~Chapter 2~
POV: Amber
"Surely you can't be serious."
"I am serious! And don't call me Shirley."
"Keith."
"Relax, would you? We have 70 dollars and a pair of girls underpants. We're safe as kittens."
"Keith."
"Let me ask you something, and I'm not trying to be funny here."
"I'm pretty sure you're trying to be funny here."
"Are you sure he's not a midget with a learning disability?"
"If I hear one more movie quote out of you before this trial ends, I'm cutting your salary."
"You need to calm down, kid. It's not even that important of a trial." Of course he's serious when money's on the line.
"But we're going up against her! And you just told me that both of our witnesses are on the defense's side."
"Chill out. You have a solid copy of that one girl's list. It's not like she can lie."
"I'm sorry, it's just that… Our court system is in ruins! It's easy to fight back against forged evidence- it contradicts the real evidence, and it takes a total of thirty minutes to test its authenticity. But when the court allows feelings to be used as evidence?! It's unacceptable!"
"She did have concrete evidence in her last trial."
"She had an earring that she claimed came from a moon rock. If the prosecution hadn't been on her side, he would've pointed out that she has no proof of that! Her earring could easily have been made of a cheap stone that was also used in the courtroom."
"Amber… Take a deep breath. Don't judge a kid before you know them."
"...You're right, I'm sorry." Did I really put an innocent man on death row? Ack! No, you couldn't have. All the facts lined up…
"Amber." Keith placed his hands on my shoulders, and looked me in the eyes. "Don't make things more difficult than they already are. Just focus on doing your best in the present, and the past won't matter anymore." I swear he can read my thoughts sometimes.
"But… What if I've sent other innocent people to their deaths?"
"That's not your problem, kid. That's the defense attorney's fault."
"You don't understand… You aren't the one who pounds the final nail in someone's coffin."
"The present is a gift. Unwrap it while you can. You've got a trial in ten minutes, and that woman's guilty. Go for it."
I looked at the detective in the eyes. If it were anyone else, I'd ignore their advice… But I knew that he'd gone through too much to disregard. "All right. I'll even save the wrapping paper, just for you."
"Nah, save it. Maybe you can return some of your old presents that you didn't like."
"I'll need the original packaging, and I doubt they'll give me a refund."
"...You took my cool metaphor, and completely destroyed it."
"That's a prosecutor's job," I replied, laughter just barely rippling through my serious expression. He grinned, and, without a word, I turned and took my place at the prosecutor's bench.
I was ready.
(O)
"Court is now in session for the trial of Aura Blackquill."
"The defense is ready, Your Honor."
"As is the prosecution," I added. I looked over to see my red-haired opponent, looking more confident than I would've expected.
"Very well, then. Ms. Barnett, your opening statement please."
"Twelve individuals were taken hostage in the afternoon of December 20. The prosecution believes that the defendant, Aura Blackquill, is a culprit of aggressive false imprisonment."
"And Ms. Cykes, I assume you believe otherwise?" the Judge asked.
"Well… There's no doubt that she took the hostages. But the defense does not agree that the false imprisonment was aggressive."
"The prosecution has evidence to support their claims, of course. Malice is a form of aggressive false imprisonment, and the prosecution has a decisive witness to prove that the accused did indeed threaten to kill the captives."
"You may call them, if the defense has no objections." I looked over to see a silent attorney, so I responded before she could make something up.
"The prosecution calls Trucy Wright to the stand." A young girl in a magician's costume hopped up onto the stand, wearing a grin as flashy as her outfit. "Please state your name and profession for the record."
"My name's Trucy Wright, and I'm a magician! ...And a high school student."
"Would you please testify regarding the accused's treatment of you?"
"Uh, that's what I'm here for." She grinned. "Well, we were kept in the Space Museum. Aura didn't hurt anybody, but she did threaten to. I have a list of some of the things that she said."
"Did you personally feel threatened by anything that she said?" Ms. Cykes asked. Part of me wanted to object, but I got the feeling it would be overruled.
"Well, most of them were targeted towards me, but I didn't feel very threatened. She's friends with Polly, and Polly cares about me a lot. The fact that she threatened me the most makes me think that she never really was going to kill anybody."
"Did she know about your connection with this 'Polly'?" I asked.
"Polly is referring to my co-worker, Apollo Justice. I have his signature on a document that states that he told Aura about his relationship with Trucy," Ms. Cykes answered. Huh. She expected this? "And so, the defense asserts that the defendant had no malicious intent for the captives!"
"Objection!" I yelled, slamming my palm on the bench. "The witness claimed, on the list I'm holding, that the defendant said, 'If you don't mind losing hostages, you can take all the time you want.' Clearly that wasn't directed at the witness alone. Regardless of the defendant's intent, many of the hostages feared for their lives."
"Do you have proof of this?" The judge asked.
"I don't bluff. I have another witness, one who can describe her feelings during the hostage crisis."
"Does the defense object to the current cross-examination ending?" the judge asked, seemingly bored. This presumably wasn't nearly as exciting of a trial as he'd seen yesterday.
