May 30
Blocker Law Offices
5:35 PM
CotoliMorix
As much as I hated to admit it, I was starting to get sick of investigating by the time we arrived back at Blocker Law. My stomach was starting to rumble unhappily since I had neglected it nearly all day, and I placed one hand over my torso gently with hopes that I would be able to calm it sooner rather than later. I sighed and shook my head when I was sure Victoria wouldn't be able to see. I didn't want to bother her by bringing up how hungry I was. It would only distract us from the other business we had to take care of before we could stop for a snack break.
The first order of business after getting there was to figure out where Ms. Quell was. I didn't have the slightest clue as to where we should start looking. I didn't know her at all, so I would have to guess based on her behavior in the trial. Even so, I hadn't seen enough of her actions to reasonably guess what she would choose to do outside of the courtroom. In other words, we were going to have to rely on dumb luck.
Victoria didn't say anything after we got to Blocker Law. She started to look around the area, eventually settling her gaze on some people standing near the door. It was just as crowded as it had been before, and I was amazed that she had been able to see anything. I hadn't been so lucky leading up to this point, though maybe that was because I was too distracted by my upset stomach to try searching with all my concentration.
"There!" Victoria exclaimed. She pointed in through the doorway, and I took her hand before leading her into the building. It took a lot of weaving in and out of the countless people to get there, and I really hated how crowded it was. I knew we would be coming back to this, but that didn't make it any less of a supreme headache as we tried to figure out where Ms. Quell was hiding.
After we got inside of the building, I looked off to the right of the entrance. There she was. Ms. Quell was standing with her arms crossed as she looked around the lobby. She seemed antsy and distracted, though I couldn't blame her for that at all. It was so immensely crowded. I hated tight spaces like this, and I got the feeling she felt the same way. Even if one was alright with crowds, the noise was frustrating, to say the least. Who thought having this many people in one small lobby was a good idea?
"Ms. Quell!" Victoria exclaimed, looking over to the mint-haired girl. She waved one arm furiously above her head to try and get Ms. Quell's attention. I saw Ms. Quell perk up, but I realized soon after that Victoria's gesture was lost in the buzz of the crowd, and Ms. Quell couldn't see it at all.
I pulled Victoria through the crowd over to where Ms. Quell was located. It took a lot more worth than it probably should have, but we didn't exactly have any other options given how aggravating all the investigators were being with taking up all the available space and then some. Even so, we somehow managed to get over to where Ms. Quell was standing, prompting me to release a sigh of relief. This was already annoying me a lot more than it probably should have. This sure was an interesting investigation.
"Hello, Ms. Quell!" Victoria smiled. "It's nice to officially meet you. I'm Victoria von Graye, and this is my boss, Cotoli Morix. We're the lawyers on the case surrounding Ms. Fence's death. We spoke during the trial, but we didn't exactly have the chance to actually introduce ourselves, unfortunately. I guess that's what right now is for."
Ms. Quell looked Victoria over, a small frown on her face. In the end, she shook her head before looking down. "Alright... It's nice to meet you, I suppose. You have quite the case on your hands, don't you?" Ms. Quell scoffed, shaking her head. "It's not like it's really going in your favor right now, as much as I hate to say it. Good luck on figuring this one out. You're not going to get the answer easily."
"I'm sure we'll find a way to take care of it," Victoria assured her. "Anyways, we just came by to ask you a few questions about the case. After all, you were here the day the victim died. If you have anything to tell us, please say it. We won't judge you for anything. Your testimony is immensely valuable to us."
Ms. Quell searched Victoria's eyes for signs of authenticity, but she gave up a few seconds later. "You sure are excited about all of this. How are you so sure that I'll be able to help you out? For all you know, you heard everything I had to say during the trial today," she said. I could tell she was still unsure about talking to us since we didn't know each other all that well. I couldn't blame her for hesitating a little bit, but I hoped that we would be able to get her to open up sooner rather than later. After all, we had been investigating for far too long leading up to this point.
"We figured that it wouldn't hurt to ask, even if you didn't know anything else," Victoria told her. "If you don't know anything else, then we'll just be on our way. However, judging by the fact that you're still here, I'm willing to assume that you know something else. After all, why would you have stuck around here at the crime scene if you didn't have something important to say?"
