July 20

Morix Law Offices

11:30 AM

Neptune Mercure

I pressed the doorbell to the agency after realizing that it was locked. I assumed instantly that it was because everybody was out due to this case. If Ms. Brigit was on the defense, Ms. Shield was undoubtedly watching from the gallery. There was always the chance that she just hadn't come back yet, which was fine. It didn't bother me. I wasn't here for them anyways.

A small clicking sound from the door indicated that I was able to come in. I walked inside and noticed how empty the lobby was. I hadn't been around here at all before, but Chrysalis had told me that she was often the one who ran the front desk. Looking back, it made sense that nobody was there. If she was having an episode, she probably wouldn't want to be up at the front of the building for anybody to see.

I entered the elevator and let it take me up to the proper floor, otherwise known as the top one. I wandered around for a little bit before I saw an open door. There was a small amount of light coming from it, so I figured that I had found my target.

Sure enough, there was Chrysalis. She was curled up on the bed in silence, hugging her legs to her chest. I had forgotten for a little bit that she actually lived in this place with her brother. She said that it was to save on money or something of that nature. Her phone was held close to her face, causing white light to be broadcast all over the room.

I knocked against the door frame for a second before walking in. Chrysalis peered up over the top of her phone for a second before rubbing at her eyes. Her glasses were perched on the bed nearby away from her face. Upon closer examination, I realized that her eyes were puffy and red, likely from crying. Maybe she was a bit more torn up about all of this than I had initially thought...

"You okay?" I asked of her gently, not wanting to upset her at all.

"I'll be fine," she grumbled, seizing her glasses after fumbling around for them for a moment or two. She pushed them onto her face roughly. "What are you doing here? I thought that you had other stuff to do today."

"I finished. I can drop by the crime scene later on. I wanted to make sure that you're feeling okay first," I explained, sitting on the edge of the bed. I grabbed a nearby cord that opened up the blinds that rested on top of the windows. The sunlight flooded the room in the blink of an eye, making Chrysalis flinch in shock. She shook her head in disproval before hiding her eyes in her hands.

"Why did you have to do that?" Chrysalis groaned under her breath before looking up at me. "I was perfectly content moping in the darkness for the rest of the day, Neptune."

"I don't think you really were," I said. I scooted a little closer before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She didn't struggle or try to pull away, instead only slumping into my arms quietly. She didn't say a word, so I spoke up instead. "Do you want to talk about what's been going on?"

"Not really," she admitted. "I just want my brother to come home already. It's only been a few days, but I already miss him to death. I couldn't sleep a wink last night despite how exhausted I was. I don't think that's exactly a good thing."

"I agree on that being bad," I nodded. I began to run my fingers through her hair. "What about we talk about something else as a little distraction? Would you like that better?"

After hesitating for a moment, Chrysalis nodded. "That sounds good," she told me. "Do you have any ideas?"

"What about my offer from the case on the lake? I haven't heard you say anything about it yet," I remarked. "You said that you might need me, but we haven't talked at all about that. When we meet up, we end up acting like that conversation never happened. We need to talk about this, Chrysalis. Dropping it isn't going to do either one of us a bit of good."

"I don't know what to think, if we're being honest. Why can't you just tell me what's going on? All you really did that day was confuse me. If you would just give me a straight answer, maybe I'd be able to get back to you on it, but I'm afraid that I lack the knowledge needed to talk about what it is you wish to discuss."

"I can't do that. This discovery is meant to be yours. I won't squander it by telling you ahead of time. Besides, I feel like you know the answer deep down. No matter how much you try to ignore it, you know exactly what I mean. Denial won't help a soul, Chrysalis. All it does is make you miserable. The sooner that you accept what's been happening with Oracle, the better," I said.

"I don't know what you mean. I've never known what you meant. Can we just move on? I don't want to think about it," Chrysalis murmured.

"You're scared of the answer. You're scared of the truth. You don't need to be afraid. It'll all be okay. You know how the universe works. You're going to be fine," I assured her.

"Oracle is responsible for Venus being killed. She should have lived out a long life happy with her future husband or wife. She should have been here for years to come. She should have been here with me, but because of Oracle getting wrapped up in her life, she's gone. There's nothing we can do about that now, but I still hate them for it. You keep implying that Oracle is already part of my life too. That means that I've been hating on somebody that I love, that helped me through that ordeal, for all these months. I don't want to confront that. You act like it's perfectly normal that my trust in somebody is going to be shattered because of something I have no control over. One of my relationships is going to crumble because of all that's happened and will happen. I don't want that, Neptune," Chrysalis told me.

