May 4
Courtroom No. 3
10:00 AM
Yuri Rinko
The courtroom felt like it was on fire with nervous energy by the time we arrived inside. Across the room, I could see Chief Prosecutor Bespoke with Prosecutor Lin and Prosecutor Cruz on either side. All of them were staring ahead with small frowns on their faces, no doubt a byproduct of their defensiveness over Niamh. Even if he wasn't as closely tied with her as his coworkers, Prosecutor Cruz still wanted the best for her on account of all the time they had spent together. That much was clear from even just a first glance.
A quick shift of attention up to the judge's bench told me that Ervan Frost was the one presiding over this trial. I watched him for a long moment before sighing heavily, though I didn't say a word about his presence. All that really mattered at this point was if he was going to be willing to help us find the truth behind this trial. I had seen more than enough in the way of frustrations up to this point, and I wanted at least a little part of this case to go our way no matter how small it was.
"Court is now in session for the trial of Niamh Wood," Judge Frost declared as he set his gavel off to the side. I hadn't even heard him slam it down to begin with. "Are the defense and prosecution ready?"
"The defense is ready," Mr. Morix confirmed without missing a beat. His eyes were shining with something I didn't quite understand or expect, but I could tell the truth was going to work its way out eventually. His behavior still didn't really sit right with me even though I knew there was nothing to worry about realistically. Everything was going to be fine even if it didn't seem that way yet. His anxiety was going to prove to be for nothing eventually... Or so I was hoping.
"The prosecution is also ready," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke declared. "I'm also ready to provide my summary of the case through an opening statement. If that's alright with you, Your Honor, I would be more than happy to begin."
Judge Frost seemed caught off guard by Chief Prosecutor Bespoke's attempts to push the trial forward, but he didn't comment on it, instead simply nodding. "Go ahead," he said. I could tell that he didn't know how to feel about Chief Prosecutor Bespoke being here to begin with given the circumstances. He probably hadn't anticipated seeing the chief prosecutor of all people as the leading prosecutor for this case no matter how personal it was to him.
Still, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, and as long as Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was involved with all of this, he was going to make sure we got a not guilty verdict. He cleared his throat as soon as he had gotten the green light to go ahead with explaining the case, no doubt trying to get it over with as soon as possible so that his daughter would be freed sooner rather than later. It was admirable, and I certainly appreciated it. "The crime took place in Ashbrook Academy, a private boarding school near here," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke explained. "The victim was a teacher at the school who went by the name of Ursa Thompson. She was found dead in one of the computer labs with a wound on her head that indicated she had been hit."
"The murder weapon has been discovered, yes?" Judge Frost prompted.
"It has, as a matter of fact," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke confirmed. "The weapon used to take the victim's life was a small portable speaker that struck her on the head. Based on her positioning in the office, it seems as if she was hit from the front and confronted her killer while trying to leave the room."
"The defendant was arrested because she both found the body and was found with it," Prosecutor Lin went on, a frown prominent on her face. She hated having to implicate her daughter in criminal activity, but she knew it was the only thing she could do at this point, so she simply bit her tongue and went on.
"What about a motive? Was the defendant only arrested because she found the body, or was there some deeper reason for her to be suspected?" Judge Frost questioned.
"I'm afraid we don't know of any motives for anyone involved with the case at all," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke confessed. "Nobody had a reason to wish violence against the victim to begin with, much less kill her. There's very little evidence, almost as if the culprit came in and out without anyone else knowing... Though I find that to be highly unlikely given the current circumstances of the school."
"Graduation is coming up, and that means that everyone there is getting ready to send the senior class off into the world," Prosecutor Cruz went on. "There wouldn't be much time for anyone from the outside world to find a way to sneak in without being spotted, and they would have an even harder time trying to kill somebody in the midst of all that chaos. I don't know how anyone could have pulled it off, but I somehow doubt the culprit was really able to get in and out quickly enough to leave behind no traces of their presence."
"Which is why the suspect is someone who was known to be in the school... Though I do have to wonder what her connection was to the institution," Judge Frost frowned.
"She used to attend classes there but stopped when she moved here," Prosecutor Lin told him. "She was visiting friends when she went to the school... Though I'm afraid we don't understand at all why she would have wanted to kill the victim. There's simply no logic that makes sense on the matter. She and the victim knew each other for years before all of this, and they were rather close on top of that. They were always on friendly terms, and many witnesses have backed this up."
