November 21
Prosecutor's Office
12:35 PM
Deirdre Brigit
As soon as I was sure that Mr. Morix wasn't going to be leaving, I nodded to myself and began to speak. "We were curious about the candle that was found at the scene of the crime. You picked it up and found something underneath it, and we were wondering if perhaps you would be willing to tell us what that thing was," I said. "It appeared to be an identification card of some sort. Would it happen to be involved with the case? Could it lead to more details being revealed regarding either the culprit or the victim?"
Mr. Morix was silent for a long time before he shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't answer that... Not yet," he told us carefully. "I want to tell you, but I just can't do it quite yet. I need a bit more time to flatten out the details regarding everything that's happened. Please forgive me for needing more time, but I'll tell you as soon as I'm able to explain what took place."
I saw Yuri's expression pinch out of the corner of my eye, and I could tell that she was on the verge of getting snappish with him. Before she had the chance to do so, I continued. "If you truly can't explain that to us, then I must ask you... Is there anything that you know of that connects you to the victim of this case? We believe that she had a key to enter the agency, and the witness even said as much. If there's something that you two have in common, we need to hear about it as soon as possible," I continued.
Mr. Morix hesitated before nodding. "Eileen Liyle does have her own key to the agency, yes," he eventually replied. He gave a brief glance to Prosecutor Cruz through his peripheral vision before he trained his gaze on me once again. I couldn't help but wonder why he had chosen to phrase it like that. It seemed like a strange way of answering the question, but at the same time, it wasn't as if Mr. Morix was known for being completely straight when it came to answers of this nature. In fact, he was the exact opposite a majority of the time.
"Then you do know her!" Yuri cried out, and I was grateful to see that her previous animosity seemed to have disappeared along the way. "In that case, could you please tell us about who the man with the white hair was? You know, assuming that you know him. How are you connected to the victim in the first place? We really don't know all that much about her, so any details that you can offer would be much appreciated."
"I don't know who the man with white hair was," Mr. Morix responded immediately. I could tell that he was being honest based on how effortless it was for him to make eye contact with me as he said it. "As for the victim herself... I suppose you could say that we're acquainted. She's a young defense attorney who's just been starting to break into the field. She's visited me roughly three times before to come and ask for tips about being an attorney, and I've answered her questions. There really isn't that much more to it." Once again, his gaze flickered to Prosecutor Cruz for a few crucial seconds before he could correct himself.
I couldn't help but frown at his words, and I resisted the urge to speak about my questions openly. If there really wasn't much of a connection between Ms. Liyle and Mr. Morix, then why did she have a key to the agency? It was an honor that was reserved exclusively for the people who worked at the agency along with a select few figures who Mr. Morix had come to trust deeply over many years of working together. There weren't many people who had keys to the building in the grand scheme of things, and I had to say that I found it strange that the victim of all people would have something like that even though none of us knew her. For the most part, all of the people who had keys already knew each other, and that connection had allowed us to narrow down the potential suspects regarding the keys significantly.
"Where have you been?" Victoria questioned next after a brief yet pointed pause. "We've been really curious about what you've been up to. It's like you just disappeared after leaving the case in Deirdre's hands, and... I guess you could say that we've been a bit concerned about this. It isn't like you to simply leave us with something that appears to be this significant. I would have expected you to take on the defense without a moment of hesitation."
"I'm afraid that something has been keeping my attention occupied, and it's made it difficult for me to look into matters regarding this case," Mr. Morix replied. "It isn't relevant right now, so you don't need to worry about it. I think that you should do everything that you can to focus on your investigation. You can come and talk to me a bit later on, and I'll see if I have any other details about the case figured out. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this is something I want to help you with. I'm not working against any of you even though I'm not directly alongside you. I want to find the truth behind this case, and you can count on that much no matter what."
I nodded slowly, trying my best to process his words while not seeming blatantly suspicious. "Is there anything else that you want to tell us?" I questioned. I left the implications open, but I suspected that he understood what I was trying to say. I wanted to know if there was anything else that he was holding back from us. If he truly was trying to collaborate with us, which I assumed he was, then there had to be something else that he was trying to keep secret.
