February 10

Courtroom No. 1

10:25 AM

Felicity Amaya

"What makes you so confident that the thread didn't come from the defendant or victim's clothing?" Judge Frost questioned with a small frown.

"I want you to look at the color for a moment," Mr. Morix explained. "The color that we're seeing here is a deep purple... And neither the defendant nor the victim were wearing anything even vaguely related to that purple when they were found at the scene of the crime. If you ask me, that means that there must have been somebody else at the crime scene around the time when the victim was killed."

"Objection!"

"For all you know, that thread could have clung to somebody's clothes and wound up at the scene of the murder by accident," Prosecutor Daegana pointed out. "I don't think that this is conclusive evidence at all that the defendant isn't the guilty party."

"In that case, answer me this, Prosecutor Daegana," Deirdre interjected next. "Where exactly did this small thread come from? Do you have any idea whose clothing could have spread this small fiber? As far as I can tell, that points to somebody else having been in the building at the time of the crime, and given how high the security was, that's certainly a high offense."

Prosecutor Daegana simply shook his head. "You have no evidence to say for sure that this is related to what happened to the victim," he pointed out. "This could be completely disconnected from the murder, and that means that exploring this line of reasoning is absolutely pointless. The defendant was found standing over the body, and she was wearing gloves to ensure that no fingerprints got on the knife. It all makes a lot of sense, and it seems obvious as can be that the victim was killed by the suspect."

"You say that the fiber doesn't bear investigating because it may not be related to the case... But it could be related the same way," Deirdre countered. "If you want to write it off for not having any obvious involvement, then I think you're making a grave error. We should try to learn more about this with everything we have. For all we know, this could be the most crucial piece of evidence to figuring out who could have killed the victim."

"You know... There's one other thing that confuses me about this case," I chimed in as I crossed my arms over my chest. "We keep talking about how the defendant had every opportunity to kill the victim, but... Why in the world would she do something like that? As far as I can tell, the two must have been on at least personable terms if they were working together so closely."

"Motive was considered secondary in favor of the opportunity and the timing of the body's discovery," Prosecutor Burke explained, and I knew what that really meant. They didn't have a motive in mind because there wasn't much of a reason for anybody to have killed the victim, so they were going off what little evidence they had to show that Judge Diaphan was the guilty party. "I think that we should look at what facts we do have at our disposal before we try to find anything that may or may not be there."

"With that said, I believe now would be the perfect time for us to call our first true witness to the stand," Prosecutor Daegana declared. "If anybody is going to be able to clear up what happened that day, it would be him. Thank you for your testimony, Detective, but you may step down."

Detective Wattson nodded at that before glancing over in my direction. She watched me, Mr. Morix, and Deirdre for a long moment before retreating from the stand, and I could tell that she was egging us on to figure out what exactly happened that day. In other words, she had a feeling that it wasn't as simple as what the prosecution was claiming, and she wanted us to figure it out as soon as possible.

I shook off her eyes as soon as I could before glancing back to the other members of the defense team. "I have to wonder who this mystery witness of the prosecution's could be," Deirdre remarked. "I certainly hadn't heard any details about who could have seen the crime, though I suppose that's to be expected. Everything about this case has been rather firmly under lock and key because of how important it all is."

Mr. Morix nodded. "Though I suppose we won't have to wait all that much longer to see what this is all about," he murmured. Everything about his body was tense, and I couldn't help wondering if he was still caught up on the small fiber found near the body. Perhaps it was deeper than that. I couldn't say for sure.

"The prosecution now calls its first witness to the stand," Prosecutor Burke declared as she pointed to the witness stand. Beside her, Anton seemed to perk up, his eyes starting to glow. I frowned at that, wondering just what could have gotten him so excited, but my question was answered a beat later when the witness finally came into view.

James Devine was certainly dressed for the occasion, and he had combed his hair neatly for the sake of testifying. Still, I could feel his anxiety a mile away, and I couldn't help the way my eyes widened. Was he truly the witness? No wonder the prosecution had been talking about how the witness was a bit of a mystery. How could a young child like that get into the scene of the crime when the entire building was constantly under scrutiny from a security team?

I didn't get the chance to ask those questions for the time being, and Prosecutor Burke crossed her arms as she went on. "Please state your name and occupation for the court, witness," she instructed firmly.

