Lucy hadn’t seen Logan since the night that it had happened. She hadn’t wanted to see him. She still didn’t want to see him. The courts didn’t care about that, though. That was why he was sitting across the room from her. His blonde, perfectly brushed back hair, sparkling under the intense lighting. Lucy could feel herself frowning at him. She didn’t understand. She didn’t understand how someone could look so good but be so bad.
The judge came out of a wooden door that was built into the back of the room. Silence fell. The sharp and sudden stop of conversation wasn’t reflected with the echoing. That went on until the judge had taken his seat. Lucy scanned the crowd. Daniel had meant what he had said. He wasn’t there. The guard at the back of the room locked the door when the judge tilted his head. It was too late. Daniel wouldn’t be able to get in, even if he changed his mind. Lucy was going to have to do this alone.
The court started out slow. Lucy was surprised to find that the first two hours were filled without anyone other than the lawyers speaking. It reached midday before all of the official stuff was over and the questioning was about to start. Lucy watched as Logan took the stand. He looked confident, but it wasn’t an obvious kind of confidence. He was too smart for that. He knew that he’d have to convince everyone that a terrible accident had happened. Lucy could see it, though. She could see the way that he leaned back in his chair. She could see the steadiness of his breath.
After Logan was questioned, the judge broke for lunch. Lucy was relieved to find that the doors were unlocked and she was allowed to leave the room. She knew that when she went back in, it would be her turn to take to the stand. She knew that the small recess for lunch was only prolonging the moment that she was dreading the most. It was prolonging it, though, and that was what mattered.
There was a small garden running down the side of the court house. Lucy sat down on one of the benches and tried not to wrinkle her suit. The day was bright. So bright that it hurt her eyes, but the garden had enough overhanging bushes to provide some shade. She tried to look out at the sidewalk, but it was too bright to make out anything properly.
She thought about what she was about to do. She knew what she had to do. She knew that, even without Daniel, she had to do the right thing. If Logan’s life was ruined, then it was ruined. That was his fault. He’d gotten himself into the situation he was in. If he was found guilty, then maybe that was for the best. Maybe that would stop him from going too far in the future.
Lucy’s watch beeped and she stood up. It was time to go back. It was time for her to do what she needed to. The court room looked just the same, but it felt smaller when she walked back in. The high ceilings that carried echoes seemed closer to her. She tried to breathe, but the air felt stiff and heavy compared to what the outside world had to offer her.
She forced herself to take her seat and waited. The judge reappeared from behind the wooden door and the room dropped silent again. The thud of the locks being turned told Lucy that it was time to start. The judge looked down at his papers and then down at her. “Lucy,” he nodded, so that she knew it was her time.
The walk up to the stand was long. Lucy could feel every head in the room locked on to her. She sat down on the small, metal chair. It creaked under her weight. Maybe it was time that they replaced it. It didn’t seem safe to sit on. What if it broke while she was sitting on it? Could she sue the courts? Was that a thing? Who would take the case? It couldn’t be a court judge, because they would be biased.
“Lucy,” Logan’s lawyer broke through her chair-related thoughts. “Is it true that you were there on the night of Miss Goodson’s death?”
“Yes.” Lucy kept her eyes firmly on the lawyer. His hairline was receding. It made his forehead look abnormally large.
“And what did you see that night?”
“Well, we were all down at the beach.”
“We were all?” he asked in an attempt to get her to be more specific.
“Me and some friends. Logan was one of them and Miss Goodson was another.”
“So, you went down to the beach,” he brought Lucy back to the story she was telling.
“Yes, we went down to the beach. We were all drinking and having a laugh. It was all just standard stuff, really. Anyway, later on that night, we all thought it would be a good idea to go swimming.”
“So, did you all get into the ocean?”
“No.” Lucy shook her head. “It was just Logan and Miss Goodson, in the end. Most of us had drunk too much. We’re idiots sometimes, but we’re not totally stupid.”
“So, Logan and Miss Goodson went out into the ocean together. What happened after that?”
“Well, it was pretty dark…” Lucy faltered. This was it. This was the moment. This was when she had to pick left or right and stick with it. “They swam out pretty far, but I could still kind of see their shadows. They looked like they were just messing around in the water. You know, having fun?”
