A Fat Load of Justice

Chapter 1

“BUT I WAS ACQUITTED!” Riley angrily shouts at the judge.

“Lower your tone. We know you were acquitted, but you did it, didn't you miss Adams?” The judge calmly responded.

She’s got me there, but giving up this easy feels pointless

“Don’t waste time thinking of a lie. Tell us the truth and maybe we’ll be lenient with your sentence” The judge added after a long pause.

“But I didn’t do it”

“You’re only making things worse for yourself. We can go in a private room if you like, some defendants prefer that. There are no cameras in here, they’re not reopening your case. You only seek to gain from telling us the truth”

“Fuck” Riley said quietly under her breath, looking off to the side

“You will lose court-appropriate language in my court miss Adams”

“...”

“Miss Adams”

“Sorry. Here’s…” Riley’s voice was shaky, as in an instant she’d resigned to the fact that whoever held her in this court clearly knew what she’d done. “Here’s the full story”.


Riley takes a deep inhale

“I had just dropped out of college and was at rock bottom. My mom had died, she was everything to me. After she passed I dropped out with no plan, and was barely surviving as a waitress…”

“So you killed and took advantage of an innocent man for his money?”

“That wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. I befriended an old man who was one of my biggest tippers, not a crime, just smart when you think about it. We became pretty good friends, so when he invited me to this exclusive Christmas party I said yes without thinking. But it turned out he didn’t invite me as a friend, but as his date. At first I was repulsed by the whole thing considering how much older he was. I tried to talk him out of it”

“But then what? He gave you money”

“New designer dress and purse for the event. After I realized how lucrative being his girlfriend could be, and it was. But things went from bliss financially to nightmarish. He forced me to quit my job and held my financial dependence on him over me. I tried to leave but he wouldn’t let me, and his power and influence were too much. Eventually I just hit my breaking point. I slipped something called “monks blood” in his drink, it wasn’t supposed to kill him I swear. But he had this condition I didn’t know about and…”

“That’s plenty, Miss Adams. Two months earlier he made you the main beneficiary on his will, in the 5 years since his death you’ve nearly spent all of his money, and testimonies from your friends paint a different picture of your relationship”

“How the fuck did you get testimonies…“

“Given the evidence I have no choice but to find you guilty of first degree pre-meditated murder. Our mandatory sentence for murder is three-hundred pounds, with additional penalties for pre-meditation, lies, and living a lavish lifestyle with the money from your victim”

“Pounds? The fuck?”

The judge slammed her gavel, and before Riley could protest a syringe was injected into her shoulder and she drifted off to sleep.