August 8

Courtroom No. 4

12:00 PM

Felicity Amaya

"The crime took place the day of a scheduled tour at the Lady Bird Studios," I began. "However, an email was sent out a few hours before the tour began to say that no members of the cast were set to show up anymore. As of the time that this email had been sent, the crime had already been committed, and the victim had been dead for a while."

Chrysalis offered her opinion at this point, and she let out a small sigh before shaking her head. "The email was widely assumed to have been sent by the victim, but this is not necessarily the case. In fact, chances are that the culprit was the one to send out the email at the time of the crime. They wanted to keep the members of the cast and crew from interfering in their plans until after they had set up the crime scene to look the way that they needed it to."

"The victim was killed in his office when he came by to prepare for the tour," I continued. "He was shot in the head, and he died instantly. Blood was left everywhere in the area, but the killer didn't want the office to be found in the state that it was in, so they put the body on top of a rolling costume rack and decided to move it away from the room. They settled on placing the body in the room belonging to James Devine, the star of the show being filmed at the studios."

"That was when the emails were sent out," Chrysalis said next. "The killer only wanted James there so that he would be easier to frame. They set up the body in James' room before placing the rack in the room and covering up the bloodstained areas with clothing from other areas in the studios. The blood was wiped off, but there were still traces of it to be found in the region."

"The director's office was locked from there, and the window was blockaded to keep everyone out. The keys for the studios were used to lock up the area, keeping everyone away to ensure that nobody could interfere. The keys have been missing for quite some time since then, but I believe that they'll still be able to offer us important evidence yet," I declared. "Anyways, the point is that the body wound up in the defendant's dressing room."

"The culprit placed a sign over the door to make doubly sure that nobody investigated it until the time was right for the body to be discovered in a staged manner during the tour," Chrysalis continued. "The culprit handled quite a few objects at the scene of the crime, and I'm sure that we would be more than able to find out who was responsible if we compared fingerprints. Even if no official prints were left behind, the size would still be notable, and we could use that to narrow down our ideas as to who the culprit is."

"The killer didn't just leave behind marks using their hands though. In fact, they also left traces behind of their feet. They spilled powder in the defendant's dressing room as they were setting up the space to look how they wanted it to, and the spilled powder wound up absorbing a footprint from when they were trying to make their escape. The size of the footprint in the dressing room disproves the possibility of most people at the time having committed the crime," I told the court.

Mr. Gassman was starting to look particularly nervous now, but he seemed to understand that speaking up would only hurt his case. Interrupting our explanation was far from being the best idea, so he instead went silent and looked at everything in the area that could keep him from making eye contact with the people around him.

"The keys and gun used in the crime went missing," Chrysalis went on. "The culprit took both of these objects with them when they made their escape from the crime scene. The building where the crime took place was searched from top to bottom on multiple occasions, and yet, there were no traces of the gun or keys left behind. This means that the killer must have taken both the weapon and the keys with them when they were fleeing from the scene."

"We never would have found the location of the gun and keys if not for the nervous habit of the witness standing before us," I smirked. "He recorded the discovery of the body, and he was responsible for killing the victim as well. During the video where he showed the body being found, he was rocking back and forth. When he moved, a small clicking noise could be heard. It was the sound of metal hitting metal, and I believe that the keys and gun are responsible for this noise."

Prosecutor Lin seemed surprised for a fraction of a second before she glanced over to her assistant for the case. Prosecutor Wood nodded her agreement, thinking that it made sense as well. Prosecutor Lin reached out one hand and squeezed gently at the fingers of her partner, and Prosecutor Wood seemed to relax as the tension in her body disappeared into nothingness.

"The keys and gun were taken by the culprit and hidden as part of the camera equipment used by the witness. His job at the time was to make sure that the tour was recorded so that it could be released," I announced. "He's been very resistant to showing us all what's in his bag, so perhaps now would be the perfect time for us to get in there. After all, if we have reason to believe that he's hiding a murder weapon on his person willingly... I think that's more than a perfect excuse to see what he has in that bag. I'm sure that everyone else in this courtroom would more than agree with me."

I cast a glance up to Judge Frost, and she nodded to show that she held the same beliefs. "Mr. Gassman, you can open the bag willingly, or you can give the bailiffs reason to search your person. If you are hiding a weapon used in a murder, then there is most certainly justification for someone to examine your possessions."

