May 19

Courtroom No. 3

11:30 AM

Deirdre Brigit

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ My Connection to Chrysalis ~

-"I don't see what the big deal is about my link to Chrysalis. What makes you so sure that I don't like her?"

-"I didn't talk to her much at all leading up to the performance. She didn't talk to many people in the first place."

-"It was because she was so quiet and seemingly standoffish that Saya came to hate her, as a matter of fact."

-"Her strained relationship with Saya was entirely her own fault, but there's nothing like that going on here."

-"You'd be ridiculous to think that we didn't get along because of something so inconsequential and ridiculous."

-"Besides, if you were going to say that we didn't get along, the least you could do is offer some proof, but I'm not seeing any."

I looked over to Yuri as soon as Hannah was finished speaking. Yuri let out a sigh, a frown heavy on her features. "She didn't really tell us anything about her connection to Chrysalis... She denied that there are any problems between the two of them, but we know for sure that isn't true," she remarked.

"I think that we're going to have to think about this critically if we're going to find the truth..." I murmured. "There has to be one critical thread to this that we're missing out on, and that might make everything come into place... Her having a motive against Chrysalis makes more sense given her clear animosity, but I don't know why she would hate her in the slightest."

"Hannah Blocker... Hannah Blocker and Chrysalis Starr... What's the connection here?" Yuri questioned, fiddling with a small segment of her hair. "There's got to be something that we aren't catching on to, but what is it?"

A gasp suddenly left my lips, and my eyes went wide before I had the chance to fully register such. "I think I've figured it out...!" I murmured. I couldn't believe that I had finally realized it, but I was sure that my sudden idea had to mean something.

"Are you ready to begin the cross-examination?" Judge Diaphan questioned, looking over to where Yuri and I were talking to one another. I smirked to myself upon remembering that she was the judge on this case. That was going to make everything simpler for me, and my proof was only going to be easier to present.

I nodded in response. "Yes," I confirmed. I was going to have to handle this cross-examination with a certain type of delicacy. After all, if the motive was what I was starting to believe it was, then it was a serious matter. We were going to have to be careful if we wanted to keep things from spiraling out of control. It was a matter of life and death, even more so than the rest of the case already had been.

"Then go on and get started," Judge Diaphan declared, her expression solemn. She looked down to Hannah, who rolled her eyes and began recounting her testimony once more.

~ Cross-Examination ~

~ My Connection to Chrysalis ~

-"I don't see what the big deal is about my link to Chrysalis. What makes you so sure that I don't like her?"

-"I didn't talk to her much at all leading up to the performance. She didn't talk to many people in the first place."

-"It was because she was so quiet and seemingly standoffish that Saya came to hate her, as a matter of fact."

-"Her strained relationship with Saya was entirely her own fault, but there's nothing like that going on here."

-"You'd be ridiculous to think that we didn't get along because of something so inconsequential and ridiculous."

-"Besides, if you were going to say that we didn't get along, the least you could do is offer some proof, but I'm not seeing any."

"Objection!"

"The defense has a proposition regarding the enmity between the witness and the defendant," I announced. "Witness, please offer your full name to the court... While you're at it, please list off the names of your notable relatives."

Hannah looked at me in confusion at first before sighing and shaking her head with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "Fine, I guess... I'm Hannah Blocker. My parents are Sally and Jackson Blocker."

"That's what I thought," I said firmly with a nod of determination. "Your father, Jackson Blocker... He was involved in a case a few years ago, was he not? If I recall correctly, he was a defense attorney who owned his own law firm."

Hannah glared at me, but I could sense some shock behind her gaze. "How did you hear all of that?" she questioned. "I don't recall saying anything about my father."

"You didn't, but I know about a case that took place a few years ago," I explained. "The case in question involved the murder of the witness' father."

"How are you aware of this?" questioned Prosecutor Umber, a particular fire to his gaze that I couldn't quite identify.

"My agency was the one to take on the case when it moved to court," I replied. "I heard the story from my superior, one Cotoli Morix, who happened to be the defense attorney when the subject came to trial. He told me about it shortly after I came to work at the agency."

"What does my father's murder have anything to do with this?" Hannah asked. She was starting to chew her gum more obnoxiously than before, and sweat was beading along her forehead. Both were clear signs that I was certainly on the right track.

"I think that you hate the defendant for her involvement in the case," I explained. This was the part I would have to handle delicately. After all, Chrysalis had been involved in the case as a witness, but that was only under one of her aliases. She had been working as Oracle at the time of the murder, and I couldn't let that information slip. If anyone got suspicious, who could say for sure what would be waiting for us next?

