February 13
Prosecution Lobby
12:30 PM
Roberto Shield
Not many people beat me to the prosecution lobby since I was insistent upon getting through the crowd as quickly as possible. I had business to take care of when it came to preparing the next witness, one Buff Guiy, so that he could testify when court went back into session.
I was pretty much alone when I arrived in the lobby not long after the judge adjourned the session. There were only two people ahead of me, and they appeared to be arguing, from what I could tell. Ms. Willows was standing beside a man that had around a foot of height on her. He was about as tall as Mr. Morix, if not a little bit shorter. He was much more muscular than the lawyer was, however, which set them apart from one another rather easily.
Ms. Willows looked as if she was about to cry. Her arm had been grabbed roughly by the man, who I assumed was Buff Guiy. I couldn't see his face very well, but I could guess from his shape. He had the same muscles as the man I had spoken to before about the crime, which would make sense. He had dark hair and light brown hair with blue eyes, though his hair and eyes were being hidden from the rest of the world since he was wearing a dark hoodie. He had dark blue athletic shorts on with tennis shoes of white and black. His socks reached his ankles and were white.
"I-I'm sorry! I just couldn't keep lying! P-Please don't hurt me!" Ms. Willows cried out, struggling to get away from Mr. Guiy. He had a firm grip on her wrist and wasn't going to be letting go anytime soon. I could tell that she was in pain because of the expression on her face.
"Is something wrong here?" I asked, approaching the two with my arms crossed. "If something is the matter, you can tell me about it directly."
The man instantly let go of Ms. Willows' wrist. She began to rub it. I could see the scar on it from where she had supposedly been cut by Mr. Guiy at the time of the crime. As of now, we couldn't say for sure where it had come from, but the chances seemed slim to me that it had come from anybody other than Mr. Guiy.
"Th-Thank you, Prosecutor Shield," Ms. Willows told me, dashing up to me. I could tell that she was still a bit nervous. She crouched down and picked up her fan from the ground, which I assumed had been dropped in the struggle between her and Mr. Guiy.
"No problem, Ms. Willows," I said simply. She nodded in my direction thankfully before dashing away. I wasn't sure where she was headed off to, but she seemed in a hurry to get there. I suspected that she had been wanting to talk to me before we went back into court, as there would be no other reason for her to be in the prosecution lobby instead of the defendant lobby, but was scared off after Mr. Guiy grabbed her. I couldn't really blame her. Mr. Guiy was a foot taller than her and seemed to be rather threatening, especially for someone so much smaller than him.
"Prosecutor Shield," Mr. Guiy said when he realized that I was there. He watched Ms. Willows go before turning my direction once again. "You wanted to prepare me for the trial so I could testify?"
"Yes. But first, I want to ask you something. Why were you being so rough with her?" I demanded of him, my eyes going narrow. I wasn't fond of people who used violence to control people, which meant that I already didn't like Mr. Guiy. If he kept this sort of behavior up, I was going to have to stop standing up for him. I had meant to at the start, as that was a part of my job, but I was starting to think that he simply didn't deserve it.
"That's none of your business," Mr. Guiy huffed. He glared at me before crossing his arms.
"I think that it is my business, as a matter of fact," I told him. "You're going to tell me the reason for that and you're going to tell me now."
Mr. Guiy watched me for a moment before letting out a sigh. I could tell that he was irritated. "Fine. I was mad that she was spreading lies about me during the trial. Can you blame me? She was going to do something to have me convicted of a murder that I didn't commit. That blonde kid did it. There's no doubt in my mind. I know for sure that he did. If he didn't do it, though, it must have been that girl. She seems suspicious, spouting lies about me in court... Isn't that illegal?"
"Yes, but we don't know for sure if she was lying yet. We'll see after court goes back into session if she was really lying, Mr. Guiy. Please try to calm down, will you?" I asked of him. I definitely wasn't his biggest fan. I had always known that Anton was innocent, since I had seen him around the Prosecutor's Office quite a bit. He worked alongside Ms. Burke, one of the best prosecutors in the district. I knew that he would never be able to commit a crime, much less murder. He's far too sweet to do such a thing. On top of that, in this case in particular, he wouldn't have been able to do kill the victim. She was much larger than him back when she was still alive, which meant that she would have been able to pummel him if she had chosen to. She had a little bit of muscle on her too, which would only work in her favor further.
"Fine," Mr. Guiy grumbled. "What do you need to say to me so I can say what happened in court?"