Mr. Morix dug into his pocket and pulled something out. It was a small necklace, and I recognized it as the one that he had picked up from the scene of the crime. He unfurled his fingers to show off the charm in question, confirming my suspicions seamlessly. He let me stare at it for a moment longer before shoving it back out of view and taking a step away. "I'll tell you if there's anything else that I happen to find out along the way. Until then, I'm wishing you all luck in the investigation. It was nice seeing you," he said. His voice was almost ominous in its calmness, almost as if it was the eye of an unknown storm that was brewing within this case. I frowned to myself, but I didn't openly comment on it, knowing that it probably wouldn't get me anywhere in this particular moment.
We all watched and waited as Mr. Morix left behind the Prosecutor's Office. Prosecutor Cruz crossed his arms and let out a small puff of air. "If you ask me, there's definitely something going on here," he remarked. "Then again, I suppose that it's easy enough to pick up on that if you know him at all. It's clear as can be that there's something else on his mind, and I don't know if it's related to this case or not."
"The necklace that he was holding was certainly the one that he picked up from the scene of the crime... But I still don't know how that ties in with everything," I murmured. "I feel like it has to be a message of some kind, but what could it possibly indicate? Then there's the matter of the identification card... He seemed pretty insistent on hiding it from us, and I feel like something of that nature has to be rather important. If it was meant to help show who somebody at the crime scene was, then it seems like pretty important evidence... Do either of you have any theories on what it could possibly mean?"
Victoria let out a gasp, and her eyes began to shine. I could tell that an idea had planted itself in her head, so I turned in her direction to listen attentively. "I know that this is sort of a strange thing for me to say, but... What if the identification card that he found happens to be for Ms. Liyle?" she questioned. "This is weird, but bear with me for a second. We still don't know who sent in the anonymous tip about who the victim was. What if Mr. Morix was the one who said that she was the one who got hurt? That means that he probably used that identification card to say for sure that she was the one who was attacked."
I nodded to myself. I had to admit that her logic made sense, but there was one thing that nagged at me. "If that's the case, then that means that all of this had to be somewhat staged... Think about it. The identification card was hiding underneath a candle, and somebody would have had to manipulate the objects at the scene of the crime in order to make it appear the way that it did," I commented.
Yuri's expression broke out into a grin. "I think that only one person would have had the time and place to set up something like that, and it answers one of the key questions behind this case that has been causing us so many problems in the first place," she said. "The victim would have been able to do this. Why would the culprit go to all that trouble and leave he blood on the floor at the scene of the crime? Ms. Liyle must have set all of this up after the culprit was already gone. That means that she survived the attack and is out there somewhere."
"I was under the assumption that this was a murder case," Prosecutor Cruz commented, quirking an eyebrow in our direction. "It seems like a lot of important cases these days fall into that category. You mean to say that not only is the victim alive, but she staged all of this to some degree for unknown reasons? It sounds to me like something weird is going on behind the scenes here."
"Why would the victim do all of this though?" Victoria asked. "I don't understand it at all... If she was really attacked, which she clearly was, you would expect her to want to report it as soon as possible so that she wasn't hurt again. Instead, she went into hiding and has been keeping all of this secret from the rest of the world... I just don't understand it. There has to be a reason for this, but I don't know what it could be."
"If she is out there, then that means that her injury wasn't enough to kill her," I remarked, though that seemed rather obvious given the circumstances. "She has to be hiding somewhere. I can't imagine that she's simply wandering out in the open with a wound like that, so we're going to have to keep an eye out. I somehow doubt that she's just going to walk out and start to talk to us if she decided to go into hiding in the first place, but I'm still thinking that something has to be going on here."
"We'll just have to find a way to unravel the truth behind this case. If the victim is insistent on hiding her location and what happened to her, then we'll simply drag it out," Yuri declared. "It's not as if we're going to have much of an option in the matter. After all, the words of our witness are only going to get us so far. We need something else to latch on to if we're going to figure out what really happened to the victim. What we have so far just isn't enough since the man with white hair is so difficult for us to find."
