May 30

Rhiza Lake

1:30 PM

Lily Shield

I ended up taking my time in getting to the scene of the crime. I had stayed around at the courthouse for a little while, trying to find Robbie to talk to him about the case, but when I couldn't find him after thirty minutes, I decided to head to the lake. Things were already chaotic when I arrived. Part of me regretted not coming here sooner. With so many people around, it could easily be hard to figure out anything new regarding the murder. I certainly had my work cut out for me already.

The first new figure I saw was a woman. She didn't look like the one described by Cassidy, so I didn't mind going over to talk to her. She seemed to be somewhat lost. Her hair was white and cropped close to her cheeks. On either side of her face, there were small chunks of hair dyed light blue, fading out to pastel purple at the edges. She wore a long white jacket that reached all the way down to her knees. It was left unbuttoned. She had on a light blue shirt beneath the jacket. Her leggings were black up near her hips, though they transitioned to a darker purple and then to a lighter amethyst color as they went down her legs. She had black boots on that reached her ankles. Her eyes were blue and had something of an unspoken gentleness to them that I couldn't quite describe. The woman yawned and rubbed at her eyes tiredly before noticing I was there. "Huh...? Who might you be?" she asked softly, stretching her arms up above her head. Somehow, she looked about as tired as Ms. Mercure, squinting at me until I was really close to her.

"My name is Lily Shield. I'm the lead defense attorney on this case," I explained. "I didn't see you around here yesterday. Plus, you looked lost, so I figured that maybe I'd be able to help you. Are you one of the new investigators looking into this case? It would explain why you weren't around at the start."

"You could say something like that," the woman replied, rubbing her eyes once more. Her lengthy sleeves covered up most of her hands. What little I could see appeared to also be hidden by white gloves that hugged her skin tightly. "I'm with Interpol. After hearing that the victim was investigating the infamous Oracle of the Law, I decided to drop in here and see what I could find since I've been trying to learn the truth for ages upon ages now. I can't exactly tell you my name since it's against company policy and all that stuff, but I guess telling you my letter wouldn't hurt... For now, you can call me O. It's nice to meet you."

"You're with Interpol?" I asked in shock. I had heard quite a bit about Interpol in the past thanks to the news, but I'd never met a real agent from there before. It was an international thing, so Interpol agents weren't very common sights. Most of the time, they'd be off solving whatever big issue was shaking the world next. I never would have anticipated an agent from a big company like that would be here, looking into a small murder case about a guy with gambling issues who drowned. It just seems too simple for somebody as important as that. "Why can't you tell me your name?"

"It could get people hurt," O explained, yawning. "Since we're so important in solving big time crimes and the like, if our names got out, culprits could use people close to us as hostages or even kill them to get us under their little finger. It's just a matter of keeping people safe. We don't even know the full names of our coworkers. Well, our leader, M, knows all about our real names, but he'd never spill anything. The point is, I'm not allowed to tell anyone who I really am. Sorry if that's an inconvenience, but I'd rather not get fired for telling a common person my real name."

"I get it," I nodded, telling myself not to take offense to the 'common person' remark. "So... You said you were here investigating Oracle, correct?"

O nodded. "The victim was looking into the Oracle of the Law a lot up until he died. I've been leading this project for years now, ever since Oracle's existence was leaked to the public. I want to figure out who they are. M says that they could cause a whole lot of trouble in other countries if they ever went international, so my job is to try to figure out who they are. We'll decide what to do with them from there. Until then, I'm just floating around, trying to learn whatever I can... Wait a moment. You seem familiar. Don't you work at Morix Law Offices or something? I think I saw you behind the defense bench of a precious case involving Oracle a few months ago. Would you remember something like that?"

"Yes, I was," I confirmed. "My agency has been involved in all the cases to do with Oracle, it seems. I mean, we had that one, the murder at the prison where the killer was trying to scare Oracle, the case a year ago where they were first publicly seen... I guess that's just our luck. I'm afraid I can't tell you much aside from that though. I don't know anything else. Oracle is doing a pretty good job at staying secretive, even from my agency, which seems to get dragged into their mess at every known chance. If that's what you were here to ask about, I'm sorry. I just don't have a clue who Oracle could be."

"That's alright. I didn't think anybody around here would know anyways," O said with a small shrug. "I'm mostly here to look through the belongings of the victim. He seemed to know a little something. He's dead now, so he doesn't really have much use for that information now. I doubt that he's figured much of anything out since Oracle is so secretive, but I might as well try. I want to learn the truth as soon as possible, so I need to pursue every possible lead, especially since you don't get very many when you're in this sort of business. Oracle is a slippery one. I wish I could hear a little bit more about them..."