February 13
Defendant Lobby No. 1
12:35 PM
Polly Burke
After court was adjourned, I headed to the defendant lobby. If I had been on this case, I would have gone the other way, but that wasn't how things worked out. I had thought for a little while about taking this case just so I could make sure Anton didn't end up in prison, but I didn't get the chance to. Ghastly had already assigned somebody to the case by the time I had heard about this.
I headed over to Cotoli when I got the chance. His new helper, Lily, I think her name was, needed a breath of fresh air away from the crowd, so she was sitting on the couch nearby. I could have sworn I recognized the girl that had approached her, but I didn't say anything. If it was who I thought it was, then it was best if I stayed away.
Anton attached himself to my arm as soon as he saw me. I hugged him close and began to stroke his hair. He wasn't in a talking mood, and quite frankly, I can't really blame him, so I didn't push anything out of him. I held him to my chest for a few seconds before letting him go. We watched as Cotoli smiled to himself lightly at our embrace. Cotoli liked our softer moments, likely since I rarely showed a side like that.
"Um... Mr. Morix?"
A tap on Cotoli's shoulder had him turning around. It was Ms. Willows. She looked to be about Anton's age, now that I looked a bit closer. She had a young face to me, so I figured that was the case. Plus, I knew that she was about Venus' age from her testimony. Venus had been eighteen when she died, so it would make sense if she was about Anton's age since he was only a year younger than Venus.
"Is something wrong?" Cotoli asked of her. The height difference between the two was wild to see up close. Ms. Willows practically had to crane her neck all the way back just to meet his eyes.
"I-I'm sorry for lying during the trial today... I know that it was an awful thing of me to do... I won't do it again," Ms. Willows said. Her eyes flashed something akin to determination, but I didn't dwell on it. There was another thing on my mind, namely the threat that she had mentioned in her testimony.
"Don't worry about it. I understand that the situation was rough for you. I can't really blame you for acting that way out of fear. I'm positive that nearly everybody else would have done the same," Cotoli assured her. "Hopefully, we'll be able to use your testimony to find him guilty of the crime, though. Your statements seemed to say it loud and clear that he was the one who did it. I doubt that the judge can think you were lying, especially since he seems to find you so sweet."
Ms. Willows' cheeks went pink at this statement. "Th-Thank you for not being mad... I was thinking that you were going to be really irritated with me for having lied to you for so long... It would have been best if I had just told you the truth. I see that now," she said.
"Don't worry about it. Cotoli here is very forgiving. I'm sure that he doesn't mind it a bit," I told her. I smirked his way, to which he responded with a sigh.
"She's right," Cotoli told her next. "I can't really stay mad at most people for long."
"That's good to hear... You sort of startled me a little bit at first. But... I think that Prosecutor Shield was a bit more terrifying. He looked like he was going to bite somebody's head off at the first opportunity. I'm just glad that he didn't end up taking his anger out on me." Ms. Willows let out a light laugh, but I could tell that it was forced. It didn't take a genius to be able to tell that much. Judging from the way that Anton squeezed my arm, which he was still holding tight to, he noticed it as well.
"I doubt that he'd do something like that to you. He looks threatening, but he rarely ever carries out any of his threats unless somebody does something horrible. If he knows that you were doing this since you were threatened, and I'm positive that he does, he won't get angry with you," I assured her.
"You sure are nice to me... I did a lot wrong today, but I'm going to make up for it. I hope that what I've said so far will help to prove that the other guy did it, the one who called the police... I saw him lighting the car on fire, so I highly doubt that anybody else could have committed the crime. Plus, he would have no reason to do something like that if he wasn't trying to get rid of evidence," said Ms. Willows.
"I doubt that as well," I agreed with a small nod. Speaking of reasoning behind things, there was one thing that I needed to ask Cotoli about before we went back into the courtroom so the trial could resume. I nudged him gently, which caused him to look over and meet my eyes. "What are you going to do about motive? You'll need to prove that he had a motive before you can say that he did it conclusively. I'm sure that the judge will be getting on you for that if you aren't able to prove anything."
"I wouldn't be surprised if the same motive for Anton, the one proposed by Prosecutor Shield, applied to this man as well. If he had seen the online forum that accused Venus of being the Oracle of the Law, then I'm sure that he would have reacted with violence. I don't know him very well, but from what Ms. Willows has brought up, he seems to be lacking in temper, which wouldn't eliminate that possibility at all. In fact, it only makes it more likely. The judge will hopefully see that after observing his behaviors," Cotoli explained.
