February 16

District Courthouse

Defendant Lobby No. 1

11:45 AM

When Athena and I arrived out in the defendant lobby, the first thing we did was turn to one another. "I don't like the sound of this supposed decisive witness to the crime," Athena remarked with a heavy sigh. "It was frustrating enough to reach this point, and that was only after we realized that the autopsy report had been lying to us."

"Yeah," I muttered. The matter of the autopsy report was still bothering me, if I was being honest. Something about it just didn't sit well with me. Why was it wrong in the first place? If the crime really did take place an hour after what was stated on the report, then why did the prosecution try so desperately to hide it? There were a lot of suspect spots in the grand scheme of this case, and I didn't know what I was supposed to think of any of them.

Before I could voice anything on the matter, I was cut off by the reappearance of none other than Ms. Liyle. She was pulling on a few strands of her curled hair, almost as if she thought that they would be able to save her from this nightmare if she tried hard enough. "Y-You guys are doing a great job in there!" Ms. Liyle cried out with a wide smile on her face.

"We've still got a lot of ground to cover," I told her, narrowing my eyes as I did so. "While we're out here though, I want to hear more about what it was that you were up to while the victim was away at his meeting."

"Ah... That," Ms. Liyle said, her voice suddenly going flat. "I don't really have an alibi... I was just reading over files while he was in the meeting. It's part of the territory of training to be a paralegal to know what's going on, and... That's what I was up to while he was gone."

I glanced down to my bracelet, and when it didn't send a pulsing sensation up my arm, I recognized that she was telling the truth. I didn't have much of a reason to doubt her in the first place, but given the circumstances, I still wanted to make sure. "And you were alone while you were doing all of this, I would assume," I remarked.

"Yeah... That's right," Ms. Liyle replied with a heavy sigh. "I didn't realize that it was going to be a problem until after I had already been arrested for the crime... I guess that's part of what all of this means though..."

"What about your fingerprints getting on the key and doorknob? Could you tell us about that?" Athena questioned, taking the words from my lips before I could voice them.

Ms. Liyle nodded, perking right back up again. "Of course! Well, I was going to ask Mr. Lenard a few questions before he left for his meeting this morning, but I wound up missing him just barely. I found the spare key on the floor outside of his office, and I thought that he had dropped it. Of course, I didn't know that I had missed him and that he was at the meeting already, so I opened the door to his office. When I saw that he wasn't in there, I wound up leaving, and that's when my prints got on the doorknob. I decided to hold onto the key until I could give it to him in person since I wanted to tell him where I found it, but the police wound up using that as a reason to arrest me," she explained.

"And after you saw that he wasn't there, you started to look back through case files on your own," Athena concluded with a small nod. "That makes sense... It's unfortunate that you don't have an alibi for the time of the crime though."

Ms. Liyle shrugged and sighed. "I guess that I got a bit wrapped up in all of my reading at the time... I didn't realize that he had died until after the police arrived, and I was arrested, probably because I ran into Ms. Byrde on the way out of the office," she remarked.

"What happened there? Are there any other details that you want to share with us there?" I asked of her.

"Not particularly. I saw her as I was walking out of the office, and I waved at her... I guess that was where I accidentally left the door cracked. I'm not exactly the strongest physically, so it's always been hard for me to get that stubborn door shut when it decides to be annoying. I bet that the real culprit snuck in after we had both left," Ms. Liyle said.

"This conclusive witness that the prosecution mentioned has me a bit worried," Athena commented. "Do you happen to know anything about them?"

"Nothing," Ms. Liyle replied immediately. "I didn't even realize that there was somebody else who had seen anything. I started reading over files as soon as Ms. Byrde and I parted ways, and Mr. Lenard wasn't even back from his meeting yet when that happened. He was still gone, so I couldn't have killed him."