"Same here," I admitted. "But I guess that we can't do much about that right now. Without more information on Oracle, we can't look into them and figure out who they are. We'll just have to let it go for the time being. I wish you luck in your searching though. I hope that you can find at least a little something soon. I can only imagine it's rather frustrating to try to find them only to come up short each time. I'd definitely get a bit irritated after repeating that cycle for a while."

"It's not so bad. I like working with Interpol. Everyone there is pretty nice. Even if I'm a bit lacking in information right now, I know it's just a matter of time before something appears, and when it does, I'll jump at the chance to learn more," O told me, rubbing at her eyes. Either she was really tired or that was definitely a habit of hers. Maybe it was both. "Until then, I should get going. I have a lot to get caught up on if I want to be able to listen in on the trial tomorrow. Maybe I'll talk to you later. Maybe I won't. I guess we'll see... Oh well. Bye."

O walked away yawning once again. I couldn't say much about her aside from that she was clearly a unique character. I doubted very highly that she was the one Cassidy had seen since she was new to the investigation and looked nothing like Cassidy's description. I didn't even know how she could at all tie into the case. If she wasn't involved, then she probably didn't have any bearing on the verdict. I could easily just ignore our encounter and continue going on about my business for the time being. Until something said that she was involved, I could just let her roam around and do whatever. It's not like I could stop her from doing that anyways. She's an agent from Interpol. I'm a lawyer, and a new one at that. There's sort of an authority difference, and I'll give you a hint, I'm not the one on top.

My phone rang not long after. I pulled it out of my pocket, instantly assuming it was Chrysalis. Oddly enough, it wasn't. I frowned and answered the call anyways. It wasn't a blocked number, and it was apparently from somewhere in the city. My curiosity got the better of me as it usually did. "Hello?" I asked into the speaker, hoping it wasn't going to be some random troll or seller trying to get me to buy something random and ultimately useless in everyday life.

"Ms. Shield!" came the voice from the other side. It only took me a moment to figure out who it was, which left me with my mouth open in a gasp.

"Cassidy?" I asked. "How did you get my number?" I hadn't given it to her since I didn't think of it, so I didn't have a clue where she had gotten it from. Whatever the cause, it meant that she was likely out of the questioning session. Well, either that or it hadn't started yet. I couldn't say for sure. I could ask her that in a moment, after she'd responded to my question about getting my phone number. I wanted to hear about that first and foremost since, once again, my curiosity was getting the better of me.

"I asked Chrysalis for it. I figured you'd want to know when I was finished talking with your brother and Prosecutor Cruz. We've figured out who the person I saw was. I can tell you who it is, but I'd much rather do it in person. I'm alone at the moment, so I don't need anyone getting a motive to attack and try to silence me," Cassidy said. "Can you meet me over by the body? I'm down here at the lake. Oddly enough, they questioned me here instead of down at the station, so I'm not very far away from it."

"That sounds good to me. I'll head right over there," I told her. After bidding her a quick farewell, I ended the call and dropped my phone back into my purse. If Cassidy had already figured out who she had seen running away from the scene of the murder, this investigation was definitely going to be sped up. I was glad for it. I could question the person she saw and get that out of the way so I could start speculating how the murder had been executed. With so little evidence, I was definitely going to need as much thinking time as I could get. I didn't want to go into the second day of the trial unprepared. I was almost afraid of the horrors that would be brought upon me by Judge Frost if I even thought about doing that.

When I arrived at the dock near the corpse, Cassidy was already there. She was playing with he ends of her hair, looking down at the ground quietly. She waved as I approached. "I figured out who the person I saw was," she explained. "Prosecutor Cruz showed me pictures of investigators on this case at the request of Prosecutor Shield. I figured out who it was pretty early on. He said that he would try to question her, and that until then, I shouldn't be alone. I got a text from Ghastly saying that he's going to be meeting me down here to make sure I don't get into any trouble, but he hasn't shown up yet, so I figured staying with you was another strong option."

"That's a good idea. If this investigator is really wild enough to think killing someone is a good idea, then they could definitely pose a threat to you," I agreed. "I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you. Promise."

"Sorry we're late."

I turned upon hearing the voice of a man behind me. I turned to see three people, two women and a man. I recognized the man as Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, but I wasn't too sure who the girls with him were. As I looked a bit closer, I realized that the older of the two had been in the photo found at the scene of the crime. Her lengthy teal hair made her rather distinctive. Didn't Chrysalis say her name was Sarah or something like that?

