February 10

Courtroom No. 1

12:00 PM

Deirdre Brigit

"What do you mean by that?" Ms. Balanite asked, her expression suddenly shifting to anxiety. "How are you going to prove something that seems so irrelevant? What even is a clothing fiber? Why is it so important to this case?"

"Right now, the clothing fiber subject is going to show us who was close to the body when the victim was killed," Mr. Morix explained. "The clothing fiber is a small piece of fabric that pulled away from the rest of its source, and when I look at you, I notice that your gloves are the same color as the fiber. If you don't mind, would you be willing to show us your gloves in full?"

Ms. Balanite froze on the spot, and she shrugged as soon as she managed to get a grip on herself again. "I don't know what you could possibly want from my gloves," she announced. "They're just gloves, and I've been wearing them as part of my work throughout this case. Anybody who has gloves like this could have been at the scene of the crime and messing around with the body."

"But that didn't happen," I countered. "You said that you were the only one who was there aside from Mr. Devine, and as long as he was being kept away from the body by calling the police, you would have been the sole person who had access to the victim in such a way. You were the only one who would have been able to access the victim's body closely enough to allow a piece of your clothing to fall onto the ground."

"If your gloves were going to give off a small piece of fabric, then I would have to assume that something happened to damage them," Mr. Morix continued. "After all, those gloves appear to be rather well made, and that leads me to believe that something must have happened to forcefully damage them when you were there the day of the murder."

"That's ridiculous!" Ms. Balanite exclaimed with a shake of her head. "Why would anything bad happen that would damage my gloves like that? It just doesn't make any sense. They're gloves. They're fine. For all you know, the thread could have come from something else or just not be related to the case. Why wouldn't you think of that first? Maybe the blood was at the scene of the crime first, and the victim was killed after the fact."

"I know that wasn't the case," Mr. Morix countered. "If that happened, then the blood would have covered the thread... But instead, it seems as if the small thread was resting on top of the blood pool on the floor. If you ask me, that's as good of evidence as any that the blood was put there first. The thread fell on top of it for some reason or another, not that we can say for sure what this reasoning was quite now."

"Why would you think that I was the one who left behind that thread?" Ms. Balanite asked next. "I don't understand why you're suspecting me when anybody else could have done it. Even if the woman in the defendant's chair wasn't the one who killed the victim, there were other guards patrolling the building at the time. Surely one of them would have had the opportunity to sneak in there and kill the victim."

"She may have a point there," Felicity muttered. "What are we supposed to do now? If you ask me, she's really suspicious, but I have no idea what we're supposed to do to make everybody else in the courtroom believe it."

"I want to see your gloves in full," Mr. Morix announced, pointing to Ms. Balanite with all the force in the world. "If you truly are innocent, then there should be no issues with looking at the gloves completely. If there is any damage to be found there, then I believe we should take it as a cue that something is amiss regarding your testimony."

"This doesn't feel legal," Ms. Balanite frowned. "You can't just make me do something like that. I know that this is a serious matter like a murder trial, but... I don't think this is right. I'm just standing here telling you what happened, and your'e out here accusing me of things that I know I didn't do. It's slanderous in my mind. I think that other people would agree that you're slandering me too... I don't know what you think I did, but you're wrong about all of it, I promise you."

"If you ask me, another testimony is in order," Judge Frost announced. "The witness should tell the court about what happened when she found the scene of the crime... More specifically, the witness needs to testify about what was going on in the crime scene when she was alone with the defendant."

"I can do that," Ms. Balanite said with a nod. "Though I think it'll be much easier if the defense stops pestering me about what happened that day... I didn't kill the victim, and I didn't get close to the body either. You should keep your nose out of things that don't concern you."

"This does concern us though," Felicity sighed. "We're defending the person who has been accused of this crime, and that means that it concerns us in just about every way you could possibly imagine."

"That doesn't mean you have to accuse me of killing somebody," Ms. Balanite told her. She shook her head before rolling her eyes. "Alright then. If you really want to hear what I have to say again, then I'll tell you, but nothing has changed."

"The court will still appreciate your testimony, witness," Prosecutor Burke announced, nodding firmly to Ms. Balanite. Everything about her was wrought with tension, and I could tell that she was trying to figure out how she felt about this case and its corresponding witness as the trial went on.