"Plus, we already showed that Ms. Byrde didn't see the body at that point. It wasn't until later that the murder was uncovered, so something must have happened after she left. Nobody was watching the door to the office after she left, after all," I pointed out. "We're just going to have to hear what it is that this supposedly decisive witness has to say."

"Speaking of that, it seems like we've got a trial to get back to. I bet that the recess is going to be ending soon," Athena said, one finger going up to brush at her earring. "You don't need to worry about anything, Ms. Liyle! We'll make sure that everyone knows that you didn't commit this crime!"

"Thank you so much," Ms. Liyle smiled. She pressed her hands to her chest and began to fiddle around with the fingerless gloves covering her skin. "I'm counting on you both!"

"And we won't let you down," I assured her.

From there, we walked into the courtroom, but there remained a nagging feeling at the back of my mind that there was something going on behind the scenes of this case. I wouldn't be able to deal with it yet though; there was too much to manage during the trial at hand, after all, and I couldn't afford to get distracted when the truth was so close yet so far.

February 16

District Courthouse

Courtroom No. 1

12:00 PM

The chatter in the gallery quickly drew to a close as the judge raised his gavel and slammed it down a moment later. "Court is back in session, and I assume that the prosecution has prepared its witness for the next testimony," he said, turning his attention in the direction of the opposition.

Prosecutor Turner nodded, his trademark smile once again appearing. "As a matter of fact, I have gotten our witness ready," he replied. "If there are no objections, then I will call him to the stand now."

"The defense has no objections," I responded, my eyes narrowing in his direction. I could already tell that this was going to be where the real fight began.

"The prosecution calls a journalist to the stand who just so happened to witness the crime," Prosecutor Turner declared.

My eyes went wide, and I glanced over to Athena in surprise. "A journalist who witnessed what?!" she exclaimed.

"He wasn't kidding when he said decisive," I muttered. I couldn't come up with much of a response beyond that, and even if I did have something to say, I wouldn't have been given the chance to phrase it in the first place. I wanted to know why this witness was withheld from the court for this long, but it seemed as if I wasn't going to be receiving such an answer.

The man that appeared on the witness stand had a small and wiry figure. He wore a white shirt that had approximately a dozen pens spilling out of its breast pocket. His hair, which was a pale blonde color, didn't ever seem to fall in a comfortable position atop his head. He was holding a camera in front of his face, shifting positions as he snapped pictures of anything that seemed even slightly interesting to him.

"Witness, your name and occupation," Prosecutor Turner said. I glanced up to the judge as he spoke, realizing that the reason he hadn't offered the direction was because he was too distracted with seeing stars after the witness snapped a poorly-timed picture of him. The camera's flash was so beyond bright that I was struggling to see even though I hadn't been directly exposed to it.

The witness slowly dropped his camera before he responded. "The name's Samuel Barnes. I currently work as a reporter and journalist," he replied. He glanced over to the prosecution once again before flashing a picture. "Say cheese!"

"Witness, it's hardly customary to have a camera in the courtroom!" the judge explained. He was still blinking quickly, no doubt adjusting his vision to the excessive flashes he was being exposed to.

"I'll allow it," Prosecutor Turner said neutrally. He was the only one unbothered by the flashing of the camera, it seemed.

"What is his supposedly decisive testimony about?" I questioned carefully. The idea that he had witnessed the moment that the murder was committed was certainly concerning, and I wanted answers sooner rather than later.

"This witness overheard the crime taking place," Prosecutor Turner responded. "He will be telling us about all that he saw and heard at this time."

"You must be the defense attorneys, yeah?" Mr. Barnes questioned. He didn't bother waiting for a response before he took a picture. My vision swam with the brightness of the flash. "There we go! This will make for a perfect opening photo for my article about this. It'll catalogue the defense's downfall as they realize that their case is hopeless and eventually see a guilty verdict declared for their client!"

"Why was this witness not presented to the court sooner?" Athena asked as she glared at Prosecutor Turner. Well, she looked in his general direction; the spots in our eyes made it hard to discern much of anything in the immediate area.