I focused my attention on the younger woman of the two instead of lingering on it. She had light brown hair that was tied into two long braids over her shoulders. A small segment of her hair wasn't pulled back. This section covered up her left eye. She had blue eyes and purple glasses. A black jacket covered her arms. A golden badge was pinned to it. She had a white shirt beneath it with a blue tie. Her skirt was the same blue. She had knee-high black socks and white ankle boots.

"Ghastly!" Cassidy cried out. She ran up to greet him, a smile on her face. "I'm glad you came. I could really use your support right now."

"It was our pleasure, Cassidy," the older woman grinned. "We wouldn't just leave you alone if you could potentially be in danger. Chrysalis texted me this morning and asked that we all come down here to look after you. Of course, we had to get a certain someone out of bed before we could come..."

"I-I'm sorry! I had to do paperwork from last night! Polly would have killed me if I slouched on it!" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke cried out defensively.

I just stared at the interaction unfolding before me. I didn't exactly know how to respond. They all seemed to be at least familiar with each other while I was just standing there like a bump on a pickle.

"I don't think we've met," came the voice of the older woman. She smiled radiantly my way. "My name is Sora Lin. I'm a district prosecutor. I'm sure you already know Ghastly here, my beefy boyfriend. Finally, this is Niamh Wood. She's our adopted daughter. What would your name be, sweetheart?"

I found myself blushing furiously at the sweetheart comment. The only people that had ever called me that were my mother and brother. I never would have expected to hear something like that from a woman I had just met. "I-I'm Lily Shield... I work at Morix Law Offices and I'm the lawyer on this case..." I said awkwardly. I knew there were worse people when it came to being embarrassed and stuff, but I still felt like I was as red as a tomato.

"Morix Law Offices? You must be one of my brother's new helpers," Prosecutor Lin remarked.

"You're Mr. Morix's sister?" I asked in shock. I never would have anticipated that. Their hair colors were completely different for one. Plus, Prosecutor Lin seemed cheery and excitable. Mr. Morix, on the other hand, was relaxed and logical, if not a bit prone to panic. That meant that this woman was also Chrysalis' sister, which cast me back to our conversation over the dropped photo. Now that I thought about it, I did remember her saying something to that effect...

"Yep! He's my big brother, though I doubt you'd guess that off the bat. Our only real similarity is our eyes," Prosecutor Lin went on. "But we aren't here to talk about genetics or anything like that. Instead, let's talk about the case! I get the feeling there's a lot to discuss. Plus, I'm sure Niamh here is curious. She really wanted to take on this case, but in the end, plans changed."

"Plans changed?" I echoed in curiosity.

"I-It's a long story," Niamh stammered, staring at her toes quietly.

We were all silent for a moment before Chief Prosecutor Bespoke piped in. "How's the case coming along? Do you know who the killer is yet?" he asked, obviously trying to break the awkward air surrounding us.

"Not yet, but we do have our suspicions," I told him. "We won't know for sure without evidence though. With some investigating, we should be able to figure out who it is conclusively though."

"That's right! I never told you guys who he woman I saw was!" Cassidy gasped. She glanced around to make sure the five of us were alone before speaking. "I'll have to stay quiet. I don't want her to hear me and try to pull anything while I'm alone..."

"If something does happen, we can protect you!" chirped Prosecutor Lin. "Ghastly and I can kick some serious ass, let me tell you."

"I know you do. You're both incredibly strong," Cassidy smiled gently. "I guess it's better safe than sorry though. I don't want to be a burden to you two by getting hurt. You're already helping me out a lot by offering to do all this in the first place. It means the world to me."

"It's our pleasure, Cassidy," Prosecutor Lin assured her. "You've been a friend for years. We can't just sit back and ignore it if you're in trouble. That wouldn't exactly be a noble thing as a prosecutor."

"You're right..." Cassidy said softly. She shook her head and continued talking. "Anyways, the person who I saw that day was named--"

"There you are!"

I gasped upon hearing Chrysalis' familiar voice from behind me. She waved in my direction and walked closer. "I was wondering where you wandered off to. I just got here from the agency. Cotoli dropped me off," she explained. "Anyways, I'm glad to see that you got my message to come down here, Sora. I figured Cassidy would want to ask Ghastly for help, but I figured she could use a little more defense."

