Chapter 111 - Let's Defend Abir (Part-II)

Chapter - 111

"Or were you fired?" When Daniel didn't get a response from Arlo, he further asked. This time, Arlo flinched hearing Daniel, which didn't go unnoticed by Daniel.

It was time to hit the nail. Daniel turned towards the Judge and continued, "Your Honour, Mr Sadman here was fired from his job because of his involvement in this very incident. In the medical report on your table submitted by the prosecution, traces of drugs were found in my client's blood. This is true, and I am not here to argue about that. But the prosecution, without any investigation, concluded that it was my client Abir who did drugs." Daniel finally got somewhere around the point as he looked at the prosecutor.

"But this could not be any far from the truth. In fact, it was none other than Mr Sadman here who spiked my client's drink that day. Didn't you, Mr Sadman?" Daniel asked, turning to Arlo.

Arlo, on the other hand, had no interest in the proceedings of the case. He was busy weighing up his options and how he could get out of this mess safely. And after thinking of all the possibilities, he had made his choice.

While Daniel was trying to push Arlo into admitting his involvement, the prosecutor was feeling restless. He had to intervene before things were to get out of hand.

"Objection, Your Honour," the prosecutor stood up once again, "The defence is trying to lead the witness." The prosecutor complained.

But, as soon as the words left his mouth, the prosecutor found something flying toward him that barely missed his face before hitting someone in the audience. The Judge had just thrown his wooden hammer, trying to hit the prosecutor.

"I won't miss next time," the Judge warned the prosecutor, pointing his finger at him, "I know what I am doing. I know where to stop him. Don't try to be my father here. Understand?" The Judge bashed the prosecutor.

"Get me another that... what is it? That thing I use to bash this..." The Judge looked around as he slapped his table, "The hammer. Get me another hammer," the Judge asked his bailiff. Then he turned towards Daniel, "You continue."

Daniel nodded and looked at Arlo for the answer. It was not just the prosecution, but the more time Arlo took to respond, even Daniel grew anxious. If Arlo admitted to Daniel's accusations, he would be implicating himself as well. And if that's the case, there is always a possibility that Arlo might flip at the last moment.

"I did," Finally Arlo broke his silence and admitted. He leaned back on his chair and got comfortable once again. He went through all the options he had, and the best he could think of was to do some prison time and without offending Margaret, carry on with his life later.

His words finally brought some relief to Daniel, as well as Alex, on the side. But to everyone else in the audience, it was a big development.

"Can you tell us what really happened?" Daniel tried to extract more from Arlo.

Now that he had already decided to board the ship, there was no need to hold back, "It was like any other day, and the club was just starting to get busy. Around five in the evening, I got a call from an unknown number. I don't know who it was, but he asked if I was interested in making some quick buck. Well, who isn't?" Arlo shrugged as he looked around.

"I have a family to take care of, so I am always in need of money. The more, the better. Still, I didn't show my desperation right away. I tried to find out what it was. I won't go around killing people for money," Arlo tried to put significance on the point that though he was greedy, he wasn't willing to take it too far.

"But that person ended the call right after that," Arlo said, "I thought maybe someone was trying to prank me and threw that stuff at the back of my head."

"So how and why did you spike my client's drink?" Daniel asked.

"I am coming to that. Why are you interrupting my flow?" irked by the interruption from Daniel, Arlo got irritated, "If you have any doubt, ask me at the end. Now listen properly."

"My bad. Please go ahead," Daniel, on the other hand, didn't take it to heart. The case was by far in his favour. There was no need to get impatient.

"It was around, I guess seven, or sometime around it, that a young man came up to me and handed me over a small packet with some white stuff. He asked me to mix it into a drink and serve it to that young man," Arlo said, pointing at Abir.

"And you did it? No question asked, no benefits whatsoever?" Daniel asked.

"Well, he did hand me a paper bag with fifty grand. And told me that he was acting on behalf of the man on the phone I had talked to earlier," Arlo told Daniel.

"So you took the money and spiked my client's drink without giving any thought to what that unknown substance could do to my client?" Daniel asked, raising his voice, trying to intimidate Arlo.

But Arlo was not bothered by his mild outburst, "It's nothing new," Arlo looked at the Judge and said, "People always try to prank their friends all the time. They would make them intoxicated, strip them of their clothes, draw stuff on their face and much more. If you ever visited us with your friends, there is a high chance you will get to see it, or maybe experience it as well. It is very common stuff. On top of that, I have seen the two of them hang out multiple times in our club. So I had no reason to doubt his intention." Arlo told the Judge.

"Can you identify that young man?" Daniel asked.

Arlo just nodded and him in affirmation.

After that, Daniel showed Arlo some pictures of Abir's friends. When it came to a young man, around the same age as Abir, with blue hair and a mole on his right cheek, Arlo stopped Daniel.

"It is him," Arlo said, pointing at the screen.

"Are you sure?" Daniel asked once, just to confirm, and got a nod from Arlo.

Seeing John nod, the prosecutor could not take it anymore and smacked the table in frustration. "Prosecution, try to refrain yourself from expressing unwanted emotions in the courtroom". The Judge reprimanded the prosecutor.

"I am sorry, Your Honor!" The prosecutor apologised and sank back in his seat. This case was all but slipped out of his grasp. There is nothing he could do to turn it around.

After settling the prosecutor, the Judge started writing on the sheet in front of him as he ordered the guards present in the courtroom to track down the young man and apprehend him as soon as possible.

Then the Judge looked at Arlo, "Witness, you know that the things you have admitted to are illegal in nature, and you might get inflicted because of them. Are you sure that whatever you have told the court is true, and you were not coerced by anyone into bringing it in front of the court?" The Judge asked, trying to confirm Arlo's stand one last time.

Arlo didn't say anything but nodded, hearing the Judge.

"Very well then," the Judge had everything he needed.

As soon as the Judge passed his order, a smile bloomed on Abir's face as his manager patted over his shoulder, whispering something in his ear. He was clearly the happiest man in the courtroom right now. Alex, when saw Abir's face he felt if not for the crowd around him, Abir would be crying in his manager's bosom.

"One more thing before you leave, Mr Sadman. Did the police or the prosecution, at any given time in the past few days, visit your club for investigation and gather evidence related to this incident?" Daniel asked. He had proved that Abir was not the guilty party here. But he also accused the prosecution of destroying a vital piece of evidence. He has to prove that as well.

Arlo nodded, "It was on the day I read the news about this whole scandal in the news that two detectives visited me in the club." Arlo told the court.

"And what did they ask you?" Daniel continued with his question.

"At first, they questioned everyone in the staff, including me," Arlo told Daniel, "It was just some normal stuff about if I had seen him here? If he was a regular? If he was acting unusual? etc." Arlo said, pointing at Abir, "After that, they asked for the footage from inside of the club and outside of the club."

"And did you provide them with that?" Daniel asked.

"We did. We showed the detectives the footage they wanted, and after that, they took the original copy of the footage with them." Arlo said.

"So, where is this footage from?" Daniel asked.

"We have backup storage as well. At midnight, a backup of all the data related to the club is made and stored there." Arlo clarified.

"That's all, Your Honour," Daniel laid everything in front of the court, "The evidence is clear that the police and prosecution had enough evidence to investigate upon which they chose not to, implicating my client and his image in the public."

The Judge heard everything, wrote down his conclusions and from his point of view, the case was indeed an open and shut case like the prosecutor said, but it was so, from the perspective of the defence. The prosecution has totally failed.

Now there was nothing left but to conclude this case.

* * * * *