James smiled before nodding. "My name is James Devine, and I'm an actor," he explained. "Though for today, I'll be entertaining you all with my testimony of what happened on the day of the murder."

"You were the one who saw the defendant with the body?" Judge Frost questioned, his expression shifting to shock almost immediately. When James nodded, Judge Frost looked away from him. "I don't know what I expected from this mystery witness the prosecution mentioned, but... It certainly wasn't this."

"How were you able to enter the building at all?" Mr. Morix questioned as he placed his hands on the defense bench before us. "I was under the impression that nobody was allowed in or out unless they had the proper authorization."

"One of the security guards let me in," James replied. "I said that I was coming by to try and conduct an investigation, and she decided to let me come inside as long as I was willing to stay with her. She was with me when I found the body, though I was ahead of her by about twenty seconds in seeing the defendant over the victim's corpse."

"That seems suspicious, doesn't it?" I whispered to Deirdre. "The fact that this security guard just let him in without a fight, I mean. I don't know, but... It feels weird to me."

"It's strange to me too," Deirdre assured me with a small shake of her head. "I can already tell that there's a lot more to this case than meets the eye."

"This investigation of yours... What exactly were you trying to accomplish?" Mr. Morix asked, though everything about his voice seemed somewhat uncertain under the weight of his words.

James hesitated at that before he shrugged. "I was led to believe that somebody who once worked there may have had something to do with my father... That they were business partners and old friends," he explained. "I wanted to try and learn more about what happened between them."

"Could you explain that in a bit more detail, witness?" Judge Frost questioned with a heavy frown staining his features. "You were confident that somebody there would be able to answer your questions about your father, but... Why were you in those circumstances to begin with?"

James shifted uncomfortably on the spot before shaking his head. "Well... My father went missing many years ago," he began to explain. "He vanished under mysterious conditions, but... He used to practice law around here. I figured that if there was anybody who would be able to help me, it would be somebody within the Council of Six who may have known him. Their former leader worked closely with him when they were young as far as I can tell, and... I was hoping to ask somebody related with him what they could have known about my father's disappearance."

"Why not ask the man himself?" I asked uncertainly, though I could already tell that it wasn't going to be as easy as I was making it sound. "The man who was working with your father, I mean."

Prosecutor Burke shook her head. "It's not that simple," she admitted. "This... This isn't the first time that the Council of Six headquarters have been the scene of a murder, you see. The man of which the witness speaks was killed a few years ago. In fact, the circumstances almost perfectly mirror what we saw here with this case. A man who worked with the Council of Six was stabbed in the chest while in his office alone. In the previous case, the one who killed the victim was never found because there were no suspects to try in court when the day came for the trial."

"This has happened before..." Deirdre murmured. "I suppose that explains why the security was mostly pretty strict. Aside from that one guard, it seems. The building has been remaining as secure as possible to ensure that a tragedy like that doesn't repeat, though I suppose it's a bit late for that now."

"The circumstances between the past incident and the current one being almost identical bothers me," I admitted. "I mean, they just have to be connected, right? Why else would the situation be nearly the same in cases that took place years apart? Same building, people involved with the same organization... All of it feels fishy to me in a lot of small ways."

"I had a feeling that this was all involved with that past case," Mr. Morix confessed softly. "I didn't have any evidence to back it up at first, but... Something just told me that we were dealing with a case much bigger than anything we could have originally expected."

"What do you know about the first case that took place in the Council of Six headquarters then?" I asked. "I feel like that's going to be pretty important to us figuring out what happened this time around if the cases really are such neat mirrors of each other."

Mr. Morix hesitated before shaking his head. "Much of the case was covered up before it could get much coverage from the media. The Council of Six is incredibly stern in who understands its affairs, and that means that only those involved are made directly aware of everything that happens with its cases," he explained. "It was not long after the GC-9 Incident though. The leader of the Council of Six was stabbed in the chest and found dead in his office. Nobody knew who the culprit was, and most information about it was swept under the rug to keep from inciting panic. That's about all I can tell you. I'm not even entirely sure of the man's name. I'm sure that I knew it at one point, but... I can't remember it at the moment."

