Page 192 of Perfect
There’s a flurry of whispering in the courtroom, and the prosecutor looks irritated. Alex looks at me, her face tense and anxious and furious, and I mime breathing in and out for what feels like the hundredth time in the last two hours, giving her a small, encouraging smile. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, and I see an older woman on the jury catch the exchange.
The judge looks down at Alex, who has started to quietly cry again.
“Mrs. Murphy, I understand this is upsetting, but you need to calm down,” she says gently. Alex quickly wipes her eyes with a crumpled tissue and nods down at her hands.
“Yes, Your Honor. I’m sorry.” She looks up at the prosecutor. “I’m sorry, Mr. Franco.” He nods at her, and Elise hums in approval from beside me.
“That’s alright. I understand that you’ve been through a lot, but I thought you testified that you don’t remember being raped?” Alex pales and looks at her hands.
“I remember it starting,” she says quietly, “and I had to deal with all of the injuries, so I know ithappened.” Those aren’t lies, but they also aren’t the truth. I have to look down at the table because I don’t need anyone on the jury to see how furious I am.
“Understood. Do you believe that this level of violence was justified as an act of self-defense?” I look back up at Alex as she nods down at her hands.
“Yes, I do.”
“Can you explain why?” She straightens up and looks at the prosecutor, her jaw set.
“Danny wasterrifying. He was a big guy, he was really strong, he knew how to fight, he was trained with firearms, he had horrible anger issues, and he was extremely jealous. He would have used the same amount of violence to kill Theo, if not more. Danny seriously injured Theo, and that waswhilehe was defending himself. I think the level of self-defense wasentirely justified.” Alex’s voice is soft and insistent, and Elise surreptitiously draws a small smiley face on the notepad in front of her.
“I’m still having a hard time seeing how the level ofextremeviolence in these photos makes sense as an act of self-defense.” Elise makes a slight noise of irritation but doesn’t object.
Itwasan extreme level of violence, and the photos are jarring.
Danny’s head barely looks like anything anymore from how it’s collapsed in on itself, his face bashed in and the entire back of his head cracked open, his brains spilling out on the floor beneath him. His arms, chest, and torso are covered in stab wounds and a few bullet holes, and he’s bloody everywhere.
All I see when I look at the photos is how much I love Alex, but I don’t know what she sees. I watch her closely as she looks at the pictures again, and my heart skips a beat as her face softens almost imperceptibly.
No one else would catch it, but I do.
Months ago, she and I briefly spoke about the fact that she remembers me killing Danny, but she never told me how she felt about it.
Now I know that she saw the love in it.
That’s my fucking girl.
“The photos make sense to me,” Alex says softly before looking back at the prosecutor. “Knowing Theo, he wasterrified, and I’m sure he wanted to be absolutely positive that Danny couldn’t keep hurting me.” She shoots me a tender look, and I mouthI love youas subtly as possible.
“How did you feel about watching Mr. Anderson do that to your husband?” I focus on Alex’s mouth very carefully as she looks back at the prosecutor and takes a deep breath.
“It was horrible, but he only did it to protect me,” she says quietly, and I bite my cheek to keep from smiling at her whenshe looks at me with soft, adoring eyes. “I know Theoneverwould have done anything like that if it wasn’t a life-or-death situation,” she lies, and the prosecutor gears up to ask her another question.
“She’s doing well,” Elise whispers quietly after the judge calls for a break. I watch the bailiff escort Alex out, catching her eye and giving her a small smile. “Now we just need her to make you look sympathetic.” I give Elise a brief, amused look.
“Tough ask,” I say quietly. Elise makes a big deal of putting her papers away in her bag, making a lot of noise as she does.
“Not as tough as you might think,” she whispers.
***
“Your Honor, I’d like to move to refer to the witness by her preferred name of Alexandria Shearer during my questioning.” Alex shoots Elise a look of deep gratitude, and the judge thinks for a moment before nodding.
“I think that’s fine,” the judge says, glancing at the court reporter and asking her to add it to the record.
“Thank you, Your Honor.” Elise, sharp and imposing in her tailored suit and high heels, softens as she approaches Alex. “Ms. Shearer, how did you meet Daniel Murphy?” Alex swallows hard.
“Um, he was one of the cops who came to tell me my parents had died in a car accident.” I hear some faint murmuring in the room.
“What were your respective ages at the time?”