Ms. Quell looked at her for a moment before letting out a sigh and shaking her head. "Perceptive, are we? I knew you were smart, but I didn't realize you would be able to figure that out." Her tone was even, and her voice dripped with sarcasm. However, I couldn't tell if she was being genuine or not. I could really see it going either way, and I wasn't going to be the one to question her on it.
"How do you know that much?" Victoria asked, tilting her head to one side as she looked at Ms. Quell.
"I turn on the news, for one. I mean, your agency was closely involved with the Oracle cases that plagued last year. Anyone with half a brain can put together the pieces that you know what you're doing if you were able to solve all of those cases without issue," Ms. Quell replied, shrugging loosely. "Plus, if you were really stupid, I would have figured it out during the trial today. I'm observant, you know."
Victoria let out a small laugh, her cheeks going pink as she realized that Ms. Quell had seen us in action during the trial. "Okay, I get the point... Anyways, why don't you go on and tell us about what you know? Is there anything else for us to hear where the case is concerned? No matter how minor it is, we appreciate hearing. No evidence is bad evidence," she told Ms. Quell.
Ms. Quell hesitated for a moment before shrugging. "When I said earlier that I had told you everything, I meant it. I didn't even realize I was a key witness until the body turned up. I didn't know the layout of this building the day that the victim went missing. I thought there was an exit down in the basement, and she could have just left through there. I didn't realize that wasn't the case until today. There really isn't much else for me to mention," she said.
"I was afraid you would say that," I murmured. "Even so, what you said today was very helpful. After all, you were able to help us figure out when the victim died. That had been impossible leading up to when you testified since the forensics team could not perform an autopsy on the body. It had been frozen for far too long for an accurate estimation to be made, so we needed your testimony to get to the bottom of it."
"Glad to know I was able to help you out. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to do much else now that you have that information. After all, I don't know anything else about the case. If I did, I would have mentioned it already, and we wouldn't be standing here now," Ms. Quell told us. "The only thing I could really do for you at this point is share what I already did during the trial. I mean, if you want to hear about all of that again, I guess it wouldn't hurt, but I doubt you want to talk about it since you already heard it all."
"Basically, you were here because you were waiting for your mother to come and pick you up after an outside event. That was when you saw the victim go down into the basement, but she never came back out of the four hours you were in the lobby," Victoria recalled. "Did anything else stick out to you at the time? You must have a pretty good memory for figuring out all of that was linked to the murder months after the fact. I don't know if I would have been able to remember that."
"I made a note of it on my phone after it happened. I had an unexplained bad feeling about what happened. I didn't know how to put a finger on it. I just knew that I really didn't like it. I made a quick note to make sure that I didn't forget in case it wound up being important. After the fact, I brushed it off since I didn't realize the victim had been killed that day. It wasn't until the trial came along that I realized I had witnessed the final moments of the victim. I thought she had just left early or something, though I did find it to be kind of odd that she just left without saying bye when she was supposed to be watching me all afternoon," Ms. Quell explained. She stuck her hand into her pocket and began to feel around before pulling out her phone. She held it out to me as she spoke once again. "You can look at the note if you really want to, though I don't know how much help it will be. I left it pulled up after the trial ended."
I accepted the device, nodding to Ms. Quell. "Thank you." I powered up her phone and looked at the note that was open already. It was a pretty basic description of what she had said in the trial that day. It was nearly exactly what she had told us earlier on, which I had seen coming, but it still disappointed me. I had been hoping to find even a little tidbit more from this note.
"Like I said, there really isn't anything new on there. I said all that I really needed to during the trial today," Ms. Quell shrugged. "I wish I had more details on the man I ran into that day though. I've never really been great with facial recognition, especially when it comes to guys like that. Unless they have something that makes them really distinct, I can't describe them easily. However, when you showed me that picture of who you thought I saw, I recognized him right off the bat. Does that make sense?"
"You can't really describe him since a lot of people look just like him, but you can recognize him when you have something to compare him to," Victoria concluded. "I think that makes sense. He has a pretty common appearance, so it would be hard to describe him without seeming like a million other people would fit the bill."
