The Night Shift

by Jack Parker

  Heh…never thought THAT would be coming up again…

  "So here's what I'm thinking: Nick loses his knife and asks Jess for hers. This is about a week before Scott dies, right?"

  "Yeah."

  "So, a week would have been just enough time for Randy to order another one with Jess's name on it and then use that to frame her or Nick, right?"

  "I don't think so. Lisa made it sound like it never took only a week. She said OVER a week."

  "Okay, so a week wouldn't have been enough time. But so what? Maybe Randy was plotting this for a while and maybe took Nick's knife and he counted on Nick going to Jess for a replacement one? If that happened, then he would've had plenty of time to reorder the knife before Nick even took Jess's."

  "Does that really seem like it could've happened?" Collin asked, still not ready to believe Christine's theory.

  "Yeah. It's possible, anyway."

  "Yeah. POSSIBLE. But unless you can prove it…"

  "Hey, I never said I couldn't."

  "Christine, you realize that for what you said to actually happen, then Nick would've just held on to Jess's knife before getting a new one and not giving her back the old one."

  "Right."

  "…why wouldn't he give her back her old one after he got his replacement?"

  "Probably because she didn't need it. And come on, this is around the time Scott gets killed by a knife. You think he'd want to make himself look suspicious by giving back a knife after a murder had happened?"

  "Uh…well, I guess there's that, but…"

  "Wait, you still haven't let me prove it yet. I remember the log book before the police took it last year. Remember how there was that page that was typed instead of being handwritten?"

  "Yeah. What about it?"

  "Come on! Doesn't that seem a little weird to you? What are the odds that every single one of the fifty zillion pens in that office were dried up?"

  "Not too high."

  "But possible, right?"

  "Yeah, but…"

  "There. So, someone typed on the computer, so no one had a handwriting sample from that night to analyze, right?"

  "Right."

  "So we don't really know that Scott was the one who typed and printed it. And you know how Randy shuts down the computer after the day shifts end?"

  "Well, I wasn't here while he was, so…no, I don't."

  Christine groaned. "Well, he did. He always shut down the computer after 6:00. And that journal entry was written WAY after 6:00 PM. And since Randy never shared the passwords for security reasons, only one person would've known how to log on after it was shut down: Randy."

  This last statement caused Collin to swallow hard. "Are you serious?"

  "Yup."

  "Uh…do you think it could have been both Nick AND Randy?"

  "Nope."

  "Why not?"

  "I went to one of the host campers who was there last summer on the night Scott died."

  "A 'host camper'?"

  "Yeah. Don't you know what they are?"

  "Uh…"

  "Ugh. They're campers who spend a huge chunk of the summer at camp and help keeping it clean and all that."

  "Oh."

  "Anyway, he was there last summer, and he came back this summer. He said he only saw one person that night while he was up."

  "What was he doing up that early in the morning?"

  "The tapping noise. Remember?"

  "Oh…yeah."

  Christine took a deep breath and continued. "Anyway, Randy and Nick hated each other. Heck, they wouldn't even trust each other about the time of day. There's no way they'd cooperate on something like pulling off a murder together."

  "So…there was only one person, and the two suspects wouldn't trust each other NEARLY enough to work together on this?" Collin confirmed.

  "Yup."

  Ugh…this makes things SO much harder! Why couldn't Christine just mind her own beeswax?! If she did then I wouldn't be like this now…but what if she's right? What if it IS Randy and not Nick?

  Collin didn't have time to toss these possibilities back and forth in his head; the door to the courtroom abruptly opened, causing him to jump. Mandel peeked out from inside and said, "Mr. Bansen, the trial's about to start. You'd better get in here now."

  "Oh…right."

  Insecurely, Collin walked slowly into the courtroom. After he got in, he noticed Mandel was still peering outside and staring right at Christine.

  "You!" he called to her. "You can't be here right now."

  "Oh…sorry," she said. "Hey, Collin!"