"In other words, the crime is still a mystery to some degree... Interesting," Judge Frost murmured. "Though I imagine that hearing from the detective presiding over the investigation will clear up at least a few details. You may call them to the stand now."
"Perfect," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. He didn't even have to ask for Detective Erikson to walk up to the stand for the man to do it, and as soon as Detective Erikson was settled down, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke continued to speak. "Please state your name and occupation for the court's record, witness."
"My name is Toby Erikson, and I'm a homicide detective," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke responded. "I'm also leading the investigation into this case alongside my daughter, Mukuro."
"In that case, tell the court all that you've managed to uncover about this case and why you believe it happened," Prosecutor Lin told him. "Don't leave out even a single detail, alright?"
Detective Erikson nodded with a small smile. "I wouldn't dream of it to begin with."
"This is going to be our first real chance to find out more about this case... Though I have no idea where it could possibly take us," Lily murmured. "I guess we'll just have to see how it all unfolds from this point forward... And if all goes well, maybe we'll stumble into the truth behind this incident that caused everyone so much grief."
I nodded my agreement to that, though I had no idea if the universe was going to be so kind to us. It seemed to enjoy keeping us away from crucial information, so we were just going to have to roll the dice and see how it all turned out. As frustrating as it was, such was the way of the world... And right now, our world was the courtroom, and if it didn't lead to the truth behind this damn school... Not even heaven would be able to help anyone around here.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ The Murder and the School ~
-"The victim, Ursa Thompson, was a teacher who had been working at Ashbrook Academy for a great many years."
-"In fact, she was the defendant's teacher roughly two years before she left behind Ashbrook to pursue a life elsewhere."
-"Every one of her students adored her, and we heard as much many times throughout the investigation. I don't know why anyone within the school would want her dead."
-"However, I do have one other theory... In recent times, the defendant took over working as a secretary part time since the school struggled to maintain its staff."
-"The reason for all of this seems to stem back to a major incident from a few years ago, but we're still trying to uncover the truth behind that."
-"Either way, the only idea I have for a motive is that somebody killed her to try and take the files she was looking over."
-"Unfortunately, I don't know how this could tie in with the defendant nor do I think it involves her at all. It's simply a conundrum."
"An accident led to the victim taking over new duties at the school?" Judge Frost questioned, and Detective Erikson nodded. "I find it rather odd that a teacher would need to do so much outside of her regular line of duty for the sake of keeping the school afloat. That doesn't seem natural at all."
"It seems that something happened around six years ago that made it difficult for the school to maintain its workers," Detective Erikson replied. "I don't know for sure what unfolded to cause such strife, but... The incident seems to be the root cause of all this. Because of how short the school was on staff, the victim had to step up and take care of extra duties, and that was how she landed her bonus secretary position."
"I see... Either way, it seems as if there's a bit more to this victim of ours than meets the eye," Judge Frost frowned. He glanced over in our direction a moment later. "Defense, if you're prepared, I think it's high time you began the cross-examination."
"Of course, Your Honor," Lily agreed with a nod. She looked back to me and Mr. Morix a moment later before frowning to herself. "I don't know what we're going to be able to expect from all of this, but I know exactly where to start in terms of gathering new information."
"The accident from six years ago?" Mr. Morix questioned, and Lily nodded. "Just be careful about it. Whatever the truth is, it has to be dark for so many people to be scrambling to try and keep it buried, including those who were directly influenced by it."
Lily let out a careful breath at that before turning her focus back ahead to the courtroom. I could only hope that she was ready for whatever it was that we were going to find from here. I didn't know if I was, but I supposed that was a bridge we would have to cross whenever the time was right.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ The Murder and the School ~
-"The victim, Ursa Thompson, was a teacher who had been working at Ashbrook Academy for a great many years."
-"In fact, she was the defendant's teacher roughly two years before she left behind Ashbrook to pursue a life elsewhere."
-"Every one of her students adored her, and we heard as much many times throughout the investigation. I don't know why anyone within the school would want her dead."
-"However, I do have one other theory... In recent times, the defendant took over working as a secretary part time since the school struggled to maintain its staff."
-"The reason for all of this seems to stem back to a major incident from a few years ago, but we're still trying to uncover the truth behind that."
"Hold it!"
