Academy Murders: Guards

Around the room, the faces looked like blobs of color. Round line instead of cut, angular lines abounded. The sound seemed warped and out of place. A trickle of sweat ran down Kim’s back. It wasn’t because she was nervous or pensive, it was the polyester gray suit that she wore. The price tag was still on the thing.

“I will call a witness to the stand,” the prosecutor said. “A Mr. Alonzo Goro.

Kim’s eyes widened and she brightened a bit. Just a little. She didn’t show any signs of elation or frustration. Kim’s face just looked like cut granite.

“I have only known Miss Jergensen for a few months. In that time, she seemed like a model inmate, kept her rack neat, cleaned up her mess and others.”

“Did she tell you anything about the case?”

“No, never. We just talked about our families and continued to work on her letters.”

“Letters? From whom?”

“Of course we can’t say.”

What did she say?”

“She didn’t say anything about them. I just know I heard her laugh for the first time in a long while since being imprisoned.”

“How did you both get along?”

“It was strictly professional. All I had to do was—”

“All you had to do was just protect Naomi that night, right?”

“I mean when the other guards and I got there she was already gone. We didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. These things happen. We deal with them as they come along. This suicide is rated a code blue. We have to alert the warren and engage in proper procedures.”

“Procedures like what, exactly?”

“Well we have to remove the deceased from the site and clean the area. We then have to call the coroner and the next of kin to inform them of the incident. We clean the area again and redress the place for the next inmate.”

“What were you doing when Naomi was strangled to death?”

“I was on break. I had a burrito.” The congregants laughed a bit.

“What’s so funny? Because I’m Latino I have to have a burrito?”

“Let’s move on, Officer Goro. When you got the call you dropped your meal and went straight to the scene. Is that right?”

“No, I washed my hands because I was eating a burrito.” The room laughed even louder. The judge banged her gavel.

“Let’s try to keep this on serious terms, shall we, Mr. Goro?”

He shrugged. “Yes, your Honor.”

“Now, back at the scene, where was Miss Jergensen?”

“She was asleep in her bed.”

“She slept through all the commotion?”

“Yes, well—she woke up when we arrived.”

“No further questions, your Honor.”

Kim’s lawyer looked squarely at Goro.

“How long have you been a correctional officer, Mr. Goro?”

“For fourteen years.”

“In that time you’ve seen assaults, sexual and otherwise, thefts, stabbings, and even suicides, yes?”

“Everything but the suicide. I had trained to deal with them but I never had to actually process one.”

“So my client being asleep and you having no experience with suicides behind bars sort of multiplied the factor of error in this case.”

“Objection! Misleading!”

“You better be going somewhere with this, counsel.”

“Now, the guards are there, you’ve never seen an actual person kill herself, and my client is still asleep.”

“We woke her up and continued down the line to let her know that she was under arrest.”

“But she was asleep. What kind of noise does it take for someone to strangle themselves and choke on their own vomit?”

“I’d…there’s some truth to it but I can’t….”

Goro stammered.