Stuff happens this chapter! That's how I describe this. The trial will happen soon, but not this chapter and not next chapter. Hopefully the one after that.
Also, this chapter starts with an in-joke. I can explain it if you ask me.
Chapter 20 – This is How We Do It
At dinner time, Kristoph and the other inmates watched as the guards left after having tackled and mildly sedating von Karma for what they called a "psychotic episode." Manfred did not look very pleased at being man-handled in that way as he took his seat next to Gant, his arms folded, and an angry look on his face.
"I do not understand," he grumbled, "When Atmey sings in our cell at night people just moan and complain but nothing happens to him. But when I vant to sing, I get attacked by fifty billion guards!"
"Ok, first of all it was only four guards," Godot pointed out, "Second, Atmey doesn't burst into song right the fuck out of no where in the middle of the cafeteria, jumping onto the table to do a little dance number to go with it."
"Makes ya look a little bit looney," White agreed.
"Bah!" von Karma scoffed.
Kristoph smirked at him and turned back to his meal. Despite his legal team's lack of progress on physical evidence, he was feeling better than he had that morning. He didn't really know why.
"So, Gavvy 2, your lawyers find any new evidence today?" Gant addressed Kristoph. He frowned.
"Stop calling me that," he muttered, "And no, they didn't. But Mr. Justice and Wright seemed pretty hopeful none-the-less."
"I wonder if it has anything to do with Sir Lawyer questioning us about whether or not we heard anything on the night of the murder," Luke wondered, "I know while I certainly saw something, I never heard anything."
"Ah, clever as always, you are," Godot praised with a seductive grin. Luke blinked at him for a moment before turning back to the others.
"Anyway, they might be on to something. I am eager to see what the 'marrow will bring," he finished.
"Heh, you said 'marrow,'" Frank chuckled, "Like marshmarrow!"
"Sahwit, I will slap you," Richard hissed in annoyance.
"Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm excited to testify tomorrow," Godot said, "It's been a while since I've been to court. And now that I've been a defense attorney and a prosecutor, I can get inside whoever's running the trial's mind. Don't worry Gavin. I won't let him turn the tables on me."
Kristoph opened his mouth to point out he never won a single case as a prosecutor but decided against it. He remembered Wright telling him how Godot had been one of his greatest adversaries.
"Hmph, all of you old-timers are missing the big picture," Wellington suddenly scoffed, "If they put me on the witness stand I would give an air-tight testimony that none of you geezers could possibly comprehend!"
Daryan stopped slurping his soup and looked over at him. "Geezer?" he growled, "I'm younger than you!"
Richard waved a dismissive hand. "And your point is?" he asked.
"You're a dummkopf," von Karma grumbled.
…
When Phoenix and Apollo got back to the office Phoenix immediately went to his desk and opened up his computer. "We need to figure out what we're going to present in court tomorrow," he told Apollo, "A well prepared attorney is the best attorney."
"Really, boss?" Athena asked from where she was sorting papers, "I always thought you were just winging it."
"I'm ignoring you," Phoenix told her bitterly.
He opened his Facebook page and saw a post about Matt Engarde's death. Deciding to look at the comments, the very first one was from Adrian Andrews, whom he was friends with, and she wrote: "And nothing of value was lost."
"Well then," he muttered, shutting his browser, "Let's go over what we know, shall we?"
"All right," Apollo said, walking over, "We know that at least three inmates saw someone else enter the cell, but no one heard anything coming from that cell. We know both Mr. Gavin and Engarde were really tired that night…" He paused to think. "And that's about it right now."
Phoenix sighed. "Well, hopefully Prosecutor Gavin gets back here soon with the autopsy report," he mused, "Hopefully that will shed some light on things."
"Hey, while we're waiting for him to get here, can we order food?" Trucy requested, "I'm starving!"
Only a few minutes after they ordered pizza Klavier finally arrived with the autopsy report. He looked elated and confused at the same time.
"You're not going to believe what they found!" he announced when he burst through the door.
"Small Martians that were controlling Engarde's body the whole time?" Athena guessed excitedly. Klavier gave her a confused look.
"Um, no," he replied, "They found that Engarde was strangled. But they also found some sort of sleeping drug in his system as well. Herr Wright's hunch was correct. He was drugged before he was killed!"
"But how did they get in his system?" Apollo wondered, "Were they injected?"
Klavier shook his head. "Nein. They didn't find any injection sights. He must have took them by mouth. There's another thing they told me. This sleep aide… it's not on any shelf yet. It's still in the testing phase."
