It would do no good, at this time, to protest my innocence to this crime for which I have spent the past five years of my life paying my debt to society. The police didn't believe me back then, neither did the twelve people, not smart enough to avoid jury duty, believe me. I had thought that my lovely wife would not only have believed me, but would have waited for me to get out of gaol, but no, she did neither. So it was, that on my first day of freedom, there was no-one to meet me outside the prison gates. I often felt alone in prison, but not as alone as I felt right now.
Don't get me wrong, I could have had lots of friends inside, I could have been someone's 'wife', but that did not interest me, so I spread the rumour that I was waiting for my (unspecified but hinted at) test results. This kept them at bay until I had managed to establish myself as something of a reclusive academic, spending all my free time in the prison library, reading and scribbling notes. I was now too weird even for those with that sexual predilection.
With the approval of the Department of Corrections, I enrolled in an Open University course in Criminology, with an emphasis on criminal behaviour of individuals. I wanted to know what would cause someone to fabricate evidence in order to have me convicted of a crime that I did not commit.
As I trudged down the long access road toward the main road and the bus stop, a car eased to a halt beside me and the passenger's window slid down. "It's a long walk, do you need a lift?"
"That would be nice thank you." I climbed into the car.
"I'm Natalie Parish, I'm a Social Worker." She said as I clicked the seat belt into its buckle.
"And I'm Tom Cowley, hardened criminal. I'm pleased to meet you Natalie, I think."
"How long were you inside?"
"Five years, give or take a week or two."
"What were you in for? If you don't mind me asking."
"I don't mind, it makes no difference now anyway. I was charged with Manslaughter."
"But you didn't, is that it?"
'No I didn't kill him. Don't get me wrong I hit him with my car, but then he was already dead, I just couldn't prove it. I was driving along this road and suddenly, there he was, right in front of me. The damage to the front of my car was consistent with the impact of me hitting him, but the blood spatter, or lack of blood, and injuries suggested that he was already dead and pushed in front of my car. The police and Forensic experts said otherwise. The fact that the man was someone that I knew, and that I was involved in a legal action against, caused the police evidence to be slanted to it being premeditated and not accidental. They couldn't prove that, otherwise I would have been charged with Murder and still inside. But the jury was confronted by a continuous stream of expert witnesses all saying the same thing, that the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming. At least my lawyer managed to convince the jury that there was sufficient doubt for them to find me not guilty of that part of it. I guess that causing death by dangerous driving was a consolation prize."
"But five years is still a long time for that charge, I would think."
"It would have been shorter if I'd pleaded guilty, at least that's what the judge said when he handed down the sentence. "I have been influenced by the fact that," He stated, peering at me with that myopic look of his. "In his continued protestation of innocence, the prisoner has shown no remorse, and has shown a lack of awareness as to the seriousness of the charges against him. If there was one benefit to all of this, it gave me the time to study the forensic evidence to see how good it was. My Lawyer appealed on my behalf, but the Appeals Court held that, as he could produce no new and compelling evidence, there was no cause for them to overturn the original judgement. Believe me the one thing that kept me going was what I discovered during my research."
"When you say research, what do you mean?"
"I now have a degree in Criminology. Apart from my research into individual criminal behaviour, I carried out extensive research into the collection and presentation of evidence, and the way that this presentation can be slanted in such a way as to increase the likelihood of conviction."
"I suppose that you're going to tell me that the police evidence in your trial was deliberately weighted against you?"
"It was. I could not deny that the car that I was driving hit the deceased person, I knew that, but what I did deny was that I had deliberately set out to run the man down. In the eyes of the police, and there was a strong emphasis on this, I had the motive, the legal proceedings against him that they claimed that I had come to realise that I would lose. I had the means, my car, and the opportunity, I knew his movements, and that he would be at that place at that time. They did not look beyond the obvious, and they stated time and time again, that motive, means and opportunity equalled guilt."
"Do you have any idea who would have set you up for this?"
"Apart from my darling now ex-wife, no."
"So what happens now?"
"My first priority is to find somewhere to live, then I need to find a job and soon, I doubt if my former boss will have held my job open for me, and the way things are going it's going to be hard to find anyone prepared to take on someone who's just been released from gaol."
"I can help you with accommodation, it's not much but it should do until you find something better. As for a job, what were you doing before this happened?"
