May 30

Defendant Lobby No. 4

9:40 AM

Lily Shield

The next morning, I arrived at the courthouse as early as I could. I plopped down onto the couch in the defendant lobby and let out a sigh. I had been up late the night before trying to piece together more about the case. The information Cassidy had given us was helpful, sure, but I doubted it would be able to win us the case. Even if she went and told my brother about it right now, he probably wouldn't be able to use her testimony as solid evidence in the trial. The judge would want further evidence. So would Prosecutor Cruz, for that matter. Any of them could easily assume that Cassidy was just trying to cover for Ms. Mercure since the two of them are close friends. To put it simply, we'd need other proof that Cassidy saw somebody else running from the scene of the murder.

"Hey, Ms. Shield."

Upon hearing my name, I looked up to see Ms. Mercure standing in front of me. She had her arms crossed over her chest. Judging by how dark the skin beneath her eyes was, she hadn't slept much last night either. I couldn't blame her. I wouldn't be able to rest very well either if I knew that my life was in the hands of people I didn't know at all. It would make you feel more than a little bit hopeless, you know? On top of that, I can't even imagine how stressful it would be.

"Hi," I greeted simply. I scooted over on the couch and patted the area beside me. "You don't look too good. Are you sure you'll be okay during the trial?"

Ms. Mercure sat down next to me. "I'll be fine," she sighed. She let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes. "I swear, they won't stop watering... I couldn't sleep last night. The longest I was out was an hour. Those beds have got to be some of the most uncomfortable in this plane of existence. I hate them."

"You never realize how much you miss your own bed until it's gone, it seems," I said with a small but forced smile. "We're going to prove you innocent today. I promise you. I know you didn't kill the victim, so I'm not about to let you go to jail over it. I wouldn't be able to sit by and watch that because of my morals."

"I'm glad you at least believe in me. I bet everybody in that courtroom is going to want me dead the second I walk in there," Ms. Mercure huffed. "That's how these cases go, it seems. The gallery watchers are indecisive. One second, they think you're the worst person in the world. The next, they see somebody else as the killer. Until we can reach that second phase, I'm going to be getting all sorts of glares. If looks could kill, I'd end up murdered a thousand times over. I wish things were different, but unfortunately, we'll just have to put up with it. I have faith you'll be able to show I didn't do it, so it's just a matter of time."

"Robbie isn't going to let an innocent young woman get convicted. I know for sure that everything is going to be okay," I smiled to her. "Chrysalis and I have everything under control... Speaking of her, I wonder where she is. I would have expected her to be here by now, you know? She's not late often..."

"You know, I get the feeling that she suspects me of something," Ms. Mercure frowned. "I can't exactly put my finger on it, but it seems to me that she doesn't trust me quite yet. I mean, she's helping you defend me, so that has to be something, but I still feel as if something's off. She was really intent about the photo yesterday. That seemed to be the only thing she was focused on. I guess that picture must really be important to her, huh?"

"I know that it has her older brother in it. He went missing, so it might be all she has to remember him by. Plus, her close friend Venus is also in it. I can tell that she's upset that Venus died. Maybe it makes her feel connected to them. I can't say. Even if I've been working alongside her for a few months now, I get the feeling that she keeps most of her secrets close. I just wonder what a teenager like her has to hide," I said. I shrugged afterwards. "Oh well. There's no use dwelling on it now. There's nothing we can really do to force the information out of her. Well, at the very least, there's nothing we can do that she'd approve of, though I'd rather not have her angry with me. We see each other at work everyday, so that would make things a tad bit awkward, you know?"

Before Ms. Mercure could reply, the doors to the defendant lobby opened. Chrysalis came walking in, yawning as she did so. "Morning," she grumbled. Ms. Mercure moved aside to make room for her on the end of the couch which she happily filled up. "Are you ready for today? I know I am... Sort of..."

"I guess we're all kind of tired," I sighed. "Oh well. The least we can do is try our best. We know Ms. Mercure didn't do it, so we'll just have to show that to the judge. No killing is perfect, so there has to be some trace of the original killer around somewhere. It's our job to dig it up and reveal who really killed the victim, which I know that we'll be able to do. No mystery stands a chance before Morix Law Offices!"

