Morix: Web of Mistrust

by digitaldreams0801

With the Emsthorpe incident behind them, the lawyers of Morix Law Offices are enjoying a brighter future. However, a new threat has appeared with hopes of destroying the Oracle of the Law once and for all. The one responsible is thriving in the shadows, unknown to all. On top of everything else, a long lost figure is on the cusp of returning at last... (Third in Morix series)

15. The Theatrical Turnabout, Part 5

May 18

Courtroom No. 3

10:55 AM

Deirdre Brigit

Shane walked up to the witness stand after he was called, and he glanced around the area in curiosity before falling still. I got the feeling he wasn't used to being in a courtroom, something I fully understood. It could be rather nerve-wracking to step up to the stand for the first time, after all. I doubted anyone would object to such a conclusion.

"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Judge Diaphan declared firmly.

"I'm Shane Carmen... I'm working as an actor at the moment," Shane replied. "I was in the show that was taking place the night of the crime."

"In that case, your testimony will be highly valuable," Judge Diaphan murmured with a nod. "Now, I must ask you to tell the court about what happened involving the backstage crew in the days leading up to the show."

"We heard that there was something odd going on," Prosecutor Lin said next. "Anything that you could tell the court would surely be helpful."

Shane nodded. "Alright... I assume that you mean that you want to hear about Hannah and Stayge, so I suppose that I could go on and tell you about them," he declared.

"You know, Stayge's odd behavior is starting to bother me..." Yuri whispered. "Think about it. We've had to deal with hostility from killers in the past. If he did it, then it would make sense as to why he's been so resistant to talking to us. On top of that, he would have had free access to the knife as the leader of the backstage crew."

"You might have a point, but we don't have any solid evidence of that yet," I told her. "The crime was premeditated, so it would have made sense if the killer started acting strange a few days before the crime. It wouldn't have helped their case in the slightest if they were going to try and claim that they were innocent further down the line, but that sort of behavior would at least have an explanation."

"All we can do for now is listen to what Shane has to say. We can question Stayge more after this day of debating has drawn to a close," Mr. Morix pointed out. "Maybe Shane will tell us something that we didn't already know. That would be perfect for us to take advantage of when it comes to learning more about the case."

I nodded. "Alright. In that case, I suppose the best thing for us to do at this point would be to listen to his testimony... Maybe this will lead to us being able to talk to Stayge a little further down the line," I said quietly.

We all turned our attention back to Shane at these words. He had a determined glint in his eyes, and when he realized that everyone was waiting for him to start, he took in a small breath. A few seconds later, he launched into his testimony.

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ The Backstage Crew ~

-"There are two members of our backstage crew. The first is Hannah Blocker while the second is Stayge Crewe."

-"Hannah was always a bit... Rude, for lack of a better term. She has a bit of an attitude and knew how she wanted things done."

-"In fact, I don't think that Hannah really got along with anyone in the cast. She was doing this because she was pressured into it by her mother."

-"Stayge, on the other hand, was much more friendly. Granted, he was always on the shy side and avoided speaking, but he was still nice."

-"A few days before the show, Hannah decided to back out. I don't know what could have caused such..."

-"If Hannah was pressured into the show like she always told us, I doubt her mom would have let her go so easily..."

-"I've tried to text her, but I haven't gotten any answers. Since she left, Stayge has been quieter than usual, and it's really bothering me."

-"He didn't talk much before, but... The change is still rather sudden, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't worried."

After Shane's testimony, I couldn't help but feel my suspicion of Stayge rise. What could be the reason behind such odd behavior coming out of nowhere? Even if he was planning a murder, he surely must have been aware of the fact that he was around a bunch of actors. They would have noticed it if he was putting up a front given how well they knew him even from a distance.

"When specifically did Stayge start acting strangely? In relation to Hannah's leaving the show, when did Stayge's odd behavior begin?" asked Mr. Morix, a frown on his face.

"It was right after Hannah left, actually," Shane told him. "At first, I assumed that it was stress. He was going to have to manage all of the backstage workings on his own after being so sure that he would be able to count on somebody else. Still, he hasn't bothered to reach out to the rest of us."

"And this is abnormal behavior for him... Even if he was distant from the rest of you, I would assume that he still knew how to ask for help when he really needed it," Yuri remarked to herself. "I suppose that we're really going to have to ask him about what's going on."

"What I'm hearing is that there's a definitive cause and effect relationship between Hannah leaving and Stayge closing himself off from the rest of the cast," Mr. Morix said softly. "I think that we should point this out. If all goes well, we'll be able to take this somewhere."

