Lessons Learned Ch. 12

"Nice to meet you Angela."

I shook her hand , "Likewise. Thank you so much for coming here on such short notice. You could've been doing so many other things today."

"It's not a problem."

"Well now that we've had a 'Morrison Family Reunion' can we get this over with." Mother replied sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes in shame. "Please excuse my mother.Policemen make her nervous. Before we begin, please let me introduce you to everyone. You've already met my brother Andreas, this is my sister Marguerite and her husband Ian, this is my other brother Maurice and this is my incredibly rude mother Estelle."

Everyone except mother greeted Olivia after their introductions.

Olivia nodded to everyone and replied,

"Nice to meet you all. But your mother is correct. We should try to get this interview over as soon as we can."

I gestured to the family room and replied,

"In that case, shall we begin?"

"After you. " She replied.

Shane and I walked into the family room first with Olivia following us. Everyone except Andreas followed suit after Olivia. He went into the dining room and brought out one of the dining room chairs. He sat the chair on the other side of the coffee table directly across from us on the couch. Andreas motioned for Olivia to sit down. She nodded her thanks and the two locked eyes briefly once more. He cleared his throat, turned and went to sit down on the loveseat that stood beside us on the big couch. Shane, I and Marguerite sat on the main couch across from Olivia. Ian sat on the arm of the couch behind Marguerite. Maurice stood by the far window and mother sat in the rocking chair that sat pivotal to the fire place.

"Would you like anything to drink?" I asked Olivia.

"No, I'm fine thank you."

Olivia reached down for the briefcase that she sat beside her chair. She placed on her lap, opened it and brought out a tape recorder, microphone and notepad. She put the briefcase back beside her chair, put the materials on the coffee table and looked back at me. Before she turned on the tape recorder she told me how the interview would be conducted,

"Ok Angela, this interview has to be recorded for legal purposes. I'm going to ask you a few questions. If you are not comfortable with the questions or if you need to take a break let me know ok?"

I took a deep breath and nodded yes. Shane brought his hand around my shoulders for support. Ian put a hand on Marguerite's shoulder. She took his hand and squeezed it lightly. Olivia turned on the tape recorder, pushed the record button and sat it beside the microphone. The red light immediately came on. She picked up the notepad and spoke into the microphone,

"May 13, 2010. This is Detective Olivia Morrison here questioning a person of interest in the Sherise Harper murder case. Please state your name."

I bent forward and replied into the microphone,

"Angela Bianca Monroe."

Olivia looked down at the notepad and began to ask the questions written down.

"How did you know the deceased Sherise Harper?"

"We grew up together and she was my roommate."

"Ms. Monroe had you seen Ms. Harper before she died?"

"Yes I had.." I replied.

"Ok. Could you please tell me about that day?"

I nodded. "I'd just gotten home from class that day. I went to go get something to eat and I heard moans in my basement. I recognized the people moaning as Sherise and my ex boyfriend Devon Jones."

"Mr. Jones was with the deceased that day?" Olivia asked.

"Yes ma'am. When I caught them together they had just finished having sexual intercourse." I replied.

"Hmm that's interesting. Mr. Jones hadn't mentioned that in his deposition. When you found Ms. Harper and Mr. Jones together, what happened?"

"We had a confrontation. I confronted her about all the financial issues that we'd been having; and I told her that I wanted her out of my house. I asked Devon how long he had been fucking her and he said that, that was the first time. I will admit that I called her a lot of names. She got upset and tried to attack me. Devon took her upstairs to her room so that she could calm down. He came back downstairs and tried to explain himself to me. I told him to leave. He went on to further explain and plead his case. I told him it was over. He got mad and told me that I was the reason why he cheated. He said that if I wasn't so frigid he wouldn't have to cheat."

Shane brought me closer to him. I looked at him and smiled. He held a dark expression. I tilted my head to his mouth and he chastely kissed my forehead. I lifted back up and continued,

"I told him to leave my house again and to take Sherise with him. He went back upstairs and brought her down with him. She continued to threaten me as Devon took her out of the house."

"And was that the last time you saw the deceased?"

"No ma'am. I saw her and Devon later on that day."

"And this was after you told them to leave?"

"Yes ma'am. We had another talk and Sherise went on to bring up family history that she'd heard from her mother and threw it in my face."

"What did she say to you?" Mother demanded.

Olivia pushed the "off" button on the recorder and turned to my mom.

"Mrs. Monroe, I understand your anger at the situation but you can't speak out during the deposition."

"With all due respect Detective, my daughter has to sit here and relive some of the most horrific moments of her life; you'll have to excuse me for being concerned.

Marguerite turned to our mother and replied, "Oh Mother stop your dramatics. You're only 'concerned' because you were mentioned." Marguerite replied.

Mother arose indignantly from her chair. She glared at Marguerite with malice.