I felt my shoulders relax ever so slightly as I pulled her in a bit closer. "I think I get what has you so distressed," I murmured. "The way that you're talking about Cassidy's sister makes it sound like... Like you loved her."

Chrysalis was silent for a moment. She didn't say anything for a solid two minutes, just staring down at her hands in the quiet. "Fine. You caught me," she admitted softly with a shake of her head. "Venus never liked me back. I feel like I would have known it if she did. Plus, she ended up with a boyfriend. She never really found me to be her type, but I was still her best friend... Even if I wasn't meant to end up with her, I wanted to at least see her happy for years to come, and yet... She died before that chance was given to her. Oracle is the only one I have to blame. Oracle only ever causes issues for everybody. Oracle is responsible for Venus dying. I need to figure out who they are so that I can tell them to stop all this. First it was Venus, and now Cassidy is gone. I don't want Oracle to tear away anybody else that I care about. I'm tired of everybody leaving because Oracle is responsible for their untimely deaths. I don't want that to happen anymore, Neptune."

"I understand why you're upset. You've been through a lot. Anybody in your position would be angry at the one who caused all of this," I told her. "I get it. However, I don't want this to tear you up any longer. All this has done is hurt you. I don't like that."

"I'll talk to you about it if I get upset. Does that help you feel better about all this?" she asked me, still not daring to meet my eyes. "Until then, you should probably get back to the crime scene. I don't want you to get in trouble for not being there when you should be."

I sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. I should get going. I'll see you later. Call me if you need anything, alright?" I told her.

She nodded. "Got it. You go take care of business. I'll see you later, Neptune."

I shot Chrysalis a brief wave before walking out of the room. Here's to hoping I wouldn't get in trouble for being gone just this long...

July 20

Happy House Carnival

12:00 PM

Deirdre Brigit

I could hear a voice from behind me nearly as soon as we arrived at the carnival. I couldn't exactly make out the words due to the large number of police officers that had swarmed the area. I dismissed it as being unimportant to my investigation and continued walking forwards, Yuri trailing a few feet behind me. It wasn't until Yuri tapped my shoulder and gestured for me to turn around that I realized the voice was actually trying to address us.

It was Lily, I realized. She was trying to push her away through the countless officers to reach Yuri and me. She waved her arms around once she recognized that we had seen her. It was only a few moments later that she disappeared back into the crowd. She somehow popped up beside us not long after. "Hi," Lily told us, breathing heavily as she attempted to get her breath back. "You guys sure can move quickly. I was trying my best to get your attention, but it didn't really look like it was working. I guess that I was right about it not working. It took you guys forever to see me," she went on. "Anyways, I'm going to be hanging out with you guys for a little while. The agency is pretty empty since I'm the only one around there. I don't want to be there in the quiet anymore. I doubt that Mr. Morix will mind if I'm following you guys around as you try to prove his innocence. He just can't get mad at that."

"Doesn't that leave Chrysalis alone at the agency checking that we don't get any new customers? I don't know if that's a good idea. She's probably in the middle of another one of her depressive episodes right now," Yuri frowned. "I guess that we can check on her later though. For now, let's focus on proving the innocence of Mr. Morix. I don't want him to end up in trouble because of all this. That would be a disaster. We'd all be out of jobs if he ends up being convicted successfully of this killing. I don't know about you, but I don't really want that to happen."

"It'll be okay," I assured her, taking care to be firm yet gentle at the same time. "All we need to do at the moment is wander around until we can find a carnival worker. I doubt that very many of them were allowed to leave the scene after the murder took place. The sooner that we can find somebody who knows what they're doing, the sooner we can find the real culprit. We were given this time by Judge Frost and the mercy of Prosecutor Kalles. We should do our best to make sure that it's spent well."

"Then let's start exploring! I like exploring!" Yuri chirped. I could sense a little bit of sadness behind her voice, but she was trying to avoid mentioning it, so I was going to leave it alone for the time being. Later on, I could approach her and talk to her for a little bit to make sure that she was feeling better. I could even help out by giving her a therapy session if she needed it. I could tell that her sister's death was weighing heavily on her mind. The case was probably only increasing this burden, but I knew that she would just insist on helping out regardless. Plus, I didn't want to embarrass her in front of Lily by bringing up something so dark.