I nodded my understanding. "I'll be sure to point that out then," I assured him.

"Go on and start your cross-examination already," Prosecutor Umber cut in, ending the brief conversation we were having.

"We'll get right to it," I told him. The irritation didn't leave his eyes, but I figured he would calm down once we properly got started.

~ Cross-Examination ~

~ The Backstage Crew ~

-"There are two members of our backstage crew. The first is Hannah Blocker while the second is Stayge Crewe."

-"Hannah was always a bit... Rude, for lack of a better term. She has a bit of an attitude and knew how she wanted things done."

-"In fact, I don't think that Hannah really got along with anyone in the cast. She was doing this because she was pressured into it by her mother."

-"Stayge, on the other hand, was much more friendly. Granted, he was always on the shy side and avoided speaking, but he was still nice."

-"A few days before the show, Hannah decided to back out. I don't know what could have caused such..."

-"If Hannah was pressured into the show like she always told us, I doubt her mom would have let her go so easily..."

-"I've tried to text her, but I haven't gotten any answers. Since she left, Stayge has been quieter than usual, and it's really bothering me."

-"He didn't talk much before, but... The change is still rather sudden, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't worried."

"Hold it!"

"The defense has a request to make regarding the sudden and strange behavior of Stayge Crewe," I declared, a frown on my face.

"What is it?" Prosecutor Lin questioned. She tilted her head to the side slightly to show that she was listening.

"There seems to be a direct correlation between the odd behavior of Stayge and the departure of Hannah from the show. Shane mentioned a moment ago that he thought it was related to stress at the beginning, but it seems to be much more than that," I explained. "If there really is a connection between Stayge's odd behavior and Hannah leaving the show, then I think we should talk to Hannah when we get the chance."

"I see..." Prosecutor Lin murmured. "That would make sense. Maybe she was aware of something from before she left the show. Her reason for backing out is still unknown, and if we can figure it out, maybe we'll be able to come across the truth."

"Have there been any attempts to get into contact with her?" Judge Diaphan questioned, turning her attention to the prosecution.

Prosecutor Umber hesitated before sighing. "That's a rather complicated matter, I'm afraid... We've tried to reach out to her, but we haven't been able to get through. Nothing we say or do is able to get her to reach out to us. No matter how many voicemails we leave, nobody's responding," he explained.

"We cast members have been trying to reach out to her for a while now... The person who told us that she was leaving was none other than Stayge," Shane declared. "I tried to message her, but I didn't get a response. As for Stayge himself, he doesn't seem to want to talk about it. Maybe he thinks that something bad happened to her... Though I don't know how he would come to that conclusion, and even if he did, why would he refrain from telling us?"

"If you ask me, we have two important things to look for after the trial ends today," I announced. "We need to find a way to get into contact with Hannah Blocker to figure out why she pulled out of the show. From there, we may be able to learn enough to get the truth out of Stayge. After that, we need to figure out how the body was moved from the bathroom up to the stage. Perhaps that will allow the pieces to come together."

"You still have not cleared the defendant's name," Prosecutor Umber frowned. "You seem awfully confident in yourselves when she is still the primary suspect between the blood and her grudge against the victim."

"Again, why would she wear blood out onto stage?" Mr. Morix questioned. "It simply doesn't make sense. She would have become a suspect immediately for something like that. Her having a grudge against the victim doesn't mean that it would come to murder though. Surely you must be aware of that."

"Even if Chrysalis and Saya didn't exactly get along, I don't think that either one of them would really go far enough to hurt one another," Shane cut in. "However, if something like that were to happen, Saya would be the one to initiate it. She seemed more than willing to lash out at Chrysalis when something happened and she felt attacked by the latter's silence. It wouldn't make sense for something to happen the other way around."

"And you can't make the claim of self-defense either," I pointed out. "After all, we know that the crime was premeditated thanks to the knife being brought in from the outside."

"All in all, I believe we need to look around and see if we can learn more about everything that has been happening," Mr. Morix declared.

"I want to see if we can find a motive for Stayge," Yuri whispered to us. "I mean, he's seeming pretty suspicious right now. If we can figure out why he would have hated Saya, then we can use that to turn the attention back on him... Of course, that's certainly much easier said than done."

"We'll figure something out," I assured her. I looked back up to the rest of the courtroom. "The defense would like to request more time to investigate all of these factors. We'll be able to find the truth behind this case if we are given the chance to explore the crime scene once again."

