November 21
Defendant Lobby No. 6
9:30 AM
Lily Shield
The next morning brought with it all sorts of challenges, though I supposed in hindsight that I really shouldn't have been surprised. It wasn't as if the courthouse was going to treat me with any sort of dignity given the position I was in. It was unfortunate, but I couldn't really do much of anything about it. All I could do was rise to my feet and make my way down there in silence.
The drive to the courthouse was as boring as you would expect, and all I did was stare out the window and watch as the world rolled by mindlessly. Everything seemed to blur together, and I couldn't help but wonder and wish for when all of this would be over. I was desperate to talk to the defense team for the case, figuring that perhaps they would be able to offer me some sort of remedy from the aggravation of the night before. I needed a break from all of this, to say the least.
When I arrived, Deirdre, Yuri, and Victoria were already there. They were sitting on the couch in the defendant lobby, and they seemed to be talking about something important in hushed whispers. I didn't see any signs of Felicity or Sky, though that wasn't particularly surprising. I was sure that they were going to be coming to see the trial, but given how Felicity didn't seem to have any perception of the world outside of her own sense of scheduling, it was undoubtably fact that they were going to be late.
"What are you three talking about?" I questioned of the trio of women as I approached them. I tried to keep from fidgeting too much in my anxiety, though that was far easier said than done. I wanted to do something, anything, to stop thinking about all of this, but I didn't really have a choice. The waiting was agonizing, and I wanted to know what was happening as soon as possible.
"I'll give you one guess," Yuri said with a sigh and a shake of her head. "They just so happen to apparently hate talking to us about important issues, and it's incredibly frustrating to put up with." I looked down and saw that she had her phone in one hand, a clear sign that she had been waiting for another text from Mr. Morix or Chrysalis. I got the feeling that, based on the way she was talking, she hadn't heard anything. I hadn't been anticipating that they would respond, but it was still unfortunate given that they had been so distant ever since the case started.
"I'm sure that they're going to reply to us soon enough," Victoria told Yuri, placing a gentle hand of reassurance on the other girl's shoulder. Yuri glanced up at her before sighing, and Victoria maintained her nervous grin in an attempt to pacify the dramatic rage that Yuri was placing on full display.
"We don't know what to do about keys right now, but I think that it's pretty safe to say that we have no idea how the woman with red hair could have gotten into the agency," Deirdre explained once she was sure that Yuri wasn't going to be interrupting her. "It's something for us to consider as we go through this case. If it's true that the woman with red hair didn't take a key from anyone, then that means that she must have been given one on her own. That makes it all the more crucial that we talk to Mr. Morix and Chrysalis as soon as possible."
"I somehow doubt that either one of them would have lost their keys to the agency... This case was a locked room at a first glance, but it's starting to seem less and less like that as time goes on," Victoria murmured. "I mean, if the woman with red hair was able to get inside, bringing the man with white hair alongside her, then that opens up all sorts of possibilities for other people to have gotten into the building when nobody was paying attention. I understand that saying something like that is a bit dramatic, but... It's not as if there's anything else that we can say on the matter. We don't have enough proof about who all had the keys or who would have needed to steal one in order to get in."
"Both of them are super organized, so we can at least bring that up in the trial," Yuri commented with a shrug. "Everybody on the prosecution seems to know that too. Well, of course they know it. All three of them have been working with the agency for as long as I can remember the agency existing in the first place. We're going to have to consider who the woman with red hair is during the trial too... You know, unless we want to have to track down the victim using other methods on our own time. I don't know about what you guys think, but I believe that sounds absolutely dreadful."
I couldn't help but laugh as I nodded. "Yeah, I get that... I don't think I would want to do that either," I told her, trying to keep the atmosphere as light and cheerful as possible. Yuri starting off the conversation in a bad mood was certainly one way to get the discussion going, but I still wanted to try and cheer everybody up if it was possible.
"For now, we'll just be patient," Deirdre declared. "As for other aspects of this case that need our attention... I've been thinking quite a bit about the strange behavior from Prosecutor Lin yesterday. Not even Nevada appeared to know what was going on, and given how close Nevada seems to have become to her caretakers in the past few weeks... It's concerning that there was such a sudden change. Something must have spurred it on, and I'm positive that it has something to do with the candle that Mr. Morix was messing with when we were first investigating the scene of the crime."
