May 29

Blocker Law Offices

12:30 PM

Cotoli Morix

"I wonder who this Marcus Moore man is... He has to be important if his name is written in the victim's planner, even if it's just vague. I'm glad that we have a name though. Perhaps it's time for us to go and talk to Detective Erikson and ask him to help us track this Moore figure. If we can find him, we can figure out what was happening to the victim around the time of her disappearance. For all we know, he could even be responsible for what happened to her, though there's no proof of that yet," Victoria said.

"I have to wonder if there is anything else in here that we could use... I certainly don't see much on the surface of the desk. The victim was neat enough while alive to keep everything that she didn't find relevant inside the drawers. I can't say for sure if she thinks nothing else is important, but... I suppose we'll figure out what is and isn't important soon enough," I remarked. "I suppose we can do one final sweep of the room, and if we don't find anything, we can go and find Detective Erikson."

"Sounds good to me," Victoria nodded. "Let's see how this goes... We won't know until we take care of it."

With that said, we started to look around the room. We split up and swept through the room, looking carefully through drawers for anything that stuck out. I had the half of the room with the desk, so I checked to see if there were any clues at all. Nothing seemed to stick out, and I couldn't help the frown that appeared on my face over time. I still wasn't seeing anything that we could possibly find useful. I hoped Victoria was having more luck, but I couldn't tell. She was being silent as well, and I didn't want to disturb her.

Victoria finally finished and let out a sigh, shaking her head. "I don't see anything. I was hoping that at least one odd thing would stick out like a sore thumb, but I haven't spotted any evidence that seems out of place. I guess we can give the police and prosecution some time to look it over again, and if we think we need to check it out again after the fact, then that's fine," she said.

I shrugged to myself. "Well, if we're finished in here, let's go and see what's waiting for us. Marcus Moore had better be ready to talk, because he's not going to have much of a choice. He's our best bet at figuring out what the victim was up to at the time that she went missing. Plus, he could always wind up being a suspect... I haven't been keeping up with this place enough since Dee Fence took over, but somebody should be able to tell us what happened with his interview. If he got the job, he'll be easy to access. If not, it still shouldn't be much of an issue since the police can track him down," I told her.

Victoria walked to the door and pushed it open. She held the door to the side to allow me to get through, and I thanked her for it. Afterwards, we started our trek back towards the elevator. After heading inside, we pressed the button for the main floor. I prayed that was where Detective Erikson was. I really didn't want to have to search each individual floor of this building. Blocker Law was far from being small, and I didn't want to waste more precious time than we had to, especially when clues were in such high demand.

Luckily for us though, he was right by the entrance to the elevator. He was talking with Detective Hayes, and I could see him rubbing the side of his head. If I had to take a guess, I would have said that he had a headache of some sort, and I couldn't blame him for that. If I had to stay in that crowd for too long, I would start to feel bad after a while as well.

"Detective Erikson?" I asked, tapping him on the shoulder.

Detective Erikson turned and smiled, though I could tell his grin was weary. It seemed he hated being in this crowded place just as much as I did. "Hello again, Mr. Morix... Is there something you need?" he asked.

"I was going to ask you for a favor. We found something up in the victim's office that could point to a potential suspect, and if it's alright with you, we would like your help in finding out more about them. His name is Marcus Moore. He was set to apply for a job here at Blocker Law around the time we assume the victim went missing back in February. Would you happen to know anything about him?" I questioned.

Detective Erikson paused for a moment before shaking his head. "I actually don't know for sure... But I can probably go to the police station to find out more. From there, I would be happy to tell you what I learned. If you think it will help to find what happened to the victim, I'll do it. However, this sort of thing will take time... I can't pull out the answers here immediately, I'm afraid," he told us.

"How about you go to the detention center to talk to the suspect?" Detective Hayes suggested. "I don't think you've had the chance to go and see your client, and she needs to know that you're on the case."

I nodded my agreement. "You make a good point. How about we go see Polly, Victoria? It would be a good chance to introduce her to you in a setting outside of rivalry," I said, turning to face her slowly.