Yuri began to skip away despite the dark emotions that were clouding over in her mind. I went to chase after her, but I didn't get the chance to. Before Lily or I could call out a warning, Yuri rammed straight into a passing carnival worker, sending both parties falling backwards to the ground. Yuri let out a gasp of shock as her backside slammed into the concrete. I flinched at the sound, instantly feeling bad for both of them.

"Are you okay?!" Lily asked as she ran up to Yuri, taking one of her arms between her fingers. Lily gently hauled Yuri to her feet, being sure not to touch any bruises that were bound to form any minute now. Lily began to look her up and down, making sure that there wasn't any blood. She was acting incredibly motherly, if you ask me about it.

The person that Yuri had run into was getting to their feet as well. Upon closer examination, I realized that it was a young man. He appeared to be in his twenties or thirties, but I couldn't quite say how old he was. His hair was dark, and his bangs clung close to his face, nearly entirely covering up his eyes. A brightly colored hat was perched on top of his head, the same colors of the hat that we had found the day before. A yellow propeller at the perfect center of the hat was perfectly still. It looked eerie. His eyes were dark brown and shrouded in shadow. His uniform was bright blue, red, and yellow, matching the hat he was wearing. A silver pinwheel was in his hand, also as still as the propeller on his head. He stared at Yuri for a moment before looking up to me, sending a shiver racing up and down my spine.

"Who are you?" the man asked in a deadpan and monotone voice. His gaze expressed no clear emotion, which only made him more terrifying to look at, if you want my opinion. It was downright terrifying.

"I'm Deirdre Brigit, the lead attorney on the murder case that took place not long ago," I explained before gesturing to Lily and Yuri. The latter was smearing her finger on Yuri's cheek to stop the bleeding from a cut that had formed. I got the feeling that a stray rock had been kicked up during the fall and hit her in the chaos. "This is Lily Shield and Yuri Rinko. They're my assistants in this investigation."

"I see," the man said next. His voice was still flat. I felt a shiver run up my spine once again. He began to spin his pinwheel. It was spinning at the same pace with each rotation. Despite there being no wind, it showed no signs of stopping. The man blew on it for a moment before looking back up at me. "Oh. Are you still here?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes, I am still here," I told him. I was curious as to if his attention span was really so short, but I wasn't going to ask about it. That would undoubtedly be considered rude. "Who might you be?"

The man pressed one finger against a blade on the pinwheel. It stopped moving. He met my eyes just before he spoke. "Masa Stabbin," he responded. "I work here. I don't know if you should be here."

"Like I said, I'm working as an attorney on this case. I have to be here, Mr. Stabbin," I told him. I could feel my patience begin to creep away. I always considered myself a rather patient person, but I could already tell that this man was going to be a chore and a half to deal with. Not only was his attention span incredibly short, but he didn't seem inclined to say much of anything.

Mr. Stabbin stared at me for a minute before turning on his heel. "Bye," he muttered, ready to disappear from sight.

It was only when I grabbed his wrist that he stopped. He slowly turned around, a dull glare in his eyes. "Can you let me go now?" he asked, his voice edged with a bit of irritation. Mr. Stabbin slowly tried to pull on his arm, but I held too firm for him to make an attempt at escape. "Come on..."

"If you don't mind, sir, we need to talk to you a little bit longer," I told him. "We need to ask you about what you saw the day of the murder. Think about it this way: the sooner you talk to us, the sooner you can continue going about your business. Our work requires that we speak to you. The police will be willing to back us up. Mr. Stabbin, if it's alright with you, could you tell us about what you saw the day of the murder?"

Mr. Stabbin thought about it for a moment before sighing. His deep exhale caused the pinwheel he was holding to start spinning. "Fine," he grumbled unhappily. "Just start asking questions. The sooner you finish up, the sooner I can go home..."

Yuri and Lily finally walked back over after the fall. Yuri's cheek was red and inflamed thanks to the cut, but Lily was making sure that there wasn't any blood by brushing her thumb over the girl's cheek. Neither one of them said anything as I turned to Mr. Stabbin. "What were you doing at the time of the crime? Do you know if you have an alibi?" I asked of him.

"Alibi? Oh... Well, I was supposed to be managing the Ferris wheel... That's my job at the carnival. I make sure that little kids get on there without dying. If a small child while trying to enter a Ferris wheel car, we'd get sued. I need to prevent that from happening," Mr. Stabbin explained. "I was close when the explosion went off. I nearly died. The police don't seem to care. I don't either. Life is a train wreck anyways. Why be worried when you could just as easily ignore everything that the universe throws your way?"

