March 12
Courtroom No. 1
10:25 AM
Cotoli Morix
I watched as Polly shuffled her way up to the witness stand. To put it simply, she looked miserable. I couldn't help but bite my lip unhappily at seeing her in such a state. She appeared as if she hadn't slept in days, though I knew that wasn't the case. Her hair was disheveled, and there was a certain glare in her eyes that I hadn't seen in quite some time. Polly yawned as she finally found her place behind the stand. She glanced around the courtroom before leaning forward against the witness stand, shutting her eyes against the pressing eyes of everyone in the area.
"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Judge Frost declared with a firm nod once Polly was settled in.
Polly managed to pull herself back to her full height somehow, though I could tell that it was the last thing she wanted to do in that moment. She refused to meet anyone's eyes, instead staring down at the ground as she spoke. "Polly Burke. Prosecutor," she said bluntly. She didn't bother to mince words, too tired and upset to bother drawing out her introduction any longer than it needed to be.
I stole a brief glance over to the prosecutor's bench to see how Anton was holding up. He looked absolutely miserable. He couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to stare at her or look anywhere but her slouched form. It was likely reassuring to him to see that she was alive and alright, but he wasn't used to seeing her show such weakness. Polly didn't even bother putting on a show of being alright. What would be the point? It would take too much of what little energy she still had remaining after the attack.
"You were at the defendant's house the day of the crime, yes?" Prosecutor Shield asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Polly nodded. "I was," she said simply.
Prosecutor Shield hesitated for a moment, as if expecting her to say more on the matter, but when she didn't, he continued the conversation. "I am under the impression that you got into an argument with the defendant while you were there. You were discussing something serious, but you were unable to finish your conversation after you had this large argument. Is this correct?" he questioned.
"Yeah," Polly replied. "I take it that you'll want to hear about what we wound up talking about, right?"
"If you could tell us, that would be great," I told her. I shot her a gentle smile with hopes that it would calm her down at least slightly. She clearly wasn't in a great mood, and testifying was not going to help that. If I could do a little bit to ease her burden, then that was fine with me. Anything to help her out was a step in the right direction after all that she had been through over the course of the past few days.
Polly nodded slowly. "Well, I went over there because I had questions about a previous head of Interpol," she answered.
"Please explain what you mean by that," Prosecutor Shield instructed with a light frown.
"Interpol has gone through three leaders within the past twenty years. First, there was a man named Cade Green. He was the leader of the group for quite some time, and his leadership was strong. However, his true name was exposed, and he wound up having to leave behind the company to ensure that no harm came to his family. He didn't just leave the company though. He disappeared off the face of the planet completely," Polly explained. "I suppose that I've always been curious about cases like this, and I decided to investigate it on the side. I wound up running into Collack Strann's name during my investigation, and I went to see him to talk about what he potentially knew about Cade Green."
Prosecutor Shield nodded slowly. "I see... Was there anything else that you two discussed while you were there?" he asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes. We talked about one other important subject, that being the one and only Oracle of the Law," Polly told him. She let out a heavy sigh at saying the name, shutting her eyes and rubbing at her temple as if the mere existence of Oracle gave her a headache.
It sure didn't give the viewers in the gallery a headache. They all burst into chatter, whispering to each other about what this could possibly mean. I did my best to block out the noise, instead glancing around the courtroom at the key figures that could be bothered by such a subject coming up.
First, I looked to Chrysalis. On the outside, it looked as if she didn't care that this subject had come out, and all she did was stare at Polly. I could tell that this was all a mask she was keeping up to make sure that nobody found her behavior odd, but I thought she was hiding it rather well.
Next, there was Mr. Strann. He didn't seem to care, though there was a small frown on his face. He didn't have any notable expression on his face though, so I chose to ignore him for the most part. I moved on to the next person who required my attention.
I gazed at the prosecution after my examination of Mr. Strann was finished. Prosecutor Shield had a look of shock on his face, but he didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest by the subject coming up. He clearly wasn't aware that his younger sister was part of the Oracle project, so it didn't get on his nerves in the slightest.
Anton was rubbing his hands together nervously, not liking the idea of the Oracle project as far as I could tell. He didn't meet anyone's gaze, instead choosing to have a staring contest with the wood on the bench before him. I sent him my silent sympathy, hoping he could understand it despite the distance between us.