"Her involvement? What the hell are you talking about?" Hannah inquired, still glaring at me with the rage of a thousand suns. "She wasn't involved with the case in the slightest."

"She was working with Morix Law Offices at the time," I went on. "And the case ended with the culprit escaping from the courtroom. He wasn't caught for quite a while afterwards, and I can only imagine that you would be upset with her for and her brother for not working harder to catch the killer in the aftermath of their escape."

Hannah sighed angrily. "I really don't know what you're going on about," she told me, her voice overflowing with a sickening sense of poison. "I think you're just making all of this up to get me to say something I'll regret later on."

"I was the judge in charge of that case years ago," Judge Diaphan cut in, a frown on her face. "The culprit did indeed escape after they were exposed."

"The defense was the primary group responsible for learning the truth behind that case, so I imagine that you would be rather disappointed in them for not being able to bring the killer to justice in the aftermath of the trial," I continued.

Hannah looked away from me, staring at the ground as she shook her head in frustration. "You're absolutely ridiculous, you know that? I don't think you know what you're talking about at all. You're using my father's murder to try and bother me, but it isn't going to work. The fact remains that Chrysalis was responsible for this crime. You're just defending her because you're in on all of this."

"All of this?" Yuri echoed, her eyes going wide. I felt myself growing nervous as well, and I prayed that Hannah didn't know anything she wasn't supposed to. I didn't want her to cross any lines that could later lead us down a path of disaster, though I already had a terrible feeling that this was the direction we were going in.

Hannah nodded assertively. "Yes! That agency seemed to be just a bit too closely involved to the Oracle of the Law back then," she snapped. "Surely you must have noticed it! You work there, for crying out loud! You have to know that they're acting suspiciously!"

"You think that Morix Law is involved with the Oracle of the Law then," I said with a frown. "What makes you so sure of this?"

"I just told you, didn't I?!" Hannah shouted. "Don't you think it's a bit odd how they always seem to take on the cases involving Oracle?! You're just trying to cover your own tracks by pretending to not know anything!"

"Surely you don't know what you're asserting," Prosecutor Lin cut in, speaking up for the first time in a while. Her expression was uncharacteristically grim, and I knew exactly why without having to ask. "You think that Morix Law is involved with the Oracle... But there are a few holes in your logic."

I nodded my agreement. "As of the time of the Oracle rising to prominence, the defendant was fifteen years old," I pointed out. "I highly doubt that a girl that young would be capable of associating with a spy known for such suspicious activity. If you really think Morix Law is behind some of the Oracle's moves, then such only becomes stranger..."

"I know what you're talking about," Yuri chimed in. "At the time of your father's murder, then there were only four people working at the agency, and the only one who wasn't present at the trial regarding your father's death was Chrysalis. Once again, she was fifteen when Oracle became a notable figure in the area, so that sort of takes her out of the running for this."

"The rest of the people involved were twelve and seventeen respectively, excluding Cotoli Morix himself since he doesn't fit the Oracle's description in the slightest," Prosecutor Lin continued. "You think that the defendant is involved with this somehow, but that couldn't be possible."

Hannah had been oddly quiet throughout all of this, and she still didn't speak up after the conversation was over. "You've made your point. Whatever. You don't think that she's involved because of how young she is. I get it," she declared. "But that still doesn't help you in the long run. You haven't shown why I would have hated her enough to do something stupid."

"I believe that we have, actually," Prosecutor Wood said slowly, her voice shaking when she spoke up.

"But you just proved that it would make no sense for her to be involved," Hannah muttered, rolling her eyes once more. "What are you going to do now? Are you going to keep spouting crap to try and pin me down as the culprit behind a crime I didn't commit?"

"Us having proven that Chrysalis wasn't involved with the case surrounding your father's death doesn't matter much in the scope of this case," I pointed out. I was relieved as could be that everyone was buying the ruse that Prosecutor Lin, Yuri, and I were setting up. Talking about Oracle in that sense could have caused problems, but we were able to cover for it with the excuse of Chrysalis' age. It was how Yuri, Lily, and I were fooled for as long as we were, and it was proving just as effective here.

"All that matters is that it was what you believed at the time of the murder," Prosecutor Wood went on. "If you thought that she was involved with your father's death, then you would have hated her."