"A man with white hair?" Prosecutor Cruz repeated, raising an eyebrow in one direction. "I'm going to hazard a guess here and say that you aren't talking about me, but you've mentioned this man a few times, and I have to say that I'm starting to get a little bit suspicious about it."
"The witness of this case saw the victim entering the scene of the crime, the agency, alongside a man with white hair. He was notably pale as far as we can tell, and we believe that he was the one responsible for the attack," I explained. "We don't know anything about him beyond that though. We can say that he followed the victim into the agency, but we don't have any other details."
"Speaking of the witness, I have to say that something about Ms. Lesa still bothers me," Victoria confessed. "And I'm positive that it isn't just me who feels like there's something off about her. You have to have noticed it too, right? Everything about her just seems strange. It's like she isn't paying attention but is at the same time. I get the feeling that she knows a bit more than she's letting on, and I somehow get the feeling that her supposed twisted ankle is somehow involved with all of this."
"I got the same feeling," Yuri agreed. "Then again, I don't have any solid evidence to back it up, but I'm positive that there's just something off about her. In a way, I guess that she feels oddly familiar. There's always something shiny over the upper half of her face too. I guess that she has glasses or something. I don't know." Her shoulders formed a jerky shrug before slipping back into a natural position.
"I can't help but wonder if perhaps her issues with amnesia are tied in with this case at all," I murmured. "It certainly wouldn't surprise me if that was the truth. But how would her losing her memory be involved with something of this nature? If the culprit truly did turn his attention towards her, then you would expect there to be some traces of it. Instead, there's nothing to be found, and it leads me to believe that something is going on here that we aren't aware of."
"Even if we don't know much about her quite yet, we can at least take comfort in the fact that we were able to get at least a little bit of information out of Mr. Morix, and I really do think that his wording during our brief conversation is going to wind up being important," Victoria said confidently. "It simply has to be... He said some things in a rather strange way, and I believe that it's important for us to find any clues left behind there. If he won't tell us anything directly, then we'll just have to dig for the details when he isn't looking."
"He said that Ms. Liyle has her own key to the agency instead of simply answering yes to the question that we asked... I don't think I'm overthinking this when I say that I feel like that has to be important somehow. Why would he go out of his way to say something like that instead of taking the easy way out? That could be a clue to explain their connection, especially given that the victim really didn't seem to be all that close to him," Yuri declared.
"I agree," I announced with a nod. "It's only a matter of time before we learn the true connection between Mr. Morix and the victim. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to paint a picture for us that we never could have seen coming... Something about all of this just strikes me as odd. I can't help but wonder what the truth behind Mr. Morix's connection to her could be. I get the feeling that it's more than simply a matter of him mentoring her. If she was really so important to him, then we would have met her before now. Instead, we have someone who we don't know having a key to the agency, and that doesn't sit well with me at all."
Yuri snorted to herself and crossed her arms. "Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions here, but we might wind up having more luck with talking to Chrysalis. I mean, she and Mr. Morix are super close, and if he won't tell us anything, then we might be able to get something out of her. Of course, that's not a guarantee since she's just as cagey as he is sometimes, and arguably, she can get worse," she remarked. "Still, I guess that there's no reason that we can't try it. There are so many people acting strangely in this case, but we still haven't seen her anywhere, and that's one of the oddest things of all in my opinion. Why would she just disappear when the agency, a very important location to both her and her brother, has been placed in danger this way?"
"Why don't you call her really fast? If she picks up, then we'll find a way to get in contact with her physically," Victoria suggested. Yuri nodded her understanding and began to tap around on her phone, and all of us watched her intently.
I was the one who broke the silence eventually, understanding that watching Yuri with such a critical gaze wasn't going to help anyone. We were going to have to take a step back and give her space to keep her from getting stressed. I had come to understand how Yuri operated over the years, and I believed this to be for the best.
"In any case, I believe that another important thing for us to do is speak with Ms. Lesa. Perhaps we can pinpoint her specific location in the area," I pointed out. "If we find her near the agency, then she can show us the place where she was hiding when she saw the victim and culprit walk into the building together."