"Yeah, that's one of the problems I had. I did my best to say what I thought he looked like. I'm just relieved that you were able to figure out who it was without any issues. I never would have been able to do that since I wouldn't know where to start as far as finding a picture of him goes," Ms. Quell told us. "Where do you think he is now? If he's really involved with this case, regardless of if he's the killer, you'll need to know where he is to have him arrested."
"We don't have the slightest idea," Victoria admitted. "However, we're going to find a way to figure out where he is. We aren't going to let him get away without testifying about what he did the day of the crime. Marcus Moore is a suspicious man for sure, and your testimony only confirms that. I'm glad that you were able to help us pin him down as suspicious for the court. Words really do mean a lot in court."
"It's nothing you need to thank me for. The more killers we can get off the streets, the better," Ms. Quell shrugged. "I hope you can come up with a plan for finding that man though. I don't think it would be a good idea to leave him to his own devices."
"Hopefully, the detectives can search for him and track where he's been hiding out for all this time. You were at the trial the whole time, so you know that he's been missing for countless years," Victoria frowned. "And he's been involved with illegal activity for most, if not all, of that time. He's a dangerous man that we don't want to be left alone for any longer than he already has."
"In that case, I wish you luck in figuring out where he is. I don't know that. I hadn't seen him up until he came out of the basement the day of the murder. He must have been hiding down there for at least two hours leading up to that point, because that was about how long I had been waiting in the lobby. Like I already mentioned, nobody else went through the lobby to go into the basement in that time. I didn't go snooping since I didn't think it was my place to do so. In a twisted way, I'm relieved I didn't look around. It wouldn't have been good if I ran into him on the way down there, because if he's already killed the victim, he wouldn't have hesitated to silence any witnesses," Ms. Quell said. Her expression grew distant the longer she talked about the danger of Marcus Moore. I couldn't blame her for that at all. I would be rattled if I were in her shoes. Anyone would be.
"Speaking of, I have to wonder if the group back at the agency has figured out anything related to him. I mean, if they have, they've been weirdly quiet about it up to this point... It's only getting later, and we still don't have any updates on what's happened with their miniature investigation," Victoria frowned. "I'm sure we'll get something soon enough, but I'm starting to get worried. What if they didn't find anything? If they can't figure it out, then we won't have any new information to go into the trial with. I'm concerned."
"I don't think you entirely need to be. They know what they're doing. If something truly had gone wrong, then we would know about it by now. Maybe they just got deep into their research and didn't realize that the time was flying by. I'm sure that's all it is," I told her, though I was really trying to assure myself more than I was attempting to calm her nerves. I was getting antsy that we hadn't heard anything either, but I didn't want to come off as obsessively nervous.
"Alright," Victoria murmured, shaking her head. I could tell she was still unsure, but I didn't think there was anything else I could say to her that would calm her down at this point. If such words existed, they were beyond my influence. All that would relax her would be hearing extra details about the investigation from the group back at the agency as far as I was aware.
"It sounds like you have a lot going on," Ms. Quell remarked. "Is being a lawyer really that chaotic? I can see why people wouldn't want to get involved with that mess."
"It's not normally like this," Victoria said quickly, jumping on the chance to defend our profession. "It's just that we're trying to figure out as much as we can about the killer you saw, though it isn't going well. Normally, we have more of an idea regarding who could have committed the crime, but this case decided to be an exception in the most annoying way possible."
"You know, I would have expected some people to just abandon this trail of thinking if it took a bit too much work to find the answer to. I mean, not everybody is quite as stubborn and determined as you are, and losing hope seems much easier than dealing with the twists and turns that this might bring about," Ms. Quell shrugged. "I guess it just shows how the good and the great can be separated. But hey, that's just my personal opinion."
"She thinks we're great," Victoria smiled, nudging her elbow against me. I grinned lightly at the action, happy to see her looking a bit more hopeful after feeling down in the dumps where the subject of our coworkers was concerned. "That's the encouragement that I really needed in these trying times. Maybe the universe isn't as against us as I thought originally."
