The Bad Nurse Read Free Page B

coming within a day.
    One woman wrote that there were no thanks needed. She would stand beside Karri, she said, a thousand times over. You are a precious person and the best of friends, and as you said, if anyone really knows you they would never even entertain the thought that these rumors could even be true.
    Another friend said she admired and loved Karri so much, especially for “looking at this situation as a blessing in many ways.” That, the writer said, was something she was not sure she could do, but because of Karri’s “loving heart” and “kind nature,” Karri could “see the good in this.” The writer said she had learned so much from watching Karri set a great example as a friend and as a Christian. She prayed, she said, that God would continue to pour out His grace upon Karri and her family, and that He would give Karri renewed strength for the days ahead.
    I love you and your family dearly, the writer said, thinking and praying for you all.
    A third writer said she agreed with the others, saying she never, ever believed for one minute that Karri was guilty. She was not capable of doing such a thing, the woman said. Karri was a blessing, she claimed, and “such a sweet, sweet person.” She’d included Karri in her prayers, she continued, praying for her and her family. I cannot imagine the STRESS you’ve been under, she wrote. It’s great that you can see the good in all that you went through. Love you!
    I think about you and your family a lot, another woman wrote. You have many many people that stand behind you and stand up for you, especially in this hard time. All those people, the writer said, knew the truth and knew Karri’s heart.
    It was just one of the disadvantages of living in a small town: [E]veryone knows your business before you do, the woman continued. One day the truth would come out, she said, and the guilty would be punished.
    It may not be in this life, but God knows, she wrote. It is obvious that God is living in you because I don’t know that I could handle it and still be as happy as you are.
    These comments to Karri’s post were followed by a long string of other, shorter messages from supporters, all mentioning God, blessings, prayers, and unconditional belief in Karri’s strength of character, boundless faith, and shining examples of Christian virtue.
    Those nasty rumors went right over my head, said one; another said what a blessing it was to be around Karri.
    Through these last few months your life has been such a wonderful testimony to your faith!
    As things turned out, this entry (and its responses) would be the last item that Karri posted on the blog site, except for a very short notice left a couple of weeks later that her blog was moving to another address and to please follow her there. When the faithful followed, however, there was nothing to be found at the new site, other than a title banner and a couple of photos of the children. Karri’s future writings would have to be posted on her behalf by others; they would now be coming by way of the DeKalb County Jail.
    Karri Willoughby spent two years in the DeKalb County Detention Center while she awaited her trial for Billy Shaw’s murder.

CHAPTER 8
    A fter she was indicted, turned herself in, and was arrested and jailed for capital murder, a very public uproar began between Karri’s large number of supporters and a much smaller number of others in the community who were just as firmly convinced of her guilt. Arguments broke out between the two groups everywhere they met, from Internet message boards to grocery store aisles, with the two sides loudly proclaiming her guilt or innocence.
    Friends and relatives became bitter adversaries because of their differing opinions on Karri’s situation. People who swore that they “knew for a fact” that Karri was innocent made long, fervent comments in letters to the editors of local newspapers.