9 Sex, Indolence, and Testimonies

"The last one is a testament my patient willingly gave me last year. The testament in question is also the reason why I decided to agree on conducting this research. The research was possible in cooperation with all the present people here, along with the governor. Mrs. Goodman has been my patient for three years, but for the first time, she decided to open up to me on the fifth day of April. We will be showing you the sister's uh, I mean, her... I'm sorry. Excuse me for a bit." I downed the warm glass of water sitting on the table right next to me in one fast gulp. "As I was saying, we will be showing you an audio recording of what she knows now, with her consent, of course."

I signaled the man behind the laptop to play the audio file. After a few seconds, her voice rang all around the room, making me sweat and shake stronger than ever.

I hope no one will notice.

...

My failure is probably due to my indolence, doctor.

What? You asked me earlier, right? How I started to be the housekeeper of Mr. Earnest and Mrs. Marian. They were a lovely couple, young and happy together. The kind of family that is very refreshing to see! The two of them are quite admiring; it gives me hope.

So when I first saw this big sign outside their house saying they need a maid, I did not hesitate to apply! I was living in the apartment next door, so we became pretty close. Especially with Marian, poor girl, she didn't even know her husband was having an affair. I, myself, didn't know about it too until I saw my boss, Earnest doing the act himself. And for all I know right now, he's not meeting our Creator in heaven!

When I lost my previous housekeeping job after my former boss's business got bankrupt, the Lange family gave me something to live for in this life. The truth is, I was planning to end it all when I lost my job before the Langes. I was just so miserable, and every opportunity that comes for me to get just a bit of cash is something I'd take if I can do it reasonably. It's going to be like that in the end, anyway. Why wait for it to come instead and summon it, right?

I was delighted working with them. There is no problem at all! Madame Marian is even willing for me to watch movies with her in the living room once Sir Earnest leaves. She said that she wants someone to accompany her. Honestly speaking, I don't want to accompany her because watching television all day is considerable negligence of my work and I am delighted working with the two of them. Therefore, I don't want to lose this job. But I just can't leave her alone and isolated in a lonely living room like that.

So I would take my broom away. Put the rag in the kitchen. Throw the trash and watch movies with Madame. I guess I got used to doing it to the point that even if Madame is away, even if Madame is in the house, I would neglect doing my job and watch a bunch of movies because seriously, she doesn't really care. Oh, but I'm not going to call that laziness! I'm calling it abusing someone else's kindness. I might be good at housekeeping, but I'm a bad maid.

I'm old, doctor. I'm already fifty-seven. And even though a lot of people are saying that I'm still young, I know that my end is on the clock. I'm just waiting for death's visit. I can feel it. My grandmother would often tell me that death is like a trespassing spirit suddenly appearing in your house dressed in a black robe, and it will take you with him to the other side. I say, how long am I supposed to wait for him? Another decade or another happy family to die in front of me? It's a long wait, and I hate waiting. I'm not a patient person.

I see that you like stage plays, doctor. There's a Broadway ticket at your table. I remembered when I was young and filled with aspirations. Do you mind if I tell you a little bit about my story, doctor? Our session is long, a little bit of chit-chat wouldn't be that bad, right?

Would you believe it if I say that I was once a stage actress? I was called the Stage Harpy because every critic says that I look like I am flying on the stage every time I deliver my lines. They view me once like a greek goddess. Of course, you would say you do; it's your job to agree and listen. My biggest pride and joy is when I was chosen to play Christine, the main heroine in the Phantom of the Opera. It was indeed a delightful feeling when I first heard the news. I was jumping and bouncing because I am sincerely happy, doctor! Very happy!

Tell you what doc; I still remember some of my lines! And maybe my voice isn't that bad yet. Do you want to hear it?

Here, you will act as the Phantom, and you'll just say sing my angel of music!

And then I will say he's there the phantom of the opera! And then I'll proceed to the soprano! It's easy, right? Come on. I want you to try it with me!

Come on, say the lines!

He's there, the phantom of the opera!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! ~

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! ~

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! ~

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! ~

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! ~

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! ~

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! ~

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Ah! Ahh! My voice! Ah! It made a crack! Ahh. Oh, I'm so sorry, doctor. I can't help but shed a tear. I'm an old crook, and I've already lost my prime. Whatever happened to me right now, whatever kind of agony that will happen to me is all the results of my idiocy!

I'm hopeless, aren't I, doctor, don't you dare say I'm not, because it won't comfort me at all. I said it, doc, I have lost my prime. And it's all because I wasn't good enough. No, all because I'm a lazy, good for nothing, bitch! I wasted my opportunity, doctor! I could be a movie star right now, with my massive mansion and a couple of million dollars in my bank account, along with my attractive husband and two cute babies! All of those, wasted!

