Thirty Six

Chapter Thirty Six

There was tension in the air. Francis eyes were suddenly widened, his mouth slightly open. He had a crease on his forehead showing how uncomfortable he was. Not to talk of his face, it was mixed with confusion and surprise. He must have thought he did a good job getting rid of her.

Well he didn't. Jennifer just wanted to walk up to him and slap him across the face numerous times till she stopped feeling the pain that felt like a fat person was sitting on her chest. But she decided to be cool, besides they were in the police station and having to be jailed for beating someone was not on her bucket list.

So Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest, no emotions showing on her face. She stared at Francis who was finding it hard to form words. His mouth kept opening and closing like it was being controlled.

"Well isn't he going to say something?" Mark asked irritatingly.

Francis looked towards the direction of the voice. He squinted his eyes, frowning then faced Jennifer.

"Who are you?” Jennifer threw a brow up in question.

“Who exactly are you? I know you are an imposter. J…Jen…Jennifer is dead.”

She smiled gracefully. “Yes, from the story I heard your buried the precious body of your beautiful Nini yourself. You carried her terribly mutilated body in your hands, tears clouding your sight, it sure was devastating. Wasn’t it Francis?” The strong front he was trying to keep up faltered a bit, Jennifer knew he knew she was not an imposter.

“You… are an…imposter.” He frowned at both her and Mark.

“My Jennifer didn’t know a man like this. You two must have come up with a silly plan to pose as Jennifer and take everything she has.”

“Darling,” Jennifer was trying her best to keep her cool, his denial, though expected, was beginning to get on her nerves. “I have come to take everything that is mine. I have come to give you what you deserve for attempting to drown me and obviously telling tales about a mutilated body of mine.”

“You are mistaken. I did not drown you.” Francis had started to sweat, but he was still putting up his strong face.

“I am very certain the real story is that you tried to drown me Francis and I am going to prove that.”

“Good luck with that. You can’t prove an innocent man guilty. Instead, I will prove that you and your boyfriend here are imposters.”

“This dude is crazy.” Mark commented, already tired of seeing Francis lying so easily.

“See you in court Francis.”

He huffed. “Yeah right.” He gave both of them a hard glare before storming out.

“Okay. Which story am I believing? Jennifer is an imposter or Francis is a murderer?” Sanders queried the duo, arms crossed.

“Well, before the interruption, we were going to show you a video.” Mark brought out a flash drive from his pocket and gave it to the cop who told a colleague standing beside her to bring a laptop.

“Whatever you see and hear in that video will prove that I am not lying.” Sanders nodded as they proceeded to play the video. As Jennifer heard what was being played once again, she couldn’t help but place a hand on her chest. The pain was becoming unbearable. And she did not know what was the exact cause of the pain anymore. Was it because Francis wanted to kill her? Or because he lied to everyone about her being dead? Or the fact that he was just there at the station lying even more? Not that she expected him to own up, but it was all crazy to her. And then was the probability that Amanda was his new wife.

Jennifer shook her head sadly, her hand still clutched on her chest. Mark noticed her look of discomfort and held her by the shoulders, looking down at her concerned. Jennifer gave him a short convincing smile and he nodded, slightly squeezing her shoulders. It was sure nice seeing him not trying to make her feel bad.

“Oh wow. This is definitely not acting. And this is solid evidence, enough to put that lying bastard in jail. I always knew he was lying about you, just like he lied to me.” Jennifer ignored her last statement, telling herself it was none of her business.

“So, what is next? Are you going to arrest him now?” Mark asked eagerly.

“Not yet, we have to check Francis story but we would like to take your statement Jennifer.” Jennifer nodded.

“As soon as Francis story about your death is proven wrong, we will be seeing Francis again in court. Say in a week or two.”

“Thank you officer.” Jennifer said getting an acceptance nod from Sanders. Another officer walked up to Jennifer and asked her to come give her statement. Immediately remembering that she hardly remembered what really happened to her, she looked at Mark worried.

“What’s wrong?” He pulled her to the side.

“I don’t remember what happened. And I don’t seem to be recalling anything soon. What statement would I exactly give?”

Mark stood thoughtfully for a minute. “You know what, tell them everything you know, everything. Also include your memory loss. Tell them we brought a document to prove it. Don’t worry your memory loss won’t affect the case that much. Remember we have the greatest evidence with us.”

“Thank you Mark.” She smiled, her mind strangely going to their heated make out in Hamesia. Her eyes dropped to his lips and he appeared to have noticed when their eyes met. Doubting her ability to resist the urge to capture his lips at that moment, Jennifer gave him a short smile and made to follow the officer who was to take her statement.

“I’ll be outside calling Silvanus to know how things are going at his side.” Jennifer nodded and walked, feeling grateful for the people she met after her accident.

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And true to Detective Sanders word, the first court hearing was slated two weeks later and that was after three days of thorough investigation based on Francis story. And true to his words, Francis refused to be jailed and he immediately filed for the matter to be taken to court, besides he had a company to run and he did not want anything ‘false claim’ to destroy it.