"That's not true and you know it. Do you think I want my daughter to be subjugated to this interrogation? Do you think I enjoy watching her regale the most horrible events of her life? Huh, do you?" She demanded

Olivia turned to my mother and replied,

"The thing is Mrs. Monroe, if she doesn't relive these facts now then she'll be arrested and have to relive them at the station Sherise's mother is pushing for a speedy arrest. So we have to do this now. Time is running out"

"Mother, I have nothing to hide." I replied. I turned back to Olivia and replied, "I'm ready to continue if you are."

Mother sat back down in her chair. Olivia turned the tape recorder back on and continued to read off her questions from her notebook,

"You said that you and the deceased had an altercation. What happened? Olivia asked.

"She told me that her mother had told her about the problems that I and my mom had been having since I decided to move out. She also mentioned....."

I paused as tears of hurt began to fall as I began to think back at what was mentioned. Shane lightly squeezed my waist in support.

"Take your time." Olivia replied

"She mentioned about my dad's death."

"What about it?"

"She mockingly regaled the story of his death to me. She told of how I was the last person he talked to the night he died. You see, he was drunk that night and he was trying to tell me something about when I was born. His word were so slurred that I couldn't understand then. Then he began to choke. I tried to get him to relax and stop talking, but he wouldn't. Then suddenly I heard a dial tone. The next day I got the news that he'd died that night." I replied in between my tears.

Everyone sat in mournful silence. Ian held Marguerite close as tears flowed down her face. Maurice looked out the window. He silently wiped away the tears that were fighting to fall down his face. Andreas looked down at the floor. Mother wiped her tears away with her handkerchief.

"I know this is hard but I have to know what happened after that." Olivia replied.

"I recanted her statements with my own. I called her and her mother a whore. I asked her why she was so worried about my dad's death since she wasn't even around for her own dad's death. I accused her and her mother of 'whoring' around while he was alone at home dying of a massive coronary. That upset her and so she went on to mock my weight and my friends. After awhile it go to be too much. I tackled her to the ground and began to hit her. Devon picked me up off of her and reprimanded us both for acting childish."

Shane snorted at that.

I continued, "He told Sherise to go out into the car. She left me with one last threat and then he left. He pleaded with me one last time to work out our differences. I declined and he told me that 'I'd be back.' He then left out with Sherise. After that I never saw her again."

" So Mr. Jones left the house with Ms. Harper?"

"Yes he did."

"So you weren't the last one to see her alive; Mr. Jones was."

"All I know is that when I kicked them out; Devon was with her."

"We've concluded that Ms. Harper died between the fourth and fifth of this month. Ms. Monroe where were you during that time." Olivia asked.

"Well on the fourth I was watching my home burn to the ground. After that I was with Shane. I came back home for a little bit and then Shane and Maurice took me to my best friend's house. That's where I've been since then."

Olivia turned to everyone and asked, "Can you all collaborate this?"

Everyone replied in earnest,

"Yes!!!"

"You say that your home was burned down. Has a report been filed to this effect?"

"Yes Ma'am. A Captain Pennington took down the information."

"I'm acquainted with Captain Pennington. I'll have to get in touch with him to get the information."

"So just to recap. The last time you saw Ms. Harper was early afternoon when you caught her with Mr. Jones. And then again later on that evening when they returned uninvited to confront you about trying to remove the said Ms. Harper from your home."

"That's correct." I replied.

"And during the time between that confrontation and her murder you were with your boyfriend Mr. Morrison and other family members."

"Yes. Ma'am."

"Thank you Ms. Monroe. I think that's all we need."

Olivia turned off the recorder and smiled at me.

"What will happen now?" I replied.

"Well I have to get this to my Captain and then we can start looking for the real person who did this." Olivia replied.

I sighed in relief. Olivia picked up her briefcase and put the tape recorder, notepad and microphone back inside of it. Shane and I arose from the couch. She reached out her hand and I shook it once more,

"Thank you so much Detective for coming. I wish that we would have met on different circumstances. Hopefully next time we see each other there won't be a murder case looming above us." I replied with a smile.

The doorbell rang. Andreas nodded at the detective and went to go open it. Olivia went around and shook everyone's hand. We all began to talk amongst ourselves. We turned to the door when we heard a shrill voice demand,

"WHERE IS SHE?"

"Where's who?" Andreas asked.

"DON'T BE COY WITH ME BOY!! WHERE'S YOU'RE WHORE OF A SISTER?" the voice asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Andreas replied

"YOU'RE NO HELP!! MOVE OUT OF MY WAY!!"

"HEY!!" Andreas replied as he was pushed to the side. The woman strode into the house calling for me,

"ANGELA!!! ANGELA I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE!!"

We all turned to see who was making all of the commotion. We soon realized that it was Sherise's mother Maxine Harper. She stood at the threshold, angrily glaring at my direction.

"Now Maxine we don't want any mess." Mother warned.

"Oh no Estelle there won't be ANY mess!! I JUST WANT JUSTICE FOR MY DAUGHTER!!"

Before anyone could move or think Maxine Harper brought out a gun and shot it.

The last thing I remember was a big blast.Then everything around me went black.