April 18
Courtroom No. 2
11:15 AM
Cotoli Morix
The first thing that I noticed about Fatanne Lease when she stepped up to the witness stand was how distinctive her appearance was. Her figure was on the curvier side, but she masked it all behind a formal suit of muted gray colors. In fact, just about everything she wore was somewhere on the spectrum between black and white, including the glasses that framed her shaded eyes. Her hair was blonde and tied into a bun that rested at the back of her head. Everything about her was perfectly put together, and she held a folder under one arm. She stared sternly straight ahead of her, not making eye contact with anyone. I heard Venus let out a small hiss from under her breath, and I recognized that I was far from being the only one intimidated by her. I wasn't going to be saying anything about it openly, but there was something about her that simply struck me as off.
"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Judge Diaphan declared, her voice unreadable.
The woman rubbed something off her folder, though I didn't know what she was trying to get rid of in the first place. A moment later, she straightened out her posture and looked in my direction. Everything about her was piercing, and in a way, I felt as if she had mounted me against the wall like I was something for examination. It was a degrading feeling, to say the least, though I could have easily chosen stronger words than that if I was given enough time.
"Fatanne Lease," the woman replied. "I work as a psychologist at present. I am conducting research on the human psyche and all that it is involved with. There are many things that are yet to be discovered about the mind, and who am I to turn down its many mysteries?"
"A psychologist is hardly what I would expect in a case that took place at a dance studio," I frowned. "How is that you came to witness the crime?"
"It was mere coincidence, but I was acquainted with the victim many years ago," Ms. Lease told me. "It was quite some time ago, but... He was a student under my tutelage. After a while, he seemed to lose interest, and he abandoned all thoughts of continuing research under me. He left soon afterward, and I had not seen him since up until the time of the murder."
"And you claimed to have witnessed the crime as it was taking place," Judge Diaphan murmured. "In that case, perhaps you should go on and explain what it is that you saw."
"First, I want to hear a bit more about your connection with the victim, if you wouldn't mind," Prosecutor Bespoke interjected from his place across the courtroom. "I'm afraid that I missed that information when we were speaking yesterday during the start of the investigation, after all."
"If that is what you would like, I would be more than happy to explain," Ms. Lease nodded. "I have been trying to learn more about the limits of the human mind for quite some time. The brain is an impressive organ, and it can do countless things when it is under the proper conditions. Countless disorders have arisen from certain amounts of stress, and I wish to learn more about what the brain is capable of. I have been conducting research ever since I earned my title, and about three years ago, the victim came to me with curiosity regarding my research. I taught him for a while, but he departed after he seemingly lost interest. He never told me why he left, instead just taking off without a trace."
"If you ask me, there has to be something going on between them," Venus hissed to me. "I don't think that anybody would just up and abandon something that they had been studying for so long. The fact that the victim was so cagey and secretive about his past only makes me think that there has to be something goin that we aren't seeing. If there's more to the connection between the witness and the victim, then..."
I nodded my understanding. This could have been the clue that we were looking for that would blow the case wide open, but I didn't have the evidence to back up any of Venus' theories quite yet. Instead of asking for more details on that matter, I looked up to the witness. "You just managed to find him again on the day of the crime then?" I questioned.
Ms. Lease nodded. "It was a chance encounter, I suppose," she commented. She reached one gloved hand up to push her glasses against her nose once more, and the light reflected off the lenses as she did so. "I never thought that I would be seeing him again after our initial encounter, but I suppose that there was simply a blessing of fate smiling down on me at the time."
"Please testify about what you saw at the time of the crime, witness," Judge Diaphan instructed. She was met with a nod from the direction of Ms. Lease, and a moment later, the testimony began in full.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ Seeing the Crime ~
-"I was passing by on the street at the time of the crime to take care of some unrelated business."
-"I was examining my files quietly when I saw something out of the corner of my eye."
-"When I glanced up, I was met with the sight of the scuffle between the victim and culprit taking place."
-"The one who was lashing out was none other than the young woman sitting in the defendant's chair."
-"She lifted the plaque above her head and hit it against the victim's head just before he fell over lifeless."
-"I was able to see all of this through the window into the room. It faces the street and gave me a perfect view of the dreadful crime as it took place."
