False Accusations Poem by David Welch

DETECTIVE
The murder of the noted activist
took the whole community by surprise,
Jessie Malinche was known by the whole town,
some had praised her, others said she spoke lies,
for years she had fought, had ‘stood for women, '
this was where the detective did begin.

The killer's identity was well-known,
Jerry Riggins, a local lawyer-type,
the motive was what they hadn't got yet,
the police wanted to get this one right,
since the media screamed about her death,
the internet was mad and seeing red.

The odd thing was that Jerry Riggins
did have some connection to poor Malinche,
he had been married to one Whitney Price,
of course that name brought an ex-husband in,
Alan Price, who had been accused of rape
by Jessie Malinche, back in the ‘woke' days.

It seemed rather weird to that detective,
he could understand Alan being mad,
but why would Jerry kill for that fellow,
when Jerry was married and a good dad?
He had two sons left traumatized by this,
for their sake the detective would persist.

But as he started digging in the past
a web of tragedy soon did emerge,
from letters of Whitney and Alan Price,
both had passed on too early from this Earth,
but in their passing, he soon realized
this all began long before Malinche died…

***

ALAN
He had been in jail for seven years now,
and Alan couldn't quite believe the news,
the D.A. had concealed some evidence
that proved Jessie's claims were baldly untrue,
he hadn't raped her, as she had proclaimed,
he'd been nowhere near her that dreary day.

Not that anybody would admit wrong,
his lawyer said Jessie would not retract,
and media filth called him a monster,
as they had done in that circus way back.
He was a white male, their perfect target,
and they got more clicks peddling bullsh-t.

They were calling this a ‘technicality, '
a pathetic attempt to save some face,
implying he was still somehow guilty,
that he still deserved all the public's hate.
the fact that they had destroyed his whole life
just didn't matter, they had to feel right.

This was why no apology appeared
when news came his sentence was vacated,
no charities had defended Alan,
so nobody out there celebrated,
he just walked out, and was given a ride
to a half-way house, to restart his life.

But how did you restart after all this?
They had gone and taken his greatest years,
most of his thirties, while making his mark
working as a structural engineer.
But now no firm would dare to hire him,
he was broke, didn't know where to begin.

His starting point, after much hustling,
was a diner at the edge of the town,
the man who had once built massive bridges
now spent his days at work frying hash browns.
Working for a pittance, day after day,
the only place that would dare give him pay.

About three months into doing such work,
just after the breakfast rush was complete,
he saw a woman enter the diner,
with two young boys, she looked about forty.
Time had done little to Alan's ex-wife,
Whitney was a queen, hallowed in his sight.

He tried to hide, but Whitney caught a glimpse,
a flabbergasted look clear on her face,
but he made no move to go talk with her,
and she had two kids, could not leave her place.
His heart pounded until Whitney had left,
seeing her moved over felt much worse than death.

She had proclaimed that she would stand with him
when the accusations first had been made,
but the media had taken its toll,
he had watched her resolve drain, day by day,
until the day that the verdict had come,
when he'd been locked up, then it had been done.

She'd started divorce, he didn't contest,
it was something he could not do to her,
she'd wanted children, normal existence,
all the things that a good woman deserved.
With him in prison, that would be denied,
so he'd signed the papers, and said goodbye.

It had been simple, before he'd been freed,
when he had not had a reason to hope,
now, seeing her, with some other man's kids,
seemed beyond his ability to cope,
a wound that wouldn't heal, slowly bleeding,
making him question the point of being.

But the next day, when his shift was over,
and he was walking slowly for the bus,
he saw a G-wagon, and his Whitney,
and his heart started racing then because
there were no kids there, no shield she could use,
confronting this was what he could not do.

But she came forwards, her face fresh with tears,
struggling hard to keep herself composed,
until she broke down, and embraced Alan,
saying, "I'm sorry…how-how could I know?
I'm not sure how to deal with this because
I don't know why she would do this to us!

"Now I'm left looking at a man I love,
that I abandoned, I'm ashamed it's true…
We were so happy, but now all I see
is all the things that I've taken from you.
The life you deserved, that I thought we'd build,
her lies and my weakness…it's all been killed."

He still felt the urge to comfort Whitney,
to tell her he didn't blame her for this,
that all of this had been Jesse's doing,
but the words just didn't come to his lips.
But Whitney's lips did, she was in his arms,
even now he felt helpless to her charms.

Later that night, in his small apartment,
she dressed quietly, and then slipped away,
he made no move to stop her from going,
this had been wrong, he knew she couldn't stay,
not with a family that needed their mom,
even now, when out, everything felt wrong.

They found his body three days after that,
when the apartment began to stink up,
his wrists had been opened, he'd bled to death,
the pain of going on had been too tough.
He knew he could never live of a taste,
that things would be better if he self-erased…

WHITNEY
She cried for three days when she heard the news,
her husband Jerry did not understand,
he believed that chapter was quite over,
it annoyed him to see her mourning that man.
She saw his looks, and learned to hide her grief,
but inside her soul quailed in agony.

The whole of Alan's release had struck her,
had brought up thoughts she'd long tried to ignore,
about how she really felt for Jerry,
about how he left her just wanting more.
Turning to him to escape her past pain…
to find her feelings for him utterly plain.

But she had been married, pregnant by then,
too late to act upon those nagging doubts,
she loved her children, so she stayed quiet,
and their lives became what she was about.
For long years she thought she would be allright,
until seeing Alan broke her whole life.