"Hmm… that's odd," Phoenix muttered, "How would anyone get their hands on something like that? Let alone someone like Kristoph? It makes no sense."
"Perhaps we can use that in court," Apollo pointed out, "Mr. Gavin wouldn't be able to get those experimental drugs. In fact, it sounds to me like he could have been drugged himself."
"Maybe," Klavier muttered, "I'll bet-"
He was interrupted when there was a knock on the door. "PIZZA!" Trucy shouted from the other room and rushed out, pushing Athena over to answer it. She brought in three large boxes of pizza and two bottles of soda. "Everyone dig in!" she proclaimed.
"Klavier, you're welcome to share," Apollo told him, "We didn't know if you'd eaten yet."
"Thank you, schatzi," Klavier said with a smile.
They all grabbed a slice and sat down to eat. Apollo grabbed a fork and knife out of a drawer and a napkin to work on his pizza. Phoenix glanced at him and chuckled.
"Wow, that brings back memories," he laughed, "Hey Truce, remember when you, me, and Kristoph went to 'Ye Olde Moments?'"
"No," Trucy grumbled, munching on her slice.
"Why did you guys go to 'Ye Olde Moments?'" Apollo asked, "Isn't that a family restaurant for young kids?"
"Well, Trucy was younger when we went," Phoenix explained, "Anyway, it was my birthday and Kristoph offered to pay for whatever I wanted that year. And I had never been, so I made him take me."
"You didn't want to go somewhere classier?" Klavier wondered.
"Nope!" Phoenix proclaimed proudly, "And let me tell you, Kristoph hated it! He ranted about the historical inaccuracies and the acting and the dragon. But what he hated the most was the fact that there was no silverware."
"Oh yeah, Mr. Gavin always had that weird thing about not eating anything without utensils," Apollo mused, "He would even eat a burger with a fork and knife."
"We had to go to a more upscale restaurant afterwards to appease him," Phoenix laughed, "But he still wouldn't sleep with- anyway, it was a fun time for me." He chuckled. "But we did do some jousting later."
"Oh, you went back to the restaurant?" Athena asked.
"No," Phoenix replied simply, grinning. After taking a moment to figure out what he meant, everyone groaned.
Apollo sighed and stood up. "Hold on, I'm going to get some ice for my drink," he announced. He went to the other room where they kept the ice and scooped some into his cup. When he came back he was baffled by the sudden turn in conversation.
"I'm telling you, Herr Wright, the sexiest instrument is the guitar," Klavier was saying. Phoenix gave him a skeptical look.
"On what grounds?" he asked.
"On the grounds that everyone finds the guitar sexy," Klavier argued, "Plus, you've got all that fingering, baby!"
"First off, that 'everyone finds the guitar sexy' thing is subjective," Phoenix refuted, "And if you want to talk fingering, you can't beat the saxophone. That has fingering and blowing. Plus it's usually used in jazz music and jazz is pretty sexy."
Klavier scoffed and Apollo stared. "How did you guys even get on this topic?" he wondered.
"That's not important," Phoenix dismissed, waving his hand, "What's really important is that I have to call Miles and tell him that saxophone thing before I forget!"
He rushed out of the room and into his office. They heard him talking to his fiancé on the phone, then laughing about something.
"Ha! Ha! Yeah, I know! That's what I thought too!" Phoenix said very loudly, "Anyway, I'll let you get back to work, Miles! Love you too!" He put the phone down and walked back out to the main room.
"Yeah, he agreed with me about the saxophone thing. In fact-"
"He hung up on you, didn't he?" Athena accused. Phoenix's chest deflated.
"Yeah, he did," he muttered.
…
Even though he should've been sleeping, Apollo was wide awake. He couldn't stop thinking about tomorrow's trial. He had no idea what the prosecution was planning, or even what he was like. He knew Mr. Wright was confident about their chances, but he was wondering if it was a façade, meant to keep him and Mr. Gavin calm. He himself was wondering what their actual hopes were of even getting to a second day. The evidence against Mr. Gavin was pretty damning.
I can't think like that, Apollo thought to himself, If I do, we've already lost.
Pulling his blankets up further, Apollo rolled over and tried to fall asleep.
This is a short chapter, but I didn't really have a lot to do for it. Next time will be a kind of different chapter that's right before the trial, and then finally we'll have the trial. In the meantime, please leave a comment and maybe check me out on Twitter, ThunderingWhite.