"Sounds perfect to me," Victoria nodded. "I think that there's something going on with her too... What could have caused her to lose her memory? It's strange... She seems to be perfectly fine with talking to us about the case, but there's still the weird cutoff point of what happened before the day of the crime. There has to be a reason behind that."
"The fact that we still don't know her true identity is concerning as well," I said next. "If she went missing upon losing her memory, then it would stand to reason that at least one person would notice that she was gone. From there, it would be reported, and it would have been possible for the truth of her identity to come to light. Instead, she's still using the fake name that she came up with at the start of the case because she doesn't know anything about who she really is. It's odd, and I feel like this is certainly something that we're going to have to put a bit more of our attention to if we want to hear the truth behind it."
Yuri let out a frustrated huff of a sigh, and she let her phone drop back into her pocket before she crossed her arms. Prosecutor Cruz shook his head, and I could tell that he had picked up on the same thing that the rest of us had. "She didn't answer," he concluded. Yuri nodded her response, and Prosecutor Cruz shoved his hands into his pockets as he watched the floor intently. I got the feeling that he was trying to come up with an explanation for this, though I doubted that he would get very far given that he didn't know Chrysalis anywhere near as well as the rest of us did.
There were a lot of things that he, and the rest of the world, weren't aware of, and it was best that it stayed that way.
"Of course she didn't answer," Yuri muttered bitterly. "This is the time where we need her most, but she's abandoned us... I guess that she and Mr. Morix are off doing their separate things, and they're trying to keep us from finding out anything that could potentially get in the way of whatever they're investigating. I bet that it's involved with the case, and chances are they're working towards the same goal on their own terms. It wouldn't surprise me given the way that they function. They were working alone as a duo for a long time before I started working at the agency alongside my older sister years ago."
"For now, the most that we can do is turn our attention towards the witness and see if we can learn anything more about her strange behavior," I suggested. I turned my attention towards Prosecutor Cruz and smiled. "Thank you for everything today. I really do appreciate getting the chance to talk to you again."
"It's no problem," Prosecutor Cruz shrugged. "Next time that you come by here though, you should come and see me no matter how busy you are. Plus, I want to set up a time that Kiki can come over to play with Diablo. I'm sure that she'd love him."
Yuri snorted at the name of Prosecutor Cruz's dog after recognizing Kiki as the name of the animal living in my home. "You named a blonde chihuahua Diablo?" she questioned. She didn't even bother trying to hide her laughter. When he shot her a stony glare, Yuri began to attempt to calm herself. "Okay, okay... I'll leave it alone, but only if I get to come and meet him one day too! It's so cute when he shoves his face in the blanket!"
Prosecutor Cruz sighed in resignation and shook his head at Yuri's antics. "Yeah, sure," he muttered, though I could tell that this was just his way of getting her off his back. Perhaps her chaos was just a bit much for him. "In any case, I'll see you later. Good luck finding out more about the attack. I'll be sure to tell you if anything weird happens around here."
"Thank you," I told him, a beaming smile on my face still. I waved as he disappeared in the nearby elevator, and I found myself fondly watching the place where he had been until I felt a tugging sensation on my sleeve.
When I looked down, I could see that Yuri was watching me with her regular devilish eyes. She raised her eyebrows in my direction, and the silent implication was that I had enjoyed talking with Prosecutor Cruz far more than I should have. I rolled my eyes solely so that I didn't have to maintain eye contact with her any longer than I had to. Yuri was terrible when it came to respecting the privacy of others, a clear contrast from the habits that I had created regarding giving people their space. I should have known that she would immediately respond this way when she learned about my meetings with Prosecutor Cruz outside of work.
"Let's just get back to the agency," I told her, doing my best to keep her from getting any other ideas. That was an added layer of chaos that I simply wasn't ready to handle, so I made my way towards the door. I ignored the blatant snickering coming from Yuri, but I had to admit that I liked hearing Victoria laugh at our banter given how tense she normally was. I took in a deep breath and allowed the peace of the moment to take over my mind. For just a little while, I knew that everything was going to be okay. The case was still a mess, but at least I had the others to rely on.
