by Jack Parker
"Thanks. Well…I'll be catching you guys later."
* * *
"Collin, I can't believe you're actually expecting me to just take a story like that and expect me to think it actually happened," Teneire said as he slumped back into the chair behind his desk.
"I know I don't have much scientific stuff to back it up with now, but…can you just look into it with some of your forensics guys and all that and see if anything matches up?"
"What do you want me to do?!" Teneire yelled. "Use forensic evidence for what?! Yeah, we know the blood on Jess's knife is Scott's, but that's about it. There's nothing else that we could use for stuff like that. I'm sorry, Collin, but there's nothing I can do. Unless you get a confession or something like that out of Nick, then I can't really do much to arrest him."
"Come on!" Collin yelled furiously as he banged his hands on the table. "I've done SO much! You can't just do one little thing to see if I'm right?!"
"That 'one little thing' is expensive. I can't just call a bunch of forensic experts together and have them do tests on everything for free, you know. And besides, what if we're wrong about Nick? He could sue the station for false arrest. So no, I can't do 'one little thing'."
"Sir, please…"
"I'm sorry, Collin. If you really want a different answer, you're going to have to go investigate some more to get some hard evidence. Because right now, all you've brought me are theories. And you know what? That's not gonna do anything in court."
"But…"
"I'm done, Collin. I've got a meeting to go to. Keep working at it and maybe you'll find something else."
Teneire aggressively rose from his seat and walked out the door, leaving Collin standing there, completely helpless.
Collin stared off for several seconds before he looked down at the ground and slowly made his way out of the office and out the front door. He dragged his feet through the parking lot until he finally got to his car. Gloomily, he started it up and drove home.
* * *
And that was pretty much it. I continued my summer work at Arbur Winslow for about another seven or eight weeks. Then the end of August came and I had to get ready for college. I made my last goodbyes to everyone at Arbur Winslow and thanked them for everything. I tried to leave the park for one last time with a smile and positive thoughts.
But I couldn't. I never figured it out. After all that hope, after all that work I put into it…I came up empty. Like Teneire said, there's a reason this case has gone unsolved for over a year. I guess I must've been pretty stupid to think that I could just solve it on my own.
Anyway, Nick never confessed to anything. And I didn't learn or find anything new that would've given me an edge. I busted my you-know-what off looking for something, but nothing turned up. Everything came to a dead end, just like it had a year before.
A week after I left Arbur Winslow after covering my final shift, I started school at Ad Libitum Academy. I had a very sick feeling that, once I got there, Teneire, Lisa, Randy, and everyone else who was part of that case would just forget about me. And if they did remember me, would they remember me as a helpful and determined kid, or just a complete weirdo who thought he could do anything and had to learn the hard way that he just couldn't?
That question still bugs me to this day.
Chapter 17
One Last Shocker
Collin was sitting in his dorm room at Ad Libitum University; it had been about four weeks since he began his college education there. It looked pretty typical with a bed on the floor, surrounded by posters plastered all over the walls that promoted singers and movies he had come to respect. He was lying on his bed reading a book for his British Literature class while his roommate, A.J., (an abbreviation for Anthony Jurris) was busy typing away on the keyboard, working on a paper.
As Collin forced himself to read the book, A.J. turned away from the computer and put a hand through his short, spiky brown hair. "Hey, Collin."
"What's up, A.J.?"
"Wanna hit up the buffet tonight? I'm starving!"
"Sorry, dude," Collin glumly answered. "I already got plans."
"Aw, that stinks. With who?"
"Neh…just some buddies from high school. You wouldn't know'em."
A.J. simply nodded his head and turned back to the computer. When his full attention was directed back at the computer, Collin added on, "I'll be expecting a call from them pretty soon."
A.J. only nodded his head as he continued typing his paper.
Just as predicted, Collin's cell phone rang a few seconds later; he quickly picked it out of his pocket and opened it in one swift motion. "Hey, Hunter."
There was an awkward silence before the person on the other end said, "Hunter? Have you forgotten my last name already?"
Collin's eyes widened and his fingers clasped around the cell phone from anxiety. "Teneire?! Er…I mean, Teneire sir?!"
The shout was loud enough to shock A.J. and force him to turn around. "Whoa ho ho, Collin. You forgot the name of one of your friends? Ha. Better stop those plans right then and there, buddy."
"Sorry, sir," Collin apologized. "I just thought it was one of my friends from high school. I'm so sorry!" Even though he sounded desperate, he was actually smiling widely from the conversation.
"It's okay, Collin. I understand. College really is a time to be spent with friends. Hey, enjoy it while you have it. You're gonna have more time off now during your Thanksgiving Break than you're gonna have for your entire career. Just a heads-up."
Collin chuckled. "I know, I know."
"So, you were expecting a call from friends? Is that it?"
"Yeah. Sorry, I thought you'd be one of them."
"That's all right. What were you planning on doing?"
"Seeing a movie. Going out to dinner. Don't worry, we won't be getting wasted or anything like that."
Teneire laughed. "I know you won't. It's all of your little friends I'd be concerned about."