My thoughts were disrupted when Judge Frost's gavel slammed down onto the podium. The chatter in the courtroom slowly came to a halt. "Order!" he exclaimed fiercely.
All attention shifted back to Polly at this declaration. "Yeah. He thought that I knew something about Oracle. That's the simple way of explaining it, at the very least," she said with a small shrug. "As for if that's actually the case... It isn't. Why would I be involved with somebody like that? I prefer to think of myself as an upstanding citizen who wouldn't associate with a spy, but that's just me. Maybe that's why I got so upset when Mr. Strann started accusing me of being involved without any evidence."
I frowned, looking over to Chrysalis. "We're not talking to him about the Oracle of the Law once this is over," she hissed to me, rolling her eyes in the direction of our client. I couldn't help but agree, and I gave her a ghost of a nod before turning back to Polly.
"I can certainly understand why a blind accusation like that would get under your skin," Prosecutor Shield said with a nod. "I assume that this is when the argument between you two started. After he accused you of being involved with the Oracle of the Law, you began to fight, and if I had to guess, it led up to you being attacked, yes?"
"It did, as a matter of fact," Polly answered with a sigh and a shake of her head. "I assume that you'll be wanting to hear about what happened during our argument, right?"
"Yes. The court would like to hear all that you remember from the time of the fight," Prosecutor Shield confirmed. "The prosecution asserts that the argument was the motive for the crime. When the two began to fight, the defendant lashed out violently and attacked the victim, prompting her to fall unconscious."
"I suppose that this does make sense," Chrysalis murmured. "I somehow get the feeling that Mr. Strann is not the best person when it comes to social interaction. However, our job here is to find the truth, and we aren't going to let this case get in the way of that goal. For the sake of Polly, we have to figure out who actually attacked her."
I nodded. "I feel the same. For now, let's listen to what she has to say on the matter. This will probably be the best way for us to learn more about the case. Prosecutor Shield isn't going to want to trust the testimony of Mr. Strann since he's the suspect, so we'll just have to rely on what she has to say," I said.
"Please begin your testimony now," Judge Frost instructed, looking down to Polly.
"Alright," Polly replied. She took in a deep breath before letting it out and starting her testimony properly.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ Our Argument ~
-"I started off our conversation by asking him more about the former leader of Interpol."
-"He didn't want to answer any of my questions, instead just dodging around what I was saying to ask me more about Oracle."
-"I started to get a little frustrated, and I snapped at him. From there, he started yelling at me as well, and I guess it all spiraled from there."
-"We yelled for a while, and I decided that it wasn't worth it. I was about to get my things together to leave since I didn't see a point in staying if we were just going to argue the whole time."
-"That was where I ran into a few problems. I was gathering my things to go, but I felt something behind me."
-"I was still facing Mr. Strann at the time. We were still fighting the entire time I was getting ready to leave his residence."
-"A few seconds, something was slammed onto the back of my head, and I fell unconscious right away."
-"You can check the medical report if you want to. The wound was to the back of my head."
I nodded to myself as she finished with her testimony before turning to Chrysalis. She seemed to have picked up on what I had, and we already knew what we were going to be doing for this testimony. The contradiction was right there, just asking for us to blow it open and see where it led us. This wasn't going to take long at all.
"I see..." Judge Frost murmured, nodding to himself. "Defense, are you ready to begin your cross-examination?"
I smirked. "We are, as a matter of fact. Ms. Burke, would you mind repeating your testimony once again for the court?" I asked. In any other circumstances, I wouldn't be calling her by her surname, but we had to remain as professional as possible, so I had no other choice.
Polly nodded. "If you really need me to do that, then sure. Consider it done," she said before repeating what she had said once again.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ Our Argument ~
-"I started off our conversation by asking him more about the former leader of Interpol."
-"He didn't want to answer any of my questions, instead just dodging around what I was saying to ask me more about Oracle."
-"I started to get a little frustrated, and I snapped at him. From there, he started yelling at me as well, and I guess it all spiraled from there."
-"We yelled for a while, and I decided that it wasn't worth it. I was about to get my things together to leave since I didn't see a point in staying if we were just going to argue the whole time."
-"That was where I ran into a few problems. I was gathering my things to go, but I felt something behind me."
-"I was still facing Mr. Strann at the time. We were still fighting the entire time I was getting ready to leave his residence."
