Von Karma scowled in annoyance. "Alright fine, let's get this over with…" she muttered before glaring at Furio. "Witness, state your name and occupation."
"The name's Furio Tigre, got it?" Furio snarled. "I own a restaurant a couple of miles away from here. The Roaring Tiger's what it's called."
The Judge perked up. "Oh, the Roaring Tiger? I've been there before. Your meals are quite delicious!"
Furio flashed a toothy grin. "Oh? Glad to see someone here's got good taste?"
"Why thank you," the Judge said. "My mouth always waters whenever I order the shrimp lo mein with vegetables. Oh, and the way your beef dumplings just explode in my mouth with flavor...why I must go back there for dinner once this trial is over!"
Furio chuckled. "Keep up with the nice words and youse might just get a discount-"
who-CRACK!
whp-CRACK!
"YEEEEOOOWWCH! / RRRRRRRRRRROOAAAAAARRRRR!" the Judge cried out in pain, while Furio let out an agonized roar that almost shattered every light in the courtroom.
"Can we please stop talking about food and put our focus back on the case!?" von Karma shouted angrily, waving her whip around. And besides, you two are making me hungry with all this food talk…
"Big Sis, can we go to Mr. Tigre's place after this?" Pearl asked, her stomach rumbling. "I'm already hungry…"
"Me, too, Pearl," Iris sighed, clutching her stomach. "Me too…"
"So, you said you have information that might finally clear up the issues of this case?" von Karma asked impatiently.
"That I do," Furio said. "It's been somethin' that's been on my chest for a while. Like what that broad defense attorney said-"
"Hey!" Iris shouted, but everyone ignored her.
"I was a thug workin' for the Cadaverinis before runnin' off with Viola," Furio sighed. "Not a day goes by without me regrettin' all the shit I've done at that time. I'm only grateful that Viola got me outta it…"
He glanced at Viola with a soft smile, causing her to blush and smile back.
"Yes, yes, how touching, but can we go back to the matter at hand?" von Karma asked rhetorically, all of her patience lost. "What do you have to do with this case, anyway? For that matter, what role does the Cadaverini family even serve?"
"What do you mean by that?" Iris asked.
"Aside from being the reason why the defendant ran off and started a new life, the Cadaverinis virtually had no role in this case," von Karma answered. "Tell me, Ms. Iris Hawthorne, have you run into any Cadaverinis during your investigation? Or have even gone to places that were territories of theirs, at least?"
"Um, no," Iris said. And thank goodness for it. I don't think Pearl and I would've survived dealing with them.
"Neither have I," von Karma said. "I've been thinking over it long and hard, and I've realized that the Cadaverinis serve no role in this case whatsoever!"
This struck up a chorus of murmurs in the gallery, prompting the Judge to silence them with a pound of his gavel.
"Order! Order! Order!" he bellowed before turning to von Karma. "Ms. von Karma, does this relate to your theory that Ms. Starr is the killer and not the defendant?"
"It's not a theory if it is fact, Your Honor," von Karma snapped. "And it makes for a good diversion too. With the defendant's true identity revealed, everyone was so wrapped up with how the Cadaverinis could be connected….when in reality, it was all Ms. Celeste Starr's plan to murder Will Powers for denying her a chance to regain her old fame."
"That's ridiculous!" Celeste protested. "How many times do I have to tell you that I didn't-!"
whp-CRACK!
"AAAaaarrrrgggghHHhH!"
"Who said you could speak!?" von Karma shouted haughtily. "Besides, it's like anything you could say will change this. It's clear you're the true culprit!"
"W-Wait, no-!" Penny stood up, about to protest.
whp-CRACK!
"AAaaiiieee!"
whp-CRACK!
"Does anyone else wish to object!?" von Karma dared, glaring at everyone around her as she brandished her whip.
"There's still my witness, Ms. von Karma," Iris pointed out...
whp-CRACK!
"Eek!"
...and squeaked as she narrowly dodged a vicious whip strike before turning to glare at von Karma. "Will you stop doing that?!"
"Not until you stop wasting my time, Ms. Iris Hawthorne!" von Karma shouted. "It's clear you're only prolonging the inevitable with that sham of a witness of yours!"
"Hey-!" Furio began, but Iris slammed her palms on her hands.
"Me? Wasting time? Ha!" Iris retorted. "Says the brat who's delaying the testimony by whipping people left and right! Are you trying to compensate for something with that stupid whip of yours!?"
