May 17

Grand Hall Theater

8:15 AM

Yuri Rinko

When we walked into the theater building, the first thing I noticed was the large number of officers buzzing around the area. I tried to catch a trace of someone or something familiar, but my attempts all seemed to be in vain. I let out a small sigh and looked up to Deirdre and Mr. Morix as I crossed my arms. "So... What are we supposed to do now?" I questioned.

"We should try and find the witnesses," Mr. Morix suggested. "They must have something important to tell us. I doubt that they would know nothing about this case given how the backstage area is bound to contain some sort of clue..."

I nodded my understanding, and I followed Mr. Morix through the crowd with Deirdre at my side. We eventually reached an area at the back of the lobby that had a lounge of sorts in it. There were a few chairs set out that circled a table, and there were two young men standing near the lounge.

The first one had caramel colored hair that was cut close to his face in a slightly spiky manner. He wore a basic white button-up shirt with a green tie and black dress pants with matching dark shoes. His eyes were a bright green color, and he was fiddling nervously with his hands as he rocked back and forth between his toes and heels.

The second boy had dark skin and thick hair that was tied into a ponytail at the top of his head. He wore a red shirt with yellow flame designs along the hem. His trousers were black but had the same fiery pattern at the bottom. He wore bright orange shoes, and he had white gloves on. He was staring blankly at the floor in front of himself.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Morix questioned, getting both of the boys to turn their attention to us. "We were wondering if you would be willing to talk to us about the case."

The first boy smiled brightly in response. "Ah, I understand... You must be Chrysalis' brother," he commented. "My name is Satoki Amaya, and this is Shane Carmen. It's nice to meet you all."

"Amaya?" I echoed, tilting my head to the side. "Would you happen to be related to Felicity and Sky Amaya? They're twins who happen to work at our law agency."

Satoki paused for a moment before speaking once again. "Perhaps we're distant relatives. Those names do ring somewhat familiar, but I haven't ever met anyone using those titles," he answered with a shrug.

"I'm sure that you want to hear more about the case, right?" Shane questioned, looking up at us with a relaxed smile. I could see stress hidden in his eyes no matter how deep he tried to bury it.

"We would love to hear anything that you have to see about the crime," Deirdre affirmed with a light grin of her own. "No detail is too small or insignificant for us."

"Alright," Satoki nodded. "Well, first off... You should know that we didn't see Chrysalis or Saya for quite some time before the show. I don't know what it could mean, but... They both went missing a little over an hour before the show started."

"We were looking for Chrysalis to speak with her about the show since one of the props had gone missing at the time, but she was nowhere to be found," Shane continued.

"What prop is it that went missing?" Mr. Morix questioned. "We can try and find it while we're looking around."

"A fake knife," Satoki replied. "It disappeared around the same time that the girls went missing, but we don't know where it went off to. Saya and Chrysalis both turned up eventually, but... The knife is still a mystery to us both, I'm afraid."

"That's strange," I whispered. "I guess that we'll just have to start looking around when we head into the actual theater... But there's one thing I don't get. If Chrysalis and Saya really went missing before the show, then how come nobody canceled or postponed the show for them? It would certainly be strange if two important members of the cast just went missing so soon before the curtain was set to rise."

"There were others backstage who were convinced that everything was alright with them," Shane answered. "I don't know who saw them, but even if we were worried, everyone else seemed to think that things were fine. When we asked, nobody was able to point us in the right direction, which is also strange, but... I don't know who was saying to the rest of the cast that things were okay. We still haven't found the source of those rumors."

"I suppose that's another thing we're going to have to ask around about... I'm sure that there was someone who was saying all of that, and perhaps it could lead us to the culprit. After all, if the person who was spreading that rumor was doing it because they were trying to convince the cast that the disappeared people were fine, then it was likely to cover their tracks," Mr. Morix pointed out. "We'll have to try and find out more when we start looking around more."

"What were you doing up until the show started? You must have an alibi, right?" Deirdre questioned. "We would love to hear about it, and if there's anyone else suspicious that comes to mind, share everything you know about them."

"We were spending most of our time together," Satoki answered. "We were trying to find Chrysalis and Saya since nobody else seemed freaked out by the idea that we couldn't find them. In other words, we were together the whole time leading up to the show, and I'm sure that everyone else who saw us can confirm that without a shadow of a doubt."