"This can't be legal," Mr. Gassman said with a deep frown. "I think that you're projecting on me to make it seem like I did this just because you can't find the actual culprit. Why are you turning this all around on me?"

"Why aren't you answering the question?" Chrysalis questioned, narrowing her eyes in his direction. "Now, why don't you make this easier on us all and just open up the bag before we force you to unzip it."

Mr. Gassman was surprised at her confidence for a moment, but he managed to shake himself free of his shock an instant later. "There's one other thing that you didn't mention during that big explanation at all! You completely ignored the fact that I would need a motive to kill the victim! You said that the defendant couldn't have done it because he doesn't have a motive, but that applies to me as well, so how about you answer my question?"

I glanced over to Chrysalis, and I saw that she was smirking in satisfaction as well. I nodded in her direction before shifting my attention back to Mr. Gassman fully. "Tell me, Mr. Gassman... Do you know what the victim was doing before he came to be a director?" I questioned. "He had a certain occupation before he decided to head into the film industry, and I'm simply curious as to if you have any ideas about it."

"Of course I know what he did," Mr. Gassman snapped, his voice uncharacteristically harsh all of a sudden. I could tell that his true colors were finally starting to show because we had rubbed him the wrong way. "He was an agent for Interpol. What about it?"

The courtroom fell silent immediately, and I smiled to myself before tilting my head gently to the side. "And just like that, you've revealed something that you shouldn't have been aware of," I announced. "Not even the members of the cast were sure of the victim's occupation prior to his becoming a director. He never spoke about his past, and yet, you were more than happy to reveal it all now. You shouldn't have had access to such critical information, and yet... You did. Why is that?"

The courtroom's gallery burst into chatter, but I didn't give them a moment of my time. Instead, I simply continued to stare at Mr. Gassman, laying on the pressure silently. He was the one who had made this mistake, so he was going to have to live with the resulting consequences. He was clearly starting to grow stressed and uncomfortable, and he didn't look up at me or anyone else. Judge Frost brought down her gavel to force the courtroom to order, but he still didn't seem to fully catch on. He was intentionally blocking us all out because he had slipped up and didn't want to admit it. Perhaps it was a matter of pride. I wasn't sure, but I didn't think it mattered too much given the circumstances either.

"Well, witness? How did you happen to stumble upon such critical information?" Judge Frost questioned once she was sure everyone was ready to pay attention to the trial once again. Her gaze was critical, and she wasn't going to be giving Mr. Gassman the chance to slip through the cracks this time.

He didn't immediately answer, so I took this as the perfect chance to offer input of my own on the matter. "I personally think that the witness was somehow involved with a group of people that disliked Interpol for some reason or another," I declared. "We have encountered quite a few people as of late who have had a grudge against Interpol or have otherwise been involved with a man by the name of Cade Green. He was a previous leader of Interpol, and I have to wonder if he is tied in with this current case as well."

Mr. Gassman was silent even after I offered this explanation. He slowly but surely reached for the bag on his back, and he snarled to himself as he dragged the zippers apart. I let out a gasp as I realized what he was trying to do, and I had to resist the urge to duck down as a way of keeping myself safe from whatever he was about to try.

I had been right about there being a gun in his camera supplies bag, and he was going to try and use it to get away without needing to face accountability.

However, when Mr. Gassman pulled out the objects inside of his bag, he wasn't ever able to use the gun. He had his hand curled around it, but the weapon had grown horribly deformed from its time at the bottom of his supply bag. It had been hiding under countless other heavy objects for quite some time, and the pressure had bent the object out of shape. There had been a small pocket of space to allow the keys to hit against the side of the gun, but that was all the breathing room it had been offered. It didn't look as if the gun had the ability to fire anymore, and he could barely get his finger around the trigger.

Mr. Gassman's face was suddenly shadowed with panic, and he pressed down on the trigger more times than could be counted in an attempt to finally make the object work. No matter how much he tried though, he was never able to fully succeed, and his nerves only seemed to grow worse. His anxiety was almost sickening to look at not long afterwards, and I had to resist the urge to smile, knowing that he would undoubtedly get angry and potentially violent if I dared to mock him.

