July 21

Courtroom No. 5

11:00 PM

Deirdre Brigit

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ Seeing the Suspect ~

-"It was just after the explosion that I saw the defendant with the remote."

-"He was crouched on the ground and holding the small silver remote in one hand."

-"There was a small smirk on his face, like he was proud of what he had done."

-"I swear to you that he must have caused the explosion. Nobody else could have done it."

-"It was just the two of us there. That other girl who claimed to have seen this must have been lying."

-"I even saw his finger over the button of the remote. That's proof enough he must have pressed the button and blew up the Ferris wheel."

"Wow," Yuri said simply with a shake of her head. "His lies are getting more and more transparent. Poking a hole in this testimony is almost too easy. It feels like cheating in a way."

"Cheating or not, he made the mistake, so now, he'll have to pay for it. I don't think he'll be able to get out of this one since he's going against hard evidence instead of merely testimony," I told her. "Judging by the way Prosecutor Kalles is glaring at him, she's caught onto the contradiction."

"Then I guess we shouldn't waste any time," Yuri nodded. "We might as well take care of it now so we'll have more time to theorize about where the mysterious hat came from."

"It sounds as if you already know what you're going to do with this cross-examination," Prosecutor Kalles noted. "If that's the case, we have no reason to hold things off any longer. Go on and get started."

"Alright," I nodded before turning to Yuri. She nodded to show that she was ready as well as Judge Frost gave Mr. Stabbin the signal to repeat his testimony.

~ Cross-Examination ~

~ Seeing the Suspect ~

-"It was just after the explosion that I saw the defendant with the remote."

-"He was crouched on the ground and holding the small silver remote in one hand."

-"There was a small smirk on his face, like he was proud of what he had done."

-"I swear to you that he must have caused the explosion. Nobody else could have done it."

-"It was just the two of us there. That other girl who claimed to have seen this must have been lying."

-"I even saw his finger over the button of the remote. That's proof enough he must have pressed the button and blew up the Ferris wheel."

"Objection!"

"You really didn't see the defendant the day of the crime, did you, witness?" I asked with a small smirk. "You know that lying won't help anyone. It only harms your reputation, which makes you harder to trust."

"But I wasn't lying," Mr. Stabbin frowned. "Where's your proof that I was lying? I think that you just don't like me, so you're trying to make me seem like the bad guy."

"There is evidence to prove that you weren't being honest with us," I explained, holding up the forensics report from the remote. "This report shows the data from the remote used to detonate the bomb. It has details such as fingerprints, for example, which is what we'll be looking at. Yesterday, we determined that the defendant did not detonate the bomb since his fingerprints were not found on the button of the bomb, so he couldn't have touched it. You said just now that he set off the bomb by pressing the button, but his prints were never found on the button, which makes that impossible."

"Um... If you don't mind my interruption, there's another problem with his testimony that I noticed..." whispered Prosecutor Wood, slowly raising her hand to gather the attention of the people in the court.

"What is it?" Judge Frost questioned.

"He said that the remote was silver in color. However, Ms. Brigit just showed that he couldn't have seen the defendant set off the bomb thanks to the forensics report since he didn't do it. He also wasn't in court yesterday to watch the trial, but he still knew that the remote was silver. How did he know?" Prosecutor Wood asked.

Mr. Stabbin's shoulders grew tense. "I heard it from a police officer on the case," he said stiffly.

"I don't know about that. Common officers were not informed of the details on the case," Prosecutor Kalles frowned. "It was only the defense, prosecution, and lead detective that knew of the remote's color. Everybody in the gallery yesterday learned it from there, but you weren't there for the trial, so how did you find out?"

"I think I have an explanation," I cut in with a small smirk. "I believe that he knew the color of the remote since he was the one who used it to set off the bomb. He lied to the court about having seen the defendant to incriminate him. He knows the color of the remote despite the fact that he really shouldn't. If you ask me, there's something suspicious going on here. There's a strong chance that he knows all of this since he set off the bomb and killed the victim."

"Just because he was the one who set off the bomb doesn't mean that he killed the victim. The defendant could have done that much," Prosecutor Kalles proposed. "As we mentioned yesterday, there's the chance that there are two culprits behind this case."

"I find that hard to believe due to the place the victim died. She must have been alone on the Ferris wheel when the explosion went off. A common person would not have been able to get into the Ferris wheel, kill her, and then get off. People outside of the carnival wouldn't be able to work the Ferris wheel properly, and that includes the defendant. He couldn't have operated it to pull off a crime like this," I explained. "The culprit must have been a factory worker."