-"A few seconds, something was slammed onto the back of my head, and I fell unconscious right away."
-"You can check the medical report if you want to. The wound was to the back of my head."
"Objection!"
I pulled up a blank piece of paper after calling out that I had an objection. "The defense would like to bring the court's attention to a model of what likely happened at the time of the crime based on the testimony of the victim," I explained. I grabbed a pen and drew three circles in a line. I labeled the first one, the circle on the right, as 'C'. The middle one got the letter 'P' at its center, and the final circle received the letter 'S'.
"What is this about?" Prosecutor Shield asked with a small frown.
"In this little diagram, let's say that the culprit is represented by the circle labeled as 'C'. The defendant is the 'S' while the victim and current witness is 'P'," I began. "Ms. Burke, you said that you were facing towards the defendant as you were gathering your things to leave the house, yes?"
Polly nodded. "Yeah, I was," she answered simply.
I drew two lines extending diagonally from the circle representing Polly towards Mr. Strann's circle to represent her line of sight. "As you can see here, she was facing the defendant. However, this contradicts the prosecution's explained course of events," I continued. "She was watching him the entire time that she was getting ready to leave his house, leaving us with a glaring contradiction."
"What contradiction are you speaking of?" Judge Frost questioned.
"The medical report says that the blow came to the back of her head. She was hit from behind while getting ready to leave the house. However, she was facing the defendant while pulling her things together. She was watching him, and so, he had to be in front of her. The person who attacked her came up from behind, and that means that there was a third person present at the time who knocked the victim unconscious," I explained. "There were not two people there when the crime took place. A third person was present, and it was this third person who attacked the victim, knocking her unconscious when she was preparing to leave after the large argument!"
The courtroom's gallery burst into conversation once again, and I looked over to Chrysalis. She held up one fist, and I hit mine against hers. I could tell by the mischievous glint in her eye that she had been thinking the same thing.
Judge Frost picked up his gavel and hit it against the podium before him. "Order in the court!" he exclaimed loudly. He had to repeat the phrase a few times before everyone finally fell silent. Once quiet had overcome the courtroom once again, he turned his attention towards Prosecutor Shield. "Were there any reports of other people being present at the crime scene? Are there any other notable witnesses who could be called that were there at the time of the attack?"
Prosecutor Shield hesitated for a moment. "I believe I heard that there was a third person present in the building at the time of the crime. If this is the case, then perhaps they were the one to hit the victim on the back of the head. It seems pretty clear that it's impossible the defendant could have done it. He couldn't have been looking at the victim from the front and behind her to hit her with the vase at the same time," he said.
"I don't remember seeing anybody else there at the time," Polly frowned. "As far as I was aware, it was just the two of us in the room when I was attacked, but... I suppose I was a bit focused on other things when I got attacked, so how would I know for sure if that's the case?"
"So, should we go on and call this other witness to testify now?" Judge Frost asked. "If they were really the one to hit the victim on the head, then we need to hear about why they would do such a thing. It's a crime that cannot be taken lightly, and they will need a chance to defend themselves before we can decide if they are guilty of such an act or not."
"I would actually like to hear a bit more about the chat that took place between Ms. Burke and Mr. Strann leading up to the attack," I piped in. "We have a rough idea of what was said, but I believe that other details would also be helpful. It would be a poor choice to leave this point unresolved, wouldn't you agree?"
"I understand the defense's suggestion, and I agree that it wouldn't be a bad idea to go over this before moving on," Prosecutor Shield nodded. He turned his attention to Polly next. "Would you be alright with telling us more about what happened at the time of the conversation? What specifically did you discuss before the chat escalated into the argument that got you hurt?"
"Okay. I think that I should start from the beginning where the previous heads of Interpol are concerned. After all, this is a somewhat lengthy story, and it won't make any sense if I just pick up halfway through," Polly said. She took in a deep breath before speaking. "Cade Green was a former head of Interpol. He is not currently in charge, and he wasn't the most recent leader either. He would be the third most recent as of right now. He was the leader of Interpol for quite some time, but an unexpected incident forced him away from his job."
"What was this unexpected incident?" I asked, placing one hand on my chin. I knew quite a bit about the previous head of Interpol, but Cade Green hadn't ever caught my attention. Perhaps it was because he had been in charge before I became a lawyer. I hadn't heard of him up until this point, so I was going to have to listen up if I wanted to find out anything that might be important.
