Sinners and Saints

Chapter 20

"Mrs Silver?" Rafael slowly turned back to the file in front of him. "Thirty years old " he read out loud enough for her to hear him. Was that it? Had they already started? Wasn't he at least going to introduce himself? She adjusted nervously in her seat, looking at the file and listening attentively. "No parents, top benefactor of the Silver foundation for fifteen years, married to late Mr Andrew Silver; co heir to Silver enterprise, sentenced to thirty two years for the murder of her husband, Mr Andrew Silver, co heir to Silver enterprise-"

"A-"
Rafael paused at the sound of her voice. Not bothering to meet her gaze. She lowered it.

"Are you my lawyer?"

Now he had to look. Rafael slowly raised his head to meet hers. What was she asking? Wasn't it obvious? Why else would he be there if he wasn't? He exhaled.

"It depends."

"On what?" Olivia asked in almost a whisper.

"Did you kill your husband?"

"N—no, of course not."

"And I'm supposed to believe this just because you say it? It's what every criminal says when they are being asked. How am I supposed to believe that you're not any different?"

"I didn't kill him, I swear it."

"You don't have to do that right now," he turned back to his file. "You'd have the time to do that in court."

Olivia was so tensed already. She had barely began to tell him the details of what happened that day and she could already feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Maybe everyone forgot to mention he was a tough man too.

"What happened on the night your husband was murdered?"

"I-I don't know."

He looked at her instantly, giving her a glare, his frown getting worse.

"Seriously?"

"I mean we got into a fight and then I left. That was it. The police came over to my hotel room later that evening accusing me of killing him when I had nothing to do with it."

Rafael exhaled. He wasn't going to try to show her a bit of his thoughts. He turned back to the file and glanced through it again.

"According to the statement of your mother in law, and some of the maids that were present the night you got into a fight with your husband, they heard you threaten to kill him with a knife."

"That wasn't intentional. I was only trying to protect myself-"

"By threatening to kill him?"

"I wasn't really going to use it, I just needed to scare him, to stop him from hitting me."

"Or maybe you weren't going to use it because you already had something else stored for him, like a back up plan to get rid of him, like switching his pills with poison."

Olivia blinked

"What?"

"According to your files, you're the only one your late husband lets into his study. You were in charge of replacing his pills when they got empty and administering them to him every evening. Isn't it possible that you swapped his pills with the intention to get rid of him and make him pay for all he did to you? For physically abusing you all those years?"

"No, of course not-"

"And then you left the house and made someone else give the pills to him so it didn't look so obvious that you did it, a perfect alibi."

Olivia's head was racing and so was her heart.

"I would never-"

"Mrs Silver, I'm asking you to prove to me that this is all just a lie and that you didn't kill your husband for your own selfish interests."

"T-that's not true." She was so confused as to what was going on. This man was supposed to be listening to her, to defend her but why did it feel like he was actually trying to bring her down and destroy what was left of her with all those questions?

She could see how stern his face was

"H-he wasn't a good person."

"And so you decided to kill him? You took the law into your own hands? " he raised his voice a little now "What gave you the right to decide what punishment to give to anyone? Are you God?"

"I never said that-"

"Just admit it!" He was yelling a bit now. "Admit it and I could actually help you get a lighter sentence. You killed your husband."

"No." Olivia shook her head continuously. He was wrong. She needed to show him how wrong he was.

"You killed him because it was your only ticket to your freedom. You took advantage of his vulnerability and you swapped those pills the moment you got the chance then you faked that fight just so you could leave the house right in time for him to take his pills and boom, there it was, your alibi."

"I didn't do it."

Rafael hit his hand on the table

"Stop lying!" He yelled

"I didn't do it, I'm innocent!" Olivia had to yell back if it was the only way she was going to get him to listen.  "I Didn't do it, I didn't do it." She repeated just so he could hear it again and again.
She was almost crying already.

Rafael scoffed in disgust. He looked away quickly

"Liar." He whispered to himself.

"What?"
He glared at her

"You don't deserve your freedom. People like you that do bad things to other people that have done nothing but love them don't deserve to be free or to be loved ever again. You're a murderer and a monster."  Rafael told her just as the door opened and a policeman rushed in as Olivia was trying to keep herself calm. Hearing all those hurtful words he said were bringing a lot of tears into her eyes already

"I am never going to help you leave this place." He told her right after he closed the file. "You're definitely going to rot in here so get ready for it."

He picked up the file and got up.

"I'm done here." He slowly turned to the policeman before he turned again, he headed as fast as he could towards the front door.

"Mr Okonkwo." Olivia tried to run after him right before the policeman stopped her.

How on earth was she supposed to watch her only chance and her one ticket to leave that place walk out that door? She couldn't take it. She needed him. She needed to be free and he was the only one that could help her.

"I didn't do it!"

Those were her last words before the the door shut behind him.