Naive by Charles Royce (world best books to read .txt) 📕

can you tell me what happened to your friend Frank?”

“He overdosed on some shit he got from a friend of Lenny’s.”

“Okay, wait, let’s back up. How do you know Frank got drugs from a friend of Lenny’s?”

“Lenny always told us beware of this guy he called Ghost. He knew we was heroin addicts, like he was.”

“What did he tell you to beware of?”

“Well, he said he was bad news. He described him as all freckly and shit, like an albino black guy or something. We had other friends who knew the guy, said he wasn’t that bad. Said he had awesome heroin. We always thought of him as this badass superhero villain dude. He was kinda like one of those myths, ya know? Like somebody you heard about but never could see?”

“Like a ghost?”

“Psshht. Yeah.” Talbot laughs again.

“So, what happened the other night. To your friend Frank?”

“Well, Frank, the dumbass, was thinking about using again. I tried to stop him. But he was jonesin’ bad. He texted me all this shit about setting a deal up in the middle of the night.”

“Can you read aloud for me the texts from that night? And can you read the times of these texts as well, so the jury has an idea of when all of this happened?”

“Sure.” Talbot says. He begins to read in monotone.

“11:07pm, Frank:

Doing it. Made a new friend LOL

11:08pm, Talbot:

New friend? WTF?

11:37pm, Frank:

Dude says to meet him at 3am down by the river. Says he’ll be in a fucking wheelchair.

11:40pm, Talbot:

No. Don’t do it. Not worth it.

3:03am, Frank:

Got it. And get this. It was Ghost guy! Creepy AF dude, all freckly and shit. Iconic.

3:07am, Frank:

Swear to God, he had that heroin with the ghost thing on it. I’ve got some good shit.

3:08am, Frank:

Had to snap a pic of the Ghost before he vanished haha! I’ve got the shit baby. Come join me!

“Then he sent a blurry pic of the wheelchair dude,” Talbot says.

Instead of using the monitor, Shawn pulls a giant cardboard-backed photo that had been leaning against the side wall, and proudly places it on the giant easel in front of the jury.

“Is this the photo that Frank texted you?” Shawn asks Talbot.

“Yes, sir, that’s him, I guess. Fucking stupid what Frank did.”

“Thank you, Talbot. Now I know this next part might be hard, but can you tell me what happened to Frank the very next morning?”

“It was all over the news.”

“Yes, but can you tell the ladies and gentlemen of the jury what happened to Frank?”

“He was in the middle of OD’ing, roaming the streets, and got hit by a taxi and died.”

“Yes. Wait—he died?”

“Yeah. Yesterday.”

“Jesus,” Shawn says. “Apologies to the court. I’m sorry, Talbot.”

Shawn sits back down.

Astrid stands up. “Mr. Lexington, I’m Astrid Lerner.”

“Excuse me, I’m not done yet,” Shawn interrupts. “Gimme a second, please.”

Astrid sits back down.

Shawn takes a moment to compose himself, allowing the feelings of guilt to pass through him. First Jenna, now Talbot. He sees his single-mindedness of winning has infiltrated his core beliefs, slowly ripping them from the inside out. How could I have missed the fact that Frank died? He shakes his head.

“The bag was never found, so it couldn’t be analyzed, but here are the toxicology results from his doctor.” Shawn waves a sheet of paper at the jury. “Turns out he was poisoned. Poisoned with a fatal mix of heroin, crystal meth, and cyanide. And, according to the text exchange that Mr. Lexington just read to you and the photo you see here today, he was killed by the same man whose heroin was found inside Lennox’s apartment.”

Shawn remains seated.

“If that’s all, then your witness, Ms. Lerner,” says the judge.

Astrid approaches Talbot. “Hi, Mr. Lexington. I’m so, so sorry about your friend. I was talking with his parents this morning, and they were asking about you. Are you doing okay?”

“Yes, ma’am. Staying close to the program. Haven’t done any drugs or drank or nothing.”

“I’m so proud of you. That’s awesome. I just have three questions for you. The first one is, can you tell me what other drugs that you and Frank would do together?”

“Yes, ma’am. We did crack, heroin, and crystal meth.”

“Thank you. Next question. Do you know or do you suspect that Lenny was doing drugs in the weeks or months before his death?”

“Oh, absolutely not. I could tell if he was. Trust me. Lenny was clean.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Ma’am, I may be young, but I’ve been around. I can tell if somebody’s doing heroin. I woulda asked him for some if I thought he was using.”

“Thank you, Talbot. Last question. How do you feel about that guy right there?” Astrid asks, pointing to Micah.

“Objection. Relevance.”

“Goes to motive, if you will allow the witness to continue.” Astrid crosses her fingers.

“I’ll allow,” rules Judge Wilson.

“Micah is a fucking jealous faggot,” Talbot says.

The judge bangs his gavel. “Watch your language, young man.”

Talbot swallows and hunches over even more. “Yes, sir.”

Astrid walks toward him. “It’s okay, Talbot, just tone it down a little. You were saying…”

“Yes, ma’am.” He sits up in his chair. “I loved Lenny like a brother, but that guy, Micah? Fucking jealous, sorry, freaking jealous as hell. My friend Frank was one of them pretty boys, swung both ways. Whenever Lenny would hang out with Frank, Micah would be all up in their business. Asking where they’d been, fucking calling Lenny all the time.”

“Objection,” Shawn says. “Hearsay.”

“I know what hearsay means,” Talbot says, looking up at the judge. “And Frank didn’t just tell me that shit, I was there.”

“Overruled,” says Judge Wilson.

“I have nothing more for this witness.”

“Mr. Connelly, you may call your next witness,” prompts the judge.

“The defense rests.”

“Court is adjourned until tomorrow morning at 9:30am,” says the judge.

“Thank you, Talbot.” As Talbot walks by him, Shawn tries to make up for his lack of empathy and follow-through. “I’m so sorry about Frank. Hang in there. You got this.”

Talbot leaves the room in silence as the jury completes their exit. Astrid begins packing up