Chrysalis nodded and yawned a second time. "Yeah... You're right..." she muttered. "I swear, Cotoli and his worrying... He was up really late last night worrying about Pieter. He was wondering about the photo's relation to the murder. When I told him, he only started freaking out more. As cool-headed as he may seem, he's really panicky. He's always been this way, so I can't really say I'm surprised, but I really wish I knew what to do to completely relax him..."

I could tell Ms. Mercure was thinking a little bit about what to say in response to that. I got the feeling that her mind was being cast back to Chrysalis' thoughts on the photo the day before. She had certainly been insistent on learning as much as possible about it. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I could tell that the picture was going to be a lot more important than I had originally suspected. While I couldn't say for sure if it would have much bearing on this case in particular, I knew it would play some sort of role in the future. Maybe it was because I was eventually destined to find out who the Oracle of the Law was! I couldn't hide my curiosity on the manner, so I certainly wouldn't object to that. I wonder what they're like. I wouldn't know until I met them though, so all I could do was wait for the time being, even if I really wanted to hear the truth. Chrysalis seemed to want me to stay away from it since Oracle was so dangerous, but I couldn't really help myself. My curiosity simply cannot ben quenched, it seems.

We didn't have time to share any other words on the case. A loud cry came from the bailiff guarding the door, making me jump. He had purple hair and a bright smile. As we walked inside, he shot a wave to Chrysalis, who returned with a nod and a small grin. He glanced at Ms. Mercure for a moment or two, as if he found something to be off about her. However, if he did find something wrong, he didn't say anything about it to keep us from getting into the courtroom. I was a bit happy about that in a way. I couldn't afford to be distracted or anything like that. It was time to get serious. Ms. Mercure's life was on the line. I wasn't about to let her go to prison, so I had to get to work!

May 30

Courtroom No. 4

10:00 AM

Lily Shield

When we got into the courtroom, the first person I noticed was the judge. Unlike the earlier cases I'd seen, Judge Frost wasn't there. Instead, a woman was sitting atop the podium. There was a sort of regal aura about her. She had piercing turquoise eyes and purple hair so pale you could have mistaken it for white. The ends were curled slightly. A large portion of her hair was over her right shoulder. She had a black earring in the shape of a snowflake on the left side. I could barely make it out because of the distance between us. She had a black choker with the same design on it around her neck.

Her dress was really interesting to me. It was a pale purple with black and white here and there. It was a Victorian styled dress that went just above her knees. She had black heeled boots with zippers on the sides. It looked fancy enough to work as attire for a judge. I squinted to see the nameplate sitting before her. 'ERIKO FROST', I read. Come to think of it, she shared some facial features with Judge Ervan Frost as far as structure was concerned. I figured they had to be related somehow, even if I couldn't say it exactly. It didn't matter anyways. I had much more important matters to attend to at that moment anyways.

The sound of a gavel rang out in the courtroom, silencing all gallery chatter nearly instantly. "Court is now in session for the trial of Neptune Mercure," came the voice of the judge not long after. She sounded rather relaxed despite being here to judge a murder trial. In a way, it was almost sort of impressive, not that I'd ever say so since I doubt it's proper or acceptable to say something like that. "Are the defense and prosecution ready to begin the proceedings?"

"The prosecution is ready," Robbie declared. Prosecutor Cruz was standing at his side. He was still wearing his sunglasses. I never understood why people wore sunglasses inside, but I guess whatever floats your boat is fine. I won't openly call you out for it, even if it makes you look like a gangster.

"The defense is also ready," I announced with a nod. I was hoping I looked a lot more confident than I felt. Not only was this my first case without a professional lawyer to help me, my first case as the lead defense attorney on top of that, but we didn't have much evidence to go off to find the truth. It was going to be a wild ride from start to finish. I could only pray to whatever higher power was out there that things would end up going in my favor.

"Good," nodded Judge Frost. She closed her eyes for a moment before speaking once more. "Prosecution, it's time for your opening statement. Please tell the court about the murder that took place two days ago. I'd also like to hear why you suspect the defendant as a recap for the court records."

Robbie nodded. "I understand," he said. He shuffled through a few of his papers before handing one to Prosecutor Cruz. I couldn't tell who exactly was going to be giving the statement. I didn't really care. I just wanted to get this started. The adrenaline was starting to kick in because of the fear of the unknown and worry for what was going to happen next.

