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“They’re mine,” Nathan said, bluntly.
“Yours,” the defense asked, playing it up.
“Yes. The shirt has the name of my work on it.”
“I see, and because you are the accused’s son, any genetic testing could have been inaccurate.”
“If you say so.”
I could actually hear the prosecution facepalm. They had to be privy to all the available evidence, but no one had bothered to question Nate at the time. Giving the defense a huge ace up their sleeve. My cheeks almost hurt from smiling.
“And please, do tell Mr. Gattis, how did so much blood come to be on your work clothes?”
“I work at a grocery store, doing stock. A customer came in not wearing a mask. When I insisted that he had to, he pulled a gun on me.”
“Oh my, that must have been scary,” the defense empathized.
“It was the single most terrifying moment of my life. I see that gun every time I close my eyes.”
“Please, tell us how it is you survived.”
“Distracting him, I got a hold of the barrel and hit him with the blunt end until he wasn’t moving anymore.”
“Where did you hit him.”
“In the head, sir.”
“In the head,” the defense repeated to the jury, “as I believe Doctor Williams can verify, head wounds bleed a lot. More than enough to cover a uniform shirt, under the circumstances Mr. Gattis has described.”
A gasp went around the courtroom, the prosecution’s key piece of evidence basically defused. The defense wasn’t done yet though.
“What did the police say about the incident?”
“That it was clearly an act of self-defense. I battered him hard, I won’t deny that, but he had been sticking a loaded gun in my face. The force was considered proportional.”
“I assume the police have the incident on file then?”
“They should. My manager saw the entire thing too.”
“And the clothes under Ms. Vaughn’s bed?”
“She picked me up. I was a mess after - what happened. We live on opposites sides of the same duplex. She brought me home and cleaned me up. Changing me out of the bloody clothes. Her mother must have found them.”
“Thank you, Mr. Gattis.”
The defense was smirking when he handed it back over to the prosecution who, unsurprisingly, had no questions.
It was a technicality, but Dr. Williams and the manager were called, to reemphasize Nate’s testimony. His version of events made iron-clad, robbing the prosecution of their strongest piece of physical evidence.
“Prosecution calls Elise Vaughn to the stand.”
Steeling my courage, I went to face the music, recounting the day exactly as it had happened. I even explained why his clothes had ended up under my bed, despite the embarrassment. The prosecution seemed to be trying to poke holes in Nate’s story, but there were none to be found.
The knock-out blow came when they called my mom. Stern and unflappable, she recounted her report, admitting she had made a mistake. She hadn’t actually seen any violence on the part of Hank Vaughn and had simply assumed. The prosecution was nearly spitting tacks the entire time.
“After consideration of the remaining evidence,” the judge declared, after a whole twenty minutes in his chambers, “I have no choice but to dismiss this case.”
To add insult to injury, the judge saddled the prosecution for all the court costs. Including the bill of Hank’s lawyer.
“Go talk to him.”
“I don’t know if I can,” I said, watching Nate reunited with Hank and trying to ignore the ache in my chest.
“You can, and you will, young lady. We didn’t come down here for you to chicken out now. Do not let your fears keep you from happiness.”
She was right, of course. If there was any chance of Nate and I ever even being friends again, I had to try before we were separated once again by our different schools.
“Hey,” I said, looking at my shoes.
“Hey,” Mate said, turning to face me.
“I’m really sorry about everything.”
“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault. I did the same thing, at the beginning. The dice just rolled on our table.”
“Isn’t that just the way?” Hank said.
“So, we can be friends again?” I asked timidly.
“Of course.”
“Might be a bit difficult without different school and everything but -”
“I transferred,” he replied bluntly.
“You wha?”
I was so surprised; I’d lost the ability to form full sentences with full words.
“The website opened before the schools officially did. I wasn’t just working the last couple of weeks. I also quit the football team, though only after securing a sizable academic scholarship, and requested a transfer. I wanted to go there in the first place, but I at least thought I had to go where I could get a sports scholarship.”
I couldn’t even put together a coherent sentence, so instead I threw myself at him and hugged him so tight I nearly squeezed the wind out of him. At least that was what it sounded like.
Holding me out at arm length, so he could catch his breath, he pulled me into our first kiss in far too long.
