The Night Shift (34 page)

"
Very well. And when did your replacement knife come in?"

"
The day before Scott got stabbed," Nick quickly answered.

"You get what I'm saying?" Collin said. "Nick, your testimony is what's gonna kill you. You said you lost your knife a little less than a week before Scott was killed, but you said your replacement one came the day before Scott died!"

"So?!" Nick yelled. He was now beginning to sweat profusely; he had suddenly become much jumpier.

"Lisa said the time it typically takes for a new knife to come is
ten
days. But according to you, your first knife was lost less than a week before the murder, and your new one came the day before!"

"What are you trying to say?!"

"Like I said, the typical amount of time is ten days. But if what you said is true, that means you had to wait
five
days at the most. How could you have possibly gotten
a
knife in half the time it typically takes?!"

"Objection!" yelled Vill. "My client is just confused about when he lost his knife and when he got a new one. Do
you
keep track of stuff like that?!"

"No, but think about this!" Collin yelled back without even letting the Judge say whether she approved of his objection or not. "Even if he was off by two or three days, it
still
wouldn't be enough time! You want to know what Mr. Fust did?! He purposely got suspended to give himself an alibi about why he couldn't have
possibly
been at work when Scott was killed. And before that, you 'borrowed' Jess's knife because you knew she'd never need it and you used it as the murder weapon! Then you took some target practice with that giant sign that has a map of the forest on it until Scott had to come see what the problem is. Then you killed him, hid Jess's knife under the lifeguard tower and then left!"

Nick looked flabbergasted at everything Collin had just said. Not knowing what else to do, he pounded on the desk and yelled, "
STOOOOOOOOOOOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTT
,' as if he had just been possessed.

Vill turned to Nick with a look of disbelief plastered all over his face. He couldn't believe what had just happened.

Nick slowly brought his head up; his eyes suddenly seemed much more gray, and the veins in his neck and in his wrists had suddenly become much more visible.

"Collin…I swear to God I'm gonna come after you one of these days and rip each and every single limb outta they're fu…"

Before he could finish that sentence, Nick had sprung up from his chair and started advancing very aggressively towards the witness stand, ready to do everything he just said he would.

In no time, the Judge had the bailiff and security tackling Nick to the ground and making sure he wasn't getting up.

The courtroom became eerily silent after the commotion had died down. Nick let out one more violent scream before he was taken out of the courtroom and into the Judge's chambers. Then, just like that, it almost seemed as if every bit of life in the courthouse died with that shout.

When things had finally calmed down, the Judge took a deep breath and organized all the papers on her bench into a neat pile. "Well…sounds like a confession to me, but the jury will have to deliberate on this before I can deliver a verdict."

Just like that, all the jurors got up out of their seats and into their own chambers. The sight of Nick being let out of the courtroom and all the jurors going into deliberation gave Collin the biggest sense of satisfaction and relief he had ever recieved.

"Ha…ha ha…
ha ha
," he nervously laughed when he saw everything was more or less over. Just like that he stopped sweating and he began breathing at a much more normal pace. He looked across the courtroom and saw Mandel standing at the prosecution's table, smiling and giving him a thumb's up.

I…I can't believe it! It's over!

Only a matter of minutes later, the jurors came back and announced their unanimous verdict.

A man on the jury who looked like he was in his mid twenties with pepper colored hair read the sheet of paper in his hand. With a very serious look, he said, "We, the jury, find the defendant, Nicholas Fust, guilty of first degree murder or Scott Halpin."

Nick, now sitting back at the defense's table, slammed his head down and pounded his fists. He let out one more violent scream before he was handcuffed and taken out of the courthouse. As he was led out, he turned around and gave Collin the most hateful look he had given in his whole life; Collin replied by smirking.

"Very well," said the Judge. "The penalty phase of Mr. Fust's trial shall begin in within three months' time in a higher courthouse. Court is adjourned."

The sound of the gavel slamming down on the desk was perhaps the greatest sound Collin had ever heard in his life.

-

Outside the courthouse, members of the media were standing outside and begging Collin to smile for a "few pictures" that would soon be going into the newspaper.

"Oh, man…" Collin whispered to himself when he was sure no one was looking at him. "This is awesome!"

"Mr. Bansen!" called someone from behind.

Collin turned around and saw Mandel walking out of the courthouse behind him with a wide smile. "You did it, Mr. Bansen!"

After letting out an uneasy laugh, Collin humbly said, "It really wasn't anything."

"Are you
nuts
?!" Mandel said loudly while still smiling. "Collin, do you have any idea how few kids under the age of eighteen do something like that?!"

I'm actually eighteen on the nose, but whatever. Heh heh…yeah, I
was
pretty awesome in there, wasn't I?