"The witness here is the Ferris wheel's operator as well. Plus, he doesn't have an alibi, which seems a little bit suspicious if you want my opinion," Yuri declared. "We should at least look into the possibility if we want to find the truth."

"I agree. Mr. Stabbin, where were you at the time of the crime?" Judge Frost asked, addressing him with a suspicious gaze. "I believe you were on your break at the time, yes? If you ask me, that's rather peculiar and dangerous. You let a common person on the Ferris wheel and then left them on it. If something had gone wrong, nobody would have been around to help her.

"I never said I made good choices consistently," Mr. Stabbin told her with a small shrug. He blew on his pinwheel once again. "I left her on the Ferris wheel. That had nothing to do with the fact that she later died. You don't need to be so suspicious of me. I didn't do anything to her that day."

"Be clear with us. What did you do when you let the victim onto the Ferris wheel?" Prosecutor Wood asked.

"I let her on. It was just her. After that, I left to go on break," Mr. Stabbin said simply.

"So, you were alone, so you have no alibi," I frowned. "Without an alibi, you can easily be turned into a suspect for this case. Do you understand that, Mr. Stabbin?"

"I didn't do it. You shouldn't suspect me," he insisted, shaking his head. "You're trying to make me out to be the bad guy since you want to get your boss out of prison. That's rather selfish, you know. Don't make others suffer like that because your coworker is a killer."

"We agree with them," piped up Prosecutor Wood. "We want to find out the truth regarding this case. We need to figure out who killed the victim."

"But I thought your job was to side with the witness testifying against the defendant," Mr. Stabbin frowned. "If you keep on doing things like this, then you're going to lose this case. Do you want that? I don't think you do. Your testimony as prosecutors is going to dip into the gutter. You'll never work another case."

"I wouldn't go that far," Prosecutor Kalles smirked. "My coworker here is the daughter of the chief prosecutor. He believes in finding the truth over any lies, which means that if we have to go against our witnesses, he won't mind a bit. You really shouldn't say things like that unless you know what you're talking about, witness. It just makes you look like a fool."

"But you have to believe me when I say that I didn't do it," Mr. Stabbin urged. I could have sworn that I heard a tint of desperation behind his voice. "I didn't kill the victim. Do you have any potential motives for me? Without that, this all means nothing."

"He's right about a motive being needed for a crime. It would be a bit hypocritical of us to say yesterday that Mr. Morix couldn't have done it without a motive and then convict him without a motive," Yuri frowned. "I hate how unrelated this guy is to the rest of the case. I don't have a clue why he would want Cassidy dead. I feel like I would know if she knew somebody like him. He has something of a standout personality, though I don't exactly mean that in a good way, if you catch my drift," Yuri told me.

"I can't think of much either. A motive will ultimately be necessary to prove that he did it, but I doubt it will be easy given how unrelated he is to your sister," I frowned.

"If you can't come up with anything, I should be able to go. You don't have any reason for me to stick around if you can't think of a motive. All you've been doing is accusing me. If I am proven to not have done it, then I shouldn't bother sticking around," Mr. Stabbin told us. He took a small step back from the witness stand and began to walk for the door.

"We aren't done with you," Judge Frost snapped, making the man stop in his tracks. "You have a legal obligation to stay here. If you don't stay, you could very easily be arrested for failure to comply to the law."

Mr. Stabbin let out a heavy sigh and shuffled back to the witness stand, murmuring a few foul words under his breath. Once he was finished, he shook his head. "I don't know how you can think I did it. Isn't there an extra hat somewhere in this case?" he asked.

"There is. A hat was found at the scene of the crime right next to the body. What does that have to do with anything though? We were focused on your motive," I frowned.

"You can't say that I did it if there's a hat there. I have my hat on my head right now. If the killer really dropped it at the scene of the crime, then it couldn't have been me. My hat is right here. You all can see it loud and clear," Mr. Stabbin replied. "What do you say to that?"

I paused for a moment, looking down in hesitation. I was going to have to craft my words carefully here.

Unfortunately, I wasn't given the chance. Yuri piped up instead. "Everybody had their hats on them though!" she cried out. "You aren't special for having yours on right now, you know!"

"Then where did that hat come from? Unless you can propose something like that, then I don't think you'll have anywhere to go from here. Everything you've proposed right now is purely coincidental. I guessed the remote's color. I didn't have an alibi. So what? Anybody can guess the color of the remote. Plus, countless others at the carnival didn't have alibis, but you aren't accusing them. Only bad lawyers do stuff like this, you know," Mr. Stabbin told us.

"He's right, in a way," I admitted to Yuri. "We need a final nail in the coffin for him. A motive would be great, but we really need to figure out where that hat came from too. If we can pull those final two pieces together..."