I couldn't help but feel nervous and fearful of his nihilistic nature. Was he okay? Did he need to see a therapist? Would I be required to finally give a therapy session in court tomorrow? I would figure that out soon enough. For now, I had to take care of this conversation. "I see... Did you see anybody suspicious at the time? Is there anybody you know of who would have had a chance or a motive to cause an explosion like that? We believe that the culprit of the explosion worked here at the carnival. They wouldn't have had a chance to set up the bomb without being caught otherwise," I explained.

Mr. Stabbin thought for a moment. He began to look around aimlessly before letting out yet another sigh, sending the pinwheel spinning around and around once more. "I don't know. I don't talk to anybody around here. I'm just here for the summer to get some money before I go back to college. Rent is a pain in the neck. I need to take care of it somehow," he groaned. "I don't know why anybody would do it. I don't know why I'd talk to anybody else here either. Life is meaningless and has no point in the end. Why spend it with unpleasant people who don't care about you or anything to do with your life? It makes no sense. Humans are incredibly illogical, you know. Lawyers are some of the worst of the bunch. Why help out other people that have no bearing on the flow of your life? You would be fine without them. Just leave them behind. We are only here to suffer anyways. Holding it off just means that you'll endure even more pain when the end finally does come. It's the circle of depression."

"Are you okay?" Yuri asked. "You seem like you might need some mental health. Is it bad that this guy is sounding sort of like Chrysalis when she gets really sad?"

"Probably. There's a chance that they both might need assistance, but it isn't our place to meddle. Mr. Stabbin doesn't seem to want to associate with us anyways, so staying out of it might be for the best," Lily told her in response.

"Um... Mr. Stabbin, if you don't mind, is there anything else you can tell me about the time of the crime?" I asked, feeling more than a little awkward with his open pessimistic nature. I had met negative people before, but none of them seemed to come anywhere close to where this guy was on the spectrum of sadness and emotional turmoil.

"No... I saw the defendant pick up a remote... I was on break just before the bomb went off. It saved my life. I came back and saw that he was holding the remote... Do you want me to let you in on a little secret?" Mr. Stabbin asked, yawning slowly. Everything about him seemed to go in slow motion, like time was halved for only him.

"Yes, please," I nodded eagerly, praying that he'd finally be able to give us helpful information after his lengthy and dark speech.

"I went on break while somebody was on the Ferris wheel. It was a girl with white hair. She looked lost. After I let her on, I walked away and never came back. That was when I took my break. When I returned, the bomb had just gone off and debris was everywhere. The defendant was hanging out nearby with a remote in his hand. I think he caused the explosion," Mr. Stabbin went on. "I don't know for sure. I don't understand anything in this world. I know only the meaninglessness of life and the inevitability of death. Only those two facts are known. All else is a mystery that we need not get involved in. Leave life alone, or it will strike you down."

"You let a girl with white hair onto the Ferris wheel?" Lily echoed. She turned to Yuri with a gasp. "Didn't Cassidy have white hair? What if he let her onto the Ferris wheel before he took his break? That means that Mr. Morix couldn't have done it."

"What makes you say that?" Yuri questioned.

"I doubt that the common person can operate a Ferris wheel. While the stuff could look easy to use, it's much more difficult than you'd expect. Somehow, I don't think that Mr. Morix would be able to figure out how to work things if he just walked up to the booth randomly. Only somebody trained in this sort of work would be able to do it. That being said, he couldn't be the culprit," Lily declared, a grin of triumph on her face.

"That just leaves us with one problem. If we needed a carnival worker in order to get onto the Ferris wheel where she was, who did it?" Yuri asked. "It couldn't have been Mr. Morix, like you just said. Mr. Stabbin just mentioned that he left the scene shortly before the murder. That means that somebody else must have snuck into the area after they had gone to commit the crime."

"It must have been a carnival worker too. Only workers would know how to operate the Ferris wheel. Plus, if need be, they could cordon off the area and eliminate any potential witnesses. They'd have the authority to do so. The common person wouldn't have those chances," Lily went on. "But that still doesn't clear Mr. Morix of the explosion charges. He was in the area despite all of this. That shows that he's more suspicious now than ever. While this does clear him of the murder, it only digs a deeper hole for him regarding the explosion. If he's going to be let free, we need evidence to completely clear his name."

