I kneeled on my bed in mock fetal position, and tried to erase all thoughts of Patty. I’d had enough researching her case for the day. I tried to focus on anything else, but I failed miserably. My mind drifted to a fantasy I’d been entertaining that I might see the murderer face-to-face, the two of us sitting across from one another in the same over lit, airless courtroom. Sadly, this scenario was far from realistic, a fantasy like I said. Few cases ever make it to court. A vast majority of cases are worked out by means of a plea deal. So, even if the District Attorney felt that he/she had enough evidence to convict a suspect in Patty’s case, I’d likely never lay eyes on him in a courtroom. I jumped up from my bed, and turned on some music. Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane” boomed from the speakers of my computer. Maybe Petty could turn my thoughts around. But no, Petty’s Mary Jane only reminded me of Patty, a girl without an anchor, a girl dead too soon.