"The crime took place two days ago on May 28," Prosecutor Cruz began to say once he had gathered his bearings. "A private investigator by the name of Jules Stigate was found dead in Rhiza Lake not far from here. He had drowned to death. At first, we weren't sure if it was a murder or mere accident, but it appears to be the former. We talked with some of his family members. He knew how to swim just fine and was good enough at it to not drown without someone holding him down. Furthermore, his clothes were found ripped and messy to indicate a struggle. The killer held him down in the water and just waited for him to run out of air. After that, they just walked away as if nothing had ever happened. Of course, we already arrested the person we believe to have killed him that day."

"You're talking about our client," remarked Chrysalis from beside me. She had her arms crossed as she stared at Prosecutor Cruz intently, waiting for what he was going to say next.

Prosecutor Cruz nodded, making his white hair shuffle slightly. "Exactly. The defendant had a motive to kill him. She had gone to the lake to see him since he was watching a boat race there. She said she found out from him posting about it on social media. She had been meaning to meet him for a while apparently. Seeing this as an opportunity, she headed to the lake to talk to him, though their interactions ended up being less than stellar, if you want to put it nicely."

"You see, she tried to ask him about the Oracle of the Law. He's been looking into the spy recently and wanted to know who it was behind the mask. The defendant was doing something similar. They were going to speak about their suspicions on the matter, but in the end, the victim made her a bit angry. He wanted to see inside of her bag for whatever reason and refused to speak to her until he could see what was in there. According to the defendant's testimony, he also seemed to be preying on her, getting a bit too close at times," Robbie said with a small cringe of discomfort. "She preferred not to get into detail on the matter of the victim doing these sorts of things though, so we won't speak on it anymore. We can get onto the main motive source now."

"She never mentioned that to us. I wonder why," I whispered to Chrysalis, placing one finger on my chin to tap at it lightly.

"I bet she didn't want to think about it. I can't really blame her. Most girls in her situation wouldn't want to talk about a middle-aged man trying to get creepy with them," she said with a frown. "That doesn't at all help us out though. The prosecution could easily use this as part of the motive. They could say that she also killed him as retaliation for making her so uncomfortable. For now though, all we can do is listen unless they decide to do something like that."

"The real motive has to do with her bag," Prosecutor Cruz declared.

"The bag contained many things important to the defendant. Since she didn't want him getting into it, she ran off without talking to him about Oracle. However, his curiosity got the better of him. He followed her out to her car. While she was trying to fix it due to technical difficulties, he ran off with her bag since her back was turned. The defendant was with a witness at the time she realized it was gone. Afterwards, she ran away to figure out where it had disappeared to. She suspected the victim nearly immediately, so she and the witness parted ways to go locate it. In this period of time, she has no alibi, so she could have easily found the victim and killed him for going through her bag. She is the only one at the scene of the crime to have a motive. Nobody else would have anything against the victim large enough to kill him. While his attitude was never pleasant and his behavior could certainly use some work, no one else had quite as strong as a motive as the defendant. Furthermore, she had no alibi at the time, which means that she could have easily killed him," Robbie declared. "You can see quite clearly why she would be suspected for this crime. The possibility of her doing it is rather strong with a motive such as this one."

"I understand why you would think this, yes," Judge Frost said under her breath. She thought in silence for a moment before speaking once again. "Alright, prosecution. If you don't mind, it's time for you to call your first witness. I assume this will be the lead detective on the case, yes?"

"You're right," nodded Prosecutor Cruz, messing slightly with his sunglasses. You know, the more I listen to his voice, the more I think that he has an Italian accent. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at first (mostly since I'm very unfamiliar with nearly every accent on the face of this planet), but I was starting to figure it out. Another thing I was beginning to notice was that he really liked those sunglasses of his with how much he fiddled with them. I was surprised Judge Frost was okay with him wearing them in court like this. "The prosecution now calls Detective Vera Wattson to the witness stand. Go on up there."

"Please state your name and occupation, witness," Judge Frost instructed. Even if Prosecutor Cruz had just said Detective Wattson's name and occupation, she was doing it likely because of courtroom procedures. I could already tell that she was a lover of rules and followed them as much as humanly possible.