"He used to work with my father a long time ago," James cut in. "His name... It was Robin Wood. The two of them were involved with a few cases together back before I was born, and they grew closer as they got older. I know that Judge Wood died years ago, but... I just had to learn the truth for myself."

My eyes practically bugged out of my head at that as I whirled to face Deirdre and Mr. Morix. "Wood?!" I yelped, hoping that they understood the same things that I did about that name. Wasn't that the surname of one of the prosecutors we had faced off against in court? Niamh Wood, I thought it was.

"I get the feeling we know now why the chief prosecutor decided to assign Prosecutor Burke to this case," Deirdre remarked as she crossed her arms. "He couldn't just take this case on despite its importance. He knew that his adoptive daughter would try to learn more, and I somehow doubt that she should be associated with this case if it can be avoided."

"We were right about this case running a lot deeper than any of us could have thought," I muttered with a frown. "But knowing all of this isn't exactly going to help us in terms of figuring out what's going on with the current case. I mean, we know the backstory, but... How will that aid us in finding out who killed the victim here?"

"Now that we know the history of that case, I believe we're on the right path," Mr. Morix told me. "For now, we should try to hear James' testimony about what happened that day. I'm just as shocked as you are that he was allowed into the scene of the crime, but the best we can do now is try to see what we can learn from his testimony."

"You're right," I sighed, though I couldn't help wanting to learn more about the case that had taken place at the Council of Six headquarters ages before all of this. Something told me that it was important, especially if that Wood name was involved with it. Maybe the young Prosecutor Wood would be able to help us in figuring that out. Then again, if the chief prosecutor was keeping her away from this case, then there was probably a reason, and that meant that we would have to find our answers in another way. It was unfortunate, but there wasn't much we could do about it at this point.

"Now that we all understand more about the backstory of this case, I believe it's time for the witness to offer his testimony about what he saw at the time of the crime," Judge Frost instructed as he glanced down to James. "Go ahead, young man."

James nodded with a smile. "I'll get right to it!"

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ Finding the Body ~

-"I went to the Council of Six headquarters that day because I was hoping to find somebody who would be willing talk to me about Robin Wood."

-"He knew my father a long time ago, and since my father went missing... That was just about the only lead I had in terms of finding him."

-"The security guard outside the door let me in under the condition that I stay with her the entire time I was looking around."

-"We planned on talking to the victim and the defendant at separate times since they were the only ones in the building at that point, but..."

-"When we got on the floor where the victim's office is located, I smelled blood, so I ran towards his office."

-"That was when I found him dead on the ground with the defendant standing over his body, still as a statue from shock."

-"The security guard I was with arrested her pretty soon from there, and she told me to call the police while she handled matters at the crime scene."

"The security guard was there the entire time then," I murmured as I glanced over to Deirdre and Mr. Morix. "I don't know about you two, but I think that we're going to have to hear her testimony a bit later on just to make sure that we're on the right track."

"But all of this is still rather strange," Deirdre frowned. "It doesn't make much sense that the guard would just let him inside. Even if she said that she would watch him at all times, I was under the impression that only those who were closely tied with the Council of Six were allowed inside the building. I don't think that Mr. Devine would fall under that category, and it makes me wonder... Just what was the guard thinking when she decided to let him in?"

"I have no idea," Mr. Morix admitted with a shake of his head. "But I get the feeling that we're going to figure it out soon enough. For the time being, I feel like there's a lot about this case that's strange, and it's all about the fact that James was there at all."

"The crime must have been somewhat recent as of the time that he arrived," I commented before I looked over to James. "Do you know when the crime took place that day?"

James thought about it for a moment before he shrugged. "I think I heard some of the investigating officers say that it took place about half an hour before I found the body," he explained. "I don't know for sure if that's the case since I wasn't exactly involved with the search of the office, but... That sounds accurate enough given the circumstances."

"He's right," Prosecutor Burke cut in. "The victim was killed roughly half an hour before he was found in the office. That's what the autopsy claimed, at the very least. In other words, it wouldn't have been feasible for anybody aside from the defendant to have killed him. How in the world would anybody else find the time needed to pull all of this off?"

"Why would the defendant stick around at the crime scene for a full half hour and not do anything to arrange it to make her seem less guilty?" I countered. "There's something that doesn't make any sense. I mean, she was just standing over the body when the witness found her, and I haven't heard of there being any signs of other people tampering with the scene of the crime."

