The Case of Guilty Innocent

The Second case I ever worked at the Mental Institute of South California was all but fun and games.  The story of Mrs. Jane Woodall was actually very sad. This smart, middle-class woman and her newly wed husband were all but happy. As Jane walked in, I could tell that she had seen some dark times in her life but, she was dressed fairly nice with a pair of flats and a mid-length gray dress. She even managed to put on her favorite red lipstick right before our interview.

  She walked up to the table I was sitting at and politely pulled out the chair across from me and sat down. I complimented her on her outfit as she got comfortable. Then, I started off with the same basic questions that I had used in the previous case: How have you been? How are you feeling? What’s your hobby? But then, I had to get down to Business.

Mind you, that I had already read the journal that Mrs. Woodall had hid from her husband while in the glorious Mansion. Plus, I had already seen where her husband’s previous wife had mysteriously disappeared shortly after their Honeymoon. But, what was interesting with Mrs. Woodall was the fact that she did have a problem. The problem wasn’t her though, it was her husband. That’s why she killed him.

So, I simply asked “Jane, Why did you do it?” And she smiled and said, “You know why Dr. Vick.”  But I pressed on stating “Jane, I need to hear it one more time.” She then hunched over and began.

“Dr. Vick, I was a bright, young, intern when I met Jack. Jack was everything I had dreamed of marrying, or so I thought. He was tall, dark, and handsome—and a Doctor too. And we hit it off. About six months into our relationship though, I wound up pregnant. And he begged for me to give the baby up. He said it would bring more bad than good to our lives. But I couldn’t give up my child. So, we decided to get married. Quickly after having our child though, Jack became VERY possessive. He made me quit my job, told my girlfriend not to come back to the house, and then we moved to THAT house.”

                She stopped for a second. I asked “Is everything okay?’’ “I need a cigarette!” she replied.  So we walked out to the garden and I handed her a Marlboro Light which she inhaled rather quickly.  “Alright, can we continue?” I asked.

                “When we moved into the house, I wanted to be downstairs. It really had a nice view of the lake. But Jack refused, saying there was only room for one bed in that room, and No, Jack was not the affectionate type even when it came to sleeping. So we moved upstairs to that horrid room.  Now, he was giving me all of these different types of pills that I have never even heard of. After a short time though, I quit taking them. I found that they made me even more tired than I already was. And might I add that he didn’t allow me to do any damn thing!  That Vulgar Wallpaper though, it just kept looking at me and soon I realized that it was a woman. But who was she and what did she want me to do?”

                As she started to shake, I realized that she might need another cigarette, so I pulled another one from my jacket pocket and lit it for her. As I handed it to her all she could manage to say was “Thanks.”  After two drags and one deep breath she began again.

                 “I knew my days were being counted down. Jack was gone most nights for “serious’’ cases. And on one of the last days, I realized that the woman in the wallpaper was familiar. It was his ex-wife! She was trying to get out but she couldn’t! I had to help her!  So on the final day, I told Jennie (Jack’s sister) that I didn’t want to be disturbed and that I needed to rest for the long day ahead. And she believed me. When she left, I locked the doors and began to try and tear down the wallpaper. That’s when I found the blood.

“The blood?” I asked confused.

                “The blood of his ex-wife was on every wall. She had been trying to warn me all along! It was the final day, Jack would be coming back soon! As I tore down the last piece I could reach on the very bottom of the wall you could see where she had placed her hand and I pressed mine to it. That’s when I heard Jack asking me what I was doing. He was banging on the door, demanding me to open it NOW. I grabbed a piece of bar that had at one time kept little children from falling out the window and held it tightly in my hand. He kicked the door in loudly. He came charging at me with a knife! And as he thrust it into my stomach, I hit him in the head with the bar. It knocked him out instantly and I ran for the door! His sister had caught the house on fire. SHE WAS GOING TO BURN ME ALIVE! So I….”

                She stopped and looked up. At this point, she was tearing up. “They tried to kill me and give her my baby!”  I looked astonished. She had figured out that her husband had killed his ex-wife and had planned on killing her and giving their baby to his sister.  As she composed herself, she went to on to continue but I stopped her and said “That will be all Mrs. Woodall.”

                “I’m going to release you from the Institute. However, I would like for you to follow up on some counseling once every two weeks with one of my personal friends. I think it will be good for you. Don’t admit to anything else. That’s all I need from you. Enjoy your time with your child and go back to working. I wish the best of luck to you Jane.”

                “Thanks Arnold.” She said as she hugged me.

Patient 00102

At the Mental Institute of South California we often do things a little backwards. In this case, everyone assumes our patient is dead. We'll call this patient Emily. And in all my years of working, I've never ran across a case quite like hers. According to her Documents, her death was faked because she owed too much money in taxes and if she was put in the nursing home, the County would never see it's money.

Emily was brought here as part of an experiment. We know according to the facts that Emily had a family history of mental disorders and she lived a very thriving lifestyle as a child. What seemed to be the "trigger point" was the passing of her father. Her father was her supportive figure. He took care of her and the house and all the family business. With his passing being so sudden, she would have this feeling of Abandonment that would continue for several years.

We also know that when her father passed, Emily kept his corpse in the house for three days. During which, she proceeded to tell all the gossiping church ladies, the minister, and even the local doctor that her father was still alive. Almost as if ignoring the simple fact that he was gone would bring him back. However, after three days the court ordered for her give up her father’s dead body so that he could have a proper burial. This, in my opinion, burying her father was the proper thing to do.

Emily then hit a period of Depression. The courts sending letters wanting to collect taxes, the church ladies are gossiping about her, and all the while Ms. Emily does not know what to do. She simply locks herself away from the rest of the world. Her only social interaction with anyone at this time is an uneducated servant. Months pass and no sign of Ms. Emily. Until she sees a man, that I'm going to call Jack, working on the road in front of her house. Instantly Emily fell for Jack. A tall, dark-haired man, with a Northerners accent was hard to come across in her small town. But Jack was a homosexual and wasn’t really interested in Emily in any other way but as friends.

But with the pressure of old age starting to taunt Emily and the rumors about Jack with the younger lads at the bar swirling around, they decide to get married. And unfortunately Jack didn’t know he was marrying a crazy woman that saw their arranged marriage as more of a romantic partnership than an investment. She quickly finds out that Jack is only in it for the money. So she poisons him, with arsenic to be exact. And since she wasn't a liked member of society no one ever came to check on either of them. She practically got away with it.

When we got the call from the sheriff to come get Ms. Emily we were both nervous and excited. Never had anyone kept a person’s corpse in their house for forty years without anyone ever noticing. And our Institute would be the first to fund an experiment on the traumatic impacts of abandonment on Women in the United States. Ms. Emily has been with us now for almost four years.

Today is the day Me along with three other colleagues get to decide if Emily gets to go back out into the world, or if she's stuck here another four years until her next reevaluation. I started by asking a few simple questions: What’s your name? Where are you? What do you like to do? How have you been? Just simple questions to ease the tension in the room were all I was wanting to begin with. But then, she looked up at me with this wild glare, tilted her head to the side and screamed “When will you let me go you crooked bastard, my husband is going to come looking for me! And when he finds me, I hope he kills you!” 

And with that I politely grinned, rubbed my beard, and said “Ms. Emily, I’m sorry but you’re husband passed away over forty years ago, so why are you here?” she looked at me really confused as I stamped DENIED on her pamphlet. Ms. Emily was taken by the officer with force back to her nice padded room, where she later died that night of a heart attack.