The Night Shift (Mystery & Adventure)

by Jack Parker

  The judge nodded. "Objection sustained. Your response, Mr. Vill?"

  Vill looked slightly taken back by this, but he went back to his table and slammed one hand down just to show he was serious. "You heard what Mr. Kayson said! There isn't anything that would make Mr. Fust want to put an end to Mr. Halpin's life. And since he had no reason, then he's obviously not the killer."

  "Objection!" Mandel repeated, much more aggressive this time. "Oh, really? Then perhaps it's time I show the court this."

  Mandel reached into his briefcase and pulled out the printed picture that was found in Lisa's drawer. "Might I draw the court's attention to this photo?"

  "Might I see that photo, please?" the Judge asked, sounding more like she was giving a solid order rather than polite command.

  Mandel walked the photo over to the Judge, then turned his attention back to everyone else in the courtroom. "That photo was found in Ms. McNorr's drawer. Mr. Kayson, might I ask you a question?"

  "Objection!" Vill yelled loudly. "You had your turn to talk to him!"

  "Over ruled," the Judge said bluntly. "I think we should pay attention to this. Mr. Mandel sounds like he's going somewhere with this."

  "Thank you, Your Honor," Mandel coldly stated as he looked at Vill. "Mr. Kayson, is it not true that you refused to hire any teenager who was caught smoking, drinking, doing drugs, or anything else illegal…even if it was outside of work?"

  "That's right," Randy admitted.

  "And do you remember about a year ago an argument you had where you and Mr. Halpin had an argument, and Mr. Halpin gave you a letter?"

  Randy looked like he was thinking long and hard. "That sounds vaguely familiar."

  "Did you ever open that envelope?"

  With that, Randy fell silent. He started thinking very deeply before he came to a sudden realization. "No. I…didn't."

  Mandel smiled. "Mr. Kayson, this photo-that I just gave the Judge-was the only thing in that envelope."

  Randy didn't look too impressed. "Really…"

  "Yes. And would you like to see what was in that picture?"

  Randy shrugged. "If you want me to see it, then sure."

  "Your Honor, may I please have the photo back?"

  The Judge slowly put the piece of paper back in Mandel's hand, who slowly started walking over to Randy. "Mr. Kayson…this is the photo."

  Randy's eyes widened when he saw the picture. He started gripping tightly to the point it was beginning to crumple around the edges.

  Smiling sneakily, Mandel said, "Would you kindly tell the court what is in that photo?"

  Randy began gritting his teeth. "It's…a bunch of kids having a party. And they're…drinking…alcohol…"

  Still grinning, Mandel continued, "And would you please be kind enough as to tell us who that is in the foreground?"

  "That's Nick. Nick Fust."

  The courtroom fell dead silent, save for Mandel's continuing assault. "How old was Mr. Fust again? Nineteen?"

  "Yes. I believe so."

  "So…that would be under age drinking, right?"

  "That's right."

  Everyone's attention had suddenly diverted to Nick, who was now gripping the sides of his seat. He was taking constant swigs of water while doing his best to pretend he didn't know everyone in the courtroom was still staring at him.

  "Might I ask what you would've done had you seen this photo when you first saw it?"

  Randy smirked. "That's an easy one. I'd rip up his contract and report him to the police in a jiffy."

  Mandel smiled. "You see, Your Honor? The motive was there. Mr. Fust didn't want Mr. Halpin to show Mr. Kayson this photograph, and so he had to find a way to make sure Mr. Kayson never saw it. The only way to do that: murder."

  "Objection!" Vill yelled in an almost heroic tone. "Your Honor, there's one thing the court still doesn't know. Up until about three or four months before the murder, Mr. Kayson had been seeing Ms. McNorr. But then she dumped him…and instead started seeing Mr. Halpin."

  Mandel looked like he wanted to object, but he likely knew he would get over ruled, considering the large break the Judge had just given him to explain the photo.

  "And Mr. Kayson still had strong hatred for Mr. Halpin after Ms. McNorr started seeing him. You see? Mr. Kayson was in the middle of a love triangle. Revenge…that would've been motive enough to have Mr. Kayson want Mr. Halpin dead."

  The courtroom started whispering loudly while Collin began getting more and more anxious. It suddenly seemed as if things were falling out of the attorneys' control.

  "Mr. Vill, you do realize you're accusing someone else of murder. Should you be wrong, there will be serious consequences."

