Madame Juror.

Chapter 5.

"All this shouting and accusing and pointing fingers is all very well and good when it comes to facts, but what begs the question now is motive. Why do such a thing?" the sallow man asked the room.

"I mean" he carried on. "This family were perfectly happy, they lived a plentiful life, and Marta Harrison had everything she coukd wish for; a son, a loving husband, a nice home, plenty of food on the table. Gerard Harrison brought in the money that kept this dream alive. Why ruin your own happiness?"

"How do you know they were happy?" the squeaky man butted in.

"How can you say they weren't?" the sallow man followed up, quick as a wink. "It's my argument, you're challenging, you prove your point first."

I raised an eyebrow. That was rather insighted. It sounded like something out of a metaphorical handbook on how to be a barrister. Hmmm.

The squeaky man snuffled and reshuffled his papers, seemingly realizing he had jumped the gun a little.

"Argument removed" he eventually muttered. "Carry on."

"Gladly" the sallow man smiled cuttingly, before doing just that.

"That and the curious actions of Mrs. Harrison during the time after she was supposed to have committed this murder."

I sat up a little, pen poised. I liked curious actions.

"She went out shopping" the sallow man announced. "Went out and didn't return until the police came looking."

He left this news to rattle around the courtroom a little. I didn't consider it much of a talking point, but I noted it down and put a few question marks around it. The sallow man was right when he said this was a curious point.

"Now, let me appeal to your human nature" the sallow man carried on. "If you had just committed a murder such as the one you see in front of you today, would you have the nerves of steel to instantly walk out of the door on a shopping trip?" You'd be shaking, on edge, surely? People would notice, and there would be talk. And as far as I am aware, we have no witnesses to state Mrs. Harrison was acting out of the ordinary during her time out of the house. On top of this, when she was called back by the police, she was indeed in considerable distress having been told the news. All completely natural, if she had known nothing about the murder. And since the court has ruled that these forensics are not enough to base a full conviction on as of yet, I see no other evidence that forms any sort of conclusion that would point to Mrs. Harrison having killed her husband" he finished levelly. He had kept his head beautifully throughout the whole speech, I thought admiringly.

"Your Honour" the squeaky man squeaked. "I contest! There is indeed evidence that not only disproves this bogus theory that has been placed in front of you, but, I believe, concludes this proceedings. May I call to the stand Marcus Harrison? I understand it may take a few minutes..."

I watched with interest as a young man barely over eighteen, sitting in a rather grand wheelchair, was slowly manoeuvred down towards the witness box by four strong policemen. Despite the sallow man's speech being, in my opinion, quite good, I had barely written anything down on my notepad throughout, as most of what he said fell into my category of "case winning speculation". Not the most creative title, I knew, but it basically meant that everything I put in that category was stuff the barristers had made up to make their version of events seem more believable. The other category was "actual facts". I was really nailing it on the creativity front.

At long last, Marcus Harrison was sitting in his chair, in the witness box, looking, I noted, rather nervous. The squeaky man turned and smiled at him, but personally I thought that smile looked more like an angry Chihuahua baring its teeth.