July 19

Happy House Carnival

5:00 PM

Deirdre Brigit

"It looks like we're going to be able to get most of our investigating done now," I said. "I guess that we can do our best to start it at least. I don't know how much we'll be able to get done. We're on a bit of a time crunch. We're going to have to rely on the opening statement tomorrow as well as testimony from Detective Wattson giving us information that we can use in the trial. I still think that we can win this thought. I know for sure that Mr. Morix wouldn't kill anyone."

"Let's get started then," Yuri nodded. "I'm not going to let the murderer get away with this. Nobody can do something like this to my sister and expect to get away with it. I don't even care that the crime scene is a mess. I'm going to make sure that her killer is caught, no matter who they are. What should we do first?"

"I guess that we could examine the area around the body," I suggested. "I don't know where else we would start off. Do you see anything of note left behind? I think that a majority of it was taken away when forensics came through the crime scene before. We won't have much to work with for now. It's all we can do until the witness is free for interrogation though. I hope that the prosecution doesn't take too long talking to her..."

"It'll be fine," Yuri assured me. "I don't see all that much around here, but I guess that a little bit more snooping wouldn't hurt... Wait! I think I found something!" She began to rummage through the pile of debris sitting before her. Rocks were sent flying in every direction. The smaller ones hurtled through the air before slamming against the ground a few feet away. I had to hold my arms up to my face to keep from getting hit by anything.

"What is it?" I asked, praying that she had found something. I doubted that we'd be able to find anything incredibly notable given the fact that forensics had already taken the body and the photo seen in the picture of the crime scene.

Yuri resurfaced not long after, holding a colorful hat in her hand. She handed it over to me. I looked at it with a frown. It had a small propeller on the top that was bright yellow in color. The rest of the hat had red and yellow stripes going down the sides. It looked like the sort of thing you'd see on a small child with a lollipop in some old movie.

"What in the world is that?" I questioned with wide eyes. Obviously, I already knew that it was a hat, but I couldn't figure out why it would be here. Sure, this is a carnival, but why would it be here? This was a murder scene! How would a hat like this end up with a body? As far as I was aware, nobody else had been caught up in the explosion that killed the victim, so this couldn't belong to another blast victim. However, if that was the case, how did it get here? I doubted the wind could have been able to pick it up, especially given how calm the weather was today.

"I wish I knew," Yuri muttered with a shake of her head. "I can't say though. It's a bit frustrating, but I guess we'll have to figure it out on our own. Do you know how to do that? I don't have a clue."

"Maybe one of the police officers on this case can tell us what it is," I suggested. "It has to have some relevance on this case if it was here with the body. I bet that it just didn't get taken by forensics since it was so well hidden. I'm impressed that you managed to see it underneath all those rocks. I didn't even notice it was there."

"It was bright yellow under a stack of gray rocks. It stuck out like a sore thumb. It's sort of beaten up, but it's still pretty colorful," Yuri said. She handed it to me. I examined it a bit more closely and realized it was covered in shards of concrete. Dust from the explosion practically covered it. It took roughly three swipes on each part of the hat for it to be cleared away.

"I wonder if this belonged to the killer. Either that, or it must belong to the victim. Do you know if she had a hat like this on her when she left this morning?" I asked of Yuri, handing it back to her.

"She never had anything like this. Cass hated hats. She said that they gave her headaches. I can't think of any reason that she'd want to have something like this," Yuri told me. "If you ask me, it must belong to the person that did this to her. I can't think of any other explanation."

"I'll keep that in mind. If this belongs to the killer, this could be our critical piece of evidence..." I murmured as Yuri turned over the hat to look inside it. I gasped and pointed to the inside of the hat. "Wait... Is that blood?"

Yuri looked into the hat for herself and nodded. "Yeah... It is blood. This definitely has something to do with the murder. I bet that the blood is Cassidy's, unless the killer or somebody else ended up getting hurt at the same time. I don't think there were any other victims of the blast, so I bet it's one of the first two. If somebody else had been hurt in this, we would have heard about it for sure," she remarked. "I guess we'll just have to dig a bit deeper into this case to figure out where all of this came from. It's going to be rough since we don't have much evidence to use, but we might as well give it a shot. I'm not letting the murderer get away. Cassidy deserves justice, even if she's gone now."

"Hey. Can we talk?"

