Chapter Nineteen
"Neither do I, Trucy. Neither do I."
That doesn't make it okay! she wanted to protest. The magician raced behind the other woman, following her to the courtroom door.
"Wait! We should go report them now!"
"We can't miss the trial, Trucy. We're witnesses. Unless they have a court-approved excuse, they're supposed to wait the entire trial on the off chance a lawyer calls them back up."
"And how often does that happen?"
"I don't care," Kay argued. "You want to report people for breaking the law, when you won't even follow it?"
She had a point. Reluctantly, Trucy followed the investigator inside.
They made it in just as the doors closed, taking seats at the edge of the gallery. Trucy knew they weren't supposed to be sitting there, but after everything she'd discovered in the recess, she didn't feel particularly inclined to follow orders.
"Court is back in session for the trial of Allan Block. Is the defendant ready to testify?"
"Yes, Your Honor," Mr Block's voice remained steady, though his glasses were askew and his hair hadn't been combed since arrest. Trucy took one look at the bags beneath his eyes, and instantly felt a twinge of pity. Someone get that man a coffee.
"Your Honor, I believe this will be the final testimony of the trial," Mrs Block was quick to speak. "The defense is prepared to resolve all questions that have been put forth in today's trial."
"Hmph," Prosecutor Blackquill didn't even give them the honor of his face. "I've seen relatively few cases since returning to prosecution, but none of my cases had an innocent testify last. All ended with the true killer. And thus, I am perfectly fine with your claim coming true."
"Superstition will get you nowhere, Prosecutor. The only things that stand in court are cold, hard facts, with reliable evidence backing them up."
He turned his head, smirking. "Were that true, we wouldn't have had a Dark Age, now would we?"
"Um... Iggy? When do I start testifying?"
The judge blinked in surprise. "My, my. We did get off topic just now. Start whenever you're ready, Mr Block!"
The curator stood firm as he named his testimony ("Truth About the Blackmail"), but Trucy had her eye on him. If ue flinched even once...
Kay leaned in from the magician's left side. "Tell me if you see anything."
Trucy nodded once. And with that, the man began to testify:
"When I found the first letter on December eighth, I didn't take it that seriously.
"But they kept showing up! I needed to know who was sending them.
"You might think the answer was obvious, but think about this:
"My wife's handled more than a hundred cases. When one suspect is proven innocent, doesn't that usually lead to another person's arrest? Shouldn't I suspect those people as well?
"Eventually, I decided to hire someone else to look into it. I heard about Miss Faraday from a regular at the museum, and visited her the evening of New Year's Day.
"I honestly had no idea who it was until those girls told me. Nor had I heard about Gavin's death. This motive is absurd."
The gallery was silent. Trucy put her hand over her mouth. The only twitches she'd seen had been on the fourth and fifth statements. She wasn't sure if it was a tell or general nerves acting up. Still, those were logical statements to press. She'd get another chance to study him during the cross examination.
Without thinking, Trucy's eyes found Apollo, whose eyes were fixed on the witness stand. It was hard to tell in the light, but it looked like he was adjusting his bracelet. So he noticed something too. Maybe they could compare notes later.
"Well, that actually makes sense!" the judge was surprised. "Mrs Block, I hope you never get thrown in prison. You seem to have numerous enemies in there."
"I don't know. I hear they're much worse to prosecutors," she sent a questioning look to the prosecutor's bench. "Is that true, Prosecutor Blackquill?"
"Yes," he wasn't facing the defense bench, but Trucy didn't need her eyes for this one. "It's the same for detectives, or so my last cellmate told me. He always carried a mirror about with him, using it to watch his back."
Trucy's attention was immediately drawn to Kay, who was pulling at the scarf around her neck. She tried to ask her what was wrong, but the investigator shrugged it off. "Tell you later."
Looking back Trucy realized she'd missed part of the conversation. Ah well, it was about to be over anyway.
"It's time the defense ended their stalling and cross examined the suspect," he turned around and smirked. "Or do I get to question this one, considering he's your witness?"
"The defense handles all cross examination, regardless of who called the witness. Perhaps you should review basic legal procedure before your next case."
"Mrs Block, enough! The prosecution is perfectly capable of standing in court today. Please begin your cross examination."
"Yes, Your Honor," Mrs Block conceded to him. "Allan! Repeat your testimony."
"..."
"Um... Mr Block?"
"I'm going, I'm going. Just... trying to remember what I'm s'posed to say," he looked up and gave a shaky smile. "Okay, I'm ready."
"Hmph. Don't hold back, Block-dono. Or I'll interrogate him in your stead."
"Hey! Don't-"
Mr Block was cut off by his wife. "Allan... just start already."
So he did. Trucy had her eyes fixed on the witness, so she was startled when the first pressed statement came.
"HOLD IT! Why were you opening my personal mail?"