Victoria smiled to me. "I would be happy to. It was nice speaking to you, Detective Erikson. I'm glad I got to meet you, Detective Hayes," she told the pair of investigators.

"Same to you," Detective Hayes replied, fidgeting with his fingers. He rocked back and forth between the heels and balls of his feet as he stared silently and blankly at the ground.

"I hope that you find success in your talking to the defendant. We'll do all we can to find the truth behind this Marcus Moore figure, and as soon as we find something, we'll be sure to tell you. Can you come back here after you're finished with talking to your client?" Detective Hayes asked.

"Of course. We would be happy to do so if that would be easiest for you," I told him with a nod. "I'll see you later."

Detective Erikson headed for the door first with Detective Hayes trailing behind him. I looked to Victoria and pointed to the door. "Let's get going. We don't want to get there and find out that she has another lawyer in mind, though I somehow doubt that will be the case. I believe it's best to be safe rather than sorry, so there's not a moment to lose," I said to Victoria.

"I understand," Victoria responded. She opened the door and gestured for me to go through first. I thanked her before heading out. She followed me, and we started for the car to go and see Polly. I was eager as could be, both to see her and get some answers.

May 29

Detention Center

1:15PM

Cotoli Morix

After we got to the detention center, I pulled up a second chair to sit in front of the glass before claiming it as my seat. Victoria took over the chair that was already in position. We waited in silence for something to change about the room. We had asked for Polly to come and see us, but she hadn't arrived yet, so all we could do was stare at the door on the other side of the glass quietly. Victoria didn't dare to say anything since she was too focused on the door.

The door finally creaked open as a guard brought Polly in. Polly thanked him, but I could tell that she was bitter behind her kind façade. In fact, she seemed ready to throw hands until somebody let her out, but for the sake of her reputation and ability to leave, she held herself back. She sat down on the other side of the glass, crossing her arms and glaring sourly at the guard. Polly's glare came to a screeching halt when she looked up for long enough to see who had come to visit her. "Cotoli," she said in shock, her rage melting away in an instant. "What are you doing here?"

"Ghastly told me you were in trouble, so I decided to defend you. I'm sorry it took so long to get here. We dropped by the crime scene first. However, there was a break in the investigation that allowed us to come see you, so here we are," I explained. "How have you been doing?"

Polly hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. "I guess I've been getting by. Has it been pleasant? Oh, not at all. In fact, I want to punch the wall over and over because I'm locked up in here. I can't even pursue my minor investigation because I'm stuck in here waiting for everybody to decide I didn't kill the victim. I don't know why I would want to kill her. There's no motive, no set opportunity, none of my fingerprints on the weapon... It makes no sense. Whoever did this must have the brain capacity of a goldfish, because it was quite possibly the most ridiculous decision I have ever been involved with," she grumbled.

"I understand your upset, but I would like to ask you to calm down for long enough to talk to you about what you know regarding this case," I told her. "We want to get you out of here as soon as possible, but we can't exactly do that with how little we know about this case. I'm afraid the investigation hasn't exactly been going well, and we need your help to figure it out."

Polly nodded. "Yeah... Sure. I'd be happy to tell you. What is it you need?" she questioned. The rage bubbling beneath the surface was still present, but she was doing a much better job of hiding it now than she had been.

"We heard that you were investigating the disappearance of the victim. If that's the case, you must know the truth about when she went missing. What happened to her is obvious now, but... We need a starting point if we're going to figure this out," Victoria said.

"Alright... She went missing in the middle of February. She disappeared shortly after meeting up with someone for a job interview, according to other people in her agency. She spoke with the applicant, one Marcus Moore, and soon after, she went missing. Nobody saw her again after she left to speak with him a second time. Now, it seems clear that she was killed, but it's difficult to say for sure if it was Marcus Moore who did it or somebody else," Polly explained.

"So... You already know about Marcus Moore?" I asked, trying to hide my surprise, though I knew I was failing. "What do you know about him? We just asked Detective Erikson to help us learn more about him, but I would be happy to hear about everything you know before returning to the crime scene to talk to him."