"Now wait just a minute-!" Furio tried to say.
"How dare you, you insolent peasant! My whip is a cherished gift from my father, the God of Prosecutors himself!" von Karma shouted.
"Can't I-!"
"Your father-!" Iris began to retort.
"RRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!" Furio's rage-fueled roar echoed throughout the entire courtroom. The sound was so deafening that everyone in the court had to clasp their ears with their hands to prevent their eardrums from bursting. It was so loud that the lights of the courtroom burst from it!
Once the roar subsided (and a Bailiff had changed the lights), everyone in the court turned to an incredibly irritated Furio, who growled at all of them.
"I came here to this joint to tell youse what I gotta say!" he snarled. "So youse better listen up and let me do what I came here to do! GOT IT!?"
There was a tense moment of silence as Iris and von Karma glanced at each other...before turning to shoot daggers at Furio, who froze up at the glare of the two lawyers.
"H-hey now, ladies…" he smiled nervously, holding his arms up slightly for self-defense. "I was only tryin' to get yer focus back on the case…"
He trembled in absolute terror as Iris' eyes turned to a demonic white, while Franziska raised her whip high in a striking motion.
"Order! Order!" the Judge shouted. "Yes, please start your testimony, Mr. Tigre. I don't think I can stomach this any longer myself."
"Got it," Furio nodded before pondering what to say.
TESTIMONY
"Before I ran off with Viola, I was just a thug managin' a loan shark business for the Cadaverinis."
"All I did was make sure the people we gave loans to pay up."
"If they didn't pay by their deadlines, me and a couple of boys would come in and...sort it out with 'em."
"It was a tough job, and after years doin' it, I couldn't take it anymore."
"That's when I decided to run off with Viola."
Judge pondered for a moment. "An interesting testimony...but how does this relate to the current case?"
"My thoughts exactly, Your Honor," von Karma said. "It's best we just ignore Mr. Furio Tigre's testimony and move on to the final verdict."
"HOLD IT!" Iris shouted. "I'm certain that Mr. Tigre's testimony is connected to the case! Just please, let the defense prove it!"
"Hmm...very well then," the Judge said. "You may now cross-examine the witness, Ms. Hawthorne."
CROSS-EXAMINATION
"Before I ran off with Viola, I was just a thug managin' a loan shark business for the Cadaverinis."
"HOLD IT! A loan shark business, eh?"
Furio nodded. "Yep. Tender Lender was its name. When it comes to loans…"
"We win through compromise," Furio and Viola said in unison, chuckling when they did.
Von Karma raised a brow. "Tender Lender...yes, I've heard of it from one of my past cases. It was known for its foolishly high-interest rates. One of the cases I prosecuted was against a man who held the current manager of Tender Lender's daughter hostage in a desperate attempt to clear his loan.
"But I must ask, how is this loan shark business involved with the case?" von Karma asked.
"Well, it was in short notice, but when Mr. Tigre began helping us in this case," Iris began, "he gave us access to old records of debtors from Tender Lender."
Iris then took out a large stack of papers and handed them to the Judge.
The Judge scanned through the names and gasped, "Oh my...these all go from the 1900s to the early 2000s!"
"Indeed," Iris nodded. "Forgive me for saying this, but it was so lengthy that I didn't read it all until now."
"HOLD IT!" von Karma interrupted. "How on earth did you get that!? I highly doubt that the Cadaverinis or their goons would just hand those to you!?"
"She got 'em from me, actually," Furio interjected. "I kept 'em around in case the cops ever caught Viola or me. Figured we'd use it as leverage or somethin'..."
"Hmm…oh!" the Judge gasped at seeing one name in the paper. "Ms. Hawthorne, tell me if I'm wrong, but it seems that one of the people listed in this record is..Dime Nichols?"
Von Karma blinked and worriedly glanced at Penny, who seemed to be standing still as her body trembled and all the color on her face drained at the mention of that name.
"Dime Nichols-" Celeste's eyes widened in realization before turning to look at her best friend sympathetically. "Oh, Penny…"
Iris nodded. "I didn't notice it until now, but Nichols isn't exactly a common family name…"
"OBJECTION!" von Karma protested, sweating nervously. "T-this proves still nothing! Just because that name is on that list doesn't mean that Ms. Penny Nichols is the true culprit!"
"No, but this information does open a new door to the case," Iris retorted. "Mr. Tigre, please continue."
"All I did was make sure the people we gave loans to pay up."
