Phoenix jumped to his right. The detective had just left the stand, and it would be a short matter of time before the next witness came up. There was something in the meantime that he absolutely had to attend to. Franziska.

He had planned on being the first person to come to the courtroom gallery. He had planned on being surrounded by other spectators, some of which would almost certainly call for Iris' blood. He, of course, had planned on Mia Fey being as cool as cucumber and shattering the first testimony the prosecution put forth.

He had not planned on Franziska being here. She had crept in somehow, and had snuck up right beside him. They had not exchanged a word. Now he was looking at her, and she at him. He worked up the nerve to speak.

"What are you doing here?"

Franziska shrugged, then lay her crop against her shoulder. "I knew you would be here. In spite of the case, and in spite of what I told you. I felt it would be best to be here when you would be."

"Why?"

Franziska opened her mouth, then closed it. She shrugged. "I will have to think of a fitting response to that."

Before Phoenix could think of a response himself, Old Raccoon's gavel struck again. He swung his gaze back to the witness stand. Old Man Dodder was at the witness stand already.

Both Phoenix and Franziska could see that he looked even worse than before. He was smiling an open-mouth smile so hard, it almost looked like his teeth would shatter. He was wearing the same grey suit that he had worn when he had met them before. It would not have surprised either of them if he were to say he had not changed out of it since.

The prosecutor-in-chief managed to fold his arms and question the witness before Mrs. von Karma did. "Witness, please state your name and occupation."

"You...you can call me Old Man Dodder, sonny. I own a costume shop." His voice was low and grating, and just barely carried itself for the court to hear.

"I would like you to know," Mr. Gray uncrossed his arms and took on a more casual air, "That I am most certainly sorry for your loss. With any luck, you can help me resolve it." Old Man Dodder just nodded.

"You say you were at the scene just after the attack took place?"

Phoenix looked at Mia. Her face was static, but she squinted.

"Y-yes, young man. I mean, sir…"

"Please provide your testimony."

"Sure….here goes nothing." He cleared his throat.

"I went to...Ivy University that day. I was hoping to find Jane and give her some of this latte….I had just perfected the recipe. It had been her birthday back in the summer, you see, and I had given her a watch as a present. I was too busy with work to meet her outside the shop." He paused, then rubbed at his nose. "I was walking towards that flower bed when I saw that girl run away from it. Black hair, face, I remember it all." He now seemed to be glowering at Iris, who was shrinking back into her chair.

Mrs. von Karma scoffed. "An impenetrable testimony if there ever was one, I'd say." She pushed her green spectacles up to her eyes, seemingly not caring that Mia was looking at her. Phoenix and Franziska watched as the defense attorney looked back at Old Man Dodder, who was rubbing his nose again. She watched him thoughtfully.

"Do you rub your nose a lot, Mr. Dodder?" He looked startled.

"Oh, well, sorry if it bothered you…"

Next to Phoenix, Franziska huffed. "Where is this line of questioning supposed to lead?"

"Where is this line of questioning supposed to leave, Ms. Fey?" That was Mrs. von Karma. She was glaring at Mia. "Conduct yourself better! What does your question have to do with anything?" She lowered her glasses, and Mia smirked.

"Why, there are some marks on your nose, Mrs. von Karma. Are those from your glasses?"

Mrs. von Karma's face was blank. She unconsciously touched the space between her eyes as Mia turned back to Old Man Dodder.

"Do you wear glasses?"

Old Man Dodder recovered after a few seconds. "Well, not always…"

"Not always? Were you wearing them on the day you came to the university?"

"Well, no, ma'am." Old Man Dodder looked defeated. "I don't always wear my glasses. I wear them when I really need to, but it's harder to have to rely on them the older you get…"

Mia brushed the hair out of her face. "So you cannot verify that the person you saw fleeing from the scene was, in fact, my client."

"OBJECTION!"

Old Racoon stared down at the prosecution's bench. "What is it, Mr. Gray?"

The young man shook his head. "I am sorry, Ms. Fey, but we checked Mr. Dodder before he came to court, and his doctor says that he has hyperopia. That is to say, he is far-sighted. He can see things from far away, but not nearby."

"That is true, ma'am." Old Man Dodder let his arms fall to side. "Even as I am now, I can make out things from say, twenty feet away. I saw that girl run away from less than fifteen, I should say."

"And we can verify that from the transcript of our interview with him." Mrs. von Karma smirked. Back in the gallery, Franziska sighed and folded her arms. "I knew it."

Phoenix, for his part, was staring at Mia. She was biting her lip, and her hands were clenched.

"At any rate," Old Man Dodder cut in, "I'm not changing anything else about my testimony. I came to spend real time with Jane since I got her that watch, and she was in that ditch, and that girl sitting in that chair was running away." Mia snapped her eyes back to Old Man Dodder. Phoenix brightened a little inside. He knew what was going through her mind. That phrase….