"I get it," Prosecutor Lin nodded. "I'm happy to help. Plus, Niamh needed a little push to come here. She was originally going to be your opponent in court, but as you can see, that didn't end up happening. She got too anxious to do it. I don't blame her though. I know you can be the same way sometimes."

Now, it was Chrysalis' turn to get all red like I had earlier. She looked at her feet sheepishly. "I seem to have interrupted something when coming over here. Go on and keep on about your business. Act like I'm not here," she said quietly. Prosecutor Lin responded with an upbeat giggle, ruffling her sister's hair gently, which only served to embarrass Chrysalis more.

"I figured out who it was I saw the day of the murder," Cassidy told her. "I think that you should know it so maybe you can go and talk to her. You'll need to try and be as inconspicuous as possible so she doesn't pick up on it though. I don't want you all getting hurt because of me."

"We'll he just fine, Cassidy," I assured her, placing my hand on her shoulder carefully. "Everything will be alright. The killer will be caught and put into prison in less than a day. You'll need to tell us who you think it is first though. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and all that. You hear me?"

Cassidy nodded. "Alright... Just so long as you promise to stay safe, I'll tell you."

I extended my pinky finger out towards her. "Promise," I grinned, hoping my enthusiasm would be able to soothe her worries at least slightly.

Cassidy giggled to herself. "Alright. It's a deal. The person who I saw is looking into this case, though she isn't part of the regular police force. Like the victim, she's a private investigator. She's working with the police to catch the person who killed her coworker, apparently," she began to explain. "As far as her name goes, I heard it was--"

"And who might you all be?"

For the third (and hopefully the last) time in the past few minutes, I turned at the sound of a voice. A woman was walking closer. She had blonde hair that was incredibly thin and wispy. She was curvy, to say the least. She wore a black leather jacket with matching jeans that hugged her legs as tight as possible. She had boots on her feet with heels so long they could probably kill a man. A badge was pinned to her jacket. Underneath said jacket was a dark shirt to go along with her whole edgy color scheme. She had a choker on with spikes poking out from all sides. Her blue eyes had a sharp aura about them, making me shudder slightly. This woman was terrifying, I had to admit. I found myself shrinking away with each step she took closer to our little group. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Niamh slowly take Prosecutor Lin's hand. Chrysalis' shoulders tightened ever so slightly.

"I-I'm the lead attorney on this case," I explained to her, trying to resist the urge to bolt as quickly as I could. "My name is Lily Shield. This is my assistant, Chrysalis. As for the rest of them--"

"I don't care," the woman said harshly, putting up one hand to silence me. "I just want to know why all of you are loitering around the crime scene. We have business to take care of. According to the prosecution, a killer is on the loose around here... Tch. I thought it was their job to show the defendant did it, not some other random figure that the witness just made up on a spur of the moment decision. It makes me question our legal system's stability."

"Who are you?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke cut in, glaring daggers at her. Man, if looks could kill, she'd most certainly be six feet under.

"I'm a homicide detective. The name is Tammy Ghunshotte," the woman answered, staring back at him with an inquisitive gaze. "You look rather familiar. Perhaps we have been on a case before."

"I'm the Chief Prosecutor," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke frowned. "I should hope that you aren't talking badly about the young men who work under me."

"You're not exactly the most qualified for the job yourself, you know. I don't think you have any right to say a thing about me speaking the truth. I've heard you're as lazy as a cat, never getting anything done. Maybe you and all your little underlings should face the law's axe and be cut out of the system," Detective Ghunshotte mused.

"What do you want?" Chrysalis asked, taking a step in front of Chief Prosecutor Bespoke before he could say something he would regret.

"I need you to leave the crime scene. I don't want little flies buzzing around for no reason. Shoo." Detective Ghunshotte gestured with her hands as if she were swatting at a rogue bug. "Go on. Get out."

"I'm afraid we can't do that," I told her with a frown. "We need to look into this case more to figure out who the real killer is. We've gotten the prosecution to agree that it isn't the defendant. If you'll give us just a chance, we can figure out who it is that killed the victim. It won't be long at all. So please, just give us a little bit of time. We'll be out of your hair as soon as possible." I was practically pleading at this point. From what I had heard before from Chrysalis and Mr. Morix, defense attorneys weren't always welcomed at the crime scene. This seemed to be considerable proof of that. Even so, I couldn't put up with it regardless of if it was normal or not. If we were going to free Ms. Mercure, we had to investigate a bit more.