There were bailiffs slowly moving towards him, but Mr. Gassman didn't seem to notice. He continued to press down on the trigger, and an explosion suddenly ricocheted outwards from the weapon in a noisy blast. Mr. Gassman was forced backwards, and he tripped over his nearby bag before being sent sprawling to the ground. A yelp left his lips as the gun was sent sliding away from him across the floor of the courtroom. It landed near the prosecution's bench, and Prosecutor Lin leaned over to pick it up as the bailiffs fully closed in around Mr. Gassman. She handled the object with a light yet falsified smile, but there was something that resembled disgust in her eyes no matter how much she tried to hide it.

Mr. Gassman was hauled to his feet by a pair of bailiffs. He appeared to be too dazed from hitting the ground to fight back too hard, but he still managed a few weak thrashes in an attempt to pull free. There was little he could do though, and he wound up going limp in the grasp of the bailiffs before he disappeared through the doors to the courtroom.

Another bailiff approached Prosecutor Lin, and she grinned to him before dropping the weapon into his hand. It was too distorted to be used for much aside from evidence, but she still seemed nervous about having been forced to touch it. Prosecutor Wood watched her with wide, reflective eyes that didn't seem to take in anything that was happening around her.

Judge Frost waited for the panic in the gallery to die down before she spoke once again. She shook her head as the words formed. "That sure was an unexpected series of events," she said softly. That was one way of putting it, though it seemed like an understatement given Mr. Gassman's attempts to hold us all hostage so that he would be able to escape. He had failed due to the gun being so twisted from the pressure of his supplies. His attempts to keep it from our view had ultimately caused his undoing. He had hid it from us, and that was what caused us to wind up catching him in the end.

"I believe that we've all come to the same conclusion regarding the culprit of the crime," Chrysalis commented. She looked notably rattled after Mr. Gassman's sudden outburst, and when I looked closely enough, I could see that her hands were trembling ever so slightly. I reached one arm out to wrap it around her shoulders. She went tense at first before relaxing into the contact, but there was still something about her that felt stilted and anxious. I didn't pull away since she remained close to me, but I was desperate to ask her what the cause of her nerves was. I already had an idea, but I thought talking would accomplish much more than simply assuming.

"I think that it's high time that I declare my verdict for this case," Judge Frost announced. She looked down to the witness stand before casting a sideways glance over to James. The way that she flashed her focus back and forth between the two subjects of interest was telling, and I could tell that he was able to understand easily what she was trying to get him to do.

James walked over to the stand not long afterwards, but he stood a small distant away from it to keep from interfering with the blast radius on the ground from when Mr. Gassman's gun had misfired. There was still anxiety flickering in his vision, but he did his best to put on a brave face. I couldn't blame him for being nervous given the situation, if I was being perfectly honest, but I didn't tell anyone that openly.

"Are there any objections to the declaration of the verdict?" Judge Frost questioned, glancing over to where I was standing. Her next center of focus was the prosecution on the other side of the courtroom.

"The defense has no objections," I assured her, smiling to myself. I still didn't look down to see what Chrysalis thought, knowing that she wasn't going to have a differing opinion. Her gaze was firmly locked on the defense bench before us, likely because she was trying to drown out the world around her after Mr. Gassman's sudden outburst.

"The prosecution has no objections," Prosecutor Lin said next. She glanced down to Prosecutor Wood before she spoke, and both of them were left to smile in the aftermath of her words. I could tell that they were just as relieved as I was that all of this was finally being brought to a close.

"In that case, I won't stall for any longer," Judge Frost declared with a nod. She reached for her gavel before raising it. "This court now finds the defendant, James Devine, not guilty. Court is adjourned!" She brought down the gavel a moment later, and the gallery instantly devolved into chatter once again.

I looked down to Chrysalis, and I saw her give a weak attempt at a smile before starting to pull all of her things together from the trial. I followed suit a moment later, and I could tell that the prosecution was doing the same across the courtroom. Finally, we were free of this nightmare, and James was going to be able to enjoy his own freedom especially. I couldn't have asked for anything better given the situation, if I was being completely honest.

Chrysalis suddenly tugged on my arm, and I nodded in her direction before starting to walk out of the courtroom. I couldn't wait to see what the rest of the world had waiting for us, if I was being perfectly honest. This was surely going to be great.

