After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 40

Watching his hands glisten under the running water as they shook made Ralph Langley feel guilty. What exactly he felt guilty about, he couldn't say for sure. He could take his pick of the litter; the charges against him, being a bystander to Simon's and Piggy's deaths, keeping the secret of Evan's abuse, the downfall of his and Jack's relationship, disappointing his parents, lying to his lawyer about him and Jack, the fact that Evan left, the fact that Evan came back.

Only two and a half more days of trial until the Christmas break, Ralph thought to himself as he turned off the tap in the courthouse public washroom. He shook his hands before pulling paper towel from the dispenser. And just as he turned to go, the door was swung open from the other side.

When his eyes fell over the tall, large figure of Evan Merridew, Ralph froze. He dropped his gaze to take in the man in his entirety. Ralph tried not to picture him crushing Jack's bones against the beautiful white floor of the Merridew mansion. Though, that was easier said than done.

"Scuse me" Evan mumbled as he stepped around Ralph. The boy turned his head just enough to watch the man approach one of the open urinals. Ralph diverted his gaze, leaning up against the wall beside him. He felt tense as he waited, and nervous; definitely nervous.

When Evan turned back around, he flinched when he saw Ralph standing against the wall in wait. He clearly wasn't expecting him to still be there.

Ralph stared at Evan, watching the man regain his composure. Evan walked over to the sink and began washing his hands as if Ralph weren't there at all.

"Why?" Ralph found himself breaking the silence.

"Excuse me?" Evan said more firmly and clearly this time.

"Why'd you leave them in the middle of all this?" Ralph had to know, no matter how afraid he was of Evan or the answer to the question.

Evan chuckled mockingly at Ralph as he finished washing his hands. He stayed quiet as he dried them on paper towel, tossing the used piece into the garbage bin beside him.

"It's none of your business, kid" Evan insisted with confidence. "You've got your own case to worry about, no time to be worrying about ours."

"I always have time for people I care about" Ralph combatted, "no matter what. And so do my parents, even when I mess up. Jack deserves that too."

"You don' know shit about my son" the man snarled in a low, domineering voice. "And a golden boy like you is better off for it."

Ralph wasn't sure how to respond. Evan was wrong, he did know Jack, he just didn't know how to prove it without proving too much.

"You stay away from Jack" Evan added as he took a step toward him, "for your own damn good" he added as he stepped around Ralph and out the door.

Ralph couldn't remember how many times Jack abandoned him in the middle of a conversation just like his father just did. Ralph never spent any real time around Evan Merridew in the years he's known Jack. Perhaps that's why he never saw it before; how alike they were.

Court was back in session at one o'clock for the cross-examination of Bainbridge Military Academy's physical education teacher, Timothy Howell.

"Mr. Howell" defense attorney Jeremy Reynolds began as he slowly approached the bench. "As previously established, you kicked Larry out of your class four times in the school year before the plane crash in September of 1990, correct?"

"Yes, that's correct" the witness confirmed.

"And approximately how many other students in all eight of the classes you taught were also kicked out of your class three or more times that year?" Reynolds prompted.

"Objection!" Barnes rose from her seat at the prosecution table. "Relevance, Your Honor?"

"I'm establishing the defendant's character in respect to other boys his age" Reynolds defended his approach.

"Overruled" Judge Eldeson sided with the defense. "The witness may answer the question."

"A handful of students" Howell answered.

"Give me a ballpark number" Reynolds requested, "what percentage? A quarter? Half? How many from each class, on average?"

"About a quater of students from each class. In some classes a few more, others a few less" the gym teacher replied.

"So approximately twenty-five percent of students, give or take five or ten percent, were removed from class as often as Larry Evans was?" Jeremy Reynolds sought to confirm.

"Yes."

"How many students are in each of your classes on average? Just so the jury can get a better understanding of how many students we're talking about here" Reynolds asked.

"About thirty, some gym classes have two homeroom classes together my classes can have up to sixty-five depending on the grade" the teacher responded.

"If my math is correct, we're talking about eight students per class of thirty, or between fifteen and twenty per class of sixty. Does that sound about right, Mr. Howell?" Reynolds prompted.

"It does" the teacher agreed.

"So a quarter of students in your classes tend to be as disruptive and sometimes even disrespectful, as you claimed Larry Evans to be" the defense attorney made to establish.

"Objection" Barnes stood up almost boredly. "Is there a question in there somewhere?"

"Do you have any further questions for this witness, Councillor?" Judge Eldeson asked the defense.

"I do" Jeremy Reynolds said with both confidence and certainty. "Mr. Howell, how many of those twenty-five percent of students with records like Larry Evans have been charged with murder?"

"None to my knowledge" the teacher answered.

"So tell me how it is possible that Larry Evans' track record of occasionally misbehaving in class lead him to become a murderer at eleven years old" Reynolds pondered aloud. "How come all the other students with similar track records didn't become child killers if a habit of acting out was the what led my client to commit murder, as the prosecution is arguing?"

"Objection!" Dana Barnes declared more forcefully this time. "Calls for speculation, Your Honor."

"Sustained."

"No further questions, Your Honor."