"This sounds like rather important testimony," Judge Diaphan frowned. "Why is it that you chose to not testify until this point? It sounds as if this would be something key to hear sooner rather than later."
"I am an incredibly busy woman, you see," Ms. Lease responded. "My investigation into the human mind is something that I have to dedicate as much time to as possible. There is much that I have yet to learn, and I could hardly spare time to come testify unless I was required."
"She was hoping that the trial wouldn't last long enough to merit her testimony to begin with," Prosecutor Bespoke explained.
"If you ask me, there's a reason that she was trying to hide this," Venus muttered with a shake of her head. "There's no way that anyone would want to hide something so critical unless they knew that there was something dishonest about it."
"We already know that there must have been something wrong here," Chrysalis pointed out. "After all, there was a drug in the drink that Cassidy was indulging in at the time of the crime. There must have been another party at the scene of the crime, and I believe that I already know who it is that we're going to be fingering as the culprit."
"The contradiction here is clear," I agreed with a nod. "Pointing it out will hardly take long, and from there... Well, I suppose we're simply going to have to follow the path that the evidence points us in."
"Begin your cross-examination at this time, defense," Judge Diaphan instructed. I nodded in her direction before looking back to Ms. Lease. I knew that she was lying, and I had just the evidence that I was going to need to prove it. I didn't know where this was going to lead me, but I had the sneaking suspicion that it was hardly going to be good for a certain someone involved.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ Seeing the Crime ~
-"I was passing by on the street at the time of the crime to take care of some unrelated business."
-"I was examining my files quietly when I saw something out of the corner of my eye."
-"When I glanced up, I was met with the sight of the scuffle between the victim and culprit taking place."
-"The one who was lashing out was none other than the young woman sitting in the defendant's chair."
-"She lifted the plaque above her head and hit it against the victim's head just before he fell over lifeless."
-"I was able to see all of this through the window into the room. It faces the street and gave me a perfect view of the dreadful crime as it took place."
"Objection!"
"Witness, I would like to refer you to this photo of the scene of the crime," I announced. I held up a picture that had been taken of the body, and it showed off the studio's practice room in full in the background. "There is a clear problem in this picture, wouldn't you say?"
"Please stop speaking in riddles, would you?" Ms. Lease asked, her eyes rolling as she shook her head. "Be upfront about your intentions. That is something that every lawyer should be experienced in, after all. You have to communicate your points as clearly as possible."
I nodded. "Alright then. If it's something upfront and clear that you want, then I'll share just that with you," I told her. "The curtains on the window have been closed, meaning that there was no way for anyone to see what was taking place inside of the room from the outside of the building!"
The gallery began to chatter, and Judge Diaphan hit her gavel against the podium before her. "Order! Witness, how do you respond? This is a clear discrepancy in your testimony," she said firmly.
"Perhaps my view of the scene wasn't quite as clear as I remembered it being," Ms. Lease told me, her voice even despite its strained edge. She was trying to seem as if she had everything held together still even though we both knew better than to be convinced by such a facade.
I shook my head. "I don't believe that is possible. After all, you said it in your testimony, didn't you? You claimed to have had a perfect view of the scene of the crime. Why would you say something so concise and to the point about a complete lie?" I asked. "I believe that you must have seen the crime clearly... But you saw it from a different location."
"What?" Prosecutor Bespoke asked. "There were no other places where she could have been at the time. The studio was empty save for the victim, Sumia Paige, the defendant, and their young students at the time of the crime. That is what has been believed up to this point."
"And yet, the lock at the front of the studio was tampered with," I reminded him. "Someone wearing gloves must have disturbed the lock so that they would be able to get inside. The same applies to the water bottles. Someone from outside the studio entered the building on the day of the crime and opened the water bottles before infecting them with a drug that would influence the bodily functions of the defendant. There must have been someone else there, and I believe that this other person is the witness standing on the podium for us all right now."
"Then where is it that you believe the witness was standing when the crime was witnessed in such clarity?" Judge Diaphan questioned.
"She was standing exactly where she claims that the defendant was," I replied. "You know, the defendant couldn't have been the one hitting the victim on the head. There was no sign of a struggle to begin with, and on top of that, the height difference between the defendant and victim is notable enough that it would be borderline impossible for her to overcome. Beyond that, we already have a strong suspicion that there was a drug placed in the drinks of the studio. The defendant was debilitated and sickened, so how could she have committed the crime in her weakened state?"
