I Saw the Whole Thing WC 294

I Saw the Whole Thing

The notebook creaked as It opened. Graphite hit paper as I gave my account to Detective Iverson.

“Mrs. Ingram, is it?”

“It’s Miss.”

“To the best of your recollection, Miss Ingram, tell me what you saw.”

“I saw the whole thing!”

“She saw the whole thing,” he called out.

Thundering gumshoes hit asphalt as they closed in.

What they didn’t know was that I hadn’t seen anything. My friend, Ben, was being accused of a crime. Assuming he was guilty, they slapped the cuffs on him and drove away, sirens blaring. I had to defend him.

“Well, I was supposed to meet my friend, Ben—”

“The accused?”

“Yes. But I got here first. There was a man yelling something—”

“The deceased?”

“Yes,” I said. “And behind him was another man in a red jacket. He was holding the murder weapon.”

“Ben Adler shot this man in cold blood. There was no other man, Miss Ingram,” he said, a decibel too loud.

“You asked me. That’s what I saw. The guy shot him and ran. That’s when Ben arrived,” I continued. “And then we heard sirens and you guys showed up.”

“Ben Adler had the weapon in his hand!”

“The murderer dropped it, and Ben picked it up, in case we needed to defend ourselves,” I said. “That’s everything, start to finish.”

A cacophony of voices filled the air as Detective Iverson shared my information. I prayed my account would give Ben a fighting chance.

Truth?

I never saw anything, but the cops don’t know that. I hope they don’t make me come down to the station. They’ll realize I’m blind and throw the book at me.

Maybe Ben and I will share a cell. I’d like that…unless he did it.