March 13

Warden's Office

11:15 AM

Chrysalis Starr

When we arrived at the warden's office, I didn't see much of anything impressive in it. There was a distinct wild west theme to it, but not much else. There was a grand desk perched just beneath a window with a chair behind it. There was also a large computer screen there along with a few large stacks of papers. A few frames hung from the wall, each one holding a painting that depicted a few cowboys riding atop horses. A brown cowboy hat was also hanging from a pin on the wall alongside a rope that was likely intended to imitate a lasso.

There was one corner of the room that broke this theme. Another desk, this one smaller, was sitting in said corner. It had a smaller computer and papers as well. A poster from a popular TV show, the Metal Mercenary, hung on the wall above the chair. There was a couch nearby for relaxing. It was a faded light blue and definitely seemed that it had seen better days.

"There's no one in here," Deirdre noted from my side. She was right. For supposedly containing the warden's assistant, it was rather empty. It was just Deirdre and me, staring at the weird decor that covered the walls.

"Huh? Who are you?"

We turned upon hearing the new voice. A young woman was standing there. She had bright red hair and blue eyes that looked to be equally as bright. She had a yellow cropped tank top on, the bottom of which ended at her waist. She had a skirt with a rainbow of colors fanning out around her above a black base layer. She had knee-high black socks with white shoes. I also noticed white fingerless gloves on her wrists.

"We're the defense team on this case. I'm Deirdre Brigit, attorney at law. This is Chrysalis Starr, my assistant on this case," Deirdre explained. "Would you happen to be the warden's assistant in this prison?"

The young woman nodded. "Yep! My name is Pandora Rell!" she exclaimed. "It's nice to meet you!"

"Would you be able to tell us about what you saw the morning of the crime? We heard that you were a witness to the tragedy that took place earlier today," I said.

"Yeah, I was..." Pandora affirmed before letting her words die away. "Any details you want to know in particular?"

"Not really. Just tell us your story of what happened this morning. We can ask any further questions from there," I told her.

"I was working the night shift in the prison this morning. We've had a lot more criminals come in recently, so they wanted me here to help keep watch since I have access to the camera room," Pandora began. "Warden West is out of town right now, so I was the only one available to do any extra watching the guards requested. I never really like working the night shift, but at least I get paid a bit more for staying up all night making sure there are no escapes."

"You must have been pretty tired by the time that this morning rolled around," Deirdre remarked.

"I was. I was ready to go back home when seven came around to sleep. That's when the night shift ends and the morning one begins. In the end, that never happened, though... There was a power outage to liven things up, though. I guess that was a bit of a distraction, but it was just annoying at the end of the day," Pandora continued.

"We heard from Detective Erikson that the power outage was at five or so in the morning," Deirdre said. "Would that be accurate?"

"Yeah. I checked my phone when the power went out. It was 5:04. I ran out to the courtyard to check the power box. That's where the main power is located. I knew somebody must have messed around with the power box. It's unusual for us to have power outages here since we put all our power into the power box so that any blackouts during storms don't cause gaps in security," Pandora explained.

"Who has access to the power box? It's out in the courtyard, which no prisoners are allowed in at night, so it must have been one of the guards, right?" I asked.

"Only the highest members of the guard have access to it. There are about ten of them that can mess around with the power box. Well, there's me and the warden too, but the warden is out and I have an alibi. The cameras caught me walking into the office but never saw me leave," Pandora told us.

"Tell us about what you did after the power outage," Deirdre instructed.

"I panicked and went out to the courtyard to see what had happened. The box's door was wide open. Somebody had put in the password to the box to open it before just pulling the switch to turn it off. I turned the power back on and locked the box before running back to my office. When I went to the courtyard, there was nobody there. Whoever messed with the power box was gone by that point," Pandora explained. "I'd say that it took me about ten minutes to get there. It's a long way to the courtyard from the office. I spent five minutes messing with the box before going back. I was back at 5:30."

"What next? What did you do after you got back to your office?" I questioned.

"I checked all the cameras in the cellblocks. I didn't want any prisoners to take advantage of the outage to escape. There were no open doors, so I assumed that everything was fine. I relaxed for a few minutes before a gunshot rang out. I checked the cameras to figure out where it had come from. I couldn't see anything, so I knew that it was from the hallway that leads out to the courtyard. To conserve power, those cameras go off at night since there are no guards stationed there. All the prisoners are in their cells, so there isn't any point in leaving the cameras on or putting guards there at night," Pandora went on.