I turned to see a young woman standing behind me. I recognized her as the defendant from the case back in May, Neptune Mercure. I guessed that she was finished talking with the prosecution. "I hear that you're going to be defending the suspect in this case," she said. "I figure that you'll want to hear about what I saw that day, right?"

"Please, tell us everything you know," Yuri begged. "Anything you can tell us will be useful. Well, unless you're going to tell us that the defendant definitely killed her, which would not only be unhelpful, but also wrong."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to say anything like that," Ms. Mercure assured her. "I don't know all that much about the case though, I'm afraid. This isn't like the case in May where Cassidy had exactly the right evidence and testimony to finger somebody as the culprit. I know just as much as anybody else who was here. I was just chosen as the representative to talk about in court tomorrow since I was with her beforehand."

"What happened that day? We heard that there was an explosion, but we don't know anything that happened around that time. You must be able to tell us something about that," Yuri said. I could tell that she was internally pleading with the universe to take pity on her and give us quality information on the case. I couldn't blame her. I was doing the same, though I'd never outwardly admit it.

"Sure. I came here this morning with Cassidy. She was supposed to be talking with the defendant and a few other people. I don't know what it was they were going to be discussing though. Cassidy wouldn't tell me but judging by the way that she was hiding things from me, I doubt that it was good," Ms. Mercure frowned. "If you ask me, something seriously wrong was bothering her."

"Do you know if there's any reason for anybody to want to kill her? Would it have something to do with what she was here to talk about today?" I asked. "If anybody would know about that, it would be you. Yuri here doesn't have the slightest idea what it could be, as far as I can tell."

"I don't have a clue. It's so frustrating. I just want to help out my sister, but it's sort of hard to do that when you don't know a thing about a potential motive," Yuri huffed. "Please, Neptune. You're our only hope. We need you now more than ever."

"I can't tell you much about it either. I'm afraid that I'm lacking in details as well," frowned Ms. Mercure. I could hear something in her tone. She was lying. I had always been talented in telling when people were lying. Ever since the case earlier this year when Yuri was arrested, I had been working to refine it further. My increased hearing hadn't helped much in her case, but I was determined to make it useful in future investigations, starting with this one.

The fact that she was lying concerned me. If she did know something, why hide it? Her close friend had been killed, but she was still trying to keep the truth hidden. Was the potential motive really so awful? I doubted I'd be able to force it from her here when there were no stakes, but it still bothered me. I could try and drag it out of her in court, but until then, we'd have to press a few other things out of her.

"Do you know of any potential motive that Mr. Morix would have? He and Cassidy have been friends for years. He defended her from murder charges back when she was fourteen," Yuri remarked. "I can't think of any reason that he would want to kill her. It makes no sense. If you ask me, somebody is certainly trying to frame him."

"I don't have anything in mind. I've never actually spoken to him. I've heard his name, but we haven't ever talked. I've met all his employees now, but never him," Ms. Mercure told us. "I'm not exactly the best person to ask about a motive for him. I apologize for that. However, I'll be glad to tell you about what I saw earlier today when the crime took place. I'm sure that you want to hear about it. It's incredibly important."

"Go right ahead," I nodded, crossing my arms. I could tell she was lying about having never spoken to Mr. Morix, which only served to perplex me further, but I didn't speak about it. I could craft theories later.

"When the blast went off, I was near the Ferris wheel. Cassidy was lost, so I was going there to make sure she was okay. After the explosion, I couldn't see anything. There was dust pretty much everywhere since I was so close. When I finally managed to stumble out of the cloud of dust, I could see the defendant. He was holding something in his hand. When I looked a bit closer, I realized that he was clutching the remote used to detonate the bomb," Ms. Mercure told us. "That's a bit incriminating, so it looks like you're going to have to do a bit of work to prove that he didn't do it, huh?"

"Great," Yuri groaned. "And here I thought maybe we'd finally be able to get a break. This sucks... But I guess there's nothing we can do to change it. The most we can do now is try our hardest to prove that Mr. Morix didn't do it. Is there anything you can tell us that will prove he's innocent? You're the only witness, at least to our knowledge, so you're our only hope." I saw her cross her fingers at her side as she met Ms. Mercure's gaze with pleading eyes.