"That would be because there weren't any signs," Prosecutor Daegana confirmed. "There wasn't even much of a struggle between the victim and his killer. Whoever murdered him was able to get in and out without too many issues... And if I had to guess, I would say that was because he trusted the killer enough to get up close to them. He didn't realize what was coming and opened himself up to conversation with his assailant just before he was stabbed in the chest and left for dead."

"They sure are insistent that Judge Diaphan was the one who did it," I murmured with a frown. I looked over to Mr. Morix and Deirdre as I placed my hands on my hips. "But there has to be some sort of contradiction in James' testimony that will show that she wasn't the culprit. Her actions the day of the crime just wouldn't make any sense if she was the killer."

"We're going to figure this out," Deirdre assured me with a nod. She glanced over to James once again. "Would you repeat your testimony, witness?"

James nodded, and I realized that he had been listening in intently ever since the conversation shifted away from him. He seemed oddly fascinated with the court proceedings, and I couldn't help but wonder what had him so intrigued by it all. "Of course."

~ Cross-Examination ~

~ Finding the Body ~

-"I went to the Council of Six headquarters that day because I was hoping to find somebody who would be willing talk to me about Robin Wood."

-"He knew my father a long time ago, and since my father went missing... That was just about the only lead I had in terms of finding him."

-"The security guard outside the door let me in under the condition that I stay with her the entire time I was looking around."

-"We planned on talking to the victim and the defendant at separate times since they were the only ones in the building at that point, but..."

-"When we got on the floor where the victim's office is located, I smelled blood, so I ran towards his office."

-"That was when I found him dead on the ground with the defendant standing over his body, still as a statue from shock."

-"The security guard I was with arrested her pretty soon from there, and she told me to call the police while she handled matters at the crime scene."

"Hold it!"

"So, to get this straight... You were told to leave the crime scene soon after the body was discovered," Mr. Morix began.

James nodded. "She told me that it would be for the best if I called for help while she made sure nobody got into the crime scene. She insisted that it would be dangerous if I stuck around in case the defendant tried to lash out. She got the defendant in handcuffs soon afterwards, and when the police arrived at the scene later on, they wound up agreeing that arresting her was the best call. That was how she wound up here."

"Call me suspicious, but I think it's vital that there was a time where only one person was watching the scene of the crime," Deirdre commented. "This security guard that was with Mr. Devine... Something about her strikes me as strange, and I can't help wondering just what she did while she was alone at the scene of the crime with Judge Diaphan."

"I returned to the room as soon as I was finished calling the police, but the smell of blood started to make me nauseous," James continued to explain. "I wound up standing a bit down the hallway because of how bad my headache was getting. I stayed there until after the police arrived in the area and decided to start their investigation."

I nodded at that silently before Mr. Morix cut me off from my thoughts. "If you don't mind my asking... What can you tell us about this security guard who guided you through the building?" he asked. I could tell that he was onto something, but I wasn't quite sure what was going through his head. In other words, it was business as usual.

"She said that her name was Varin Balanite," James began to say. "She's been working as a security guard there for a short while, and she wanted to help me with my investigation when I explained the situation to her. She let me inside, and we were together the entire time we were in the building up until she told me to find the crime scene... Save for the thirty or so seconds when I dashed ahead of her to the victim's office."

"That was because you smelled blood, was it not?" Deirdre asked, and something about her expression seemed to shift.

James nodded. "I thought that was odd given how the building was supposed to be peaceful and under the watch of security guards during all business hours. I figured that something had to be wrong for the smell to be that strong, and I was right. I stood in the doorway after I found the body, and Ms. Balanite came up behind me before saying that I should go and call the police," he said. "She insisted that it was too dangerous for me to stay there, and I listened to her since I figured that she would know much better than I did."

"You know what I've realized?" Deirdre questioned as she looked back to me and Mr. Morix. "James' clothing... None of it contains the dark purple thread that we're looking for."

I thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Hey... You're right," I murmured with a nod. "I mean, it already doesn't make much sense that he's the culprit since he would have had no time alone to commit the crime after he arrived in the building, but... His clothing proves it to us again. There's nothing dark purple anywhere on his outfit."

