The Night Shift (32 page)

"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 it
is
, 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 over 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?"