Ms. Quell stared at her, clearly weirded out by Victoria talking about her so openly while she was standing right there. Regardless, she shook it off and let out a sigh. "You two sure do have your work cut out for you if you're going to find the truth behind this case. However, if you're confident in your skills, I guess that's all that matters. You're the professionals here. I'm just some random kid who happened to see a murder leave a basement. I don't really have any credentials to judge you on, and I'm not going to be the annoying person who calls you out for something when I don't know what the job is like. People like that drive me absolutely crazy," she told us.
"I feel the same way," Victoria smiled. "Either way, thank you for your help. Even if you didn't have any new information for us, that's okay. Sometimes, you just need to cover all your bases, even if it doesn't lead to anything new. I hope you have a nice day after this. I mean, it's kind of hard to do something else when you're involved in a murder case, but good luck with it anyways. It's not much, but it's the least I can offer." She bowed her head to Ms. Quell, her eyes lit up with thankfulness. Despite this, I could tell that she was still somewhat bothered by what was happening with our coworkers no matter how much she tried to hide it.
"I'm glad that I was able to help, even if it was just a little. I should be getting back home. I bet my mom is getting worried about what's taking me so long. I mean, she knew that I was going to be testifying in the trial today before heading here to wait during the investigation, but everything is taking a lot longer than I would have originally expected. It's not like there's anything I can do to change that, but I still bet that she's concerned, and I don't want to leave her in panic for too long," Ms. Quell said. "Besides, you two have some other business to attend to as well. Your coworkers hopefully have found something by now."
"I can hope," Victoria smiled. "Until we meet again, have a nice day. You know, as nice of a day as you can have when you're involved with a murder case and all that stuff. You know what I mean."
Ms. Quell snorted at Victoria's remark, though I could tell that it was a gesture rooted in a good nature. "I'll see you at the trial tomorrow. Try not to get into too much trouble before then. We can't have the case being cut short by one of you getting hurt or dying," she remarked. "But until then, good luck with your investigation. I won't keep you for any longer. Have a nice day despite the murder you've gotten involved with."
Ms. Quell waved to us as she turned on her heel and started to walk away. She disappeared into the crowd before leaving the building as a whole. I watched her back as she vanished before turning to Victoria. "Well, I'm glad that we were able to talk to her before she left. It seems to me like we caught her in the nick of time. She was just about to head out. We sure did get lucky," I told her.
"I'm so relieved that we took care of it. Even if she didn't have anything new to tell us, I'm glad that we talked to her. It's important to cover all your bases and that stuff. If we hadn't talked to her, I would have spent the rest of the day freaking out over if she could have told us something we didn't already know," Victoria laughed, rubbing at the back of her neck. "Now, all we really need to do is go and talk to the others back at the agency, and after that's taken care of, we can call it good for today."
I nodded. "You're right. We're almost at the end of this... It feels to me like this has been one of the longest investigations ever, but I guess it needed to be given all that's happened leading up to this point," I told her. "I'm certainly going to enjoy resting after it's all over though. It's been too long since we had a chance to rest fully."
Victoria let out a nervous laugh before nodding her own agreement. "Oh, I felt that one. My arms and legs feel like they're going to fall off. I guess that's the combination of hunger and stress finally getting to me. I almost want this conversation to be over with sooner rather than later just so I don't have to avoid my lovely bed for any longer than I already have. I hope that's not too unfair of a judgement," she laughed. "The longer I stand around, the more I feel like I'm going to just pass out on the ground. I just want to get some sleep, but this case is insistent on making sure that doesn't happen, much to my disappointment."
"At least we're almost finished now. After we finish talking to the others, we can relax for the rest of the day. A lot has happened, and we deserve to get as much sleep as possible after all this," I told her. "We should try to get out of the crowd now. I have the sneaking suspicion that we'll have some trouble getting out since the crowd only ever seems to get larger. Can't some of these people have the same ideas we're having now about leaving? Seeing all of them here is starting to frustrate me."
