing his daughter on the head for the last time.
He rushed out the door of his downtown office across from the bus station. Police were there with a car ready to take him to the the scene of the crime.
The thought of him demanding to be brought down here in the middle of a murder case that involves his child, was pure disbelief. Imagine the thoughts in his head as the car traveled down Market street to the scene of the crime.
Tears were facing a losing battle, as they fought for emotions to show. The fear was a new skin waiting to creep up and devour the heart. Flash backs came over his mind, as he pictured every case he ever fought.
Every picture spelled out the words...
DADDY AVENGE ME!
Each step one by one was a cruel joke being played on his mind as he entered the building. The walls were red from the blood splattered all over.
He was called into the back booth in the club. Now flashlight's told the story as they waved over her body. It was like she was a singer on a stage, singing her death song, and the spotlight never left her side.
He couldn't make out the face of the victim, due to the red hair she now wore as a badge of the event that sold out seats of this new audience of cops, and reporters.
He moved closer to the body, and knelled down with his out stretched hand. He slowly moved the curtain made of hair away from the face, He saw the same soft, blue eyes of the lady staring straight back at his.
He began to cry for his daughter now laying there with no traces of life left on her now pale skin.
He died that night too.
“Get those people out of here.” Someone in the back called out. is there no respect for the dead.
The clicking sound of the camera taking pictures, was like an episode of Paparazzi on display. Flash burns found their way into the frames of every mind. Hot white burning light which left no stone unturned.
Or so they thought.
As they took the body out on the stretcher, a long silence filled the air. The only sound heard was from an object falling to the floor from the clutches of a dead woman’s hand.
A simple button.
Day 5: A Torn House
“If you was not coming home last night you should have called me!”
Brent Walker was upset with his girlfriend. He was upset with the fact that she never had time for him, or the family he was trying to have with her.
“Why do you think that I have to tell you everything, especially when you out there cheating with all those girls, on Facebook!” she replied.
The door slammed with such force, as she left to go out shopping with her girl’s.
“I don’t know who he thinks he is…” The thought was interrupted by the cell phone ringing.
Mindy was upset with life.
Getting back the one thing in life that had been so deep and sincere, her dear sweet mother had passed on.
Her father had work to take up his time.
As if he would really die, if he spent one minute in that house with girl. his attitude was more like, I made it without a father, and so can you.
What's good for the goose, isn’t always good for the gander. She got stuck with the bad part of the apple.
And that’s how she turned out.
SPOILED ROTTEN TO THE VERY CORE.
I guess there are some pleasures in life, that seem to be the most least possible to have. We crave for so much.
In her mind she felt like the queen and living in her fancy life was no option.
That is what made things so different about this case.
What was a woman like that, doing in a known drug infested bar like this.
Her dad was sitting at the kitchen table holding on to a picture.
He couldn’t lift his face to look at the picture of his once little girl, now dead and he didn’t know why.
He ripped up the picture in his hand, as to stop his thought’s of her ever returning back to him.
SOMEONE WAS GOING TO PAY!
But who?
Day 4: The Shiny Light.
Tears ran from my face.
It was hard seeing those pictures.
I was reminded that I was under oath. Anything I say or do will, and can be used against me in a court of law.
And today, I get a chance to live that to the fullest.
"Why won"t anyone believe me?"
I pleaded with the jury to see my words turn into lies no matter what I said by the prosecution.
"I don’t know who I am." I looked at the family all seated around me.
The only thing that was saving me from them, was the 6 inch thick, bullet proof glass, that separated the lookers, and the flashing camera's, that rolled footage of the whole case.
It was day 4, and they hadn't gotten by the first question..
(What is my name)..
"I don’t know how I got there nor do I know what happened. All I know is I woke up in a strange place, and she was laying there in a pool of blood, and her throat slashed."
The realization of what I had just said hit my mind, and I started to feel dizzy.
It took me every ounce of power left in my body to raise my hands, the blood smell never left them no matter how much they told me to wash them..
"I had a knife in my hand."
Those words seemed to damn me now to the life punishment I feared...DEATH!
But how can you punish someone when you don't know who they are, or even sure that they committed the crime. Even when you do have all the evidence, and it points at you.
Why would I want to hurt her? I don’t even know her.
And why would anyone want to hurt me.
I’ve got to get to the bottom of this.
For some reason his mind kept flashing back to the club, and a tall figure holding what looked like a gun.
Something shiny on his waist, caught the light of the disco ball as it turned.
He remembered reaching for it, but was hit with something hard.
He woke up surrounded by cops.
Day 3: The Driver.
Dennis drove that cab for years. He bragged to all his customers about how good he was, and how his knowledge of the city was a bonus for all his tips.
He kept saying to his fare, that he knew the fastest way to get to the club. So he was baffled, as to why she wanted to go down the interstate. A sure 20 min ride difference.
He kept checking behind him, as to make sure no one was dead back there.
“Keep your Face forward, and don’t look back here again.” the fare screamed out at the cab driver.
“Just drive like I tell you, and get me to the club…” The fare seemed to be drunk, and passing in and out.
This was the 4th club they went to tonight, but he didn’t mind. He was getting a lot out of this.
And soon so shall they.