Ms. Balanite was quiet for a long moment before she nodded. "Consider it done."

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ Alone With the Defendant ~

-"When we first got there, the defendant was standing over the body. She was just staring down at it."

-"I ran up to her and grabbed her while telling the young boy to go and call the police as soon as he could."

-"I handcuffed her since I thought that she was probably involved with the crime. Who wouldn't think that when she was standing over the body?"

-"I held onto her the entire time, and I moved her away from the victim's body too to make sure that she didn't tamper with it."

-"See? There's nothing suspicious going on here. I wasn't near the victim's body at all, and she can even agree to that!"

-"I don't know where that little purple thread you care so much about came from, but I wasn't the one who put it there. I didn't get near the body."

"That's... Not exactly good for us," Felicity muttered. She glanced over to where Judge Diaphan was sitting, waiting for our client to give us some signal that either proved or discredited the testimony at hand. Judge Diaphan didn't seem to want to reply, and I could already tell what her answer was going to be as a result.

"Defendant, is this true?" Judge Frost asked. "Did the witness truly stay away from the victim's body the entire time she was in the room?"

Judge Diaphan hesitated before nodding. "The closest she got was when she was arresting me, and after she escorted me away from the body, we remained about two yards away from it until the police arrived," she said carefully. "I don't believe that there would have been any time for the thread to fall from her gloves onto the body."

"But... What are we supposed to do now?" Felicity questioned, her eyes wide with concern. "I mean, that was our one good clue about what we were going to be doing next. If the glove wasn't what gave off the thread, then that means..."

"I was being honest when I said that the glove wasn't the source of it," Prosecutor Daegana cut in. "Beyond that, it means that I was telling the truth when I told you that this wasn't involved with the crime at all. Small threads can easily get places they don't belong, but that doesn't mean there's any foul play afoot. Sometimes, things like this just happen. You would do well to remember it, defense."

"Is this really where we're going to have to give up on the case?" Felicity frowned. "There has to be some explanation that will take us in another direction and still reveal the truth, but... I don't know where we're supposed to start in terms of finding it, I'm afraid."

"There is another way for us to look at this," Mr. Morix confirmed. "All that this testimony tell us is that the thread could not have fallen into the victim's blood when the defendant was first found standing over the body. If anything this testimony seems to play right into our hands."

"Because if we were able to find another time or place where the witness could have gotten a small piece of her gloves into the victim's blood, then we may be able to accuse her of the crime formally," I finished for him. "I believe that it's high time we combed through that testimony to make sure that she's really telling us the truth about all that happened that day."

"There are a few lingering facts here that make it seem like she's either the culprit or knows something she's not telling us," Mr. Morix remarked. "First off, there's the fact that she's refusing to show off the gloves she's wearing right now. As far as I can tell, she knows that an analysis of the gloves would match the thread found at the scene of the crime."

"Then there's the fact that she let someone unauthorized into the building on the day of the crime," I frowned. "That's nothing that a normal security guard would do, and yet, she simply let an outside figure walk inside without any hesitation. I feel like it could easily be a crime of inexperience, but at the same time, you can never say for sure."

"Especially when it comes to murder cases," Felicity finished for me with a nod. She placed her hands on her hips with a smile spreading across her lips. "Then we'll just have to make sure that we draw out the truth of what happened that day whether she wants to see it or not."

"Defense, please begin your cross-examination at this time," Judge Frost announced. "As much as I hate to say it, we will accomplish nothing as long as you are simply whispering amongst yourselves."

"Of course, Your Honor," I assured him. This was where we were finally going to get down to the truth of the matter, and for all we knew, this would be the testimony to finally give us the upper hand. Ms. Balanite had been there at the scene of the crime at some point that day, and it was up to us to figure out the truth of when and why. Luckily, this testimony would be the perfect chance for us to find out everything we were seeking.

~ Cross-Examination ~

~ Alone With the Defendant ~

-"When we first got there, the defendant was standing over the body. She was just staring down at it."

-"I ran up to her and grabbed her while telling the young boy to go and call the police as soon as he could."

-"I handcuffed her since I thought that she was probably involved with the crime. Who wouldn't think that when she was standing over the body?"

-"I held onto her the entire time, and I moved her away from the victim's body too to make sure that she didn't tamper with it."

-"See? There's nothing suspicious going on here. I wasn't near the victim's body at all, and she can even agree to that!"

