She felt him pump his semen inside her hips. Suddenly, she found a new identity. She’d lost her own identity as a single woman and hadn’t gotten a new one until she became a home for his semen. It was his body, now living inside her body. She welcomed a new self as a married woman. She was now Mrs. Victoria Burdette, inside and out.
The knock on the door came the following morning. The Sheriff, a gentle and honest man named Abe Kinslow, said, “I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Burdette, but I have to take your wife into custody. She’s been charged with murder. She killed her husband before she married you. I’m sorry.”
Nathan couldn’t talk. Victoria’s practical mind said, “Talk with Doctor Mansfield. He’ll give you what you need to set me free.”
Nathan watched her walk away with the Sheriff. He mumbled, “I just found you.”
Chapter Ten
The trial started the next morning and spelled doom for Victoria Burdette. The County Attorney used the documentation provided by Artimis Gordon who said he was a relative of the man Victoria had killed.
The County Attorney, a middle-aged man with an honest face and a need for money named Wilbert Hinckley, gave his opening statement to the jury. “Ladies and Gentlemen, don’t be fooled by the innocent look of the defendant. It’s a lie. She’s not the guileless school-teacher she pretends to be. She took Wilson Gordon for all he had then poisoned him. He died. We’ll prove it.”
The first witness was Artimis Gordon. Hinckley asked him for his name and place of residence then said, “Tell us about the first time you saw the defendant.”
Artimis could imitate sincerity and honesty when required. He said, “I first saw her coming out of a room in the Eastern Gentleman’s Club in Kansas City. She was in her underwear, saying goodbye to her last customer.” He paused to make sure he had everyone’s attention. “The Eastern Gentleman’s Club is a high-class brothel, and the defendant is a prostitute.”
Nathan sat directly behind Victoria. He clenched his fist so hard, his fingernails dug into his skin.
Hinckley said, “Tell us about the next few times you saw her.”
“I watched her manipulate my brother into marrying her. He didn’t stand a chance.”
Nathan hired the best defense attorney in Denver for Victoria. Nathan leaned forward, “Why don’t you object or something?”
Clint Dodgeson, the defense attorney, said “I’ll deal with this man as he deserves. Just wait.”
Nathan sat back, completely helpless.
Hinckley asked just one more question. “Let’s skip forward to the day your brother died. Tell us when you saw the defendant and what she was doing.”
“I thought she was preparing medication for my brother. She mixed powder into a glass of water and gave it to him. He drank it and died an hour later. The powder was rat poison.”
Dodgeson leaped to his feet. “Objection. How do we know it was rat poison? Is Mr. Gordon a trained expert on poisons?”
Nathan got his first notion of how the trial would go. The judge was bluff and overweight. His knowledge of the law was lacking, but not his need for money. He said, “Objection overruled. Mr. Gordon is an honest man, known to me as completely reliable. His testimony will be admitted as it comes to us, as the Gospel truth.”
Dodgeson was stunned. He stood in place, not knowing how to counter such blatant illegality. He finally said, “Your honor, I...”
“Sit down, counselor. We’ll have no more of your interruptions.”
Hinckley turned the witness over to Mr. Dodgeson.
Dodgeson’s asked, “You say you first saw the defendant working as a prostitute in Kansas City. Do you know what the penalty for perjury is in this state?”
A solid blow from the judge’s gavel stopped Dodgeson cold. “That will be enough of that, counselor. I just said the testimony given by the witness is to be accepted as a whole and considered to be as truthful as the Bible itself.”
Dodgeson was beside himself with rage. “Your honor, the defendant was a virgin at the time of her marriage here in Denver.”
The gavel thundered again. The judge said, “Prove it.”
Dodgeson held up a piece of paper. “This is a signed statement by Doctor Thomas Mansfield, the doctor who examined the defendant a day before she left Kansas City for Denver. It states that she was virgo intacta. She could hardly have been a prostitute and...”
The judge hammered his gavel again. “Anybody can write anything on a piece of paper, counselor. Is Doctor Mansfield in the courtroom?”