"You either thought her agency was responsible for letting the culprit get away or that they were involved with Oracle, neither of which can truly be pinned on them at the end of the day," I continued. "She was the easiest person for you to reach, so you could have decided to exact your revenge against the agency by framing her for this crime."

"Of course, it wasn't always going to be a matter of framing Chrysalis for murder," Prosecutor Lin murmured. "We realized such earlier on in the trial. The culprit had another target but eventually shifted their focus towards Saya after an unexpected even threw a wrench in their plans."

"You still don't have evidence that I was the one to do all of this," Hannah said, popping her gum once again. The sound echoed, and I did my best to keep from flinching at the sheer volume of the noise. I was certainly looking forward to the trial ending just for the sake of being able to get away from that aggravating sound.

"You're referring to Saya in this case, aren't you?" Prosecutor Lin questioned, frowning heavily. "You mean to say that we don't have a reason for you to have lashed out at Saya at the time of the crime, and without something like that, we can't say conclusively that you did anything related to the murder."

"I already told you why I hid my identity. I wanted to help Styage's reputation since he had to pull out of the show at the last minute," Hannah insisted. "It was completely unrelated to the murder, and there's nothing you can say or do to prove otherwise."

"There has to be something else that we're missing out on here," Yuri hissed to me. "I mean, we have a reason for Hannah to have lashed out at Chrysalis, but that still doesn't help us in the slightest when it comes to Saya's death. If Chrysalis had been the original victim, then everything would have already been figured out, but Saya is a different story... We've got no reason to believe that Hannah and Saya didn't get along."

"Hannah didn't even want to be involved with the show in the first place. I doubt she would have wanted to associate with Saya when she already hated the idea of being part of the crew," I said under my breath. "There has to be one critical thing that ties them together from the time of the murder, but what could it be?"

"We know that Hannah went into the girls' restroom just before the show started. It was the same room where the crime took place too," Yuri murmured. "Still, even if she ran into Saya there, I doubt she would have just attacked her. Hannah could have just explained the misunderstanding to Saya and called it there. The truth about the identity swap would have been far easier to deal with than the consequences of a murder."

"That is true... What would have been key enough to cause an argument between the witness and victim?" I thought aloud, looking down at the bench in front of me as if it would offer me with the answers I required. I really didn't know where to go next, but I was going to have to figure it out as soon as possible. There was only so much time we had before others started to get suspicious that we didn't have a plan, and our credibility would fall through immediately if that happened.

"There's one thing that we know about Saya, I suppose," Yuri remarked. "Think about what we know regarding her connection to Chrysalis. Chrysalis didn't openly talk to her, but the two wound up having a strained relationship anyways. I think Satoki and Shane told us that it was because Chrysalis was so quiet. Saya expected people to openly praise her talent, and she took Chrysalis' silence as a threat."

I nodded at her words. "That is true... Maybe she thought of Chrysalis' quiet nature as an affront," I agreed. "That means that she's prone to jumping to conclusions. Is there anything that would have made her jump to an extreme conclusion that could cause problems for Hannah?"

"Let's think about all of the stuff that was in the bathroom at the time," Yuri suggested. "We know that there was the soap container in there at the time, and the bag was moved into the bathroom at some point too. The same applies to the prop knife since the handles were switched around to frame Chrysalis... Aside from that, I think it was just the knife and the body itself."

A gasp left my lips. "That is!" I whispered. "I think I've figured out what happened at the time of the crime!"

"Then tell everybody!" Yuri told me with a wide grin. "I'm ready to hear what you have to say on the matter!"

I turned my attention to the rest of the courtroom, and a smirk appeared on my lips. "I believe I've figured out the motive behind this crime," I announced.

"What motive?" Hannah questioned. She smacked her lips together before her gum popped once again, and she went right back to chewing a few seconds later.

"I think that there was a premeditated crime, but it wasn't the murder," I explained. "We know that the culprit brought the knife in from the outside world, and that's something incredibly dangerous that you wouldn't expect to see the night of a performance like this. If you ask me, the knife was what caused the murder."

"How did the knife cause the murder?" Judge Diaphan questioned, her gaze curious from behind her mask.

"The victim saw the culprit in the restroom with the knife and grew suspicious. The two began to argue, and Saya jumped to conclusions about what the knife meant, likely thinking that it stood for something dangerous. If something bad happened involving the knife and someone got hurt, the show would have been canceled. She walked in at the wrong time, and it cost her everything," I went on. "She witnessed the killer with the knife inside the bathroom, but before she could tell anyone else, she was murdered."