-"I don't know where that little purple thread you care so much about came from, but I wasn't the one who put it there. I didn't get near the body."

"Hold it!"

"If you don't mind my asking, witness... What exactly were you up to before James Devine approached you outside the building?" Mr. Morix questioned. "Were you simply on guard duty?"

"I was," Ms. Balanite replied with a nod. "I had to make sure that nobody unauthorized got into the building, so I did everything I could to keep the building safe. Nobody got in without my permission that day."

"But you still let somebody inside who had no right to be at the scene of the crime," I pointed out. "James Devine doesn't have any apparent connection to the Council of Six, and even if he was there to try and conduct an investigation, the fact remains that he lacked the necessary clearance. On top of that, he's still underage in the eyes of the law. I don't understand why you would have wanted to let him inside when it seems so clear that he has no right to be inside that building."

"I was trying to help him out with his search for information," Ms. Balanite told us with a simple shrug. "I said before that I was hoping to pitch in since he was having a rough time with all of this, and that's all there is to it. I did what I could to look after his investigation, and... Well, you can see where it led us. We found the victim's body unexpectedly, and now, we're here."

"But this still isn't right," Felicity frowned. "Why you would let him into the building? I don't think you would have any reason to let anybody enter the building without express permission to go inside."

"I don't see why this is important," Ms. Balanite suddenly said as she glanced over to the prosecution. "I made a mistake. I'm still pretty new to this job, you know. People who are new to something are bound to make mistakes, and if that's what I did, then that's okay. I just don't see how a mistake like that is enough to merit me being accused of killing somebody."

"Then let's back it up for a moment," I told her. "You said that you were on guard duty as per usual... Were there any other people around you who could have backed up what you were doing?"

Ms. Balanite thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Um... No," she admitted. "I was the only one who was in the area at the time."

"I suppose that makes sense... If there were others around her, then they probably would have told her to not let James enter the building," Felicity pointed out. "That means that she probably was alone in the area, though... I feel like that's strange on its own. Why would she be the only person in the region? Guard duty likely involves working in pairs to make sure that nothing bad happens, especially with a job as important as this one."

"Nobody was there with me," Ms. Balanite reiterated. "No amount of theorizing or shuffling around the truth is going to change the fact that I was alone that day. Nobody else saw me when I was standing at the base of the building. I let in the young boy, and we started to look around from there. I still don't see how me making a mistake and letting him into the building equates to accusing me of being a murderer, but... You're just a strange bunch in general, aren't you?"

"If you were really alone before the witness arrived at the scene of the crime, then that makes me wonder... Did she have an alibi for the time of the crime?" Felicity whispered. "I mean, if she was truly the only one in the area up until James got there, then that would certainly seem to imply that she didn't have anybody with her when the crime took place."

I nodded my agreement before glancing up to where Ms. Balanite was standing. "Witness, if you don't mind my asking... Did anybody see you standing outside the building a bit earlier than when Mr. Devine appeared? Were you the only one in the area that entire time, or do you have somebody to back up your testimony?"

Ms. Balanite hesitated at that, glancing around anxiously before shrugging. "Well... I suppose nobody was there to see me..." she muttered. "But it doesn't matter, right? We already know who did it. I was there to arrest her, and the younger boy even saw me arrest her. She was standing over the victim's body, and that's so... That's so suspicious, right?"

"And yet, a thread from what seems to have been your glove was found at the scene of the crime, and I'm sure that we would find a match between the thread and the fabric of your gloves if we ran a test between them," Mr. Morix pointed out. "If you really don't have an alibi for the actual time of the crime, then that means that we have to consider a suspect. After all, your strange behavior when the body was discovered is only half the picture here, and if there's nobody who can corroborate for you from the actual time of the crime..."

Ms. Balanite hesitated for a long while before she shook her head. "You're all being a bit dramatic and jumping to all kinds of conclusions," she announced. "I was there doing my regular work as a guard, and I just... I made a mistake with letting that kid into the building. I thought it would be okay, but I was wrong. I see now that I messed up there, but as long as I know that I made a mistake, that's what matters, right?"

"If you ask me, Ms. Balanite's actions make a lot more sense now," I told Felicity and Mr. Morix. "Think about what was on the line when she was at the building that day... If she was the culprit, then she would have likely been leaving at the time that Mr. Devine appeared and asked to go inside."