"I don't know if I have any hard evidence, but maybe my lack of knowing a motive will help," Ms. Mercure offered. "I was pretty close with Cassidy, so if anybody aside from Yuri would know a motive, it would be me. However, I don't have any ideas. That has to count for something... At the very least, I can hope it does. I don't really know how the police work. I'm a private investigator, not a police officer."

"I wonder if Chrysalis would have any ideas for a potential motive. I know that the police are going to try and twist things around to show that he could have done it. If that means coming up with a motive that's completely out of character, they'll do it. However, if we can talk to the person Mr. Morix is closest with, perhaps we can use that to our advantage. If they try and work things to their advantage, we'll have backup in the form of her testimony. It'll keep him from getting into too much trouble over an impossible motive," Yuri suggested. "There is a bit of a problem with that though... I don't know about you guys, but I haven't seen her all day. Did she even show up for work this morning?"

I frowned. "Come to think of it, I can't remember if she was there at all. If she was, she would have left early on to come to the carnival with her brother. I believe somebody mentioned that she went with him. Maybe the police are questioning her. I would have expected her to jump at the chance to help defend her brother, but..." I placed one finger on my chin and closed my eyes in thought. "Did Prosecutor Lin or Chief Prosecutor Bespoke tell you where she was when they dropped by the agency this morning? I bet they're our best bet for figuring out where she is."

"They didn't, no," Yuri said. "I guess that the universe is just telling us we weren't meant to talk to her... As unfortunate as it is, we can't ask her anything without knowing where she is. I can try and call her, but I don't know if that will work." Yuri pulled out her phone and began dialing. She pressed it up to her cheek as I turned back to Ms. Mercure.

"Is there anything else you think we should know about the case?" I asked.

"Not off the top of my head," Ms. Mercure said. "However, it looks to me like there's something that you want to show me about the case." She gestured to the brightly-colored hat in my hand. "What is that? It looks messy, whatever it is..."

I handed it to her and frowned. "I'm afraid I'm not sure. I mean, it's quite clear that it's a hat, but I can't figure out its purpose or how it would get here. It was found in the rubble near the body with minimal damage, which seems suspicious to me. Nothing could survive a blast like that and only be covered in dust."

"You know, come to think of it, this hat actually looks a little bit familiar," Ms. Mercure remarked. She turned it over a little bit before letting out a gasp. "I remember! This hat is worn by employees here at the carnival. I think it's supposed to make them look a bit more festive and approachable by little kids, but I can't say for sure. I was never one for coming to festivals like this. They're expensive and seem to have an obsession with stealing your money. I was just here for Cassidy."

"I see... That means that somebody who works at the carnival was here in the area about the time that the murder took place. We can use that to our advantage for sure. If it belongs to the killer, then that means that it couldn't be Mr. Morix's. I somehow doubt that he has a side job at a carnival when he owns a law agency. The two professions don't exactly mix well, if you get what I mean," I told her. I took the hat back from Ms. Mercure before looking into it once again. "There's blood on the inside as well. Do you think it belongs to the victim?"

"It has to, if you ask me," Ms. Mercure told me. "I mean, I doubt that the killer was wounded really badly in the process of the crime. There would probably be more blood if that was the case. It all matches up too well for there to be another person bleeding. At the very least, that's my take on the matter. You might want to have forensics take another look at it before you say that for sure. You know what they say about making assumptions."

I nodded. "Yes, you make a good point. Do you know where Detective Wattson went off to? You were talking with her before you came to speak with us, right? Did she mention she was headed somewhere else?" I asked.

"I think she was headed back to the detention center after she was finished talking with the prosecution. I bet she wanted to talk to your client about the crime more. From what I can tell, the prosecution is still lacking in a motive. It'll take some digging from the detectives on the case to come up with something like that," Ms. Mercure responded. "Speaking of, are you going to head by and see him? I bet that visiting hours have been extended a little bit for his case since the investigation is still underway. You can definitely sneak in there before the prison closes them for the day."

"We were planning on going to talk to him. He wanted to hear more about the details of the case after we were finished with our investigation for the day," I told her. "Why do you ask? Do you want to come along or something?"