"Yeah. Other people working at the agency declared that she had met with him for a job interview. In the end, the victim decided not to hire him, and he was not happy about it. The next time she showed her face, she said she was going to be speaking with Marcus Moore once again. Nobody knows what they wound up talking about or what happened to her after the fact. It's the big mystery surrounding her disappearance. I'm not sure what could have happened, but I can't exactly find the answer right now anyways. It's hard to figure out when you're locked up like an animal in a cage. I want to scream just thinking about what I could be doing but ultimately can't do because I have to be here," Polly told us, ending her brief speech on a quiet yet bitter note. "I'm going to pass this onto you, Cotoli. Please, help me figure this out. I don't want to deal with this anymore if I can't take care of it myself."

"I see... I'd be happy to help you out. On the subject of Marcus Moore, I have to ask... Have you looked into him further? Is there anything about him that sticks out?" I questioned.

Polly paused for a moment before frowning. "Here's the thing... I don't know. There's not really a way for me to know. According to most people, Marcus Moore went missing a long time ago. His name only resurfaced for when he appeared to apply for this job, but after he got turned down, it vanished once again. Nobody has seen him since then, and I've been trying to find him. He's trying to hide himself, and it's immensely frustrating. The only pictures anyone has of him are from years upon years ago. They're more than a decade old. He was assumed dead until his name came back when he applied for this job. Now that his name has gone back into the void, nobody knows what happened to him. There are too many questions surrounding his existence to find out more," Polly told us.

"He went missing up until he applied for this job... How strange. I wonder why that is. I can't imagine why somebody would want to go missing, and if they really wanted to disappear, why come back? Why apply for a job at a law agency after spending so long hiding from the rest of the world?" I couldn't help but ask.

"I don't understand it either... I have to wonder if he has a law degree. If he does, it must be years old. It would be from back before he went missing, which was a long time ago," Victoria remarked. "Prosecutor Burke, you looked into him. Does he have a law degree? I know it's an odd thing to ask, but I suppose I have a bad feeling about it."

Polly paused for a moment. "That's where things get complicated. Before he disappeared, he had no law degree, but when he resurfaced, he seemed to have one. I have to wonder if it was forged to help him get into Blocker Law as a worker. Granted, that's only a guess, and I have no way of saying for sure if he really faked the degree, but that's all we have right now," she replied.

"If he had gone to school during this period where he was gone, surely it would have shown up on a record somewhere. Somebody would be aware that he had resurfaced, and it would be fishy that it was for such a brief time. I think there's something suspicious going on here. Even if there's no official evidence of this, can you blame me for thinking like that?" I asked.

"Not at all. It's all rather odd. Something is up here. Someone would have noticed that he was back, and it would have caused issues, but there are no records about that anywhere. That means he probably faked it, unless he went to school online, but I feel like even if he did, somebody would have noticed it. That certainly would have made waves if people were paying attention. Maybe those involved weren't aware somehow, but it would have gotten back to the investigators at some point," Victoria said.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you guys are ready to call out all of the crap that this case is throwing at us. I don't like this at all, but what can you do about it? Anyways, the point is that Marcus Moore is fishy. He went missing only to come back with a law degree. If someone had the right resources, they could falsify it. In fact, the chances of that are rather great at this point because of the name on the so-called degree," Polly told us.

"The name on the degree? What does that mean?" Victoria asked. She paused for a moment before speaking up again. "Well, I know what the name on the degree means, but I have to ask why that's so important. What has you thinking it's fake from the name alone? I mean, if you don't mind answering, but I feel like you would be able to tell us since we're the ones defending you from murder charges, and you clearly don't want to get arrested for murder." She let out a heavy sigh and shook her head, her expression guilty at the confusion she had caused in her lengthy ramblings. "You know what I mean..."

Polly smirked to herself at Victoria's goofy behavior before shaking her head. "Don't worry about it. I know what you're talking about. The name on the degree is one that I do recognize, but only because the person who the name belongs to is no longer alive. He was murdered years ago in a mysterious situation that never got solved. Nobody knows who killed him, but I don't think that's the important part here. The point is it could be falsified without anybody having the ability to ask him about it. It would be impossible to verify if the man who supposedly signed it died many years ago. Granted, this is signed before the date of his death, but it could be forged in modern day without anyone asking about it," she explained.