"She would have been trying to get away from the crime scene, and that would likely put her outside the building to make it seem as if nothing was wrong to begin with," Mr. Morix agreed with a nod. "She wouldn't have wanted anyone to follow up on her actions and realize that she had done something out of line, and so, she stood in her regular position to make it seem that she had never left."

"But if she was able to talk to James, then that means that she would have had somebody to seemingly establish an alibi for her," Felicity realized, coming to the same conclusion I had. "Doesn't that make a lot of sense? She was trying to get somebody else to stay with her so that she wouldn't be suspected later on. If there was someone at her side, then it would seem like they had been together the entire time, and she suddenly wouldn't be a suspect for the crime at all."

I nodded my agreement before glancing up to Ms. Balanite once again. "You were alone up until the previous witness arrived at the building, and after that, you were with him or the defendant until the police arrived... How strange," I murmured. "What were you doing before he got there?"

"I told you that I was just standing in my regular position! How many times am I going to have to say it before you'll actually accept what I'm talking about?" Ms. Balanite questioned, her voice starting to edge on anxious desperation. "I wouldn't have said it if it wasn't the truth. I was the only one in the area, and I was just on my regular guard duty."

"If you ask me, there's a lot more to this than meets the eye. The witness has just admitted to not having an alibi for the actual time of the crime, and given how crucial details like that are, I think that we should hear from her in a bit more detail about what happened before the previous witness arrived at the scene of the crime," Mr. Morix announced, shifting his attention across the courtroom. "I understand your reservations with the case at hand, Prosecutor Daegana, but I believe that more testimony is going to be the only thing that helps us at this point."

Prosecutor Daegana stood still as could be for a long moment before he shook his head. "As much as I hate to say it, you have a point," he muttered. "Something about this witness' actions that day strike me as strange... Almost as if she knows nothing about her actual job."

"What?! That's ridiculous!" Ms. Balanite cried out, getting much more upset about the statement than most of us would have expected her to. "Of course I know how to do my job! All we really have to do is stand outside and guard the building! I did that up until the victim's body was discovered! Everything was fine!"

"Then why would you do something like let in an unauthorized person out of the blue like that?" Felicity asked. "It doesn't make any sense, but you don't seem to care about that fact at all... Most guards would know to not do that easily, but you still let in someone who wasn't meant to be there. I can't help thinking that you were with him because you were trying to make it seem like you had an alibi when you actually had nobody with you at the scene of the crime."

Ms. Balanite began to growl under her breath before she let out a heavy sigh of frustration. "Fine then! If you really want to hear about what I was doing before the body was found, then I'll tell you! Just make sure that you drop it after this, alright?! I'm tired of listening to you people accuse me of something that you have no proof I did!"

I ignored the urge to make a snide comment back about how we had more than enough proof to suspect her, instead simply nodding in her direction. "In that case, begin your testimony now."

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ Before Entering the Building ~

-"I was just standing outside the building before the young boy showed up to ask me to take him inside!"

-"Everything was normal before that. Nobody had come close to the building that wasn't supposed to be there, and it was all fine."

-"Even after I let him inside, I just stayed with him the entire time. That was what I promised to do, after all."

-"There was nothing weird about the crime scene either. I just saw the victim where he had been stabbed and arrested the defendant since she was right there."

-"You don't have any other evidence aside from that thread to connect me to the murder, and you know it. You're grasping at straws."

-"Unless you can give me something conclusive to show that I was the one who did it, I'm not going to listen to you anymore! I've had enough of your accusations!"

For a long time, the courtroom was silent in the aftermath of her testimony, and I couldn't help frowning to myself at her words. She was right about one thing; everything that we had accused her of up to this point was just a matter of coincidence. Her strange behavior was certainly enough for us to find her actions odd, but that wasn't going to be enough for us to say conclusively that she was the one who killed the victim no matter how much it seemed that way.

"Ms. Balanite sure is firm in saying that she didn't do it... And honestly, I think I'm struggling to come up with anything that we haven't already pointed out," Felicity muttered. "I mean, I feel like she's our most likely suspect, but even if she had the opportunity to commit the crime and acted openly strangely on the day of the murder, I don't think we have that last piece of evidence."