"What all do you know about this major incident?" Lily asked. "Even small details would help us quite a bit in putting together the truth behind the current case."
"It's not much. I've been trying to look through case files to see what it could all mean, but because of the tight time limit we've had on getting this trial started, I haven't found much," Detective Erikson explained. "It seems as if there was some sort of school trip that went awry, and that was where the rumors began. Ever since then, the school has struggled to maintain its employees on account of many people fearing tragedy will befall them as well. Not even the school's high salaries are enough to get people to stay these days."
"A school trip that went sideways... Do you know if the victim had any involvement with all of this?" Lily questioned.
Detective Erikson shook his head. "It doesn't seem like she did. At the very least, when we've asked people about it, they've stated that she had nothing to do with it despite being a teacher at the school. Her only association is through her job, so I somehow doubt this has much to do with her death."
"The point of all this is that it led to her taking up the receptionist job on the side, which gives her access to something important within the school," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke explained. "And that leads us right into the next part of all this..."
-"Either way, the only idea I have for a motive is that somebody killed her to try and take the files she was looking over."
"Hold it!"
"What all can be found in these files?" Lily asked. "If they really do have anything to do with the motive for murder, there must be at least something significant to be found there, right?"
"Most of the files have to do with the students enrolled at the school and their records from when they've attended classes there," Detective Erikson replied. "It's an incredibly recent development, but in examining the master database of the digital files as well as the computer the victim was using just before her death, we may have found evidence that this was the motive."
"What?!" I yelped out before I could hold myself back. "We didn't hear anything about this coming out!"
"The news only reached me this morning just before the trial began, I'm afraid," Detective Erikson told me. "We managed to investigate the computer in the room where the murder took place, and we found that someone had likely hacked into it discreetly to get their hands on a few of the files within the master database. The files showed signs of slight tampering, though it's difficult to say what precisely the hacker accessed. If you ask me, it seems to me like this has quite a bit to do with the crime given the timing. The hacking took place shortly after the victim's murder, so it all slots together a bit too well to be coincidence."
"And there's no evidence of the defendant's involvement with all of this," Mr. Morix concluded. "In other words, someone else could have very easily been responsible for the hacking. In fact, that seems more likely. Why kill her and hack her computer when the defendant was on good terms with the victim? There would have been other ways to get her hands on the information she sought that were both less risky and less bloody. The fact that the defendant is suspected to have killed the victim in order to get into the files found on the computer makes next to no sense, and I don't think we can count that as a motive that would line up for the defendant. No motive seems to fit at all, for that matter."
"There are quite a few things about this case that don't seem to add up yet... But if you ask me, it's going to be important for the investigation to dig into the truth behind the files and the hacking as much as possible. That breach of security has to factor in with everything that happened on the day of the crime," Judge Frost declared. "For now, perhaps we should turn our focus to other matters related to the murder. After all, there are other reasons the defendant came to be suspected as the culprit, yes?"
Chief Prosecutor Bespoke gritted his teeth together as Prosecutor Cruz picked up with an explanation beside him. "Yes, as a matter of fact," he replied. "There were a few witnesses who managed to find the defendant standing over the victim's body. Four of them uncovered the scene of the crime with the defendant there, and I believe it would be for the best if we heard about what they know about the case here today."
"I agree," Judge Frost nodded. "Please call your next witness to the stand at this time."
As Detective Erikson stepped down from the stand, I turned to look at Lily and Mr. Morix. "Well, I guess that's one mystery of ours solved, huh?" I questioned softly. "We have an idea for the motive now, though I suppose we're still going to have to see where it fits in with all of this. I can only hope it doesn't lead us too far from what we've already uncovered..."
"Maybe the files have something to do with the victim's visit to Sparx Factory that she had planned for this weekend," Lily suggested. "I still don't exactly know what we're supposed to make of all that given the fact that nobody seems to want to tell us, but I suppose we'll just have to see where that takes us in time."
"And luckily, she should be able to tell us," Mr. Morix said. I glanced back to the center of the courtroom and saw that Angelica had replaced Detective Erikson at the witness stand. She was rather composed given the circumstances. I would have expected her to be much more nervous than she was, but she seemed to be handling everything rather well. It was almost as if she had experience with this, but I immediately assumed that was a bit too out there. The accident from a few years ago couldn't have led to this, right?
Right?
