April 25
Defendant Lobby No. 5
9:15 AM
Lily Shield
The next morning, I shuffled into the defendant lobby while rubbing at my eyes. After dropping by Victoria's visiting cell, we had gotten the chance to talk about everything Prosecutor Daegana had told us about. I was able to rest soon after that since the investigation didn't exactly take over my entire day, but even if I had the ability to rest, I didn't really get the chance to. I found sleep didn't want to come to me when I finally got to lay down, and it was more than annoying, let me tell you. I just wanted the chance to be peaceful, away from the chaos that came with investigating this case.
Everything that had happened was already stressing me out hardcore, though that's probably putting it lightly. I hadn't been able to sleep through the night since the case began, and it was starting to catch up with me. The Cormous thing was not helping at all. It was ridiculous in my opinion. I knew Cormous was bad now, but that didn't do enough to calm my wild mind in its crazy state of consistent imagination. I had come to terms with it, but my subconscious clearly hadn't, and I was losing sleep and my sanity over it.
Yuri came into the defendant lobby soon after, arms crossed over her chest. The pouty expression she wore was one I knew all too well, and I could tell she was not happy with how things had gone the night before. She looked just as tired as I did, if not more so. I felt bad for her, and I told myself that after this case ended, we would have to both take some time to kick back and relax.
"Morning, Lily," Yuri finally grumbled, sitting down on the couch. Well, I say she sat down, but as far as I could tell, it was much more of a flop onto the cushions. She rubbed at her eyes and leaned back against the back area of the couch. To me, it appeared that she would fall asleep if she was left alone for too long, and I prayed that she didn't leave me to deal with this mess alone.
"I don't know what we're supposed to do about this whole situation... I still don't get what we're going to do from here about the Cormous killing Prosecutor Cruz thing. On top of that, we don't know who the culprit is on this current case. They saved so many lives, but they didn't do anything to leave behind clues that would help anybody find out the truth behind their identity," I told her, getting down to business quickly as always.
"The only clue that we've really got here is that Prosecutor Wood has been acting kind of weird lately, but we still don't know why this is... She can't really be a different person, right? Nobody would look that much like her. Even if somebody tried to replace her, would they really look so similar?" Yuri asked.
"I can't help but wonder that too... It's so odd. There's so much going on with this case, and yet, we don't know the answer to one of the most pressing issues that we need to solve if we want to figure this out," I murmured, shaking my head. "There has to be something for us to find somewhere in this case, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it could possibly all mean... I don't know where to go from here, and it's starting to annoy me."
"Well, I don't know what to do about it either, so I guess all we can do is see where the flow of the case takes us. Until then, let's just wait and pray that things go our way. We can't change what happens until we get in there, and it's not like we have any clues as to how we're going to solve it even when we do get in there. It's frustrating," Yuri sighed with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "Deirdre is good with this psychology stuff. Now that we know she's not going to stab us in the back, maybe we could ask her for help on this. She knows about what could possibly make a person change... She didn't seem to have any ideas yesterday, but she might look at things with a new lens today now that she's had some time to sit on it."
As if on cue, Deirdre came into the lobby. "Good morning, you two," she said, considerably more awake and alert than we were. It looked as if she was even having a good time despite having to wake up so early... Well, I say we all had to wake up early, but in truth, we actually got to sleep in more than we did when just going into the office."
"Deirdre, it's nice to see you. We were just talking about you, as a matter of fact. Do you think that you could help us out with a little something?" I asked, a sweet smile appearing on my face as I prepared to sweet talk her into helping us out. Granted, she didn't exactly need any sweet talking given how nice she already was, but I was used to dealing with my brother, and he did sometimes need a little bit of extra persuasion to help me out with some things.
"What do you need?" Deirdre asked, tilting her head to one side. She seemed to be content with standing up where Yuri and I weren't, and I could tell that she was a morning person for sure. Granted, that didn't surprise me much, but it was still odd that she was able to walk around so functionally when I was falling apart at the seams.
"We're dealing with the issue of Prosecutor Wood's odd behavior yesterday, but we don't know how to explain it. Could you help us out?" I questioned.
"I guess I can try to do what I can to assist you... I actually did a little bit of thinking about a potential explanation for her odd behavior, but I ultimately came up short, I'm afraid. I do have on theory, but I'm not entirely sure if it would make sense. It really does depend on the way she behaved... But I think I can explain how her memories were different between the two versions that you saw while also saying the reason that she behaved so oddly," Deirdre replied.
