Chapter Three

The man took a seat at the defense's bench. All eyes turned to him, the trial was finally ready to begin – and with Atakin "Att" Torny, no less – a man known for his impeccable record as a defense attorney. But something was... Different. He didn't have his usual fiery face, and his hair was far messier than usual. Nevertheless, he was present, unlike Detective Case. Where did he go? The trial had "begun," and he was nowhere in sight.

"Ha! See, he came just in the nick of time! I had my timing as perfect as I am!" The Judge blurted out. Ugh, what a character.

"If you're as perfect as your timing you have quite a ways to go. It's already 12:11, eleven minutes after the trial was meant to start, and the attorney arrived six minutes after you did." This was undoubtedly going to be a long day.

"Well aren't you just a cup of joy? Ugh, and I could be home working on my collage of Ethan Hughes-" The judge began to respond, cutting himself off. "-Wait a minute! I have all the supplies here, I could make a collage while the trial goes on!" He began to pull out sheets of paper, scissors, glue, and not to mention an ungodly amount of tabloids featuring the actor. He really was serious.

Naturally, this threw the entire courtroom into disorder, for a multitude of different reasons. He couldn't be serious. He wouldn't REALLY make a collage in the middle of a murder trial... Right?

"Judge Mendel! You can't be serious!" Cried Rose."You surely aren't this unprofessional," Lacy concurred

"Rejoice! He's one of us!" Screamed the gallery in opposition, flaunting signs with giant faces of Ethan.

"What's the big deal?! The audience totally approves!" Yelled Deems, basking in the audience's love.

Lacy sighed, once again. She had to take control, before this got out of hand.

"ORDER!"

Her voice echoed all throughout the courtroom, and eyes turned to her, as the commotion died down. "Now, are we finally ready to begin this trial? Or, is this courtroom such a mockery it will have to wait until a later date?"

"What?! Do you not think I'm qualified to conduct this trial?!" The judge, dropping his collage supplies, slammed his gavel down. "COURT IS NOW IN SESSION FOR THE TRIAL OF ETHA-"

"You already did that." Lacy pointed out.

"Oh, uh, right. Ummmmm, what's next?" Deems dropped his gavel, pondering what was next in a court's proceedings. "Ah, that's right! Defense, your opening statement please!"

Atakin looked at the judge, baffled. "Correct me, but isn't the prosecution supposed to give their opening statement first?"

"Oh! Right... Uh, Prosecutor..." The incompetent judge struggled, fumbling through his files for a few seconds, before finding the correct ice cream stained document. "Kathline! Prosecutor Kathline, could you please give us an opening statement?"

Finally! This trial was beginning to move along. "I would be pleased to. The defendant stabbed our dearly departed Ethan Hughes with a steak knife, until he bled to death. A truly gruesome way to die, may I add. What's more is she had complete access to all cooking utensils, seeing as she's the official cook for the manor. Her fingerprints were even found on the handle of the murder weapon. In addition, a bracelet was found on the scene which contained the defendant's initials. We may end the trial now, if you all wish. I'm sure you all have better things to do." Lacy's last statement earned herself a surge of support from the gallery. There was a television tribute showing on Ethan Hughes soon, which would air his most popular movies – how could anyone possibly miss that?!

"Declare her guilty!"

"She obviously did it!"

"Down with the fiend!"

Deems Mendel was admittedly swayed by Lacy's opening statement as well. The more time to finish his collage the better. "Well... It does seem like the killer ispretty obvious..." He was torn. His collage, or his honor? "Considering the facts, I would like to declare the defendant-" But the judge's sacrifice of honor was soon interrupted.

"YOUR HONOR!" Screamed Felicity, cutting the early verdict off "Surely you won't declare my verdict before you hear from my defense attorney. Right?" Pleading, the defendant forced herself to blow the judge a few kisses. Despite her ragged look, she still maintened much of the charm she was so well known for.

"O-oh, well..." The judge, his cheeks turning a bright shade of red, searched for words to respond with "U-uh, ummm, you see-"

"YOUR HONOR!" This time it was Rose Sinesta interjecting "Surely you're not falling for the defendant's awful attempt at flirtation. Please, just end this joke now and declare that bitch guilty!"

At this point, the Judge was stuck between two rocks. Three, if you count Lacy's icy glare, and four, if you count the gallery's breathless anticipation. Favoring the most attractive rock, he sided with the defendant. "I believe the defendant raises a very good point... I think. How could I declare a verdict before I hear from the witnesses?" Thankfully for him this garnered nods of agreement, from everyone, except... Miss Sinesta – how dare he not declare Felicity guilty before hearing any testimony! "So, uh, will the prosecution call their first witness?"

Now it was Lacy's turn to be stressed. That fool of a detective hasn't shown yet. Crap, what should she do now? "The prosecution would like to request a five minute recess to... prepare the first witness."

Now it was the judge's turn to strike. After the prosecutor had been so hard on him, he was finally on top. "A recess? Is the prosecution not prepared for this trial? Perhaps I should just declare the verdict now..." The Judge began to raise his gavel, hopefully as a crude joke. But suddenly he swung it down, ready to declare his verdict in regard to the only woman who kinda sorta flirted with him all day. "THIS COURT FINDS THE DEFENDANT NOT-"

"OBJECTION!"

Damnit, again?! Who is it this time?!" Deems whined.

All eyes turned to the defendant's bench, where the sound originated from. Atakin stood "I object to a verdict! We must hear witness testimony!"