"He requested to not be called unless he was absolutely needed. As such, I chose to not call him in since I assumed that the testimony from Ms. Byrde would suffice. Of course, you seem intent on going against the obvious truth of the case, so it seems that I had no choice but to resort to other means," Prosecutor Turner explained. "Witness, if you would be so kind... Please tell us about what it is that you overheard at the time of the crime."

"Of course!" Mr. Barnes declared. He swung his camera around so hat it was hanging from a single strap around his neck before starting his testimony properly.

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ Overhearing the Crime ~

- "I was in the victim's building that day because I was hoping to get an interview with him."

- "You see, he has been a known researcher into the Oracle of the Law for quite some time..."

- "...And I was hoping he would be willing to share his findings with a humble reporter such as myself."

- "That was when I overheard it... Slam! The sound of someone being hit in the head!"

- "I entered the office and saw it... The victim lying dead on the floor!"

- "The defendant ran off before I could hope to catch her, but it seems she was caught in the end regardless thanks to journalism and justice!"

I couldn't help but glare down at the bench before me at his words. Saying that this wasn't good was an understatement; it was awful, and we were going to have to find a way to debunk his testimony as soon as possible in order to prove Ms. Liyle's innocence.

"As you can see, we have clear testimony that the defendant was the one to commit the crime," Prosecutor Turner stated. "The witness overheard the crime taking place and entered the room to find her standing over the victim's body. Does that not sound like definitive evidence that she is the one behind this gruesome act?"

"There has to be something to show that there's a problem with his testimony," Athena murmured. "I don't believe that Ms. Liyle did it, and there has to be some type of evidence to show that he's wrong about this..."

"I don't really know why you would want to look over my testimony in the first place," Mr. Barnes shrugged. He snapped a picture of myself and Athena again a beat later. "I mean, I already told you that I saw the girl over there commit the crime, and I'm not lying about that. I guess that if you did want to talk to me though, it would add more depth to my article..."

"The defense would like to cross-examine the witness' testimony," I announced. I didn't see anything wrong quite yet, but it was just a matter of time before something appeared, and that would be the perfect moment to strike.

"In that case, you may begin," the judge said. Mr. Barnes took yet another picture of him as he spoke, and the judge resisted the urge to glare at him as he attempted to regain his vision. I, meanwhile, gestured for Mr. Barnes to repeat his testimony from the start.

~ Cross-Examination ~

~ Overhearing the Crime ~

- "I was in the victim's building that day because I was hoping to get an interview with him."

- "You see, he has been a known researcher into the Oracle of the Law for quite some time..."

- "...And I was hoping he would be willing to share his findings with a humble reporter such as myself."

- "That was when I overheard it... Slam! The sound of someone being hit in the head!"

- "I entered the office and saw it... The victim lying dead on the floor!"

- "The defendant ran off before I could hope to catch her, but it seems she was caught in the end regardless thanks to journalism and justice!"

"Objection!"

"Witness... I have a question for you," I began to say.

"Ask me anything! That is part of the way of the journalist, after all. We humbly provide information to the people to ensure all know what is happening in the world," Mr. Barnes replied with a wide grin.

"If you really saw the defendant standing over the victim's body, then why didn't you call the police?" I asked, a smirk on my face. "That's what anyone would do after they saw someone seemingly just after they committed murder. And yet, you chose to not do anything that would bring help to the scene. I'd like to know... Why was it Ms. Byrde who called the police if you witnessed the moments after the murder?"

Mr. Barnes jumped at that inquiry, his camera flashing a quick picture in the process. I pretended that my vision hadn't been temporarily stolen as he began to mess around with the strap of his camera. "I... Um... W-Well..." he stammered anxiously. "I-I was in shock! I was too surprised that I had seen a murder to fully process what I had to be doing!"

"Objection!"