"There was a breach in security at Interpol, and his real name was revealed. Soon afterwards, he had to leave the company. You see, at Interpol, codenames are used. Oftentimes, they are simple letters with no relation to the user's name. For example, a few years ago, an Interpol agent by the name of O was exposed. Her real name was Sakura Rai. There is no O anywhere in there, so you can tell that the naming situation has nothing to do with what someone's real name is," Polly went on.
I cast a brief glance over to Chrysalis. She was keeping a rather cool head despite the mention of Sakura Rai. The name of her Interpol alias never seemed to bring up positive memories given what had happened the last time she used that false identity. However, she was doing a great job at ensuring she didn't show that it bothered her, instead just staring blankly ahead at Polly. I made a mental note to check up on her and make sure that she was feeling alright before turning my full attention back to the issue at hand.
"If an Interpol agent's real name is revealed, they could be placed in great danger. After all, there are many people out there who would wish harm upon the agents working at Interpol," Prosecutor Shield murmured. "He left because he was put at risk by the breach in security."
"Exactly. However, that's not where his story ends. Afterwards, another person took over as the head of Interpol. There wasn't any discord within the company regarding the shift in authority. Everyone respected him immediately, and he was in charge for quite some time. This was seen as odd to some of the enemies of the company, and some more hacking work was done," Polly continued.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" I asked quietly.
"You should feel nervous about it. The hacking job showed the real name of this second head of Interpol. His name was Carson Rinko, but this name was false. In truth, his real name was Cade Green. He had been given a false identity to allow him to keep leading Interpol," Polly replied.
I felt my shoulders grow tense. "Rinko?" I echoed, not wanting to believe it. She couldn't possibly mean what I thought she was implying, right? Yuri Rinko was a worker at my agency, and I had known her for years. I had been close with her sisters as well before they lost their lives two years prior. Was Polly really trying to say that the previous head of Interpol was somehow related to Yuri? That couldn't be the case, right?
Polly nodded, seeming to pick up on my unease. "Rinko. Carson Rinko led Interpol for quite some time, but when he was exposed once again as Cade Green, he disappeared. That was when another person took over Interpol. Cade Green vanished off the face of the planet, and nobody knows what happened to him. I got curious, so I started doing some sniffing around, and that sniffing led me to Mr. Strann," she answered.
"The person who inherited Interpol from Cade Green wound up being incredibly corrupt. He manipulated others for his own gain and used his power in ways unbecoming of a true leader. He wasn't in power for long, but when he was, he seriously damaged the reputation of Interpol. That was when the Oracle of the Law swooped in and exposed him for his corrupt business practices. He was arrested, and the current leader of Interpol was installed in his place," Chrysalis murmured. "I remember hearing that much from the Interpol murder case a while ago. Deirdre, Yuri, and Lily told me all about it when they first got the chance to do so."
I nodded to myself, even though I had already known this information for quite some time. I had been heavily involved with exposing the previous head of Interpol, after all. As a primary member of the Oracle project, I had played a large role in figuring out the truth behind the corruption and helping Chrysalis bring it to the surface. Perhaps saying all of this was Chrysalis' way of seeming uninvolved with it all to outside eyes. I wasn't sure, but I knew that this information was likely going to be helpful.
"You are correct there," Polly nodded. "The current leader has everything under control and is doing a much better job of not being corrupt than the previous one. Cade Green was a strong leader of the company, and the group took a serious hit when he had to leave after being exposed for the second time. It was a blow that they arguably haven't even come back from today."
"You decided to look more into Cade Green out of curiosity, yes? What led you to the defendant, if you don't mind my asking?" Prosecutor Shield asked.
Polly shrugged. "His name came up while I was doing some digging, and I decided to ask if he knew anything. Of course, he wasn't answering any of my questions, and that's when I got frustrated and started to argue with him. That leads right up to what happened when I was attacked, which I already talked about, so I'll spare you the retelling for the time being. I hope that gives you a better idea of what we were talking about before all of the violence started," she said.
"Hm... Is there anything else that you can tell us about Cade Green?" I questioned, wanting to know more about Carson Rinko. Was that just a fake name, or was there something more to it?