"Go on then! Don't hold out on us," Yuri pressed, taking Deirdre's hand in her own. "Please?"
Deirdre sighed and closed her eyes. "I think that she might have a mental health issue that would cause some odd behavior of this nature. Perhaps she has dissociative identity disorder... That would explain why she was acting so strangely while also showing off her appearance as being the same. There would be different memories involved, but they would still look the same. I have no evidence of such, and I wasn't exactly there to see if there were any regular symptoms of this behavior, but from what you have told me, this is the best conclusion I could come to. Sorry if it's not much help," Deirdre told us.
"No, that's perfectly fine... In fact, we might have to consider that as possibility from the start. I know it might be a bit risky to jump right into that assumption, but it's not as if we have any ideas of our own. In fact, we're as good as clueless as it stands right now. Even if this theory turns out to be incorrect, the mere concept that we might know what we're doing helps us out a lot," I assured her.
"I'm glad I was able to do something to contribute to the case, even if you aren't sure as to where you're going to be going from here," Deirdre smiled lightly. "If you find that you need anything else from me, whether it's related to the case or not, I'll be here. I know you can't text during the trial to get my attention, but I doubt anyone would object to you calling me down as a witness to talk about Prosecutor Wood's disturbing behavior."
"There's one other thing that's bothering me about this whole mess, if I'm being honest," Yuri frowned. "We need to find a way to incorporate the reveal Prosecutor Daegana told us about while also dealing with the Prosecutor Wood thing. The court will need to put Prosecutor Daegana's testimony in the records not only for this case, but for the previous one as well. It's not like we were on that case though, so do we really have the jurisdiction to talk about it and come forward with testimony that shatters everything the previous case had before it was shut?"
"I wouldn't say Prosecutor Daegana's testimony shatters it... I would say that it helps significantly in finding the truth," I told her. "However, I do think that we should hold off on sharing it if at all possible. I believe it might be a strong idea to let him go to the police and share what he knows about to people who can go into the case file to investigate it. I'm sure the detectives on the case would welcome anything he had to say on the matter since they wound up being just as clueless as the defense and prosecution. Plus, they aren't in a state of panic as two murders take place in their office back to back unlike the prosecutors."
"In that case, I guess all we can do is concentrate on other things then," Yuri shrugged. "If we happen to see him, we can tell him where to go with what he knows, but I somehow get the feeling he'll know what to do anyways. It isn't as if he's an idiot or anything, so he can figure out what the best move to make would be from here regardless of if we tell him or not."
"Is there anything else you want to hear from me before the trial?" Deirdre asked.
I shook my head. "I can't think of much else... If possible, I'd like you to stay on hand in case we wind up needing you to testify about what could cause the change in personality and memory in Prosecutor Wood," I told her.
"Hey there, you three."
I looked up upon hearing a voice, smiling when I realized it belonged to Victoria. "Hey there, Victoria," I said. I was no longer as drowsy as I had been, the conversation with Deirdre waking me up, so I could greet her enthusiastically, something I got the feeling she needed. "Are you ready for the trial today?"
Victoria let out a nervous laugh. "As ready as I'll ever be," she replied, though it was clear as day that she was bluffing to keep everyone else from getting nervous or scared. I could see through her like she was a window.
"We're here too," Mr. Morix's voice suddenly cut in. He appeared with Chrysalis nearby, both of them staring solemnly at us. They seemed exhausted, and I could tell that they hadn't slept very much, putting them in the same boat as me and Yuri. They had been involved in the hiring process of Cormous, and they were probably going through a lot of rough moments knowing that they had brought such a horrible person into the ranks of the agency. Granted, Cormous had lied to them in order to get into the business, but that probably didn't make them feel much better.
"We're almost ready to get in there and take care of business," Yuri told them. "Is there anything that you want to throw out there before we get inside? There's no turning back after we get into that courtroom and all that."
Mr. Morix looked to Chrysalis, and they shared a brief gaze before turning their attention back to us. "I can't think of anything," Mr. Morix replied. I'm not going to lie, it was still crazy to me how the two of them could share information without saying anything. I wished I had a bond like that with somebody, but Robbie wasn't exactly the person to show much emotion through his eyes. He was a somewhat secretive person in his own little way, and while I had the best chances of breaking through his barriers, I didn't think it would do much if he didn't want me to get into his head. That was probably for the best given how we were on opposite sides of the courtroom often, even if I wished that wasn't the case.