Detective Wattson appeared at the witness stand while I was thinking about this. "My name is Vera Wattson. I'm a homicide detective down at the local precinct, loves," she told the court. "I'm here to testify about the basics regarding this murder before another witness can be called, if I recall correctly."

Robbie nodded. "You do. Now, if you don't mind, please tell the court about this murder, specifically the lack of evidence at our disposal," he told her.

"I'll get right to it," Detective Wattson said with a small smile.

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ Barely Any Evidence ~

- "If you want the truth, the defendant was mostly arrested because we didn't see any other options, loves."

- "There wasn't much evidence of note found at the scene of the murder."

- "There was a photograph dropped near the body, but we don't see how it could tie in."

- "The bag of the defendant didn't have much of anything to pay attention to either."

- "In fact, the only real piece of evidence we have is an undergarment that was floating near the corpse at the scene of the murder."

- "Unfortunately, we haven't a clue who it belongs to."

- "Because of this lack of evidence, we had to arrest the defendant on other factors, such as her motive and lack of alibi."

- "As of now, there is no hard evidence to prove that she did it."

"It certainly seems that this case will be interesting," Judge Frost murmured under her breath. I got the feeling she was being sarcastic. With so little evidence, it was going to be hard for her to come to a conclusion about who the killer was unless something else was uncovered. "So, does this garment found at the scene of the crime contradict your arrest of the defendant, prosecution? The detective didn't mention that you suspected it belonged to her."

"We don't think it's hers, no," Prosecutor Cruz frowned. "However, even if we don't know who owns it, that doesn't change the fact that she has a motive and nobody knows where she was at the time of the murder. For all we know, the garment could have been dropped by somebody else entirely into the lake. It could have easily drifted over to the body despite not at all being related. As of now, there's nothing conclusive we can say on the matter, I'm afraid."

"I see... Well, we're only going to find out more if we keep pressing on," Judge Frost declared. "Defense, please begin your cross-examination."

"I'll get right to it," I nodded. I wasn't at all sure how I was going to go about this. The very least I could do was try and hope I didn't somehow royally mess things up.

~ Cross-Examination ~

~ Barely Any Evidence ~

- "If you want the truth, the defendant was mostly arrested because we didn't see any other options, loves."

- "There wasn't much evidence of note found at the scene of the murder."

- "There was a photograph dropped near the body, but we don't see how it could tie in."

- "The bag of the defendant didn't have much of anything to pay attention to either."

- "In fact, the only real piece of evidence we have is an undergarment that was floating near the corpse at the scene of the murder."

- "Unfortunately, we haven't a clue who it belongs to."

- "Because of this lack of evidence, we had to arrest the defendant on other factors, such as her motive and lack of alibi."

- "As of now, there is no hard evidence to prove that she did it."

"Hold it!"

"I have a question to ask you, if you don't mind," I said, a small frown on my face. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I was hoping and praying to whatever gods, goddesses, or other higher powers (maybe a giant sheep) existed out there that I got this one right. "You said that you have no hard evidence to prove that she did it, but... What if I presented some hard evidence that she is not the culprit? In other words, I think I can prove that she did not push the victim into the lake that day and drown him. I believe that our sole piece of evidence in this case can show us the truth of the matter."

"You do?" Detective Wattson asked. "You are referring to the garment, yes, love?"

"I am," I nodded. God, this was going to sound so embarrassing. I shot a glance at Chrysalis, who was keeping up a passive front. I got the feeling she would freak if I brought up what I was about to say, so I didn't tell her about it in advance. With a small sigh to prepare myself, I began to speak. "Pardon me for asking, but was the defendant wearing a similar garment when she was arrested? I don't think I ever got an answer on the matter, so if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear it now." I was trying my best to sound professional despite the subject not exactly seeming that way.

"She was," Robbie cut in quickly, obviously as eager to get this conversation over with as I was. "Why do you ask? Do you think it has some bearing on this murder?"

"I think so," I replied. "If she was wearing that sort of thing when she was arrested, then the garment found in the lake could not have been hers. Nobody carries around something like that. Even if someone knew that this murder was going to occur, it wouldn't make sense with the other facts of the case. To put it simply, the garment cannot belong to my client."