"That was when she started to change her tune as far as our conversation was concerned, so it seems safe to say that it was involved with all of this," Victoria murmured. "I have to wonder if perhaps it could have anything to do with... You know... That. I mean, those three siblings have been at the center of that sort of business from the very beginning."
"Chrysalis is the centerpiece, and Mr. Morix is her right hand. Prosecutor Lin is understandably involved given the origins of such a thing too... She's got to be connected, but... If all of that is the case, then why would the three of them know about something that was kept from all of us?" Yuri questioned. "We're part of the group too, but we were left in the dark. I don't understand any of what's going on, and I don't think that any of you guys get it either. It sucks, because we should get it! Instead, we're left scrambling around in the dark because they aren't telling us anything!"
"They must have a reason for this," I told Yuri, trying to keep her drastic anger from getting the best of her. She slumped her shoulders, likely understanding that I had a point, as I continued talking. "All we can do for now is trust their judgement and wait to see what they uncover. I'm sure that they're trying to help us from behind the scenes. They wouldn't just leave us out to dry over something this important. They have a lot to consider with this issue, yes, but that doesn't mean that they're going to just abandon us. I'm sure that you know that, but I want to make it perfectly clear that we don't have anything to worry about."
"I know," Yuri grumbled, letting out a sigh and closing her eyes in contemplation. When she opened them again, she glanced over the defendant lobby before her gaze found the door. Her eyes shot open, and I could already tell what she was going to say before the words even left her lips. "Felicity and Sky are here! Act natural!"
I couldn't help but cringe at Yuri's attempts to get the conversation to end. In her desperation to 'act natural', she wound up making us all look tense and stilted, and it would have been clear as day to anyone who looked closely enough that we were hiding something. Then again, I supposed that I really shouldn't have been surprised. That was how Yuri was. Her emotions were as drastic and dramatic as possible, and she never hesitated to show it.
Felicity and Sky appeared beside me a few moments later, and I could tell from the way that Sky's hair was sticking out in every direction that he hadn't exactly been given as much time as he needed to get ready. Felicity, on the other hand, didn't appear to mind at all, so it became increasingly obvious to me that she was the cause of their tardiness. All was as I expected.
"What's up with you guys?" Felicity questioned with her usual air of optimistic chaos. She tucked her hands up behind her head, and another grin blossomed on her features. "I take it that you're still a bit frustrated that we haven't heard anything from Mr. Morix, huh?" She gestured down to Yuri's phone, and I realized that the younger girl was still grasping the device tightly between her tense fingers.
"You could certainly say that," Yuri muttered with a shake of her head. "But I guess that doesn't matter too much right now. What's going on with you two? Also, Sky, do you want a brush or something? I don't have one, but it certainly looks like you could use a bit more time to yourself."
"The alarm clock went off late," Sky sighed. "Felicity insisted that everything would be fine, but it was pure chaos as we tried to get ready. I didn't realize how awful my hair looked until after we had already left the house. I guess it's good that you guys are taking care of the defense while we're just watching." He let one hand rise to his red hair, and he began to comb his fingers through it. He winced whenever he accidentally caught a knot in his grasp, but he kept going regardless of the pain.
"There's nothing for you to fear," Victoria assured her. "We have everything under control for this case right now. I mean, we're going to need a few more bits of information before we can start to piece together the whole picture, but I still think that we're making good progress in showing that Lily couldn't have done it. The witness' insistence on seeing a woman and man walk into the agency long before Lily got there will make tis way easier."
"Of course, there are a few other things about the witness that could prove to be frustrating to negotiate with," Deirdre murmured. "There are a lot of strange things about the witness that I noticed when we were speaking with her. The fact that she has amnesia is one thing for us to factor in when considering this case, but her odd habits of staring off into space during conversation... That could prove difficult to work around if we aren't careful."
"We can't let her get away with using that as an excuse. That's what you're trying to say here, right?" Victoria questioned. Deirdre responded with a nod, and the two shared a brief glance before turning their attention back to the conversation at hand.