"If they didn't pay by their deadlines, me and a couple of boys would come in and...sort it out with 'em."
"It was a tough job, and after years doin' it, I couldn't take it anymore."
"HOLD IT!" Iris hesitated for a moment. "By sorting it out with them, you don't mean…"
Viol frowned. "Don Tigre…?"
Furio dropped his head down in shame. "Sometimes...sometimes when people can't pay up, we give 'em another chance and rough 'em up with as a warning…"
. . .
Dime Nichols grunted in pain as stumbled and fell to the ground, his nose now the latest thing broke as he coughed up blood while clutching his chest, which had a few cracked ribs.
"Youse see what yer making us do here, Nichols!?" Furio growled as he loomed over Dime. "None of this wouldn't be happenin' if ya just paid yer debt!"
He then gave Dime another hard kick in the chest, breaking a few more ribs and causing the poor man to gasp for air as he can barely breathe.
"P-please…" Dime let out hoarsely. "I...I just need more...more…"
"Time!?" Furio finished, grabbing Dime by the collar of his bloodied shirt. "We've already given youse time! It's already been a fuckin' month and we're tired of waitin'! Now, yer goin' to cough up the cash or we just might ask that little brat of yers-!"
Furio's threats were suddenly cut as Dime thrust his head forward, headbutting the tiger man with enough force to break his nose!
Furio roared in pain, dropping Dime to the ground to clutch his broken, bleeding nose. It took a moment for him to process what had happened as Dime glared at him defiantly.
There was only a quick moment of silence before Furio realized what Dime had done...and then something in the tiger man had snapped.
The tiger man let out a cold bellow that was more chilling than any of his loudest roars. The two goons behind him stepped back in horror, too frightened to do anything as Tigre struck Dime blow after blow.
And another.
And another.
And another.
It kept going. On and on until Dime's blood-soaked Tigre's hands.
"DADDY!" came the cry of a young girl that shocked Tigre out of his trance. It didn't take long for him to realize what he had done...
. . .
The entire court collectively gasped at what Furio had said.
Viola was the most shocked, her hands trembling as she did her best to not cry. "Don Tigre...say it isn't so…"
Furio sighed, too ashamed to look at her in the eye. "I wish it wasn't, Viola...but I've had this buried in me for so long, eatin' at me piece by piece…"
"You…" Iris paused, not sure how to respond. "You...you did that…?"
"I didn't mean to," Furio said. "I just wanted to rough him up, honest."
"Rough him up…?" Penny whispered, her body trembling and her face contorting into an expression of pure rage as she glared at the tiger man.
"ROUGH HIM UP!?" Penny's shrill, anger-fueled voice boomed as she stood up and charged at Tigre, punching him in the gut and causing him to stagger before pulling him closer by the collars of his orange blazer. "YOU TORE MY DAD APART, YOU MONSTER!"
Everyone in the court can only look on as the Bailiffs rushed in and physically restrained Penny, who was struggling to break free so she could lunge at Furio.
"YOU KILLED HIM!" she cried out. "YOU KILLED HIM!"
Penny went on with her hateful cries until the Judge had to threaten her with contempt of court to get her to stop. Once she did, however, a tense silence began hanging in the air as everyone gawked at Furio Tigre, who could only take the judgmental eyes and look down upon himself in shame.
"Well...this...this has been enlightening," the Judge chuckled awkwardly. "I...I suppose this means we have to further investigate Mr. Tigre's claims."
Iris nodded. "I...I would have to agree, Your Honor…"
"OBJECTION!" von Karma shouted. "This is ridiculous!"
Iris groaned. "Are you serious right now…?"
"Of course I am, you vile peasant!" von Karma scowled, jabbing her finger at Iris accusingly. "Your witness' testimony is nothing but a waste of the court's and my time! Even if what he's saying is true, that doesn't give Penny any motive to kill Mr. Will Powers! If anything, she should've gone after the witness!"
Iris gritted her teeth. She does have a point...it is logical for her to have gone after Mr. Tigre instead...unless…
"What if Ms. Nichol's target wasn't Will Powers?" Iris questioned, causing von Karma to choke.
"What?!" the prosecutor shouted as the people in the gallery began to discuss amongst themselves.
"Order! Order!" the Judge shouted. "Ms. Hawthorne, whatever do you mean?"
"Furio Tigre was a goon working for the Cadaverini family at the time he committed Dime Nichols' murder," Iris began. "She and her father had been suffering from massive debt by the hands of the Cadaverinis via the Tender Lender. By proxy, this would make Ms. Nichols another one of the people they've victimized in the past."