"I was Head of Sales for a car dealership that dealt in high-end cars. Cheap stuff like Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati, you know, bread-and-butter lines."
"There's something that I learned several years ago and that is, when looking for employment, you should take a marketing approach. Research your target market, that's employers that you're interested in, what they do, how they do it, and what their long term goals are. You then research your product, that's you in case you're wondering, know as much as you can about what you can do, what you like to do and what your long term goals are. Armed with this knowledge you structure your marketing campaign around the fact that you have the skills and experience to do the job, and the motivation and enthusiasm to do the job well. I would also suggest that you find someone who can restructure your CV to hide the last five years of your life without lying. What you need is a skills based CV or Resumé that highlights that you have the skills and experience to do the job, without actually saying where you used them. Stick your work history at the end of the application in the hope that they will be skim reading by then, and overlook the lack of recent work history."
"What if I say that for the past four years I was a full-time student and now have a degree? If I were to place my Educational qualifications at the beginning of the CV, that will cover the hole in work history without lying."
"Yes, do that, it just might work." She pulled off the main road into a side street before stopping outside a small hotel. "We use this as emergency shelter for people living under threat, usually from partners. There's a cafeteria on the ground floor so there's no need to go out. I should warn you that some of the women in here are in a fragile state emotionally, while others will rip your balls off if you make a pass at them."
"I plan to keep to myself and get a good night's sleep without the snoring of a cell mate."
"Great. I'll drop in to see you in the morning, I should have some people that you can go and see about finding work and a place to stay."
"You've been very kind to me, how can I ever repay you?"
"By keeping your nose clean and moving on with your life. Forget about revenge, it'll eat you up."
"I'm not looking for revenge as much as trying to find out who did this and why."
"When you find out, turn it over to the police and let them take care of it."
"I'll think about it. It would be good to be there at the kill."
"As long as you're a spectator and not a participant. I'll see you in the morning, so don't go anywhere until I get here."
I checked in and was given a key to my room. I unpacked and took my notes from my bag and sat on the bed to read through them for the millionth time. I could just about recite the whole fifty odd pages by rote if necessary.
There was a knock on the door that I answered, to be faced by the young woman from the reception desk. "I forgot to tell you about the dinner arrangements. Dinner is served between 6:00 and 8:00pm in the dining room. I need to warn you that, because you're the only male in here, there will probably be some competition to see who sits at the same table as you. I should tell you that some of the women here a man-eaters, and will eat you alive. If you want, I'll sit with you to keep them away so that you can eat in peace."
"That would be nice, thank you."
"Natalie told me that you were a student, and new in town, and looking for permanent accommodation. But that's not true, is it?"
"It's partly true, I have recently graduated from university, and I have been away for a few years, so you could say that I'm new in town. She didn't really lie to you."
"When you say away, you mean inside, don't you?"
"Yes, I was released this morning." I couldn't lie in my answer to her direct question.
"What's all this paperwork?" She asked, indicating the papers scattered over the bed.
"I'm starting post-graduate studies with the view to gaining a PHD, these are some study notes for my thesis when I get around to writing it." That sounded better than it being the research that I was hoping would lead me to whoever set me up, and fuck waiting for the cops, despite what Natalie had said, I mean to seek revenge for five lost years of my life."
"My name's Julie by the way, and I know that you're Tom, at least that's what you signed in as. It doesn't worry me if that's not your real name, hardly any of the girls use their real names, for security reasons."
"Is Julie your real name?"
By way of an answer, she took out her driver's license that was in the name of Julie Hall.
"I'll see you down stairs when you're ready, I won't have dinner until you get there."
"I look forward to it." I said. And with that she was gone.
The word had spread that there was a rooster in the henhouse and there was a mad scramble for a position at my table. Julie just managed to grab a chair ahead of the crush. "Back off girls, give the man some room."
"Bitch." One of them said. "Who said that you were sitting there?"
"I did. I reserved this seat and I mean to keep it. Suck it up girls, he's mine."
"I don't think that you should wind them up like this, there could be blood on the lino before the night's finished."
"Listen to me Tom, I want to be the first to try a man who has been on short rations for the past five years."
"Who told you it was five years?"
"I checked up on you." She whispered, her face millimetres from mine, totally ignoring the glares of the other girls. "I know all there is to know about you."
"And that doesn't turn you off?"
"No, it's something of a turn-on if you must know."
"Why don't we eat and see what the night brings."