Sure, they chose me as Christine, but it didn't last long before they took their decision back. I was busy partying with my friends—friends that will soon leave me. I was busy fooling around with a lot of boys, and I didn't get to attend practices, I didn't even bother to read my lines. I thought I was something special, something good! I thought that I was soaring through the skies like the harpy they once called me. I thought I could be eternally beautiful and always on top of everyone like a feather on the wind.

So I avoided my responsibility. Sometimes I didn't even do anything. I wanted to party! I would often avoid activity just because I want to lie in my bed, my soft, soft bed! I just want to waste time! I would eat and do nothing. I have a lot of phone calls, but I didn't bother answering them, and when I was ready to accept my responsibility as an actress, a new Christine was already on set. They didn't even notify me, or perhaps they did. I'm just too lazy to know.

Thus began my downfall.

Fast forward to the present, and alas, I'm here! Cleaning, cooking, making tea and coffee, those are just some of the things I do now.

But Madame Marian is very kind; she is the kindest and the sweetest woman I've ever seen in my entire life! She will even let me sleep in one of their guest rooms if I'm feeling a little bit tired. She said that if I rest for a while, I would regain my energy and get to be more productive once I woke up. As much as I want to refuse it, I can't just say no to such a generous offer! Usually, I would sleep for three hours and proceed to do my job again.

But sometimes I'm not even tired at all! I'll casually go to that particular room and sleep. Because honestly speaking, if your boss is permitting you to be lazy, you will be lazier. Thus, it became a habit that after I cleaned the house and did some of the chores, I would go straight to the guest room and sleep like a log. It became worse to the point that I did not work at all, and instead, I just laid down on the bed and forgot all of my life problems. The Lange's bed is very comfortable; I guarantee that.

I would wake up, and it's already night, and by the time I leave the room, Madame has already cleaned everything, and instead of feeling bad about it, I don't care anymore. Those are some of the things that I genuinely regret, but I can't do anything about them now. All I can do now is to cry for the death of Madame.

No, I do not feel bad at all when Sir Earnest killed himself in the courtroom. He deserved a particular spot in hell. I believe Satan likes to have a company down there.

So that's how I usually spend my days. I would be locked in a haze in that guest room and sleep as I drift away to the realm of dreams.

One day, I overslept and woke up to the sound of moans and footsteps. I quickly hid below the bed and saw Sir Earnest and a woman I've never seen before entering the room, kissing while stripping each other's clothes with haste. And for the entire night, I spent my precious time not cleaning but instead to hear the horrifying sound of Sir Earnest as he pounds his thing inside of that woman! I've spent around five hours trapped in that torture.

Imagine a beautiful and kind woman like Madame Marian? How can you cheat that? And he's going around there in the court saying that he is her "ever-loving and faithful husband"? My goodness, what load of baloney! I can testify that Earnest Lange is indeed a cheating demon, but he is not a murderer. As much as I hate that monster, he did not murder his wife and his brother.

Let's cut the chase, doctor. Do you want to hear what I saw in that house, right? And yes, I'm not insane, doctor. I saw what happened in that house, and as much as I hate Sir Earnest for what she did to Madame Marian and his brother, I knew that he's not the one who killed them. It's someone else. And even I can't comprehend the fact that I was lucky enough to survive.

When Sir Earnest is pounding her lover that night, he forgot that he invited his brother to come to stay the night at their house for Madame Marian's birthday. Martin, Earnest's brother, however, came way too early and entered the house the night before Madame Marian's birthday party, the same night that I caught Sir Earnest having an affair.

To tell it shortly Madame Marian's birthday is September 24 but Sir Martin went to celebrate the birthday on the night of September 23, it's his way of staying punctual, by being way too early. But unlike Sir Earnest's statement last week in the court, the encounter did not happen around seven-o'clock, but instead, it happened before midnight. It didn't even happen the day of Madame Marian's birthday!

The story goes; Sir Earnest continued to make love with his mistress for the entire night in the bed right on top of me. I was below the bed, and the only thing I can see is the closed door of the guest room and the walls around it. Martin Lange opened the door and was taken aback when he saw the two of them casually doing indecent things in the guest room. But Sir Earnest did not murder him. He even tried to calm him down, but Martin slapped Sir Earnest's face and ran outside. Sir Martin was out of my vision when this happened, for they were outside, but I can hear the sound of a loud, powerful slap against Sir Earnest's cheek.

