All in a Good Cause

Sorry it's a long one. But I think you will like it in the end. Also please excuse my lack of knowledge of the legal system. But I hope it makes sense to my followers and readers.

All in a good cause.

By loveofmyLife75.

It was of those lovely summer evenings when the sun was going down. Not too hot but nice and warm. Feeling the last warm rays of sun on my face and chest. You know what I mean when you have been on holiday on one of those Mediterranean islands.

Surrounded by my humble home were old Victorian stone walls. I wondered how on earth they built them; the stones looked so heavy. The only way in or out was through the steel gates. Built to keep people in or out was my feeling but this was my home? My evening meal was ready. I was enjoying the last rays of the sun on my face as I walked towards the dining room.

For starters. I was having vegetable soup. It was a bit hot for hot soup, but it went down well with a bread roll. Followed by roast pork, potatoes carrots and peas. I love roast pork, carrots and peas. I enjoyed every single mouthful. Washing it down with my favourite drink of wine. Ice cold water. I finished off with jam sponge and ice cream.

"My completements to the chef," I said. Before. I stood up heading for my bedroom.

When I got to my bedroom. I laid down on the bed and picked up my photo album. The first picture was of our wedding day. And what a day that was to remember in every way. My bride arriving at the church in white tight-fitting dress. The second picture was of my bride with her maid of honour. The third was of me. The fourth was of me and my best friend the best man.

I turned the pages looking at my bride. In every photograph you could see. The love pouring out from both of us. Yes, we were in love and even though we had hundreds of photos of the day. Taken by family and friends. All we wanted was to do. Was go to our bedroom for peace a quiet and to make love to each other as long as we could that night.

It was dark by now. I was staring up at the ceiling cracks. It was like a road map. I was going to sleep holding my photo album thinking of my bride. The following day was the same as the days before. Breakfast then to work. I had a friend his name was Tom Salt.

+ + + +

"How did you sleep last night," Tom asked me rubbing his eyes.

"Same as all the other nights. Staring up at the ceiling trying to work things out, "I said.

"It about time you went and spoke with the Equaliser," Tom said.

"Why? what can he do for me. And what is it going to cost me?" I said.

"Go and talk to him in his office. He will tell you how much and be straight with him, "Tom said.

As we worked side by side all that day, I was deep in thought. Should I, or try and work things out by myself. But now? I only trusted one person in my life from now on. That was Tom. Our day's work had finished and the day was cooler than the day before. I had nothing to lose. Before dinner. I went round the stone walls still wondering how on earth how they built them. Because they looked so heavy. So, after dinner. I was going to speak with the Equaliser.

Tom told me were to go. "Down the Main Street turn left onto the High Street. Then right into Paradise Walk. Then right again into Market Street. It will take you about five minutes to get there. Do you want me to come with you?" Tom said to me.

"Tom he will have shut up shop by now," I said.

"No, he shuts up shop when it's time for bed. Come on. Let's get moving," Tom said.

I looked at my friend.

"Yes," I said.

We walked down the Main Street. Turning left into the High Street. Then right into Paradise Walk then right again into Market Street we were there in less than five minutes.

We walked into his office. Tom pointed him out to me. The Equaliser was sitting at a table reading some papers through his rimmed glasses. I walk up to his desk.

"Sir may I speak with you," I said.

He carried on reading the papers and held up a finger. Indicating to me. Wait a while until he had finished reading the papers. A minute or two passed and the Equaliser looked up at me putting down the papers. He was a man in his late mid-forties perhaps a little older at a pinch. But I could not be sure.

"Yes, want can I do for you," he said speaking unmistakably clearly. He used a few words I never heard before.

"I have a problem. I have been going over it. Morning, Noon and Night. I don't seem to understand the problem I have. Can you help me? "I said to him.

"What's your name?" he said.

"Eric Richard."

"Tell me a little about your problem, Eric Richards, and stick to the facts," he said to me.

I gave him the facts as I knew them.

"Well Eric Richards. I already knew all about those facts. I have been waiting for you to come and see me," he said.

"Sir what will it cost me," I said.

