May 5
Defendant Lobby No. 3
9:40 AM
Yuri Rinko
When we arrived at the courthouse the following day, Niamh was already there waiting for us. I waved in her direction as I approached, a loose smile on my face even though I could already tell that she wasn't going to be in much of a talking mood. "Hey there, Niamh," I greeted. "How are you..."
I immediately trailed off when I realized that I was, in fact, not speaking to Niamh at all. It was Nevada, her hair pulled away from her face to show off the scar found beneath. She was bouncing one foot at breakneck speeds in a desperate attempt to calm herself, but there was only so much that she could get out of something like that when she was so stressed. Nevada looked up at me, her expression shifting through what felt like at least fifteen different stages before she settled on staring at Mr. Morix. "Uncle Coat!" she cried out.
Mr. Morix was caught off guard by her words at first, but he managed to get a grip on himself soon afterwards. "Nevada... How are you holding up?" he questioned, sitting down beside her with hopes that it would help to ease her rampant anxiety.
Nevada's leg continued to bounce with relentless brutality as she sighed and let her face fall into her hands dramatically. "I don't want to be here!" she declared, dragging her palms down her face slowly. "Niamh says that we need to stay out of trouble though, and... Ugh! Why are we being accused of murder when everybody knows that we didn't do it?! That doesn't make any sense, and you know that I would never hurt somebody like this!"
I hesitated at that, holding back a snarky comment about how, yes, she had done things like this before. Okay, maybe the circumstances had been completely different, but the fact was that she had found herself under suspicion for significant crimes before. In both cases, it had been either justified or accidental, but I felt like there was still an argument to be made there. I shook my head to keep myself from saying it, instead simply shrugging in her direction. "Yeah... Well, there are a lot of people who don't know what they're doing at all, and I guess they just think that you're the one who did it since that's the easiest thing for them to tell other people," I said simply.
"I bet it was that one woman working with public relations or whatever," Nevada muttered bitterly. "She came by the detention center last night, you know. She said that she wanted us to just admit to what was going on so that we could spare the school's reputation. Niamh started getting stressed, so I came out, and then I yelled at her. She just sniffed like she was mad at me before leaving, and then, I was alone all over again. Good riddance, I say. She was being rude about it all, and if she wants me to talk about anything related to the case, then she's going to have to be a bit nicer than that."
I nodded my understanding slowly. Our suspicions regarding Ms. Venia only seemed to be growing darker by the moment, and the fact that she had come to pressure Niamh and Nevada into confessing even after hearing from Headmaster Oakley that he thought they were innocent just added yet another reason to dislike her to the list. Why couldn't she just accept that we knew what we were doing?
No, I knew exactly why. She didn't want to admit it, but she knew too, and that was probably the reason that she had come down to the detention center to yell at Niamh to begin with.
"We're not going to let anything bad happen to you. That much I promise," Lily chimed in before I had the chance to say anything about it. "We're going to defend you with everything we have, and when we do, everything will be alright. All you need to do is have a little bit of faith in us, and we'll make sure it's fine."
"Alright... Just don't do anything that could get me locked up, okay?" Nevada asked, her voice wavering ever so slightly at the edges. "I'm not... I didn't kill anyone. Even when stuff like this happened before, I... I didn't just randomly decide that I wanted to attack people. They were already showing themselves to be terrible people, and I had to do something so that they would lay off what they were already doing."
"We know that you're innocent," Mr. Morix assured her. "You know that you can have faith in us, right? We know what we're doing, and we're going to prove it to everyone as soon as we get in the courtroom. Just breathe for a few moments and have confidence in us. We've been doing this for a long time, and we'll be able to help you out of this no matter what comes next."
Nevada nodded slowly, and I could tell that she was desperate to believe what he had to say. She sighed once she was finished with the gesture though, going right back to bouncing her leg all over again. "Alright... I'm hoping that you're right about knowing what you're doing," she murmured. "Mama said that I can trust you with all of this, but I'm still worried. Niamh started freaking out yesterday, and, yeah, she does that a lot, but... It felt a little bit different this time around, you know?"
"Because she knows how much there is on the line right now," I concluded, and Nevada nodded once more. "But it's all going to be fine. We've got a pretty good idea of what we're supposed to be proving today, and we're going to make sure that everybody understands it as soon as possible. You don't need to do a thing but sit there and try to stay calm, okay?"