Ms. Cykes stood at the defense bench for a moment, flicking that demonic earring. "No objections for now," she decided.
"All right, then. I call Juniper Woods to the stand!" I saw the ginger flinch… Clearly, she was just as surprised as I'd been. I can't believe that Keith didn't choose our witnesses better. He told me that he'd done a background check! A moment later, an innocent looking girl took the stand. "Please state your name and occupation for the record."
"I'm Juniper Woods… I'm a high school student."
"Would you tell us about the events that occurred yesterday?"
"Um, yes. I was at the Space Center… In the museum. I was worried sick about my friend…" She looked over to said friend, who seemed to be holding back tears. I didn't like emotional people much. "Well, there were ten other people in there with me. When we were younger, Thena and I had a secret hiding place in the museum, so I stayed there, thinking of her… All of a sudden, a flood of robots came into the room… They were followed by two more, which were holding Trucy, and then Miss Aura came into the room…" Juniper began to cough.
"You're all right, Junie. Keep going."
"She told us to be good, and she stayed in a corner, holding some electric equipment. I think she controlled the robots from there. Everyone in the museum was really scared… Except for Trucy. She seemed pretty excited, actually." Of course she did. "She started doing magic tricks for all of us, and it cheered me up a little, but I was still scared. We could hear Aura threatening to kill the hostages from time to time, and we all panicked…" She broke out in another fit of coughing.
"As you can see, the defendant was a source of fear for all of the hostages. Unless you don't trust the word of your best friend?" I challenged, looking Ms. Cykes in the eyes.
"Argh…" She stood in intense thought, but she clearly struggled to come up with anything. I beat a psychologist in a psychological debate. I felt a bit proud of myself for that one.
"The prosecution believes that the defendant should receive sixteen months in prison, as the law requires for aggressive false imprisonment… And I don't believe there's any more room for debate."
"Aggressive false imprisonment… That's a felony!" Ms. Cykes cried.
"She took twelve people as hostages," I reminded her.
"Er… I have a question." Wow, the judge speaks.
"Go ahead, Your Honor."
"Were any of the hostages younger than 14? The law says something about that, doesn't it?" You sounded so intelligent… And then you ruined it.
"Yes, Your Honor. However, Trucy Wright happened to be the youngest hostage, at the age of 16. Juniper Woods was 18, and none of the rest were children… Children aren't all that excited by museums to begin with, and there was still a murder investigation going on."
"Ah, I see. I wouldn't want my grandchild to go to a boring site of a murder!" But you would want them to go to an exciting one?
"Your Honor, I believe this trial is over."
"I'm inclined to agree… Wow, this is the fastest trial I've judged in a while!" The judge smiled, clearly pleased with himself. "I suppose I can spend some time with my grandchild now. I'm ready to hand down my verdict, if the defense doesn't have any objections."
"Objection!" Darn it! Ms. Cykes stood with an outstretched hand, not saying a word.
"What exactly are you objecting to?" I asked.
"I was hoping to come up with a question while I was objecting, Your Honor... I didn't." She looked up to the judge sheepishly.
"Hmm… I feel as if I've heard someone say that before…" He stopped to think.
"Uh, Your Honor? Would you please pass your verdict so that you can spend that time with your grandchild, and the rest of us can get on with our lives?" I asked, impatient to get back to the office.
"Oh! Right. Would the defendant take the stand?" Aura walked up to the stand nonchalantly. "I declare the defendant, Aura Blackquill…"
GUILTY
I zoned out as he began to rattle off some ancient judge's code, that involved a higher court and a possible re-trial that I knew this girl would never attempt to do.
"Court is adjourned!"
(O)
"Good job to you sir! Or as we say in our country, Subete ga suchīru samurai hyō!"
"...I don't know what movie that was from, but remind me never to watch it."
"Hmph. I thought everyone had seen the Steel Samurai movie."
"Whatever. That trial was a pain in the neck." I glared at him, and he jumped.
"Hey, I didn't realize that checking the defense's relationships with the witnesses was part of the job. And it's not like you needed it, anyways."
"It did feel good to watch her squirm," I admitted. "Even if it was only for a few moments."
"You should try being a little nicer to her. She's a good kid."
"I don't get that impression."
"Hey, don't forget the innocent until proven guilty rule. The evidence is so far inconclusive."
"... The innocent until proven guilty rule? I've made it through Themis Legal Academy, and I can't say I've heard of it."
"Huh. I thought it was a thing, but maybe I'm wrong," He replied, thinking carefully. "My law teacher was a bit of a nut."
"...We had the same law teacher, Keith. I'm going back to the prosecutor's office… Dylan should be there soon, and I don't trust him alone with Kay."
"Heh, good choice, kid. I might take a while longer… I want to talk to that girl."
"If you weren't ten years older than her, I'd think you were flirting, detective."
"Heh. As if you could pick up on flirting when you saw it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I growled. Keith just walked away laughing.
I swear I'm cutting his salary.