August 8

Defendant Lobby No. 4

12:45 PM

Chrysalis Starr

I wish I hadn't been excited to get out of there.

As soon as Felicity and I stepped out into the defendant lobby, we were flooded with flashes coming from various cameras. I threw up one hand on pure instinct to keep from being temporarily blinded, and I stumbled when a particularly brutal explosion of light managed to filter its way through my fingers. I should have seen this coming given how famous James had become as a result of his show, and yet, here I was, walking straight into this without a care in the world.

"Please, do what you can to leave them be."

The cameras suddenly came to a halt when I heard James' voice, but I wasn't sure of where exactly he was since I was spending too much time trying to gather my bearings once again. He was somewhere off to my right. My suspicions as to his location were confirmed when the cameras all decided to shift away from me and Felicity to concentrate on him. I could hear James chuckle to himself beneath the static of clicking cameras, and I was left to wonder how he dealt with this on a regular basis. It had only been two minutes, and I already wanted to punch one of those camera lenses until it couldn't take any photos ever again.

Slowly but surely, the circus began to calm down, and the reporters started to stream out of the lobby. When more space was freed in the lobby, I made my way over to the couch before flopping down dramatically. This was too much for my poor little heart. I didn't ask for any of this, and yet, here I was, putting up with it. Felicity seemed to feel the same, but she was a bit more open to the attention than I was. She grabbed my hand and rubbed at it gently to try and comfort me. It took every part of me to not pull away from her as a gut reaction to somebody touching my hand. I prayed that she didn't fiddle with my gloves, but luckily enough for me, she didn't bother, so I allowed the rubbing to continue.

After the final reporter had left, James let out a sigh before walking over to where I was sitting with Felicity. "It's good to see that you're both alright after all of that," he told us with a gentle smile. He waved to us, but his grin soon disappeared when an unexpected squeal reached his ears.

Yuri came dashing up behind him, and she threw her arms around his torso. "You're finally free!" she exclaimed, her voice shrill in comparison to James' low tone. "I'm so happy to see that you're okay after all of that! The trial really didn't end all that well, did it? Still, we managed to push through it, and I suppose that's what matters most right now, huh?"

James let out a laugh before turning to face Yuri properly, a fond smile on his face. "That is true... It's nice to see that you're fine as well," he said simply. He noticed that Anton was standing beside Yuri, and he gave the boy a shy wave. Anton returned the gesture, his cheeks suddenly a rosy pink.

"I've been through a few rough cases like this, so I know how they work," Yuri shrugged with a nonchalant chuckle. "You get used to it after a while. That's probably not a good thing given what happens sometimes, but what are you going to do about it, you know? Oh, well. None of that really matters right now. The point is that you're out of the detention center! You can go on about life again!"

The door to the lobby was slowly eased open, and I saw both Sora and Niamh make their way into the space. Sora gave me a dramatic wave, and I tried not to blush at how much she was attracting attention. James, Yuri, and Anton seemed to realize that something was going on behind them, so they all turned to see what was going on.

James dashed up to Niamh as soon as he realized that she was there, and he reached out his hands to take hers between his. "It's nice to see that you're alright as well," he commented, his tone notably flirtatious. "I was truly worried about you when everything began to take a turn for the worse, and yet, it appears that there was nothing for me to be concerned for. Thank you for doing all that you did to help me. I don't think I could ever thank you enough for your generosity and kindness."

What James did next surprised us all. He gave yet another kiss to Niamh's hand, and she was left to blush furiously under the power of his affections. He gave her a small wink soon afterwards. "You should call me sometime. I think that we would be a great match," he said, his voice shockingly genuine for how openly flirtatious he was being. I found myself stuck to the spot in pure surprise that he would ever dare to cross that line so suddenly.

Niamh's face immediately exploded into a mess of flustered pink. She glanced up to Sora, and she received a thumbs-up gesture from her guardian a moment later. Niamh forced herself to look at the ground soon afterwards, but I could tell that she wanted nothing more than to stare up at James. A grin appeared on my face as she nodded in James' direction. He continued to smile like a kid in a candy store at her positive response.

I don't know how he did it, but James was somehow able to pour out his affections for Niamh and then change the subject seamlessly a moment later. I was shocked when he suddenly turned his focus over to where I was standing with Felicity. "You did an incredible job in there. I truly do appreciate all that you have done for me," he told us, bowing his head with another genuine smile.