"We sort of started doing that during the trial. Since his fingerprints weren't on the button, he couldn't have set off the bomb. The evidence was coincidental that showed he set off the bomb," I cut in. "With this new testimony, we can also clear his name of the murder. We'll need to find another potential suspect if we want our argument to be as sound as possible, so it's time to get back to looking around."

I turned back to Mr. Stabbin, ready to thank him for his help. However, I realized that he was gone. He had likely run off during my conversation with Lily and Yuri. That didn't surprise me, given the way that he had been talking to us before. I would be able to see him during the trial tomorrow. If I mentioned him to Prosecutor Kalles or Prosecutor Wood the next time I saw one of them, they would be able to find him and call him as a witness when court went back into session. I hadn't run into either one of them yet, but it was just a matter of time at this point.

"Who was that?"

Yuri, Lily, and I all turned upon hearing the voice. Ms. Mercure was walking closer, her hands shoved into her pockets. "Hey," she said when she noticed our surprise. "You don't need to look so shocked. I was going to run into you all again eventually. We sort of have to talk about what happened during the trial today, right?"

I nodded. "Yes, of course we do. We have a few questions for you regarding the case," I confirmed.

"Then shoot. I don't mind answering them. Just tell me who that guy was that you were talking to before. I'm curious. I don't remember seeing him around here yesterday. Did he mention anything about not being at the carnival yesterday?" Ms. Mercure asked.

I shook my head. "No, he didn't," I replied. "He said that he was working the Ferris wheel at the time of the crime. After letting the victim onto the Ferris wheel, he left to go on his break. When he came back, the bomb had just gone off. He claimed to have seen Mr. Morix holding the remote for the explosive in his hand, just like you mentioned yesterday."

Ms. Mercure paused for a moment before shaking her head. "No, that can't be possible. I could have sworn that it was just Mr. Morix and me there at the time. I didn't see anybody else, weird carnival worker or otherwise," she told me firmly. "I'd swear that on my life. It was just me and Mr. Morix. Nobody else was there. I looked around the area afterwards, and I didn't see hind nor hair of anybody. We were alone."

"That's rather peculiar, especially given that he just asserted the opposite... Do you have any ideas where this discrepancy could have come from?" I questioned.

"He must be lying to you for some reason. Tell me a few other things about what he told you. Any details that you can give will be welcome," Ms. Mercure said next, crossing her arms. Her eyes shut not long after, likely so that she could think without being distracted.

"He told us that he was here at the crime scene yesterday. His name is Masa Stabbin. He's working here for the summer as the manager for the carnival. After letting a 'white-haired girl' onto the Ferris wheel, who we assumed was Cassidy Rinko, he went on his break. I get the feeling that he isn't entirely there, so maybe it's in character for him to let somebody onto the Ferris wheel only to leave not long after," I explained.

"Yeah, but wouldn't somebody at the very least say that the Ferris wheel was closed before leaving like that? It makes no sense. Something about this whole situation is fishy. Not only did he lie about having seen Mr. Morix, but this... Be careful with trusting him. I don't think he's being entirely honest with you," Ms. Mercure said cautiously.

"I was sort of thinking something similar. If he supposedly went on break, then that would have effectively trapped Cassidy on the Ferris wheel. Regardless of if she was the only one on there, that's dangerous. If something had gone wrong, she could have very easily been hurt. By leaving like that, he put her in danger," Yuri cut in with a frown.

"I guess that we were too excited about what he was saying to really think about it. If he left the Ferris wheel, that means that somebody else must have been operating it when Cassidy was stabbed, likely a carnival worker. Normal people can't exactly operate a Ferris wheel like that. It takes training to do something of that nature, training that Mr. Morix doesn't exactly have," Lily remarked. "We were too focused on thinking that he could have done it to think about that stuff."

"He put somebody at risk by leaving at an inopportune moment and lied about seeing the defendant at the scene of the murder. If you ask me, we're going to need to question him again and see if he's really telling the truth about all of this," Ms. Mercure frowned. "Something tells me that he's more than your regularly suspicious witness. This all just makes him too sadistic and dishonest for that. Lying is one thing, but leaving somebody unattended on a Ferris wheel, with nobody there to guide them to safety should something go wrong, is a completely different thing, and it's arguably much worse. In fact, if my assumptions are correct, then he could very easily be the culprit that we've been looking for."

Sorry about there only being one update. Like I mentioned last week, a lot has been going on in my life. I needed a break to hold back a little bit. I'll be back next week with a double QATH update.

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

-Digital