FORWARD CONTINUED:
A short-lived smile touched her lips. Her voice lowered, softened. She lit a cigarette, busying her fingers, took a deep draw on it, then blew the first exhale up and away from my direction. “My friends,” she inhaled again. “My family,” she said quietly, more to herself than to me. Her eyes were still looking down and with the palm of her free hand she absent mindedly smoothed her dress. “It was like, you know, I was at fault for some reason. I was the guilty one. That is what they wanted to know.” She took a sip of her tea and looked around at the other lunch customers seated at tables near ours who were, like she and I, enjoying a soft Florida breeze. “Every one of them.” She paused, then added, “‘He was your boyfriend,’ they said to me,” her voice climbed with passion. “Like that gave me some kind of magical insight into the man. It’s all bullshit.” Her eyes dropped to the pavement, then up, fierce, black.
“‘You lived together. And, you are telling me, telling us you didn’t know?'” She thumped her chest with a thumb and turned her head quizzically to look at me. Our eyes met and once more I could not look away. Her chin was high and her eyes, moments before warm and friendly had grown suddenly cold, hard, flinty.
I could see, could feel the emotional intensity that burned inside her. She felt wronged by the very people she thought would have been there for support. She wanted to say to each of them, “What about me? All these questions are about why I didn’t know. What about me? Don’t any one of you who are aware of the relationship that I had with Delmer recognize that I had feelings in this? Don’t you recognize my fear? My bewilderment? My sense of betrayal? Is it only that you want to know why I didn’t know? Well, better yet, if you were around him, why didn’t you know?”
She didn’t need to say those words. I felt them emanating from her heart and soul. I saw them in her eyes, the way she held her head, the silence that surrounded her as she sat and stared into her tea.
This was our first meeting, Michele and mine. However, it would not be the last.
************************************
MAIN CAST OF CHARACTERS
SARASOTA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Sergeant J. Blessee, Patrol Supervisor District Two
Miss Farnsworth, Victim’s Assistance
Detective Rhonda V. DiFranco, Forensics
Detective C. Dusseau
Detective Michael “Mike” A. Dumer
Jessica Hendrickson, Crime Scene Technician
Jessica Jarecki, Crime Scene Technician
Detective B. Keane
Detective M. LeFebvre
Detective K. McGath
Deputy Mrzuack, K-9 Officer
Deputy Josh Pelfrey
Deputy B. Pollock
Sergeant Sirran
Deputy John Swinney
Jessica Sawyer, Forensic Technician
Deputy John Thomas
Detective D. Tuck
Sergeant Daniel Tutko
Detective Sergeant John Walsh
Deputy Wineka, Helicopter Pilot
SARASOTA CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Detective DeFrancisco
Detective Linda DeNiro
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
Rochelle Gatemen, Supervisor FDLE Bio-Lab, Fort Myers, FL
Shana Hayter, FDLE Crime Laboratory Analyst in Biology and DNA
Michael Rafferty, FDLE Chief of Forensic Services
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
Special Agent G. Sandoval
FEDERAL PAROLE OFFICER
Gerri Cotter
CITY OF VENICE, FLORIDA POLICE DEPARTMENT
Sergeant Jason Adams
Officer Guinart
Officer Long
FAMILY, AND ACQUAINTANCES OF DELMER SMITH
Shannon (Bodell) Barrett, landlady
Michele Quinones, former fiancé
Alicia Phillips, niece
Christina Smith, niece
Martha Tejeda, personal friend
STATE OF FLORIDA PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS SARASOTA OFFICE
Elizabeth Scanlan
Earl Varn
DEFENSE ATTORNEY SARASOTA COUNTY
Marjorie Bender
MANATEE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Detective Kumiko Carter
Detective Edward “Ned” Foy
Robert Feverston, Latent Fingerprint Examiner
Grace Givens, Crime Scene Technician
Andrew Hasty, Deputy
Hurley Smith, Crime Scene Technician
Richard Talbot, Crime Scene Manager
Adrianne Walls, Crime Scene Technician
FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS OF KATHY BRILES
James A. Briles, MD
Calvin Briles, MD
Kristie Gish
Mary Wanser
OTHER MANATEE COUNTY WITNESSES
Michael Bierds, Publix Store Manager
Wilson A. Broussard, Jr. M.D., Forensic Pathologist
Armenouhi Comstock, Owner Armiks Fine Collectibles
Stanley Grubbs, Atrue Lock Service
Kevin Noppinger, DNA Laboratory Manager, DNA Labs International
Istvan Szecsenyi, Owner Roadkill Auto, Inc.
Oliver Young, Duct Tape Product Manager
Victoria Marshall., Sarasota County Victim
STATE OF FLORIDA PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS MANATEE OFFICE
Suzanne O’Donnell
Brian Iten
DEFENSE ATTORNEYS IN MANATEE COUNTY
Daniel Hernandez
Bjorn Brunvand
This material is protected by a copyright by Gordon Kuhn