"There's nothing else really odd that comes to mind about the people who were there... But there is one thing that happened a few days ago that is rather strange," Shane remarked.

"What is it?" I asked, leaning forward in my anticipation. If something happened a few days ago, then perhaps this crime was premeditated or something along those lines.

"One of the people who was meant to be on the crew stopped showing up to rehearsals," Shane told us. "There are two people who were meant to help manage things backstage along with other members of the cast. The first one is Hannah Blocker, and the second is Stayge Crewe. Hannah stopped showing up to rehearsals with Stayge saying that something had come up at the last minute to keep her from taking part in the show. Stayge has always been a bit distant and quiet, but he's been more closed-off from the rest of us ever since Hannah stopped coming to practice."

"Why would she cancel so soon to the start of the show?" Mr. Morix questioned. "You've all been working hard for ages, and pulling out when the performances are about to start seems like an odd thing to do."

"If there's an explanation for it, then we don't know," Satoki said with a shrug. "Stayge didn't seem to know about it. It's not like he was ever particularly close with any of us. He tends to keep his distance and focus on doing his job above all else. Hannah disappearing must have done something to mess with his head, because he's been quieter than usual. It's not like he talked much before, but when he goes from saying fifty words per rehearsal to nearly none, it's a pretty sudden jump."

"I think we're going to have to keep this in mind," Mr. Morix murmured. "Something must have happened to make Hannah pull out of the show at the last minute. On top of that, we need to factor in the missing prop knife and the person who started the rumors that everything was alright despite the disappearances of two members of the show."

"Thank you for telling us about all of this, you two," I smiled. "We're going to do what we can in order to find out more about this case and eventually have the real culprit dragged into the light."

"Thanks," Satoki grinned. "We both appreciate that. Shane and I know fully well that Chrysalis wouldn't ever do something like kill another human. She's pretty quiet around most of the cast, but she still isn't the type to turn to murder. Her relationship with Saya was never very strong, but... It's not in her nature."

"What was Saya like?" I questioned. "We haven't heard all that much about her from somebody inside the show. Mr. Morix mentioned a few things, but I feel like it would be much more useful for us to hear the full story from someone who's around her all the time."

Both Satoki and Shane fell silent at my words. They looked at each other in hesitation, unsure of what they were supposed to say in response to my prompt. Eventually, Shane let out a sigh and began to speak. "Saya... She had a bit of an ego... I feel awful for saying something like that about her so soon after her death, but I get the feeling that you're going to need to hear everything that we know if you're going to find the truth behind what happened," Shane explained.

"If I had to guess, I would say that the proposed motive behind the crime has something to do with Saya's temper," Mr. Morix murmured. "I heard from my sister on multiple occasions that she and Saya didn't exactly get along. Saya tended to get snappy with her over nothing, so Chrysalis came back from rehearsals every once in a while fired up about what had happened."

"That sounds about right," Satoki agreed. "I already told you that Chrysalis is rather shy, but I bet you already knew that. She tends to keep to herself, and Shane and I are probably the only ones who go out of our way to speak with her during rehearsal. Since she's so quiet, she doesn't openly praise Saya often, and... Saya didn't like that. She had an ego that was far too large to be healthy, and if people didn't sing her praises, then she could get snappy with them."

"Hm..." Deirdre frowned to herself. "It sounds as if Chrysalis and Saya surely didn't get along... However, I doubt that this issue of having an ego was enough for her to go to murder as a solution. Granted, that's hardly a solution at all, and it's out of character for her on top of that."

"It's what the people involved with the case seem to think the truth is," Shane went on. "I never said that they were right about it though. You can ask the detective and blonde prosecutor about it. They're the two who seem to be pushing for it, but the others involved with the case seem to think that there's something else going on with the person who killed Saya."

"Sounds like the Umber twins to me," I told the others. "Perhaps we should go and find them. They might be able to give us more details about this supposed motive, and I get the feeling that we're seriously going to need to hear them if we want to find the truth."

"Thanks again for talking to us," Mr. Morix told the two boys. "We're going to keep looking around for more clues, but if you find anything, all you need to do is come to tell us about it. We'd be happy to listen to anything that you have to say."

"No problem," Satoki smiled. "We'll be here if you wind up having any other questions. Until then, good luck in your investigation."