"My normal fee, ask around they will tell you," he said.

"Eric Richards. I want you to write down everything. From when things started to go wrong in your life. Split the pages into two sides. The facts on one side and your feelings at the time on the other side. Try and put down all the facts. But I what to know your inner feelings at the time. I mean like hate and worries you had, that was giving concern. Your personal thoughts. I need to get inside your head to understand you," he said.

I was thinking, this man is a physiatrist, that's why he wants to get inside my head.

"Sir it all started some time ago, "I said.

"In that case you had best get started then. Eric Richards, you do believe in the law don't you," he said.

"Yes, I do, but sometimes the law gets it wrong."

I went on to tell him. I have a university degree and a year of study in the law. But I did not sit any of the exams. I went into engineering that was my business. Manufacture of components and selling them. I was making a lot of money and I mean thousands, "I said.

"Eric Richards. What do you intend to do in the future?"

"I want to find out who framed me and harm them," I said.

"In that case, why don't you use the law to get your revenge," he said.

I looked at him. He was right. If I was to harm someone, I could be right back where I was. That was not going to help me.

"Cat got your tongue, "he said.

"Use the law. It takes longer. Revenge might be a lot sweeter than you think," he said.

"Eric Richards. Go and put it down on paper. Then come back to me when you have fished it. By the way how old are you?" he said.

" Twenty-five."

I looked at this man. I wondered how he was going to help me. He was very intelligent. Turning round. I walked back towards Tom.

"How did it go," Tom said to me.

"I have been with him for minutes and what he has told me makes sense. He wants me to write it all down with my feeling at the time," I said.

"Well, then you had best on with it then, "Tom said.

As we walked leisurely along the streets back. I called in the shop and bought a writing pad and pen.

+ + + +

I had best come clean at this point. I am in Jail in one of the HMP.

The old Victorian stone walls. They were at least twenty feet tall. With eighteen-inch-long spikes on the top of them. With bard wire hanging from the spikes. My bedroom was my cell. Which I shared with Tom Salt. I was in Jail for murder. Sentence too twenty years of imprisonment for a murder. And could be out in fifteen years with good behaviour. Let's be clear about this here and now.

I DID NOT COMMIT ANY MURDER.

Trying to get my head round it day in day out it made no sense to me.

Tom was my cell mate he was a tall strong man. Tom liked me as soon as we met. He was my body guard. Unfortunately, he was in for life. He had killed four men. But they attacked him first. He hit them so hard and killed them. Driving their heads into a brick wall. Nobody believed him. But he had confessed he killed his wife. He had caught her screwing around. The five of them were on route to an eight men gangbang. He wished he had caught up with the other four men and would have killed them too. Tom Salt was a private investigator before he found out about his wife. That now was history.

+ + + +

Exercising in the gym twice a day. I wanted to get fit. Tom encouraged me to go and learn unarmed combat from the other inmates. Whilst I was in jail. He told me it would be useful in jail and when I got out. So, I did what Tom had told me to do. The gym and the unarmed combat I lost weight. No, it turned into muscle. I was much more toned up, than before in my life. I felt as fit as a fiddle.

In the evenings. I started to write things down. After a week or so after seeing the Equaliser. I could not believe the things I was writing. As I told the Equaliser it all started some time ago.

I had to go back to him. I had decided to become a lawyer or even a barrister when I got out of jail. I wanted to know how to go about it. I spoke with the Equaliser. He told me to go and see the governor of the prison and convince him first. I wanted to become a lawyer or a barrister. So, I could live a normal life when I would be free. But by now I had an alternative reason for doing it.

The governor looked at me he was deep in thought. He wanted to know what I needed. I told him all the law books and able to sit the exams. He wanted a feather in is cap. To get a prisoner from his Jail for murder. To become a member of the legal system. What a Koo, that would be for him. He agreed to stop my work load and give me as much time as I needed to study law. The governor ordered a full set of legal books and they went into the prison library.

I went and told the Equaliser that the governor had agreed to my request.

The Equaliser said to me, "from now on you do two things. First, finish writing things down and give it to me. Second you will be sitting with me for one or two hours every night. I am going to get your head back on the right track."