“And then what happened?” the lawyer pushed her to get to the point.
Lucy tore her eyes away from him. The room was all staring at her. Every eye she turned at was focused right in her direction. She could hardly breathe. She could feel Logan willing her to stick to his story. She didn’t look at him. She brought her eyes back to the lawyer. “It looked like he held her head under the water,” she told him quietly.
“And when you say he, you mean?”
“Logan.”
“So, you’re saying that you saw him holding her head under the water?”
“Yes. I saw him doing it. I thought at first that he was just messing around, but then time went on and he still wasn’t letting her up. I wanted to swim out and help, but I couldn’t. I was too drunk to.”
“What about the other people you were with?” the lawyer asked her skeptically. “Why didn’t you alert one of them to what was happening? Maybe one of them would have been able to swim out and help?”
“Maybe,” Lucy agreed. “I was drunk, though. I wasn’t thinking properly. If I’m honest, I couldn’t really believe what I was seeing.”
The lawyer nodded. “I understand.” He looked over at Logan and then back to Lucy. “So, if you were that drunk, can you really be sure that you saw Logan pushing her head under the water?”
“Yes.”
“How can you be certain, though, when you were so drunk at the time that you could do nothing to help?”
“Because, I’m sober now. Drinking might mess you up, but it doesn’t change your memory. I saw what I saw,” Lucy told him angrily. “He’s trying to make out that she died because of an accident, but it isn’t true. He killed her on purpose.”
“Why would he do that?” the lawyer asked her calmly. “You were all friends, weren’t you?”
“Yes, we were all friends, but that doesn’t change the fact that he did it.”
Lucy looked back at the crowd. Did they believe her? Did they think that he did it on purpose or did they believe him? Her eyes drifted around the room, until they came to a dead stop. It couldn’t be. She blinked. Her brain was playing tricks on her—had to be. It could sense that she wasn’t coping, and it had shown her his image to try and calm her down. She opened her eyes. He was still there. It was Daniel. His eyes met hers and he smiled supportively. “You can do this,” she watched him mouth, before the lawyer dragged her attention back to what was happening.
“I’m sorry, but I find it a little hard to believe that he would kill a girl for no good reason. I think it’s clear that what’s happening here is that we have a bitter ex, out with a grudge.”
“A bitter ex with a grudge?” Lucy repeated back to him angrily. “Are you kidding me??
?? she demanded. “That guy over there took a girl’s life. Whether it was an accident or on purpose, he did that. Look at him.” She turned to the jury. “Look at how he’s sitting. He doesn’t care about what he did. He doesn’t care that he took away a girl’s entire life. The only thing that he cares about is walking out of those doors at the end of the day. Does he deserve that? Does he deserve his freedom, his life, when he took away somebody else’s?”
The crowd started to mumble around her. “I have no further questions, your honor,” the lawyer said weakly.
********
Chapter 18
Lucy felt good. She’d done the right thing. Logan had been locked up. He’d been given a life sentence. She wasn’t sure whether the jury believed her story, but they’d listened. They’d listened to her when she’d pointed out Logan’s sheer lack of caring. They’d listened to her and they’d reacted. She’d done all that she could to bring Goodson justice.
Daniel was waiting outside for her. She felt her stomach turn when she saw him standing on the stairs. He was leaning against a pillar that was holding a roof over the front of the building. “Well,” he said when she was close enough to hear him, “that was quite a speech you gave in there.”
“Do you hate me?” she asked him without even smiling at his compliment. “Do you think I’m a terrible person?”
“Why would I think that you’re a terrible person?”
“I watched a girl die and I did nothing,” Lucy told him without meeting his eyes. “Why would you want to have anything to do with me?”
“You did everything you could.” He reached out. His hands took a hold of her shoulders and he forced her to look at him. “You got justice for that girl. There was nothing you could do that night. You were drunk. If you had tried to save her, you could have drowned. Maybe he would have hurt you too. You don’t know. It wasn’t your fault that it happened, though. It wasn’t your fault that you were drunk. You were just doing what people do. Logan is to blame for all of this. You need to remember that.”