"I bet that the first gunshot broke the window near the courtyard before hitting the victim in the leg. There were only two gunshots heard, so I bet the first bullet did both of those. It wouldn't make sense if the first bullet had hit the victim in the chest, as that would make firing the second bullet pointless," Deirdre murmured. "What did you do then?"

"The second gunshot rang out about two minutes later. I ran out of the office and to the hallway, which again took about ten minutes. I gathered guards to help me out on the way. When I arrived, I heard a scream and saw the defendant standing in front of the dead body, which was hanging lifeless from the watchtower... I didn't know how it had gotten there, as the courtyard is normally locked unless you have a key. Only a few guards have a key, the same ones that can access the power box like I mentioned earlier. On top of that, the victim was supposed to be in his cell... He was a convicted murderer, you know. He killed a teenaged girl last month," Pandora went on.

"Yeah... He did," I said, my shoulders going tense.

"I called the police. They arrived not long after. They arrested that Yuri girl since she was found with the body," Pandora finished. "That's pretty much it."

"Why did they arrest Yuri if you need a key to get in?" Deirdre asked.

"One of the keys went missing yesterday. The defendant was here yesterday too, since she wanted to see that Buff Guiy man, but visiting hours ended by the time she arrived. The police think that she stole the key to use it to enter the courtyard and start all this confusion," Pandora told us.

"Has the key been found?" I questioned.

Pandora shook her head. "No. Not yet. We don't know where it is. All sorts of important metal objects have gone missing. The key, the murder weapon... Man, this case is going to be a mess. It's a shame the trial for it is tomorrow. I know it'll run long. I just need some sleep after all this..." Pandora muttered, a frown on her face.

"We can get out of your hair soon. We have only a few more questions for you," Deirdre said.

"For one, we found a patch of fabric at the scene of the crime," I started. "We were wondering if maybe you would know what it was about. It looked like the sort of thing you'd put over a hole in a pair of jeans, for example." I fished the fabric patch out of my bag before handing it to Pandora. "Do you think you know where this might have come from?"

"This is the patch we give to guards when their uniforms tear," Pandora answered. "Sometimes accidents happen on the job. If a uniform is used too long, it can get a tear or a piece might come off. If the damage is minor, we give the guards this patch to sew over the tear or hole so that the uniform can be salvaged. The material is a bit different from the regular uniform. You don't see it very often. It's expensive, but it's very durable to prevent any further rips or tears."

"There's a lot of evidence that points to a guard committing the crime at this point... I bet that Yuri was arrested because she was the only one to have a strong motive. Most prison guards wouldn't go this far with a prisoner, even if they escaped. They'd likely just say that it was in the line of duty. No, this murder was committed by a guard, but one that wanted to frame it on an innocent person," I deduced.

"There's too much evidence indicating that a guard killed the victim. I agree that it must have been somebody working here who did this. However, my question is why anyone would want to frame our client... One thing that we'll have to look for in court tomorrow is the evidence that the prosecution has. There's evidence that points to a guard doing it, but the prosecution also has a motive among other reasons to suspect the defendant. We'll need to be cautious," Deirdre said with a frown.

"We need to wait for the police to track down the murder weapon. I get the feeling that the gun that was used to kill the victim will be able to help us out somehow," I murmured. "The murder weapon is a key part of any murder investigation. Without it, we're going to need quite a bit of luck in order to win this trial... However, they can't really close the case without conclusive evidence regarding the murder weapon. That gun is going to be found before a verdict is handed down."

"Do you think that we'll need to search for the gun within the prison?" Deirdre asked.

"I doubt it. The police are searching this place restlessly trying to find that gun. They think it will 'prove the guilt of the accused' or something like that. I just want them to find the gun so they can catch whoever did this. If it was one of the guards, the warden is going to get mad if they go free after this. He's a bit strange, but he doesn't like criminals working with him. He finds murderers and the like to be the scum of the universe, regardless of if it was in self-defense or not," Pandora cut in. "Granted, I doubt this case is self-defense because of the way the body was set up, but..."

"We need to figure out who the killer is if we want Yuri to be let go. She can be quirky and unique, but she wouldn't ever think of killing someone. Even if the victim did kill her sister, Yuri still wouldn't go that far. She knows that the best punishment for people like that is life in prison where they'll be miserable for taking another life," I said, my expression solemn. "I've known Yuri for two years now. She's not a murderer."