We walked away from Satoki and Shane, approaching the doors to the main theater area silently. Deirdre and Mr. Morix didn't seem to want to talk about what we had just learned, so I didn't say anything about it either. Instead, I followed them to the theater itself, and I walked inside as Deirdre pushed the door open for us all.

The theater was just as impressive as it had been the night before when all of this hadn't yet been dragged into the limelight. Now, it was nearly entirely empty, and the curtains on the stage were pulled back to show the platform where the body had been lowered from.

"Cotoli!"

I turned upon hearing the familiar voice of Prosecutor Lin. She was standing nearby with Prosecutor Wood and Prosecutor Umber. A smile was on her face, but it appeared rather weary, so I suspected that she hadn't been able to get much sleep the night before either.

"Sora!" Mr. Morix exclaimed. "I'm glad to see that you're here... Do you have any details for us? We're trying to get us much exploring done as we possibly can before the trial tomorrow. I've been so antsy about the outcome."

Prosecutor Lin nodded. "We did find out something, as a matter of fact... Niamh, why don't you go on and explain the new fact we heard?" she questioned, nudging her adopted daughter lightly with her elbow.

Prosecutor Wood immediately took on the appearance of a deer in the headlights upon being addressed, but she eventually nodded once she was able to get her shock under control. "Yes... Sure," she eventually said. "We found out that there are no blood traces on the knife handle used in the crime. The blade itself is covered in blood, but the handle is completely clear of it. There weren't even signs of blood having been washed off."

I nodded to myself at her words. "Hm... That's something to keep in mind," I whispered. "Is there anything else that we should know about?"

Prosecutor Lin looked to Prosecutor Umber, but when he didn't say anything, she decided to take it upon herself to offer the other chunk of details. "We figured out where the actual scene of the crime is," she announced.

My eyes shot open, and I prayed that I didn't look too bug-like in my surprise. "Seriously?!" I cried out. Come to think of it, there wasn't all that much blood with the body when the platform was lowered from above the stage, so it only made sense that she was killed elsewhere.

Prosecutor Lin nodded. "There are two sets of restrooms near the theater in this place. One set is attached to the dressing room for the actors, and another set is in the lobby near the entrance. All others are a bit out of the way and hard to access," she explained. "The second set was closed-off from the audience for this performance, but we aren't quite sure why that is. However, there is proof to suggest that the crime took place in the girls' restroom from that second set of bathrooms. Luminol testing showed that large amounts of blood had been smeared and wiped up by paper towels in the restroom, and we found the towels in question in the nearby trashcan just to prove it further."

"So, the victim was killed in the bathroom that was closed off from the audience... I wonder why she was there. I mean, like you said, there was another set of restrooms attached to the dressing rooms, and if someone had walked in on her, then there could have been issues. After all, the performers aren't meant to be seen before the show starts," Mr. Morix remarked. "I don't know why she died there, but I get the feeling we're going to wind up figuring it out sooner or later."

"Wait, I just realized something... If she died in the bathroom, then there was a chance for someone to stumble upon the knife should it have been left there. You seem to already have it, so I need to ask... Where was the knife found?" I questioned.

"It was next to the body on the stage platform. I doubt it could have been seen well from the audience, but it was most certainly there," Prosecutor Umber replied. "We already talked about the problems that the knife brought up when it was found. There was no blood on the handle even though there really should have been. This issue is only made clearer thanks to the large amount of blood that was wiped up at the scene of the crime. There shouldn't have been so little blood that it didn't even reach the handle."

"I see..." Deirdre murmured. "One more question before we start to look around for ourselves. What do you believe the motive of the defendant is? I doubt that you would arrest her simply because she was covered in blood. Anyone could have been framed in that way, and you would expect the culprit to wipe that off before the performance began."

Prosecutor Umber frowned for a moment before speaking up. "Ah, that... Well, the victim and defendant didn't exactly get along. They argued from time to time, though it never got too loud. The point is that they didn't like each other, and given that others were already aware that they fought, it wouldn't be too surprising if something like that escalated into violence," he told her.

"Just as Shane and Satoki thought then," Mr. Morix said softly. "Alright. Thank you for telling us all of this. We're going to start looking around for ourselves now. If there's anything else you need from us, all you need to do is say so. I'll speak with you again soon."

