Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Twelve Angry People ❯ Listening to reason ( Chapter 6 )

CHAPTER SIX

 

Tai just couldn't believe what was going on anymore. He felt like everyone was going crazy except him. “Okay look… now what about the old-man?” he asked. “Are we supposed to believe that he didn't get up and run to his front-door and see the kid tearing down the hall fifteen seconds after the killing?”

 

Kari suddenly stopped her brother. “Wait, wait a minute Tai…! Are you sure he said he ran to the door?”

 

“What's the difference?” replied Tai. “He said he got there.”

 

Kari wasn't convinced, and nether was Sora. “He said he ran… I think he did.” Sora said.

 

Joe stood up trying to break it up, “He said he went from his bedroom to the door.”

 

“Yeah I know that…” Kari said. “But I don't see how he could possibly have run to the door with that leg condition he had.”

 

Davis began to realize that was another important detail, and asked Izzy for a diagram of the old-man's apartment. “Look shouldn't we just have them runt he trial over again?” Tai suggested, but he was completely ignored when Matt butted in ranting, “Davis, why are you the only one who wants to see exhibits all the time?”

 

“I don't care about that…” Kari said. “I want see this too.”

 

“Yeah…? Well I'd like stop wasting time all together.” TK said.

 

Joe confronted Davis saying, “Are you going to drag us through all that nonsense about where the thought he was, or what he heard?”

 

“No…” Davis snapped. “It's just that I'd like to find out if it's possible for an old-man who drags one foot when he walks and uses a cane because he stroke last year can get to his apartment door in fifteen seconds.”

 

“He said twenty seconds.” protested TK.

 

“No he said fifteen.” replied Davis.

 

“He said twenty! What, are you trying to get at? Do you know how long fifteen seconds are? You can't judge a thing like that.”

 

“No, TK…” Cody spat at him, “I remember he said fifteen seconds, and he was very positive there.”

 

“He was an old-man… he was confused! How can he be positive about anything at all?” TK snarled but he decided to stop when he realized that he was insulting an old-man and everyone was giving him a look telling him not to insult people like that.

 

Still, the problem was not resolved. “Whatever it is you're trying to prove, I see nothing of what you see.” Joe stated, “The man clearly said that he saw the boy running through the hall.”

 

Davis wasn't so convinced, especially seeing as how he wondered, “If he heard the gunshot, and then heard footsteps racing across the floor. Now the old-man was certain that he couldn't have taken more than fifteen seconds to get form his bed to the front-door and see the killer running through the hall.”

 

“Yeah right…” Tai joked, “If the killer was running he must've made it half a town away by then.”

 

Some of the others chuckled slightly, “Say, Tai… why don't you quit making smart remarks so much?” Sora said to him.

 

“Awe, Come on Sora… lighten up a bit.”

 

Izzy got the diagram for Davis, and everyone huddled around to look at it closely. According to the measurements the old-man's bed was twelve feet away from the bedroom door, then it was another thirty feet to the front door. The outside hall way had to be at least forty feet long, with the boy's apartment right beside the old-mans.

 

“Now then…” Davis finally said. “If the old man was lying in his bed when he heard the gunshot, he would've had to climb out of bed, and grab his cane. Then he's have to walk twelve feet from the bed to the door, walk another twenty feet to the front-door, open it and see outside all in fifteen seconds. Do you really think he could've done it…?”

 

“Sure he could've done it, he said he did.” Matt stated, but Ken pointed out that the man could only move very slowly, “In fact they had to help him into the witness chair and down again. He could barely even get up on his own.”

 

“You're making it sound like a long walk and a struggle.” said TK.

 

“Well for an old-man who had a stroke it would be a long walk and a struggle.” protested Cody.

 

Davis decided that the only way to know for sure was to try it out himself; walk around the room like the old-man did and see how long it would supposedly take, as he calculated how long the room was and how much he'd have to walk, the others began to wonder why the lawyer didn't bring put the subject of the walk if it was so important?

 

“Maybe he didn't bring it up, or he thought he'd lose the case.” Matt suggested.

 

“Or maybe… it would've meant bullying and badgering to a helpless old man.” Davis said. “You know that won't work out well, so most lawyers prefer to skip it.”

 

He then continued to measure out the distances; He used two chairs between the entrances to the men's and ladies rooms to serve as the twelve feet from the bed to the door, and then he needed to calculate another forty feet going around the table and then back. So he decided to walk around the room and measure by the steps he took.