"I'm sure that you're right," I nodded. "If he grabbed a young girl and cut her hand open just because she saw him doing something suspicious, it wouldn't surprise me. But if he really is as short-tempered as he seems, then it shocks me that Ms. Willows even got out of that alive."
"I-I'm surprised too... He didn't seem like the type of person to let me get away after I saw him do something like that... I just... I hope that he gets locked up for killing Venus... She had her whole life ahead of her... Her birthday was in a few days... She was going to be turning nineteen... This autumn, she was set to be attending a local university... He ruined her life all because of some stupid online rumor...!" Ms. Willows whispered. Her voice grew more intense and more angry with each sentence. I could sense her unhappiness with the whole situation. I felt bad for her after hearing about all she had gone through in the past day. She wasn't much older than Anton, so she must have been just a child. Disgusting.
"We'll be able to catch him. I promise you," Cotoli told her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. Ms. Willows gasped under her breath and looked up to meet his eyes. He shot her a supportive smile, which she returned. She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. I hadn't noticed before, but tears were welling up in her eyes. This was definitely taking its toll on her.
"I'm surprised that you two haven't ever met, honestly," I said. "If Venus worked for you, Cotoli, and Ms. Willows was her close friend, then how have you two not seen each other before now?"
"W-We have met, actually... But it's a long story that I don't want to get into..." Ms. Willows explained to me. I understood what she meant in less than a second. I nodded solemnly to her, showing that I had caught on to what she was trying to tell me.
"Defense! Defendant! It's time to return to the courtroom!"
Upon hearing the cry of the nearby bailiff, our conversation came to a halt. "I-I'll see you inside, Mr. Morix..." Ms. Willows said before dashing off. She was fast for having such short legs, I have to admit.
"Let's go," I told Cotoli before turning to Anton. "Don't worry. You'll be out of the detention center before the end of the day. I promise."
Anton rubbed his eyes and nodded before walking into the courtroom. I felt my heart ache for him, but I didn't get the chance to comfort him before we were forced to part ways.
February 13
Courtroom No. 1
12:50 AM
Cotoli Morix
"Court is back in session for the trial of Anton Burke," Judge Frost declared once we had arrived in the courtroom. "I trust that the prosecution has prepared its witness so that his testimony may be presented for the court."
"Yes, Your Honor," Prosecutor Shield said with a nod. "Guiy! It's time for you to head on up!"
At his words, a muscular man approached the witness stand. He had dark hair and slightly tanned skin. His eyes were dark as well. He had a hoodie on with athletic shorts and tennis shoes. I noticed that there was a duffel bag strapped over one shoulder. It looked to be rather heavy, but I couldn't quite tell what was inside. I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to know, so I didn't say anything to ask him about it. He would have been stopped at the gates of the courthouse if there was something dangerous inside.
"Please state your name and occupation for the court, witness," Judge Frost instructed of him, looking down at the witness with narrowed eyes. "Your testimony is going to be very important. The previous witness has accused you of murder, so I ask that you take this as seriously as you can. It could put you or another man in prison, so it must be as solemn as possible."
"I understand," the man said. He flexed one of his arms, showing off his muscles. I could tell that he was strong just by looking at him. Even if his arms were mostly hidden by the fabric of his hoodie, it was rather obvious. "My name is Buff Guiy. I work as a physical education teacher at a school near here. And yes, ladies, I am single." He winked in the direction of the gallery. I could have sworn that I heard a few young ladies swoon. I could not understand why. I was attracted to guys too, but I still didn't think that he looked that attractive. Maybe I was biased because of the words of Ms. Willows, but I didn't really see what they were on about.
"You will tell the court what you saw the day of the crime, Mr. Guiy," Judge Frost instructed harshly. I could tell that he was not in a good mood and that he was suspicious of the witness like I was. Not even Prosecutor Shield seemed to be too particularly fond of him, but maybe that was just me.
"Alright," Mr. Guiy nodded. He continued to flex his muscles, staring at them with infatuation. I could tell that he wasn't the biggest fan of testifying as well, which would explain why he hadn't yet started. About ten seconds passed of him just staring at himself in silence before he looked up to the judge. "But before I say anything, I want you to know that the one who did it is that little blonde kid, the one in the defendant's chair. I swear it on my life."
I looked up at Ms. Willows. She was sitting in the gallery above Prosecutor Shield. Judging by the nervous look she was giving me, she thought that he was the killer as well. Her testimony had made it loud and clear that he was guilty in at least some way.
"Just say what you saw. Leave your personal opinions and views out of it," Prosecutor Shield said. He was messing with the red scarf around his neck. I got the feeling that was a nervous habit of his.