I went back to my notes and read them through all six pages of them. What a load of rubbish. I had written down. So, I started once again. With two pads one as draft and the final script for the Equaliser.

+ + + +

We had eight friends as a married couple, We watched sports, movies, dined out, dancing and went to a few night clubs. The eight of us were myself and my bride Sophie. My best friend David and his wife Jean. Tony and Olivia and Fred and his wife Holly.

As for Tony and Olivia. Olivia earned half as much as Tony. She was offered a new job. Three hundred miles away. With an increase in salary. So, they moved away. We were down to the six of us. As for my best friend David and his wife Jean. They were so wrapped up in each other. They wanted kids like ourselves?

Fred and Holly. Fred was in the same line of business as myself. Manufacture of components and selling them. He never said if he was doing well or not. So, I never asked him. Holly well she was something else. She always wanted to sit next to me. When we were out on the town. When we danced our bodies were as one. She towered over me but she was all woman. The best of it. Fred and Sophie did not seem to mind?

After about eight months after Tony and Olivia had left. That was when I noticed a few things were not quite right. Fred, and Sophie were meeting in their lunch breaks. Paid for by Fred. I was his money so what?

For the last four months that was when it hit me. While writing this down. Sophie, and Fred must have been up to something.

I thought and thought and there it was. Our loving making was doing a nose dive. In fact, the last months no love making. Not even a kiss. I should have seen it coming. But I was involved in a big deal at work. For the last four months the contract was now under my belt at last.

I went home as happy as Larry that night. Walked in the house calling out to Sophie. Get dressed we are going out for a slap-up meal the two of us. I went and changed Sophie did not move. Thinking she did not want to dine out. There was a knock at the front door. I opened it. Two police officer asked for me by name. I told them who I was, I was arrested for murder on the spot. The rest was history. I was in jail for murder which I DID NOT COMMIT. I was twenty-three at the time. Now twenty-five.

I went to see the Equaliser and handed to him were I was up too.

He said to me, "go and write down everything you can remember from when you were in court."

I asked him, "Why?"

"That's where some of the answers to your problem lie. And think about your wife before the trail and what she has been doing. From that day to this day," he said to me.

That hit a raw nerve. When he said that about my ex-wife. So, back to pen to paper about the time in court. So, I did it.

+ + + +

The Judge's name was Timothy Bailey. The prosecutor's name was James Baker. My defence lawyer was Mark Lonsdale.

The three men who gave evidence against me. About seeing me killing the man. Where Matthew Baldwin, Casey Edwards and Edward Woodward. The man. I accused of murdering was David Thomson who I had no idea who the hell he was?

The three men who gave evidence against me. Their stories where a repeat of each other's. The evidence was stacked against me. My friends and my wife Sophie. Told the court there was no way that I could commit murder. It fell on deaf ears.

Whilst I was writing this down. I had a flash in my memory. A few days before. I was driving home. I had a flat on my near side rear wheel. I was on a duel carriage way. I noticed a car about two hundred yards behind me had parked up. I got on and change the wheel. When I was driving away the car behind me followed me home. There were three men in the car. Two and two do make four to me now.

The following day. I had a full set of tyres fitted and paid for with cash. I wish I had not done so. That was the night. David Thomson was murdered.

AND IT WAS NOT BY ME.

The three men who gave evidence against myself. It all came flooding back to me. They stated. That I had an argument with David Thomson in the pub. Stabbing him three times. I ran away and left the pub. Nobody else came forward only the three of them? My mind was working overtime from now on.

Who the hell is David Thomson? I didn't even know him? Why was he murdered? More important why was made the fall guy?? I had to make some sense of it somehow? But how?

I NOW TURNED MY ATTENTION ABOUT MY EX-WIFE SOPHIE?

Whilst waiting for the court case. Sophie had filed for divorce. We both had excepted I was going down for murder. And my term in prison was going to be a long one. She brought the papers into prison for me to signed them.

I was saying to her "remarry and look after our two boys." With tears in my eyes. Sophie never shown a single regret that we were getting a divorce??