Recalling Francis words on the news report, Jennifer couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. That company was his because she gave it to him and she damn well could take it back which was exactly the plan. Jennifer could already feel anger rush through her system and immediately deciphering that it was a bad sign, she started to hum her father’s favorite song.

“This is getting suspicious.” Silvanus said looking thoughtful.

“What is?” Mark looked back, the taxi they had rented taking a left turn.

“At this stage, the enemies should have tried to snatch the evidences from us.”

“Enemies? What do you think this is? Criminal Minds? See. Even if they try to steal the evidence, we have copies with the lawyer and with us. We are going to win this guys.”

Jennifer returned his smile, and told herself to try to keep calm. It was all going to turn out fine.

“This is a huge crowd.” Silvanus stated as the taxi pulled up in front of what seemed like over a hundred of people. Immediately Jennifer got out, most of them gasped, they definitely wanted to confirm the rumours. Lewis daughter was alive after all, that if she wasn’t proved to be an imposter.

Reporters flooded them as Lawyer Roberts joined them to walk into the court. With an instruction from the lawyer to not answer any questions, they finally made it into the court room which was also filled.

“Well this should be fun. Good luck out there.” Silvanus said, Mark giving her a short nod as they made their way to find a seat.

Jennifer and Lawyer Roberts walked to their seats, passing Francis who was looking at something else that his lawyer was showing him. Jennifer heaved a heavy sigh. What was about to happen was something she would have never imagined when everything was still okay.

Soon, they were all seated waiting for the Judge. Jennifer decided to look round to ease the nervousness. She noticed a smirk on Francis face when their eyes finally met.. He kept his eyes on her for an additional minute a smirk enlarging gradually on his face. Jennifer felt scared for a second, what if he had found a way to destroy the evidences, that would explain his smug look. Jennifer faced her lawyer.

“Are we sure our evidences are secure?”

“Most definitely. Listen Jennifer we are going to emerge victorious, I assure you of that.”

Jennifer looked back at Francis but their eye battling competition ended when the presence of the Judge was announced. Everyone stood in honour.

After they all settled, the hearing was started. The clerk came forward and introduced the case based on the accusation made by Jennifer that Francis attempted to murder her and that he was running the company terribly wrong, mis-manging funds alongside.

“Let’s proceed shall we. Can the defence call in their witness?” The fairly old yet pretty Judge said her glasses hanging on the rim of her nose as she looked down at Francis lawyer.

"Your Honor, I am Barrister Michaels representing Francis Cutler.” He got up and adjusted his suit.

"I would like to call out Barrister Kirchoff to the witness box."

Jennifer recognized her former lawyer, looking less ugly. He strangely had his eyes on her as he swore via the Bible.

"I believe you were the lawyer that prepared the documents of handing over JK architectures to Mr Cutler?"

"I am the one."

"I am curious. Did Mr Lewis, before his death, request such in his will?"

"No. It was Jennifer that requested such. She told me she didn't want to be CEO at all"

"Did she give any reason?"

"No."

“And did she by any chance specify what and what not to do with the company?”

“Uh… I am pretty sure there are rules set down by the founder of the company.”

The lawyer smiled grimly. “I repeat my question, did she specify what and what not to do with the company?”

Kirchoff looked at Jennifer saying, “No.”

“Okay. Were you close to the family after Mr Lewis’s death?”

“In a way.”

“How would you describe Jennifer’s relationship during that period with Francis?”

“I am afraid I can’t give an specific answer. I was just their lawyer, nothing more.”

“Your Honour.” Michaels sat down.

“Does the prosecution have any questions?”

“No your Honour. I would like to call out our witness now.”

“You may proceed.”

“I would like to call Detective Sanders to the stand.”

Jennifer breathed out heavily, it was going to get really real now.

After swearing the oath, Robert got down to business.

"Detective Sanders, you are quite familiar with Francis alleged story about Jennifer’s death, aren’t you?”

“Yes I am. He claimed she went missing for some days until he found her mutilated at the shore of the ocean just behind the relaxation center they had gone to for their honeymoon.”

“Interesting. I believe you wanted to investigate the case when Francis came back.”

“His story didn’t feel right to me, so I wanted to dig deep and see if there was anything. But my boss told me to drop it at the risk of my job.”

Roberts nodded, silence becoming more and more injected into the room. “But now that the mutilated lady in question came back here alive, you decided to take up the case again?”

“I had to. She claimed Francis tried to murder her by drowning her. So I decided to investigate properly.”

“Would you like to tell the court what exactly you found?”

“Well, according to Francis statement on Jennifer’s death, he buried her at a spot quite a distance from the shore. He buried her very close to the woods in that area. So my team and I decided to dig around. We covered a huge perimeter but found no body. All we found were items, antique items. We also asked the workers there if they found any body, they said they did not.”

“So, there was no body which means it is very probable that this Jennifer is not an imposter.”