"Your occupation is journalist, is it not?" I questioned. I didn't even wait for an answer before I continued. "You should certainly know how to handle intense situations of this nature! You deal with matters like this for a living! I find it somewhat hard to believe that your shock overwhelmed you to the point that you forgot what any person would have done had they been placed in your situation, especially when one factors in what you do for a living!"

The gallery burst out into chatter, and I glanced in Athena's direction. "You've definitely got him now!" Athena grinned. "I don't think that he really just forgot to call the police! If he really saw all of this, then he chose to run away instead of doing anything to change the situation for the better. If all of that is the case, then you really do have to ask... Why? There must be a reason for all of that, and it's up to us to find it!"

"I think that I have a theory, as a matter of fact," I told her. I did have an inkling as to how we should continue from here, but I had no idea where it was going to lead her. I could say without a shred of a doubt though that this witness and his actions were suspicious on the day of the murder, and if I could use that to my advantage, then I was most certainly going to aim for it.

The judge hit his gavel upon the podium before him. "Order! Order in the court!" he exclaimed. He looked down to the witness stand, fire in his eyes. "Witness, why is it that you did not call the police? Why did you leave the crime scene instead of doing anything that would help the situation to be taken care of?"

Mr. Barnes hesitated. He began to tug on his camera, forcing the strap under much more pressure than it was ever meant to take. "I... Um... I-I was focusing on other matters! I was trying desperately to not be suspected for the crime!" he exclaimed, though I was sure that he could tell that we weren't going to be buying that quite so easily.

"By running, you've only made yourself seem more suspicious!" I announced, hitting the defense bench with one fist. "I have a theory regarding why this witness did not call the police upon supposedly discovering the body, as a matter of fact! In order to determine if my thoughts are true though, I must request an in-detail examination of one piece of evidence!"

"What piece of evidence is it that you wish to hear more about then?" Prosecutor Turner questioned. His face was contorted into an enraged snarl. "You will only find out that all evidence leads straight back to the defendant. She was the one who did this. She must have been trying to get at the victim's research, and that was why she killed him."

I shook my head, doing my best to ignore his speech about how Ms. Liyle must have been the guilty party. "The defense requests a fingerprint test on the vase!" I announced. "I believe that this will grant us all of the answers that we could possibly wish to ask for regarding this case!"

Prosecutor Turner's eyes exploded with newfound anger. "You will do no such thing!" he roared. "It is hardly necessary to look at the murder weapon when we already know decisively that the defendant was the culprit!"

The judge shook his head. "The court grants the defense's request!" he announced. "Out of curiosity, Mr. Justice... Why is it that you wish to hear about the fingerprints now of all times in the first place?" As he continued to speak, a few men within the gallery began to shuffle, and I watched as they came down to examine the vase. I suspected that they were members of the forensics team who were on call in case they were needed.

I shook my head to myself in response to the judge. "I'll explain my rationale after we hear about the results of the test... But either way, this should do something to prove if the defendant is the culprit or not. The defendant's fingerprints were already found on the key and the doorknob. She had no time to change out of the fingerless gloves that she is wearing now before she was arrested. If she was the culprit, then her prints should be all over the vase," I explained.

"If her prints were on the vase, then you would expect Prosecutor Turner to point that out," Athena commented. "Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions here, but... I think it's weird that he got so stressed out when you mentioned wanting to test the vase for prints. It's almost like he... But that couldn't..."

Athena never had the chance to finish her musing before one of the men on the forensics team saluted. "Your Honor! One set of fingerprints was raised from the surface of the vase... But the prints do not belong to the defendant! We do not know whose they are!" he announced.

I smirked to myself. "And that answers the exact question that I was concerned with," I declared. "Your Honor! The defense has a proposition regarding whose fingerprints are on the vase!"

The judge's eyes went wide. "You know whose prints are on the murder weapon?!" he cried out in shock.

