Turnabout Charity Part 4
"Where in the name of Fonzie and I?!"
"Fonzie? That's...weird." Relisa frowned.
"More importantly." I sighed, "Thomas."
"Whut?"
"You said that your father was keeping tabs on Mal. Is that true?"
"Yeah."
"...And you insisted that he did not plan any form of harm towards Mal."
"He might've been planning another trail, I dunno." Thomas looked shocked as he spoke.
If he was planning on a retrial, then he should have no motive to kill him...unless...
"Did anything happen that might have...made him angrier towards Mal?"
"Mal arrested one of his employees." Thomas clamped his hands over his mouth.
"And what happened?"
"..."
"Let me guess..."
-Not Guilty
"The employee must've been innocent. Otherwise, your father wouldn't get angrier."
"..."
"When your father found out that Mal made another failed arrest, he took it seriously and, perhaps after a small background check, determined that Mal was useless and hired an assassin to kill him."
"T-That's...That's ridiculous! My father wouldn't hire someone like Shelly!"
"Oh? When did I mention Shelly?"
"Gack!"
"How'd you know about Shelly?"
"..."
"...Shelly the Killer's involvement was proven just today. The only way you could've know about that is..."
Present-Corpse Picture
"Shelly's part was proven with this picture." I said, "His card is small, but surely there on the picture."
"..."
"What bothered me, was why the card wasn't presented during the trial. That's because..."
-The card wasn't there
"While Aissla DID see it at the crime scene, I don't think she would've touched it. So it was left there for a while. Long enough for someone to steal it. Someone like...your father?"
"You're wrong!" Thomas cried, "It wasn't my dad!"
"Then tell me why." I said, "Your dad hired Shelly to kill Mal. That must've been the reason he was at the event, to ascertain that the assassination went well. That is the only reason."
"That's not true!" Thomas cried, "My father was there! B-But he truly wanted to support the police! There are officers other than Mal!"
"But it was Mal that he was most interested in."
"He didn't do it!"
"How do you know?"
"Because...Because I was there!"
"...Why?"
"I...I wanted to go." Thomas confessed.
"...And? Did either of you take the card?"
"No."
"..."
Court Close
"You can use that thing outside of court?" Relisa asked, surprised.
"Yeah." I said, picking up my coin from the floor.
"Huh."
"What was that?" Thomas asked.
"I would explain it if I knew myself." I sighed, "In any case, we're done here."
"Already?" Relisa cried, "But...are you sure?"
"Everything said in that space is True. His father was there to give support to the police save for Mal. That is the truth. Or...at least that's his form of the truth. He also said that neither of them touched the card so that doesn't tie them in with the murder."
"Thank god." Thomas let out a sigh of relief.
"Well I was useless." Relisa sighed.
"You were entertaining." Thomas smiled.
"You think?" Relisa cried.
"Not really." I said.
"Meanie!"
"You guys seem to get along well. Come back again. The Swamp Manor will always be here...actually...maybe not."
"Eh? Why not?" Relisa asked.
"It's...kinds of a weird story. See my dad wanted to build this manor on a swamp. All his friends told him he was crazy, but he built it anyway."
"So this is that manor?"
"No, the original one sank. Then he built another one."
"And is that one this one?"
"No, that one also sank. This manor is his 3rd try."
"Wow."
"That IS stupid."
"Yeah."
Talk-Next Witness
"The card is still missing." I frowned, "Where did it go?"
Shelly's Card added to Court Record
"Well, it seems like we're done here." Relisa smiled.
"Then who's next?"
"Huh? Oh. Umm...Mechan Construct MK-X"
"...You're joking right?"
"I wish."
I sighed, "Okay. We'll be leaving now, Thomas."
"No." Thomas said, getting up, "Let me drive you to your next destination. As a sign of trust."
"That would help, thanks."
October 27, 1:00 P.M
Wild Beat
Entrance
"Are you sure this is where you want to be?" Thomas frowned.
"Yes." I said, getting out of the car.
"Okay." Thomas shrugged.
"You're actually quite nice aren't you?" Relisa smiled, "It's kinda weird that you'd act like that."
"Haha. Gotta get friends somehow."
"...Thanks for the ride Thomas."
"It's fine."
"...As a last word of advice..."
"Eh?"
"...if you have to act to get friends, maybe aren't really friends."
"..."
Thomas drove off once we began walking away.
"Why are we here again?" Relisa asked.
"Why not?" I asked as I tapped the bell on the desk.
…
"Welcome to Wild Beat where you go wild from the beat!" Sonia cried as she rushed over, "Ah. It's you 2."
"Hello, Sonia!" Relisa smiled.
"What's with that slogan?" I frowned.
"Yeah, it is kind of weak isn't it?" Sonia sighed, "Tsk. Now I have to come up with another one. And that one took me all night."
"I thought it was good." Relisa said.
"Anyway, what are you here for?"
Present-List of Possibilities
"Oh, this is the list I compiled." Sonia smiled, "What about it?"
"The people on it are being investigated." I explained, "We're investigating the last 3."
"I see."