"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke instructed of her. His eyes were sharp, glaring daggers into her even though she was on his side. I hadn't seen him this intensely upset in a long time, and I couldn't help but squeak softly and look away so as to be spared from his rage.
"A-Angelica Haruka," the girl replied, her voice wavering ever so slightly. "I'm a student at Ashbrook Academy. I've been living there for much of my life to attend classes." She smiled at that, trying her best to lighten the mood even though just about everybody seemed to be able to tell that it wasn't going to work the way she would have liked.
"You're friends with the defendant, aren't you?" Prosecutor Lin asked. "You're one of the people she came to the school to see on the day of the murder."
"I am," Angelica nodded, clearly glad to be talking to someone aside from Chief Prosecutor Bespoke given his terrifying demeanor. "We've known each other for a really long time, and since graduation is coming up, she decided to come back and see us and the rest of our friends for the day. It's been ages since we last had the chance to talk in person, so we had to take advantage of it."
"But the day ended in a murder," Judge Frost frowned. "Would you be willing to clear up any details about the crime for us now?"
Angelica nodded once more, though she likely knew that she didn't have a choice in the matter. "Yeah... That sounds good to me," she agreed. She took in a careful breath before letting it out between her lips, and something about her seemed so overwhelmingly exhausted all of a sudden. I couldn't tell if it had anything to do with the current case though, so I just stayed quiet.
"Then share your testimony with the court at this time," Judge Frost instructed. Angelica closed her eyes before taking in yet another gentle exhale and releasing it. From there, she jumped right into her testimony.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ Finding the Body ~
-"Niamh came back to see me, Kyle, Jordan, and Nanako to celebrate the upcoming graduation ceremony at Ashbrook. The four of us are graduating, you see."
-"She used to attend classes at Ashbrook, but a lot had changed since she was last there, so we were showing her around and telling her about all that she had missed."
-"She left to go and use the bathroom, and she knew exactly where it was because she used to live at Ashbrook years ago."
-"The rest of us waited for her elsewhere, and when we heard her scream in shock, we went off to see what had happened."
-"From there, we saw her standing over Ms. Thompson's body... She looked like she was going to faint from shock, but she held herself together."
-"Afterwards, we all left to go and report the crime to the police. Everything was fine enough after that, and we stuck together with an adult until help arrived."
"It seems as if everything that happened was fairly standard after the body was discovered," Judge Frost remarked. "You called the police as soon as you had the chance to do so. You made sure to not leave anyone alone, yes?"
Angelica nodded. "We would never do something like that," she said all too quickly. "We stayed together and waited for help to arrive, and we did our best to keep people away. We didn't know what was going on, but we knew that we had to preserve the crime scene so nobody interfered with the body."
"You certainly know how to handle yourselves at a crime scene... Did Niamh tell you what to do when something like this happens?" Prosecutor Lin questioned with a small frown.
Angelica froze up at that before stumbling over her words for a few seconds. After she finally managed to get a grip on herself, she shook her head. "Um... No," she replied hesitantly. I felt something rise like copper on my tongue, and I knew immediately that she was lying. There was something else at play here; she just didn't want to have to explain it. "I just guess we just knew how to take care of all of this. It's pretty obvious that you don't want to tamper with a body or the crime scene after something like this happens, right?"
"Most people still wouldn't think to be so proactive about keeping others out of the area," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke pointed out. "Though I suppose there's not much that can be done to consider it right now. We should concentrate on taking care of the case at hand."
"I agree," Mr. Morix nodded. "Perhaps we should begin the cross-examination of the witness' testimony to see what new information we can hear from her. After all, I suspect this will be a crucial bit of the truth for us to understand."
"Of course, Mr. Morix," Judge Frost agreed. "Begin your cross-examination whenever you are ready."
"There's one easy question to ask here," Lily told us softly. "There's only one thing we didn't hear about when we spoke with her and the other witnesses yesterday, and that's where we're going to start all of this off."
"Get right to it then," I smiled. "You've got our full support." I wasn't entirely sure where she was trying to go with this, but I would see soon enough. For now, I was too focused on the subject of Angelica trying so hard to hide the fact that she knew how to handle a crime scene. I didn't know why she would want to keep that a secret, but we were going to have to draw it out of her eventually no matter what it took.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ Finding the Body ~
-"Niamh came back to see me, Kyle, Jordan, and Nanako to celebrate the upcoming graduation ceremony at Ashbrook. The four of us are graduating, you see."