I nodded. "I do. The defense asserts that the fingerprints on the vase belong to none other than the witness currently at the stand, Samuel Barnes!" I announced.

The gallery once again exploded into chatter, and the judge reached for his gavel in exasperation. "Order! I will have order in this court!" he proclaimed before looking down at me once again. "Defense! What do you intend to say?!"

"I mean to assert that there is something wrong with the way that the witness behaved on the day of the crime," I replied. "He supposedly overheard the murder and saw what happened, but he did nothing to call for help. He was not the one who was reported to have discovered the body. Ms. Byrde was the one who called the police upon finding the victim in his office. With that said, it makes one ask... Just what was the witness doing in there?"

"You can't mean to imply that the witness was...!" Prosecutor Turner began, staggering backward from pure surprise.

"The witness used all of this as a lie to cover up for the fact that he was the one to murder the victim! The killer of Aloist Lenard is the man standing on the witness stand!" I shouted.

The gallery once again began to buzz. Prosecutor Turner didn't even wait for the judge to silence everyone before he slammed one hand against the bench in front of him. "You're wrong!" he cried. "You only have fingerprints as evidence that this man was the culprit, but you have yet to provide anything else decisive that would show that he was the one to kill the victim!"

"Objection!"

"His testimony has already been proving itself to be unreliable," I pointed out. "He did not call the police when he supposedly witnessed a murder, and from there, he claims to have not had any interactions with the defendant even after saying that he saw her kill someone! There is most certainly something suspect about his behavior on the day of the murder!"

"Hey, Mr. Forensics Man!" Athena cried out, waving in the direction of the forensics examiner that had looked at the vase a few minutes prior. When he turned to face her, Athena leaned over the bench immediately. "About the fingerprints that were found on that vase... What pattern were they found in?"

"Good question, Athena," I hissed to her. She flashed me a grin in response. "If the fingerprints on the vase were in a specific pattern, then that would easily indicate if the witness was the one to use it as a murder weapon or not!"

The forensics examiner saluted in her direction. "The fingerprints were found in a pattern along the base that would imply two hands were used to swing it!" he replied confidently. "No other recent fingerprints could be found on the surface of the vase! All others were from the victim and are clearly old!"

I smirked to Prosecutor Turner as I crossed my arms over my chest. "Is that not the evidence that you were looking for, Prosecutor Turner? This has to be the decisive proof that you were looking for to establish that the culprit is the one at the witness stand! His fingerprints were found in a pattern that would imply that he hit the victim!" I announced.

"Objection!"

"You're forgetting about one minor detail, Mr. Justice," Prosecutor Turner bristled through clenched teeth. "The only person who could have entered the scene of the crime was the defendant! She was the one with the spare key, and her fingerprints were found all over the surface of the doorknob! This witness could not have gone into the office since he lacked the key!"

"Objection!"

"I'm sure that you remember one thing that has already been revealed in this trial," I began to say. "We've already learned that the doorknob of the victim's office is faulty. It requires immense force to be closed. Consider the defendant's physique for a moment, would you? She's a small woman barely taller than five feet. She lacks any notable muscle to speak of, and the door could have been difficult for her to shut under the right circumstances!"

"Objection!"

"Even if she couldn't get the door shut, that doesn't change the fact that her prints were found all over the doorknob! Nobody else had fingerprints left on the knob, so how could a third party have possibly entered the scene of the crime?!" Prosecutor Turner yelled.

"Objection!"

"If the door was not fully latched shut, then anyone could have pushed it open as they went by!" I declared. "The use of one's hands was entirely unnecessary in this situation; a person would have just needed to nudge the door open with their arm, leaving behind no fingerprints and giving this third party the ability to enter the scene of the crime without any issues!"

"Hold it!"

I paused at being interrupted by someone other than Prosecutor Turner. I looked over to Mr. Barnes where he was standing at the witness stand. He was still pulling dramatically on the camera that was hanging around his neck. "I have something to say, if you don't mind my interjection!" he cried out.