"Ha ha. Yeeeeah. Uh, did you just call to check in and stuff?"
"Oh, sorry, I got a little side tracked. Heh heh."
Why does Teneire sound so loose? This isn't like him at all…
"I meant to tell you that I decided to try and have some people run some of those tests. And Collin, I'm about to make your day."
His eyes widened and his mouth went dry. Was it all finally about to pay off.
"Some of the forensic experts examined the sign that had the holes in it. And from the examinations, we were able to find out that it WAS one of the knives they issued you at Arbur Winslow."
"REALLY!?" Collin yelled, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"Would I lie to you about something like that? Anyway, after we found out the sign may have had some connection to Scott's murder, we dug around the sign and found an empty can of yellow spray paint."
Collin gasped. "Was it the same type of yellow spray paint that was all over the sign after Scott got killed!?"
A.J. made a sick face. "What kind of friends do you hang out with, Collin?!"
"Well, it seemed to be the same color. And we tried getting any prints from it, and the metal can actually seemed to hold it better than the knife handle. And when we ran a test on those prints…well, we couldn't be positive, but it looked like the prints were Nick's."
"No way!" Collin yelled excitedly.
"We're thinking Nick spray painted the sign after he used it for target practice so the forest would have to take it down and no one would think to examine it."
"Clev-er," Collin very casually said. His tone made it sound like he had already won.
"I've run that and everything else by the courts, and they think that we have enough for a trial."
"REALLY?!"
"Yup. Motive is there, the opportunity is there, and the evidence is there."
"No way! When's the court date?!"
"It'll be in about a month…on the 25th of the October."
"Awesome! Good luck with it!"
"Wh
at do you mean, 'good luck'? You're going to be part of it."
"WHAT?!"
"I told them that you did a lot of help and that you could be a decisive witness…okay, not witness, but you get my drift."
"You mean I'm gonna testify?!"
"Yes. Unless you don't want to. No one's holding a gun to your head and ordering you to testify."
"Testify? Collin, do you have some sort of double life I don't know about?" A.J. wearily asked.
"I'd love to! Really!"
Collin could sense that Teneire was smiling on the other line. "Then it's settled. I'll keep you updated with what's going on and I'll explain to you how everything works. Got it?"
"Got it, sir!"
It wasn't much longer before Collin closed up the phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He plopped back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling with a wide smile spread all over him. It was several seconds before he turned to his roommate and said, "A.J., you're not gonna believe what just happened."
A.J. stared in awe. "I don't think I want to, Coll."
* * *
Ohhhhh…boy, am I nervous! Collin thought to himself as he stood in the courtroom lobby. It was finally the day of the trial, which he had actually been dreading more than anticipating for the last few weeks. He was standing in a large, empty white room that was only decorated with large paintings of past judges linging the walls. The entire room had an almost sickening feeling that would remove almost any nerve and confidence from whoever was standing in it.
He was dressed up in a white business shirt with a green and dark blue striped tie, which was the fanciest thing he had worn for a long time. He took a few deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down while staring at the door right in front of him that led to the courtroom.
Easy does it, Collin…you've come this far. You can't back down now. The final battle to this stupid mystery is just behind these doors. This is what you've been waiting for all these months…don't blow it! Don't-
"Mr. Bansen?"
Collin let out a surprised yelp and turned around. He was now staring face to face with the prosecutor: a man who seemed to be middle aged man with heavy white hair and was wearing a dark colored suit with a light cerulean tie. His stare gave the impression he was fifty times more ready for the courtroom showdown than Collin was.
"Uh…hi," Collin choked out.
The prosecutor smiled. "You nervous?"
"Yeah…a little. I've never been to court before."
"Good. And I hope you'll never have to come here again. I'm the prosecutor, by the way. The name's Herb Mandel."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Mandel," Collin stiffly said as he forced his hand out to shake.
Mandel put on a plastic smile and shook hands, doing anything that he thought would loosen Collin up. "Okay. Here's the deal: you're gonna testify about everything you did to come to the conclusion that you did when you were working at Arbur Winslow this summer, all right?"
"All right…"
"But before you do that, I'm going to make the court aware that you've done work. I'm going to then ask you to point to the person responsible for the murder of Scott Halpin and then you're going to back your claim up. And then I'll provide all the forensic evidence, and we're going to put that Fust kid where he belongs. Got it?"
"I think so."
"It's very easy. Oh, and if the defense tries to mess with your mind a little bit, don't a thing. Just leave them to me and I'll get them off your back. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. I think we got this case in the bag. All right, I need to get ready for my opening statement now. Good luck, Mr. Bansen."
"Thanks," Collin weakly choked.
Mandel gave a quick nod and strolled surprisingly casually into the courtroom. Collin watched as the heavy doors closed behind him, taking yet another deep breath filled with uncertainty. "Oh, man…I can't do this…"
"Collin?"
Again, Collin jumped at the sound of someone saying his name. He slowly turned around and saw Christine standing there, looking excited, yet worried.
"Oh…hey, Christine," he greeted. "Are you testifying, too?"
