The Night Shift (33 page)

"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."

"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 finger 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."