"Order in the court!" The judge bellowed as he banged his gavel.

It had been a long sleepless night for Lewiston. He spent the rest of the night, staring out the window, making sure no one walked up the street too slow or too fast. Sheriff Herman didn't show up until eight in the morning and Lewiston refused to leave the sheriff alone with his client. He was not about to lose on the final stretch of this case. It wasn't even until they escorted Archie to the courthouse that Lewiston excused himself to run back to his boarding room to get his notes, because he knew the sheriff wouldn't try anything with witnesses around.

A whole town wanting to kill Archie Cummings. There would have been a time, Atwood would feel like Lewiston's home away from home, but today he had a job to do, and nothing was going to stop him from doing it.

"We are now in session," The judge announced. "Mr. Lee, how does your client plead?"

Lewiston stood with his hat off (it was sitting in front of him on the table) and said, "Not guilty, your honor."

The crowd watching the proceedings groaned when they heard this and Lewiston ignored them. He bent over to look at Archie with a smile and whispered, "It's going good so far." Archie was too nervous to react.

"Order!" the judge banged the gavel, shushing the crowd. "Mr. Lee! Proceed!"

"Understood," Lewiston said as he walked around to the front of his table. "In order to not waste the court's time and to end this proceeding as soon as possible, I'm going to call my first witness to the stand. Doctor Knowles."

From one of the middle benches that the crowd sat on, the doctor stood up. He excused himself to the few people he had to walk past to get to the aisle and make his way to the stand. He had a saddened look upon his face as he walked past Lewiston. The bailiff met the doctor and held out a bible. The doctor put his hand on the Bible and repeated the oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help him God.

The doctor sat down on the stand as Lewiston stood before him. The lawyer gave the doctor a nod that said thank you. The doctor answered back with a nod of his own.

"Dr. Knowles," Lewiston began, "please explain your relevance to this case."

"I was the doctor who tried to treat the boy's wounds and failed." He answered as competently as he could, but there was still a crack in his voice, so he did his best to clear it up with a cough.

"The boy being Russ Landen's son?"

"Yes."

"Tell me what you found."

"Marks all over the boy's back, legs and arms. Deep bruising made by a stick. Probably a cane." The doctor made sure he made eye contact with Archie as he described the injuries.

"What else did you find?"

"Trauma to the head."

"Made by a cane?"

"No."

"Then how did he get the head trauma?" Lewiston turned around and faced the crowd so he could see the crowd's reaction when the doctor answered. After some quick searching, Lewiston found Sawyer and Russ Landen sitting behind the prosecuting attorney's table.

"On the way home," the doctor said, then stopped. He didn't want to say this next part. "His father's wagon flipped over and the boy hit his head."

The crowd started to stir. Russ Landen perked up.

"And is that how he died?" Lewiston asked.

The doctor had trouble answering, but he persevered and said, "yes."

The crowd gasped and started talking amongst themselves. Lewiston heard Russ say, "What?"

The judge banged his gavel and called for "order!" Lewiston turned around and faced the doctor, not waiting for the crowd to quiet down and asked, "To clarify, the Landen boy did not die by Archie Cummings' hand?"

"Correct," the doctor answered.

The crowd started talking even louder than they were before. The judge started banging the gavel again to silence the crowd that was still rumbling. Lewiston quickly walked over to his table, grabbed a piece of paper and brought it over to the judge.

"Your honor!" Lewiston said as he handed the paper over to him. "You will see that the Doctor's report will state that Russ Landen's son died by a horrible accident and not by my client's hand. I request we dismiss this case and clear Archibald Cummings name of murder."

This announcement made the crowd erupt into more mixed emotions that they couldn't help but express. Some couldn't believe what they were hearing, while others refused to believe what was being said. Regardless of what they thought, the judge banged the gavel weakly as he continued to read the evidence that had been brought to him.

Russ Landen buried his face into his hands as he said, "You mean I killed my own son?"

"No, no!" Sawyer exclaimed as he put his hand over Russ' shoulder. "It wasn't your fault! If it wasn't for that bastard--"

"Order!" The judge called out, banging the gavel with authority this time, silencing the crowd, who desperately wanted to hear what he had to say.

"As a result of this evidence," the judge continued, "I am inclined to agree with Mr. Lee. Doctor Knowles notes are clear and there is no reason to go on with this case. Archibald Cummings is dismissed of all charges of murder. Case dismissed."

The judge banged the gavel one final time and the crowd let out all of their mixed responses.

Sawyer stood up, enraged and started shouting at the judge. "No! No! Are you blind?! "He shouted. "My grandson wouldn't have died if it weren't for that man! He was weakened. Battered! Bruised!"

The judge ignored Sawyer's words and walked out with the bailiff and Sheriff Herman right behind him.

"It's over Mr. Landen, Lewiston said, catching Sawyer’s attention. The lawyer couldn’t help but feel sympathetic as he said, "You should go."

"This isn't over," Sawyer told Lewiston.

"Today it is," Lewiston turned his attention to Russ whose face was still in his hands. Russ felt a presence and looked up with his bloodshot eyes. "Sorry for your loss," Lewiston told him and quietly walked away.

Sawyer watched the lawyer make his way back over to Archie. The grief-sickened grandfather patted Russ' shoulder and said, "Let's go, son."

The rest of the court began to clear out. The last one to stand up was Russ. Sawyer guided him to the door with his hand on his shoulder. Before he exited, Sawyer stopped and looked at three men who sat in the corner of the room. They looked at him, waiting for instructions. Sawyer nodded at them, then walked out. That was all that the three men needed

Lewiston was at his table, gathering his papers back into his bag. Archie, still in pain from his bullet wound, used all of his strength to stand up by using the table. He held his hand out to Lewiston. The lawyer stopped what he was doing and looked up at him.

"Thank you for everything," Archie said.

Lewiston sealed up his bag and stared at Archie for a long minute. For Archie, he stared for too long, but for Lewiston, it wasn't long enough.

"You let that school know I held up my end of the deal. You understand me?" He finally said, refusing the hand shake from his now freed client. Archie licked his lips in frustration and nodded. He went to slowly walk away, maybe go to his home, which he hadn't seen in many days, but froze in place. His heart dropped as he realized his ordeal wasn't over.

Lewiston saw his reaction and gave him a curious look. The lawyer turned around to see what struck fear into his former teacher's heart. Standing behind him was the strong farmhand with the scar over his eye that he saw on the Landen property. He was joined by two other men and they meant business.