"Well, if we've got nothing, all we can do is jump in there and pray that things don't go too horribly wrong. We're guessing what to do from here since we don't have much solid proof, and our main issue is with Prosecutor Wood. Prosecutor Daegana we're going to have testify to the detectives from the previous case about what he knows. That way, the case can be closed at some point, as that testimony would revolutionize it," I declared. "See? We're all going to do great today. There won't be any issues for us since we've been smart enough to learn the important stuff before going into the courtroom!"
A cry rang out from the bailiff, and I sighed. It was time to get inside. "Well, that's our cue. I guess it's time for us to end this," I declared, rising to my feet and stretching my arms upwards. I popped my fingers and smirked to myself. "Alright. Let's do this. I'm tired of waiting around for this to start."
Yuri nodded. "We'll see you guys later. When we talk again, we'll hopefully be able to go back to our regular lives at the agency without any issues now that the traitor situation will have been dealt with. You have no idea how happy I am to hear about that, let me tell you. I'm tired of not doing anything out of fear of this traitor. I'm not happy we were betrayed, but I'm happy that he's gone and can't bother us anymore."
Chrysalis and Mr. Morix looked at each other for a moment. "Good luck," Chrysalis said simply as she and Mr. Morix turned to head to the gallery. Deirdre followed after them once she had waved to me and Yuri.
Victoria looked to us briefly before heading into the courtroom herself, and Yuri and I trailed behind her. We were ready to take care of this. I didn't know what we were going to do, but I wasn't going to let this case pass us by for any longer. It was going to end soon, and I was sure of it. Nothing was going to stop us now!
April 25
Courtroom No. 5
10 : 00 AM
Lily Shield
When we got into the courtroom, I gazed across the courtroom, seeing Prosecutor Lin, Robbie, and Prosecutor Cruz standing just as they had the day before. Prosecutor Lin was standing right in between the other two once again, easily separating them to ensure they didn't fight. As much as I hated to admit it, this decision was definitely wise, as I knew how competitive Robbie could get, especially if Prosecutor Cruz was around. I didn't know what caused this behavior in him, but there wasn't much I could make him quit it, so I decided to just leave it be. Prosecutor Lin could handle it. She was an adult who could handle herself and others.
"Court is now back in session for the trial of Victoria von Graye. Are the defense and prosecution ready?" Judge Frost declared after hitting her gavel against the podium before her. Afterwards, she played around with the gavel, sliding it back and forth in between her fingers.
"The defense is ready," I declared after sharing a brief glance with Yuri. Our previous exhaustion had faded away, and we were ready to roll now. The conversation about what was coming had snapped me out of my sleepy daze, and now, I was sure today was going to be the day that we found the truth so that everything could go back to normal at the agency.
"The prosecution is also ready," Prosecutor Lin announced, not even bothering to look at Prosecutor Cruz or Robbie. She seemed oddly relaxed while the other two were tense and frowning deeply. "Should I get into the opening statement the prosecution needs to deliver?"
Judge Frost nodded. "Go right ahead," she said, setting her gavel down to look at Prosecutor Lin with a small frown.
Prosecutor Lin grinned, still not giving any attention to the two men on either side of her. "During the investigation yesterday, we attempted to see if there was anything of value left at the crime scene. While we didn't find much physical proof, we did hear about something new from a lovely witness. In fact, we're going to start off today by calling her, as her testimony will blow this case wide open," she told the court loudly.
I looked to Yuri, nudging her gently with my elbow. "Who wants to bet that we know exactly who this person is?" I asked, even if I already knew the answer. The feminine pronouns gave it all away, and I knew for sure that it had to be Prosecutor Wood. Prosecutor Lin's connection with her made it even more obvious that she was who was being referred to here.
"Go on and call your witness then, prosecution," Judge Frost said, letting her hands rest gently on the bench before her.
"The prosecution calls Niamh Wood up to the witness stand," Robbie announced, finally getting the chance to talk in over Prosecutor Lin. She didn't seem bothered by it, and if she was, she hid it masterfully.
Prosecutor Wood walked up to the witness stand, but her walk wasn't a regular shuffle. I raised an eyebrow in surprise at noticing this, but I didn't say anything to call her on it. It was odd, but I didn't know how to bring it up without seeming odd. Who notices that kind of stuff aside from me, who was already suspecting something was going on with Prosecutor Wood?