Victoria reached out to take my hand, hoping for me to lead her through the chaos using my advantage of height and increased vision. However, she was cut off by a sharp beeping sound. Victoria gasped and shoved her hand into her pocket. After a few seconds of her digging around in her pockets, she pulled out her phone and showed it to me. She tapped at the screen a few times before letting out a gasp, a wide grin appearing on her face. "It's from Yuri!" she exclaimed excitedly.
Relief and happiness blossomed in my chest. "What does it say?" I asked, though I already knew the general subject of the message. It had to be an update on the research of the group back at the agency, the same update we had been waiting for since our investigation day began. I could hardly wait to see what they had figured out on the matter of Marcus Moore's picture.
"It says that she has an update for us on the man in the picture. In fact, they've figured out who it is that looks like Marcus Moore. We should go back to the agency as soon as possible to hear what she has to say," Victoria told me, a bright smile still on her face. "I'm so excited! With how long it took them to give us an update, there has to be something important in there somewhere. Call it a gut instinct."
"Well, we don't have a moment to lose then," I told her with a firm nod. "I'm incredibly relieved that we finally got an update. I'm not going to lie, I was starting to get kind of worried."
"You weren't the only one," Victoria admitted as she dropped her phone back into its original spot in her pocket. "If they have a lot to tell us, we're going to need to be ready to take some notes. I'm so excited! It feels like we've been waiting for ages to hear the full truth about all this!"
"We shouldn't stick around here for any longer than we already have when there's work to be done out there," I told her. "Time to brave the crowd to get out of here... This is probably the bit that I'm looking forward to the least. I almost wish there was a secondary exit through the basement like Ms. Quell originally suspected." I let out a small chuckle at that last remark. "That would have changed the case for sure, but at the very least, it would have made it easier to get out of here."
Victoria laughed as well before taking my hand officially. "I'm counting on you, Mr. Morix. If anybody can get us out of here, it's you," she told me firmly.
"You make me sound like I'm some kind of navigating superhero," I remarked, raising one eyebrow in her direction.
"Maybe you are. Who needs to be a lawyer when you could just help small, fragile young women get out of crowded buildings?" Victoria laughed. "Anyways, we shouldn't stick around here for any longer than we already have. The sooner we escape, the sooner we can hear what the others have to say."
I nodded before starting to weave my way in and out of the crowd. Victoria trailed behind me, doing her best not to get lost in the chaos surrounding us. I really didn't understand how anyone could get any work done when there were so many bodies in such a small space. I would have lost my mind by this point, and I was more thankful than ever that I was a lawyer who could move around during an investigation rather than a detective who was expected to stay in one location. I wouldn't even come close to lasting a day if all crime scenes were like this due to my deep hatred of crowds. It would cause the world's biggest headache for me.
We finally managed to stumble our way out of the crowd soon after, and I let out a sigh of relief once we were free of the chaos. I rubbed at my temple, trying to banish the pounding in my head that had appeared after spending just a few minutes navigating that messy area. Maybe I wasn't as good of a navigation superhero as Victoria had implied. I mean, this came as no surprise to me, but it still made me feel bad in a weird, childish way. I did my best to keep Victoria from catching on though, not wanting to put a damper on her mood given how excited she was to get back to the agency.
"Finally, we're out of there," Victoria smiled. "I can't wait to get back there. The others are bound to have a lot to say to us, and I don't think I've ever been this excited for anything during an investigation before. I mean, I haven't been on too many investigations before, but I think you get the picture regardless."
"I do," I assured her. I gestured for her to follow me as I started to walk away and towards the car. I slid into my seat after we arrived there, waiting for her to do the same. Once we were both inside, I let out a small sigh, relieved that we were away from that messy place. Hopefully, escaping the crime scene would be enough to keep my headache from getting any worse than it already was.
Victoria waited eagerly for the drive to start, and I smiled to her before starting the car fully. I couldn't help but feel her contagious excitement cover me, and I wanted to be back at the agency more than ever before all of a sudden. Chrysalis' position had no doubt allowed them to find high-class information, which was just what we needed as far as I was concerned. Her help would be immensely useful for the upcoming second session of the trial thanks to whatever she had found today. Polly was going to be freed soon, and I could hardly wait for this case to reach its conclusion after what felt like a wait that lasted an eternity.
Next time is the big one oh boy
-Digital
