Judgement Day Pale Fire Journal Judgement Day Pale Fire Journal | Page 56

87: “Nevertheless the urge to find out what he was doing with all the live,
glamorous, palpitating, shimmering material I had lavished upon him, the
itching desire to see him at work (even if the fruit of his work was denied to
me), proved to be utterly agonizing and uncontrollable and led me to in-
dulge in an orgy of spying which no considerations of pride could stop.”
While I am confident in the validity of each of my points pertaining to the
innocence of my client in the matter of Shade’s death, I feel it is necessary
to further examine the circumstances under which he died, for I do believe
that it was not murder at all, but in fact a fault of Shade’s own circulatory
system.
Now, now, I know that the prosecution has already claimed to have re-
trieved the murder weapon and I do concede that my client’s fingerprints
were found on it. In fact, I can quote the exact circumstance under which
my client held the shotgun from page 96, “I kept moving from window to
window…and sometimes, armed with the judge’s shotgun, I dared beard
the tremors of the terrace.” This unfortunate nighttime prowling was a di-
rect effect of my client’s fear of regicide he was facing at that time[2].
I have already made it clear that my client had no motive to kill his dear
companion and even more so, my client cared deeply about Shade’s well-
being. As my client cites on page 246 of the commentary, we are told that
John Shade had suffered a previous heart attack on October 17, 1958. On
page 182 he describes his reaction to finding out that the Shades had
planned a vacation in the mountains, “I started to calculate aloud in meters
the altitude that I thought much too high for John’s heart.” Here he obvi-
ously exhibits care for the late Shade’s well-being and apparent concern
for the man’s heart condition.
On a separate occasion, noted on page 287 of my client’s commentary, he
depicts a moment in which he comes across Shade looking as such: “His
elbow was on the table, his fist supported on his temple, his wrinkles were
all awry, his eyes moist and misty; he looked like an old tipsy witch.” This
image is likely due to Shade’s habit of drinking, which is frequently ad-
vised against after someone has suffered a heart attack. This is an article
of truth that may only now be coming to light for it was done in secrecy: “A
comfortable burp told me he had a flask of brandy concealed about his
warmly coated person” (p.22); “Have a drink with us, she said, “or rather
with me because John is forbidden to touch alcohol. (p. 23).” It is likely
those concealed beverages from time to time that instigated another heart
attack in the late Shade, and henceforth, his demise. I rest my case.
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