But when Sir Earnest tried to follow his terrified brother outside of the room, he stopped halfway, right outside the doorway. He keeps saying with a panicked voice not to do it and that he has nothing to do with this "business," and for some reason, Sir Earnest is begging him not to do what is supposed to happen. I couldn't see his mistress' feet, so she's probably still in the bed, and whatever is happening right now doesn't seem to concern her.

What happened next is that I heard the sound of gunshots and the scream of Sir Earnest and a thudding sound, probably caused by the fallen body of Martin Lange. As you can see, Sir Earnest doesn't have the ability or the will to torture someone, let alone to kill his brother because just the mere sight of someone killing his brother in front of him sent shivers down his spine.

The next thing I knew is the sound of the front door opening and the screaming voice of Madame Marian. She's asking as to who the mysterious entity is while crying because she saw the body of Martin dying in the feet of this shady character.

I could hear their conversation loud and clear, doctor. The shady man outside of the room strolled, and by slowly, I mean, the man is walking perhaps one step every two seconds. And I can hear a lot of unidentified noises outside, some thudding noise, some metallic objects falling down the floor, and the sound of Madame's panicked gasps. All of these noises are so loud that it's deafening.

I could see Sir Earnest trembling on his knees, not doing anything when it's already evident that a man just casually shot his brother down and is now prowling to get his wife. Believe it or not, although he seems eager to run towards the man, it seems that something along with fear and cowardice is hindering him from doing so. The problem is, I don't believe that just fear and cowardice is enough reason to make him paralyzed on the floor.

I think that Sir Earnest is afraid of the killer. But even that is something that I am uncertain too.

What I am confident, though, is that both Sir Earnest and Madame Marian are too afraid to hurt the perpetrator, or something else is stopping them from attacking him. As if they don't want to do it, or they're too dumbfounded to react.

The last thing I heard of the Madame is her cries and her screams along with her agonizing sobs and her panting sounds. That is the first time I've listened to Madame cry even if she had had a miserable life being with the Sir. Even the strong and willful Madame is afraid of the face of evil, it seems. Just thinking of what horrifying person made my two bosses trembling before him in fear scares me. And he hasn't even uttered a word yet.

I heard Madame cry. She's pleading, and she's crying while trying her hardest to convince the horrible criminal to spare her. She even quoted, which also shocked me, that she was pregnant and said that it happened when the Sir was so drunk and made a move on her one fateful night. Unfortunately, the killer did not take mercy on this fact; I even heard a silent chuckle. And I remembered it vividly, a soft voice, a mellow tone.

I didn't know how the Madame died, but a gun didn't kill her, unlike Sir Martin, I would hear it if that's the case. The whole room is enveloped in silence after I listened to Madame gasping in pain after being murdered in her own house.

The next thing I know is that Sir Earnest ran towards the dead bodies and started crying and screaming like a lost child. You can feel the agony in his voice, the pain resonating in his tone as she calls the name of his wife and his brother. I can see his face clearly though I cannot see him.

And then I saw him pulling the two bodies desperately into the room and lying them beside him, leaving him covered with blood and with a massive grin on his face continually saying that he's the one who murdered them. He had established a fact in his mind that because of him, the two of them are dead.

Someone shot Sir Earnest's brother in the stomach, and that someone also stabbed the Madame in her chest and her stomach, probably with one of our kitchen knives. Blood is flowing everywhere to the point that the fresh blood covered Sir Earnest entirely.

He became batshit insane and proceeded to laugh while holding the two bodies, still saying with a joyful tone that he is indeed the one who killed them. He repeatedly spoke of the words I killed them, I killed them, I killed them over and over and over again.

He is even talking to himself like a fool, whispering to himself just like what he did to the courtroom. It seems that he created an imaginary entity inside of his head and has casual conversations with it. However, the kicker is that they're talking about as to how the Sir killed the two of them. Just like what he kept on doing back then in the courtroom when he shouted in front of everybody in it telling an alarming tale, and goodness gracious, that story is inaccurate at best! This imaginary friend he made himself sort of gave him a scripted scenario as to what happened that night.

He kept on saying that the Madame was a whore when they showed in the autopsy that the Madame's modesty hadn't been disturbed, at least not before she died. There's also no sign of strangling, no sign of those disgusting nails on the Madame's arms and knees and no sign of those disgusting pieces of bottle shrapnel that the sir allegedly used to kill the Madame. No, it was a knife, the wound is too clean for bottle shrapnel. I remember it clearly; I was there.

I also remembered how he proclaimed to the world how he bashed Sir Martin's face, but the only wound in Sir Earnest brother's body is one single gunshot in his stomach.