"Does the prosecution object to this?" Judge Diaphan questioned, turning her attention to the opposite side of the courtroom.

Prosecutor Lin looked to the other two curiously. Prosecutor Umber didn't seem too particularly happy with the matter, but since he didn't speak out against the idea, Prosecutor Lin didn't acknowledge it. "The prosecution has no objections," she announced.

Judge Diaphan nodded her understanding before picking up her gavel once again. "In that case, court is adjourned for a further day of investigation!" she declared before dropping the gavel onto the podium before her, ending things for the time being.

May 18

Defendant Lobby No. 3

11:25 AM

Cotoli Morix

"That trial was shockingly short, but you aren't going to hear me complain," Yuri remarked with a laugh once we were out in the lobby. "I guess it's time for us to set out once again to see what the scene of the crime has to offer us."

"Our first priority should be to figure out how the body was moved," I told the other two. "Afterwards, we can focus on contacting Hannah. Besides, I get the feeling Sora is going to focus her attention on that anyways."

"And you would be right."

I turned upon hearing the familiar voice of my sister nearby. Sora and Prosecutor Wood approached us. Prosecutor Umber was notably missing, but I didn't ask them about this.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to. Sora answered the question for me when she noticed I had caught on. "Prosecutor Umber is going with Detective Umber to take Chrysalis back to the detention center. I heard that she's still feeling sick even after catching a bit of extra rest on the couch out here," she explained.

I let out a sad sigh at her words. I should have seen something like that coming when Chrysalis didn't come to greet us. "I understand," I murmured. "So, you two are going to try and see what you can learn from Hannah, right?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah. We're going to do what we can in order to figure out more about her. Even if we haven't seen much success so far, we're hoping to turn things around today," she replied.

"We're going to try and figure out how the body was moved," Deirdre told her. "If you find anything that we should know about, don't hesitate to contact us."

"Alright," Prosecutor Wood murmured, looking up at us nervously. She was fidgeting with the countless papers that she had crammed into her arms. Judging by the kind look in Sora's eyes, I assumed that my sister had offered to help her only to be turned down. Perhaps Prosecutor Wood was using the papers as a way of hiding from the rest of the world.

"We'll talk to you later then," Sora said with a smile. She turned on her heel with a small wave and walked away. Prosecutor Wood trailed a few steps behind her, and a few seconds later, they were gone.

"Hey... Can we talk for a moment?"

This time, I recognized the newest voice as coming from Satoki. He and Shane were standing together a few feet away from us, and I could tell that there was something they wanted to say.

"Go right ahead," Yuri told them before I had the chance to prompt them myself.

"I think I know how the body could have been moved," Satoki replied. "I didn't think about it during the trial, but... There's one way that Saya's body could have been transported without anybody thinking it was strange."

"Please tell us," Deirdre instructed, her gaze going dark at the idea of this new evidence. I saw her shoulders tense up at Satoki's words.

"It's this prop bag we have backstage," Shane continued. "It's all used for moving props around the backstage area. There are some larger props that people can't really carry on their own, so we shove them into this bag that has wheels on the bottom and drag or push it along. It's pretty large, and while I never thought about it this way, it could have been used to carry the body from one place to another."

I looked over to the rest of the group, and I saw that Yuri and Deirdre had come to the same conclusion I had. If this bag was really large enough to carry a body, then it must have been used to carry people from place to place. When we got back to the crime scene, we were going to have to check it out as soon as possible. There would have had to be some evidence to show that the body had been placed in there if that was the method of movement.

"We're going to head on back to the theater now," Satoki told us. "We want to see if there's anything we can do to help the investigation. We don't know how much we can do, but it's still worth trying."

"Thanks for everything, you two," Deirdre said, waving to both Satoki and Shane as they left behind the defendant lobby. Once they were gone, she turned her attention back to me and Yuri. "Well, why don't we go over everything we know before following them?"

"Okay," Yuri nodded. "First of all, the crime had to be premeditated. The culprit brought a knife in from the outside world, and it wouldn't have been in the area otherwise. The victim was stabbed in the bathroom, and her body was moved via an unknown method, perhaps the prop bag we already heard about."

"The knife handle was switched out with the handle of the prop knife as well," I continued. "The knife handle was forcefully torn off the prop knife and exchanged to give the illusion of Chrysalis' fingerprints being on the handle. In truth, she never touched the knife, and it was likely swapped when she wasn't present."

"There's also the matter of her weird memory loss. What could cause her to black out?" Deirdre questioned. "Whatever it was must have had a terrible impact on her. She's been unable to focus ever since the murder took place, and she still has the same headache as before despite not having a history of migraines."