"You fail to recall that there is no confirmation as to the fact that there was a drug in the drinks," Ms. Lease pointed out, her voice just as even as ever. "Even if the seals on the water bottles were broken, that does little to prove that there was a drug found in all of the bottles. Beyond that, I must wonder... Do we know for sure that the defendant was sick to begin with? For all we know, she could have been putting on a show to make sure that she wasn't suspected. It wound up falling through when she was arrested for the crime regardless."
"She's right on the fact that we don't have any evidence regarding the drugs being in the water bottles yet," Venus admitted between gritted teeth. "But she was avoiding part of the point entirely. You know that she must have been in the studio at the time of the crime."
I nodded. "I do know it, as a matter of fact," I murmured under my breath. "The curtains were shut at the time of the crime, and I'm certain of it. After all, there were no new fingerprints that could be pulled from the fabric when the police arrived on the scene, and there were certainly none that belonged to the defendant."
"But it would have been easy enough for someone wearing gloves to close the curtains to make sure that nobody saw what was happening without leaving behind traces," Prosecutor Bespoke concluded. "Beyond that, we've already concluded that our culprit was likely wearing gloves at the time of the crime."
"You have no evidence of that fact either," Ms. Lease cut in. She wasn't showing any signs of open emotion in her voice or body language. I frowned intensely in her direction when she straightened her posture, a sign that she wasn't going to be letting the mask slip anytime soon. "It remains possible that the defendant could have wiped her fingerprints away from the plaque after she committed the crime or covered her fingerprints with another piece of fabric."
"There was no other fabric for her to cover her prints with," I pointed out. "As was discussed during the testimony of Sumia Paige, the defendant was not wearing anything aside from dance shoes, leggings, and a simple t-shirt. She wouldn't have been able to hide anything even if she wanted to since everyone else in the studio at the time would have noticed it. The t-shirt wouldn't have worked well for this situation, and it would have been impossible to use her leggings in such a way. Beyond that, we know that somebody tampered with the lock by the front door, and it's easy enough to conclude that the defendant wasn't the one who did such a thing. After all, she had another way of getting into the studio without any problems."
"The secondary door of the studio was open at the time of the crime," Prosecutor Bespoke remarked with a nod. "That was how all of the dancers got in for the rehearsal that was scheduled for that day, after all. There was no need for the defendant to do anything to tamper with the doorknob leading into the lobby."
"Whose side are you on?" Ms. Lease snapped at him, her eyes narrowing in his direction. "You act as if this case has already been decided, but there was a reason that the defendant was arrested in the first place. She was a suspect from the start, and yet, you've all but completely forgotten about the fact that she was the original person who was thought of as the culprit for this case."
"We have evolved to accommodate for the new facts that have been revealed by this case," Prosecutor Bespoke correct. "After all, we have to be ready to handle the truth as soon as possible. Nothing is as clean-cut as it seems at a first glance, after all."
"For all you know, she could have been the one to tamper with the lock on the front door," Ms. Lease said simply. "You really don't have any evidence that she didn't do such a thing, do you?"
"I think that we can all agree rather conclusively that the defendant wouldn't have done this. She had no reason to do so. She already had a way of getting into the studio at the time of the crime, and we have a witness saying that she entered through the official pathway in the other practice room," I pointed out. "The culprit must have entered through the lobby as a way of getting inside without earning the suspicion of everyone else. After all, if they went in through the other door while the class was going on, then they would have been spotted, and the crime would have been impossible for them."
"What we know right now about the time leading up to the case is that the defendant was sick because she was likely drugged by an unknown chemical that had been laced into the water bottles kept in the fridge," Prosecutor Bespoke remarked. "The victim clammed up and left behind the class that he was teaching because he saw something outside the studio. He saw something on the street outside and left in a flustered hurry because it unsettled him for some reason or another. What about it, Mr. Morix? Do you have any theories about all of this?"
"I think that the culprit knew that this was going to be the reaction that the victim had," I replied. "The culprit passing by was a way of baiting the victim into leaving. Even if the defendant was planning on killing the victim-which seems unlikely given that she doesn't have a motive for this to begin with-she wouldn't have chosen this time at all to do it. She would have been suspected because she didn't have an alibi for what was taking place in the smaller of the practice rooms."
