8 Chapter 8 - How he came into her life

"You heard me. I’m defending you at tomorrow trial unless you got anyone else?"

With a face that’s about to explode with tears, he said

"Are you sure bro? I don't want to bring you down with me.I mean the case is already a dead-end for me. My prints are on the murder weapon. And I was the only one with her in the apartment. Besides you made your I-am-screwed ugly face when I said they found the gold star on me..."

"HEY.My face is not that ugly.Watch it." I yelled.

"Heeee.Sorry.My bad."

"Be prepared for tomorrow.I will be your lawyer. End of discussion.Now go back to your room"

With that I faced away.But I mutterd out one last thing.

"JOSH" my voice sounded hardened and serious.

"Did you kill your sister?"

I wished I could hear the answer that I want from him.But he gave me a good one though.

"Three years ago. I was sleeping on the couch abandoned on the streets. Then my sister took me in. She fed me.Clothed me and practically raised me.And just because she didn't give me the money I asked for? Did you think I would be that ungrateful to her? Tell me Endy. If you had been in my shoes, what would you have done?"

"......"I gave him a silent answer.

"Yeah.I don’t think so.That's my answer."

His voice sounded sorrowful.

"OK.That's all I need to hear."

Then I set foot steps to leave here.

"Even......"I stopped.It was low.But enough for me to hear it.Josh's voice possibly with swelled up tears.

"Even....she....is......."Without turnig back I stormed off the station.I didn’t need to stay to hear the end of the sentence.

I knew what you were gonna say Josh. But you weren't gonna say it out loud this time again, huh? You were never brave enough to say it out loud. Not in the past, not now and not definitely in the future.

I hailed a cab to my place.I thought about Josh on my way home. A couple of years after Devvy's debut. A stray kid showed up at her door claiming that he was her long-lost little brother. He explained to Devvy about everything that had happened to him and his mother after she left.

He said that he recovered from the illness...They moved to a new town.Devvy's mother was still furious about how she left. They started a small business with the money she left there and adapted to the new surroundings.

Two years later, his mother got remarried to a local guy and that's when they changed their last names from Ravdolf to Anthony which is that guy's last name. They decided to take that name to put their miserable past behind the curtain.

Things were going great until about seven years later where his mother and his step-father died from epidemic diseases. He was the only one who was able to escape.

Then he got to the city, heard his sister was now a big-hit singer. He instantly recognized Devvy the minute he saw her on the ads that's hanging around the city. So he decided to go to her.

Without giving it too much thought, Devvy took him in. Of course I was suspicious about Josh's whole story.(There was even some kind of tension between me and Devvy back that time).Since then Josh had been living with his supposedly sister together.

He is an artist. A painter. But unskillful one. (Though other people say kid's got a raw talent).

He is incompetent, amateur, easy-going, relaxed and addictive to drugs. Yeah, he is a crack-addict. Since he couldn't earn money with his crappy work, he had to ask Devvy for her money to….well...get high.If you look past all of that he is a good kid.

Just a kid trying to make it in dreamy yet cruel artist's world. Then why defense him, you ask?

I'm not doing this for him. I am doing this for my deceased best friend. If Devvy was still alive, she would have wanted me to do the same thing.

Putting aside my judgemental clouds on him, part of me wants to believe his story. And I have seen myself that this case is more complicated than it appears to be. There are several holes in the case. I need to poke them. To see who is the real culprit.

It would be a lie if I said I am not sad or devasted about Devvy's death. I have had difficulties projecting my feelings. Besides I am a lawyer. I can't let my emotions get the best of me. I need to stay calm and collected. They say people grieve differently. And my way of grieving would be finding out who really murdered my best friend and put them in jail for good.I just wished I wouldn't have to use that THING about Josh.The thing that only me and Devvy knew about.

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