 

“Awe, come on… will you?” Matt said. “You're wasting our time here.”

 

Kari pointed her finger angrily at Matt, “If I remember correctly, you said it would only take fifteen seconds. Now we can spare that!”

 

As Davis continued to calculate his steps, Tai began to whistle casually, he stopped however when Mimi gave him a straight look and spat, “Come on, grow up will you?”

 

Tai whistled awkwardly, “Whew… testy, testy, much!”

 

Davis finally measured how far he had to walk, and he even decided to use the broom in the closet to serve as a cane. “All right… Joe… you stand here and mark the front door.”

 

Joe did as he was instructed. “It was chained-locked and knob-locked.” He pointed.

 

“Right it was…” added Davis. “Does anyone have their Digivice with them?”

 

“I have…” Mimi said as she quickly pulled it out from her skirt pocket.

 

Davis wanted her use her Digivice's clock to time him with the second-counter. “If you want, you can stamp your foot to start me. We can pretend that's the gunshot.” Then he got himself onto the first chair, but Mimi just stood where she was gazing at her Digivice clock. “Well… I'm ready…” Davis said.

 

The others began to complain about what was taking her so long. “Well, I want to wait until the seconds get to zero. It'll be easier to time.”

 

Finally, she stamped her foot…

 

Davis, pretending he was old and tired, slowly got up and off the chair and reached for the broom. Then he slowly began to walk across the room using his cane while dragging his left foot across the floor. While some of the others found this fascinating, some were still annoyed, particularly Matt. “Come on, move it! He can go faster than that.”

 

Davis agreed and put a little more speed into his steps, and told Mimi to shave off five seconds. Davis walked all the way around the table and up to Joe where he pretended to open the locks, and open the door to look outside. “Stop…!” he told Mimi. “How long did I take?”

 

Mimi compared the time, and even with the five seconds shaved off it amounted to, “Exactly, One minute, and two seconds.”

 

The others all gasped and exclaimed as they huddled around Davis. “Here's what I think must've happened...” he said. “Now the old-man heard the fight between the boy and his father, and his father's Digimon. Then when he's lying in bed, he heard the gunshot and then someone racing down the hall. He got up, and rushed to the door as fast as he could, and only heard someone racing away and assumed it was the boy!”

 

“I think that's possible…” cried Sora, and there was a slight exchange of comments between everyone else, until TK was standing by himself blurted out, “Assumed…?” everyone turned to face him, he was chuckling rudely at everyone.

 

“That has got to be the dumbest excuse I've ever heard. I mean look at you all! Here you guys are trying to show compassion for a guy who doesn't deserve it, what because he's a slum kid, and you're crying about injustice. Well if you guys think you're getting through to me, think again!”

 

He shot everyone a queer look, “WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU GUYS?” he shouted at the top of his lungs. “YOU ALL KNOW HE'S GUILTY. HE'S GOT TO DIE! YOU'RE LETTING HIM ESCAPE OUR GRASP.”

 

The others shot TK the deepest looks of shock ever. “Escape our grasp?” Davis sneered at him, “Do you realize what you're saying TK? What are you, his executioner?”

 

“I'm only one of them!” TK snarled.

 

Everyone's features hardened all the more. “Perhaps you'd like to be the one to pull the switch, and kill the boy?”

 

TK socked his hand with his fists, “Ooh… you bet I would… Especially for this evil punk…” He grinned very angrily, and his eye twitched.

 

Davis could finally tell where this was coming from. TK was letting his anger and hatred towards evil get the better of him and cloud his judgment. “Man, I feel sorry for you, TK. I mean what it must feel like to want to pull the switch.”

 

TK glared at Davis dead in the eyes, and could feel his anger boiling up inside as Davis continued to badger him.

 

“The real TK we know would never act this cruel!” Davis said. “Ever since you walked into this room you've been yelling in our faces, and scoffing at those of who changed their votes like your some sort o self-appointed public-avenger!”

 

“You say this boy is evil, because that's all you see in him. You want to see him die just for that; because you personally want it, and you don't care as much if your making a mistake or not.”

 

TK was breathing furiously now with his teeth grinding, and his fist clenched. Finally, when Davis spat put, “You're a SADIST!” TK snapped! “GRR…!” and began to charge towards Davis ready to murder him.