“She is hardly one. We collected her hair strand for some D NA and it was a match. The only issue we had was the story she told us. The one where she claims Francis tried to drown her and she miraculously survived, finding herself at Hamesia. And we were able to confirm, though a bit difficult, that she indeed ended up at Hamesia.”

“What about her claim that Francis tried to drown her?”

“We asked the receptionists if Francis and Jennifer signed in and it was confirmed that they did. And it was also confirmed that they signed out. But a receptionist there mentioned that she recalled Francis signing out alone. But she assumed his wife was in the car.”

“That will be all for now your Honour.” Michaels stood up as soon as his counterpart sat down.

“Detective Sanders. Quite an interesting investigation you have been into. You mentioned your boss being against you investigating earlier, what changed now?”

“He is still against it.”

“But you went ahead anyway, at the risk of your job.”

“I needed to do what was right.”

“What if this right thing of yours is wrong? What if you lose your job defending the wrong person.”

“Objection your Honour. He is going personal with his question.”

“Sustained. Please do not derail.”

Michaels smiled apologetically. “I am just trying to point out the wrong from right, your Honour. Okay Detective, since it appears you are a lot interested in Jennifer’s claims, what about her claim that he has been mis-mananging funds?”

“We investigated that too. According to one of the evidences tendered, there seems to be a lot of unrecorded transactions going to some particular rich people who happen to own illegal oil rings and quite shady businesses.” Roberts handed the document to the Clerk who passed it to the Judge.

“If you look closely your Honour, you will notice that in the official transaction document of the company there is a bit of dent, not noticeable but still there. Take a look at the second paper your Honour, that is the bank statement showing the actual transactions for close to two months now.

And all those hidden transactions that weren’t seen in the first paper, were traced to our oil ring owners. So I am afraid, Jennifer’s claim is right.” Detective Sanders ended her statement, her eyes pointedly set on Michaels.

“I have no more questions your Honour. I would like to call Ms Jennifer Lewis Cutler to the witness box now. ”

Roberts gave her a supportive nod and she got up, feeling Francis eyes on her as she walked past to the box.

Taking a look into the room, she saw that everyone’s eyes was on her and that made her a tad nervous. It made her more nervous that it was Francis lawyer that was about to question her. She placed her slightly shaking hands on the Bible in front of her.

“I, Jennifer Lewis Cu… I, Jennifer Lewis solemnly swear to speak nothing but the truth, so help me God.” There was no way she was taking Francis name.

“Ms Jennifer, it is nice to have you around.” Michaels started all chatty.

“It is good to be back.”

“Tell me, Ms Jennifer are you certain that it was Francis that drowned you?”

“I… I am not exactly certain?”

“Do you care to elaborate?”

“When…when I found myself at Hamesia, I couldn’t remember how I got to the ocean at all.”

“So you lost your memory.”

“Not all of it. Just the part where I got drowned. I did not remember who did it or how it happened or where I went.”

“But you remembered every other thing.”

“Surprisingly, yes.”

“How then can we be certain?”

“Excuse me?” Jennifer frowned.

“How can we be certain that you are not scheming something here. For all we know, you might have schemed this ‘drowning’ you speak of.”

“And why would I want to do that?”

“To get your company back, what other reason?”

Jennifer chuckled. “I gave him the company willingly. There was no gun to my head when I did it. Why would I even want to scheme anything? I was and am still part of the company regardless.”

“Explain the sudden memory loss then.”

“Objection your Honour, that question is highly insensitive. How does he expect her to answer such a question?” The Judge raised a brow at Michaels.

“I am sorry your Honour. Ms Jennifer, do you have proof that you indeed had a memory loss?”

“Yes. And I still have the memory loss.” Roberts transferred that document.

“You still have the memory loss? How then are you so sure that Francis is the one who tried to kill you?”

Jennifer took a deep breath. “While I was at Hamesia, my friends helped me get a PI to investigate what exactly was happening over here. During his investigation, he was able to get a video, actually a surveillance camera video.”

The Judge had doubled interest on her face, so did Michaels who looked back at Francis briefly.

“This video your Honour.” Roberts held up a flash drive which the clerk collected and with the permission of the Judge he played it revealing Francis seating opposite some unknown woman. It relieved Jennifer that it was the same video and her eyes went to Francis who had his mouth wide open at the big confession he was making in the video.

When the video ended, the court become heavily silent, almost everyone looked shocked at the confession.

“Well, that is the reason I am so certain.” Jennifer gave Michaels a short smile and left the witness box.

After a few minutes of checking evidences again, the Judge called up Francis.

“Mr Cutler, we all have seen the evidences brought in to prove the accusations against you true. I don’t think I need to ask you whether you are guilty or not. But I will still ask you anyways as the system requires. But before I ask that, I want you to tell me who this woman you were talking to in that video is.”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Mr Cutler it doesn’t seem that way according to the video. Well, if you don’t want to speak, I guess I will love to add fifteen more years to any sentence you are given.”

Francis immediately looked sacred, Jennifer’s heart broke for a second when she noticed. “W…wait. I am not going down alone. I will tell you who she is. I will reveal her identity.”