November 21
Morix Law Offices
1:55 PM
Victoria von Graye
The agency was just as messy as it had been when we were last there. The only notable difference was that the crowd of officers investigating the scene had thinned out slightly. I scanned the area with a frown on my face, trying to figure out if anything that I should have noticed had changed. It was hard to tell at a first glance, I have to admit.
There was one shift that caught my eye a few moments after we arrived, and I frowned before nudging Deirdre with my elbow. "Hey... Is it just me, or is Detective Umber here?" I questioned, pointing one finger in the direction of the woman in question.
Of all of the people that I had expected to be here, Detective Umber had to be one of the last. She was standing against the side of the building and scrolling through her phone, a concerned glaze over her eyes. I had to admit that it was unsettling to see her this way, and I remembered her peculiar behavior from the previous case. She had been acting off throughout that investigation too, and it had seemed like she was thinking about something that was a million miles away. We never did figure out what was bothering her though, so I wound up just dropping it when we figured out that Nevada was the culprit. We didn't have much of a choice given how confrontational and dodgy she was being about it all.
"She looks happy," Yuri said sarcastically. "I do have to say that I wonder why she's here too... She wasn't here yesterday, and she isn't involved with the investigation of this case as far as I can tell. Detective Wattson and Detective Erikson were the ones leading the search of the scene last I checked, and I find it weird that she would just show up here without a reason."
"For all we know, she does have a reason," Deirdre pointed out. "We should talk to her before we allow ourselves to be carried away in theorizing. She must have come here to accomplish something, and I believe that finding out what that specific thing is could help our case significantly."
I nodded my agreement and started to walk in her direction. Detective Umber didn't even seem to notice that we were there, and she continued to watch her phone carefully. She seemed beyond worried, almost as if she had learned something that pushed her into paranoia. It wasn't until after Yuri coughed and raised one hand to her chest to get Detective Umber's attention that the woman bothered to look up.
Detective Umber, to be frank, looked as if she had seen a ghost whenever she caught our eyes. She let out a yelp of surprise and fumbled with her phone, almost dropping it onto the concrete below. I was thankful for both her quick fingers and her tough case to ensure that the phone didn't completely splinter on impact. She was breathing heavily when she recovered fully, and she allowed her phone to find a home in her purse. It was a small bag that hung over her shoulders and swung back and forth when she rocked on her feet.
"Hello," Detective Umber finally managed to say when she had somewhat regained her composure, though I could tell that she was still heavily under the influence of her own adrenaline. She coughed to try and cover up her nerves. "What are you three doing here?" After a brief pause, she let out a sigh and deflated like a balloon. "Wait, Abilene! Don't be stupid! They work here, and they're on the case!"
I glanced over to Deirdre, unable to say aloud that I was shocked by this sudden shift but clearly showing it in my eyes. I could tell that she was feeling the same, and it wouldn't have surprised me if Yuri had picked up on it as well. This was different from even the way that she had been acting during the previous case. Our agency had come into contact with her on multiple occasions now, but she hadn't ever been like this. She didn't seem to be able to calm herself down, and I knew that I wasn't the only one who found this sudden change to be unsettling.
"We were wondering what brought you here," Deirdre explained, and Detective Umber nodded her understanding. "Are you alright? It seems to me like you're somewhat distracted by something, and you seem so nervous... Is there anything we can do to help?"
Detective Umber shook her head and gave us a nervous and shaky thumbs-up. "Nope! Absolutely nothing is going on here! I'm as fine and dandy as can be!" she cried out. She only put her hand back by her side when she saw a change in our gazes that said we wouldn't be pressing the matter. "I guess that you're here to investigate the case... I am too. Well, sort of. I just got curious about everything that's been happening, and I decided that I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help out with this investigation."
"I see," I murmured. "Is there anything that you can tell us about the case that might be helpful? If you tell us something that can be of use, perhaps we can fill in the gaps in your knowledge of the case."
Detective Umber hesitated before nodding. "Yeah... I do want to talk about the case," she replied, and I cringed upon noticing that she had blatantly avoided the question that had been posed. Something was certainly going on with her, and I wanted to know what it was. The source of her sudden confusing behavior was undoubtedly far from good, and I was determined to figure out what it could have been.
Abilene is a disaster and I love her
-Digital