Chapter 73

ALEXIA's P.O.V

' Defense Attorney, are you ready?" asked the judge.

'Yes, your honor," Stephanie answered.

The prosecutor stood up, his back was turned to us and his front to the judge.
'Mr. Brendax, how was the victim related to you?" Asked the prosecutor.

'She was my friend," Brendax replied.

'After the victim, Helen was found in your home, we discovered that the cause of her death was the sudden attack of asthma which the doctor confirmed was caused by smoke, vast smoke. After searching your house for clues, we found burnt food and a cooking pot. We could only conclude that the smoke that came from the burnt food was the cause of her death. However, in your statement, you stated that you left her at home so who cooked the food? From my perspective, the perfect scenario is, that you were cooking and perhaps you forgot, then when the smoke escalated you noticed. By the time you realized, Helen was already gasping for air. To my understanding, you both once dated, you are probably pained that Helen has found another guy so you let her die. Your honor, we found an inhaler under the couch. The prosecutor brought out the item, it was wrapped perfectly. The bailiff collected it and present it to the judge who accessed it.

I could see the stunned expression on Stephanie's face, she probably wasn't expecting the prosecutor to take the case in that direction. Looking at Brendax, he was also shocked.

' According to Mr. Brendax Fox, Helen was in the guest room when he left, in his story, she got an attack in the guest room right but how did her inhaler end up in the living room? We can see clearly that Mr. Brendax Fox is trying to..."

'Objection your honor!" Stephanie shouted and stood up.

'Objection overruled!" The judge squeezed his face and Stephanie sat back down.

Rayden squeezed my hand tightly, she looked anxious. I didn't know what to say myself because I was feeling the same way.

Smiling, the prosecutor continued,
'We can see clearly that Mr. Brendax Fox is trying to cover his crime. He purposely invited her over to his house, and began cooking for her but allowed the food to get burnt. When she was about to reach for her Inhaler, he threw it away from her reach and watched her gasp to death. Then he ordered hydrofluoric acid to dissolve her dead body. To me, I see Mr. Brendax's fox as a pained ex-boyfriend who is jealous because she had moved on! Your honor, Mr. Brendax fox should be guilty of his crime and sentenced to reduce the rate of crimes in our country. ' With this, the ugly-looking Prosecutor sat down.

He was not ugly but I was too annoyed to say nice words to him. How could he just jump to a conclusion and manipulate everything? I didn't know what Stephanie was doing but she kept quiet, not saying anything. Probably thinking.

'Defense Attorney, what do you have to say?"

Stephanie stood up, she looked at Brendax then looked at the prosecutor before looking at her table.
'That particular day, my client here was sick which made him stay home. According to the doctor, he is allergic to nuts which caused his sickness. How could someone who Is sick do all that you have said, prosecutor?"

'Do you have evidence backing up his sickness?" The prosecutor stood up and asked.

'Yes, the doctor who treated him is here today. He can testify to this." Stephanie replied.

'May the doctor proceed to the witness box." Ordered the judge.

Just then, a man that I didn't notice earlier stood and walked to the witness box. He took an oath which was done by the bailiff.

'I am Doctor Killian, I treated Brendax Fox on Wednesday morning and I advised him to stay home so that the effect of the allergy would wear off. One of the symptoms of his allergy is weakness. He possibly won't have enough energy to prepare food." Doctor Killian said then he brought out some files which the bailiff was quick to collect.
'Those are the result of his allergy." He added

'Thank you, Doctor Killian, you may leave," Stephanie said then the doctor left the witness box.

'To prove your accusations wrong, at 9:40, Brendax called his friend, Alexis James to help him with food preparation as he needed to eat before he used his drugs. Pictures of his call log and the time are shown in this document." Stephanie passed it to the Bailiff again.

The judge nodded his head looking interested.
'Alexia James got to his house around 10:30 am on Wednesday. According to the footage of the CCTV camera in the neighborhood. Here it is in this document." The bailiff stood and collected the footage from Stephanie and showed it to the judge.

'Alexia came in with a lot of foodstuffs as seen in the footage. However, Alexia came out again around 10:45 looking angry. If you look at the footage well, you will see her angry face."

'May I invite the testifier, my honor?"

'You may proceed."

I stood up and went to the witness box, I said all that happened and the reason I was angry. Stephanie had warned me not to include that I was cooking before I left the house so I didn't. After saying what I knew, I was released to go back to my seat.

'According to my testifier, she and Brendax got into an intense fight that made her leave. At that point, my client Brendax was too piqued to do anything. At 10: 50, my client called his friend, Rayden who is closer to him if not his girlfriend. My client had called her and informed her that he was coming to see her."

'May you step into the box, Ms. Rayden?"
Rayden stood up and walked to the witness box, she confirmed what Stephanie had said and even presented her call log for evidence.

After this, she was told to go back.
'However, at 11:00 am, Helen walked Into the house.' Stephanie paused and looked at Brendax.

'Mr. Brendax can you tell us what happened after Helen walked in?" Stephanie asked.

'By the time Helen reached my apartment around 11:00 am, I was already getting dressed to go meet my friend Rayden. However, she insisted that she wanted to stay because she had nowhere to go for now. I stayed with Helen for ten minutes before leaving the house to her alone. However, before I left, she was searching her bag, looking for her contact lenses, and something fell off her bag and rolled beneath the chair. I told her to pick it and she said she would. I can only guess that the stuff was her inhaler and because she was hiding her illness from me, she didn't want to pick it up in my presence." Brendax explained.

Brendax was so wise, that he thought of an excuse quickly to defend himself from the manipulative prosecutor.

'That is true your highness, Helen's friends also admitted that they didn't know Helen was battling Asthma as she kept it a secret."

'By exactly ten minutes after eleven am, From the CCTV footage, Mr. Brendax left the house. Mr. Brendax can't cook, he hated to cook and he was too sick to cook. Helen was in the house all by herself, she cooked herself and went to sleep in the guest room. She slept off and forgot that she was cooking. By the time she woke up, the smoke had filled the entire house causing her to go into an attack. Before she could go to the living room to take her inhaler, she was already gasping and unable to move. According to the police officer in charge, Helen's body was found at the edge of the bed which means she was about to get out of bed but died mid-way.
My client returned home that day and when he couldn't find Helen, he thought Helen had left."

'Objection my lord..."

'Objection sustained."
The judge looked at the prosecutor.

'I have a question for you Brendax. If truly your statements are correct: when you returned home, didn't you notice the burnt food in the kitchen and also, who switched off the gas cooker? If the person preparing the food had died from the smoke then no one would be available to switch off the gas cooker right? The burning would cause the gas cooker to explode, your kitchen would catch fire, and eventually, your house would be on fire. So who switched off the gas cooker if Helen was the only one at home, dying or dead?" The prosecutor gave a cocky smile that actually scared me. I didn't know what would save Brendax at this point. Would it be better to just go with the truth rather than manipulate it?