"We already determined Thomas Richard Matheson-"
"III." Relisa added.
"...is innocent."
"But about this next name." Relisa but in.
"Ah, Mechan Construct MK-X?" Sonia smiled, "What, do you need his address?"
"I'm wondering why your list are full of strange people." Relisa frowned.
"What do you mean?" Sonia frowned.
"Thomas Richard Matheson-"
"III." I added.
"Wasn't British!" Relisa cried, "I brought a monocle too! Do you know how rare it is for someone to need a monocle?!"
"True, but why would you think he was British?"
"Eh?"
"There's nothing to indicate that he was British."
"But...that name..."
"By your logic, you're the one who's weird." Sonia smiled.
Relisa sniffed.
"That actually wasn't my point."
Talk-Today's Case
"It's nice to see that my efforts didn't go to waste." Sonia smiled, "But I'm honestly shocked. What kind of vision do you have to find all those small details? Even I didn't think they'd be THAT useful."
"I know!" Relisa cried, "Can you see that pink shell in this picture?!"
"I can now!"
Relisa looked sad.
Talk-Work
"So, what are you doing now?" Sonia asked, "Wanna rent a room?"
"I don't sing." I sighed, "And I wanted to ask you to look into something."
"Oh yeah? What?"
Present-Shelly De Killer's Profile
"So this is the killer."
"I want you to investigate his background."
"Are you kidding me?!" Sonia cried, "He might kill me! Plus he's professional! I don't think he'd leave any traces!"
"I know."
"Then why?"
"When I spoke to Aissla, I thought aloud that no one would be able to catch Shelly. She fidgeted when I said that. That must mean something."
"You're kidding me." Sonia said, "If Shelly got captured, it'd be instant news."
"I'm not saying he was captured. Maybe something close to that."
"Mmm..."Sonia frowned, "Alright! But only because it's you."
"Thanks."
Talk-Next Move
"We're done here now right?" Relisa asked.
"Yeah. All we need is the address of this next guy."
"No problem." Sonia smiled, "Here."
"AI Laboratories?" Relisa frowned, "Wow, Mal must like annoying successful people."
"More like successful people have the time to hate him."
"We'd better leave now." I said.
"Okay. Hold on. Sonia do you have anything that looks high-techy?"
"You're not leading the talks."
"EH?! Why?!"
"Look how useful you were before."
"Hey, this is completely different!"
"How?"
Move-AI Laboratories.
October 27, 1:10 P.M
AI Labs
Entrance
I stood to the side with my bad feeling as Relisa hummed as she pressed the doorbell.
The bolt on the door slid aside and after a few hissing and loud parts the door opened. Relisa looked at me with her spooked expression. I frowned at her. Relisa took a deep breath and began to walk in. I nonchalantly followed her.
"It's kind of dark." Relisa whispered.
The light suddenly flickered on, scaring Relisa again. I was more concerned with the enrance suddenly sliding shut with much less ruckus than when it opened.
"What do we do?" Relisa hissed.
I welcomed her to continue moving towards the newly revealed door. Relisa whimpered and slowly approached the door. As she stood there, she took one last glance at me before she reached out to knock.
"What do you want?" A voice boomed all around us.
Relisa cried out in terror and instantly hid behind me.
"Great job." I muttered. Aloud, "I am Mana Fey. An Attorney. I've come to ask you a few questions regarding a police officer. He was recently killed, Mal Verik."
"And the girl?"
"She's my assistant. Though she's not really assisting. And she hasn't really done anything useful...you know, you're kind of useless."
Relisa punched my spine.
"I know what you mean." The voice sighed.
"Eh?"
The door slid open to reveal...a man.
"I try to get assistants all the time, but they just don't understand."
Relisa blinked as I stood to the side nursing my spine.
"Are...you Mechan Construct MK-X?"
"You could say that!" Mechan laughed, "Kind of a long story."
"You're not an AI?" Relisa asked.
"Well, I work in the field, but I haven't really managed to procure my own AI."
"Oh."
"Actually I not even working on an AI." Mechan sighed, "My lab lost it's funding years ago."
"Eh?! T-Then why's it called AI Labs?!"
"Oh that. It's actually Alternating Imersion Labs. Yeah. Kind of log, so I abbreviated it. Though it only seemed fitting that I kept it to Labs."
"..." Relisa let out a sigh and sunk into a pile of relief.
"So." Mechan clapped his hands, "Crumpets anyone?"
October 27, 1:11 P.M
Alternating Imersion Laboratories
Lab
"So why are you named Mechan Construct MK-X?" Relisa asked as she ate her crumpet.
"Aha." Mechan smiled, "You see, my dream was always to marry a Gynoid that I'd create."
"Gynoid?" Relisa frowned.
"A female robot." I explained as I drank my tea.
"Oh, not bad! Well, I built AI Labs for that reason. Mechan Construct MK-X was the name I was going to give her, but!" Mechan waved his arms at his lab, "I lost the funding. SO! I decided to give myself that name."
"Oh..."
"So. What did you guys want from me?"
Talk-Mal Verik