"Why, Mr Block... that's a crime in and of itself! I hope you-"
"Don't get too excited, Your Honor. I'm not pressing charges, and you can't hold that trial without me. Doesn't matter what you do, it is not going to happen." she slammed the bench. "Now answer the question, defendant!"
He was sweating. "Well... I saw it was from the prison, got... kinda concerned."
"And yet, you testified, and I quote: 'I didn't take it that seriously'. Why is that?"
"When I read it... I couldn't tell if it was blackmail or not. There was no explicit threat included in the first letter."
"Hm..."
"Is anything about the defendant's words important, Mrs Block?"
"Yes. Please add your last sentence to your testimony."
"Sure, Iggy. 'It was because there was no explicit threat in the-"
"OBJECTION!"
Wow. She is not letting up on this guy.
"What's wrong?"
"Allow me to read the letter in question to the court. Ahem." She pulled a piece of paper out of the Court Record.
"'To one Ingrid Block,
I'm confident you know who I am, so introductions are pointless. Let's get straight to business, shall we?
You've probably found the things I left behind by now. So tell me: what would happen to you should I speak of them? You know exactly how involved you were. Such a scandal could cost your life as you know it. Don't argue with me, you know I'm not wrong.'"
She put the letter down, and glanced around the room. "There's more, but it's unimportant. Tell me, defendant, what part of that doesn't sound like a threat?"
"I'm... I'm sorry. I lied."
Prosecutor Blackquill raised an eyebrow. "Did you not prepare this man's testimony mere minutes ago? Why would you allow such an obvious contradiction to remain?"
Because she was busy having her office trashed and son fall sick. Trucy thought to herself. Honestly, she was amazed they had a testimony at all. Lady works fast.
"I wanted to prove a point, to the defendant. That the next time he realizes my life may be in danger, he ought to tell me about these things," she turned away from the prosecutor, giving her husband the full force. "So, since you've been going through my personal mail for at least one month now, tell me: what other letters have I been receiving? Did my mother finally pull the plug on herself?"
"Mrs Block! Is now really the time to be having this discussion?" the judge asked, eyes wide. "You're supposed to be proving your client innocent of crimes, not implicating him of more!"
"And why not? The prosecution couldn't prove him guilty if he pulled the body out of his back pocket and pointed to all the places he poisoned it. Though it would explain why we don't have an autopsy report."
"Ouch," Trucy whispered to her friend, who nodded.
On the stand, Mr Block flinched. "Little graphic, don't you think?"
His wife ignored him. "But I see Your Honor's point. Defendant, please continue your testimony."
He didn't seem too eager to continue, but must have acknowledged he didn't have a choice. Trucy almost felt bad for him, when he had to wait until his fifth statement to be pressed.
"HOLD IT! Where were you hiding these letters? If you didn't take them out of the apartment until New Year's, how is it I never noticed them?"
"Easy: I altered the name and address on the front of the letters. That way, they looked like mine. I made sure to change it back before I gave them to Miss Faraday, though."
"OBJECTION!"
Trucy jumped at the sudden intrusion. All eyes went to Prosecutor Blackquill... who was laughing at the sudden turn of events. "Please tell me you jest."
He looked at Mrs Block, who was caught off guard. "What are you looking at me for? This is the first I'm hearing of it."
"I highly doubt that. This is the exact sort of balderdash that's so typical of desperate attorneys. Surely you couldn't have come up with anything more plausible? You've run yourself down a hole, chasing dramatics."
"As I said before, Prosecutor, I'm far from desperate. Why would make this up? I don't need to suggest wild theories to present an effective case, unlike some," she leaned over the bench, smiling viciously. "Besides, your evidence agrees with me. TAKE THAT!"
She handed a piece of evidence to the bailiff, who scurried over to both the judge and the prosecutor, giving them a copy.
Prosecutor Blackquill was the first to respond. "The handwriting analysis?"
"Recall the exact words of the report when describing the outside of the letters. 'While most of the outside was written by the same author (Kristoph Gavin), both the subject line and the addresses on every letter were altered by another party. Tests conducted on January fourth confirm this to be the work of Allan R. Block.'" Mrs Block laid her copy down on the bench, them fired her index finger at the man across the room. "Nice try, skipping over that little detail. But you failed."
"Gah!" his back collapsed beneath him, hand flying to his chest. She watched the hope for victory fly out of his eyes.
All around them, the gallery dissolved into conversation. Trucy looked over at her friend. "Can you believe this?"
"What, that he altered the envelopes to hide the letters from his wife and just forgot to change the addresses all back?" Kay shrugged. "Seems ridiculous, but it wouldn't surprise me. Guy might not be an idiot, but he sure is absentminded."
"Come on, Iggy. What's more important than my life? You think I'm stupid?"