"In other words, this crime was improvised," murmured Prosecutor Lin. "What do you think happened next?"

"We know that the defendant was attacked as well. She received a concussion around the time of the crime, so chances are that she was hit on the back of the head with the metal soap container in the restroom as soon as the culprit noticed she was present. The defendant fell unconscious, and when she did, the killer smeared the victim's blood on her clothing. The original plan had likely been to kill Chrysalis for her involvement in the case surrounding Jackson Blocker's murder, but that all fell apart when Saya walked in on the killer examining the knife, and the killer decided to frame her for the crime instead," I continued.

"From there, the culprit grabbed the prop bag and rolled it to the bathroom area. They also retrieved the prop knife and switched out the handles with hopes of making it look as if the defendant committed the crime," Prosecutor Lin said next. "The prop bag was used to move the body from the bathroom to the backstage area without arousing any suspicion. People knew that it could be used to move objects around the theater, and they wouldn't have asked about it since it was supposed to be there."

"Of course, a lot of blood got on the bottom of the bag when this happened," I declared. "The entire bottom of the bag was covered in blood, but the killer couldn't risk having anybody see that. They placed down a fabric lining across the bottom segment of the bag, using a gray fabric that would blend in well with the black color of the rest of the bag."

"I think I remember seeing more of that fabric backstage," Prosecutor Wood commented. "I bet that it's used to cover up stuff backstage... There have to be a few props that require being hidden until they are to be used."

I nodded my agreement. "Chances are you're right. One piece of fabric was taken from its original spot and used to line the bottom of the bag. The killer placed the body on the stage platform that would be lowered at the time of the show's start. From there, they returned to the restroom to pick up Chrysalis, not realizing until later that she was bleeding slightly from her injury, getting a small amount of red on the fabric."

"During this period of time, nobody would have seen Chrysalis or Saya," Yuri remarked. "But if they were really gone, that could have caused problems, and the killer's plan to make Chrysalis seem guilty wouldn't have worked out. They started rumors about how they were fine and circulated them among the cast to keep anyone from getting too suspicious, and the cast members went along with it since they believed the information to be reliable. There wasn't a reason to ask if they thought everything was going to be fine, after all."

"Exactly," I confirmed. "Saya was moved to the stage platform while Chrysalis was kept in the bag until closer to showtime. When she was removed, she was already covered in blood and still unconscious from the blow to her head. By the time she woke up, the blood had mostly dried off, and it was too dark backstage for anyone to see that she was covered in it. She was pushed out onto the stage for the show to properly begin, and the audience saw her and the body. She was covered in the victim's blood, arousing enough suspicion from both the audience and cast members that she was the culprit."

"Of course, Chrysalis couldn't have done this since she was unconscious at the time," Yuri went on. "She was hit on the back of the head hard enough to make her lose consciousness, and there wouldn't have been a way for her to pull all of this off since she was asleep. It wouldn't have worked in the slightest."

"Since she didn't have an alibi, the investigators didn't know that at the time. There was no medical analysis done of the defendant, and everyone thought that she was simply suffering from a migraine rather than the aftermath of the concussion," Prosecutor Lin commented. "We didn't look back on all of that until well after the attack had taken place... It wasn't until after she was stabbed in the back that we realized all of this was the case, and the pieces started to fall into place."

"Speaking of the stabbing, there is one thing I'm curious about," Judge Diaphan declared, turning her gaze towards Hannah critically. "When she was attacked, there was a surname written in blood... If I recall correctly, witness, that name just so happens to be yours. What do you have to say on the matter?"

Hannah froze as soon as it was brought up. She shook her head and went back to chewing after a moment of hesitation. "I really don't know what you're talking about... I wasn't there at all. How would somebody like me have gotten into the detention center in the first place? I'm not exactly related to the police or prosecution, so I couldn't have just snuck back there to stick a knife in her shoulder," she commented with a shrug.

"The fact remains that your name was written in her blood. She wrote it out herself, and we have proof of such," Prosecutor Lin told her. She nudged gently at Prosecutor Wood, prompting the younger girl to bring up such evidence.

It took a moment for Prosecutor Wood to respond, but she eventually did get into her explanation. "Yeah... We do know for sure that the victim was the one to write it," she went on. "You see, the defendant is dominant in her right hand, but she was stabbed on that side, so she would have had to write using her left hand. The writing was shaky and unstable, proof that she must have done it."