"We should probably do a recap of our investigation a bit later on. We need to keep all the details straight if we want even a chance of surviving in court tomorrow," Deirdre suggested. "We haven't gone to see her yet, so perhaps we can look back on things when we talk to her about the things that we've gathered."

"That sounds good to me. She'll want to hear all about it. She's been investigating cases with me and my brother for a few years now. She's gotten pretty good at it, so she'll want the details. Well, because of that and because she's going to be on trial. The more information you can get, the better it makes you feel about the whole ordeal," I responded.

"I think that we've just about finished our investigation for the time being. Perhaps we should go on and see her now. I don't think that there's anything for us to check out before the trial tomorrow," Deirdre said.

I nodded my agreement. "Yeah. I don't think we have any reason to visit the victim's cell for now, so we can probably call it good," I affirmed. "We should go and see Yuri now."

"Thank you for talking to us about what you saw this morning, Ms. Rell," Deirdre told Pandora, turning to face her. The former bowed her head ever so slightly.

"It was my pleasure. I'll be seeing you in court tomorrow, so I guess we won't be apart for very long," Pandora said next.

"I figured you'd be testifying," I muttered. "Well, until then, I suppose that we'll see you later."

"Bye!" Pandora chirped, waving to us as we walked from the room.

"You'll have to lead me to the detention center section of the prison. I've never been here before, so you know the layout much better than I do," Deirdre told me as she shut the door to the warden's office.

"Alright. Just follow me. We'll be there in no time." I gestured for Deirdre to follow me before walking for the detention center.

March 13

Detention Center

12:00 PM

Chrysalis Starr

When Deirdre and I arrived at the detention center, we didn't see anybody on the other side of the glass. The guard on duty raised an eyebrow at our presence. "We're here for Yuri Rinko," I told him. The guard responded with a nod before dashing off to find Yuri. I was hoping that we wouldn't need to wait for very long. By now, Yuri's questioning had to be over, which meant that she'd be out any second now.

Sure enough, she appeared on the other side of the glass when the guard returned. Her deep blue eyes were somewhat dull and tired. Quite honestly, I couldn't blame her for being exhausted. The detention center wasn't the best of places. I hadn't ever been a suspect before myself, but I could easily tell that it went fun being there.

Yuri's black hair fell down her back to about her hips. The edges were tipped with white. She had a black jacket on with matching leggings. She had black and white tennis shoes on, though they couldn't be seen when she was sitting down. Her shirt, which was hiding beneath her jacket, was a light turquoise color. Atop Yuri's head was a large bow that was the same light turquoise as her shirt. It was normally bouncy, but now, it drooped like a plant that had been without water for weeks. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. She hadn't yet been at the detention center overnight, but I still could easily comprehend her exhaustion.

"You must be Yuri Rinko," Deirdre said upon seeing Yuri sit down.

"Yeah. Who are you?" Yuri asked, tilting her head slightly.

"This is Deirdre Brigit. She's one of the new recruits down at the agency. Cotoli had everyone over today to introduce themselves, but in the end, we didn't get very far into our introduction day since we heard about the murder," I explained. "How are you feeling?"

"No lawyer yet. The police were going to get me one if I couldn't make up my mind soon enough. Is that what you're here for?" Yuri questioned.

I nodded. "Yep. Deirdre is planning on defending you, if you'll take her. We've done all our investigating, so it's a bit too late to turn back now," I told her. "I hope that's okay..."

"That sounds good to me! Nobody else has come by, so it might as well be somebody Mr. Morix trusts enough to work with him," Yuri said.

"In that case, perhaps we should explain the results of the investigation to her," Deirdre suggested.

"Please do! There's nothing for me to do when I'm in here! I might not even have to worry about getting the death sentence after a guilty verdict. I'll likely die of boredom before then," Yuri groaned. She rolled her eyes, but I could tell that she was just playing around. Acting silly was always her coping mechanism if things went wrong since she normally couldn't stand serious moments. Her regular personality was so upbeat and cheerful, so I always assumed she was trying to fool herself into thinking she was happy.

"So the crime took place this morning. There was a blackout not long before the murder occurred. The witness, one Pandora Rell, went to the courtyard where he body was found to check the power box that helped to distribute power throughout the prison," Deirdre began. "After turning the power back on, a few gunshots rang out. A window near the crime scene was broken. This is when the victim died."