She then paused to observe Penny, who was still scowling at Furio. "She's had to live with the fact that her father's murderers had gotten away with their crime scot-free, with the Steel Samurai show being the only thing that could comfort her.
"Then, when she landed a good job as a production assistant, where she can meet the man who played the Silver Samurai, it turned out that one of the Cadaverinis who murdered her father was living the high life as an actress."
Penny's expression softened somewhat as she turned to Viola, who was nervous at the attention she was getting from the court.
"She thought it was unfair," Iris continued. "How can someone who was part of the horrible Cadaverini family be playing such a high role like the Crystal Crusader Rose? How can someone so evil be friends with someone so sweet like her hero, Will Powers...the Steel Samurai?"
Penny cringed at that and looked down to her feet. As much as she hated to admit it, the defense attorney had been correct. That was exactly what she left when she found out Viola's true identity.
"That's when a thought came to her mind. This woman...this Cadaverini...will surely hurt Mr. Powers and the other people here. So why not get rid of her before that happens? Why not kill her before that happens?"
Penny's body began to shiver once again, this time with guilt rather than anger as tears began to well in her eyes.
"That's when Ms. Nichols devised her plan. The moment she snuck that letter into Ms. Viola's dressing room, she expected her to come into her trap. She got too excited, she got too impatient. She wanted to end the Cadaverini now. That's when the moment someone took the bait…"
. . .
Penny didn't hesitate as she let go of the rope and sent the headlight falling. If it meant finally getting rid of one of the Cadaverinis that took her father away from her. The moment she heard the sickening sound of metal breaking, she knew she had gotten her target.
Penny rushed back to the ground floor, genuinely giddy that she got rid of that vile Cadaverini. But the moment she got down to see her handiwork, her look of joy turned to an expression of pure horror at seeing Will Powers' wide eyes as his body lied dead on the concrete floor, his skull crushed by the headlight.
. . .
Penny sniffled, her heart shattering from the guilt of her actions as Iris recounted it all. She was right. The lawyer was right about all of it…
"HOLD IT!" von Karma protested, sweating nervously. "E-even if what you said was true, there's no conclusive proof that Ms. Penny Nichols' truly did it! We don't even have the murder weapon in our possession!"
"That's because I hid it," Penny confessed hoarsely.
Von Karma's face paled. "What…?!"
"I...I hid it," Penny repeated, sniffling. "I-I didn't want to get c-c-caught, so I...I u-used my job as p-production assistant to…to…"
It was then Penny released herself from the Bailiffs' hold and knelt on her knees, sobbing profusely. "I-It wasn't s-supposed to be t-this w-way…!" she cried, her words becoming unintelligible as she went on. "I-I thought I was h-h-help-p-i-ing...!"
"Oh, Penny…" Celeste looked at her best friend in pity, resisting the urge to cry with her as well.
Viola sat down and did her best to hide her face as she too was crying as a result of Penny's tearful confession.
Tigre frowned as he stared at the poor girl's breakdown. It was his fault. It was his fault that this was all happening, and somewhere deep down, he knew he had to face the consequences of it all.
"When Ms. Nichols confessed to being the killer, you dismissed it initially, Ms. von Karma," Iris said, crossing her arms. "But now that I've presented all the evidence to you, do you still dismiss it now?"
"I...I..." von Karma's eye twitched, wanting so hard to deny the truth and continue to protest...but she couldn't. "Graaaaah!"
whp-CRACK!
Iris barely flinched as the whip struck at her side, only narrowly hitting her.
"Face it, Ms. von Karma," Iris said stoically. "You've lost again..."
"This is...this is...!" von Karma then let out a disgruntled shouted. "This is not over, Ms. Iris Hawthorne! Mark my words, our feud has only just begun!"
With a huff, the pompous prosecutor stormed off, leaving a stunned courtroom in her wake.
After a moment, the Judge cleared his throat and began to speak. "W-Well...this had been quite the case."
He then grabbed his gavel and announced, "While I am ready to give out my verdict, I must say that we will have to hold another trial for Mr. Tigre due to his confession. While it has brought light into the matter of this case, he must face the consequences of his actions."
Furio solemnly nodded. "I can live with that..."
"Don't worry about it," Iris said, flashing Tigre a smile. "I'll represent you in court."
Furio blinked in shock. "Y-you'd really...after all I did...?"