"Couldn't you have given me something a little bit easier to do?" Nevada grumbled even though I was sure that she knew there was nothing she was going to be able to do as an alternative. "But fine. As long as you say you know what you're doing, I'm not going to make a fuss... Just be careful."
Before I had the chance to say anything else to assure her, a sharp cry pierced the air to indicate that it was time for us to go back into the courtroom. I winced at that before glancing back to Mr. Morix and Lily. "Well... I guess we know what we have to do now," I told them.
"You look nervous," Nevada pointed out with a frown. "You better not have been lying to me when you said that you could handle it."
"We're going to be fine," Lily assured her once more. "We just didn't expect the bailiff to yell for us so suddenly. We're going to handle this without any problems, and you don't need to worry about it at all. Just go on into the courtroom and try to stay calm while you're there, okay? We've got everything under control."
Nevada sighed before nodding. "Okay... I trust you," she murmured. She shuffled off into the courtroom soon afterward, and I could see the anxious tension between her shoulders all the way. She was saying that she believed in us, but there were still a few cues in her body language that implied otherwise. This wasn't entirely surprising given how much she had been through over the course of the last day, but it still did little to help my anxiety.
"She's just afraid," Mr. Morix said once Nevada had disappeared into the courtroom. "We're going to be the ones to show her what it means to believe again, and everything is going to be fine. She's placed her faith in us, and we'll show her that we can handle it. I promise."
"Thank you for that," I told him, finally allowing myself to calm down, at least to some extent. I was still a bit worked up about all of this for a variety of reasons, but this was a step in the right direction, and I knew I had to take that for what it was. "I guess it's time for us to get on in there and see what we can do to help ease her fears, huh?"
"We've got everything under control, and Nevada is going to see that soon enough too," Lily grinned. "I think we already know who's going to be called up to the stand first, and we'll just have to take that and run with it as soon as we get the chance to do so."
Mr. Morix nodded as we started towards the courtroom in full. "I told Sora and Ghastly everything they needed to know last night. They... They weren't too pleased about me holding back about the incident that took place at the factory, but I suppose I have to let their daughters explain everything to them. I don't want to add any extra stress to Prosecutor Wood or Nevada's shoulders right now by telling them prematurely," he told us. "But we'll have to grapple with that later on. For now, the two of them are willing to help us unravel the truth of this case, and we're going to have to take advantage of that when we get in there."
I nodded before staring up at the doors of the courtroom as we walked inside. "Yeah... You're right," I agreed. I still had a bit of a bad feeling about all of this, but it couldn't really be helped. Times were difficult, and I could only hope that we knew what we were doing in full.
And I also hoped that Ms. Venia finally coughed up whatever it was that had caused so many problems for us the day before. We all knew how this was going to end; it was just a matter of making sure she finally confessed after all this strife and heartache.
May 5
Courtroom No. 3
10:00 AM
Yuri Rinko
The courtroom's atmosphere was tense as could be by the time that we got inside, and things weren't exactly much better in any other region of the space. Nevada was still tapping her foot firmly against the ground, almost like that familiar motion was the only thing keeping her even barely under control. Prosecutor Lin and Chief Prosecutor Bespoke were standing on the other side of the courtroom with solemn expressions painted across their features, and I could already tell that Mr. Morix had told them everything they were going to need to know going into this. I mean, I had already heard that from him before this, but even if he hadn't told me, I would have been able to figure it out based on the look in our courtroom rivals' eyes.
"Court is back in session for the trial of Niamh Wood," Judge Frost declared. As he said that, Nevada shifted the way her hair was parted, allowing her hair to once again fall over the scar that marked her left eye. "I take it that the defense and prosecution have both spent the last day investigating everything of note to ensure that we can find the truth during today's trial, yes?"
"Of course, Your Honor," Lily announced. "We know everything we believe to be necessary, and we intend to use it to the best of our abilities."
"The prosecution feels the same way," Prosecutor Lin nodded. "In fact, we wish to start off this session by calling our first witness. I doubt that summarizing the details of the case would do us much good at this point given how cut and dry everything has been made out to be up to this point. Most of the details we uncovered relate to confidential matters for the school, and the prosecution thinks it would be for the best to simply hear as much as we can from the witness before getting too deep into anything else."
Judge Frost seemed confused at that for a few moments before nodding. "If you think that's the best course of action, go ahead," he told her carefully. "I can only expect that you have a reason for jumping to this so soon though."
"Of course we do," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke assured him. "We know exactly what we're doing, and right now, we find it to be best to summon the main witness of this case and hear what she has to say."
"Then go right ahead, prosecution," Judge Frost nodded.
"The prosecution calls its first witness to the stand at this time," Prosecutor Lin announced as she pointed to the witness' podium with a charming smile. She was doing a good job of hiding her true intentions, to say the least, and Ms. Venia probably wasn't going to know what was coming for her until it was already too late.
Sure enough, Ms. Venia appeared at the witness stand with a tight frown on her face a few moments later. She adjusted the notebook in her arms as she glanced out to the courtroom, suspicion hiding beneath her irises. She didn't know where this was going yet, but she already didn't like it because of how soon she had been called to the stand.
"Please state your name and occupation for the court, witness," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke instructed of her, his gaze hardening along the way. He was already certain of her role in the murder, and even though he said nothing outwardly, it was clear that he at least had a vague idea of it all.
"Of course," Ms. Venia nodded. "My name is Aubray Venia, and I work as a public relations manager. Right now, my main job is to cooperate with Ashbrook Academy in preparation for their upcoming graduation ceremony."
"An incident a few years ago brought much scrutiny to the school, and your role here is to try and mitigate that damage by helping out with the graduation," Prosecutor Lin announced, and Ms. Venia nodded her confirmation. "I see. In that case, I think it would be for the best if we heard your testimony at this time."
Ms. Venia smiled at that. "Of course. I believe that we already know where this trial is going to end, but it wouldn't hurt for me to give you at least a bit of information," she said. Her tone was sweet on the surface, but I knew better than to fall for something like that. There was more going on here, and she was doing her best to keep that a secret for the sake of maintaining the advantage.
"Please try to keep your biases out of your testimony, witness," Judge Frost instructed, and Ms. Venia immediately went tense with distaste briefly flickering across her eyes. "The court needs to know as much as possible while we have you on the stand. Please testify about what you saw at the time of the murder when you were with the younger witnesses."
"Of course," Ms. Venia nodded. She adjusted her posture once more, making herself seem even more professional and put together in the process, something I hadn't even thought was possible given her regular demeanor.
"I think we already know where this is going," I murmured under my breath even though I also knew there was little we could do to stop it. I didn't know what we were going to do about her testimony though, and that was perhaps the most concerning part about all of this. I glanced over to Mr. Morix and Lily at that, silently praying that they had perhaps a bit more of a lead than I did.
"We'll just have to deal with whatever she sends in our direction then," Lily said simply. Mr. Morix nodded, and I looked back to Ms. Venia. I had an awful feeling about all of this, but there was nothing I could do to just undo all of this yet. This was going to be our first step to locking her away as the criminal she was seeming to be if our reasoning was correct, though only time would be able to see if we were right.
I could only hope that everything went well from here for Niamh's sake.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ With the Students ~
-"I just happened to be in the area when we realized that the victim had been killed."
-"I wound up staying with them after they had discovered the body so that we could ensure that the scene of the crime was not tampered with."
-"I thought the defendant was suspicious from the outset because she had found the body before everyone else."
-"Even now, nothing I have seen or heard has swayed me into believing that somebody else could be the culprit behind this case."
-"I suppose that matters little though. I was with some of the witnesses, and we waited together until the police arrived."
-"The defendant was already there by the time that we arrived in the room where the murder took place. That's all there is to it, and I think that shows just who the culprit was."
"You're certainly firm in believing that the defendant was the one who killed the victim," Prosecutor Lin frowned as she crossed her arms. "Do you know of anything else that could point to the defendant being behind this?"
Ms. Venia hesitated before shaking her head. "There have been no other people with such strong connections to the crime scene," she pointed out. "The defendant was discovered standing over the victim's body, and I feel like that should make it perfectly clear who was behind it all. She must have killed the victim only to be caught while she was still standing over the corpse."
"That's an interesting conclusion to come to..." Mr. Morix murmured. "I suppose we'll simply have to see how it holds up under the weight of the cross-examination. Your Honor, I would like to begin the testimony's examination at this time."
Judge Frost nodded, though he seemed a bit uncertain about this given the sudden shift of behavior on Mr. Morix's part. "Go ahead," Judge Frost instructed.
"What in the world is he trying to do?" I asked Lily softly, and she simply shook her head with confusion painted across her features. At least I wasn't the only one who had no idea what to do about all of this. That had to mean something, right?
I just hoped it wasn't anything bad.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ With the Students ~
-"I just happened to be in the area when we realized that the victim had been killed."
-"I wound up staying with them after they had discovered the body so that we could ensure that the scene of the crime was not tampered with."
-"I thought the defendant was suspicious from the outset because she had found the body before everyone else."
-"Even now, nothing I have seen or heard has swayed me into believing that somebody else could be the culprit behind this case."
-"I suppose that matters little though. I was with some of the witnesses, and we waited together until the police arrived."
-"The defendant was already there by the time that we arrived in the room where the murder took place. That's all there is to it, and I think that shows just who the culprit was."
"Objection!"
Mr. Morix was the one who had cried out the word when Ms. Venia's testimony abruptly came to a halt. He pressed his hands gently against the defense bench, something about his gaze unreadable all the while. "I don't think the defendant can be the culprit behind this case," he began. "And it all begins with the scene of the crime that you're using as a reason for thinking that she killed the victim."
"What about the scene of the crime isn't clear to you? She was found with the body, and that's suspicious as can be," Ms. Venia frowned as she once again adjusted her posture. "She should be the one who we find to be the most suspicious out of everyone involved with this case."
"I understand why you would think that she was behind the crime as far as her being found there is concerned, but at the same time, I cannot endorse it since there's one other fact that you're missing out on with the scene of the crime," Mr. Morix went on. "The murder motive is still a mystery to all of us if we assume that the defendant was the killer, and I think there's something in the room of the murder that directly disproves the defendant as being the culprit."
Ms. Venia's eyes went wide at that, but she did her best to keep herself composed. "What are you referring to specifically?" she asked, measuring each word carefully as she spoke it.
"I'm thinking of the computer that was found at the scene of the crime, of course," Mr. Morix replied. "Yesterday, we discussed how the computer had been tampered with at the time of the crime, but the details of the hacking were unknown when the trial ended. During the investigation period, we were able to uncover just what information was taken when the computer was hacked into, and I don't think it makes any sense for the defendant to have been behind it from that perspective."
Judge Frost opened his mouth to say something as he glanced off towards the prosecution. Prosecutor Lin nodded at that, looking down to a single page that stood casually between two of her fingers. "The computer at the scene of the crime was hacked by an unknown figure, and the information that was stolen... I find it highly unlikely that the defendant took it," she began.
"What reason would she have to try and steal a copy of the information about herself within the school's database?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke questioned with a shake of his head. "It doesn't make any sense at all."
"Wait... The information that was taken from the scene of the crime was about Niamh?!" I yelped to Mr. Morix. As soon as I spoke the words, I winced as the events of the day came flooding back through my head. In the chaos that had been left behind by learning the truth of the incident at the factory a few years ago, we had completely forgotten to speak to the detective team about everything that Detective Erikson had found when he was looking around the scene of the crime. That was what all of this was about, right? How did Mr. Morix know about it if that was the case?
Luckily for me, he seemed to be able to tell that was where my mind was going, and he nodded his confirmation from his place beside me. "I spoke with Sora and Ghastly about it yesterday. They had already investigated it by the time that we decided to stop for the day. The two of them found out that the culprit had been searching for information about their daughter, and they were understandably defensive about it," he said. "We agreed that it made little sense for Prosecutor Wood to want to get her hands on information that she would have already known all about. As long as the details were referring to only her, it wouldn't make any sense for her to hack into the school's systems."
"That certainly makes sense," I agreed with a small nod. I still wished Mr. Morix had brought it up with us first, though I suppose it made sense as to why he hadn't been able to. I brushed it off though, instead focusing on looking back to the courtroom. Ms. Venia was growing tense from her place behind the stand, though she was doing her best to not hide it.
"The information that was stolen from the school computer just so happened to be about the defendant?" Judge Frost asked. When he was met with a nod from Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, he hummed to himself. "I see... Interesting... I can't help but agree that the defendant wouldn't have had much of a reason to steal information that related to her specifically. Why would she need to do something like that?"
