"I'm sorry I'm late, ladies. This has just been a trying day for me."
"We didn't expect to see you at all today, Victoria," Evelyn replied cooly from the other side of the table as Victoria took a seat next to Millie.
"I couldn't spend another minute at the house, worrying about what's going to happen, talking with lawyers . . . I needed to get away for awhile and put my mind on something else." Victoria let out a deep sigh. "So what have I missed?"
"We were just discussing who is going to take over the springtime tea this year," Angela replied quietly.
"I thought we agreed that I would be hosting this year."
"That was before," Millie said. "With what's happened, we don't think the Burgess name is one we want associated with our event, you understand."
"There is nothing wrong with the Burgess name!" Victoria insisted. "Nothing has changed. You don't think my son is guilty, do you? My Hector isn't capable of anything criminal, let alone something so despicable. He was obviously framed and we have hired the best lawyers to prove it. Before long we will have put this nonsense behind us and everything will be as it was."
"Whether or not that is the case, we have to think about the way things stand right now," Evelyn said calmly. "And right now, we think it would be best for everyone involved if you were to step down from your post."
Victoria looked at the other women seated around her, women that were supposedly her friends. Evelyn seemed pleased to have an excuse to have her out of the group. They had struggled with each other for leadership from the beginning. Millie was new and eager to go along with anything to secure her place in the group and Angela hadn't made eye contact with her since she'd sat down at the table. She had always been too meek to speak up about anything that might be remotely unpopular or controversial. Outnumbered, Victoria stood to leave.
Victoria took two steps before she found herself face to face with Lucy and Eileen. She only glanced briefly with disdain at the girl who broke her son's heart before turning to Lucy. "Hello, Lucy."
"Mrs. Burgess. I'm surprised you would dare to show your face in public now that the news is out, but I'm glad you did. Now I have a chance to tell you to your face what a hypocrite you are," Lucy hissed, pausing only to take a breath. "I can't believe how you treated me because of my father's crimes, when your son's were so much worse. If it wasn't for him, my father would still be alive."
"Hector is not guilty. I know my son and I know he could never harm another human being, especially not your father. My lawyers will prove it."
Lucy shook her head as Victoria walked away. "We'll see about that."
"Do you understand the charges that are against you?" Samantha asked, once she finished explaining to Hector what he was up against.
"I think it's pretty straight forward," he replied. "What kind of evidence do they have?"
"Right now they're probably going to emphasize two things. One is testimony from employees at the hospital and from people that knew both you and Mr. Stuart. Luckily, no one who has spoken up actually witnessed the crime or can even place you at the hospital at the time it occurred. What is going to hurt your case are the fingerprints found in Mr. Stuart's hospital room, both on his drinking glass and on the pill bottle. That evidence places you on the scene and makes it difficult for us to convince anyone that you didn't give Mr. Stuart the drugged water."
"So what can we do? Anything? There's got to be something. I'm not paying you the big money to give me nothing."
"Don't worry, Mr. Burgess. We have plenty of options. The way things look now, I think our best defense is to go with intent. They have the evidence that you were there and you gave the glass to Mr. Stuart, but can they prove that by doing so you were trying to harm Mr. Stuart? That's the question we're going to focus on."
Hector nodded slowly. "Yeah, ok. That's good."
"We also have to be prepared to counter anything that the prosecution comes up with to make the jury think you might have wanted Mr. Stuart dead." Samantha flipped her notebook to a blank page. "This is where I'm going to need information from you. I need to know everything involving you and Mr. Stuart, anything they could dig up from your past, anyone who might have anything negative to say about you and names of anyone would could speak up on your behalf as character witnesses, and basically just anything the prosecution could use against you. Whatever you say is confidential, so don't leave anything out. Your fate could depend on it. Are you ready for this?"
Hector grinned. "Where do you want me to start?"
Vanessa walked slowly up the steps to her apartment. The last time she was here she had the police escort with her. Now she was here alone for the first time since the break in and she was feeling just a little bit nervous.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to go onward. She told herself there was nothing to be worried about. She was perfectly safe and if anything did seem wrong, there were plenty of neighbors to call for help.
Vanessa took out her keys as she walked towards the apartment. She stopped in her tracks when she saw a vase of roses sitting in front of the door. Confused, she bent down to read the card.
Ms. Summers. I have admired you since I first saw you on the stage. I was afraid of being too forward before, but I had to take a chance and let you know how much I think of you. I hope we can meet soon.
She flipped the card over. There was no name, no clue as to who it was from.
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