"For now, I guess that all we can really do is wait until after we're called into the courtroom... There are so many mysteries surrounding this case, and I don't know where to even begin on solving them right now. I mean, that's kind of the reason that the trial is being held in the first place, but..." Yuri's words trailed off, and she shook her head to banish any lingering doubts that plagued her mind. "We have solid footing to stand on to show that Lily didn't do it, and that's a really good place to start."
"The testimony about the existence of the man and woman who entered the agency is a great starting point, and we can go from there to figure out who they are and why they were present," Deirdre agreed. "It's a good thing for us, and all we have to do is use it effectively. If we can figure out who they were and what their motivations for going to the agency in the first place were, then we can hopefully spiral outwards from there and put the rest of the pieces together."
"If the woman with red hair really was the victim, then we should be able to hopefully find a way to learn her true identity. It's not as if red hair is particularly common, and since it's been a day, there's a chance that others will have figured out that she's missing. From there, we can see if Ms. Lesa believes that pictures of our mystery woman match the person she saw entering the agency, and that will make things way easier for us," Victoria declared. "But for now, we're just going to have to hope that the prosecution has figured something out that we can work with. It's not as if they're going to go out of their way to try and show that Lily did it. They have no reason to, and they believe that she's innocent just as much as we do. Having them on our side is going to make this easier as we try to figure out what's going on."
The cry of the bailiff kept us from discussing the case any further, and I let out a small sigh as a nervous smile appeared on my face. "It seems like the time has come for us to go and take care of this," I commented, trying to keep from looking as nervous as I felt. I had full confidence that the others in the agency had this under control, but that still didn't completely extinguish the anxiety that came with being the one in the defendant's chair. It was an unnerving experience, and I doubted that would ever change.
The rest of the group nodded, and we all bid each other farewell before going in our separate directions. This case was certainly turning out to be something special. I was sure that everyone would be able to handle this, but it didn't stop me from wondering what was going on with the woman and man who had entered the agency that morning. Who could they have been? Why were they there? What did they want? Only time would be able to tell though, and that meant I was back to waiting again.
I hated waiting.
November 21
Courtroom No. 6
10:00 AM
Deirdre Brigit
The inside of the courtroom was just what I had expected to see, and I allowed myself to settle into place without any issues. Yuri and Victoria did the same on either side of me, and I glanced around at the courtroom around us. I figured that checking our surroundings would be a nice thing to do to fill the time before we actually had to get down to business.
I saw that the judge on the case was Ophani Diaphan. She looked just as poised and elegant as ever, something that didn't surprise me in the slightest. Her face was also hiding behind its usual mask, and she was gripping loosely at the gavel needed for the trial. If she noticed that I was staring at her, she didn't show it. I wouldn't have been able to tell regardless; her mask simply made tracking eye movements difficult unless she did something drastic.
I checked out the prosecution's bench next, and I couldn't help but cringe when I saw that Chief Prosecutor Bespoke had the same hardened look in his eyes that I had seen the day before. If not for his regular look of leather, I never would have thought that he was the same person that I had always known. He was fiddling around nervously with something, and upon closer examination, I realized that it was a knife. It seemed that he was having trouble staying still, and I couldn't help but frown at the sight. Something was clearly bothering him, and I found myself curious as to what it could have been. If it was important to the case, it was going to come out one way or another, but it was still concerning to me for the time being.
The sharpness had spread over to Prosecutor Burke as well, but the change was far less noticeable given that she was regularly far more attentive than her coworker. She glanced down at Anton far more often than usual, and it was almost strange to see her so tense and upset while he remained just as quiet as he always had been. He almost seemed carefree, like he didn't fully comprehend the gravity of the situation that was weighing down his companions to such a degree.
Judge Diaphan hit her gavel against the podium before her, and I was pulled away from my thoughts immediately. "The trial of Lily Shield is now in session. Are the defense and prosecution ready?" she asked, looking back and forth between us. Her head tilted lightly so that I could track the movements of her eyes.
"The prosecution is ready," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke said bluntly. He wasn't wasting any time with formalities, it seemed. Once again, I felt a shiver sprint up my spine at the sight of him so tense and upset when he was regularly so relaxed. I couldn't help but wonder why he was involved with this case in the first place. After all, he was the chief prosecutor; he had far more important things to be doing than overseeing smaller trials, and yet, here he was.