"Yeah. That's the basic part, at the very least," I told Yuri. "The prosecution has a few things to hold over your head, those being your lack of an alibi and a motive. However, I'm sure that we'll be able to cover for those things as well as your being at the crime scene when the trial rolls around tomorrow morning."

"What about stuff that proves that I didn't do it? Do you have any of that?" Yuri asked eagerly. "Please say that there's something. Venus would probably be rolling over angrily in her grave if she knew I ended up in jail for something like this."

"To start with, we have evidence that seems to point to a prison guard committing the crime. First, the only way to get out to the courtyard is through the single door. There are only a few keys, all of which are owned by the prison guards," I began. "One of the keys is missing at the moment, which is too convenient to be true. I know that somebody out there, the real killer, is hiding it to make sure that we don't have any critical evidence to be used against them."

"The police believe that you stole the missing key, but I'm sure that once it is recovered, we'll be able to prove that you never had it with a quick fingerprint test," Deirdre went on. "Plus, even if you got out to the courtyard, you wouldn't have been able to cause the power outage. The power box is connected to a device with a password. It can't be opened without the code. How would you, a common girl who is still a minor, know that sort of combination? They may have the key, but they can't prove that you could have opened the electronic box used to cause the power outage."

"There's enough evidence against you doing this to end the trial immediately. When the trial drags on, we can go in on the offensive and nullify some of the prosecution's points. I doubt they'll put up as solid of an argument if we can get rid of the incriminating yet circumstantial pieces of evidence that point to you,"I told Yuri. "I promise you that everything will be perfectly fine. The trial won't end before you get a not guilty verdict. I swear it on my life."

"Thanks for defending me," Yuri smiled. Even if the grin on her face was wide, I could tell that she was mostly just putting on a brace face for our sake. "This means a lot to me. I don't want to end up in jail for a crime that I didn't even commit."

"There is a little bit more that we need to know when it comes to the crime, though," Deirdre said to Yuri, a small frown appearing on her lips.

"What is it?" Yuri asked.

"We want to know more about your presence here at the prison over these past few days. It was mentioned a few times by Detective Erikson as well as the witness, Ms. Rell," Deirdre told her. "Ms. Rell said that you were here yesterday to see the victim, but in the end, that didn't end up happening since visiting hours were over by the time that you had arrived."

Yuri nodded. "Yeah. I was here to ask him more about the murder from a month ago where my sister was killed... The motive was supposedly that he thought that she was the infamous Oracle of the Law because of an online forum, but I sort of doubt that. I feel like there's a little something more to it. Maybe he was just mentally disturbed. I mean, even if you suspected a teenager of being the Oracle of the Law, you wouldn't just kill them over it without any second though," Yuri began to explain.

"I overheard from one of the guards that the victim did have mental stability issues... It was before I met up with Deirdre, back when I was trying to look for Anton and Polly. I didn't think it would be useful information, but I guess that it did have some use if it helped you figure out the reasoning behind Venus' death," I said, looking down. Even if it had been a month since her untimely murder, I still missed Venus. I would have done anything if it meant that she could have been alive and by my side.

"Then there's my answer, I suppose. It's not like I'll be able to get anything further now. I can't just ask somebody to channel him. That's like a death sentence with how violent he is," Yuri sighed. "Anyways, I tried to see him so I could ask him about the murder with Venus. However, when I got here, visiting hours had just ended. I had been busy with homework up until that point, so I didn't get the chance to come any earlier."

"The police theorized that you used your failed attempt as an excuse to stick around at the prison to take the key from the guard missing his. You know, the key that leads out to the courtyard," I frowned. "Did you happen to run into anybody who looked important?"

"No. As soon as I heard that visiting hours were over, I walked to the bathroom before leaving. There was a guard with a hat over his head that was giving me weird looks when I left the building, one of the people guarding the door, I mean, but that was about it. I never even spoke to him. He just looked at me in this creepy way," Yuri went on.

"Don't all guards wear hats here?" Deirdre asked.

"Yeah, but this guy had a really big hat. It looked too large for him. It covered up all of his hair, and the brim was over one of his eyes, so I didn't manage to catch the color. I saw that his name tag read Kyllar, though," Yuri explained. "Do you think that he might have something to do with this case?"

"We should ask Ms. Rell the name of the guard whose key went missing after this conversation. We'll have to question them at some point or another. If it's this Kyllar man that was just mentioned by Yuri, there might be a connection," Deirdre suggested.

