Room 186

Chapter 24

The next day, Lyric straightened his sleeves and took a deep breath. He raised his hand to push open the courthouse door -

And it flew open.

"The fuck?" Lyric said aloud.

"Language!" a radio-announcer voice said from behind the door

"Char?" Lyric broke into a broad smile and walked in.

"Yes?" Char's head peeked around the door at waist level.

"Char! What are you doing here?"

"I'm a witness for a trial that's supposed to start in half an hour," she said as she shut the door for him. "I was waiting for you. Amari told me about the whole Mr. Griffin thing. I wanted to talk to you about it."

"Okay," he said as he sat down. "Shoot."

Char frowned. "Don't you have a trial too?"

Lyric chuckled. "No. If I had a trial, I wouldn't be here this close to opening. I just came here to do some work. What did you want to talk about?"

Char sat down beside him, her feet swinging like a kid's. "I'm not sure. I am still a little mad at you. I know why you didn't tell us what you were up to, but I can't stop myself from being a bit frustrated. I just . . . I feel like I was being used."

Lyric nodded. "That makes sense. I promise Amari and I were trying to find a better way to do it all, but we couldn't come up with anything. I'm really sorry, for what it's worth."

"I know," Char sighed. "Oh - did you talk to Justice Hapsburg?"

Lyric frowned guardedly. "No. I meant to after Mr. Griffin's trial, but I forgot about it. Why?"

Char fixed him with her stare. "You know why as well as I do, Lyric. I'm the primary witness for the trial she's at right now, in Room 154."

"My first trial was in Room 154," Lyric said quietly.

"She's officiating the trial for the man who was let off because of the blood test," Char continued. "Justice Hapsburg explained it all to me. I didn't kill that little kid. You know that, Lyric. You let me off."

"You didn't kill him," Lyric echoed. He knew his suspicions had been correct. "Because he did."

Char nodded grimly. "Exactly. Tad - the boy - was under five years old. There was a gunshot wound to the nape of his neck. There were the words YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE cut into his back. It was in a town that began with an A, in a state that began with an I. It followed the pattern of the other nine killings."

Lyric swallowed. "I didn't know about all that."

"I do." Char looked at her hands. She was fidgeting with a ring on her pinky finger. "I watched him kill Tad."

"Holy shit," Lyric breathed. "That's why you were a suspect."

Char nodded. Her lower lip was trembling. "I was babysitting him," she explained in a rush of words. "I took the babysitting job because I needed money to pay for college. I came here because I was visiting my mother and a friend of hers contacted me and offered to pay a hundred bucks a day. Naturally, I could hardly resist. Anyways, I was coming back from a grocery trip and I touched down. I saw the front door closing behind someone, and because his mother was very paranoid about someone breaking in, and hadn't told me about anyone who was invited over, I slipped in the door and closed it behind me. I don't know how he got in. I double-locked the door. But he didn't notice me as he - as he - " She broke down in tears and buried her face in her hands.

Lyric moved closer and put an arm around her shoulders. "Do you want to tell me the rest?"

Char nodded into her hands. "I need to get it off my chest, and I can't break down in the courtroom." She took a deep breath and continued. "He snuck up behind Tad and pulled out a gun from his pants pocket. I should have yelled or something, but I was rooted to the spot. I couldn't talk. I could barely breathe. I always freeze up when I'm scared, and I was terrified. He pulled out the gun and - and shot him." She gulped. "Tad slumped to the floor. I knew he was dead.