Innocent Murderer

001

Ding!

The elevator rang, signaling I'd reached my floor. I hurried out the door, making sure not to drop my coffee. I noticed that my colleagues were standing around the TV and decided to see what had captivated their interests.

"Today we honor the memory of 17-year-old Percy Abner who was found dead in an alleyway early this morning. Police say she had 13 stab wounds to the chest and multiple bruises around her body. Her family reported that she had not come home after her shift at a local convenience store last night. The store owner, Mr. Scott Driskel, currently CPD's main suspect, has been taken in for questioning," the news anchor reported sorrowfully.

She was so young. I wonder how her family is handling the news. How tragic...

"Man, it's a shame what happened to that girl isn't it?" Officer Burkley asked as if reading my thoughts.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I can't believe someone would do such a thing. She had her whole life ahead of her," I responded.

"Oh well, nothing we can do about it now," he shrugged.

Well, that was rather pessimistic.

"Ms. Fairchild," my boss shouted from his office, sounding annoyed.

"Coming, Sir! Looks like I gotta go. See you later, Officer Burkley."

I scurried over to Mr. Warren's office. I could tell at a glance that someone had just pissed him off.  Better be careful if I want to keep my job, I thought to myself. I cautiously entered the small room. "You called for me, Sir?"

"Go take these files to the homicide department," he said, dropping a stack of papers on the desk in front of me. They were all labeled PA.

"Is this the for the Abner case, Sir?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Yes, now hurry up," he responded, agitated.

"Y-yes Sir," I said, quickly grabbing the files.

"Tell my secretary to get me a coffee and some Advil on your way out," Mr. Warren added as I left the room.

----

When I got to the department, I realized I'd forgotten to ask who I was supposed to give the files to. I spent a couple of minutes wandering around until someone noticed I was lost.

"Haven't seen you around before," the man said, stretching out his hand to shake. "My name's John O'Leary."

"Emily Fairchild," I said, grabbing his hand and shaking it.

"You looking for something?"

"No, I came to drop off some files, but I don't know who to give them to," I admitted, slightly embarrassed.

"Then you found the right guy. Or the right guy found you," he joked. "I organize and distribute the files here," he explained, noticing my confused expression.

"Oh, I guess I should give these to you then," I said, handing him the stack of papers I had in my hand.

"Percy Abner..," he mumbled under his breathe. "It truly is a shame what happened," he said, more clearly this time.

"Yeah... I wonder who's going to be investigating the case."

"Beats me," he answered with a shrug. "Well, I will see you around I guess," he smiled, awkwardly waving the papers in the air.

"Umm, yeah. See you around," I smiled back. I turned around and made my way back to my floor.

----

The atmosphere was stiff when I got back to my department. I soon realized that it was because of the man sitting on the cold, metal chair next to Mr. Warren's office. Scott Driskel. The man who was taken into custody for questioning regarding the Abner case. He looked haggard. He couldn't have been older than 35, but his worn-out expression made it look like he'd aged a decade or so.

"I bet he's the one who did it," I heard someone whisper behind the secretary's desk.

"He looks pretty sketchy," someone whispered back.

Sketchy? I thought to myself, taking a closer look at the man. He looks like he wouldn't even hurt a fly.

"He said he won't speak without an attorney present," a female officer whispered from a different direction.

"Not suspicious at all. I bet he has something to hide," someone retorted. It sounded like Officer Burkley this time.

Mr. Warren opened the door and escorted Mr. Driskel into his office. I wonder what they're discussing in there. I decided to mind my own business and headed towards my desk. 

I yawned as I sifted through the piles of paperwork in front of me. Shoplifting, bar fight, DUI, what's new? I'm a public defense attorney, not a very popular one at that, so I get stuck with all the petty crimes. My boss is the DA in Clearmont, so he usually gets the serious cases. I'll admit, I'm a little jealous of my boss, but who isn't, right? One day Em, one day.

After a couple more minutes of looking through files, I decided to get another coffee. This is going to be a long day. I walked over to the coffee station, but, to my surprise, the machine was empty. Guess I'll just have to settle for water, then. 

As I made my way to the water fountain, someone called out my name. I looked around, but I couldn't find the voice's owner. "Ms. Fairchild," I heard again. This time I recognized the voice. I headed straight towards Mr. Warren's office, forgetting about my water.

"Yes, Mr. Warren?" I said, slowly entering the room.

"Have a seat, please," he said, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk.

"I wanted to talk to you regarding the Abner case," he explained as I sat down.

"What about the Abner case, sir?" I asked, confused.

"Well, apparently, Mr. Driskel did not see eye to eye with his current attorney. They got into an argument and he refused to work with him any further. He came to request a different person to defend him," he said, somewhat beating around the bush. "I recommended you," he confessed.

"Me?" I asked, flabbergasted. "But I've never taken on a case like this before, I don't understand.."

"Well, I did want to give the case to someone else, but they recently requested a leave of absence. You were the only other person I could think of at the time," he explained.

"Will you take the case?" Mr. Warren asked.

"O-of course, Sir. Thank you for this opportunity," I responded, still not fully taking in what he'd just asked of me.

"Great," he said. "You will have a meeting with Mr. Driskel tomorrow evening to discuss the case. Don't screw it up," he warned.

"Y-yes Sir."

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Author's Note

First of all, thank you for deciding to read this book. I really hope you like it so far. I know it's a little slow-paced but bear with me. This is my first book, so it might not be the best, but I hope you'll stick around. 

It would mean a lot to me if you voted and commented on this chapter <3