After a fat pause, Shirley drew in a long breath. "That is all. Tegwen's guilt will present itself better than any amount of evidence could."

Judge Dobbs shook his head slowly, seeming to be extremely exasperated with her. From day one he'd shown very little tolerance to Shirley or her clients. "Does that conclude your closing argument, Ms. Quackenbush?"

"Yes." Shirley took her seat. "I'm through."

Yeah, actually, I think you are. I probably could have made a better closing statement than that. Tegwen frowned. No one would ever think of hiring you if they could see how much of a fool you've made out of yourself. It'll be just my luck that I'll be acquitted because of your stupidity. Tegwen suddenly couldn't find herself having as much faith in the justice system as Fenton had the night before.

"Mr. Dodgers?" The judge prompted. "Present your closing argument, please."

"Yes." He cleared his throat and stood up slowly. Tegwen could see tears in his eyes. She realized how much it must have hurt him to hear what these people were saying about her, about the girl he raised. Tegwen quickly glanced back to see one of the last witnesses who was subpoenaed at Shirley's request. Tegwen fought back tears as she recalled how Magica had been pulled into the court room, kicking and screaming.

Tegwen locked eyes with the old crone just then and her heart sank. If Tegwen were to be found not guilty, it would mean that Giffen actually convinced the jury that witchcraft was purely fictional. She knew how much that hurt Magica. If Tegwen would be declared guilty, then the chances were good that Magica would be hauled off to jail as well for being an accessory to a crime.

An awful lot was riding on the jury's decision.

"First, I'd like to point out something that Shirley said in her closing statement about evidence. Duckburg police didn't do a thorough investigation of the gym and its surrounding area. To this point in the trial, not one arson investigator has searched the gym or its pipes for signs of a gas leak prior to the explosion. However, as the firefighters put out the blaze and began the clean up, nothing was found to incriminate Tegwen. No matches, no cigarette lighter. I find it hard to believe that Tegwen could have conjured up a fire out of nowhere. Any former Junior Woodchucks would know that well enough without me having to tell them." A few mallards chuckled quietly to themselves, undoubtedly former Junior Woodchucks, themselves.

"As for Magica De Spell . . . She is a close personal friend of my family. I, myself, have known her for many many years, even before Tegwen hatched. If she was a witch, I would have noticed something through all these years of friendship. And certainly I would be well aware of the fact that she was teaching my daughter magic spells. In any case, when Miss De Spell testified and was asked to perform an alleged spell, she was unable to comply."

Tegwen was only mildly shocked, but slowly she realized that he wasn't lying. Giffen and Beitiris evidently were not aware that Magica was teaching her witchcraft. And neither of them had ever actually seen her cast a spell. Tegwen knew how Giffen felt about the various charms that Magica had given to her-- little trinkets with "supposed magic" to help her live through middle school and high school. It was over half a year since Tegwen had received the little ruby-colored charm which dangled from a silver bracelet. But she remembered it like it had been the previous night, how Giffen thought of the charm: "Magica told her that it would protect her from the bullies-- it's kind of like Dumbo and his 'magic feather.' She did that to boost our daughter's confidence."

She knew the biggest problem with Magica's cross-examination; the old witch worked primarily with potions and sparkly dust, tangible tools to bend reality to her will. She was unable to bring any of these items to the courthouse and thus couldn't do what they asked of her. Or if she could, she chose not to. She swore on a bible to tell the truth but since when did a witch care about Judeo-Christian scriptures? Tegwen didn't have to stretch her imagination far to think Magica De Spell would have no qualms about lying while on the witness stand. Particularly since it was in her protege's best interests to.

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