"The defense is also ready," I confirmed after sharing a brief glance with Yuri and Victoria. They seemed just as determined as I was, but I could see that Victoria's gaze kept straying to the other side of the courtroom. It seemed that she was just as concerned about Chief Prosecutor Bespoke's sudden change in behavior as I was.
"Good," Judge Diaphan said with a curt nod. "Prosecution, please begin your opening statement at this time. Summarize the details of the case for the court." She set down her gavel and folded her hands before resting them carefully on the wooden podium before her.
Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. "The crime took place in Morix Law Offices. The defendant walked in when attempting to open the business for the day and saw that there was blood splattered on the floor. She called the police soon afterwards, and they arrived on the scene before deciding that she was suspicious due to her connection to the scene of the crime," he began.
"The crime was essentially a locked door case as far as we can tell," Prosecutor Burke declared, picking up where her coworker had left off. "There aren't many people who have access to keys that would let them enter the agency in question, and we can say confidently that the defendant is one of those people. We've been trying to track down those who have keys, and we haven't been able to find anyone who has a key and wouldn't have had an alibi for the time of the crime. It certainly paints her in a suspicious light."
"The victim's identity was unknown throughout much of the previous investigation, but we have reason to believe that the person who was attacked was one Eileen Liyle," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke told the court next. "We received an anonymous tip that she had gone missing around the time of the crime, and upon investigating it further, we learned that she was likely the one who was attacked."
"There's no way to say for sure if she was murdered or simply attacked. We haven't been able to find any traces of her either way, and that leaves us to wonder what could have taken place at the time," Prosecutor Burke continued. "We aren't sure about many of the details quite yet, but we can say that the victim is most likely Eileen Liyle. Her physical description happens to match the details that were offered by a witness from the time of the attack, and we can say rather confidently that she was at the very least involved with this case. We have no way of comparing her DNA to other samples unfortunately, but we're investigating other ways to confirm our suspicions."
"I don't like the sound of this anonymous tip thing," Yuri commented, nudging me gently with her elbow. "I feel like there's some funny business going on here, and we should be careful that it doesn't wind up biting us later... For all we know, the one who sent in the tip is responsible for all of this. Then again, I don't know why the culprit would have said something like that, but... I don't know what's going on, but I feel like you know what I'm talking about. This is fishy, and we should be careful of taking something like that at face value."
"I agree," Victoria nodded. "When we were taking care of the case at the school, we heard about an anonymous tip from an unknown figure who said that Mukuro did it. We never actually figured out who was responsible for that, but... They were wrong, and they really tilted the perspective of the case for a while there. It's weird that somebody unrelated to the case would have done a thing like that, but I agree with Yuri's suspicions. We need to be careful of getting sucked into this sort of thing."
"I understand," Judge Diaphan murmured. She seemed to be talking more to herself than any of us, and I recognized that this was a sign the opening statement had drawn to a close. "If that's all that you have to say about the case, then I suppose that you should go on and call your first witness to the stand. Prosecution, please proceed."
"The prosecution calls Vera Wattson to the witness stand," Prosecutor Burke declared. She snapped nonchalantly and pointed to the podium without a care in the world, but here eyes remained just as hard and sharp as before. I did my best to hold back a cringe, but I couldn't entirely contain it. There was something different about her, and I was positive that this newfound sense of fire had something to do with Chief Prosecutor Burke acting so unlike himself too.
Detective Wattson didn't take long to move up to the witness stand, and she had a somewhat relaxed smile on her face, a stark contrast from the odd way that the prosecutors were acting. She adjusted the edge of her jacket before sending her eyes up to the rest of us, and her expression softened when she saw us. I prayed this meant that she had good news for us.
"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Judge Diaphan instructed.
"My name is Vera Wattson, and I work as a homicide detective," Detective Wattson replied. "I'm looking over this case as well, and I've been called here to offer a few extra details about the crime."
"In that case, go right ahead," Judge Diaphan said next. She gave a gentle wave gesture to indicate that this was time to continue, and Detective Wattson took in a small breath before starting to talk about what had taken place.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ Details of the Crime ~
-"In all honesty, we really don't know that much about the crime. We don't even know if the victim is alive or not."