Talking to himself, making an imaginary murder scene, turning his wife a whore, and making his gay brother the partner of the said illicit crime? What utter rubbish!

I need to take a moment of silence for a while, doctor, is that fine? I'm just... I'm not feeling well.

... schzzz...

Do you know what the people call the Lange's residence? The Colorado Murder house. I don't know what to do anymore, doctor. I don't know if I can continue being a housekeeper after what happened in that place.

And thus concludes the tale. Someone else killed the mistress and Martin, doctor. Someone I failed to see, and as much as I regret it, I can't do anything about it. Whatever Sir Earnest said in that courtroom is definitely because of his mental incapability to handle the death of his wife and brother. He even said that he caught those two of them cheating when, in fact, it was the other way around!

Speaking of cheating, I never saw Sir Earnest's lover as well. When the sir suddenly became insane, the lover proceeded to dress up, and then she kissed Sir Earnest's cheeks and told the shady character outside to go, and his "job" was already done.

And then they were gone. I didn't hear them open the door, I didn't hear footsteps, I didn't hear anyone talking or walking outside, and I didn't even hear a car leave. They just vanished in thin air, just like the Phantom. They were gone, and I never heard about them again.

Sin, doctor, that's how sin works, that's how the devil punished the weak, and I am not weak. I will carry this story until I die. When everyone around me seems not to understand what I believed in, I will still carry what I think.

And probably I might even hold a press conference about this matter, but I'm in no capability of doing such in my present self. I'd probably do that some other time when I'm already strong enough. Yeah, perhaps I'll do that tomorrow. Will you help me, doctor? I want my story to be seen everywhere; I want the world to see my story on television. I want them all to know the real truth! I want my story to be plastered in every newspaper and told in every radio!

I want them to see me tell the truth once and for all, doctor. I know you know what I mean.

Oh, our session has long expired, doctor! I'm so sorry for wasting your time like this. I'll go now, doctor. I have somewhere to go; I don't know why, but for some reason, I want to be alone for a while. Oh no, I don't need any police escort. I can protect myself.

...

The room is filled with obvious discomfort; the air all around is filled with an almost disgusting animosity. Thankfully, it's not animosity towards me, but to this new information, the police bureau got because of my "help."

"I have included all the necessary details about uhh... Mrs. Goodman in the files we have distributed earlier. So um... To summarize this thing, I mean, you know, the presentation, I would like to reiterate the information we already know about the case.

"We are all aware that the crime scene itself is quite peculiar. There no blood in the scene, but every witness we had pointed out on the fact that there is, indeed, a murder that occurred in the house.

"No bodies have been found too. Not a single one, you already know this, of course. Lots of uh, headlines have appeared about it. The entire house is neat. No sign of robbery, no blood, no fingerprints at all, which is highly unusual for a house since you know, people live in it and stuff, you get the point. There are a few knives in the kitchen, and we can conclude that one of those kitchen knives can be the murder weapon, but they seem to be unmoved, though the possibility of it being used is still a factor.

"Lastly, all of the testimonies we got today do not seem to match with each other. They seem to be trying to contradict one another. The saddest part about this entire fiasco is that none of them seems to be reliable at all since there's no evidence.

"And this concludes my report, ladies and gentlemen. I want to call on Inspector Gerald to speak about the rest of the technical information regarding the case. Thank you very much."

As I left the room and packed all the papers and amenities I used throughout my report in front of the police force, I went there knowing fully well that showing all of the pieces of evidence at my disposal did not at all helped the investigation of the case.

"One last question, Mr. West." said one inspector whose name I had already forgotten.

"Yes?" I responded as I fit the papers as hard as I can inside of my bag.

"What can you say about your brother's testimony? Is it-"

"Mr. Earnest Lange's testimony," I interrupted. "is just that. A testimony. Treat it however you want. If you want to ask me again for the millionth time as to what my affiliation is to him and his wife, then you have dozens upon dozens of records on it at your disposal, or am I wrong?"

"No. No, of course, we understand you don't do that kind of thing with, uh. Yeah. I apologize."

I did not respond anymore and walked passed him in hurried steps with my bag in hand.

"... fag..." I heard the same inspector whisper behind his breath before I left the room.

I want to yell out how they should mind their own business, but I'm sure they're already sick of hearing that. Instead, I just runoff, vowing to myself never to come back again.

Useless. A useless bunch, indeed. This case is not over. If my brother is a murderer, then so be it, but it doesn't end here!

I swear... This case will not end in this dimly lit room filled with the smell of nicotine and the presence of incompetent people!