Page 108 of Dissection of a Murder
“Not that I’m aware of,” he says firmly, shaking his head slightly. “I don’t think so.”
“What happened next?”
“It was as if he lost it. He started ranting and raving about how I’d set him up by hiding someone in the room. I pointed out he was the one who’d surprised me—that it washisson who had committed a crime—but he wouldn’t listen. He was shouting, ‘Give me your phone, I want your phone!’ In the moment, I told him I hadn’t been able to find it for hours.”
“How did he react to that?”
“He lunged at me again, and we ended up fighting in the kitchen area. He pushed me onto the sideboard, knocking a bottle of Coke that had been on a shelf over me.”
“To confirm, this would account for the brown stain we saw on your T-shirt when you were arrested?”
“Yes,” he says. “It was all down my T-shirt.”
“And can you tell the jury why your T-shirt was on inside out and back to front?”
“I was in a compromising position when Anton came round. I’d rushed to cover myself up.”
“Thank you for that, Mr. Millman. Where was X when you were fighting in the kitchen?”
“She was behind him, screaming at him to stop.”
“At some point, around this time, Mr. Smythe’s phone records reveal he went into his FaceTime app for thirteen seconds. Can you account for this?”
“I don’t know if that’s what he did, but when he was ranting, he got his phone out. It might have been then. He didn’t talk to anyone, though.”
“What happened next?”
“Mr. Smythe carried quite a bit of weight and was able to pin me over the counter. The knife was inches away from my neck when, suddenly, he collapsed.”
“How did that happen?”
“She…X…hit him on the head with the kettlebell.”
I leave it for a few seconds before continuing.
“How did she react?”
“She was shaking. Scared. But she did it to protect me. She thought he was going to kill me. I knew it was bad straightaway. He keeled over and started bleeding from his nose. Neither of us knew what to do.”
“What did you do?”
“I told her to leave. She’d never been in trouble before. Her whole world would collapse if she was found there. She protected me, now I’m protecting her.”
He aims the statement directly at the jury. It’s powerful, but what they make of it is anyone’s guess.
“And the kettlebell?”
“She’d grabbed the nearest thing she could. I think she put it back. You don’t understand how quickly things happened. She’s not like me. She doesn’t deserve this.”
He’s a genuine, caring person. None of this is an act.
“Mr. Millman, Quinn Smythe has alleged that you have been harassing him. What do you have to say about this?”
“If by harassing he means urging him to come clean about causing the death of an innocent lad, then yes, I have.”
I momentarily turn to the jury to see how they’re receiving this. As far as defendants go, he comes across as honest.
But this evidence sounds far-fetched and ludicrous.