Prosecutor Umber was the first to walk away, and Prosecutor Lin shrugged as he left, unable to explain his hostile behavior. She followed after him a few seconds later with Prosecutor Wood a short distance behind her. That left me, Deirdre, and Mr. Morix alone in the theater's audience area.

"We should start off by going to see if we can check out the bathroom. Even if it was closed off from the audience the night of the show, I doubt that it will still be kept empty given the investigation is still going on," I suggested. "Plus, we're going to need to find this Stayge Crewe person, and the missing prop knife could be pretty useful to our case as well."

"Prosecutor Umber has to be around here somewhere, so perhaps we could ask her about what she's figured out regarding this case too," Mr. Morix pointed out. "We'll likely see her sooner or later because her job is to patrol this place, but until then, let's start looking around."

"Let's head to the bathroom first," Deirdre said. She gestured for us to follow her, and we walked out of the theater and out into the lobby once again. Satoki and Shane were still standing in the same area that they had been before, but they didn't say much of anything to us. Satoki gave us a brief wave while Shane shot us a wary smile before they let us continue with our investigation.

The bathrooms were easy to find once we had gotten past the two boys. The signs for them were clear, and I noticed a set of ropes that blocked it off from the rest of the lobby. Sure enough, they were kept away from the people who could have come to see the show. The ropes had been tucked into the stands that were keeping them in place though, so we were easily able to shuffle past them and head into the restroom.

"I imagine that the crime took place in the girls' room," I told them, approaching the door. I pushed it open with my shoulder and gestured for them to go in ahead of me. After they had passed through, I walked inside myself.

There was a familiar face inside there, much to my surprise. Detective Umber was standing in the main area of the restroom, looking down at a picture that she had in one of her hands. There were five stalls in the restroom, all of which had shut doors, likely for the sake of the investigation. The main area appeared to be the most notable one though, as that was where Detective Umber was located.

When we got closer, I realized that the stall at the far edge of the row was unlocked, and the door had simply shut on itself. This stall was much larger than the rest of the rooms in the set, and I couldn't help but wonder if there was something special about it that set it apart from the rest of the group.

"Detective Umber," Mr. Morix began, easily capturing the attention of the detective and prompting her to turn around and face us.

Detective Umber gasped upon noticing us and plastered a smile on her face. I could feel how fake it was without having to give her a second glance, and it made me cringe inwardly. "Hey! I was wondering when you would come by to look around again," she remarked. "This is the crime scene, though I bet that you already heard about that from my brother and the others on the prosecution team."

"We did, as a matter of fact," I confirmed. "What's that picture you're looking at?" I pointed to the flimsy piece of paper that she was clutching so tightly.

Detective Umber hesitated before handing it over to me. I was confused at first until I realized that the picture was of the bathroom itself. There was an odd filter over it, and I recognized the blue smears that could be seen near the floor area as bloodstains. The largest stall was included in the picture, and I frowned to myself. "I see..." I whispered. "This is a picture of the Luminol test reaction. This is proof that the crime took place here."

Detective Umber nodded and gestured to the nearby trashcan. "If you look in there, you'll be able to see that there are a lot of paper towels that were used to clean up all the blood after the victim was killed," she commented. "On top of that, there's one other thing... Look down here at the bottom of the picture."

I followed her instructions, and I felt the gazes of Mr. Morix and Deirdre looking down at it from over my shoulders. I wasn't sure what I was looking at in the beginning, but I realized that there was an odd streak of blood near the edge of the picture. "What in the world could that be...?" I whispered, unsure of if I was talking to myself or the other people who were in the room with me.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Detective Umber admitted with a small shrug. "We aren't quite sure where that came from, but... We do know for sure that the smear down there did not come from the paper towels. The pattern of the streak is different than the rest of the circular motions used to wipe up the blood. It's as if something else was used to clean up the red liquid down there, but we still aren't sure what it could be. You might have more luck in figuring it out than the rest of us, given that we still have no idea what's going on there."

"Thank you for this," Mr. Morix told her with a light smile. "We appreciate this. Is there anything else that we should know about this case before you move on? I imagine that you have quite a bit to take care of after you finish speaking with us."

