Necklace

One year later-

"Order in the court. Please rise! the Honorable Judge Marcus Walker presiding."Judge Walker banged his gavel, "you may be seated. Mr. District Attorney, you may present your first witness."

Mr. Llewellyn stood. "Thank you, your honor, the state calls to the stand Ms. Katie Hoffman."

A visibly distraught Katie took the witness stand, placed her right hand on the Bible and said, "I do". and slowly took her seat.

Mr. Llewellyn placed his elbow on the witness stand and said "Ms. Hoffman, can you tell the jury what happened on the night on April 17th?"

"Yes, I'll try." She started to cry. The bailiff gave her a handkerchief. "I was getting ready for the school dance. I had a pretty new red dress that I was going to wear. My mother had promised to loan me her beautiful necklace. I was so excited! I was sitting in her room trying it on just to see it sparkle when I heard a noise. I ran into the hall and saw two men breaking into our house. They had broken the window in the hallway and were climbing through the window. I screamed. One of them held up a gun and said, ' Give us that necklace!' I was so scared I didn't know what to do so I ran down the stairs as fast as I could, but they followed me! By that time, I had run out the front door but the blonde one grabbed my ankle, so I fell to the ground. He tried to yank the necklace off my neck. The tall one joined him but still couldn't get it. The gun went off during the struggle. The tall one grabbed his stomach and fell to the ground bleeding. The blonde one pointed the gun again and shot him three more times! It was awful! I've never been so scared!" She began to sob into the handkerchief.

Mr. Llewelyn stated, "Miss Hoffman, is that man in the courtroom?"

Katie looked up, wiped her eyes and blew her nose. She nodded and pointed. "Miss. Hoffman, I'm afraid you have to say you recognize him."

She looked at the District Attorney, "okay...that's him." She pointed to Owen, who was seated at the table with his lawyer, "No, your honor, that's not true! She's lying! It didn't happen that way! "The guards forced him back into his seat. "Counsellor if you don't keep your client quiet, I will find you both in contempt!" warned the judge. He turned to the jury "You have heard both sides. Now it is up to you to determine who you believe. Court is adjourned while the jury is deliberating."

The jury only took six hours to make their decision. The bailiff handed the verdict to Judge Miller. "The defendant will rise. Mr. Owen Tailor: in the eyes of the court, you are no longer a child and have been tried as an adult. The penalty for first degree murder in this state is severe. You have been sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of Billy Smith. You will remain on death row until such time as you are executed. Do you wish to address the court?"

Owen fell to his knees. "Your honor, it's not true. That's not what happened.!!.". He was escorted to his cell where he fell on his bed and sobbed. His lawyer asked if there was anything he wanted to say that would help the appeal. Owen turned towards the lawyer and said "let me tell you what really happened..."

One year earlier-

"Billy! Are you here?" asked Owen.

"Katie, come home with me. I love you." pleaded Billy.

"Billy? Where you are? Oh, Hi Katie. Your hair looks beautiful." Owen gushed.

"Katie, ignore him, You and me are meant to be" Billy cooed.

Owen looked at Katie adoringly and said "Remember you said you'd go to the dance with me this weekend?"

Billy said, "I'll pick you up at eight o'clock. I'll wear my dancing shoes. You wear that pretty little dress." He took her hand and twirled her around.

"Katie, my love, I'll take you dancing and to dinner afterwards. You promised to go to the dance with me." begged Owen.

Billy said "Katie! Let's go away this weekend! You wanted to ride in my car. We can go wherever you want!"

Owen pushed Billy away. "Kate likes me!"

"No, she doesn't. She's my girlfriend!". Billy hit Owen in the mouth. Owen backed away, his lip was bleeding. "I can't believe you did that!" Owen charged towards Billy and punched him in the nose.

"Ouch!", said Billy. "That's it! You and me are not friends anymore!"

Katie watched them fight for awhile then yelled "Alright both of you! That's enough!" She looked at Billy and touched his cheek, "Silly Billy, you know you're my favorite." She turned to Owen and kissed him gently on the lips, "Owen, you know I love you, don't you?" She looked at them both. "Now you two settle down. I can't possibly decide which of you to go to the dance with." the two boys looked at each other. Katie continued, "You two have been friends since we were kids. I've always liked both of you. You'll have to choose for me."

"How do you expect us to that?" they asked simultaneously.

"Tell me a story about how you two became friends and then I'll tell you a story."

Billly and Owen looked at each other. Billy began, "we grew up together. We went to the same school and the same church."

Owen interrupted, "We didn't just grow up together, we were neighbors. Our moms were friends and our dads..you know..drank together."

"Shut up Owen! We promised not to talk about that!" they leered at each other.

Katie said, "You have to tell me the story if you want to go to the dance with me."

They both sighed and Billy said, "Wait a minute, Katie, that's a pretty big price to pay just to go to the dance with you."

Katie turned to Owen "Okay, Owen. I'll go to the dance with you. What time do you want to pick me up?"

"Wait!", said Billy.

"No way! I'm taking her to the dance. You're too late!" they started hitting each other again.

Katie stood in the middle of their fight and said "What if I ask you both to do me a favor? Whoever completes it gets to take me to the dance." she smiled.

They both said, "What is it?"

"My mother has a necklace in her jewelry box that I MUST wear to the dance. It's perfect with my new dress. My dress has a low neck...you might be able to get a peek but only if you bring me the necklace."

"Why don't you ask your mom to borrow it?" Billy asked.

"Yeah.." Owen echoed.

"Boys, my mom won't let me go to the dance! You know how she is! ..it's not proper for a girl to go dancing. I'm not going to tell her that I'm going. I'm taking the red dress with the low neck to school with me and I'll change there. I need you to bring me the necklace. Once I put it on, whoever brought it to me is who will take me to the dance."

Billy and Owen looked at each other then Owen asked, "How do you want us to do it?"

Katie smiled. She kissed their cheeks and said, "That's what you need to figure out, silly."