"What is it, witness?" the judge asked, his eyes wide at the idea of my discussion with Prosecutor Turner being cut short.

"I would like to testify one more time about why I could not have been the one responsible for the crime!" Mr. Barnes shouted. "If you all want to keep saying that I'm the one who did it, then I'm just going to have to prove you wrong! This is all a disgrace, let me tell you! Though I suppose that it will make my article about this case a bit more interesting... And the defense will fall even harder from grace if they're forced to go through all of this before finally losing at the hands of the prosecution...!"

Athena let out a sigh and shook her head. "If you have something to say about how you supposedly couldn't have committed the crime, then go on and say it, would you?" she questioned in frustration. "If you want to testify, then go ahead and tell us what you want to say."

The judge nodded. "If you have anything else to say, now would be the time to add it. There is still much yet to be established about the defense's theory, and it can hardly be called conclusive at this juncture. More evidence will need to be presented in order to show that the witness is at all affiliated with the victim's murder in detail, Mr. Justice," he said.

"Damn it," I muttered under my breath. I knew that we were on the right track; we just had to do something to prove it. There had to be some piece of evidence that could be used as the final nail in Mr. Barnes' coffin. I was sure that he was the culprit. Ms. Liyle couldn't have been the one who killed the victim, and the trial up to this point had made that perfectly clear. It was just a matter of proving it up to this point.

"In that case, I've got one last thing to say that will smash your theories to bits!" Mr. Barnes announced. He took a picture of me and Athena before setting his camera back at its regular position against his chest. "You're going to see soon enough why you shouldn't poke someone like me! I'm not the culprit, and I'm going to prove it!"

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ The Missing Piece ~

- "You keep saying all of this stuff about how I have to be the culprit, but there's still something that you're missing!"

- "Every crime has to have a reasoning behind it! Thieves steal for the rewards. Vandals use graffiti for satisfaction."

- "Since all of that is true, I have to ask... Why is that I would want to kill someone like this man?"

- "There was no connection between myself and the victim, and any investigation will tell you as much!"

- "Unless you can show something that will show I had a reason, then all of this just comes up short!"

"But there isn't a piece of evidence to show all of that... So you're going to be stuck here forever until you have to give up!"

"The witness does make a point... A motive is an important part in any murder case, and if there is no connection between the witness and the victim, then there is no motive," the judge agreed.

"I've already conducted a thorough investigation, and there is nothing that could tie the witness to the victim," Prosecutor Turner declared. "But I somehow doubt that the defense is going to accept that quite so easily."

"It'll make my story more interesting, so let them go nuts! It'll be fun to write about later!" Mr. Barnes announced. He took yet another picture before grinning wildly. "The defendant will be declared guilty within the hour! That much I can say for certain!"

Athena nudged at me with her elbow. "Well, Apollo? Is there anything that you think will help us out here? If there's really not a connection between them, then we can't solve this case!" she whispered to me.

"There might not need to be a notable connection between the witness and victim... And that could be the solution we need," I responded to her. "That's it!"

"Defense, begin your cross-examination now," the judge instructed. I gave him a nod as Athena raised an eyebrow at me in curiosity. This was where it was all going to end! I was sure of it!

Chapter three is in the bag! Nice!

This first case is on the shorter side to mimic the general pattern of what is found within the games, but I promise that things are going to be longer from here on out. I'm thinking that this case will wind up lasting five chapters, and everything after that... Good question. Other cases are going to have to be played by ear in order to fully figure out what's going on there with chapter length, but for now, here we are at the halfway point of case one!

There really isn't all that much to say about this chapter outside of what was already shown within the chapter, so I'm not going to make this long or drawn out. Instead, I'm just going to wrap things off here and say that we'll pick up next time with the cross-examination! Until then, I hope you all enjoyed. Feedback is always appreciated. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital