October 24
Defendant Lobby No. 6
9:25 AM
Lily Shield
When the next morning came, everyone was understandably drained. The investigation hadn't taken all day, but it still wore on all of us heavily, and it had taken a shocking amount of effort for me to even get out of bed. I rubbed at my eyes as I shuffled into the defendant's lobby, desperate to find something that would force me to stay upright. Given the circumstances, I just wanted to wait it all out even though I knew that wasn't an option no matter how much I wished it was.
There were still no updates on Prosecutor Wood. She had been missing for more than a day now, and we had no idea what could have possibly happened to her. She had to be out there somewhere, I was sure, but we didn't know where to start when it came to looking. The police were on the case-primarily because the chief prosecutor was breathing down their necks about it-but they hadn't found anything yet. I could feel the intensity that was going to come from this trial already, and Prosecutor Wood was only a small piece of that. I knew we were going to have to unravel the truth of where she had gone and why she had disappeared. I didn't know if we would be ready for it, but it wasn't as if we had much of a choice in the matter now.
As soon as Pieter arrived in the lobby, Victoria sat down on the couch and patted the seat beside her. Pieter smiled gently as he practically collapsed onto the cushions, no doubt welcoming the softness even if it wasn't as much as he would have liked. The detention center beds had always been horrendously uncomfortable, and I had come to know that all too well when I was first arrested. He was in search of any sort of break he could get his hands on, and Victoria was the best person for him to turn to.
"How are you feeling?" Victoria asked, though I could tell she was holding herself back from asking at least a dozen other questions. As fussy and concerned as she was, she didn't want to do anything that could have frightened him off. She cared about him too much for that, and she wanted to make sure he knew it.
"About as well as I can feel knowing what's coming," Pieter admitted with a loose smile that I knew was far from being real. There was no way he could have been honest about this given the circumstances. "Have there been any big updates about the case I should be aware of before we go in there?"
"No, I'm afraid not," Deirdre sighed with a shake of her head. "We're still trying to work out where Prosecutor Wood went off to. I hear the police are putting everything they have to figuring it out, but the effort is going slower than they would have liked. In the meantime, all we can do is press on with the trial."
"I can't even begin to imagine how Sora must be feeling right now," Pieter murmured. "This is... It's terrible. To have your child stolen away by assassins, especially those that you know want her dead, I... I don't even know where to start."
"She's probably going to be here today," Yuri chimed in. "I can't imagine she would want to miss out on something like this. As long as she can stay up to date on the information as it's coming in, she's probably going to be there to watch everything that's going on."
"Yeah... I just wish I knew how to make this simpler," Pieter confessed. "I... I"m afraid for her, honestly. I'm absolutely terrified."
"Do you think the Emsthorpe assassins are going to show their faces?" Victoria asked, though I could tell that she was questioning it more for Pieter's sake than anything else. She wanted anything that would help him to feel better regardless of how little it soothed her nerves. At the very least, she wanted to be able to help him out so that he could know what he was supposed to be preparing himself for.
"I feel like they have to be involved with this somehow, but... We're still unaware of how it all ties in," Yuri sighed. "Then there's the matter of that strange man we ran into, and that's another question entirely. I was thinking about it, and I have to wonder if maybe he was the one who sent out the phone calls to Deirdre and Pieter."
"A man?" Pieter echoed, his eyebrows rising with the question. "What exactly happened? I feel like this qualifies as a large update to the investigation like what I asked for earlier."
"Sorry. We forgot to mention it," I told him with a loose, sideways grin. "I'm not entirely sure what to do about it anyway. We don't know all that much about him. We didn't even catch his name before he ran off. He just told us that we had to be careful with what happened in this trial."
"If he was the one who left the phone calls, then I think we should put as much energy as possible to tracking him down," Victoria declared. "I mean, I don't know how we're going to do that when it feels like there's so much at stake here, but... We have to at least put in the effort. He's out there somewhere, and if we can find him and force him to talk to us, then everything will be a little bit better, I think."
I nodded my agreement. "Of course, that involves us actually figuring out a way to get in contact with him, and he ran off so quickly after speaking with us that we could barely describe him to anyone who asked," I frowned. "I guess we can try to bring him up during the trial and see if anyone recognizes him. I'm sure at least someone must have seen him when he was leaving the building yesterday, and that might be able to point us in the right direction."
"What I want to know is how he could have known what was going on if he really was the one who sent the call out," Pieter said. "I don't know if he was the one responsible for it since I wasn't there and wouldn't have been able to figure it out even if I was because of the voice modifier. If he was, then the fact remains that he knew there was something going on when the crime was taking place. He knew the building was a hazard, and he told me about it."
"That would make him some sort of accomplice," Deirdre agreed. "Though we can't say for sure where he ties in with all of this. We don't have enough information from anyone no matter how we look at it. Chrysalis doesn't know enough to point us in the right direction since she was unconscious for most of the night. The chief prosecutor had already left the building by the time anyone realized a murder had taken place at all. Prosecutor Wood has been gone ever since that night. The only people who might be able to fill in the gaps for us have been lacking in crucial information from the start."
"And yet, we're going ahead with the trial anyways," Yuri declared, throwing her hands up dramatically. "I guess that's the state of our legal system. It shouldn't surprise me that much since it's been like that for ages, but you know how it is."
"We're going to do our best to find the truth for the sake of everyone involved," Victoria said, though the smile on her face told me that she was trying to lie to herself more than anyone else. "Though I guess that's going to be a bit difficult because we don't even know who the victim is yet. How are we supposed to find out who's responsible for all of this when we don't even know the victim? That makes it much harder to find a motive."
"That's true, but we're going to have to push through it anyway," I pointed out. I took in a careful breath before sighing. "We're going to have to head into the courtroom soon, so we had better be ready for it."
"I'm about as ready as I can be," Pieter reiterated. "It's not that prepared, but we're going to have to figure it out. You know that I didn't do this, and I'm trusting you to be able to prove it."
"You can count on us. We haven't failed anyone yet," Deirdre assured him with a smile. "I know Chrysalis isn't going to let anything happen to you either. If she has to get up there on the stand to testify, then she's going to make sure it's in your favor. You know how she is."
That was enough to earn a small laugh from Pieter, though anyone could see that it was strained as could be. "Yeah... I do," he murmured. Worry crinkled at the corners of his eyes, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. If there really were assassins responsible for all of this, then he was afraid they were going to target his sister. After all, that would make an awful lot of sense, as much as we hated to admit it. Even if Oracle was on hiatus for a while before this trial, there were still a lot of people out there with longer memories than that who still had it out for the spy. If they had the chance, who knew what they would do?
"We're going to head on inside the courtroom," Victoria suddenly said when she noticed just how worried Pieter was. "We'll see you in there, okay?" Before anyone had the chance to protest, she started to escort Pieter inside, though I knew this for what it really was. She was hoping to get a few moments alone with him before the trial started. She was worried and struggling to hide it, and this was just the beginning of it all. She was trying her best to do what she could for his sake, but there was only so much pressure she could take before she started to unravel too.
As soon as Victoria was gone, I looked back to the other two. We had told Victoria the day before about what Judge Diaphan said regarding the identity of Oracle. We had also decided at the time that it would be for the best to keep it a secret from Pieter for a short while longer just so we didn't add any extra stress to his life. He was dealing with enough as it was while being on trial for murder, and realizing that someone outside of Oracle's inner circle knew the truth about our organization was only going to make things worse for him. It wouldn't hurt him if we kept quiet about it, and so, we didn't say a word of the truth.
"Well... I guess we still have a job to do, huh?" Yuri asked with a nervous smile. "We should go in there and see what we can learn. I'm not exactly looking forward to this, but as long as we don't have a choice, we might as well do our best to make the most of it."
"Maybe we'll get lucky," I supplied. "Perhaps the police will have figured out who the victim is by now. I'm not exactly holding my breath, but if we can hear whose death is at the center of all of this, then that should make it easier for us to calculate a motive and then a line to the true criminal."
"It might not matter in the end anyway," Deirdre frowned. "If our assumptions prove true, then that means the criminals responsible for this have something to do with the Emsthorpe assassins. The forged notes, the crime scene being the headquarters of the Council of Six, the disappearance of someone they despise... It all adds up too much. Even if we don't know who the victim is, it might not matter in the long run."
"You mean that they're going to say that he did this because he was trying to stop an assassin," Yuri said, her expression going dark and solemn. Deirdre nodded her confirmation, and Yuri began to toy with the edges of her hair nervously. "I really wish I could say something to dispute that, but I think we both know that's not going to be the case. I mean, it makes sense as a motive. Beyond that, it makes sense for why the victim died, not just the false idea that the police are giving of why Pieter supposedly did it."
"It does make sense, and that's perhaps the worst part of it," I agreed with a hefty sigh. "I don't know what to think of all of this, but we're going to have to figure it out no matter what. The fact of the matter is that Pieter is in trouble right now, and we need to find a way to show that he wasn't responsible for this crime. There's bound to be proof of it somewhere."
"We should go on and enter the courtroom with that in mind," Deirdre suggested. "I don't want to keep Victoria waiting for too long, and if we take too much time, then they're going to realize that something is up. I don't want Pieter to start asking questions. If anyone is going to cave and tell him the truth behind what we heard from Judge Diaphan, it would be her, and I'm not going to chance that."
I winced, hating that she had a point. Victoria cared for Pieter a lot, but in situations like this, it seemed like a hindrance in more ways than one. All we could do was make sure he didn't hear about it for the sake of his mental health. He could get mad at us after the case ended and we had no other issues on our shoulders. As long as the Emsthorpe assassins were out there though, we had to tread carefully.
"Let's get to it then," I said instead of all that, pressing a smile across my lips and pretending I knew what I was doing. We'd have to figure this out one way or another... No matter how tough it got. Pieter was counting on us, and so was everyone else involved with this case. I couldn't let them down now.
October 24
Courtroom No. 6
10:00 AM
Deirdre Brigit
When we arrived in the courtroom, everyone else was already in position. Victoria had left Pieter's side and was standing behind the defense bench. She tapped anxiously at the wood with one finger, and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she felt guilty about not being able to tell Pieter what was really going on with the investigation the day before.
It didn't take long to figure out why. Judge Diaphan was the one presiding over this case, and she sat at the apex of the courtroom with her gavel in one hand. Everything about her was the image of prestige and maturity, and she didn't even bother to look our way. She didn't have anything to say to us now that we were in the courtroom, and that meant she was choosing to stay away from the Oracle subject too. I didn't know how I felt about her knowing when she hadn't been directly told, but at least she seemed to be keeping the secret. That had to count for something.
Judge Diaphan remained poised as she raised her gavel and brought it down. "Court is now in session for the trial of Pieter Fury," she announced. "Are the defense and prosecution ready?"
"The prosecution is ready," Vito said from across the courtroom. As was to be expected, Prosecutor Shield stood on one side of him while Prosecutor Umber was on the other.
"The defense is also ready," I followed up with a small smile. I was sure that just about everyone in the courtroom knew that I was lying with my smile, but I was fine with that. As long as it got the job done, who was I to complain?
"Understood," Judge Diaphan declared, moving right along with the trial without missing a beat. "As I'm sure everyone here is aware, the events of this trial must remain a closely guarded secret. There are many people who wish to understand what is happening, but I find it to be for the best if we keep it hidden. The crime scene is the headquarters of the Council of Six, and due to the nature of the building, we must keep the details of this case to ourselves."
I glanced up to the rest of the courtroom and realized that she was right when she said that the trial was going to be a secret. There weren't many people in the gallery, but I could see the entire Wood family. They had found the time to pull away from their regular business to come and see what happened. They were probably using this as their source of information when it came to what had happened to Prosecutor Wood. After all, this was the best way for them to stay in the loop even though there was no guarantee that it would lead anywhere.
The only other people who stuck out to me as being in the gallery were a few prosecutors I had come to know over the years-specifically Prosecutor Lin, Prosecutor Burke, Prosecutor Daegana, and Anton, all of them clustered around Chief Prosecutor Bespoke-and the rest of the members of the agency. The rest of the gallery was about as barren as it got with only a few people breaking through the trend of emptiness. I could only assume that the other parties involved were there because they were affiliated with the Council of Six even if they hadn't been there for the crime itself.
"With all of that in mind," Judge Diaphan went on, and I turned my attention back in her direction, "I would like to ask the prosecution to give its opening statement as soon as possible so we can move on with the trial."
Vito reached for a piece of paper before he started to read off it, a frown constantly stretched across his features. "The crime took place in the headquarters for the Council of Six, a high-ranking group of judges," Vito began. "The victim is a bit of a mystery to us, and we can't say for sure why she died or who could have possibly wanted her to die in the first place. The fact of the matter though is that she wound up being killed in the headquarters long after everyone else had already left for the day."
"The victim was stabbed through the back and chest by a long, thin bladed weapon," Prosecutor Umber went on. "We can't say for sure what the weapon was since we haven't yet found it after all this time. However, the victim died instantly from this single stab since it pierced through her heart."
"The crime took place in the middle of the night, but there were still a few people in the building," Prosecutor Shield said. "Three people received letters asking that they come to the scene of the crime. By the time morning arrived, one of them had left, another had fallen unconscious, and the last was gone entirely. The only person who seemed to have been able to commit the crime is the defendant, who was on his feet and with the body when the police arrived to investigate the scene."
"And it is for that reason that he is being suspected in this case," Judge Diaphan concluded with a light nod. "Prosecution, please call the first witness to the stand to give us the basic details of the case."
Vito nodded his agreement. "Of course."
Soon afterward, Detective Erikson appeared at the witness stand, and I could tell by the dark circles under his eyes that he hadn't gotten much of a break since this case began. He rubbed at his eyes sleepily, and I looked away somewhat guiltily. It wasn't as if I could have prevented his exhaustion from getting this bad, but I still wished I had been able to help in some way or another.
"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Prosecutor Shield instructed.
"My name is Toby Erikson. I'm a homicide detective and one of the lead investigators on this case," Detective Erikson replied.
"And you can share a few more details with the court about the crime at hand," Prosecutor Umber concluded.
"That I can," Detective Erikson confirmed with a nod. "Of course, you already explained much of what we know when you went over the opening statement. Many details of the case are still a mystery to us because we lack witness testimony and information about the victim."
"Then go ahead, witness," Judge Diaphan instructed, and Detective Erikson nodded once again.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ Details Still Unknown ~
-"The victim was killed at some point late in the night, after midnight and long before the sun came up. We cannot say for sure why she died since..."
-"...Her identity is a complete mystery to us. We have next to no information that has been able to point us in the direction of who she really is. We can't find a motive without knowing her name."
-"We spoke with the two witnesses who may have been able to provide us with details about the case, and neither one of them remembers anything about the murder specifically."
-"It seems as if the criminal was in and out of the building before anyone could notice, and with how big the headquarters are, that's certainly possible."
-"All the people who were in the building at the time claimed to have been called there by someone else, whether it be via letter or phone call."
-"While we have a physical letter as proof for each of the other witnesses, we cannot confirm the contents of the phone call the defendant received, leaving his presence as our greatest mystery."
-"If we could find solid proof of the phone call that called him to the crime scene, then we would have to reconsider the case."
"The phone call's contents being undetermined are the reason for the suspicion against the defendant then?" Judge Diaphan questioned.
"That's where it started, at the very least," Detective Erikson replied. "On top of that, the defendant was at the scene of the crime when it was discovered, and that hardly paints a nice picture in his favor. It all seems as if he was there to kill the victim."
"But that doesn't make sense, does it?" Lily chimed in. "We don't know what happened with the weapon, and he wouldn't have been able to get rid of it if he was found there with the body. I thought everyone already determined that the weapon responsible for the victim's death wasn't the blade the defendant carried around."
"That's true... Still, we have so few suspects that the first officers to arrive at the scene thought that arresting him was the only option we had," Detective Erikson said with a wince. "Without anyone else to point the finger at, he was the only one we could suspect."
"They just don't realize that we have the perfect way of poking holes in their case," Yuri smirked. "If we can just get through to say that we know something about the phone calls, then everything is going to start crumbling for them. That's the way it should be, if you ask me."
"Then let's get right to the cross-examination," Victoria murmured, her eyes narrowing at the center of the courtroom. "The sooner we can get all of this over with, the better off we'll all be."
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ Details Still Unknown ~
-"The victim was killed at some point late in the night, after midnight and long before the sun came up. We cannot say for sure why she died since..."
-"...Her identity is a complete mystery to us. We have next to no information that has been able to point us in the direction of who she really is. We can't find a motive without knowing her name."
-"We spoke with the two witnesses who may have been able to provide us with details about the case, and neither one of them remembers anything about the murder specifically."
-"It seems as if the criminal was in and out of the building before anyone could notice, and with how big the headquarters are, that's certainly possible."
-"All the people who were in the building at the time claimed to have been called there by someone else, whether it be via letter or phone call."
-"While we have a physical letter as proof for each of the other witnesses, we cannot confirm the contents of the phone call the defendant received, leaving his presence as our greatest mystery."
-"If we could find solid proof of the phone call that called him to the crime scene, then we would have to reconsider the case."
"Objection!"
"We may be able to provide you all with the evidence you're looking for regarding the phone call," Lily announced, and everyone turned their attention to her with curiosity in their eyes. "Yesterday, we received a phone call at the agency from an unknown party asking us to come to the scene of the crime. We couldn't say for sure who it was on account of them using a voice modifier to hide their true identity, but they asked us to investigate the case at hand."
"That was how you learned about the case," Prosecutor Shield murmured with a frown. "And you mean to imply that the one who called your agency was the same person who asked the defendant to go and investigate the scene of the crime when the murder took place."
I nodded. "When we spoke with our client, he claimed that he had been told that someone he cared for was in danger at the Council of Six headquarters. Of course he would want to investigate and see what was going on," I said next. "That was how he was led to the scene of the crime. It was all thanks to the person on the other end of the phone call. I think we can see where this is going."
"You mean to accuse this unknown party of being the reason for all of this," Judge Diaphan frowned. "Or, at the very least, you want to use this as proof that the phone calls happened. After all, if you could confirm it this way, then you would be able to lend credibility to the defendant's testimony."
"Precisely," Victoria confirmed. "How you all choose to take it from here is your decision, but it seems plain to me that someone really did want to reveal something crucial to the defendant on the night of the murder. That was how he heard about the crime, and that's the reason for all of this as well."
"Do you have any evidence of what happened with this mystery phone call?" Prosecutor Umber asked. "It would be easy for you to lie about all of this for the sake of providing credibility to his words, and we can't exactly let that slide as long as there's a chance you're fabricating the truth."
"We can offer the phone records of our agency as proof that someone called us when we claim," I replied. "I'm sure you would be able to find that the number that called us was the same as the one that phoned the defendant on the night of the murder."
"Or, at the very least, the fact that it's a private number would prove it... I somehow doubt the person responsible for all of this would have just let us see their phone number if they really wanted to stay anonymous," Victoria amended. "No matter what, I feel like our point still stands. We know that someone called us to tell us about the crime after it happened, and we can use that as a basis to show that there was a person who could have called the defendant."
"I suppose we'll have to send someone out to figure out if you're telling the truth then," Prosecutor Umber murmured. "In the meantime, I'm sure there's something else we can address when it comes to this trial."
"We have a witness to hear from aside from just the detective presiding over this case... Is that correct?" Judge Diaphan questioned.
"It is true," Vito confirmed. "She doesn't seem all that confident that she's going to be able to help us out, but it wouldn't hurt for us to at least try to hear what she has to say about it."
"Of course. Please call your witness at this time," Judge Diaphan nodded. I could tell by the slight shift of her posture that she knew exactly where this was headed. She wasn't going to let up the truth of the gambit though-at least I didn't think she was-and I was going to consider that a victory for now. Only time would be able to tell for sure if she actually wanted to help us.
While I was distracted with thinking about what Judge Diaphan was thinking, Detective Erikson stepped down from the witness stand to make room for Chrysalis. I could only assume that he was heading out to investigate the phone records from both Pieter's cell phone and the agency's general number. That would prove if this was real or not, and I could only hope it went in our favor. It would have been best if the number was actually confirmed, but even if it was just an anonymous call, that would still help us in some way.
Meanwhile, Vito cleared his throat from his place across the courtroom, and he slammed a closed fist against the bench before him. "The prosecution summons its next witness to the stand!"
sorry about this being late, holidays got busy, this is the last saturday update, it's back to thursday only this week
-Digital