"Got it," Mr. Guiy nodded.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ What I Saw ~
-"The first thing I noticed when I found the crime scene was that the black-haired girl was sitting on the ground crying."
-"She had her face buried in her hands, upset about some happening or another."
-"The defendant kid was sitting next to her. I saw some blood on his hands. I was sure of it."
-"Since there was blood on him, that means that he must have done it!"
-"See? I told you that the little kid was the killer! There's no other explanation for blood being on his hands!"
"After you saw this scene, you called the police, correct?" Prosecutor Shield questioned of him.
"I did do that, good sir. I am a law-abiding citizen, so I did what any other honest man would do. Somebody had died, so I had to do something about that," Mr. Guiy explained.
"May the defense begin its cross-examination now?" I asked, looking up to the judge. I already knew what the contradiction was. It was just a matter of pointing it out to the court.
"Go right ahead, Mr. Morix," Judge Frost nodded.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ What I Saw ~
- "The first thing I noticed when I found the crime scene was that the black-haired girl was sitting on the ground crying."
-"She had her face buried in her hands, upset about some happening or another."
-"The defendant kid was sitting next to her. I saw some blood on his hands. I was sure of it."
-"Since there was blood on him, that means that he must have done it!"
-"See? I told you that the little kid was the killer! There's no other explanation for blood being on his hands!"
"Objection!"
Once I had found the paper that I was looking for, I began to read off it. "The previous witness, one Shayla Willows, told the court that she had been cut on the back of the hand by you, Mr. Guiy. Your testimony was lacking in that little detail, I noticed," I told him.
"Because she was obviously lying! Maybe she's trying to protect that blonde kid or something! You never know what goes through people's minds!" Mr. Guiy exclaimed.
"I doubt that she would try to lie and protect him, regardless of how close they were. If she thought that he was a killer, the chances of her trying to protect him are extremely slim," I said. "On top of that, wouldn't you find that a bit odd?"
"Odd?" Prosecutor Shield echoed. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean."
"According to Ms. Willows' testimony, she was the first one to find the crime scene. She was alone there at the time when the defendant appeared. Wouldn't it be strange of the defendant to appear again at the scene after she had already arrived with blood on his hands? It wouldn't make much sense and would only make him out to be more guilty," I explained. "It would do nothing but hurt him once the case went to court."
"Maybe he just forgot the blood was on his hands," Mr. Guiy suggested. I could tell that he was starting to get stressed. The tension in his shoulders was rather obvious.
"I doubt someone could forget something like that. Plus, if he stabbed someone, blood wouldn't just be on his hands. The spray would get all over his clothes, but you didn't mention anything like that. If you ask me, it's a sign that he didn't kill the victim. Nothing was found nearby that he could have used to hide the blood. The scene was searched thoroughly by police. Plus, he wouldn't have been able to take it with him since the police said that he was with them from the time when the crime scene was found to when he was arrested," I continued. "Basically, the defendant killing the victim is as good as impossible! Your claim that the blood on his hands must have belonged to the victim means nothing in proving his guilt since it is nothing short of impossible for him to have done it!"
"Wow! You thought of everything, Mr. Morix!" Lily exclaimed from my side. Her eyes were lit up with excitement. "You really do seem like the best lawyer in town, if you ask me!"
My face flushed red at her statement. "Th-Thanks, Lily..." I murmured, grinning to myself.
"Then... If the blood on the defendant's hands didn't come from the victim, where did it come from?!" the judge cried out. "You had better be able to explain that, Mr. Morix!"
"Before you try and suggest it, the blood was found on his hands when he was arrested as well. It is unknown who it belonged to, but it wasn't the victim's blood. Forensics tested it after he was found at the scene of the murder," Prosecutor Shield told me.
"The origin of the blood is rather simple, actually," I explained to the court. "Let us refer back to the testimony of the previous witness. She said that her hand was cut open by the witness here. If blood was found on the hands of the defendant, I think that means that her claim is validated. There was no other blood at the scene of the murder besides the victim's and Ms. Willows' blood. This means that the blood must have belonged to her! There simply isn't any other solution!"
"How would her blood have gotten onto that kid's hands though!?" Mr. Guiy yelled angrily. A few beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. "That makes no sense! The blood was on her, not him!"
"It could have easily been on both of them, Mr. Guiy," I said next. "Imagine what you would do if you saw a girl crying and bloodied on the ground. You'd go to her and try to help, wouldn't you?"