Sophie came back to the prison with the divorce papers. She was now a free woman. I was free of her. But that was not what I wanted, HELL NO.

I told her I was in love with her and always will be until the day I die. The tears were running down my face. There was no emotion shown by her. The meeting was over and Sophie stood up and there it was baby bump!

She left the prison and I went back to my cell. Now something started to fall into place. But what and why. I had been convicted of murder? Why. Why the hell Why?

Why kept on ringing inside my head.

Tom was a great friend to me. Confessing things to him. I would never have told my wife. The years of imprisonment where looming ahead.

I had finished writing down everything I could remember. So I went back to the Equaliser. He read the notes and looked at me.

"Eric Richards. There is still something missing. It's about your ex-wife. Try and put the pieces together we have plenty of time in here. So, Let us get on with your studying to become a lawyer," he said.

+ + + +

Two years after I was divorced. My business manager came to see me. I was surprise at the visit. I had given him full control of my business. He told me Sophie was looking into the business accounts for the last six months. I looked at him with a stern worried look.

"Sophie is not my wife any more we have been divorced now for over two years. What has she been looking at? "I said to him in an alarmed tone of voice.

He said, "he didn't know that we were divorced, but she would be back once more."

What the hell is she up to. Was going on in my head. We had a 50/50 split for the divorce but I kept hold of my business that was the agreement.

I asked my manager. "Did she come alone."

"Yes Twice," but the last time she came with a man."

"Did you hear his name," I said.

"Yes, his name was Fred."

The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. He went on to say. In the last three months we have lost a lot of customers and in the next month or so. We would be out of business. He then went on to say he was looking for a new job. I told him to write out his own reference and I would sign it for him.

Then I remembered how Fred and Sophie had been so how close in the past. Then it struck me. She had been cheating on me with him for months on end. Maybe even years. Those lunch breaks with Fred, and Sophie she was cheating on me. For the last three or four months at least.

That was when our loving making did a nose dive. In fact, the last months no love making at all not even a kiss. I was involved in a big deal at work. I should have seen it coming? Hell, what a fool I was.

+ + + +

The years past sitting the legal exams. I was coming in at first or in second place. The Equaliser told me things he had never told anyone else in prison. I found out he also had been framed. That was why he took a lot of interest in me. He had been a Judge.

Year in year out. I was still troubled. Why, I was set up for murder? Why was my ex-wife so quick to get a divorce? Time drags in jail but with my studies and with the help of my friend Tom. I pressed on.

Fourteen years had now passed. I would be out of prison within the next year for my good behaviour. It was twelve months from me being set free. And every exam I had passed. I was in either first or second place. I sat down with the Equaliser sorry the Judge. He was getting on and was in poor health. He had written down everything. About why he also had been framed. Then he handed it to me.

He spoke slowly asking me to clear his name. I promised him I would. If it was to take me the rest of my life. He went on to tell me. My ex-wife was the reason for me being in Jail. And the man she was with!

He had written a letter for me. Introducing me to repeatable legal firm. He trusted. I needed front line practice in the courts if I was going anywhere in the legal system.

Then I had a surprise visit. It was from Holly three months before I was to be set free. That was then when. I found out she was divorced from Fred. He wanted my Sophie. She told me my two boys had been put in a care/foster home. Four years after I was imprisoned. Sophie married Fred and had three kids to Fred! And their business was thriving that Fred and Sophie owned. The jigsaw pieces were falling all into place even more now.

But why the murder of David Thomson? But why the murder of David Thomson? Why, Why, Why.

Holly stretched both her hands to me. I followed her, she squeezed me so tight. She looked long and hard at me with passion in her eyes. I wanted to kiss her but, love for her was never there.

Before she left, I asked her to visit me until I was a free man once again. She smiled at me; I smile back. Holly visited me every week. But our relationship would never ever blossom.

Tom and I had long conversations. Throughout the years before. I had asked him to write down his full story. When he killed four men, they attacked him first. He confessed to killing his wife. I promised I would get a new trial for him and it might take years. The day I was set free from prison we hugged each other. I told him I would be visiting him.