Part One

“Sometimes I can hear her crying, it wakes me from my slumber. I wake Jeremy up to hear the sounds. He sits up in bed, hears nothing. ‘Go back to sleep, Steph. You’re dreaming.’

But I’m not dreaming. She visits. I don’t know why she comes in mom’s stead. But she does. Sometimes I hear her cries. Other times I see her shadow walking through the house. She’ll pause to look in on me, while the others are sleeping, and then carries on down the hallway. I used to be uncomfortable with this. But she’s harmless, and one day maybe I’ll know why she’s here…”

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So much was left undone when mom died. There was so little time for healing and closure. We were suddenly thrusted into the different realm, I can’t explain it. But if you’ve ever dealt with murder, you probably understand what I mean.

The adults didn’t censor anything. Now that I am adult, I know there are just some things that children shouldn’t see, hear, or understand.

Before I tell you this story, I want you to have some history. Through a child’s eyes, because that was what I was when life changed forever for me…

Helen was my mom’s bestfriend for years, having met in nursing school when I was a toddler. Helen had a little boy, Greg, who was my age and a husband, James, who she married after Greg’s birth. I always knew James wasn’t Greg’s father, but Greg didn’t know that. It might have been apparent to most adults, as Greg had all of the beautiful physical features of his Cherokee Native American ancestry on his mother’s side, but none of the white characteristics of his “father”, James. Helen and James eventually had 2 children together, Allison and Darryl.

Helen and James had marital problems. Though not the normal strife and struggles a marriage sees. Right before the end, James found out about an extramarital affair Helen had been having for many years. In fact, the affair had gone on for more than half of their marriage. Helen was sleeping with a doctor she worked with at the hospital for some 7 years or so, and somehow James found out. He didn’t handle the news well.

My memories of James were never positive ones. He scared me. He was very strong, and had a scary and intimidating look about him. He was very stern and hateful, to everyone. I don’t remember him ever being nice to me, and I don’t remember ever being comfortable in his presence.

Helen woke one night, just after James found out abou tthe affair, with what she described as “the stinging feeling of a needle.” She immediately thought James was injecting her with something. She went into fight or flight, and found that James was holding a stun gun in his hand. He was holding her down, shocking her all over her body. Normally a stun gun would do just that– stun a person into being unable to move. However, James had used old batteries out of his son’s toy to use in the stun gun. The gun was burning her and bruising her as she fought to get away. She screamed for help. She hoped that her son, Greg, would hear and go for help. Her cries were unanswered. She fought her way to the bathroom, kicking and screaming. James was relentless, and kept hitting her and burning her with the stun gun. She kicked the toilet off of the floor trying to fight James off of her. She knew she was going to die.

He didn’t kill her. He left her swollen, burned, and bruised all over her body. She took the next day off of work to see her attorney, Mr. Barry, who took pictures and documented the whole incident. She also went to her doctor, where they took more pictures. She was afraid for her life. She didn’t leave him because she knew he’d try to take the kids from her. He had promised that he would if she tried to go. She wanted to leave. She didn’t want to work things out with him. I’m pretty sure she had loathed him for many years, way before this night that he left her bruised and battered.

She told mom that if he ever killed her, that she would make sure to get his skin under her nails for evidence. She wanted my mom to know that, so that he wouldn’t get away with it. I’m sure Helen didn’t know my mom was going to die with her.

When my mom’s and Helen’s bodies were exhumed for the second autopsy, they took the DNA samples from under their nails. James’ DNA was found under both women’s nails. Only in 1989 would the courts let a man walk free with this kind of evidence.

After James’ arrest, the investigators found specialty books and magazines in James’ attic on how to solicite a hitman, how to pass a lie detector test, and how to cover your tracks after you murder someone. Interesting reading material for an innocent man, no?

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Part 2 to follow…

** Edited to add: My laptop’s monitor is going out and is getting worse every day. If I don’t post again, it is because I finally had to put the laptop in the shop. This could take up to 10 business days! You SUCK, Office Depot. Thank you VERY much, Office Depot.**