"This guy is as good as locked up," Yuri nodded. "But how are we going to find either one of those pieces of information? It's not like evidence is just sitting on the ground, waiting to be picked up and examined. We couldn't find anything yesterday, so I don't exactly know where to look now."

"There's only one place we can look. We need to check out our own evidence. If the answer wasn't at the crime scene yesterday, we must already have it," I told her firmly. "With a little bit of searching, I'm sure that we'll find something. If we can't..."

"We can kiss our jobs goodbye," Yuri frowned. "I just don't know where to look. Mr. Stabbin didn't know Cassidy. I would have known about it. That's going to make finding a motive nearly impossible."

"What motive could he have against her then? She was just a high school student," I said. "I'm sure that there's something, but what could it be?"

Yuri tapped her fingers against the bench before her. "I can't think of anything. The prosecution has been oddly quiet as well. I guess they can't think of anything either. That doesn't sound good for us. They've been trying to help us so far, but if neither of us can come up with a motive or explanation for the hat..."

"I think I can come up with a motive for you, Mr. Stabbin."

We turned our attention to look up at Prosecutor Kalles, who had a frown on her face. "I know exactly why you killed the victim, and it all boils down to what has been happening recently," she declared. "Have you heard about the recent two crimes in which somebody declares their motive for murder involved the Oracle of the Law? Said people would then declare themselves part of the Occisor group and then run away from the courtroom, only to disappear not long after."

Mr. Stabbin didn't say anything for a few seconds. He nodded slowly after he had chosen his words. "I heard on the news," he said carefully. "What does that matter though? This case is about a carnival, not a lake or prison."

"I'm afraid that this case has everything to do with a lake or a prison," Prosecutor Kalles told him. "I believe that you have something to do with the Occisor group. Are you, perhaps, here because of the trail of Oracle? Did that lead you to the victim, the younger sister of Oracle's known associate Venus Rinko?"

Mr. Stabbin stared at her for a moment before starting to glare. "Are you trying to mess with me? Really? You have no idea what you're getting into," he grumbled angrily. He slammed his empty hand onto the witness stand, starting a large gust of wind that whipped his pinwheel violently.

Suddenly, as if realizing what he had been doing, Mr. Stabbin stopped and shook his head. "I don't know what it is that you want from me." He returned to his regular posture and spun his pinwheel thoughtlessly. "I don't have any motivation for killing the victim. We didn't even know each other. You don't just kill people you don't know."

"You didn't answer my question, Mr. Stabbin. Are you here because the victim was the younger sister of Oracle's known associate? Are you here because you thought she might lead you to the one you and your companions have been searching so long for?" Prosecutor Kalles pressed, glaring at him. "I get the feeling you are. You just don't want to admit it since you know you'll be carted off to prison immediately. Isn't that right?"

Mr. Stabbin shook his head. "No, that isn't it. You need to stop putting words in my mouth," he growled. "Why are you not on my side? Even if you're trying to find the truth, the truth is going to lead you to the fact that I didn't do it. Besides, it's not like you have anything else besides a few coincidences and a supposed motive that doesn't even make sense. What about the hat, huh? What about the hat?"

"He's starting to get nervous. I guess Prosecutor Kalles struck a nerve," Yuri hissed at me. "What are we supposed to do now? If that is the motive, we're all in danger here. Anybody that's part of Occisor has a chance to lash out violently. I don't know about you, but I don't exactly want to end up in that sort of trouble because of this guy..."

"We need to take advantage of this distraction. While he's talking with Prosecutor Kalles about all of this, we need to think through the hat situation. I doubt that he's going to drop it until we can come up with an explanation," I told her. "Think about it as much as you can. The more that we can figure out, the better."

"But how are we going to figure this out? All the spare hats were supposedly destroyed, all the employees have their hats, and there aren't any that were out of the storeroom," Yuri frowned. "I'm sorry, Deirdre, but I just can't think of an explanation for this."

"We have to think of something if we want to help out Mr. Morix though," I insisted. "There has to be something that we can do about this... I bet it has to do with the storeroom."

"But that place is nothing but dust now," Yuri told me with a shake of her head. "Is that even possible?"

"It has to be," I responded. "Call it gut instinct, but I know that it's related. Think as much as you can while Prosecutor Kalles is talking to him."

"Mr. Stabbin, what do you know of Oracle?" asked Prosecutor Kalles next. "I get the feeling that you have quite a bit of knowledge on them. Anybody that's working with Occisor must know quite a bit. I can't imagine that they'd be left out of the loop on something so important. Venus was confirmed to be part of the project. You must have thought that her dear little sister was involved as well, and in the end, it led to her demise."