  Collin positioned himself so he could see passed Mandel and out at Christine.

  "Good luck!" she called.

  I am SO going to puke, he thought to himself as he heard those words. The anxiety was taking control of him very quickly. Maybe if I pass out, I won't have to testify.

  As he finished that thought, Mandel closed the door behind him. The door sounded exceptionally loud and carried a great sense of doom as it closed off Collin's one route to escape.

  Chapter 18

  Trial and Decision

  The long, dry process of swearing in the parties in court, the judge officially starting the trial and both the prosecution and the defense slowly passed. Collin sat in a seat close to the prosecution's table the whole time, nervously twiddling his thumbs and dreading the time when he knew he would have to go to the witness stand and explain everything about what he did and who he'd say was the killer. His entire mindset of confidence had been shattered with the conversation he had with Christine right before the trial started.

  "The prosecution would like to call its first witness," Mandel said. He was standing a few feet away from the deserted stand and was looking right at Nick. "The defendant…Nick Fust."

  "Mr. Fust?" the judge asked just for confirmation. She was a middle aged, professional-looking woman with glasses and long, curly brown hair. There was a presence around her that made her seem like a straight-to-business woman who had no time for nonsense. "What does the defense have to say to this?"

  "My client has agreed to testify in his own defense," said the defense attorney. He looked like he was no older than his late twenties and was probably the only person in the entire courtroom whose hair had no signs of turning gray yet. He had previously been introduced as Wilbur R. Vill.

  The judge quickly nodded her head. "Very well. Mr. Fust, please take the stand."

  Nick took a deep breath as he got up from behind the defense's table and walked over to the witness's stand. As he slowly sat down, Mandel confidently got up from his own seat and walked over to the stand while straightening his tie. He flashed Nick a smirk that seemed to say, "You're finished, kid."

  "Mr. Fust?" he asked.

  "Yes, sir?" Nick was dressed up in a somewhat tacky, yet effective business suit.

  "As I understand it, you're claiming you're not the murderer because you weren't at work when the crime happened. Is that correct?"

  "That's right," Nick said. "I got suspended."

  "What did you get suspended for?"

  "Objection, Your Honor!" Vill said sternly as he launched out of his seat. "How my client got suspended from work has nothing to do with how Mr. Halpin got killed."

  "Over ruled," the judge promptly answered. "I want to know if this suspension from work could have given the defendant any reason to want Mr. Halpin dead."

  Vill scowled as he sat back down.

  "Thank you, Your Honor," Mandel muttered shortly afterward. "So, why were you suspended from work."

  "I got into a fight with one of my coworkers."

  "What was the fight about?"

  "I don't remember."

  "How'd it start?"

  Collin rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. Lawyers…he thought.

  "I thought I just said I didn't know," Nick tried to say politely.

  "Very well," Mandel said. "So you got suspended from work because you had a fight with one of your coworkers. Correct?
"

  How do these guys get so much money just from pretending they're parrots? Collin thought to himself. Is this some sort of mind game? Oh…I hope he doesn't do this kinda psychology thing with me!

  "Yes," Nick grudgingly answered.

  Mandel looked like he was taking a second to think about what his next question would be. "Are you familiar with the murder weapon?"

  "Uh…I know what itis, if that answers your question."

  "Would you kindly tell the court what it is?"

  "You tell'em if you know."

  Mandel slammed one hand down on the stand. "Who's the prosecutor here, me or you?!"

  "Fine, fine. It was a knife."

  "Could you tell the court what was special about this knife?"

  "Do you mean how they always had our names on'em?"

  "Yes. That's exactly what I mean."

  "Uh…well, the knives had our names on them, just in case they ever got lost. And…that's about it."

  Mandel looked puzzled for a moment. "Those knives were custom made, am I correct?"

  "Uh…what do you mean?"

  Why does this feel more like an exaggerated stand-up routine instead of a court proceeding, Collin thought.

