Innocent

 Gerald couldn’t walk down the street without people staring, pointing their finger or whispering behind his back. He had spent the past twenty five years dodging peoples stares and glares. Because of what? A sexual fetish.

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It all started when Gerald was about forty five. He was married to a wonderful woman. Her name was Penelope and they had two wonderful children; one girl, Bethany and one boy, Mike. Both of them had college educations with good jobs. Gerald had a perfect job that kept his family well fed and a good roof over their heads. It was more than enough for him and his wife and it put his two kids through college. He had the perfect life, the perfect wife and the perfect family.

It was a typical Wednesday morning; up at seven, shower, shave and get dressed for work. His loving wife had breakfast ready, they ate and he then headed to the bus stop parking lot and secured his car for the day. His work day went on as usual with no irregularities. He secured his work station at the end of the day and took the thirty minute ride to the bus stop.

When he arrived home there were several police cars parked out front. A police officer stopped him and asked him who he was.

“I’m Gerald Sampson,” he replied. “I live here. What’s going on?”

“I’m afraid that it appears your wife has passed away,” the officer told him.

“WHAT!!” he exclaimed. “I need to go in there. You’re wrong. She was perfectly fine when I left for work this morning. What the hell happened?”

“I don’t know sir,” the officer answered. “The investigators are still working the scene.”

“What scene?” Gerald asked as he started crying. “What the hell aren’t you telling me?”

“I’m not at liberty to say,” the officer answered. “Wait outside and I’ll get one of the detectives to come out and talk to you.”

The officer left and when he returned he had a detective with him.

“Mr. Sampson. I’m detective Frank Jones,” he stated when he approached Gerald. “I’m very sorry but your wife is gone.”

“I don’t believe you!” he shouted. “I want to see her!”

“I can’t let that happen,” Frank stated. “Not right now. We’re still checking things out in there. How was your wife when you left her? Was she feeling okay?”

“She was perfectly fine,” Gerald replied.

“Was she sick at all?” Frank asked.

“No!” he replied. Unless her fetishes could be considered a sickness. “She was as healthy as ever. She just had a full checkup. Why do you ask?”

“The circumstances surrounding her death are a little suspicious is all,” Frank stated.

“What are you talking about?” Gerald asked. “What circumstances?”

“It looks like she could have been murdered,” Frank replied.

“What? How?” Gerald asked nearly hysterical by now.

“Her hands and feet were bound and we found her with a plastic bag sealed over her head,” Frank stated. “That’s all we know so far. We’ll know more when we get her to the lab. Were you at work all day sir?”

“Yes I was,” he answered, and then a few moments later he exclaimed. “Wait! What? You think that I had anything to do with this? You’re crazy. Check with the company. I was there all day.”

“What time did you leave?” Frank asked as his partner, Bill Anderson came out to talk to him.

“A little after eight. Why?” Gerald asked. “I didn’t do anything to my wife.”

“Would you mind coming to the station with us? We need to get your statement for the record,” Bill stated this time.

“No! What I would like is to go into my house so that I can see what happened,” Gerald stated.

“You can’t. We’re waiting for the Medical Examiner to arrive,” Bill stated as he checked his watch. “We would really like to talk to you downtown.”

“I’m sure you would. And like I said. I’d really like to go inside my own house,” Gerald stated once again as he took out his phone and made a call to his attorney.

“Why did you call an attorney?” Frank asked.

“Because. If you think that you’re going to interrogate me, then I want my lawyer present,” Gerald explained. “I know how you guys think. So go ahead and do what you think you have to do.”

“And what would that be Mr. Sampson?” Bill asked.

“Arrest me for suspicion of killing my wife while I was at work,” he replied. “Go ahead. My lawyer will have a field day with you. Now. If you’ll excuse me. I am going inside.”

“We can’t let you do that,” Frank stated.

Gerald started walking into his house and a police officer tried to stop him. Gerald pushed past him and then he was arrested and taken downtown. Gerald’s attorney, James Peterson, arrived only minutes after Gerald was booked for assaulting a police officer. James talked with the D. A. and he told him that the charges were bogus and that he knew it. James said that they couldn’t prevent his client, Gerald from entering his own home even if there were a suspicious death or not. The police held Gerald for several hours. They had to actually charge him with killing his wife or let him go. The District Attorney decided to charge him with homicide. They held him and tried to interrogate him but his lawyer wouldn’t allow it and after three days and when they got the results of the medical examiner’s report, they had to let Gerald go. The medical examiner’s report stated that Penelope Sampson died from apparent Auto Erotic Asphyxiation.

But the damage had already been done. After seeing Gerald getting hauled away in handcuffs all of his neighbors were talking and they were sure that he had something to do with his wife’s death. Mike and Bethany, their two children, also thought that their dad might have had something to do with her death because they refused to believe that their own mother would engage in that sort of activity.

Gerald had to sell his home and move. But that didn’t stop the rumors. Gerald suffered in silence for over twenty five years until his death in a traffic accident. Bethany and Mike eventually found out the truth behind their mothers death when they found all of the evidence along with video tapes of her and their father engaging in the fetish acts.

It would seem that Gerald had been telling the truth all along.  

The end.