"No, not at all. I was just curious," Ms. Mercure assured me. Unlike before, when I could tell easily that she was lying, she was a bit more transparent right now. She was telling the truth. I was starting to get the feeling that Ms. Mercure would be a difficult character to figure out. She had been switching back and forth between lying and telling the truth ever since we met her. I didn't know how I was going to put up with her constant changes, but I was going to have to figure out something. We were going to have to question her in court if we wanted to free Mr. Morix from prison.

"We should head by and see them soon," Yuri advised. "The sooner that we go and talk to him, the sooner we can go back home. We're going to need rest if we're going to conquer this case. There's already quite a bit of evidence piling up against Mr. Morix, even if there isn't a motive. I bet that the prosecution can find a way to worm around that with witness testimony saying that he had the remote used to detonate the bomb. Plus, his prints were found on it... This is going to be a tough nut to crack."

"I agree," I nodded. I turned to Ms. Mercure and bowed my head gently. "Thank you for talking with us today. We'll see you in court tomorrow. Until then, have a good day."

"As to you," Ms. Mercure smiled. "Stay out of trouble. I already get the feeling that things aren't going to be getting any easier from here on out. I hope that you can find your friend."

"Oh, yeah," Yuri said, turning to me. "Chrysalis didn't pick up. I guess I'm not really surprised. When Chrysalis wants to hide something, including herself, she's very good at it. That's not the best thing for us, but I guess we'll just have to deal with it. I just hope Mr. Morix isn't too upset when he hears we haven't been able to find her. He's a bit protective of her, and that's probably putting it lightly..."

"We can explain the situation to him. I'm sure it'll be alright," I assured her. "We'll see you later, Ms. Mercure."

"Bye," she said simply. She turned on her heel and began to walk away. If it was at all possible, I had even more questions about this case than ever before, and it was all because of her. I didn't have a clue what her real motivations were, but whatever was going on, I got the feeling it wasn't good.

July 19

Detention Center

5:55 PM

Cotoli Morix

I had been growing used to the quiet that came with staying in the detention center when a guard came in and told me that it was time to head into the visiting area. Apparently, there was somebody here to see me. I could feel my heart jump inside my chest. I didn't get much human contact in here, so anything I got was welcomed with open arms.

When I was approached into the visiting room, I saw Deirdre handing off a bright object to Detective Wattson. The detective promptly nodded her way and left the room, leaving just Deirdre and Yuri standing on the other side of the glass. They pulled up chairs and sat down opposite me.

"What was that about?" I asked. "It looked like you were talking about something serious."

"We found a piece of evidence at the scene of the murder that was missed by the forensics team. We were just asking her to run a few tests on it since there was blood found on the inside," Deirdre explained. "Anyway, how are you doing?"

"I've certainly been better," I admitted. "The detention center has never been my favorite place in the world... How did the investigation go? Did you find anything that you could use to prove my innocence?"

"I'm afraid we haven't found solid proof yet," Yuri frowned. "But we do have one advantage! The prosecution can't think of a good motive for you to kill Cassidy. Without that, then their case is bound to crumble. You two were close friends. Why would you ever want to bring her harm? It makes no sense."

"I hope that they can't come up with anything," I sighed. "I already get the feeling that things aren't going very well. The evidence says that I touched the remote used to detonate the bomb on the Ferris wheel. I did, but it wasn't because I set it off... In fact... I think I have an idea as to how you can use that to your advantage..."

"How is that?" Deirdre asked eagerly, raising one eyebrow my way. I could tell that she wanted more than anything to hear what was on my mind, especially considering that it would help our case.

I glanced around with a frown. "I don't know if saying it is the best idea... The guards report directly to Prosecutor Kalles and Prosecutor Wood. However, I suspect that we can get by with it if we're quiet..." I leaned in near the glass and spoke again. "My fingerprints may be on the remote, but that can be used to help you prove my innocence. In order to set off a bomb with a switch like that, what do you need to do?"

"Hit a button obviously," Yuri remarked. "But how can we use that to show that you didn't do it? I don't get what you're saying..."

"Well, if you have to hit a button, that means that my prints would have to be on the button if I hit it. I never touched the button when I picked it up. I didn't know what it would do, so I left it alone. That means that you can keep the prosecution from using that against me. They can't prove that I pressed the button if my prints aren't on it. It's not like I could have used a glove to press the button either. After all, if my prints were on the rest of the remote, why use gloves just to push the button? It would be easier just to start off by using gloves and using them the entire time I was handling the remote," I explained. "This is one of those times where logic is incredibly helpful in the battlefield that is the courtroom."