  "Each knife was made specifically for one person. That is why the person's name was engraved on the tip of the blade."

  "Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's right."

  "So that would mean that each knife had to be ordered before an employee got it, right?"

  "Uh…Duh."

  " 'Duh' is not a valid answer, Mr. Fust. Yes, or no?"

  Nick groaned. "Yes."

  "So, if a new knife could just be ordered after an old one was lost, then why would the employee's name be written into the blade?"

  "I dunno," Nick shrugged. "Randy was kind of cheap. He probably didn't want to have to pay for a new one, so he had our names written in it just so someone could return it if they found it."

  Mandel laughed nervously. "Mr. Fust, I would strongly advise against any aggressive remarks on your supervisor. He is sitting in here."

  What?! Collin thought. He sharply turned around and saw Randy was indeed sitting in the front row of the audience right behind the prosecution's desk.Oh, no…

  "Now, as I understand it, you lost your knife a few days before Mr. Halpin was murdered. Is th…"

  "Yes, it's correct," Nick interrupted.

  Mandel raised his finger somewhat aggressively. "Show some respect, Mr. Fust. One more remark like that and I'll request that you be held in contempt of court."

  "What's that?"

  "Mr. Mandel, we do not have time for this," the Judge explained. "Please continue on with your questioning."

  "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."

  "You mean Mr. Halpin?"

  "…yes. About a week before Mr. Halpin was killed."

  "And what did you do then?"

  "I went to one of my coworkers and asked her for her knife instead. And she never needed it, so she just lent it to me for keeps."

  "Oh, really," Mandel said. "And what did you do with it?"

  "I used it until I got my new one."

  Mandel began smiling. "Before I continue, I'd like to bring something to the court's attention."

  Mandel walked away from the witness stand and took something from the prosecution's table. It was Jess's knife that had Scott's blood dried up all over it. The knife was now packaged very carefully in a plastic bag.

  "Before I show this evidence to the court, I have one more question for Mr. Fust. Mr. Fust, you said you borrowed "Jess's" knife, correct?"

  "Yeah."

  "Would you mind telling the court Jess's last name?"

  "Uh…I think it's Maldavo."

  "Maldavo, you say. Now then, I'd like to present to the court this piece of evidence right here. This is the very knife that was used to take Mr. Halpin's life. When looking at the tip of the blade, one can very clearly see the name written at the tip: "Jess Maldavo"."

  The audience in the courtroom started whispering loudly amongst themselves while Mandel crossed his arms with a fairly confident grin on his face. "In case the court does not follow my logic, I shall explain again. Mr. Fust has just told us that he borrowed the knife that Ms. Maldavo used. Now, this exact same knife was found buried in the sand under a lifeguard tower about a year later, with the victim's blood on it. Clearly, Mr. Fust has just admitted to having this knife when it killed Mr. Halpin."

  Nick tried to keep a calm and cool face, although he looked like he was getting sick to his stomach.

  Vill stood up from the defense table again. "Objection. Just because my client had the knife that was the murder weapon doesn't mean he was the one who used it. Your honor, I would like to remind the court that the prosecution has yet to prove that it was my client who used the knife to kill Mr. Halpin. For all we know, someone could've taken the knife from my client and used it to frame him."

  Mandel looked like he had a response, but the glow soon faded away. Scowling, he looked up at the Judge.

  She stared quietly at both before saying, "Objection sustained."

  Mandel swallowed hard while Vill smiled gleefully. "Thank you, Your Honor," he said proudly as he sat back down.

  Not wanting to give up, Mandel walked back over to the witness stand and said, "In that case, I have another question for Mr. Fust. Mr. Fust, how long were you using the murder weapon as your knife?"

  "Uh…until I got my new one."

  "Your new one?"

  "Yes. I asked Randy to order me a new one after I lost my old one. Until then, I used Jess's knife."