"I don't know anything about Occisor or Oracle! Stop nagging me!" Mr. Stabbin yelled, once again showing hints of irritation. "Stop doing this stuff! It's just annoying!"

"The storeroom... What could the storeroom have to do with all of this?" Yuri asked as the prosecutor and witness continued to argue. "I think that you might be right in saying they have some connection, but what could it be?"

I closed my eyes and tilted my head down in thought. "Let's say for a moment that the hat came from the storeroom. If that's the case, something must have happened during the explosion. If the camera in the storeroom stopped working at the time of the explosion, then the hat could have left the area during the blast," I told Yuri. "If that's what happened, then... I don't know."

"Maybe the blast is responsible," Yuri suggested. "You know, upon closer examination of the hat, it looks a little bit duller in color than the one on Mr. Stabbin's head. Do you think it was damaged during the explosion or something like that? If it was, then the explosion could have caused it to go towards the body."

"How do you figure that?" I questioned with a frown, trying to calm my mind. My thoughts were spouting a million questions a minute. I didn't exactly know how to articulate any of them, so I stayed quiet and let Yuri respond on her own.

"If the blast caused the storeroom to collapse thanks to falling debris, then stuff would have went flying, right? I can't imagine that everything would stay contained. Maybe some debris fell into the storeroom, sending the hat out of the room. It could have flown over the gate behind the Ferris wheel with that sort of momentum and ended up with my sister," Yuri told me. "I don't exactly know how we're going to connect Mr. Stabbin to that though. It doesn't exactly prove that he did it. Anybody could have set off the blast and let the hat go flying. I think that's why he was telling us to figure out something to do with the hat. He knew that we couldn't realistically connect it to him. It was all a ruse to waste our time while he came up with a counterattack."

"Luckily for us, we saw it coming," I nodded. "We can declare that theory to the court now. Prosecutor Kalles is definitely on our side with the way she's pressing him, so I doubt our theory will be instantly rejected."

"In that case, go for it, tiger," Yuri urged, nudging me gently with her shoulder. "You got this!"

"Alright," I told her before looking up. Mr. Stabbin had been yelling a counter back at Prosecutor Kalles when I cut him off. "The defense has come up with an explanation for why the hat was found at the scene of the crime, just like the witness requested."

"Then go on and explain it," Judge Frost instructed.

"Gladly. The explosion sent the hat over there. Let's say for a moment that some debris from the Ferris wheel landed in the storeroom, specifically the area where the hats were being kept. The debris started the fire, I believe," I began. "If the debris hit the section of the storeroom where the hats were, then with the right angle, the hat could have been sent flying over to the crime scene thanks to its high momentum."

"But that doesn't prove that I did it, does it now?" taunted Mr. Stabbin. "Anybody could have done something like that, you know. If your intent was to connect me with the crime using that theory, you've failed pretty miserably."

"I'm afraid that you're correct," I frowned. "But if you want my opinion, then the way you've been behaving since Oracle was brought up already hints at your guilt."

"Anybody would be nervous when you're accusing them of murder!" snapped Mr. Stabbin. "All you're doing is making me angry! Is that what you want?! I'm not pleasant when I'm angry! All you lawyers are the same, treating people badly to fit your own twisted purposes!"

"Witness, please try to calm down," Prosecutor Wood pleaded. "We aren't trying to make you angry. You must understand that this is part of our job. To find the truth, we sometimes need to get a little bit intense. Please, take a moment and breathe-"

"I don't take any orders from a child!" Mr. Stabbin shouted. "You're just a kid, so why would I ever bother listening to you?! If you don't shut your mouth, you're liable to end up just like that Rinko girl did! You had better watch what you say to me!"

Prosecutor Wood instantly fell silent, clinging to Prosecutor Kalles' arm. The older woman frowned before turning to Judge Frost. "If you ask me, that last statement sounded something like a threat. Perhaps we should have him detained for the time being. It seems as if we won't be able to get much more out of him while he's like this," she frowned. "I get the feeling most of us know the truth deep down. At this point, all I'm waiting on is a confession, which is bound to come soon enough. He's already starting to crack under the pressure of interrogation."

"I am not starting to crack! Everybody here is just annoying me beyond imagination!" Mr. Stabbin shouted. His pinwheel was spinning wildly at this point, looking as if it was never going to stop rotating madly. "Just shut up already! Leave me alone! I'm not the one on trial here!"

"With the way you're behaving, you seem to know that you've already lost. Why don't you just go on and confess to your crimes already?" Prosecutor Kalles asked with a ginger smile. "It will make it easier on all of us. Maybe your sentence will be lightened a little with a confession..."