"Please give the court your name and occupation," Judge Frost told her.
"Niamh Wood... Prosecutor," Prosecutor Wood replied simply. Her voice was shaking, but it didn't seem to be the normal waver she had to her voice. Instead, there was something... More behind it. I don't know how else I would describe it. There was just something strange about the way she was acting today. Where did it come from? I hadn't the slightest idea, to be perfectly honest. I wish I had a theory, but the only thing I had was Deirdre's suggestion that didn't have any evidence.
"Please begin your testimony, Prosecutor Wood," Judge Frost instructed. Since she didn't know Prosecutor Wood as well, she wasn't bothered by the odd behavior. As far as she knew, this could just be how she normally acted. There wasn't an ounce of proof that this wasn't regular to her, and it was because of this that I kept my lips sealed firmly shut, trying not to show my frustration outwardly.
Prosecutor Wood nodded. "Yes... Of course," she said, swallowing nervously.
"Isn't she acting odd?" Yuri asked, nudging me gently.
"She is... I guess we have the same Prosecutor Wood we saw yesterday. I don't know where she came from, and it isn't like we have any evidence she's different anyways," I sighed.
"I wouldn't go that far... We do have one thing that the court can back us up on. We have her testimony from yesterday, and if we use that against her, then they'll have no choice but to listen to us. After all, some of these people were here yesterday when we talked about what she saw at the time of the crime, and if she slips up, we can press it and go on the offensive," Yuri pointed out.
"That's true... And it's our best chance at getting this to work in our favor. I guess all we can do is pray this winds up going well," I frowned. "I don't like leaving it up to chance, but we need something big. If we nitpick, the court might deny it and say we're not looking at the bigger picture. Luckily, we heard what she had to say yesterday, and she'll probably say the same thing no matter how suspicious it makes her seem to a third party."
"Um... I'm going to go on and start now," Prosecutor Wood declared, playing with her hair quietly. When nobody told her not to go on, she glanced around, took a deep breath, and got into it.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ What I Saw ~
-"I was on my way out of the Prosecutor's Office when I saw something odd in the lobby."
-"There was a man holding a knife sitting in a secluded area!"
-"He appeared to be crunched over an object, looking at it closely..."
-"I don't know what happened after that... It's all a bit of a blur..."
-"Where did I even wake up afterwards? I can't remember. I guess I fell asleep at some point."
-"Oh! I remember! I woke up in the hallway upstairs on a bench. That's right."
-"I think that man was holding a bomb when I saw him too... Isn't that odd? Who in the world would have a bomb at the Prosecutor's Office?"
I couldn't help the small smirk that appeared on my face at listening to her testimony. This was going exactly as I had planned. Perfect. I looked to Judge Frost. "The defense would like to start its cross-examination," I said, not taking a second to linger on what we had just heard. The sooner she got into it once again, the sooner we could blow her lie open and figure out what in the world was actually going on here, as it was clear this wasn't what it appeared to be.
Judge Frost didn't seem to pick up on my optimism, and she nodded. "Go on ahead, defense," she told us. "Witness, repeat your testimony from the start."
"Okay," Prosecutor Wood said with a small nod before opening her mouth to speak once more.
Cross-Examination
~ What I Saw ~
-"I was on my way out of the Prosecutor's Office when I saw something odd in the lobby."
-"There was a man holding a knife sitting in a secluded area!"
-"He appeared to be crunched over an object, looking at it closely..."
-"I don't know what happened after that... It's all a bit of a blur..."
-"Where did I even wake up afterwards? I can't remember. I guess I fell asleep at some point."
-"Oh! I remember! I woke up in the hallway upstairs on a bench. That's right."
-"I think that man was holding a bomb when I saw him too... Isn't that odd? Who in the world would have a bomb at the Prosecutor's Office?"
"Objection!"
"Witness, I have to ask you... When you first saw the victim, did you realize that he was holding a bomb?" I questioned, even if I already knew the answer. However, I couldn't go on the offensive too quickly to ensure that nobody got suspicious. By 'nobody', I meant 'Prosecutor Wood', who I really didn't want to catch onto what I was playing at already.
Prosecutor Wood nodded. "Of course I did. Isn't it obvious when you look at the scene of the murder? It has to be a bomb. Everybody knows that it's a bomb. He tried to blow up the building with people still inside. It's obvious," she said.