"It's so strange," Yuri murmured. "If you ask me, there has to be something here that we aren't seeing. We have to deal with the subject of Hannah Blocker's sudden departure from the show and Stayge Crewe's odd behavior as well... It feels like most of the pieces are there already, but what could it all mean?"

"Hannah has been impossible to reach as well... There has to be an explanation, but we aren't going to be the ones to find it. I think it would be best if we placed trust in my sister. She can figure out what we're unable to determine, and she's going to bring the information back to us as soon as possible," I told them. "For now, I believe heading to the crime scene would be a good idea."

"We're going to need to make enough time to go to the detention center and check on Chrysalis too," Deirdre pointed out. "I don't know if we should leave her alone all day if she's still feeling as awful as it sounds like..."

I nodded my agreement. "I'm really starting to get worried about her, but... I suppose there's nothing we can do until after we get further along in our investigation. For the time being, let's head outside," I suggested.

We were almost to the doors when I saw another group of figures approach us. Lily, Victoria, Sky, and Felicity were gathered together, all bearing expressions of concern.

"You guys are here!" Yuri exclaimed. "I guess I was too focused on the trial to look for you guys in the gallery... Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," Lily assured her with a shake of her head. "I'm just glad that you were able to power through the trial. It's a relief to hear that the trial is going well for the time being. We wouldn't Chrysalis to be arrested for this case, after all."

"I brought my boyfriend along to watch the trial... He seemed really interested in it for some reason, but he already left," Victoria said next. "He said that he was impressed with how you all did before heading out."

"Yeah, and he's apparently so shy that he didn't even want to meet little old me," Lily joked, nudging Victoria in the side with her elbow. "I suppose that I can't force anyone to want to talk to me though. I'm not that rude and heartless."

"I don't think you're rude and heartless at all," Sky murmured, looking down at the ground as he spoke.

"What was that, Sky?" Felicity teased loudly, rubbing her shoulder against his when he flushed and chose to ignore her. "Did you say that you liked Lily? That's awfully sweet of you to say!"

"I think that we should move on for now," Sky suggested. "After all, we have much more important things to worry about. We should try to concentrate on figuring out what sort of evidence will be needed to free Chrysalis from the detention center."

"I assume that she'll be in questioning at the moment, but maybe we'll be able to see her later," Victoria said. "We heard that she wasn't feeling well at the start of the trial, by the way. What exactly is going on with her?"

"She's had a really bad headache since about the time the crime took place," Yuri replied. "We aren't sure quite why it is, but she's been feeling awful. She's already been taken back to the detention center so that she can get a bit of extra rest, though I would assume that questioning is going to happen before she can get some shuteye, as unfortunate as it is."

"At least that's something," Sky sighed with a shake of his head. "We should probably head back to the agency to hold down the fort while you all are gone. After all, it would stink if we missed out on a potential case right now."

"That sounds like a good plan," I agreed. "If there are any major updates, I'll try to notify you as soon as possible... Also, Victoria, if your boyfriend is really so interested in this case, he doesn't need to stay so far away. We'd be happy to meet him should he ever find himself curious enough to reach out."

Victoria flushed when the attention shifted back to her. She started to rock back and forth between her toes and heels. "Oh, I'll try to tell him that... He's always been a bit shy, but maybe he'll finally decide to break out of his shell to talk to you."

"I'd love to meet him," Lily pointed out with a smile. "But I suppose we have more important things to cover first. Besides, Chrysalis would not be happy if you introduced us to him while she was at the detention center."

"She'd certainly want to be there. After all, she'd never pass up on a chance to exploit somebody's weakness when it comes to playful teasing," Yuri grinned. "But I suppose that we have to make sure she's found innocent before we can get to that stuff."

"Exactly," Deirdre agreed. "All we can do for now is focus our attention on the next step. I believe that we can handle this without issues, but we need to find the last few pieces to make the greater picture fall into place."

"In that case, we won't keep you," Sky told us. "We would hate for your investigation to be pushed back because of us. Again, if you find anything out or otherwise need help, all you need to do is say so."

"Even if we have to hold down the fort back at the agency, I think we'll be able to help if you need something researched," Felicity piped in. "But until then, I guess it's about time for us to split up."

Nobody objected to such a sentiment, and we began to bid each other farewell. However, we were not able to finish our conversation on that note, as something distracting popped up to change the pacing of the goodbyes.

