Law School Murders: The Suspect

A coldness existed in the deposition room. A little red light from the camera captured Kim’s face. She looked relaxed and composed. She had flesh colored gloss on her lips and a red an white houndstooth suit. She looked at the camera. It reminded her of one of Yawquisha’s.

“Miss Jergensen when you spoke to the suspect, what did you mention?”

She shrugged. “He wanted to know about his grade. Simple student-teacher banter.” She looked at Brenda who sat right next to her.

Brenda nodded.

“Mr. Barston. You were at the fraternity when the suspect opened fire. You found your frat brothers in a pile of death. What did you do first?”

“What do you mean what did I—” Barston started then his lawyer Luke Yeoman suggested he answer the question.

“I called the cops.”

“You didn’t wait? The call seemed to take a full ten minutes.”

“I didn’t think. I mean I didn’t know what to do. I just found my phone and dialed 9-1-1. I didn’t think.”

“There’s something I wanted to ask you, Miss Jergensen. Who was with you when you were talking to the suspect on that day?”

“There was no one else in the lecture hall.”

“So, no one could verify if you were actually by yourself with the suspect.”

“The student was by himself with me.”

The district attorney made a few notes. He then looked at Barston.

“Would you say you were close to your fallen brothers? Were you close to the shooter?”

“I mean, I didn’t know any of them closely but I did have an idea of who they were. They were good guys.”

The camera recorded it all and Kim felt as if she was in a ridealong again. Then she felt as if the paparazzi hounded her again.

“With your celebrity status, did you influence the suspect in any way?”

Brenda stepped in right there. “Relevance?”

Yeoman retreated and restated the question.

“Did your influence have any bearing on the suspect?”

“No.”

The sound of her response was like a hammer striking a steel sheet.

“Mr. Barston, did you take all that time knowing that your brothers were either dead or dying?”

“Like I said, I wasn’t thinking. I had never seen anything like that.”

“Did you chase the suspect?”

“I did. I ran as fast as I could. Then the cops showed up and I had to talk to them about what happened. What I knew.”

“Miss Jergensen, did you notice any signs?”

“Like what? That he was a homicidal maniac?”

Barston snickered.

“I mean did you have in mind any suspicion? Did you use your detective skills to pick up on anything?”

“I did not.”

“What can you say is your greatest regret that day you saw the suspect?”

Brenda intervened again. “This is leading. You’re trying to get my client to be involved in the situation she clearly could not have prevented.”

“Okay, so what about the other students? What did they say about the suspect? What did you detect about him?”

“All I knew is that he had mediocre grades. Is that enough to lock him behind bars? It’s been a while. The stenographer snickered this time.

Barston folded his arms. “Mr. Barston, after the scene was cleared, what was the first thing you did?”

“I showered and got changed. I really don’t remember a lot. I hit a bong after that. You’re not going to arrest me for that will you?”

“No, we’re not interested in minor drug use. You’re not being deposed for ingesting marijuana. What we want is to prosecute the suspect.”