[GlacierDragon]

Chapter 2: Murderer

The trial finally ended an hour and a half later. Outside the courtroom Frank pulled Chad aside. “I thought you were good at your job!” he yelled angrily, for he had indeed lost. “Why’d you let me down?”

Quickly glancing across at his opponent, Chad replied, “Those guys are rich enough to bribe anyone into being a witness to something that never happened. It’s obvious he was lying, but with so much evidence against us…” he shrugged. “I’m sorry, but there’s no way we could have won.”

Frank glared at his lawyer, fighting back anger. Without a word he spun around and strode out of the room, not once looking back.

Chad yawned, trying to keep his eyes open. He’d been up all night again. He sneakily reached into his coat pocket and brought out a small packet of pills, which he looked at with a mixture of fondness and distaste. He quickly swallowed two of them, and the rest he hid back in his coat, hoping no one had noticed. Afterwards he lit up a cigarette and began to puff away.

“Hey, thanks for the help,” a sarcastic voice sounded from behind him. Chad peeked uninterestedly over his shoulder, only to look into the face of the Chronicler who protected Mark.

“What ya talking about?”

“I’m talking about back in there. I mean, I thought we were going to have trouble today, what with all they say about you. I was told you were really good and always won a case, but I guess I heard wrong.”

Chad took another puff of his cigarette. From the outside he didn’t look like he cared, but inside he was battling to keep a lid on his anger; to try and keep his temper.

“So what happened anyway? It was like you just gave up. What sort of attitude is that for a lawyer?”

Chad did nothing but stare straight ahead, his arms folded. Rage was quickly building inside him, though for what reason he couldn’t understand.

“Wasn’t there something about your parents? They snuffed it, or something, didn’t they? Wow, tough luck.”

Chad gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowing. Slowly, he turned to face the other Chronicler.

“What, you’re surprised I know? Don’t be, after all it’s just company policy to read up about our enemies. And, oh, what was it… you’re fiancée left you, didn’t she?” He shook his head, faking concern. “And I think I read about some other things, none of them good. If you want my opinion, it must be really terrible to –”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence, for at that moment something inside Chad clicked. His anger overflowed and before he knew what he was doing he’d picked up his briefcase and smashed the Chronicler in the face with it. He fell over backwards howling, clutching his face in his hands. But Chad didn’t stop there. He dropped to the floor next to him and continued to pound him with the briefcase, ignoring the onlookers that began to scream and yell. Pure fury was all that controlled Chad as he beat his enemy’s face with all his strength into a bloody mess. It was as if someone else was in control of his body. Only when he was sure the Chronicler was dead did Chad stop, his breathing coming heavily.

His rage died suddenly, and he looked with horror at what he’d done. He was knelt in a pool of blood, which was rapidly spreading out across the floor. More blood was splattered on his hands and down his front. Fear overwhelmed him. He stood and backed away from the body, his eyes wide. He was aware of people shouting and screaming at him, but he didn’t actually hear them. A Glikk was howling something into a phone. He’s calling the Sligs, Chad realised.

Knowing he had to get away, he briskly strode to the door. The Glikk who’d been reporting him tried to get in the way, but was shoved roughly aside as the Chronicler hurriedly exited the building.