-"She used to attend classes at Ashbrook, but a lot had changed since she was last there, so we were showing her around and telling her about all that she had missed."
-"She left to go and use the bathroom, and she knew exactly where it was because she used to live at Ashbrook years ago."
-"The rest of us waited for her elsewhere, and when we heard her scream in shock, we went off to see what had happened."
-"From there, we saw her standing over Ms. Thompson's body... She looked like she was going to faint from shock, but she held herself together."
-"Afterwards, we all left to go and report the crime to the police. Everything was fine enough after that, and we stuck together with an adult until help arrived."
"Hold it!"
"You were with an adult?" Lily questioned with a small frown. "When we spoke with you and the rest of your friends yesterday, you didn't say anything about there being other people with you after the body was discovered."
"I wanted to wait and talk about it until now," Angelica admitted. "You probably met the PR worker who was at the school yesterday, right? Well, she wound up finding us soon after we called the police."
"She found you?" I echoed, my eyes going wide. "I didn't expect you to say that of all things." Given how tense she had been the day before, I never would have taken Ms. Venia for the type to go out of her way to reach out to people like that. She seemingly thought Mr. Morix, Lily, and I were nothing but trouble, so this was certainly a change in perspective.
"She heard the commotion while she was going to speak with the principal of the school, and she decided to come investigate. That was when she found us there," Angelica explained. "She immediately grew rather stressed... She's been at the school for the last week practically constantly. She was sent by a greater public relations agency to help us through this graduation. This... This year, graduation is causing a few problems for a lot of people, so she's supposed to be able to help us through it."
"What exactly makes this year so special?" Lily asked. "I don't understand why you would need someone from public relations at the school constantly for something like a graduation. It feels a bit unnecessary and... Out of the way, I suppose."
"Well... It's a bit of a long story," Angelica eventually told us, and I knew that was her way of saying that she didn't want to talk about it and wouldn't be coming close to touching the subject unless we found a way to push her after the trial was over. "The point is that she was there for most of the week, and she wound up being in the area when we discovered the body. She stayed with us as we waited for the police, and she seemed... Really impatient the entire time. She barely seemed surprised, though I guess that could make a bit of sense."
"She wasn't surprised when she heard about the murder?" Mr. Morix inquired, his expression shifting into a confused frown. "What about that could possibly make sense to you?"
"There are a lot of awful rumors about the school these days. I suppose there are some people who would think that nothing but bad stuff happens there," Angelica answered, though I could tell there was a little bit more to it than that. "Very few people seem to have faith in the school at all to handle even the most basic things... It's a bit of a disaster, and people not seeming to think that Ashbrook is safe doesn't surprise me all that much. Even after six years, that accident still does a lot to damage our reputation..."
"This accident... Do you think it has anything to do with the crime at hand?" Judge Frost questioned, though I could tell that he wanted to hear the full story behind it either way.
Angelica immediately shook her head. "No," she replied as quickly as she could. "There's not all that much to connect Ms. Thompson to the incident from a few years ago. All you really need to know is that she was a teacher at the time, and that's the only link she has to it. Whoever killed her didn't do it for a reason like that since she barely has anything to do with it."
"I don't like the idea of glossing over something like that," Judge Frost frowned. "I think it would be for the best if you explained the truth behind this mystery incident for the court just in case it has a link to the case at hand. You never know when a connection could come out of nowhere to prove our previous assumptions wrong."
Angelica thought about it for a moment before biting down on her lip anxiously. "The short version of it is that something bad happened on a school field trip about six years ago now, and afterwards, people started to run as far away from Ashbrook as they could. Parents took their students out of classes, teachers left because they thought they were going to get hurt... That was how Ms. Thompson got her secretary job. The reputation of the school was sinking so fast and so hard that she had to take up extra work to pick up the slack left behind by everyone jumping ship," she said. "Beyond that, nothing from that incident has anything to do with this case."
Judge Frost watched her for a moment before humming and nodding. "Alright," he said softly, though I was certain he wanted us to try and push her for more information even as he pulled out against her stubbornness, at least for the moment. "Let's back up a bit then. Would you be willing to tell the court more about the week leading up to the murder?"
Angelica nodded, all of her previous anxiety starting to melt away in the blink of an eye. "Of course."
mmm can i stop being busy for five minutes
-Digital