  Vill gulped. "I'm aware of that, Your Honor."

  "Very good," she said.

  The next several minutes of the courtroom were tense, and Collin only became more nervous as each one passed. He was tossing ideas back and forth in his mind about who it could've been: it was almost an easy split between the two.

  Mandel eventually was up at the front of the court again. "The prosecution would like to call its next witness. Now I would like the court to know that, even though this witness may just be a teenager, he has worked hard with the police and helped with their investigations. I assure you, everything this witness says has the support of Sergeant Roy Teneire of the police."

  Oh, no…Collin thought to himself. He was easily more uneasy and scared now than he had ever been in his whole life. He's gonna call ME up next…

  "I call…Collin Bansen to the stand."

  Collin inadvertently let out a small squeak as he nervously trotted up to the stand. He sat down, even more stiff than the chair he was sitting in, and the look Mandel was giving him didn't help at all.

  "Mr. Mandel, I would like to remind you that, should Mr. Bansen give false testimony, both the prosecution AND the police will pay dearly."

  Great…so BOTH attorneys got their butts on the line? How did I get into this?...

  "I'm aware, Your Honor. And I understand you may be feeling uneasy. But as I've said, Sergeant Roy Teneire has his full support. Everything Mr. Bansen is about to say has the sergeant's support. That's how confident he is in this young man."

  "Very well," the Judge said.

  Mandel cleared his throat and passed Collin a look that seemed to say, "Just relax. Don't worry, I'm on your side."

  "Mr. Bansen," Mandel started, "Would you please tell the court about the investigations you have done?"

  Collin took a deep breath, then proceeded to mention everything he had worked to figure out. The photo, the questionings of all the employees, mentioning the fight and talking about all the contempt and fear Nick had of Scott. And, much to Collin's despair, he was forced to answer about Randy and Lisa's relationship and how Scott stole Lisa from him. (Mandel had hoped that it would take suspicion off Randy)

  Mandel cleared his throat. "At any rate, the police have given Mr. Bansen permission to point out who the murderer in this case is. And they are very aware of what the consequences will be if he is wrong."

  Oh, man…they thought they were being so nice by letting me testify and represent the whole police department. Ohhhh…I think I'm going to throw up!Okay, calm down…Nick or Randy MUST'VE said something that'll answer who did it! Ugh…which one?

  It was only made harder with the knowledge that, should he make a mistake when pointing out the killer, he would be ruining the police department's reputation and potentially letting a killer go. There was more trust riding on this one decision than Collin ever thought he'd have to handle.

  "Mr. Bansen?" Mandel asked politely and casually. "Would you please show the court who is the killer?"

  Collin took a deep breath. With his hand trembling, he reached out his arm, took a slight pause, and pointed.

  Chapter 19

  Adjourned

  The entire courtroom became eerily quiet, apart from a few gasps being heard from the audience.

  Collin still had his finge
r outstretched like he was trying to touch it to something he would never be able to reach. He stared out at the person he was pointing to with a serious and hateful stare.

  Randy let out a small gasp; Nick looked like he had just been blown back in his seat by a stick of dynamite.

  "Me?!" Nick raged. "What the?!..."

  "I'll tell you why," Collin plainly answered. He somehow sounded like he was completely convinced that he was right. "I remember something very interesting Lisa told me on my very first day on the job…"

  "But be careful not to lose that, all right? It takes us over a week to order those knives and get them delivered. Trust me, you don't want to go ten days without one of those things."

  Who woulda thought such a trivial bit of info would end up revealing the truth, Collin asked himself. The answer was right there with me when I first walked into this job!

  "Objection!" yelled Vill as he jumped up again. "Your Honor, this is a teenaged kid! You're not really going to let him decide that my client is guilty, are you?!"

  "Objection overruled."

  "What?!"

  "Don't forget that Mr. Bansen is representing the entire police force. He has been given special permission to do this. I'm sure the police have briefed him and have told him to do just this."

  "Thank you, Your Honor," Collin said as he continued staring at Vill and Nick. "As I was saying, Lisa…er, Ms. McNorr told me it takes us over a week to get new knives if we lose ours. And do you all remember what Nick said earlier on when he was testifying?"

  "Yes, your honor. Now then, when did you say it was that you lost your knife?"

  "Uh…I think probably a little less than a week before Scott was killed."

  "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 worr
y 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.