"Let's assume for a moment that the defendant did commit this crime," Chrysalis suddenly interjected. "If she was going to leave open the possibility that a third party did it, which would have beyond risky given the circumstances, then there would have been no reason to tamper with the lock. She could have simply unlocked the door to the lobby from the inside. Beyond that, she didn't have a way of accessing the chemicals that would have been needed to drug the water bottles to begin with. There are too many contradictions for us to say conclusively that she was the one behind all of this."
"You know... The witness on the stand at the moment just so happens to have a medical degree," Venus commented, crossing her arms with a heavy frown. "I know that doesn't sound too suspicious at a fist glance, but if you think about it, she likely would have had the contacts needed to learn about where to acquire those chemicals that were used in the water bottles to make Cassidy sick."
"The culprit's plan was probably to use the water bottles and their sickness-inducing properties as a way of distracting the people inside the studio," Chrysalis murmured. "From there, they were going to take advantage of the chaos to attack the victim, but in the end, Cassidy was the only one who fell for the trap, and it was by complete accident. The younger students were spared completely, but in the culprit's eyes, that was more than enough. After all, there was someone for them to frame in a worst-case scenario, and that mattered most."
"You believe that I did all of this?" Ms. Lease asked. Even when she didn't receive a confirmation in response, she simply shook her head. "You still have no proof that there were chemicals used in the water bottles to begin with. I believe that you're jumping to conclusions quite a bit without realizing the severity of your accusations. Besides, there is no motive for me to lash out at the victim. I don't know why anyone would want to kill him, but I have no reason to want his death either."
A phone's ring echoed throughout the room soon afterward, and I frowned before glancing around the courtroom. My gaze eventually settled upon none other than Prosecutor Bespoke, and he was reaching into his pocket. Judge Diaphan frowned in his direction. "This is hardly the time for you to be answering phone calls, Prosecutor Bespoke," she commented disapprovingly.
"This is the detective responsible for the investigation," Prosecutor Bespoke explained. "I believe that this could be the time when we get the answer that we've been waiting for regarding the water bottles." He pressed the button to pick up the call as Judge Diaphan nodded her understanding.
The courtroom fell silent around him, everyone waiting eagerly for the answer that he had received. Prosecutor Bespoke nodded along, murmuring a few things into the speaker that I couldn't fully hear due to being on the other side of the courtroom. Chrysalis and Venus both shared a look of nervous anticipation from their places on either side of me, and the suffocating quiet of the moment only seemed to grow more agitating.
After what felt like a decade, Prosecutor Bespoke pressed the button to hang up the call, and he slid his phone back into his pocket. "Well, we've gotten the test results back from forensics," he declared. "The water bottles indeed had all of their seals broken, indicating that they had been opened at some point prior to the crime taking place. Beyond that, there were glove marks all over the water bottles' exteriors, and that certainly matches up with the lack of prints found on the doorknob and the plaque."
"That also makes sense given what we know about the curtains," Chrysalis chimed in. "The culprit probably closed them as a way of making sure that nobody could look in on them committing the crime, and the gloves made sure that their prints weren't left behind at the time."
"I agree," Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. "In terms of the drug that we feared was in the water... Forensics has an answer for that too. There was a foreign agent found in the liquid, and when it was tested, they were able to deduce that it's a chemical that is known for being dangerous in excessive doses. There wasn't enough in the single water bottle that the defendant used for it to have lasting consequences, but it would sure as can be induce symptoms of instant sickness once the drug kicked in."
"In other words..." I began with a light smirk as I turned my attention in the direction of the witness stand. "Your claim about the defendant not having actually been impacted by any outside agents is falling apart. There is solid proof that someone actively attempted to drug the people in the studio with malicious intent."
"You know... I just realized something," Venus remarked. "There was someone else involved with this case who was mentioned as being sick at the time of the crime too. I don't know if the two people could at all be connected, but... I think that it's something for us to at least mention for the time being."
"That's right!" Chrysalis gasped. "During the opening statement, Prosecutor Bespoke told us that the owner of the studio was sick on the day of the crime. She was unable to come in and teach the class for the day, and that was why the victim was called in to cover for her. She started feeling sick seemingly out of nowhere and was feeling too dreadful to come in and take care of the class for the day."