"There is one thing I noticed when we were questioning her before though, and while it's not much, I think it's a weak point we need to stab and then exploit with everything we have," Mr. Morix said.

"What are you talking about?" Felicity asked, tilting her head to the side in vague confusion. "I didn't see anything that seemed to be that out of the ordinary compared to everything she was saying."

"It was a small detail like I said, but I think it's going to be the key to making her talk about what actually happened that day," Mr. Morix told us with a shrug. "For now, we'll just have to play our cards carefully and see where it leads us from here."

"The defense certainly has a lot to say over there," Prosecutor Burke commented, and she crossed her arms with a displeased frown. "If you really want to talk so much, how about you do it during the cross-examination?"

"Of course," I said with a nod, though truth be told, I only had a vague idea of what Mr. Morix was talking about. There was one thing about Ms. Balanite that had struck me as strange too, but I didn't know if it was what we were searching for. Either way, pointing out the flaw wasn't going to hurt, especially when there was so little left behind that was going to help us from the scene of the crime. Perhaps our solution wasn't going to come in the form of the murder itself but something that took place outside the fated room where the victim was killed. If that was the case, then we were already on the right track. I could feel it.

~ Cross-Examination ~

~ Before Entering the Building ~

-"I was just standing outside the building before the young boy showed up to ask me to take him inside!"

-"Everything was normal before that. Nobody had come close to the building that wasn't supposed to be there, and it was all fine."

-"Even after I let him inside, I just stayed with him the entire time. That was what I promised to do, after all."

-"There was nothing weird about the crime scene either. I just saw the victim where he had been stabbed and arrested the defendant since she was right there."

-"You don't have any other evidence aside from that thread to connect me to the murder, and you know it. You're grasping at straws."

-"Unless you can give me something conclusive to show that I was the one who did it, I'm not going to listen to you anymore! I've had enough of your accusations!"

"Hold it!"

Mr. Morix took a moment to compose himself after the exclamation before he glanced up to Ms. Balanite carefully. "I must start off by admitting that I don't have any conclusive evidence that you were the one who committed the crime," he started slowly.

"Finally, you admit it!" Ms. Balanite cried out, throwing her arms up at the words. "I thought we would be going around in circles forever, but I'm glad you realized that I'm not the killer at long last."

"I don't have any solid proof that you committed the murder... But I do have a question for you," Mr. Morix continued.

Ms. Balanite seemed hesitant at first, but she eventually shrugged. "Fine then. What's your question?"

"You work as a security guard looking after the scene of the crime... So I have to ask... What exactly is the policy for visitors?" Mr. Morix asked, shifting his posture ever so slightly to seem a bit more casual than before. "Since you're a guard working in such an important position, I would expect you to have been given the chance to escort visitors inside a few times up to this point."

Ms. Balanite hesitated once more, and she opened her mouth and closed it for a long moment before shaking her head. "I-I haven't ever had to do that," she said, though she seemed to be able to tell that the excuse was weak. "Others have always taken control of jobs along those lines, so I don't know what the policy is."

"Still, if you work as a guard for the building, I would expect you to at least know what you're doing even if you haven't ever had to do it yourself," Mr. Morix pointed out. "That seems like basic knowledge that every guard should have... And it makes me wonder why you wouldn't know something so crucial."

"Do you have something to say, Mr. Morix?" Prosecutor Burke asked with a frown.

"I do, as a matter of fact," Mr. Morix replied. "Before, we said that Ms. Balanite's behavior was hardly befitting of a security guard, almost like she didn't know what she was doing at all... I maintain that it's all incredibly odd... So that leaves me to wonder, why would she be acting so strangely when it goes against everything her job stands for? The fact that she was unable to answer such a basic question about her work answers my question, and if you ask me, it paints a picture of this crime that we previously did not understand."

"I hope you know what you're doing with this," Felicity muttered, and I could tell that she had come to the same conclusion I had. This wasn't going to be an easy step to take nor did I know where it was going to be taking us from here, but I knew that it would have to be done eventually... For better or worse.

Mr. Morix slammed his hands against the defense bench and narrowed his eyes at Ms. Balanite. "The answer to our impossible puzzle of the witness' actions is quite simple... The reason she acted so strangely on the day of the murder when it came to her work... Is because she is not a security guard at all."

Morix is seven years old wow that's,,, so much to think about

-Digital