-"We believe that the victim must have been attacked by someone who had a key to the agency where the crime took place."
-"There were quite a few people who had keys to the scene of the crime, but all of them have alibis save for the defendant."
-"She was going there earlier than her coworkers to open the building for the day so that business could be conducted, and she was there alone."
-"It's very possible that she could have done something while she was waiting for others to arrive at the scene."
-"Without a body to check, we can't even say when the crime took place. No autopsy can be performed, so there's no way to say when the victim was attacked."
"That sure is cryptic," Yuri commented after Detective Wattson was finished talking. "I really don't know what I was expecting, but... It's still unfortunate to hear about. I was hoping that we would be able to hear a little something else about what happened, but it seems that simply wasn't meant to be."
"We'll just have to use what we know about the crime to poke holes elsewhere," Victoria told her, a smile on her face. "I'm not going to give in, especially not to the first obstacle. Besides, I think that we should be able to disprove this testimony relatively easily. We already have the evidence that we need to show that something else happened at the time."
I nodded my agreement. "Victoria is right. I believe that we'll be able to round off this segment of the trial without any issues. It will undoubtedly lead into the testimony of Ms. Lesa, though I don't know where we'll be going from there. It's a mystery, and we're going to need a few other pieces of evidence in order to figure out what happened at the time," I said.
"There are quite a few details missing from this case, it seems," Judge Diaphan remarked with a shake of her head. "We don't know if the victim is dead or alive. If the body was moved, why would a bloodstain be left behind? That would certainly point to the fact that something must have happened, and yet, it was allowed to remain. I thought that it should have been cleaned if the body was taken away for some reason or another."
"Without the body, we have no way of figuring out the time of the crime either," Detective Wattson said, shrugging to herself. "It's the one key detail that we need to find out in order to put together a cohesive timeline of the case."
"The defense is ready to begin its cross-examination of the testimony," I announced. I was more than ready to move towards the next part of the trial. Detective Wattson had a point, but that didn't mean that I wasn't going to try and state my piece while I could.
"In that case, go right ahead," Judge Diaphan told me. Her conversation with Detective Wattson died away as quickly as it had begun, and the courtroom fell silent. I gestured for Detective Wattson to repeat her testimony, and she began to without question.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ Details of the Crime ~
-"In all honesty, we really don't know that much about the crime. We don't even know if the victim is alive or not."
-"We believe that the victim must have been attacked by someone who had a key to the agency where the crime took place."
-"There were quite a few people who had keys to the scene of the crime, but all of them have alibis save for the defendant."
-"She was going there earlier than her coworkers to open the building for the day so that business could be conducted, and she was there alone."
-"It's very possible that she could have done something while she was waiting for others to arrive at the scene."
-"Without a body to check, we can't even say when the crime took place. No autopsy can be performed, so there's no way to say when the victim was attacked."
"Objection!"
"You say that there's no way for us to figure out when the crime took place, but we have witness testimony to state otherwise," I announced. "A witness for the case saw the victim enter the scene of the crime hours prior to the arrival of the defendant on the scene. She was alive and well up until that point."
"That is true... But we still don't know what point precisely she was attacked at in that timeframe," Detective Wattson replied. "If we knew that the crime took place prior to the defendant's arrival, then we would have a strong piece of evidence to say that she didn't do it. However, there's the possibility that the victim was hurt after the defendant arrived. She could have simply stayed in the building until the defendant arrived, and that would erase our idea of when the crime took place. As much as I hate to say it, there simply isn't enough evidence for us to latch onto the idea that the crime took place earlier in the morning."
"I believe that we should go on and hear from the witness in question," Judge Diaphan commented. "If the witness saw something so crucial, then we need to hear the testimony as soon as possible. There are too many gaps in the case's outline at the time for us to press on with this line of reasoning. The witness may be able to clear up a few things regarding this though."
"I agree," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. He gestured for Detective Wattson to step away from the witness stand, and she did so with a small nod in his direction. She returned to her place soon afterwards, and Chief Prosecutor Bespoke cleared his throat before pointing to the witness stand once again. "The prosecution now calls Razi Lesa to the witness stand."
Early update time!
-Digital