"The culprit's plan only would have worked if the studio was mostly empty," I realized. "If there were too many people running around, then they wouldn't have been able to take advantage of the chaos to lash out at the victim."
"That would require that the culprit had at least a basic outline of how the schedule worked at the studio, wouldn't it?" Judge Diaphan. "There are no people known within the studio who had a motive against the victim though, so how could this issue be resolved?"
"I can answer that one for you!" Venus grinned. "I remember that I used to dance at this studio when I was younger, but I stopped going there a few years ago. Back then, and even now, they have their full class schedule on their website so that parents and future customers will be able to easily access it. If somebody looked up the website, then they would be able to figure out everything that was necessary in terms of knowledge for this plan to work out."
"Here's what I believe happened," Chrysalis began. "The culprit had something against the victim and came up with a plan to draw him out of his current position. I believe that the drugged water bottles were something of a threat. If many people got sick, then the culprit could have potentially used this as blackmail material against the victim to lure him into a position where they could lash out. Of course, that didn't wind up being necessary since the culprit lashed out at the victim on the day of the crime regardless."
"You know... I think that the witness would actually have at least a little motive against him," Venus murmured. "I mean, the victim left behind her employ seemingly out of nowhere, and she could have seen that as an act of treachery for one reason or another. I hope that I'm making sense here, but I feel like it's possible for her to be the one who did all of this. She would have had a way to figure out how to get her hands on the chemicals like we already said too."
I nodded. "I feel like there has to be a reason for her to want the victim dead, and even if we aren't seeing it yet, it has to be there," I agreed. The fact that the victim had left her behind wasn't proof enough as far as I was concerned. It was a start, but I knew that there had to be at least a little something else that we could use to our advantage to figure out what was taking place.
"You don't seem to have any evidence to link me to anything of this nature," Ms. Lease announced with a shake of her head. "This is precisely what I feared would happen. You are wasting my time and keeping me from my important research. I was hoping to not testify because I knew that you would try to treat me in a way that was criminal."
"I would hardly call what we have shown thus far to be 'no evidence,'" Prosecutor Bespoke told her, his eyes narrowing in her direction. "In fact, I would argue just the opposite is the case. We know that the culprit was wearing gloves at the time of the crime, and the defendant could not have fallen into such a category. We have established that much already, and yet... You seem to be wearing gloves here and now. Plus, we know that you have ways of accessing the chemicals that were used to harm the defendant and draw her away from the victim to be framed. That's most certainly evidence that we can mention in such a way."
"You're making a mistake by accusing me," Ms. Lease snarled at him. She corrected herself a moment later with a clear of her throat. "You do realize that all of this could very easily be claimed to be nothing more than coincidence, yes? In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if there was no correlation at all between the different points of suspicion that you have leveled in my direction. Unless you can find something conclusive here, I'm afraid that you won't be able to show anything that connects me to this crime."
"There has to be something that we aren't seeing," Venus said, her eyes going wide. "We can't just let her get away with this when we know that she's the culprit. She has to be the one who did all of this, and if we don't prove it... We don't know what's going to happen to Cassidy!"
"There was nothing else of note that was found at the scene of the crime," Chrysalis told us through gritted teeth. "But we do know that the witness saw the crime take place from a point inside the agency since the curtains must have been shut at the time of the crime. If they were opened, then Cassidy would have had to shut them, but she wasn't wearing gloves, so the glove marks couldn't be hers."
"If there was nothing found at the crime scene, then maybe we're just going to have to find something in her words themselves," Venus suggested. "There has to be something that we're overlooking. I'm sure that there was something that we missed the first time through, but I don't know what it could have been..."
I fell silent in my thoughts. I didn't know what it was that we were missing yet, but I knew that we had to figure it out sooner rather than later if we were going to find the truth behind this case. There had to be something about her words that showed what was going on. She seemed so minimalistic in her testimony though when discussing everything aside from her research into the human psyche.
Maybe that was it then! I didn't have any proof of this, but I didn't see any other avenues for us to follow, so I was just going to have to see where it led us for better or worse.
Oh boy next week will be the end of the case
-Digital