Looking For Trouble

Chapter 9: Bikini bottom

CHAPTER 9

Arya Crawford

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds. So, ride on good sir, you will find it amidst the colours.

But unfortunately, there are rules of architecture for a castle in the sand. And my attempts at defying physics weren't making my castle look too hot.

I labored away on my sandcastle, gathering sand, patting it down, constructing layers and so on. I eyed Carter's sandcastle from the corner of my eye to see he was almost done sculpting his boundary wall. How had he started after me but ended up ahead of me? Not that it was a competition.

After the delightful declaration that Carter and I would move forward in our relationship, if you could call it that, as friends, conversation had come easier for me. I was no longer worried about pointed questions about the internship or hurt feelings.

That being said, I could finally ask him about the details of his trial. I hadn't read up on it or asked Charlie before but after asking if he was comfortable telling me about it, the questions and answers flowed easily.

"There was a second suspect in my building at the time that my previous attorney hadn't had the brains to question. But Charlotte got him subpoenaed and broke him on the stand."

I felt pride swell inside me. Ofcourse, she did. Charlie was badass like that.

"It cast more than reasonable doubt, and now he's on trial for the murder of Robert Walsh, instead of me."

Apparently the then suspect and now defendant Jacob Moore had a personal grudge against Robert Walsh for firing him. After losing his job, Jacob Moore had fallen into a lot of debt, a lot of drugs, and a lot of problems. And when one day he saw Robert Walsh battered and bruised, running down the steps of the run-down building Jacob rented a room in, it was like fate was smiling at him, encouraging him to get his revenge. No neighbours in sight and the building security cameras never working was an added bonus. He grabbed a knife from his kitchen, easily caught up with a limping Robert Walsh and thrust the knife into his chest, right beneath the sternum, and then left him there gurgling in a pool of his own blood. By the time Carter had caught up with Robert Walsh, the man who had assaulted his mother, he was already dead and his real killer had fled.

The police had already responded to calls from the building about an assault, and as fate would have it, they arrived right when Carter knelt down next to the dead body of the man who had given him every reason to kill.

The case had seemed open and shut then, given that Carter's defense attorney had not been competent. But when Charlie managed to have the case reopened, old testimonies revealed cracks, new evidence found its way to the surface, and previous suspects started looking even sketchier.

Among other witnesses, Jacob Moore was also brought in. When cross-examined on the stand, Charlie was able to break him and conjure forth almost a confession. But while he had not fully confessed, he had generated enough doubt to find Carter innocent of the charge of premeditated murder.

Satisfied with the details of the trial and that justice had been served, though four years late, our topics of conversation changed from one thing to the next. Like how Zack, Arthur, the Don and the rest were doing. Whether Carter had gone to see them. How he was finding his course load and whether he wanted my Astro notes for the few classes he had missed before he started university.

We spent a while joking, laughing, teasing each other, all the while our hands were busy forging castles in the sand. Carter sculpted battlements into his walls of sand using the edge of a plastic shovel, while I just slapped some more wet sand onto my base. I would occasionally catch his gaze drawn towards my half-bare legs, and instantly I'd feel my heart beat a little quicker in my chest and heat rise to my cheeks. In embarrassment, I'd throw some sand in Carter's direction and look away 'innocently', garnering a naughty glint in his eyes and promises of payback.