"I doubt we'll be able to stick around much longer. Polly can get kind of territorial when it comes to investigations. Her one exception is Cotoli. I doubt that she'll let you back on the scene to look at the body or question any witnesses. She's a bit stubborn that way," I told her. "It's unfortunate, but there isn't much that we can do about it. We can just ask Ms. Rell in court tomorrow. I doubt that this will be a single-session trial, so we'll hopefully be able to question them tomorrow if court is adjourned."

"That sounds like a good plan," Deirdre nodded. "Continue your story, Yuri."

"This morning, I wanted to get the jump on visiting hours before the meeting at the agency. They start at ten most days, but today was the exception. They extended the hours for some reason or another, likely to allow prisoners who rarely get visitors more time with company. I heard that the hours were starting at six, so I got there early. However, when I arrived, things went horribly wrong, as you can tell by the fact that I was taken away in handcuffs," Yuri continued.

"What happened? Was that when you heard gunshots?" I asked.

Yuri nodded. "Yeah. You guessed it. I heard two gunshots ring out, so I followed my ears to figure out where they had come from. I got lost a little bit along the way, but it was nothing I couldn't handle," she said. "That's when I found the body."

"Wait... If you got lost, that means that you were probably on camera. At night, every camera in the prison is on except for the ones in the courtyard and just outside said courtyard. If you were caught on camera, that could give you an alibi for the time of the crime, or at least the time when the body must have been moved into its suspended position," Deirdre muttered. "We can use that to our advantage in court tomorrow."

"Is there anything else you wanted to tell us about the time of the crime?" I asked. "Anything else important that you want us to know?"

"Not really... It sounds like you guys have this under control. Just like you and Mr. Morix did for my sisters, I know that you'll defend me and get me the not guilty," Yuri smiled.

"Speaking of sisters, has Cassidy been by?" I questioned.

"She was here earlier. My mom was with her. Cassidy brought along a friend with her. I don't know if you've heard of her. The girl's name is Neptune Mercure. She's about Venus' age, at least from what Cassidy has told me. Neptune seems nice enough. She seems to have a bit of trouble displaying her emotions for some reason or another, but I can tell that she has good intentions regardless of how it comes off," Yuri answered.

"You'll have to introduce me to your sister soon. Does she work with Mr. Morix as well?" Deirdre asked.

"No. She's been helping out Chief Prosecutor Bespoke for about two years now. He's pretty good to her. She's sweet enough to take defeat in court graciously if the truth is found," Yuri told her.

"Cassidy's great. I'm sure that you'll meet her one day," I said. "Well... We should probably get going. We need to figure out our strategy for the trial tomorrow."

"I'll see you then. Make sure that you don't die or get arrested for murder. Mr. Morix only hired two new lawyers, so we can't all end up behind bars with so few employees," Yuri joked with a wave. She smiled, though I could tell that she was still faking it in her exhaustion. "Bye."

As Yuri left, I couldn't help but let out a sigh. "I feel bad for her... Yuri's a sweet girl. She's been going through a lot though... Between being arrested and the murder of her sister last month, it's easy to see why she's so stressed. I just hope that we'll be able to free her soon so that she can emotionally recover from all this," I murmured.

"You know her well," Deirdre remarked.

"You could say that. I was close friends with her oldest sister, Venus, before she was stabbed to death last month. Yuri loved hanging around with us when she could," I said, smiling at the memory before snapping back to reality when I recalled the cold truth that Venus was gone. "Well, regardless, let's get going. We have a lot of preparation to do before the trial tomorrow.

An update. Yeet.

I'm surprised I finished this one when I did. My area was suffering from lengthy power outages the day I typed this (Tuesday), but I somehow got it done. Note: THERE WILL BE A SECOND UPDATE TOMORROW. I'm just not finished with yet since a family emergency forced me to watch over my sister's four kids for a few days, so I haven't had much time to type. I apologize.

Next update starts the trial. General rule of thumb for the 10 chapter cases like this: first three chapters are first investigation, next two are first trial, next two are second investigation, final three are second trial. It doesn't always follow that rule if the second investigation is more chaotic (*cough* third case of the third book *cough*). Yes, I have planned ahead that far. These characters aren't going to escape with just one book. No way.

So, I'm going to go for now. I hope you enjoyed! Time for me to sleep!

-Digital