Chapter ONE - Weebly

“Yes, Your Honor,” Ethan said. “I walked by there
yesterday. I’m sorry for how you and your family have
suffered.”
The corners of Hutchinson’s mouth quirked upward
into a fleeting, bitter smile. “Seeing it from the street,
you would have no idea of how we’ve suffered. The
damage to the exterior was nothing compared to what
those devils did to the inside. They demolished every
wall and every door in the house, leaving it nothing
more than a shell. They left not a single piece of
furniture whole. They stole my wife’s jewels, took every
bit of clothing any of us owned, took every book in my
library. They shattered or stole our plates and glasses,
they walked off with our food and drink. They stole
nine hundred pounds, and pieces of silver that had
belonged to my father, and his father before him.”
The litany came easily to the man; Ethan had the
feeling that he had recited it many times in the last two
days.
“They left me nothing,” Hutchinson went on. “And
had I remained, rather than fleeing my own home like a
thief in the night, I would have lost far more. As it is, I