My One and Only

A hopeless trial

She's not a very good actress, Nellie thought. Even she was better at lying compared to the proper woman who was just spitting nonsense.

"Enough! I understand what it's like to lose someone close to you, Mrs. Williams, believe me. I was close friends with the former Judge Turpin, may his soul rest in peace," Bamford said in a sorrowful voice, trying to sound empathetic. "I must also remind you Mr. Williams was a lawyer so don't be surprised if you are sentenced to death," he eyed Sweeney who glared at him.

"Now, Mrs. Lovett, tell us what happened the day Mr. Williams was murdered, remind you that you are under oath and you will be punished for perjury, understand?" He continued. Nellie nodded, "yes your honour".

Bamford smirked, "good. Now tell us your story".

Nellie sighed, "it started in the morning when I decided to confront Mr. Williams about a decision he forced me to make, and so I headed to his home hoping I could talk to him but..." she suddenly grew quiet. She didn't want to tattle on the barber for following her and killing Mr. Williams, what will he think of her?

"Mrs. Lovett?" Judge Bamford asked annoyed, "we're waiting".

Nellie glanced where Sweeney was and this time he was looking at her. His eyes soft and calming as he nodded at her lightly, as if giving her permission to tell the rest of the event. Nellie wanted to cry but did her best to hold her tears as she continued retelling the incident.

"Mr. Williams invited me inside and we conversed for a while until he... tried to take advantage of me.. from what I remember, he pinned me on the couch and tried to..." she had a hard time finishing off her sentence.

Mrs. Williams stood up again, furiously, "Objection! she's lying! She's trying to make herself as the victim and blame my Alexander! How dare she!"

"Silence!" Bamford slammed the gavel on the sound block, the court room becoming quiet once more. Mrs. Williams sat back down in her seat angry. Bamford faced the baker again and encouraged her to continue her story.

"When Mr. Williams was about to... have his way with me, Mr. Todd came in and protected me," Nellie replied with a small smile on her face.

"By 'protecting' you mean killing my husband?!" Emily hissed, her face red with anger.

"Your husband tried to rape me!" Nellie argued back. This woman was delusional, why does she hate her so much? Why does she believe Alexander would cheat on her for a low commoner like Nellie Lovett?

Judge Bamford only banged his gavel a couple of times, too irritated to verbally tell the two women to be quiet. "Officer Cooper" he called out from the crowd and the officer that arrested Sweeney and Nellie stepped forward.

"I was told there was something you found at the scene of the crime that killed Mr. Williams, correct?" Bamford asked the officer who nodded.

Officer Cooper cleared his throat, "it was a razor. A silver razor covered in blood". A few gasps could be heard from the crowd and the jury began to whisper to each other.

Bamford grinned, showing his crooked yellow teeth, "do you believe Mr. Todd killed Mr. Williams?"

The officer hesitated for a bit but answered, "that razor belongs to Mr. Todd. I believe he did kill Mr. Williams".

Nellie wanted to cry, we're losing! She could feel the smile Emily Williams was hiding as she was getting her revenge.

Judge Bamford suddenly turned to Sweeney. He barely said anything in this trial. Nellie could feel the butterflies in her stomach as the judge turned to her lover for questions of his part of the crime he committed.