He pulled up to the last club, and looked in his rear view. He noticed that the person in the back was slipping him a 100 dollar bill.
The driver smiled back with the satisfied look of another job well done. He pointed at all the people in the front and said “It must be jumping in this one. I haven’t seen this many cars parked up here in a long while. You sure your going to be ok?
The fare slipped him another 100 bill, and said wait for me, I’ll be back, and slipped in the club unnoticed by all.
At the same time a man walked through the club stumbling. He seemed to be drunk, but with a look of a man on a mission.
He knew this had to be the place. The night was coming t a close, and Last call for alcohol was playing over the speakers. This was the last club open anywhere.
Habit’s are hard not to keep from a person who knows you. And these are hard to break. This club was the only place to score everything you needed. Kind of a one stop shop.
Rushing to the bar to grab a drink, he stood next to a guy who looked like the type that could help.
He saw all the war medals on his jacket, and noticed everything about him. The way his hair was cut, all the way down to his ironed pant’s.
His shoes shined, and even his drink was different.
Excuse me sir. The man wrote on a napkin... DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?
Yeah it’s 3am in the morning. The soldier replied.
Here is a beer my friend. Thanks for the information.
He walked off to the bathroom, and that is when the girl walked in.
Day 2: The Setup.
Everybody in the club was shocked, when this guy came out from no where and started jumping all over this guy.
All we could see was the crowd cheering all around him, for the chance of a life time was here.
How often do a total stranger walks into a bar, grab the hands of a total stranger, and just start dragging them out the club.
Everything inside said that was enough. The fight started, and when the bottles went flying, it was time to go. Couple after couple, slowly left the club that night.
Eventually everyone got out except the fare! That was odd for him to be sitting here with the club closed and no fare to take home, so he left, and went down the street.
Before he got 2 blocks a man was waving him down. He was a heavy set man, one could say that he looked like a giant, dressed in an all black cotton jacket.
He was on his way home from the office. His car broke down along the side of the street just 3 miles back. You could see stains all over his shirt.
The cab driver asked what happened to him, was he hurt or needed to go the hospital.
He said that he cut his hand on the metal gas can he was carrying to get gas. He ripped his jacket too.
Funny he smelled like a bar.
The radio roared out, “ALL DRIVERS REPORT TO BASE, WE GOT A SITUATION OVER BY THE CLUB, DO NOT TAKE ANY MORE FARES TO THE DMG CLUB. “
That was all.
The cabbie looked at the man in the backseat.
Hey you want to go somewhere special?
I want to go home…
He put his head back and went to sleep.
Tomorrow he will kiss his daughter on the head before he leaves.
Day 1: What’s Your Name!?!
The court room was quiet.
The foot steps pounded the wooden floor. Each step taken was a sharp stake through my heart.
The heavy set man looked like a giant, dressed in an all black cotton jacket. If he meant to scare the living crap out of me, it was working.
Can you please state your name for the record please... He didn't even lift his head from the folder he was reading as he strolled back and forth, from one side of the court room to the other.
My mouth was dry to the very core.
It felt like blisters were forming every time my tongue passed over the roof of my mouth. Asking me to speak right now would be almost futile.
The lawyer's words fell flat on my ears. For a minute, I thought I had gone deaf in both ears. It was like my body had put up a defense shield to try to keep the allegation's from entering into what was now my safe room.
It was like a low humming tone that rumbled volumes of sound into the very deep, and now raised the truth for all to hear.
"I don’t know."
I spoke up quietly, "I can't remember.."
The jury all gave me a look, like how is that possible when everyone knows your name.
"You cant remember? Or is the truth of the matter that you don’t want to." The prosecuting attorney was a cruel tyrant. He never lost a case, and this one was an open and shut case.
Delaware is known for the punishment of harsh actions, and penalties you face when you are placed before court system.
Either good or bad, you get the book thrown at you.
Dealing with a murder case where you find the person accused, the murder weapon in hand, and the victim on the floor all in the same room... That is a gift to a lawyer.
"The driver license found in your wallet, with your picture on it, says your name is Jack Bonnet. Is that true?"
He turned red with anger at not getting an answer all this time.
"Come on sir, stop this game!"
The lawyer's face turned cold, and he transformed into a father.
A father of a dead girl.
A father who's now face, to face with the person believed to have killed his only daughter, in what some headlines said a rage of pure passion.
A father who is the top lawyer in this state.
A father who has one mission in life now..
TO SEE YOU DIE!
"Tell me your name!"
He turned and looked at me, and drew closer..
"Tell me your name!" His scream cut me in half. The fear sat in. He got right up in my face.
I could feel his breath on the tip of my nose.
Tell me your name!
He threw the pictures of his daughter, mangled and cut to shred's from the knife on the table connected to the witness stand.
I could see the eyes of the dead girl staring up at me from the grave.
I looked at him, and chased every corner of my mind.
Searching, but never finding the one answer I knew he deserved to have..
But got none..
"Tell me your name!"
This has been another Ken Gandy sneak preview.
Hope you enjoyed, and remember READ EVERYTHING!!!
Stand Accused by Ken Gandy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Nosedives 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at evenyouwillhavetostandaccused.blogspot.com.