"The information would have still existed within the school's database because all of the files at Ashbrook are digital now. In other words, the one who hacked into the information likely needed a copy of it and did not know the information previously," Prosecutor Lin went on. "I feel like that's more than enough to absolve the defendant of guilt, at least in part. Somebody else must have hacked into the school's systems to try and learn more about her... But who could it have been?"
"You make it sound like you already know who could have been behind this, Prosecutor Lin," Lily frowned as she leaned over the defense bench. "You don't need to hold anything back in explaining it to the court, you know. In fact, I'm sure everyone would be more than happy to hear everything you have to say."
Prosecutor Lin smiled at that. "You're far too kind... But I would be happy to tell you everything I know," she agreed. "I have to wonder if perhaps someone else broke into the school because they were hoping to get their hands on the information about the defendant. That was the only information that showed any signs of being tampered with on the computer near the victim's body, leading me to believe that the culprit wanted to learn more about the defendant and nobody else."
"And she wouldn't have needed to do something like that," I agreed with a small nod. "If she really wanted to hear everything about her that the school had on record, then she could have just reached out to the headmaster. She used to go to school there, and he would probably be willing to share her file with her, especially given the delicate circumstances." I could tell that last comment was going to earn me a little bit of confusion from others in the courtroom, but I couldn't exactly bring myself to care. 'Delicate circumstances' was probably the best way anybody could define the incident that had taken place at the factory without actually giving it away, and I wasn't going to be the one who talked about it to the public. Ideally, nobody would ever do something like that.
"The defendant wouldn't have needed to resort to murder if she was hoping to get her hands on the information about herself," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke agreed. "However, there would have been other people who needed to do something like that... I don't know why they would have wanted something like that, but the defendant is the one person who wouldn't have needed to resort to murder at all."
"We could even ask the headmaster if we wanted to," Mr. Morix suggested. "If he was approached by the defendant asking if she could have the file, then we would know that she was searching for it. If he declined her, then perhaps the motive could hold up, but all we need to do is talk to him about it. I think we already know exactly where it's going to lead."
"You've done a lot of talking in circles today, you know," Ms. Venia sighed with a shake of her head. "Are you really so insistent on wasting everyone's time? We need the trial to end as soon as possible to prevent the school's reputation from suffering, but you're only making this harder on everyone involved. Is there any reason for you to drag everything out for any longer than you already have?"
"You may believe that the defendant was the culprit behind this case, Ms. Venia, but we know better than to think that," Lily told her firmly. "All of this means that the defendant wouldn't have had any motive to kill the victim, and by extension, it means that we should be searching elsewhere for the culprit. Somebody must have wanted to get their hands on that information badly enough to resort to murder in order to get it. Do you have any idea who could fit a description quite like that?"
"It was the victim's work as a secretary that seemed to end with her targeted," Judge Frost commented with a small nod. "If I had to guess, I would say that the culprit attacked the victim while she was leaving the computer, and afterward, they logged on in her name and began to poke around at the information found within the school's files."
"That's where the problem comes in," Mr. Morix commented with a shake of his head. "The defendant wouldn't have had a reason to do something like this, and most others at the school absolutely adored the teacher. Beyond that, the defendant was the only one of the students who didn't have an alibi for the time of the crime. That means somebody else must have been behind what happened that day."
"You're thinking what I am, aren't you?" Lily asked of me, and I nodded. We had all figured out exactly where this was going, and Ms. Venia seemed to know it too. She had previously been looking down at her nails, but the instant she realized that the tides were starting to shift against her, she glanced up slowly with a frown poisoning her features.
"You can't possibly be serious," Ms. Venia snarled, narrowing her eyes into a glare that could stab people on its own if she gave it the chance to do so. Her grip around her notebook immediately began to tighten with her rage. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"I am serious, and I know exactly what I'm talking about," Lily told her with a shake of her head. "Aubray Venia... The defense requests that you testify about the time of the crime once again. After all... Right now, you are our most likely suspect." She slammed her hands down on the defense bench, and the sound echoed throughout the courtroom mercilessly. "The defense believes that you killed Ursa Thompson!"
running off to class very quickly
-Digital