Trucy briefly recalled their argument during the recess, then shrugged it off. "I just can't believe there's evidence proving that," she peeked at the defense attorney for a split second, but only to confirm her suspicions. "Looks like Mrs Block is finally enjoying herself."
"Order! Order in the court!" the sound of a gavel rang above the crowd's chatter. "That clears up one contradiction. Did the defendant really have no motive for murder?"
"None, Your Honor. He didn't even know the victim was killed until over a day after the deed was done. He doesn't know how to dilute poison, and as illogical as Allan can be, he has more sense than to assault someone in the very place he planted a deadly murder weapon. There is no way on earth my husband committed this crime!"
"SILENCE!" Blackquill was still hunched over, now panting heavily. "This cannot be happening!"
"Oh, it is. No need to doubt this verdict. But don't worry, Prosecutor," she sent a small smile his way. "You're bound to win a case someday. You know, convict someone other than yourself."
His eyes narrowed dangerously. "That's it. Your Baldness... may I ask the defendant one more question?"
"Um... sure. But Prosecutor Blackquill, I don't really see what you could-"
"You'll see. Now, tell me," he directed his attention to Mr Block. "If the strychnine in your bathroom wasn't for murderous purposes, what was it to be used for?"
"Oh!" the man scratched his head, embarrassed. "Iggy said her office was having a pest issue, and a regular of mine said 'hey, strychnine's really good for that sort of thing!' So I went out and bought some, poured a bit of it into one of her empty perfume bottles, and she took it to work with her."
"Ha. A pest issue? What time of the year was this?"
"After Christmas for sure... I wanna say the twenty-seventh. Hey, didn't you already ask me about this? In the interrogation room?"
"Yes, I did. I merely wanted you to repeat it for the court," Prosecutor Blackquill smirked. "You're a fool, Block-dono."
Trucy turned over to the defense bench. Mrs Block was tense as a guitar string. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"Yes, I'd like to know that as well," the judge piled on. "Thank you for resolving the issue, but what does that have to do with the case?"
"Before Your Baldness declares a verdict, the prosecution has one more piece of evidence, one last blade to take up. It was given to me by one glimmerous fop, who just so happened to be in charge of the initial investigation."
"Klavier." Kay breathed.
"Before I took over the case, the fop had been saving it so that he could accuse someone else. Upon reaching this juncture... I realize even he can be correct at times. So, without further jabbering... TAKE THAT!"
He threw the evidence, knife style, to both the judge and Mrs Block. Inside the covering was a video tape.
Trucy was confused. Why couldn't Blackquill let the trial end? He'd spent the whole time not caring which way things went. Why care now?
The judge was the first to investigate the tape. "This claims to be a visitor's log, from the local prison. It was recorded on December twenty-seventh, and... Prosecutor Blackquill, what is this?"
The entire crowd watched as the haggard man stood in absolute silence, a smirk slashed across his features. "You ask what this is, Your Baldness? It is none other than when Block-dono met the victim."
A/N's: After editing the last three chapters to bring them up to standard, I'm finally ready to post this one. Yay!
Finally time to be back in court, which I really like writing about. The banter back and forth, the rapidly changing atmosphere, the epic music... ah, it's so much fun!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. Especially the ending. I could just hear the song "Illegal of Destiny" when Blackquill presented the new evidence. It's one of my favorite on the DD soundtrack. Just the way it gets you so pumped and scared, especially at the moment it played in 5-4 (shivers).
Speaking of things from DD... I get to use something else I really like from that game, next chapter! It's a certain character who I'm absolutely in love with, and... Mm! I can't wait to bring him/her in.
Speaking of him/her... have you seen the pictures of the AA6 prosecutor? Do they look like a guy or a girl to you? I see a girl, but that might be wishful thinging.
Oh, and for everyone asking why the trial can't end already... forget Alba. Simon Blackquill is the character that won't let the game end. If he hadn't been so insistent, DD would have ended at 5-4. But I don't hold it against him. Turnabout for Tomorrow is my favorite case in the series!
Besides, what sort of author would I be if I didn't reveal the answer to my own mystery? And since I feel like parting with a hint... the truth is currently laughing at you. It's something a character has already proposed, but something no one took seriously. I've referenced the true culprit several times, though not in a context you'd be paying attention to.
Ha. Haha. Stew on that for a little while, I need to calm down. (Walks away from computer to take several deep breaths. Later comes back.)
Anyway... thank you everyone, for reading, and thank you EmeraldWings1992 for your continued support. I also want to give another shoutout to The Scollard for their fic, Turnabout Anniversary. Having read through the fifth chapter, I am super pumped for you to start sharing your work with everyone else. For anyone interested, it's about an unexpected murder occurring mere days before Phoenix's one year I-got-my-badge-back party. The suspect? Kristoph Gavin.
Well, that's all for now. Thanks again for reading, please review, and I'll see you on the far side!