"Wow... I suppose it would be easy to hide the truth if the person who supposedly signed it passed away. Granted, I'm not sure if this is all true... The falsification, I mean. I wonder if the records surrounding graduation and gaining degrees would be accessible for this case. If we can get into them, we can hopefully learn the truth about if the degree is real. I don't know if we'll be allowed to do so though, just given how colleges work. It's something to keep in the back of our minds. Perhaps we should ask Detective Erikson to check it out. It wouldn't hurt to ask him about it. I'm sure he would be happy to help," I murmured. "Is there anything else you want to tell us, Polly? We should be getting back to the crime scene sooner rather than later to talk to Detective Erikson. We don't want him to be waiting too long for us. If he gives up on meeting with us for the day, our next chance to talk will be after the trial tomorrow."

"Hm... I'm not sure if anything else comes to mind... Ah! Wait, no, I do have something. I can tell you about what happened when I stumbled upon the body. I feel like that's something important to keep in mind when going into the trial tomorrow," Polly said. "Do you want to hear that?"

I nodded. "Of course. That's important for us to hear about. Go right ahead," I told her.

"Alright," Polly agreed. "So, it starts during the previous case. I'm sure you remember that one. I mean, one of you two was arrested for it, so of course you know about it. The body was taken in by the police station for a while since they wanted to look it over one more time. I was there when the body was taken in. A key was found in his pocket, which I have to admit, I was not expecting. From there, I started to think about where it could go to, but then I found another thing in the same pocket. It was a note that stated where the key went to. When I realized it was to Blocker Law, I decided I had to go there as soon as I had the chance to do so. I was caught up with doing other things for quite some time, so I didn't have the opportunity to go there until recently... Very recently."

"What happened when you finally got to look around?" Victoria asked. I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was feeling sick just thinking about this.

"Well, I headed for the cellar. I used the key to unlock the door. The entire area was covered in dust. I saw the fridge and decided to get closer. I opened the fridge to see what was inside, and I saw the body. It was in a plastic bag leaned up against the side of the fridge. I screamed in surprise, and a few people on the bottom floor came to see what was going on... Wait. No. It was one person who came to see what had happened. She wound up calling the police, and from there, I was arrested since I was the only one at the scene of the crime at the time. Since I discovered the body, I had to be suspicious," Polly sighed, shaking her head.

"Did the police have anything else in mind for why you would want to kill the victim? If they arrested you solely based on you being in the wrong place at the wrong time, it should be easy to point out that somebody else could have done it," I said. "It doesn't sound like anyone deliberately framed you either. It was just a coincidence that you were arrested for the crime."

"If you're thinking about a motive, then your answer would be no. There was nothing found that would give me a motive for committing the crime. As far as I can tell, the police searched for anything that would be suspicious involving me and the victim, but nothing showed up. I was arrested based on chance, but they didn't seem to want to admit they were wrong. It was hasty, and as far as I can tell, no thought went into it at all. It was kind of pathetic to see from the outside, I must admit," Polly explained to us.

"Somehow, I'm not particularly surprised. Jumping to conclusions is practically a requirement to get a job these days. I wonder if it's normal to hire people who think things out so little. Somehow, I feel like it has to be given how much stupidity we have to deal with on a daily basis, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating," I sighed. My tone was admittedly dry, but I was too focused on other things to try and sound like I cared about the state of the police force.

"Either way, I guess we'll just have to put up with it, regardless of how frustrating it is. I mean, I don't like saying that's what we have to do, but I'm not exactly seeing any other options," Polly grumbled with a shake of her head. "I want to know what your strategy is at the moment. You must have some plan in mind for tomorrow, right? I want to hear about it. I mean, it is my neck on the line, so I feel like I have a right to hear about what you're planning to do when the time comes to show off your fangs in the courtroom."

