The Judge's Verdict

The law clerk looked up in surprise, as if he'd misheard me. "Reject it?"

"Yes." I flipped through the case file one more time before giving a slight nod.

Around the office, several colleagues poked their heads over curiously.

"You really think she's the killer?"

"Scarlett Kane comes from a wealthy family. Her parents have a loving marriage, her grades have always ranked at the top of her class, and she's won more awards than anyone can count."

"She and the victim, Madison Hale, were inseparable best friends. I honestly can't think of a single reason she'd want to kill her."

"On the other hand, there's Nova Spears. Everyone at school calls her a bully. Her parents are divorced, and she was raised by her father alone. He failed to keep a close eye on her. Not only are her grades consistently at the bottom of the class, but she's constantly getting into fights with local delinquents and bullying other students."

"And based on the evidence we have so far, Nova had a serious conflict with Madison before her death. In front of multiple classmates, she even threatened to kill her."

"No matter how you look at it, it seems obvious. Nova arranged to meet Madison on the roof of the abandoned building to settle their feud. Scarlett found out and rushed over to stop them, but she arrived too late. Not only was she unable to save her friend, she got dragged into this whole mess."

That final conclusion was, in fact, exactly what Scarlett had claimed in her testimony.

Her statement was clear and logically structured. She carefully explained the conflict between Madison and Nova, provided the text messages arranging the confrontation, and claimed that during an argument, Nova accidentally pushed Madison off the roof.

Everything fit together perfectly.

At first glance, the story was airtight.

Nova's testimony, however, was a mess.

Other than repeatedly insisting, "I saw Scarlett push Madison off the roof with my own eyes," nearly every answer she gave was "I don't know."

She didn't know why Madison had asked her to meet on the rooftop or why Scarlett would want to kill Madison.

Her statements were inconsistent. She also had prior records for theft and fighting, and she'd been caught lying before.

Because of that, everyone reached the same conclusion: if one of the two girls was the killer, it couldn't possibly be Scarlett.

I shook my head.

"So because Nova comes from a single-parent household, while Scarlett grew up in a happy family, you've already decided she's incapable of murder? I don't agree."