Detective Umber paused for a moment, pressing her pointer finger of her right hand to her chin. "That's a pretty good question, actually... I'm not quite sure, as a matter of fact. I'm sure that you've already heard about the missing knife prop. We're still trying to track it down, but that's much easier said than done. The backstage area is a nightmare for those who don't know their way around this venue, and it's not like any of our detectives have had the ability to look around here before. It's unfortunate, but what else can we do about it?"

"I see... We'll do what we can to look for the missing prop," I told her firmly. "Is there anything else on your mind? I have to say, Detective Umber... You seem somewhat distracted. It's like you're not focusing your full attention to solving this case."

If Detective Umber was unsettled by my observation, she sure as hell didn't show it, instead biting her lip and staring down at the ground. "Hm... Not really. It's a lot of stuff that doesn't really matter here, and I don't want to drag you into it," she commented. I could tell that she was lying, but she clearly didn't want to talk about it, as she shrugged her shoulders loosely before walking to the door. "Try not to mess anything up in here, alright? This is important to the investigation, and it wouldn't do if any of the evidence was tampered with. Just because I have other things to manage doesn't meant that you can run wild in here."

Detective Umber left the room behind a few seconds later, and I waited for the door to tap shut before I turned to the others in my group. "She's definitely hiding something, but I don't know if it's related to the case at all," I commented. "I suppose that we should focus on the rest of the investigation for now, and if we wind up needing to press her for more information further down the line, then we can cross that bridge when we come to it."

Deirdre nodded her agreement. "Alright... Hey, Yuri, can I see that picture again?" she questioned, extending one hand towards my fingers where I was clutching at the photo.

"Huh? Oh, sure," I answered, pressing the picture into her hands. I wasn't sure what she wanted to look at. Maybe she was trying to figure out where the blood smear from the bottom of the photo had come from.

Deirdre let out a gasp after a few seconds of staring at the picture. "Alright... I think I might have figured out where this streak came from," she told us. "I want you to remember last night. Chrysalis walked on the stage, and there was blood all over her costume. Tell me... Did that pattern look natural at all?"

Mr. Morix shook his head. "Not in the slightest... It wasn't a splatter like you would expect the culprit to have from a stabbing. Instead, it was a smear of sorts... Ah!" he gasped.

Deirdre nodded. "I see that you've caught on... I think that this smear of blood from the bottom of the picture comes from Chrysalis. The culprit must have pushed her through the blood at some point and gotten it all over her. I don't know when that could have happened though... It seems we have one more thing to ask her about when we go to visit her at the detention center later," she commented.

"I bet that the detectives are keeping her clothing as evidence or something similar," I pointed out. "I wonder if Detective Umber is working with anyone else. If so, maybe they'll be more receptive to talking to us. After all, we just don't know Detective Umber well enough to get her to tell us if something is on her mind."

"That's another thing for us to look for," Mr. Morix murmured. "I think we should head backstage for now. Maybe we can find Stayge Crewe and that prop knife. I feel as if both of them will be incredibly important to the case that we're about to construct."

I nodded my agreement. "I think you're right. I hope that we have more luck in figuring out where the knife is though... The detectives simply don't seem to be able to find out where it disappeared to, and we're really going to need to track it down soon," I said. "For now, let's go on and check out the backstage area."

With all of that said, we moved towards the door of the bathroom, and I pulled it open to let them head out first before trailing behind them. Once we were back into the hallway, we walked through the familiar route that took us back to the lobby and then to the theater.

The theater hall itself, I noticed, had a staircase leading up to the stage off to the side. It was regularly hidden by the curtain, but since the red velvet had been moved back for the sake of the investigation, we were easily able to head up to the stage.

The platform where Saya's body had been found was sitting on the stage, and I swallowed nervously at the blood splatter, as minimal as it was, before turning towards the wings of the stage. The others seemed happy to ignore the area just like I was, so we went off the stage and into the backstage area that awaited us nearby.

The backstage area was a lot brighter than I expected, though I suspected it was far less light when a show was going on. I glanced around, surprised at how crowded the space was, before I heard a shuffling sound from nearby. A gasp left my lips, and judging by the stressed looks that appeared on the faces of Mr. Morix and Deirdre, they had heard it as well.

I searched for the source of the noise before my gaze fell upon the culprit behind the light noise from before. A figure was hiding in the shadows, and I took a cautious step closer. I wasn't sure who it was, but I knew that we were going to be hearing everything we needed to about them soon enough...

I love this case so much gosh I hope you all love it too

-Digital