Here it is! The 4th and final chapter! The final evidence is so awesome!

Classroom Turnabout Part 4

The whole courtroom was in an uproar! But I stuck to my statement. I knew what I said was true. And Haff wasn't looking too hot. Finally, I could hear the judges' gavel through all the talk.

"Order! Order in the court I say!" he roared. "Mr. Wright! This is such an accusation! Do you have proof that Mrs. Haff is the murderer?"

I thought it through quickly and said, "Of course, Your Honor! You see, Mrs. Haff is an English teacher. Therefore, there is no way she could have told if Erin's fingerprints were on the knife or not just by looking at it!"

"GAAA!" Haff yelped and slapped herself more.

"OBJECTION!" Payne shouted. "Your Honor! What Wright is saying is a fraud! Mrs. Haff saw what she saw."

The judge shook his head yet again. "Overruled," he said calmly, "But there is one question I have for Mr. Wright: How could Mrs. Haff know there were fingerprints on the knife?"

"Uhh… Urgh!" I groaned. "Umm… Let's see… The only way she could have known there were fingerprints on the knife was if… Aha! I got it!"

"What is it, Mr. Wright?" the judge asked, his eyes wide.

"I figured it out!" I exclaimed. "The only way Mrs. Haff could have known about the fingerprints and blame them on Erin is if she saw someone holding the knife!"

"Who is this person, Mr. Wright?" Payne asked.

"Yes," the judge chimed in, "Please specify who this person is."

"Its simple, Your Honor," I said, confident with myself. "It's none other than Al himself!"

"What?! How could this be?" Payne questioned.

"Recall Gumshoe's earlier testimony about the knife," I said, " 'It was a knife salvaged from the kitchen. It is unknown who stole it first: Al or Erin. But what we thought was that Al stole it, Attacked Erin with it and failed, Erin managed to swipe it and stab it back.' Now, if you switched Erin's name with Mrs. Haff's in Gumshoe's statement, you can see how clear how the murder was committed. Plus, Mrs. Haff could've seen Al use it, take it from him and stab it back! Then she wiped off her own fingerprints and simply place the knife back in Al's hand while he was dead, thus leaving his fingerprints on the knife."

The crowd was murmuring. The judge said, "It is a pretty interesting theory, Mr. Wright. And it does seem to be reasonable enough to understand a perfect murder and framing."

"Wait!" Payne gulped. "It is also possible Erin could have done the same method!:"

"But, Mr. Payne, we already covered this," I said, "There was no time for Erin to run into the class where Al was in, but there was all the time for Mrs. Haff to commit the murder."

"GWAAA!" Payne squealed, his arms flying back in a defensive position once more as if he were about to be struck.

"So, Mrs. Haff," I said, "Do you deny this theory?"

At first, she looked very stiff and frightened, but she did the one thing I hated the most about lying witnesses: she began laughing out as if I was the biggest loser in the world.

Great, I thought, what is it now?

"Hah hah hah hah hah hah!" she went on. Then she stopped and looked at me and spoke in a very calm voice, "Very well done work, Mr. Wright. But I believe there is one major thing you have forgotten before having a person dragged off to jail."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, "And what is that?"

Haff laughed on again and rang out the word, "Motive. You can't claim a murder case without a motive!"

"Wh-WHAT?!" I exclaimed. Dammit, she's right!

"I believe that is true, Mrs. Haff. Unless Mr. Wright finds a motive, there is no way he can prove your guilty sentence."

"See what I mean," Haff rang out, "You can't deny any ignored facts, Mr. Wright! Now, if you don't mind, I have a class to get ready for this Monday!"

"I hate to accept this, Wright, "You don't have a case without reasons."

Ugh! Is there NOTHING left for me? … Wait a second…

"Now, Your Honor," Payne said, looking pleased with himself, "announce your verdict!"

"Very well," the judge said disappointedly.

But before anyone said anything else, these words escaped from my lips: "HOLD IT!"

The courtroom froze and all eyes were on me. Payne looked astonished. The judge looked perplexed. And Haff looked uncomfortable.

"Please wait, Your Honor!" I pleaded. "I think that I DO have the evidence to prove Mrs. Haff's motive!"

The judge paused for a second, clearly in deep thought. "All right then. But this is you last chance! Is that clear Mr. Wright?"

"Yes, Your Honor," I gulped. This is it! I only have one shot!

"Okay then, Mr. Wright," Payne simpered, "Show us this 'evidence' if it is even possible!"

"You can try, Mr. Wright!" Haff proposed.

"All right, Mr. Wright," the judge said, "Please present to the court what Mrs. Haff's motive is."

I took out Al's profile and exclaimed, "TAKE THAT!"

The judged looked at it. "Is this the profile of Al, Mr. Wright? How does this prove Haff's motive?"

"Because," I said, "Al was a juvenile delinquent in English class, am I correct?"

"Yes, I suppose." At this point, Haff more uncomfortable the more I spoke.

"So," I said triumphantly, "Her motive lies on this piece of paper!" I took out Al's classroom pass and showed it to the judge.