"I can't do that. You'll just mess everything up," Detective Ghunshotte told us, crossing her arms with a huff. "Now leave me alone. I have much more important things to attend to than getting rid of pesky little creatures who won't do what they are told."

"But I'm the chief prosecutor!" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke cried. "I have a lot of legal power, you know! I can make it so we can be here if I want it! Perhaps I should tell the Chief of Police what you're doing, forcing lawyers away from crime scenes they need to look into."

Detective Ghunshotte snorted. "You're the chief prosecutor? Yes, and I'm the Queen of England. No official of the law would look that uncivilized. Maybe get a better disguise before you start flashing titles around, kid," she told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke looked ready to object, but a hand on his shoulder from Cassidy stopped him. She got on her toes and whispered into his ear for a moment. I tilted my head slightly in curiosity, hoping that would cue one of them to explain their sudden chatter to me. It didn't happen. Instead, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke shook his head in resignation. "Let's go back to the Prosecutor's Office," he grumbled, clearly as excited to do so as a child would be to get a shot. "Obviously this woman isn't going to be giving in anytime soon. We might as well just regroup back there."

"Finally, you're listening to me," Detective Ghunshotte said with a passively aggressive smile. She waved towards us dramatically as we started to walk away. "Bye! Glad to see you getting away from my crime scene! Come back when you're ready to start playing with the big kids and do some real investigating!" She was singing the words, which made me even more irritated than I already was, which was quite the feat, let me tell you. Right then,I wanted nothing more than to punch that woman since she was being so rude. Judging by the facial expressions of the others around me, they felt the exact same way.

May 30

Prosecutor's Office

2:30 PM

Lily Shield

The lobby of the Prosecutor's Office was mostly empty when we got there. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was grumbling about how irritated he was to have been forced from the crime scene. Prosecutor Lin seemed just as angry, but she wasn't voicing it like he was. Niamh was messing with her thumbs as she stared absently at the ground. Cassidy looked at us all before sighing. "Well, we can't really go back there now," she said with a frown. "But there is a positive to this."

"Positive? How? We were forced out of the crime scene and can't look into anything! I've been unable to work cases for the past few months since I've been training Niamh. Now that she's a full-on prosecuting prodigy, I was hoping I'd be able to at least get my hands on a little something!" Prosecutor Lin cried. She shook her head. "I guess it'll just have to wait a little longer."

"There's something I want to tell you all," Cassidy told her, crossing her arms. Determination shone in her eyes.

"Wait, you're a prosecutor?" I cut in, realizing what Prosecutor Lin had said about Niamh. "I never would have guessed it."

"Sort of..." Niamh (though I should probably call her Prosecutor Wood from now on) said quietly, twirling one of her braids between her fingers. "I haven't taken on any cases yet..."

"I see," I nodded. "Alright, Cassidy. I'm sorry for interrupting. Go on and continue what you were going to say."

"Okay. Well, I was originally going to meet up with you to tell you about the person I saw the day of the murder since we figured out who it was. Ghastly and his posse showing up put that on pause for a little bit though. Then there was Chrysalis, which I didn't mind, and then Detective Ghunshotte, which I did mind... Point is, it's time for me to tell you who it was I saw the day of the murder. I'm almost positive that we know who it was," Cassidy told us."I won't keep you in the dark anymore since I know this is an important little tidbit."

"Then who is it?" I asked eagerly. This was exactly what we needed! If Cassidy told us who she saw, we'd be able to use that against them in court and prove Ms. Mercure innocent! From here on out, everything would be a peace of cake! I found my heart beating faster in anticipation for the grand reveal. Even if we had been kicked from the crime scene, this information was enough to turn the case on its head, investigation or no!

"The person I saw was Detective Tammy Ghunshotte, the very one who kicked us out of the crime scene a little while ago," Cassidy told us firmly. "I'm sure of it."

By some stroke of luck, I managed to finish this despite being out of town.

I have good news and bad news. Good news: I got this update out even with my busy schedule. Bad news: I probably won't be updating twice next week since I'll have a lot of homework to catch up on. I'll definitely be updating this next week. After that, I'll do an EA/QATH week and then DOD/QATH week. A double QATH will probably follow to close up this case. I just don't want to make myself type when I know I'm going to be stressed enough as it is at the start of the week trying to catch up on school and stuff.

Also, anybody who's been following my page closely may see that my Pokémon story has been removed. I did that since I doubt I'll ever be continuing it. I just didn't want it taking up random space when it won't get updated. Sorry to anyone who was excited about that.

That's about all I have to say here. I hope you enjoyed!

- Digital