The Reluctant Witnesses: Wordle #130

Detective John Black looked away from the body laying on the hotel floor. The crime scene techs were drawing the contours of the body with chalk, so that it could be removed to the morgue. The victim had been the plaintiff in a high-profile divorce trial.

Even after twenty years of witnessing man’s inhumanity, he still trembled at the evidence of man’s twisted depravity. But, he had a job to do! He needed to catch the perpetrator and bring them to justice.

It was unmistakably murder, but finding someone in this neighborhood willing and unafraid to be a witness was the problem. No one wanted to get involved by making an accusation against another person, especially one accused of being a cheater.

They did not seem to realize that their reluctance to testify in a courtroom made it easier for perpetrators to lie about their whereabouts at the time of the crime. This meant that the police could not challenge their alibis.

Indeed, some people who had been forced to testify committed perjury, refusing to tell the truth, especially when representatives of the defense cowardly reminded them that they should worry about their family members. Rather than chance their sons or daughters being hurt, they would risk contempt of court, even being jailed until they were willing to tell the truth.

But, Detective Black remembered that in nearly all of his cases, he had been able to find that one brave person who would step up and do the right thing. It just took time and a lot of luck!

Fictional story written for the Wordle #130 from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie for April 22, 2019. The twelve words to use are in bold: courtroom, twisted, plaintiff, accusation, justice, contempt, trial, defense, involve, perjury, alibi, and testify. Also Ragtag prompt for today is Chalk. Three Things Challenge from Paula Light from Light Motifs II are black, hotel, and cheater.