Eric and Catherine celebrate their anniversary at the Green Park with other wealthy families in their town. Their son Ben is sick with chickenpox so they cannot attend this year. That night, Eric and Catherine have an intimate moment but she is too tired to cuddle afterwards. They discuss taking a trip together but Catherine has work commitments. Their conversation then turns to a recent murder of an 8-year-old boy named Nuhman, which has deeply impacted the town. Catherine comforts Eric who is depressed thinking about the innocent boy's death.

2. Chapter One
The Innocent Witness
The rich families of Saint Field gather in the Green Park to celebrate
each one of their wedding anniversaries every year. They had booze, toasts;
kids run around with their friends, slide on the sliders, swing, and play hide
and seek. It’s all one day and night celebration like a camping area. Eric used
to attend until his son was affected by chickenpox this year. Catherine
pushed him to join the families. She claimed that it was their only hope to
hold on to dignity being among the richest in the town. He interrupted her
with a French and moved on to the sofa and then to the bedroom. He likes
her more when she is unnecessarily mad.
The night was messed up the with the noise from the park. He drove
his passionate man into her igniting her vocals with sweet melodious
moaning. Ben is asleep in his room. Eric wanted to cuddle after the sex but
she was too tired and also had to ready up tomorrow’s class files. She
covered herself with a night dress and went to the living room. Eric dizzily
walked to the kitchen for a beer. He fall on the couch and took a sip. Watched
her write the nursery notes.
‘Cat, take a leave from this. We can go on a trip some where’
‘Sweetie, it’s not that easy like your cop thing. I always wanted to go with
you, but, this is work. Not until a vacation I can go for a picnic!’
‘Alright, I’ll find someone for that... then’ He turned gloomy and sighed
deeply.
‘Don’t be such a baby. We just had a great time’
‘You mean sex? Oh come on. You can do better than that’
‘I feel awful discussing sex with you’
‘Who’s the baby now?’ Eric stood up and sat closer to her. Kissed her on the
cheek and said ‘Just one night, we can go for a movie’
‘What about Ben? He’s not supposed to go out’
‘I’ll tell mother to look after him. She have had it once’
Catherine put down the pen and turned towards Eric. ‘You’re such a sweet
husband. How about we have a date tomorrow?’
‘Oh, no. Not tomorrow. I’ve got to meet Hassan and talk about the
investigation. The suspect must be traced quickly’
‘It’s so sad what happened to them. Is Farra fine now? Is she taking the
lectures?’
‘Nope, she’s still in shock. She haven’t had food that much since that
happened. That poor kid. Why do they always target these innocent kids?’
‘They must find peace. You should help him recover from the pain’

3. There was a long silence between them, a moment for the Rasheed family for
their murdered son, Nuhman. He was only eight.
It happened two weeks ago when Nuhman and his sister Ridha was
returning home from the school. A four wheeler squeaked in front of them
from behind and a man stepped out of it. The kids where scared. They
weren’t alone. The man was heading towards the stationary shop owned by a
local drug dealer, William Jones. He was masked and had a pistol in his
hand. There was shouting and screaming inside the store. And suddenly a
shot fired; shocked Ridha ran crying and Nuhman stood still didn’t know
what to do. The man walked out of the store and saw Nuhman. His mask
was off his face and the kid saw his true nature. He pointed the gun for the
kid and shot him at his face; got on the vehicle and drove away. Rick Jones,
William’s brother, suddenly called the cops. He hastened towards Nuhman
and saw him lying on his blood on the ground. He held his head with both
hands in anxiety. Sweat dripping all over his face. William was not there. He
called William and explained the situation. Nuhman’s face was disturbingly
shattered. The small innocent life scattered on the town disrupted the peace
among the people. Everyone started talking about the incident. His body was
washed and buried in the Church graveyard by Imam Rizwan. The whole
Saint Fielders were in pain. But, they gathered to avenge his murder.
The neighbours were threatened by the grieve incident and since then,
they refused to let the children out of their sight. They set up CCTV s along
the street corners.
Imam Rizwan did the Islamic funeral procedures weeping quietly.
When he was finished and Nuhman’s body was covered with white clothes,
people saw him wiping his tears away and they all broke into mass grief all
over again. The whole town grieved his death and silence brought darkness
and emptiness in the streets.
Catherine stuffed the notes in a file and came back to her husband. He
was depressed remembering the incident. She drove her fingers through his
hair and held his head on her breasts. She recalled the time when Nuhman
was playing with their dog, Sam. He dressed the dog with his t-shirt and was
laughing when Sam kept running circles trying to get it off. And when he
saw Catherine watching him through the window, he ran to his home half-
naked screaming ‘I’m sorry’. She smiled taking a sip from the coffee she was
holding. There was several moments of the boy’s little naughtiness making
her want to have a child. Ben wasn’t hers. Just before she met Eric, he was in
pain loosing his first wife to a car accident. Ben was with his grandma at
White Field. He was a year old then. He is five now.
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