I shrugged before looking down at the ground. "We were just doing our job," I murmured, unsure of how to handle the situation with anything that resembled grace given what had just happened. "We knew that you didn't do it, so we simply had to prove that to the rest of the world. As far as I can tell, they understand that with stunning clarity now, so you should have nothing to worry about."

"What Chrysalis means to say is that it's been a pleasure," Felicity said, throwing her arm around my shoulder after releasing my hand from her grasp. "She's just not good with feelings and stuff. We were more than happy to help you out, James, and if you ever find yourself in trouble again, all you need to do is reach out and tell us. We'd love to help you again."

I tried not to be silently offended at Felicity's implication of me not being the best with emotions, but I was able to shelve my concerns when I heard her laugh. "Besides, you did a great job too," Felicity assured James. "I'm looking forward to getting the chance to meet you in the future. I'm sure that this is going to be quite the tale to tell in the future, huh?"

James nodded in response before looking over to the entrance of the room. "As much as I would love to stay, I unfortunately should be getting going. You have my word that I'll come to your agency should anything else come up in the future though," he told us. He waved once again, a bright grin on his face. "Until we meet again!" He dashed off soon afterwards, smiling all the way.

I waved after James before hearing a dramatic sigh off to my left. It was Yuri, and she looked somewhat dejected. "I can't believe it!" she cried out. "I spent so much time with James in the detention center, and then he decided that he wanted to go out with Niamh instead! I was hoping that he'd start to get along with me, but I guess not!"

"I'm sorry to have gotten in your way," Niamh murmured, still clearly flustered from James' forward behavior. She played with the hair that hung out from the bottom of her braids, and she looked ready to start pulling on her hair until it nearly came loose.

Yuri shook her head. "No, it's alright... I suppose I'll just have to find love elsewhere... Besides, I think that it's more than okay that you were able to wind up with him. That gives us the perfect chance to bond and get to know each other, and I'm in love with that sort of idea! Tell me everything that happens with him, okay?!" she exclaimed. She reached out one desperate hand to take Niamh's shoulder between her fingers, and she continued to watch Niamh intensely until the other girl nodded. When Yuri finally pulled away, she clapped her hands together excitedly.

"It seems that everything's over then," I commented under my breath. "We should consider everything finished now. I think I'm going to head out now. I need some time to breathe after all of that messiness."

"I think we all do," Sora agreed with a light chuckle. "Now, let's go on and head our separate ways. I'm looking forward to seeing you all again soon, but until then, I hope that life treats you favorably!" She started to guide Niamh out of the room, shooting me a brief wave on the way to the door. I returned the gesture silently.

Once she was gone, I let out a small sigh and looked down at the ground. This case had most certainly been an adventure, and I was more than happy to finally be able to put it in the past. i needed a break after it for sure. I hoped that there weren't any other cases that eventful for quite a while, to say the least, but then again, when did the universe ever listen to me?

August 8

Unknown Location

Unknown Time

Unknown Perspective

I slid into my seat within the small office and glanced around at the other people in the space. The woman was scrolling through her phone while the man had his full attention on the nearby computer. There was a scowl on his face, but she either didn't notice or was choosing not to pay him heed.

He stopped flicking the scrolling mechanism as soon as the computer came to show an image from a local news story. I glanced up as soon as the sound disappeared from my ears, a frown on my face. It didn't take me long to see what he had found so interesting, and I had to resist the urge to sigh in frustration.

The picture was of two young women, both of them lawyers at Morix Law Offices. They had finished dealing with the James Devine case earlier that day, if I recalled correctly, so it was only natural that the media would eat that information right up given how greedy so many people were for an interesting story.

"Soon, they're going to understand their mistake," the man snarled, and I had to admit that his unrestrained rage was terrifying to me in a way that I didn't know how to describe. I was silent on my concerns, but I was incredibly bothered by the morbid turn that his behavior had been taking as of late.

Still, I supposed it mattered little when compared to the power of our plans. He knew what we had to get done, and I was fully aware of it as well. We couldn't back down after coming so far. The safety of her was counting on it, and I refused to back down.

She was going to be fine. I would make sure of it.

TURNABOUT LIVE

END

Case four is done! Next week, it's time for case five!

-Digital