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

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

  Mandel suddenly looked more like he got a cold, hard slap across the face. He tried to contain himself as he walked over to the prosecution table. He set one hand on it and looked downward. "No further questions, your honor."

  Heh. At least I learned ONE new thing, Collin thought. Nick used Jess's knife until the day BEFORE Scott got killed? That's…that would make it sound like it WASN'T him…

  Several minutes later, Randy was called to the stand. As Mandel asked him questions that would likely take suspicion off of himself and cast more onto Nick, Collin continued asking himself which one he would point out as the killer if he had to do it now.

  At long last, after Mandel had finished up his usual questioning, Vill got his turn to question Randy. He slowly made his way up to the witness stand almost like he was trying to create drama.

  "Hmmm…Mr. Kayson?"

  Randy looked disgruntled to have to answer. "Yes, sir?"

  "When you were working at Arbur Winslow last year as the manager, did you notice anything strange going on between Nick and Scott?"

  Randy chuckled. "Could you please rephrase that, for my sake?"

  Vill groaned. "Did Mr. Fust and Mr. Halpin have any antipathy towards each other?"

  "Antuh-what?"

  Vill looked like he was already annoyed with this cross-examination. "Mr. Kayson, what I want to know is if Mr. Fust and Mr. Halpin had any bad blood between them. That is all."

  "Oh. Then you should've said so."

  Vill swallowed hard. "Er…right. Well, did they?"

  "Um…I don't know."

  Vill balled up his fists, although he tried to stay as professional as possible. "Mr. Kayson, this is a very serious matter. Please try and remember. I'll ask again: was there any bad blood between the defendant and the victim?"

  "Not that I saw."

  Now Collin was the one swallowing hard. They didn't? I thought they HATED each other.

  "Could you please elaborate a little bit more on that?"

  "Well, I mean, sure, Nick…uh, Mr. Fust didn't really get along too well with anyone, but there wasn't anything about Scott…gah, Mr. Halpin that I think would put Nick ove
r the edge."

  Vill looked like he was having a hard time digesting everything that was just said. "Ladies and gentlemen of the court…Mr. Fust did not have anything to want to kill Mr. Halpin over. Their supervisor himself has just stated this."

  Oh, brother, Collin said. This is going to be awful.

  Vill turned sharply back to Randy. "Now, is it also not true that Mr. Fust was suspended from working at Arbur Winslow during the time period in which Mr. Halpin was murdered?"

  "That's correct."

  "Could you please elaborate on that fight?"

  "Didn't Nick just talk about this? And didn't you say it had absolutely nothing to do with this trial?"

  Vill lightly slammed one hand down on the witness stand. "Mr. Kayson, I merely want confirmation."

  Randy sighed. "Nick got suspended because of the fight between him and Ian. Ian said something about politics Nick didn't like, and so Nick started getting ready to slug'em, and I think you can take the rest from there."

  "So Mr. Fust was away from work during the time the murder took place, correct?"

  "That's right."

  "So…" Vill said as he turned away from the witness stand and towards the jury. "Not only did my client not have anything to hold a grudge against the victim with, but he was also suspended from work when the murder took place. From what I understand, Mr. Fust was not the type of person to show up to work if he didn't have to, correct?"

  "That's right," Randy repeated. "He'd show up the second his shift started and he was outta there the second his shift ended…come to think of it, I don't think he even volunteered to work overtime once."

  "I hope you got that," Vill said. "Mr. Fust didn't have any reason to want to kill Mr. Halpin, and he was suspended from work when the murder took place. And as Mr. Kayson was just kind enough to state, Mr. Fust would not have shown up to work at all if he didn't have to. Bear in mind: work is where the murder took place."

  "Objection," Mandel coolly said as he stood up from his seat. "Just because Mr. Fust didn't normally go to work when he wasn't scheduled to doesn't mean he wouldn't go there to kill someone. In fact, we even said that that would've given him an alibi."

  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."