"We can definitely use that!" Yuri grinned. "Thanks for telling us, Mr. Morix! Those prosecutors won't stand a chance against us when we tell them that!"

"Speaking of them, what do you know about them?" Deirdre asked. "I get the feeling that they're on the more friendly side, but I still can't entirely figure them out."

"Prosecutor Wood is the daughter of the chief prosecutor through adoption. Since Ghastly and I have been friends for years, she wouldn't be able to fully act against me without her parents getting upset, especially considering the fact that her adoptive mother is my little sister," I told them. "As for Prosecutor Kalles... We have something of a unique relationship. It's hard to fully explain it. We get along though."

"Can you at least try?" Yuri begged. "We need to know what we're up against."

"Prosecutor Kalles and I are friends. We've taken on a few cases against each other in the past. I've seen her in the past when I wasn't on the defense team as well. From what I can tell, she has a strong style of prosecuting. She's very justice-oriented. If she feels someone is guilty, she won't hold back and becomes a ferocious foe to combat. However, if she knows the accused is innocent, she will allow the defense to win so the accused will be freed," I told them. "She's a good person, even if she's a bit intimidating at first. Just... Avoid getting on her bad side. It's not fun to see her when she's upset or angry. It can be downright terrifying, if we're being perfectly honest here." I let out an awkward laugh.

"Thank you for telling us all of this," nodded Deirdre. "You know... Come to think of it, that might be the reason that they haven't put forth a motive yet. If Prosecutor Kalles is your friend and she feels you are innocent, then she's got to be on our side, going by what you've said so far."

"Even if she isn't the lead prosecutor on this case, she has seniority over Prosecutor Wood, so she's going to be calling some of the shots. However, she also thinks that I'm a good lawyer in the courtroom, so I doubt that she'll be going too easy on you. If she knows you can take the heat, she'll let you, but I doubt that she fully believes that I'm guilty. If things go incredibly sour and she fears a guilty verdict being passed, she'll pull back and allow you to get in a few strong points. It's the way she works."

"It sounds like we can count on her then," Yuri grinned. "Of course, we still can't let down our guard if we want to show that you are innocent without a shadow of a doubt. We're going to show who killed Cassidy no matter what. The killer won't be getting away with this. I refuse to let that happen."

"How are you holding up, by the way?" I asked of her. Cassidy was her sister. I knew that she had to be feeling some sort of emptiness deep down. Anybody would feel awful if their sister turned up dead after being fine just a few hours before.

"I'm okay," Yuri told me, but I knew she was lying. Yuri did her best to hide her negative emotions, no matter how hard it was on her. She complained occasionally about things that have no real impact on her life, but should something go seriously wrong, she bottles it up until she's alone. Previously, her sisters had helped her get everything out, but first Venus had died, and now Cassidy was gone...

"We should be heading home soon," Yuri said, cutting off my thoughts. "We'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Morix."

"Thank you for stopping by," I told them. "It gets lonely in here."

"I figured," Deirdre replied. "We'll see you in the morning though. We'll show that you didn't commit this crime. Whoever did this will be locked up in a matter of a few days. I promise you that much."

"I have faith in you," I smiled. The two girls waved and walked out, leaving me alone with just my thoughts once again.

I was worried about Yuri because of what happened to Cassidy. I felt sick just thinking that Cassidy was really gone. It didn't feel real. I trusted Deirdre and Yuri completely, but I couldn't help my feeling naturally worried about the verdict that was soon to come. My heart seemed to be doing nothing but pounding constantly. I wanted nothing more than to just go home... I hadn't seen Chrysalis yet, which was a bit worrying. I was sure that I'd be able to catch up with her at the trial. There was no way that she would miss it as my sister...

Only time would tell if things were going to get better, and I hated waiting to see how things would unfold.

I actually finished this update early. Good job, Digital.

I decided not to do another main update this week since I've been getting over sickness. I got food poisoning last week, and while I was mostly over it by the time this week came along, I was still feeling a little bad. I ended up getting through a few scripts for the Fates rewrite though, so that's a positive.

I'm excited about this story. I'm going to be able to type more of it now, so more updates will come out. Nice.

I don't have much else to say here. I hope you enjoyed!

-Digital