Tears streamed down her face. Light mucus ran out of her nose. Her hand shook as she raised it to wipe her face. To the jury, Amy Matthew looked remorseful but not in my book.
As a prosecution counsel, I was used to the accused persons' demeanour and all acts they put on to deceive the jury and judges that they are innocent when they are usually not. Not in homicide cases.
I held the remote to the flat-screen TV and pressed the play button. "Miss Amy, confirm to this court that is you in this video caught by a hidden CCTV camera sneaking into the deceased's home on October 10th, 2021."
Her eyes widened in shock at the TV screen—she was dressed in a navy blue gown, wearing a black beret tiptoeing toward the back door.
"Objection, my lord!" Defence Counsel rose to his feet but the judge shut him down. "Overruled! Sit down, Counsel. Witness will answer the question."
I smiled. Amy Matthew, the accused person in the murder of Dahlia Andrews, further broke down in tears. She covered her mouth to muffle her cries. The courtroom was silent while the twelve jurors stared intently at her. I watched their faces keenly to determine their reaction.
I had logically lined up the pieces of evidence to make the jurors' task easy that without a shadow of a doubt, Amy was the murderer. It was time to go in for the kill and land the last blow.
"Miss Amy?" The judge insisted.
"Yes, that was me. I-I believed what Nat told me - that it was all Dahlia's fault. I thought I could convince her to change her mind and let him be…"
"Did Dahlia Andrews see you before you shot her?" I interrupted her. I already knew the answer but I had to make her admit it for the court's record. Miss Amy looked at me pleadingly.
"Remember you are under oath to answer all questions truthfully," I reminded her.
"No, she did not see me. She was in the bathtub…"
"How are you sure she was Dahlia?"
Amy frowned and glanced at me. "I know about her brown mole right below her buttocks on her thigh. I saw it and knew she was the one. So I shot her."
Audible gasps filled the courtroom. Some jurors flinched while some nodded like they knew all along she was the killer.
"Miss Amy," I said standing right in front of her. "What you did not know was that you shot Dahlia's identical twin sister, Lara, who came for a visit that evening. She had the same skin problem as her twin. She was the one in the bathtub and not Dahlia."
More audible gasps followed as Dahlia Matthew walked into the courtroom and sat down. Amy fainted and slumped to the floor in the witness box. The judge banged his gavel requesting some order in the courtroom.
I hope you enjoyed reading my piece. This freewrite is inspired by the prompt "skin problem". Join the 
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