"I can't confess since I didn't do it! All of you are going to end up just like her! Occisor will come for you!" Mr. Stabbin shouted. "All this talk about me being a killer means absolutely nothing! I am not the one who did this!"

"Everybody has turned against you. Please, go on ahead and confess. We know you did it. Everybody is fully aware at this point. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I have a few papers to begin processing. You will be arrested shortly after this trial ends, assuming that you haven't already been carted to prison awaiting your trial," Prosecutor Kalles smiled. She picked up a pen and a paper from the bottom of her stack before jotting down a few words. "If you wouldn't mind my asking, what's your full name, Mr. Stabbin?"

Mr. Stabbin didn't say anything. He slammed his fists against the witness stand before letting out a loud and mighty yell. His pinwheel was spinning faster than ever before now. He crossed his arms over his chest, cradling his upper arms in his hands. Mr. Stabbin's pinwheel was just next to his face, still spinning wildly. With each time one of the blades passed by his cheek, his screams would grow louder. I soon realized why; his pinwheel was scratching at his face the more it turned.

He stayed like this for a few more seconds before his voice finally gave out. His bloodied pinwheel dropped to the floor, cheek red from irritation. He stumbled around quietly, refusing to say a word for a solid two minutes. When he finally did speak, I saw something new in his eyes. The lifeless and nihilistic outlook had disappeared. Now, when I looked into his eyes, all I could see was pure hatred for everybody in the courtroom. If we're being honest here, it was more than a little unsettling.

"Fine," grumbled Mr. Stabbin. "I did it. I set off the explosion, I killed the victim, I did all of it."

Prosecutor Kalles continued to smile sweetly. "I'm glad we've finally gotten that taken care of," she remarked. "Now, I believe that It's time to have you arrested. Your trial awaits you in the near future now that you have finally confessed to your obvious crimes. Judge Frost, if you wouldn't mind, perhaps you should send your bailiffs to take him to the detention center."

"You can't do that yet," Mr. Stabbin frowned with a shake of his head. "I have a message to deliver to this courtroom. I know it will get around to Oracle, which is all that matters. The process doesn't matter to me. Oracle, this girl was just the beginning. You'll be next in joining her on the other side of life. Never again will you be a thorn in the side of Occisor. The end is within sight."

Prosecutor Kalles went to open her mouth, ready to question him on what he meant, but she never got the chance. Mr. Stabbin reached into his pocket and pulled out a small sphere. A lighter appeared in his other hand, which he used to ignite the sphere. "It's time for my escape," he smirked. Mr. Stabbin dropped the ball onto the ground and turned for the door. He covered his mouth with his hands and disappeared through the door, kicking it shut behind him.

Smoke billowed up and around everybody in the courtroom. A choked cough left my lips. I could feel my lungs burning already. It was easy to tell that this was something like a knockout gas. I didn't know how Mr. Stabbin, a seemingly ordinary carnival worker, had gotten his hands on something like that. Then again, anybody who was part of a group of murderers likely had a few illegal dealers on hand. In that moment though, I didn't matter to me how he had gotten the sphere of gas. I was much more focused on staying conscious, though I got the feeling that was going to be difficult.

I heard footsteps parading towards the doorway in a rushed panic. I focused on the sound instead of my burning lungs, praying somebody would be able to open the door for us to escape. "He's blockading the door from the other side!" shouted a bailiff. I recognized the voice as belonging to KJ, one of Yuri's friends, that we had briefly spoken to before the trial started. I heard him continue to beat against the door, but it didn't seem like he was having much luck. Seconds later, I heard the thumping sound of a body slamming into the ground. He must have fallen unconscious thanks to the gas.

My vision was beginning to swim as well. Yuri was curled up on the ground, hands covering her mouth as she coughed madly. She went limp not long after, sending panic shooting through my body. The prosecution was already unconscious from what I could tell.

The darkness crept in from the edges of my eyes. I couldn't hold my breath any longer. When I finally accepted air into my lungs, I grew more dizzy than I had ever been before. My legs didn't take long to give out. I fell to the ground, still coughing wildly, as blackness completely overtook my sight. My senses faded away into nothingness not long after as sleep came to take me away.

For the second week in a row, we have an update that's actually on time.

I don't have much to say here. Next week, EA and QATH will be updated. I'll reveal the next case name in the next chapter. Woo.

Also, Smash Ultimate is really fun, even if I'm awful at it. I'm still enjoying it. I hope those who have the game are as well.

Anyways, I'll be on my way now. Bye!

-Digital