Mandel looked like he would've liked to stay and talk longer, but he had to leave to do some interviews with other reporters about the outcome of the trial.

Still grinning and looking around, Collin heard someone else yell for him. He turned around and saw that it was Teneire, who looked even more pleased with the outcome than Collin himself probably was.

"Hey, Collin," Teneire said warmly. Never had he been seen this loose and relieved. "Wow, you were pretty good."

"Thanks," Collin answered, not knowing what else to say. "Yeah, it was pretty cool testifying and all. Thanks for letting me do that."

"Collin,
I
should be the one saying thank you. I don't know how you did it, but you sure buried that case once and for all. Maybe I should have you help me with some of our other unsolved cases."

"Yeah, you told me plenty of times you had a bunch of other stuff to worry about."

"You bet I do," Teneire answered. "Well, I'd better let you go. Reporters are gonna be wanting to talk to you."

"Ha ha. Yeah. All right, see ya."

He started turning around, but was stopped in his tracks. "Wait, Collin?"

Turning back around, he saw Teneire seemed to want to say something else to him. "I know you're last job was at Arbur Winslow, but if you want a job at the precinct again, I
promise
you there will be one for you."

Heh…how the tables have turned,
Collin thought to himself.
Now
Teneire
is the one who wants me working there?! Well, I guess I can either decide to go back or not. Heh. It's all up to me. Awesome.

"I'll think about it," Collin said warmly while still smiling back.

Teneire nodded. "All right, Collin. Take care."

Collin turned back around and saw Randy standing there, looming over him pretty uneasily.

"Uh…hi," he awkwardly said.

"Hi," counter Collin with an unusually cheerful pitch.

"Uh…geez, I'm not really good at this. I, uh…owe you an apology. I was a total dic…er, jerk, and…I just wanted to say thanks. And sorry."

Yeah, you SHOULD be sorry! If it weren't for me, you could've been in jail by now!
"Don't mention it!" he said with a wide smile, completely ignoring all the other thoughts going on through his head.

"Yeah, uh…well, see ya."

Without another word Randy walked away, leaving Collin there thinking,
Heh…not one for words, is he?

*  *  *

About ten minutes later, Collin was standing at the foot of the stairs to the courthouse (that was as far as he managed to walk without getting stopped by
a
reporter or someone similar). When he got to the bottom, he saw a large, plump man who had a face that looked almost as inflated as a balloon. It was mayor Menkino, doing a segment on the news about how a teenager was able to help influence a court ruling by representing the police.

"Uwah…y'know," Menkino said. "Connor's did us a great service and the whole city owes'em un.

Great. He's messing up my name and everything else in that sentence,
Collin thought to himself as he saw the interview being given.

"Yeah, he's round heyah someplace," Menkino said as he looked away from the cameras and began scanning the crowd. After just a short while, he found Collin standing only a few yards away said, "There yous are. Get inna this shot, we's are doin' a segment 'bout you."

Groaning, but still smiling, Collin walked over to the camera. He continued flashing his relieved expression into the camera lens throughout every single interview he did later that day.

- ONE WEEK LATER -

"Well, there it is," Lisa said as she put something else up in her office. Right above her on the wall behind was a large picture of Collin; it was one of the literally hundreds of photos taken of him within the hour after the session in court ended.

The picture consisted of Collin shaking the mayor's hand while focusing all of his attention towards looking at the camera.

"I like it," Jess said with her hands on her hips as she nodded her head.

"Goes great with the other pictures," Ian added. "If only the mayor was
a
hottie instead of a clown missing his makeup."

"Oh, stop that," Lisa ordered, even though she was laughing a little herself. The whole sense of peace and triumph in the room made everyone much more laid back than they were on a typical day.

"I'm with Jess," Christine interrupted. "That's a pretty cool picture. Imagine how awesome it would've been if we got it autographed."

"Oh, I'm sure if we asked Collin to sign it, he would," Lisa answered confidently.

"I was talking about the mayor," Christine replied bluntly. "But yeah, it'd be kind of cute if Coll signed it, too."

Lisa let out a small sigh before Jess asked, "Hey, where
is
Collin?"

She laughed a little bit before answering, "Where do you
think
? He's at school, of course."

"Oh, that's right. Any idea where?"

"I think it's out of state. But I'm not sure."

"You're not too far off," said a deep and commanding voice from behind. It was so sudden that it made everyone in the room jump. But they were
a
bit relieved to turn around and see it was only Teneire. He gave
a
warm smile before saying, "Hey, everyone. Long time, no see."

Lisa smiled wide. "Yeah, if you call a week
a
long time. How've ya been?"

"Oh, I can't complain. How about you?"