"I can try... He hasn't been seen in more than twelve years now. When he was exposed, he immediately left behind his family. They were unaware of his true identity as Cade Green and the leader of Interpol, so they were all surprised. Once he went missing, there were attempts to track him down, but they all ended in failure," Polly went on. "In other words, nobody knows where he disappeared to, but there are many who believe that he is still alive. Not many know about him nowadays because it's been so long since he was last relevant."
"That makes sense," I murmured. I looked up to her and frowned lightly. "You said that his family didn't know anything about what happened with him. Could you elaborate more on that?"
"Sure. Basically, nobody was aware that Carson Rinko was a false identity aside from other high-ranking figures in Interpol. Everybody else thought that he was just a regular person," Polly answered. "Because of that, the reveal took everybody by surprise, and that included the people he was living with. He was married with three daughters at the time, but he left them behind almost as soon as he was exposed. There was nothing left behind when he vanished."
I felt my shoulders grow rigid. Did she know what she was implying here? She had to be aware of it given that she had worked with Venus, Cassidy, and Yuri on the Oracle project in the past. They lived with their single mother, and they were three daughters. Venus and Cassidy had died since the disappearance of Carson Rinko, but the point still stood tall and proud. This was starting to imply that perhaps he was related to the three of them, but if that was the case, how were we supposed to deal with that? What were we meant to think of this whole thing?
"Perhaps we can discuss this at greater length after the trial draws to a conclusion. I believe that I've gone over a good chunk of the important facts regarding this case and how it ties into Cade Green. If there are any other questions, feel free to approach me after we're done here. For now, maybe I should explain fully what he wanted to hear about when we started talking," Polly suggested.
I nodded. "Yes... Of course. What did the defendant want to hear from you? I recall you mentioning that it had something to do with the Oracle of the Law, but you didn't go into any greater detail than that," I said.
"It did have to do with the Oracle of the Law," Polly nodded. "He believed that I knew something about the spy. Just so that we're all clear, such an assumption was false. I've been involved with some cases that Oracle was tied up in, sure, but that doesn't meant that I'm directly associated with them. To assume such would involve several leaps in logic that wouldn't be healthy to make in this situation."
"In other words, there was an incorrect assumption on his part that you were involved, and when he pressed you to answer his questions rather than answering yours, you got frustrated. That led to the argument before your attack," Prosecutor Shield declared. "Thank you for talking to us, Ms. Burke. We appreciate your words, and you have done quite a bit to help us fit together a greater image of how the incident played out."
"Could I leave now?" Polly asked, a frown on her face. "I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but I'm really getting a headache from being here for so long. I'm still not feeling great after what happened since, you know, I got hit on the head by a vase."
"You are dismissed, witness. Be sure to rest as much as you can," Judge Frost told her.
Polly nodded before walking away from the witness stand. She shot a brief glance to Anton, a small smile on her face. The tension in his body seemed to fade away at this small action, and she left the courtroom while he was still smiling. I was glad that such a small action had been able to comfort him in these dark times.
"Now that we've figured all of that out, perhaps it's time for us to call our next witness," Prosecutor Shield declared. "After all, we do need to speak with the witness who was present at the scene of the crime when the victim was attacked."
"I agree," I nodded. "If this person really was there, then they could have been involved with the attack. Like I said, a third party must have committed this crime, and this could be the third party that we've been searching for. Either way, their testimony is going to be crucial to finding the truth behind this case."
I looked to Chrysalis out of the corner of my eye and saw that she was messing around with my diagram. She examined it with an eye of scrutiny. She pointed to the circle marked for the culprit, a small smirk on her face. I could tell that she was just as eager to hear what this witness had to say as I was. After all, if there was only one witness that was there with Mr. Strann and Polly, chances were that they were the culprit.
However, I couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't been brought up before now. Why had Mr. Strann neglected to mention them when we were talking in the defendant lobby before the trial started? Perhaps that was a question for another day, but I was still certainly curious about it.
"Please call this final witness to the stand, Prosecutor Shield," Judge Frost agreed with Prosecutor Shield. "I would also like to hear what they have to say."
"The prosecution now calls Jeff Lent to the witness stand," Prosecutor Shield said, crossing his arms over his chest as he spoke.
"This is it," Chrysalis whispered. "Let's see what he has to say."
Homework stinky
-Digital