"Please explain what you mean to the court, defense," Judge Frost instructed of me, narrowing her eyes in my direction. I could feel myself wilting ever so slightly under her gaze. About thirty minutes ago, I had never even met her, but now, I was definitely terrified when she looked at me like that.

Despite this, I gulped and nodded. "Alright. Think about it like this. If the crime was premeditated, somebody would have undoubtedly wanted to bring another weapon, such as a knife or gun. However, there was no other weapon used to kill the victim. It was just the water that ultimately killed him. That being said, we can deduce that this murder was committed on a random impulse. Nobody planned it out ahead of time. If they had, they also would have brought along a second garment to cover their tracks. Since this crime wasn't premeditated though, nobody would have known to bring something like that along. That means that it couldn't possibly belong to my client. Somebody else is the owner of the garment that was found next to the body when it was first discovered."

"That makes sense," Chrysalis said with a nod from beside me. "Drowning is a very unorthodox method of murder anyways. There are countless ways it could go wrong. The person could escape. They could fight back since it takes so long to do. They could do all sorts of things to strike against the killer. If it was planned in advance, you would have wanted to bring another weapon to end things much quicker. If the victim got away, you wouldn't be able to rely on the water to kill them. They'd be able to tell authorities about the attempt and it would all go downhill from there. Anyone smart would certainly bring something else to finish the job as backup."

"Exactly. Our criminal clearly knew what they were doing. They didn't leave behind any evidence at the scene for us to pick up and mess around with. We're dealing with an intellectual. I bet they would have brought something along to kill the victim if the drowning failed. Basically, all of this is to say that our killer did not plan this out in advance, and thus did not bring along an extra garment, so it cannot belong to my client," I declared, placing my hands on my hips. I smiled to myself in pride. I was pretty happy with what I had deduced right there. It was definitely going to be helpful to us later on in the trial.

However, despite this, I was met with silence after all was said and done. I couldn't help but feel anxiety build up inside me. Did I say something wrong? Did I jump to conclusions too soon? Was the prosecution going to use this against me when the trial got into its later stages? Not even Judge Frost was saying anything. My heart sped up in anticipation of someone, anyone, saying something about the situation.

"I believe that you're right on the matter," Robbie finally said. "I doubt that this crime was premeditated. Nobody regularly carries around stuff like that either. There would have to be a reason for it, and a situational one at that. I believe that you're right on the defendant not owning the garment we found with the body."

I felt my shoulders relax. "Thank goodness..." I whispered quietly to keep anybody from thinking I had lost confidence. The gallery would definitely doubt me if I showed signs of weakness like that, which was the last thing I wanted. I was already struggling enough as it was to get through this mess of a case. I didn't need judgmental whispers to make me feel even worse about the whole situation.

"However," Prosecutor Cruz began, making my heart drop again, "I don't think that's all we can say on the matter. Like I said earlier, there's always the possibility that it's completely unrelated. That means that your claim about her not owning the garment and thus not being the culprit would become null and void since it has nothing to do with the case. On top of that, this doesn't change the fact that she doesn't have an alibi for the time of the murder. She has a strong motive as well. If the garment is unrelated, then it means your case has just fallen apart. What do you think of that?"

Before I had the chance to reply, Robbie cut in. "We cannot make a decision such as that yet. The garment may be able to determine everything about this murder, so we can't at all be hasty in our decisions regarding it. We need to evaluate the case in other ways before something like that can be decided upon. If you ask me, I think we should temporarily leave this subject and talk about something else. We have another witness to call to the stand. She's our main witness for this crime, so I believe that we should certainly hear her testimony before coming to any solid conclusions," he said. "She can give us some much-needed information."

"I must agree," nodded Judge Frost. "Prosecution, if you would please, call the next witness to the stand to testify on what she saw that day."

Robbie nodded and closed his eyes in silence before speaking. "The prosecution now calls Cassidy Rinko to the witness stand," he announced with a small but still noticeable snap of his fingers.

Well, here we are again.

I'm here to say that you're only getting one new chapter next week. I'll explain it when the next update comes out. It'll be on here. The week after will be the same way. I'll get back to my regular updating schedule at the start of October. For a few reasons, I'm going to have to drop a second update for a little while. Sorry about that. It's just the way things have to be.

Aside from that, I don't have much else to say. I hope you enjoyed!

-Digital