I shook my head. "That's not what I asked. I asked if you knew about it being a bomb when you first stumbled upon the scene of the crime. When you first found the man with the knife, did you know that he was holding a bomb, or did you figure that out later on?" I questioned.
"Um... I knew it when I first saw him," Prosecutor Wood replied. "It was pretty clear that he was holding something that wasn't supposed to be there, and I realized that it was a bomb when I got a little bit closer."
"How were you able to get closer at all? You have a horrible fear of knives that makes you pass out when you see one," I told her. "If you have such an awful phobia, you would have dropped unconscious before getting anywhere near close enough to see that it was a bomb. In fact, we heard testimony yesterday that Prosecutor Wood didn't realize that the object was a bomb. She instead saw the object as merely a small cube and never figured out what it was until the investigation officially kicked off. If that's the case, how do you explain what you saw?"
Prosecutor Wood frowned, her eyes going wide. I saw her get a little bit paler under the pressure. "Um... I didn't look at the knife when I got close enough to see the bomb. I got lucky and didn't notice it," she replied.
"Then why did Prosecutor Wood mention it yesterday in her testimony?" I inquired. "Isn't that a strange discrepancy?"
"Why do you keep referring to me in the third person? I'm right here!" Prosecutor Wood exclaimed. "I'm Prosecutor Wood! Do you think there are multiple versions of us? That's ridiculous!"
"I think that you just proved it for everyone in this court that there are multiple Prosecutor Wood's. You just said 'multiple versions of us', us being the key word here. You referred to yourself as if there were more than one. You know that there are multiple versions, and you just told the entire court such. I believe that we spoke to one of the versions during the trial yesterday and you during the investigation," I told her, a small smirk on my face.
"What are you talking about?" Robbie questioned, his eyes wide. "This doesn't make any sense. How could there be more than one of her? She looks the same as she always did. She's nervous, anxious, not great with talking to people... That's normal for her."
"And yet, the energy she gives off today is different from usual. You surely must have noticed it as well. She's not acting normal, but she's trying to pass off as a regular girl. I didn't understand why this is... Why would her behavior change so drastically in between a few hours? It was such an odd shift as well... But after doing some thinking, I realized that there had to be more than one Prosecutor Wood. That was the only way the change in attitude, behavior, and testimony made sense," I said.
"But how does this factor into the case?" Prosecutor Cruz asked.
"I think that we spoke to the regular Prosecutor Wood yesterday during the trial. There, she told us about what she had seen at the time of the crime. She fell unconscious after hyperventilating in a panic attack over the knife the victim was holding. When she dropped out, this version stepped in, meaning that the variation of Prosecutor Wood we see before us could be a split personality. It would explain how her behavior could shift so drastically in a matter of minutes while also showing how she can look exactly the same," I explained. "It was a simple switch."
"And this switch allowed this Prosecutor Wood to pass off as the regular one... She didn't know us because they probably don't have the same pool of memories," Yuri realized. "Prosecutor Wood didn't know what happened at the time of the crime because she passed out, but since this version stepped in, she was around when the murder took place... So, she's our key witness to finding the truth behind the murder!"
"Exactly. All we need to do at this point is get her to open up about what she saw at the time. From there, we should be able to finish this case off for the day. Prosecutor Wood, or whatever your name is... Why don't we take this from the top? Who are you really? What did you do at the time of the murder?" I asked.
Prosecutor Wood, who had been oddly quiet up to this point, let out a small huff and shook her head. She pulled the ponytails out of the bottom of her braids, and a few seconds later, her hair was flying free. The hair that regularly covered one of her eyes had moved off to the side to show off her full face. A jagged scar was shown now when it had previously been hidden behind her hair. Prosecutor Wood let out a small laugh, playing with the edges of her hair once again. A small smirk was on her lips, but it didn't seem to be entirely sadistic as far as I was concerned.
"I think we should have the witness start from the beginning... Please state your real name and occupation for the court," Judge Frost declared, frowning deeply down at the new Prosecutor Wood.
Prosecutor Wood crossed her arms, leaning up against the witness stand. "Name's Nevada Wood. I don't have an occupation," she replied, looking out over the court. Her previous nervousness was gone, and I realized that this was no longer an act. She was finally showing us her true form, and it was going to be this true form that brought us to the truth behind this case.
Our victory was being guarded by this new 'Nevada' character, and I didn't have the slightest idea what to think of it.
I love Nevada
-Digital