"And that means that three of the four people who arrived at the scene of the crime weren't wearing dark purple that could leave behind a thread near the body... So it only stands to reason that we should question the fourth of these people as soon as possible to see what she has to say," Deirdre remarked. "This Varin Balanite woman... Something tells me that we're going to be hearing a lot of valuable information from her as soon as we can get her up on the stand."

"I still don't understand why you're going on about the dark purple thread," Prosecutor Daegana announced with a shake of his head. "Threads can attach themselves to anybody's clothing if they're unlucky enough. You can pull away a red piece of string from your jacket despite not wearing red because you simply happened to run into something like that. I don't believe that the clothing fiber is anything conclusive that will show the security guard's guilt or innocence. I know what you're getting at, and I don't think that there will be a point to running a comparison between the thread type found at the scene of the crime and the construction of her clothing."

"However, it's still a possibility that we should consider to ensure that our search for the truth is as complete as possible," Mr. Morix told him. "We have to look at every possibility to make sure that we're not missing out on anything that could change the foundation of our case. That includes hearing testimony from Ms. Balanite and learning what exactly she was doing when she was at the scene of the crime with the witness."

"Hold it!"

The courtroom fell silent at that as I tried to identify the person who had cried out. In the end, my eyes fell to James, and he let out a small smile as he shook his head. "I've always wanted to do that," he admitted quietly before getting back on topic. "Anyways... You said that there was a purple thread found at the scene of the crime near the body, yes?"

Mr. Morix nodded. "However, that thread does not belong to the clothes of anybody who was involved with the murder. The color was found nowhere on the clothing of the defendant or victim, and the same applies to you... Though you never would have been able to get close enough to the body to shed a fiber from your clothing anyways," he explained.

"Well... I may have an explanation," James interjected. "Ms. Balanite was wearing a bit of dark purple that day. She approached the body when she was arresting the defendant. Wouldn't it make sense if perhaps the thread came from her clothing when she was focusing on getting handcuffs around the defendant's wrists?"

I nodded at that softly. "I think that makes a lot of sense," I agreed. "In other words, I think that it's time for us to hear everything that we can from this security guard about what she was doing around the time of the crime and when she was left alone in the room."

"You've solved the issue of the thread fiber. I don't understand why you want to keep pushing this and suspect somebody else who did not have the opportunity to commit the crime," Prosecutor Daegana remarked with a shake of his head. I could feel him rolling his eyes from behind his mask. "I don't see much of a reason to press her more on the thread matter, but... I agree that we should hear her testimony for the sake of completeness."

I didn't say it out loud, but my mind immediately jumped to the thought of what she was doing before James got to the building. After all, the crime would have had to take place before he arrived there given the circumstances. He wasn't in the building all that long before the body was found. In fact, he probably wasn't there for any longer than ten minutes before he stumbled into the victim's office. That meant that we probably should have been looking at the case from the perspective of what happened before he arrived at the building in the first place.

"How about the court takes a brief recess to handle the matter of calling the next witness?" Judge Frost questioned as he reached for his gavel.

Prosecutor Burke nodded. "Of course, Your Honor," she agreed. "The prosecution should only need about ten or fifteen minutes to prepare the witness for her testimony before the court, and after that, we can come back together easily enough."

"What do you have to say to this, defense?" Judge Frost asked, moving his attention across the courtroom as he spoke.

Mr. Morix was the first one to respond, and he spoke easily for what Deirdre and I were thinking as well. "The defense has no objections," he assured Judge Frost.

"In that case, this court will now adjourn for a fifteen minute recess," Judge Frost announced. "At the end of that period, we will reconvene to hear the testimony of the security guard who arrested the defendant at the scene of the crime. Until then, court is adjourned." He brought down his gavel as soon as he was finished speaking, and the gallery immediately began to buzz with excitement.

I knew what this was going to mean for us. This was our chance to get closer to the truth, and it all came down to that security guard. Everything about her behavior that day had been odd since she let James into a high security area without even batting an eye, and I couldn't help wondering what her motivations could have been. Then again, we would be able to ask her in about fifteen minutes. Until then, we had a break, and I was going to take full advantage of it.

After all, everything about this case still felt odd, and the constant screaming of anxiety deep within my body was starting to exhaust me to my core.

morix moment

-Digital