"Well, I'm going to start off by asking the prosecution, whoever it may be, about when they think the murder took place. The sooner we know that, the sooner we can find some witnesses from the time of the crime. It's impossible to poke holes in an alibi if we don't know when it happened, for example... It could completely clear your name if you have an alibi, but if you don't, it could cause problems. It's hard to find a suspect without knowing that time of death. The police probably went for you not only because you discovered the body, but because they thought you were returning to the scene of your crime. They didn't have anything else to look at, and they chose to jump to conclusions as a result. Instead of putting in effort, they put in whatever they figured would be easiest," I told her, shaking my head.

"The time of the crime will finish everything off for us... It could put a nail in the coffin or open it enough for me to get out of the suspect's seat. Then again, it isn't enough to just say that somebody else did it. You need to get a confession out of them, which is much easier said than done. Either way, I have faith in you, and I trust that you'll be able to figure it out. If not, then you will have to face my unrestrained wrath, which is pretty bad in my opinion," Polly said.

I let out a small chuckle and shook my head. "I'm glad to see that being arrested hasn't dampened your sense of humor at all. You're just like how you usually are... It's just that now, people think that you're bad," I remarked. "At least some things stay the same no matter what."

Polly sighed and rolled her eyes, but I could tell there was a playful edge to her actions. I was happy to see that she wasn't too angry about it. She needed somebody to pull her out of her drab and dreary mindset, and I was happy to be the person to help. "You're hopeless," Polly murmured, though I could tell that she really didn't mind me being that way. Even if I was a mess, I was still a good friend of hers, and that was enough for her. You wouldn't ever expect us to get along so well given how different our personalities are naturally, but here we were, and I wouldn't give it up for the world.

"Is there anything else we should be hearing about?" Victoria asked of Polly, keeping us on track. I was glad she was there to balance things out from the goofy moments we had just experienced. I had made a good choice in bringing her on board as part of the agency's dynamic.

Polly paused for a moment, thinking over the case, before shrugging. "Not that I can think of. You should be getting back to the scene of the crime right now anyways. You don't want to miss Detective Erikson. He could help you to figure out if that degree was faked, which could be your single lead. You don't know where Marcus Moore is, but you might want to keep this in mind regardless. It's better to think about that than run around like headless chickens since there's nothing else to observe," she told us.

"Alright... Thank you again for talking to us. I don't think we'll have the chance to come back and ask you anything else about the case, so go on and tell us if you have any closing thoughts," I said. "We're going to have to jump into looking for information about Marcus Moore as soon as we get back to the crime scene, and that will probably take up the remainder of our day, as much as I hate to say it."

"I can't think of anything else... Well, there is one thing, but I feel like you might be able to assume this. The blood on the victim's chest was dried at the time it was found. I don't mean frozen here. I mean dried. Whoever put the body in the fridge waited for it to dry up before locking the fridge. I know that's an odd thing to observe, but if it was frozen, it would have melted by now. That would take time. The culprit would have had to wait until the blood dried before locking the body away, so they would need a few hours to hang around and take care of business," Polly explained.

"I see... That's not the observation I was expecting to hear from you, but I suppose you've always been the type to look at details. I'm not complaining at all though," I smiled, letting out a small chuckle.

"I'm a prosecutor. I always have to look at the details like that. You should be used to looking at stuff like that too since you're a lawyer. I only brought that up since I'm not sure if the victim's body was left at the scene of the crime. It was the primary thing I noticed upon finding the body, and I thought it would be harmless to bring up," Polly went on.

"I'm happy you did mention it. Thank you," I told her.

"Don't worry about it. Go on back to the crime scene. I don't want to take up too much of your time when the investigation is waiting for you out there," Polly shrugged. "Until next time we meet."

I nodded and headed for the door, gesturing for Victoria to follow me. We left the visiting room before leaving the building as a whole. "We heard some pretty important information in there," I remarked simply.

Victoria nodded. "I agree. I'm happy that we decided to stop by to talk to her. She had a lot of important stuff to tell us about, and I think the Marcus Moore facts were particularly notable. What are we going to do with all of that?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I somehow get the feeling that we'll be hearing about it soon. However, we need to get to the crime scene first, so let's set off. The investigation won't be going on forever."

Two updates in a week oh yeah

-Digital