 

Kari, Sora, and Tai grabbed hold of TK holding him back, “Let me go! I'll kill Him… I'LL KILL HIM! I'LL--” he stopped when he realized what he just said.

 

“Exactly…” Davis said to him. “You said it… but you don't mean you'll kill me, do you?”

 

TK realized he was right, and the others let go of him.

 

At that moment, the bailiff opened the door and peeked inside. “Is there anything wrong folks? I heard some noise.”

 

Izzy cleared everything up that it was nothing but just an argument. He also took the chance to take back the diagram.

 

After the bailiff had relocked the door, TK noticed that all the others were gawking at him. “What are you looking at?” he asked as he went to get a drink from the water cooler.

 

The room began to grow darker as the evening began to come through, and the sun was blocked out by thick clouds.

 

As everyone took their seats, “Uh… excuse me…” Ken said as he stood at the end of the table where Tai would sit.

 

“Excuse you…?” Matt grunted, “What are you being so polite about?”

 

“Matt…!” Sora snapped at her husband.

 

“I could ask you why you're not.” replied Ken. “It's the way I chose to live.”

 

“Now… look at us, we're fighting way too much. We didn't come here to fight, or to be mad at each other. We're here to decide the fate of a person we never met before, or we have no connection too, that's how democracy works.”

 

“We don't really have anything to gain or lose by all of this, except for maybe one thing… and that thing is knowledge. We should learn as much as we can from all these details and testimonies as we can for it could help us through life. It can help me become a detective, and Cody and attorney… and maybe the rest of us can learn to be more observant.”

 

“But… whatever happens… we don't have to make this a personal thing.” Then he went back to his seat. “Hey, Ken…” Yolei said. “That was really cool…”

 

Her husband smiled. “My brother Sam used to do that all the time when mom and dad had a fight.”

 

Tai walked over to the windows. “Boy, look how dark it is?” he said. “Looks like a storm's coming.” Then he went back to take his seat.

 

Sora had been thinking about it for a little, “Listen…” she said. “I was thinking that maybe… we should take another vote.”

 

Tai laughed slightly, “Oh there's a good idea. While we're at it, let's pass a few refreshments around.”

 

Sora smirked at him, and then asked “Izzy… what do you think?”

 

Izzy scratched himself a little, “Well I guess that's a good idea. Anyone doesn't want to vote…?” Nobody had any objections, but Matt however had another idea. “I think we ought to make this an open ballot; call out our votes. This way we can see who stands where and narrow it down who to convince.”

 

Izzy approved of that too. “Okay now… one by one, I'll call out your name, and you give me your vote.” He instructed everyone. “Now… I'm first… and I vote Guilty. Mimi, how do you vote…?”

 

Mimi's lips twisted, and then she decided, “Not Guilty.”

 

“TK…?”

 

“Guilty!” he said gruffly.

 

“Joe…?”

 

Joe took a puff from his cigarette, and spoke softly. “Guilty.”

 

“Kari…?”

 

“Not Guilty.”

 

“Sora…?”

 

“Not Guilty.”

 

“Tai…?”

 

“Guilty.”

 

“Davis…?”

 

“Not Guilty.”

 

“Cody…?”

 

“Not Guilty.”

 

“Matt…?”

 

He coughed twice and then grunted deeply, “Guilty!”

 

“Ken…?”

 

“Not Guilty.”

 

“Yolei…?”

 

No response.

 

“Yolei…!”

 

Yolei's poor lack of better judgment was sending her in waves of confusion. She didn't know rightly which way to turn, so she just blurted out the first word in her head. “Guilty.”

 

Izzy added up all the votes, and shook his head in dismay. “The vote is now six to six. In favor a definite hung-jury.”

 

“Oh brother…!” Tai groaned. “It's like going through three tests and a midterm all at once.”

 

Matt threw his used-tissue on the table. “Six to six…! I'm telling you, you guys are really starting to drive me nuts. I mean a guy like that kid…?”

 

Cody tried to convince Matt, “I don't think what kind of person he is matters at all. Remember, the facts are supposed to determine the case.”

 

“Don't give me that! I'm sick of all these facts, and the way you keep twisting them.” He coughed and wheezed as he got up to get a drink of water.

 

Cody sat back down trying to bottle his anger up. “I'm going to pretend it's his cold and the heat making him shout like that. He's beginning to get on my nerves.”

 

With the vote now tied both ways, who knew where things were going to lead now as the rest of the guilty voters seemed convinced not to change their votes.