Ariel's half closed eyes bulged open for a split second and they looked around the room nervously. There was a lucidity in her voice that normally wasn't there. "Like...w-why is that important?"

The audience and the jury spoke amongst themselves, noisily speculating on that question.

The judge banged her gavel loudly. "Order! Excuse me, Miss Hawkins, why IS that important? Do I really need to know about her body functions or anyone's for that matter? Can't someone just go whenever they feel the need?"

Mina was silent until Vicki spoke up. "Excuse me your honor, as much as I hate to admit it, she's right. Ariel is normally my number one spreader of ladies room gossip! She even declined to go with me to snark about that zit on my attorney's forehead!"

Mina gritted her teeth but nodded. "See...see what I'm getting at this. Ariel was acting a bit out of the ordinary, don't you think?"

Ariel's wide eyes continued to dart around frantically. She pulled at her pigtails and then smiled and closed her eyes smugly. "I'm a ditz brain..." she giggled and flashed two peace signs. "Of course I act out of the ordinary sometimes...like totally!"

"I can believe that," Divine Justice remarked. "What are you getting at, Miss Hawkins?!"

Mina took a deep breath. "What I'm getting at...is that Miss Headly isn't as much of a dumb blonde as she wants us to think. In fact, she's quite smart. Smart enough to kill Brad Gart Jr. And pin the murder on her best friend!"

The audience gasped. Vicki trembled Her hands to her mouth, she tried to get the words out. "Ariel...did you really do that?! Did you really kill Brad...?"

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Mina chuckled to herself. "I finally have Miss Ditz right where I want her!"

But much to her surprise, Ariel continued to gaze into space, her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth hanging slightly ajar. "Well, you know, I like don't think that's possible! If I killed Brad beforehand...people would have like totally found out. But nobody did!"

Ariel blindly pointed her index finger at the wall with her hand outstretched. "Figure that one out, Miss Smartypants!"

Mina closed her eyes too. Not to prove how stupid she was, but rather to mediate on what Ariel had just said. How could nobody have found out about her murder if Ariel did commit it. There were a lot of people in the mall at the time and somebody else could have walked into the bathroom unless...

Mina opened her eyes and pointed straight at Ariel. "Connection! I've figured it out! There is only one way Ariel could have kept everyone out of the bathroom until she was ready to frame Vicki! She used the 'Out of Order' wet floor sign!"

Ariel flinched so hard her pigtails hit her in the face. "Like ouch! This is a dangerous hairdo!"

Mina placed her hands on her hips and grinned boldly from behind the podium. "Not as dangerous as the girl who is wearing the pigtails. Earlier that day, you invited Brad into the bathroom with you, and then you shot him with a silenced pistol. You then wiped the gun, planted the tissue with Vicki's finger prints and planted the wet floor sign to keep everyone from finding out. Then you later removed it before Vicki had to go! You know, for a self proclaimed dumb blonde, you sure know how to murder someone like a genius!"

The whole room was stupefied into silence. Even the judge couldn't believe the level of law Mina laid onto Ariel. Lawvis Cresley was devouring his peanut butter and banana sandwich in order to distance himself from the odious stench of murder on Ariel's conscience.

At last, Ariel opened her eyes. They were filled with a forlorn wistfulness. She forced a smile on her face, but it was clearly to disguise the pain. "Well then," she said sadly. "If I truly murdered Brad, tell me this...what could possibly be my motive for doing it?"

Mina thought back to Brad Senior's testimony and the awful things he said about his son's side mistress. It all became absolutely clear to her.

"Ariel Headly...you pretended to be stupid this whole time. You killed Brad Gart because...he is the reason your sister took her life!"