There had been no question in that diner,
she'd never stopped loving him through it all,
and to learn it all had just been a lie…
that Jesse had set her boss up for a fall…
All Whitney had felt since that day was guilt,
her normal routine took all of her will.

She hadn't meant to go to Alan's bed,
she hadn't meant to depress the man so,
ruining him with more of her weakness,
why hadn't she seen that night as a blow?
To show him what he could never more have,
her love now a curse, never more a salve.

Making things worse, as the months just trudged on,
she found herself getting sick every morn,
Jerry was happy to have one more kid,
but she was depressed until he was born,
when she looked down, and saw Alan's blue eyes,
she felt like another piece of her died.

A child who'd never know a father
that had deserved him more than she could tell,
knowing that she must lie to her husband,
the truth of it would not end very well.
The moments when she should feel only joy,
she just felt despair she could not avoid.

The weight of it all pushed Whitney to drink,
she hid it well, since Jerry worked a lot,
the au pair did most care for the baby,
since inside Whitney was nagged by dark thoughts,
she'd see her youngest, and think of her loss,
then call the au pair, and hand the babe off.

This pattern went on for about a year,
all of her family noticed the grim mood,
Jerry did his best to cater to her,
but despite this Whitney didn't improve,
when, despite her kids, everything seemed wrong,
when in her own life she didn't belong.

It wasn't suicide that claimed Whitney,
at least it was not the conscious sort,
it came when she'd exhausted her wine,
and without a thought, went out to the store,
far enough gone that she didn't realize
that she had no business trying to drive.

Her car was found at the base of a bridge,
she gone so fast she'd burst through the guard rail,
the coroner said she'd died in impact,
when Jerry heard of the news he just wailed,
he may not have held the love of his wife,
but to him she'd been the love of his life.

JERRY
Jerry found himself in a trying place,
alone with three children, one of them young,
working full time to keep everyone fed,
without nannies he would get nothing done.
But even then, his children were depressed,
not understanding the whole of this mess.

He'd never been an emotional man,
but he tried his best to be there for them,
especially their one-year old baby,
who, of course, needed so much attention,
Jerry's hair turned gray trying to keep up,
and he was still mourning for his lost love.

He managed to find some sort of balance,
some way to keep his kids going through this,
they were the only good this he had left,
the only reason he cared to persist,
alone he had little time for himself,
it did take a toll on his mental health.

He'd no time for dating, didn't want to,
it still hurt too much to not see Whitney,
all his time was spent with his three children,
there was none left for fun or for hobbies,
Jerry felt himself a shell of a man,
everything was struggle, there was no more plan.

Even worse as his youngest grew bigger
he noticed things that had him quite alarmed,
the kid had blue eyes, Whitney's had been brown,
his were brown too, he could not understand,
his facial features were not like Jerry's,
he felt things he did not want to believe.

Jerry ignored it as long as he could,
but that dark thoughts just kept building in his head,
not long after his youngest had turned five,
to a doctor the young child was lead,
"Just for a check-up, "Jerry told the lad,
hoping against hopes the results weren't bad.

But when it came back several weeks later
it became clear the youngest wasn't his,
he knew that it must be Alan Price,
what other man would Whitney have lain with?
He told not the kid, that would be a crime,
but inside resentment burning in his mind.

He raged at his wife for betraying him,
and Alan Price for destroying a home,
raged at the universe for taking them,
the objects of his vengeance now were gone,
like his wife before, he stared to drink,
and as time went on even more did think.

He'd known of his wife divorcing Alan
back before they had gotten together,
thinking from her place, seeing it all a hoax,
helped him too see the thing all the better,
to be torn between two loves, both alive,
he could see the confusion born inside.

And thinking of Alan, smeared as he was,
feeling so desperate he'd take his own life,
had Jerry been there, and feeling like that,
would he turn down a moment that felt right?
When half the world thought you guilty of rape…
all based on a lie, ruined by such hate…

But understanding only goes so far,
and Jerry needed an object for rage,
this started with a false accusation,
that Jesse Malinche maliciously made,
had that lying bitch not started this all
then none of them would've faced such a fall.

Jerry had never been a big gun guy,
in fact most would've called him bleeding heart,
but one day he walked into a gun store,
he had no record, or crime he'd had no part,
so there was no reason to stop the sale,
no reason to suspect that he would assail.

That night gunshots were heard at Jesse's house,
the police came, saw him on the front step,
mumbling madly, his mind clearly gone,
his hands with blood were stained red, and quite wet.
They took him away, found Jesse inside,
dead in her bedroom, with glazed, waxy eyes…

***
DETECTIVE
The detective sighed, sitting at his desk,
he'd been working this job for many years,
he remembered when Jessie had cried rape,
could recall her interviews, and her tears,
only to be proved the crocodile sort,
she had never answered for that in court.

The D.A. hadn't wanted to charge her,
said it might ‘chill' other women out there,
that they wouldn't come forwards with their tales,
they would just suffer their wrongs in despair.
Alan didn't advance their pet beliefs,
justice for him they did not care to see.

So Jesse Malinche had never been charged
for filing a false police report,
a man robbed of freedom, marriage destroyed,
his life ruined as if it had been sport…
Two people were dead, one in jail for life,
three children orphaned...it just wasn't right.

He closed the file, no more to be said,
to those who cared the motives were quite clear,
he wished that this might change how things were done,
but nothing would be learned from this, he feared.
Big ratings came from crying girls on the news,
and no one really cared what those lies might do…