Think outside the box…

"You keep mentioning the watch, Mr. Dodder. What was so special about it?"

Mr. Gray sighed. "What now, Ms. Fey, are you trying to accomplish?" Old Man Dodder waved at him. "Never mind, sir. It's alright." He turned back to Mia. "It was one of those new-fangled gadgets that could tell you the month and day, along with the time."

"That's hardly new." Franziska scoffed, but Phoenix was looking at Mia intently. He watched her put a hand to her chin. "There is something that is coming to mind," she said, slowly and deliberately. "I did not think of it before, but, Your Honor? Can you take out of the photo of the deceased?"

Old Raccoon stared down at Mia for a moment, then conceded and produced the photo from his robe. "Hmmmmm…." he murmured. "I can see it, yes. A blue watch with a cracked yellow face. It is on the body's left wrist. There is a slot for the date on the 3 o'clock position."

Mrs. von Karma's face froze. Mr. Gray looked confused. Phoenix could already taste the bombshell. He knew they must have seen the photo, too, but had not looked at it as intensely as Mia must have done before the trial."

"What does the date read, Your Honor?"

"Why...October 5th."

"And what was the day Iris White was arrested?"

The Judge looked up, his eyes unreadable beneath the dark sunglasses, but his voice dropped.

"November 5th."

"What is the meaning if this?!" Mrs. von Karma called out, her face beginning to redden. "What are you trying to pull!?" Next to Phoenix, Franziska shuddered despite herself.

"Yes," Old Raccoon slammed the gavel. "What is the meaning of this, Ms. Fey?"

Mia smirked. "I would like to remind the court that Iris White was arrested on the same day the body of Jane Dodder was found beneath the flowerbed. The watch was almost certainly cracked at the time of her untimely death, freezing the date in place. But if that is so…" She pointed her finger and waggled it." "That watch is a whole month off!"

"You….you do not mean…" Old Raccoon began."

"I do, Your Honor." Mia folded her arms. "We all were a whole month off, too! Jane Dodder was murdered a month ago, and the time on her watch can testify to that!"

"OBJECTION!"

The objection was raised by the flustered Mr. Gray, but it was Mrs. von Karma who swung her arm out, just barely missing him and pointing at MIa.

"What….what foolish conjecture! Do you intend to run circles over a broken watch!? Who is to say it was not broken before her death!?"

Mia looked back at Old Man Dodder. "Can you verify that?" She asked. "Can you prove that the watch was broken back in October?"

All the color had drained from the man's face. "No...no, I can't." His voice started low, then rose. "But….but….I'm far-sighted, remember!? And Jane was definitely in my shop that whole month until I came to the university! What does this all mean?"

"I'll tell you what it means," Mia looked back up at Old Raccoon. "Your Honor, the defense requests an additional day of investigation so as to look into this matter."

"A-absurd!" Mrs. von Karma was fuming. "You can't possibly-"

Old Raccoon slammed his gavel twice. "Order! ORDER!"

He composed himself. "Ms. Fey," he began. "You truly are un unconventional attorney. I see that you are trying to buy time for the sake of your client." He paused. "And yet, as Judge, I understand that a murder charge will lead to death row." He looked at Iris. "I cannot pronounce the defendant guilty as long as the smallest shred of doubt remains!" He struck once more with the gavel. "Court will reconvene two days from now at this location! Court adjourned!"

Alone in the gasping, gossipping, shouting crowd, Phoenix pumped his fists.

Yes!

"It would seem one thing is clear," Franziska spoke tonelessly.

"What is that?" Phoenix asked. They were standing alone in the court lobby. He could not read Franziska's expression, but he let her continue.

"This case may be more complicated than I thought." She fell silent, and Phoenix gulped.

"You can say anything you need to say."

Franziska closed her eyes. "I apologize for my behavior yesterday. I caused you unnecessary stress because I could not find any contradictions in the case against Iris."

"It's...it's okay, Franziska." Phoenix worked up a smile, walked over to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "What's faith without doubt? And….I'm sorry I ran out on you, I was upset, but I could have talked it out more with you." As he watched Franziska return his smile, albeit with a weaker one, he decided to press forward. "Do you want to meet back at IV Chinese in the afternoon? It'll be on me."

"S-sure."

"Great!" Phoenix beamed. "I have to talk to Mia, but we can meet at five!"`

Franziska's smile grew broader as she watched him move past and walk through the door. For a moment, everything seemed lighter.

But the sensation was short-lived as another, different hand grabbed her shoulder from behind.

"My, my," Mrs. von Karma spoke. "What do we have here?"

-A multi-chapter story; Chapter 17; story idea by CRed1988 and writing by Jerviss.