"Y-Yes, I would. It's only the humane thing to do, I believe," Judge Frost replied. "Oh! So that's what you think the defendant did after he arrived at the scene of the crime?"
"Exactly," I nodded. "It would explain where the blood came from as well as why it didn't match the blood that was found on the victim. It must have come from the previous witness, Shayla Willows. And do you know what that means?"
"I-I think I get it..." Lily whispered from next to me. "It proves that Ms. Willows wasn't lying about her hand being cut open! That means that this witness probably committed the murder if that's really the case, so he can't try to feign innocence anymore! It's the first nail in his coffin when it comes to proving that he's the killer!"
I nodded once again. "Exactly," I repeated. "You cannot try to hide your sins any longer, Mr. Guiy. You had something to do with the crime, so you can't try and deny the fact that you injured the witness."
"L-Let me testify one more time!" Mr. Guiy cried out. "I can prove that I didn't do it! I'll tell you about who must have really done it!"
"Go ahead, Mr. Guiy. However, if you lie to this court again, I'm afraid that we will have to follow Mr. Morix and believe in his theory that you were the one who attacked the witness and left her hand in bad condition," the judge told him. His eyes screamed loud and clear that he was deadly serious and wouldn't tolerate any other lies from Mr. Guiy. I was happy about this. It meant that the judge was on my side, and quite truthfully, that was one of the best things that could ever come out of a trial like this.
"Alright! Just give me one last chance and I'll show that it wasn't me!" Mr. Guiy exclaimed.
"Go ahead," Prosecutor Shield instructed. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he glared at the witness, his gaze rough and demanding. He didn't trust the witness at all now. Everything was starting to come together now. It was just a matter of trying to prove that Mr. Guiy was the one who killed Venus.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ The Real Killer ~
-"I can't believe that you're really accusing me of this! How ridiculous can you be?!"
-"Okay, maybe that blonde kid didn't do it! But that doesn't mean automatically that I'm the one who did that girl in!"
-"That other witness lied to you all and you know it! How are you sure that she wasn't lying to you about her hand, huh?!"
-"Maybe there was never a knife wound! Maybe she committed the crime and that blood wasn't her own, but rather, the victim's blood!"
-"Unless you get rid of all the other possible killers, then you can't show that I'm the one who did it! If you try and do that, I'm afraid that the victim won't be the only dead one in this court!"
"The witness will refrain from threatening the defense!" Judge Frost cried out after Mr. Guiy had finished his testimony. "You need to keep your behavior righteous if we're going to believe what you say!"
"You don't need to let it bother you, Your Honor. Regardless of any threats that he throws my way, I can easily prove that he's not telling the truth to this court. I am positive that he has something to do with this crime, and I intend to prove it here and now," I declared. "If it's alright with you, may I begin my cross-examination now?"
"Go right ahead," the judge nodded. Prosecutor Shield nodded as well, so I took that as my cue to get started.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ The Real Killer ~
-"I can't believe that you're really accusing me of this! How ridiculous can you be?!"
-"Okay, maybe that blonde kid didn't do it! But that doesn't mean automatically that I'm the one who did that girl in!"
-"That other witness lied to you all and you know it! How are you sure that she wasn't lying to you about her hand, huh?!"
-"Maybe there was never a knife wound! Maybe she committed the crime and that blood wasn't her own, but rather, the victim's blood!"
-"Unless you get rid of all the other possible killers, then you can't show that I'm the one who did it! If you try and do that, I'm afraid that the victim won't be the only dead one in this court!"
"Objection!"
"I'm afraid that your lies will be ending here, Mr. Guiy," I told him with a shake of my head. "Lying in court is a serious crime, you know. I doubt that the judge will stand for hearing that you weren't telling the truth once again."
"How are you so sure that I'm lying, huh?!" Mr. Guiy yelled out. He was growing more stressed as the seconds passed by.
"Well, if you really want to know about what makes you a liar in this situation, I'll tell you," I smirked to myself. "Allow me to explain..."
Miraculously, I got to an update for this week.
I explained on the most recent Demon of Desire update that I wasn't sure if I was going to get this one finished in time before I went out of time, but it happened. Woo.
I don't have any reviews yet, so I'm not going over any yet. That will make this a bit shorter.
I've posted this story on Wattpad now, so you can check it out over there if you want to.
Also, I'm on summer vacation now, which means that I might end up updating twice a week. I don't know yet. It might depend on the week if I end up with two or one update. We'll see.
That's about all I've got for now. I'll see you guys later!
-Digital