"The… classroom pass, Mr. Wright?" the judge said quizzically. "Where does this have her motive."

"Look right here," I said, "at the Notes/Comments section. Quote the part that says 'You don't deserve to be a student in my classroom'."

"So what you are saying is…" the judge said slowly.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "Don't you think Mrs. Haff would have been really fed up with what Al has been doing in class and decided to end it?"

There was a long pause. Then the sound of Haff's shriek filled the courtroom. When she stopped, she was huffing in and out repeatedly.

"Mrs. Haff…" the judge said with his stern look, "Is this true?"

Everyone was hushed. Finally, out from her lips, I heard her quietly say, "…Yes…it was me. I did it… I DID IT! I DID IT! …" she suddenly began shouting while punching herself in mid-sentence: "… I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! …" She continued on until her face was filled with bruises. Haff stopped for a split second and then collapsed onto the floor.

This is what happened. After school, Al sneaked into the empty kitchen to get a knife. He arrived first at the classroom to attempt to kill Haff since he was so annoyed with her giving him bad grades. He attempted to attack her when she entered the classroom, but she managed to grab the knife from him and stab him back and leave with his fingerprints still on the knife and blame the only other person who seemed reasonable to have killed him: Erin.

"This is for your only good, Teach! Go to Hell!"

"I don't think so, Al! Huu…Urgh!"

"GAAA! Huu…Blergh!(crumple)"

Five minutes later…

The judge looked at Payne. "Your client, Mr. Payne?"

"Unconscious in the lobby with handcuffs on her wrists," Payne muttered through gritted teeth.

"I see. Mr. Wright?"

"Yes, Your Honor?" I asked.

"You have solved one of the most despicable crimes I have seen, thus continuing your perfect court win record."

"Thank you, Your Honor." Though my loss with Engarde doesn't really count, does it?

"I will now announce my verdict! The defendant, Mrs. Erin Runn, is found not guilty."

A leap of joy filled my heart as the crowd cheered and Gumshoe threw confetti from the stands. I have made it through yet another case!

The judge pounded his gavel. "That is all," he said, "Court is adjourned."

(March 20, 11:00 a.m., District Court Defendant's Lobby No. 2)

"OH THANK YOU, MR. LAWYER SIR! I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT YOU!" Erin cheered happily.

"Yeah, well," I said, "That teacher was pretty good with her sentences and all, but when someone lies, no one gets away!"

"But I feel bad for Al," Erin said sadly. "I really didn't mean to say he was stupid. But I can't change the past now and those were the last words I've said to him!"

"It's okay," I said optimistically, "You see, when he was killed, you were in the same school with him and you were with him since forever and is now with you as we speak."

Erin was immediately brightened up at this. "Thank you, Mr. Lawyer. My family will do whatever we can to repay you."

"Great!" I said, relieved. "Here's my bill!" I quickly wrote it out and handed it to her. The instant her eyes were on it, they widened and a loud shriek filled the hall as she ran out the doors to the building. "Drop of the money by next week!" I shouted after her.

I turned around to find Payne who was standing right behind me the entire time. "You- you won again, Mr. Wright." I expected to find his voice full of hate and indignation, but, to my surprise, it sounded congratulatory.

"I see," I said, plainly, "But aren't you mad that you once again presented evidence that made you lose yet another case?"

"No, actually," he said quite calmly. "I just wanted to see if I had another shot at you. But at the end of this case, I learned that I can't ignore the facts and follow the truth."

"As Terra Haff says," I added.

"So I am going to give you my thanks as a Prosecutor to a more skilled Defense attorney like you," he said. Payne held out his hand to me. I shook it and said, "I would also like to thank you, Payne. It turns out that you aren't such a bad guy after all."

Payne only nodded and walked off. I watched as he walked away and thought my day couldn't be any better than this.

But a familiar voice behind me interrupted my thoughts. "Hey, Nick!" I turned around to see Maya standing there, in her usual spirit-medium clothing and all.

"Oh! …Hey, Maya!" I said. "Aren't you here a little late?"

She looked offended. "What are you talking about? I'm here as your aide for the trial!"

"Ummm… Yeah…" I said slowly, "I hate to break it to you, but the trial is already over!"

"Wh-What?!" Maya burst out. "I missed it? But I couldn't have!"

"Apparently you did, Maya." I said. "You were sleeping there on the office sofa with midnight snacks all around you. I tried to wake you up, but you just didn't budge."

"You've got to be kidding me!" she said, looking disappointed with herself. "From now on, only burgers for me!" She switched from unhappy to cheerful quickly and exclaimed. "Come on, Nick, let's head to the usual burger joint and you can tell me all about your trial!"

Sigh! Same old Maya, and same old day! I thought in good spirits.

And so, that ends yet another trial with me, and I look ahead to further and more difficult challenges that lie ahead of me!

Classroom Turnabout: End.

Well, there it is! One great trial I thought of all out! This wraps up my first fanfic! Thank you for reading!