"I still don't know how that's proof that she was the one to write it," Hannah commented with a heavy frown. "Anybody could have written something like that. It would be hard for someone to write with another person's bloodied hand, wouldn't you say?"

"It would be, but you have to remember that it would have most certainly been easier than doing it yourself," Prosecutor Lin told her with a frown. "If you were controlling someone else's hand, you'd have much more ease in pulling something like that off than doing it yourself. The writing is shaky and barely legible as it is, so I can't imagine that the culprit did it. Besides, if the culprit did it, you would expect to see signs of a struggle, and yet, there are none. She did it on her own."

"Her writing the name in blood most certainly makes it seem as if the witness was responsible for such," Judge Diaphan murmured. "But there is still one primary problem with this explanation."

"How did I get into the detention center in the first place?" Hannah questioned, her gaze a fiery glare. "It's not like regular people can just walk on in there and do whatever they want. I would have only been allowed to go to the visiting area if I went to the detention center, and you're trying to say that I found a way to sneak in past the guards and attack somebody with a knife? I think you're going a bit far."

"There is one other factor that does point to you being responsible for this though," I cut in. "Think about it, everyone. The witness is known to have a heavy grudge against the defendant. We've already gone over such. She doesn't like the defendant in the slightest, and if my explanation is to be believed, she was originally planning on killing my client and framing someone else for the crime. Even if she was able to finger Chrysalis as the culprit for this case, there is one issue with this..."

"We were making enough progress yesterday during the trial to be a threat to her plans," Yuri murmured. "There was the plan that she was going to escape the detention center without any issues, and if that was the case, then she would have lost her chance at revenge. We were getting too close to figuring out who the true killer was, and it was a threat to her plans."

"She's already shown herself capable of hiding her identity by behaving as someone else," Prosecutor Lin commented, looking over to Prosecutor Umber for confirmation. He didn't meet her gaze. "Who can say for sure that she didn't find a way to steal one of the uniforms belonging to the guards? There are spares located within the detention center and prison complex, you see. She could have grabbed one when nobody was looking and then snuck in to take care of everything."

"The defendant could have figured out who was behind it then, and that was when she wrote the culprit's name in blood," I realized with a small nod. This was certainly starting to make sense, and all of the pieces of the second day's puzzle were starting to slip into place. We were getting a much better view of the greater image now.

"You're all being ridiculous," Hannah huffed, though I could clearly see the signs of stress seeping into her features. "I think that this is just you going off on a random tangent. I wasn't there at the time. You would have noticed if I was at the detention center. After all, as far as I can tell, people were looking for me throughout the investigation."

"You were able to sneak around without being detected rather easily for a while," I pointed out. "You weren't seen at all on the second day of investigation, as a matter of fact. It isn't too farfetched to say that you were at the detention center for at least part of the investigation session."

Hannah frowned and glared at me angrily. "I don't know what the hell your problem is! I didn't commit this crime, and you're being absolutely ridiculous if you think I would go that far over something stupid and petty," she sighed.

"But this wasn't something stupid and petty to you," Prosecutor Wood interjected shakily. "You thought that the defendant was involved with the murder of your father where the culprit got away... Even if the killer was later caught, it was still enough to push you over the edge. You wanted revenge."

"You don't have any proof that I did this in the first place! Quit pointing fingers already! Chrysalis must have attacked Saya and made herself look innocent with the knife to the shoulder!" Hannah shrieked, her distress clearly growing.

"She wouldn't have had access to a knife in the detention center, and even if she did, why would she attack her right shoulder? That's her dominant side, and it would make more sense for her to hold the knife in her right hand and jab at her left one," I pointed out. "This train of thought isn't going to be taking us anywhere. We know that you were involved with this crime, so stop denying it!"

"I believe I know what we should do next," Judge Diaphan announced, earning the attention of everyone in the courtroom. "Defense, prosecution... Please construct a timeline of what you believe happened during yesterday's investigation."

I hesitated for a moment before realizing that this was likely exactly what we needed. We could use this to prove that Hannah was involved in the case while finishing off our summary of the case in the process!

I looked over to Yuri and saw that she had come to the same conclusion. I looked across the courtroom to the prosecution and met eyes with both Prosecutor Lin and Prosecutor Wood. They seemed to think the same thing, though Prosecutor Umber was still silent.

"We'll get right to it, Your Honor," I announced with a grand smile. Finally, we were going to end this nightmare.

The new Digimon music high key slaps

-Digital