"It's clear you regretted it, Mr. Tigre," Iris said. "You might not think of yourself as a good person..."
"But...I..." Furio's lips quivered as he didn't know how to respond. "I don't deserve it..."
"Yes, you do, Don Tigre..." Viola said, stepping forward. "What you did to Penny's father was horrible, I will say that..."
"Yeah..." Furio replied, dropping his head shamefully.
"But...it's clear you regret it..." Viola added, causing Furio to perk up at her. "You might not think of yourself as a good person, Don Tigre..." she paused to give him the most comforting smile she can make, "but it's clear you're trying to be..."
There were no words for Tigre to say as he took in Viola's words. As the Bailiffs began to escort Furio out of the courtroom, he gave Iris and Viola a thankful smirk before leaving. Once he was gone, the Judge then turned to face Penny.
"And as for you, Ms. Nichols," the Judge said in a softer tone. "While what happened to you is tragic, what you did was still a crime. Even if you didn't intend to kill the victim, you still intended to murder. As such, you must be held accountable for your actions."
Penny didn't respond, still overwhelmed by her guilt, but everyone knew she accepted those terms. "Just...just please take me away..." she requested through her tears.
"P-Penny, for what it's worth..." Viola hesitated for a moment before looking at Penny in the eye. "I-I'm sorry for what my family did to you...you have every right to be mad at them...and me...for what happened to your father..."
Penny paused to stare at the woman she once saw as a monster and sighed. "I'm sorry too...I shouldn't have judged you for your past..."
"I promise, I'll do what I can to help you through this..." Viola promised.
"I appreciate it...but I don't deserve it," Penny said in resignation as she turned away from Viola and began heading to the exit. Before leaving, however, she took a glance at Celeste. She flashed a small apologetic smile to her dear best friend before exiting from the courtroom completely.
The Judge sighed. "With all of that settled, the court finds the defendant, Viola Cadaverini..."
NOT GUILTY!
. . .
July 8, 3:30 PM
District Court, Defendant Lobby No. 3
The case was over. They had won, yet Iris and Pearl didn't feel like celebrating as they sat beside Viola and consoled the poor girl, who was weeping over everything that had happened.
"I am so sorry for all that's happened, Ms. Viola," Iris said gently.
"I'm sure we'll help Mr. Tigre out soon!" Pearl tried to assure her.
After a short while, Viola stopped weeping and tried to regain her composure. Seeing her face was drenched in tears, Viola politely accepted Iris's offer of a handkerchief and wiped her face with it.
"I appreciate your concern, I really do...it's just..." she sniffed. "I did all of this...running away...starting a new life...just to get away from my family...to get away from all the bad things they did...
"Now my identity's out, Penny and Don Tigre are locked up, and I..." Viola sighed. "I might as well resign from acting now...my time as Crystal Crusader Rose is over..."
"Hey, don't say that!" Pearl said. "We proved you didn't do it!"
"But people know that the heroine they let their children watch is a Cadaverini..." Viola pointed out solemnly. "The studio probably just fire me to save face...not that I blame them..."
Pearl huffed. "But that's not fair!"
"Nothing in life is always fair, Pearl," Iris said. "People will tend to judge due to what they see and hear, often without even looking at it. It's what happened with Ms. Nichols."
"But...but...!" Pearl tried to think of something to say. Was this really how this case would end? Was this really how Ms. Viola would go down!?
"But...it doesn't mean we can just stand by and let that unfairness win," Iris said. "Ms. Viola, if you wish, I can serve as your lawyer in regards to your acting career. Should anyone try to remove you from your job simply for your past life...well..."
She gave Viola a determined smiled. "They'll have to answer to me."
"And me!" Pearl shouted, punching the air in excitement.
"You'll really do that...!?" Viola asked, astonished by Iris' words.
"Of course," Iris answered. "No matter what people say, we both know you're innocent, and as your lawyers, we vow to prove it to everyone."
Viola was at a loss for words towards Iris's statement. All she could do was chuckle and hug the lawyer gratefully for everything she had done.
"Thank you...thank you so much...!"
Author's Note: And now Case 3 is officially done! I'm so sorry for this to have taken so long. I do apologize for it, my college life has been incredibly harrowing. I promise you though that this fic isn't dead and I intend to see it completed. I thankyou you all for your patience and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please stay tuned for the next case, and please let me know your thoughts on this case in the reviews. That said, I hope you enjoy this case and I wish you all a good day :)