Yuri frowned as we started walking towards the doors. There were a lot of people coming out of other lobbies, and I assumed that trials taking place in other courtrooms were starting to end. The hallway towards the entrance of the courthouse was starting to become rather congested. "I don't like the looks of this..." Yuri murmured.

"We'll just have to power through it," I said with a small shrug. It wasn't as if we could force our way through the many people in the hallway. After we got out to the parking lot, things would hopefully calm down. I prayed that we didn't have to deal with any sort of gridlock, but I had to admit that it was starting to worry me.

"I'm sure the traffic can't be that bad, right?" Deirdre questioned with a weary smile.

May 18

Grand Hall Theater

12:55 PM

Deirdre Brigit

The traffic was that bad.

After we left the courtroom, it took us ages to reach our destination at the theater itself. The traffic inside the courthouse hallways was just the beginning, and the parking lot was yet another nightmare. On top of that, there was a crash somewhere along the highway, and we were kept from reaching the theater for quite some time. I could feel the impatient anticipation buzzing in the air from Yuri and Mr. Morix the whole way, and I couldn't help but wind up feeling a bit antsy myself.

When we finally arrived at the theater, there were police officers crawling around the area just like the day before, and I felt as if we had likely missed quite a bit of investigating. It had been ages since we set out from the courthouse, after all. We would have quite a bit of catching up to do as far as I could tell. Still, I shook off my nerves and started to walk towards the door. Yuri and Mr. Morix trailed behind me, but I could tell that they were just as fired-up at the sudden traffic delay as I was. I just hoped it didn't wind up being too much of an obstacle.

First off, we traveled through the theater's lobby to wind up in the theater itself. There was something odd about the air, but I couldn't quite describe it. The space was eerily empty, and I felt a shiver run up my spine. Still, I shrugged it off and made my way up towards the backstage area as soon as I was able to convince my body to follow my instructions.

When we reached the backstage area, I noticed the black prop bag sitting in the corner. Once it had been pointed out, it seemed impossible to miss due to its size. Sure enough, that could surely be used to carry a body from place to place. The bag was left shut, though the zipper was not done all the way.

I don't know if could have even been called a bag, in all honesty. The sides were made of fabric, but it had wires inside that gave it the shape of a box. Either way, I wasn't going to nitpick the name.

Yuri frowned as she walked towards the prop bag. She let out a small gasp as her toe struck something. She leaned down and picked up an overturned phone. The screen was pressed into the ground below. Yuri tilted it up, cringing at the bright light that exploded forth from it surface.

Meanwhile, Mr. Morix moved to the light switch, flicking it into the 'on' position. Yellow illumination flooded the backstage room, and I moved closer to Yuri. She was examining the phone, and I realized that it had been left on.

The screen was heavily cracked, as if it had been dropped. The screen still displayed what appeared to be a chat log, and I peered over Yuri's shoulder to see what it said.

The owner of the phone had sent the following message just after the trial ended:

Hey, Stayge? Are you okay? You've barely been talking to anyone since Hannah left the show, and we're starting to get worried.

It was followed up by a message from the recipient.

What are you talking about?

Yuri's eyes steadily went wider as she read the next message from the phone's owner.

Hannah dropped out of the show, and you've been the only one backstage. You're so quiet nowadays, and it's like you're not even yourself anymore.

I let out a gasp as I read the final message.

Satoki, I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't been on the backstage crew in a while. I had to leave town due to a funeral.

The phone belonged to Satoki, and he had sent a message to Stayge. According to this chat log, Stayge hadn't been in the area for a few days, but if that was the case, who in the world was the stage manager that we had been speaking to?

Mr. Morix frowned to himself as he sniffed the air. He slowly approached the bag that we had initially been planning to check out before the phone was discovered, and he grabbed the zippers firmly before sliding the lid of the bag open.

A gasp of strangled surprise immediately left his lips, and I ran to his side in an instant.

When I saw what had shocked him so much, I screamed as well.

Satoki was in the bag, crumpled in the fetal position. Red blood clearly stained his light hair, and his eyes were closed. I could see him breathing slowly, but it was still a surprising sight.

"What the hell happened here?!" Yuri questioned, dropping the phone in her panic. Luckily, the phone did not completely fracture when it hit the ground once again.

Mr. Morix picked the phone back up before shoving it into his pocket roughly. "I don't know, but... It appears the killer has just left another victim in their wake," he murmured. "The culprit is most certainly still here, and they're not happy in the slightest."

---

After a nice long conversation with my friends about this series I'm falling in love with it all over again

-Digital