"No, but I heard you were."
"Heh heh…well, yeah. I am."
"So you've figured everything out and you know what you're going in there to say, right?"
"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't," he said proudly.
Christine let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah. I can't believe it's all come down to this. All that hard work you've done…you really busted your butt off, didn't you?"
"You bet I did."
"Yeah. But then again, just think about how much it'll be worth it to see Randy finally fall apart and get thrown in jail."
Collin let out a chuckle. "Yeah, that'll be pretty sw….wait, Randy?!"
The smile suddenly faded from Christine's face. "Yeah…Randy. You know, the guy who killed Scott?"
Collin had no idea what he was supposed to say, so he weakly blurted out, "No, he didn't. It was Nick."
"Noooo," Christine said as she cockily shook her head. "It was Randy."
"How do you know? You didn't do any investigating."
"Yes, I did!" she insisted.
"When?! You weren't even supposed to know I was looking into this!"
"Oh…right. Maybe I should've told you…" she stammered. "Well, I remember first hearing about it when you and Lisa were talking about it?"
"When?"
What Collin didn't realize was that Christine had long since walked out of the bathroom and noticed the confrontation between him and Lisa. Christine couldn't help but eavesdrop on the whole thing, and when she realized that Collin was starting to sound very suspicious and that he was onto something new about the murder, Christine could hardly keep herself quiet. Anxiously, she ran off, with the encounter between her coworker and boss ringing in her mind.
"You were listening in the whole time on that?!" Collin yelled. He suddenly remembered what she was talking about; he couldn't believe that that insignificant encounter at the bathroom would somehow lead to this.
"Yeah. It's just you and Lisa made the whole thing sound totally serious. It sounded really awesome and I wanted to be in on it."
"Then why didn't you try to team up with me?!"
"Come on, you know you would've told me you work alone."
Actually, she's right. "Well, you shouldn't be trying to figure this stuff out. You're like, what, eighteen? Nineteen?"
"Older than you."
"Yeah? But I've worked with the police before! I have the experience!"
"Oh yeah, I'm sure you're MUCH better at catching a killer than I am. I think we all know what kind of 'experience' you got when you worked at the station."
Collin groaned and put his hands on his hips. After staring down at the floor for a few seconds, he looked up and said, "Let me ask you something: why do you think it's Randy?"
"Uh…because he had a motive and everything."
"Really. Well, my boss from the station told me that they arrested Nick because he had a clear opportunity, motive, and there's evidence to back it up. Let's hear Randy's motive, opportunity and what you have to back it up."
"Okay. Well, he hated Scott, first of all."
"Yeah, I know that much. Because of Lisa, right?"
"That and the rumors."
"Rumors? What rumors?"
Christine looked shocked. "You didn't hear about all the rumors going on about Randy at work?!"
"I…don't think so. Was I supposed to?"
"Um…yeah! I kinda told you about them myself!"
"No you didn't! When was this?!"
"Like, the first time I talked to you about Randy."
"That…and the rumors probably had something to do with it."
"Rumors?" Collin asked. "I didn't hear anything about rumors."
Suddenly, he thought that maybe he could get something useful out of this conversation with Christine, after all. Out of all the things he had heard at th
e police station a year before, he never once heard anything about rumors going around.
"Oh, yeah. There were rumors floating around at work that Randy was a bit of a dirty guy."
"Dirty? Waddaya mean?"
"People were saying he had dirty magazines lying around in his desk at work. Others said that he was being even cheaper with the money and not always paying the guys who worked here all the money that they deserved."
"Oh…that. Yeah, now I remember."
Christine sighed. "Anyway, those rumors…were started by Scott."
"What?!"
"You heard me."
"How'd you learn that?!"
"I just went around asking people where they first heard the rumors from. All of them said Scott was the first one to tell them. Randy even said that when most of the people confronted him about it, they all said it was Scott."
"Christine, are you sure?"
"Positive. All of those nasty rumors about him were completely made up by Scott. So, if you take that and the fact he was trying to steal Lisa from him, I think that would pretty much give Randy a motive. Don't you think?"
"I guess, but come on! Having a motive doesn't really prove anything on its own. Heck, there are a lot of people in this world I'd like to kill, but that doesn't…" Whhooo…easy does it, Collin. This probably isn't the best place to say that. "Yeah…so what about evidence and opportunity? Yeah! Remember, the murder weapon was Jess's knife?"
"Yes, I know Jess lent it to Nick after he lost his, and I know Scott's blood was found on it. But you're forgetting something."
"What's that?"
"Randy was the boss of the place, and part of that job included ordering the customized knives, right?"
"Right."
"So, when he saw Jess didn't have her knife any more, he could've just ordered up another one for her and used that. Then all he would've had to do was take Jess's knife from Nick when he wasn't looking and throw it away or something. And Nick borrowed Jess's knife about a week before Scott died, right?"
"Yeah."
"And Lisa told you how long it takes for a new knife to arrive once it's ordered, right?"
Collin tried to think back to his very first day on the job, just moments after Lisa said he was hired.