Travis shot a basketball into an old basketball hoop. It had been four years since his trial, and, like he thought, no one came to visit him. Travis picked up the basketball and shot it again. Thank goodness I still have an hour of free time outside…
Travis was about to shoot again when he heard footsteps behind him. Looking back, he saw a security guard walking up to him. "Mr. Sherman, you have a visitor. Please come with me."
A visitor?
*The day before*
Miranda Veal was speeding through the highway, trying to get to work on time. "Great…I oversleep on my first day of work! Perfect! Just perfect!"
Miranda finally made it into the parking lot of a law firm. Rushing in, she sped walked into her boss's office. "Sorry for my slight tardiness sir!"
Her boss sighed. "You didn't make a good first impression Ms. Veal."
"I—I'm sorry sir…"
"Anyways, enough with that. I actually have a special assignment for you today."
"Special?"
"Yes. You see, one of our defense attorneys just passed away a week ago. I want you to clean out his files. There was a high profile case he once did two years ago, and I'm curious to see how he handled it."
"Handled it?"
"The prosecutor for the case claims he did some shady stuff to get his client a not guilty verdict. He has requested to see the documents referring to the case. He should be here in a couple hours, so I need those files as soon as possible."
"I'm on it sir! Just where was his office?"
Miranda's boss pointed her to an office in the corner of the building. "This must be it…"
Opening the door to the office, the smell of stale cigarette smoke hit her nostrils. "Man…talk about a heavy smoker."
Going to his filing cabinet, Miranda opened it. "Well…not too many cases…should be easy to find."
Miranda looked through folders. "Let's see…solved…solved…solved…"
Miranda finally found the folder she was looking for. Taking it out, she was about to head out of the office when another file caught her attention. Miranda walked over. "Hmm…it seems he crossed out solved in this folder…"
Opening the folder, the picture of a woman stabbed in the chest appeared. "Whoa…"
She closed the folder and walked out of the office. "I already found it boss!"
"Good work Miranda."
"Can I ask you something?" Miranda asked as she handed the folder to her boss.
"What is it?"
"I spotted a folder on the desk in the office, that originally said 'solved' but was crossed out."
"Hmmm…can you bring me that folder?"
Miranda shook her head, brought the folder in, and gave it to her boss. Opening it, he shook his head. "I remember this case…it was only his third trial."
"What happened?"
"A college student was charged of killing his own mother. He firmly believed he was innocent, but failed to prove it in court. Actually, he was dominated in court. Didn't even last a day. Anyways, he always beat himself up for it and was always investigating in his free time. By the looks of it…he didn't get far."
Miranda shook her head. "I see…do you have any other tasks for me?"
"Right now, no."
"May I take a look through the folder then?"
"Hm?"
"If that case was still important to him, four years later, we should at least look into it."
"I see…very well then. You may look at it until I tell you otherwise."
Miranda took the folder, shook her head, and left the office. "Wait, one more thing."
"Hm?"
"The prosecutor who's coming here…he was the prosecutor in that trial as well."
"W-what?!"
"I'll let you know when he gets here, so you can ask questions about that trial."
"Thank you sir…"
Miranda walked away and went into her makeshift office. "Ah…the benefits of being the low woman on the totem pole…"
Miranda sat down in her lumpy chair and opened the case file. There she saw all the evidence presented at the trial, and a copy of the only testimony that was spoken. Flipping through, she saw the background of the defendant.
"Travis Sherman…eighteen years old…has two siblings…was a star high school basketball player who had a full scholarship for college…"
Flipping the page over, she saw scribbled notes all over the place. Most of them were unreadable, but the few she could read talked about bloody fingerprints. For the next couple hours, Miranda studied what happened during the trial, fascinating her. I read plenty of scenarios in law school…but this one…seems to have captured my attention…
After what seemed to be a few seconds for her, there was a knock on the door. A man dressed in a suit was at the door. "Ms. Veal, the boss would like to see you."
"Already? I was just there."
"Umm…you were there a couple hours ago."
Miranda looked at the clock, to see that two hours had passed. "Wow…time went by fast."
Miranda rushed out of her office. When she reached her boss's she saw a brown-headed man standing in front of the desk. Her boss leaned slightly to the left and smiled. "Ah, there she is."
The man turned around. "You must be Miranda Veal."
"I am."
"My name is John Everest. I was told you had a…fascination…for a trial four years ago."
"Ah, yes. I was reading over the case file. Do you remember Travis Sherman?"
"Travis Sherman…ah, yes! He was convicted of killing his own mother."
"Can you tell me about the case?"
"Sure. Although I may get a couple things wrong, considering it was four years ago. Anyways, an elderly gentleman noticed that the front door to the victim and defendant's house was open. After trying to get their attention, he walked inside…and discovered the ghastly scene."
For the next several minutes, John told Miranda about the case. Miranda finally spoke. "I do have a question though."
"What is it?"
"The man saw the figure put his hand on the doorknob…was there anything on his hand like a glove?"
"…that…never got mentioned in the trial…so I honestly don't know."
"…that was a premature verdict then…"
"Huh?"
"Did you have any questions about whether or not there were gloves on his hands or not?"
"…"
"Please…tell the truth."
"To be honest…the thought crossed my mind after the verdict had been decided…"
"Did you have any other doubts?"
"…..thank you again, Mr. Emmit for lending me the documents."
John walked passed Miranda and walked out the door. Miranda stared out the door. "…that does it."
Miranda's boss looked at Miranda. "What do you mean?"
"Mr. Emmit…I officially request I be assigned to reinvestigate the case!"
"Huh?"
"There are too many questions left unanswered! The gloves…someone could have hit his head against the bedpost…the fingerprints…the fact that the witness didn't see the figure's face…everything! I request that I at least look at it one more time!"
"…I'll grant you the request."
ns 15.158.61.20da2
