September 1
Courtroom No. 6
10:45 AM
Yuri Rinko
"We do have hackers at Interpol, so it is possible for them to get into other technology. One of the most talented hackers in the whole country is part of our company. His name is Q. He's the leader of the technology branch of Interpol. If anybody was able to crack the code on any firewall, it would be him. He's something of a professional in the field," M told the court. "His assistants are good at what they do as well, but none of them can quite compare to his skill and finesse."
"Weren't a few of Q's agents revealed to be traitors?" Lily asked, placing one finger on her chin. "I thought I heard of that at the very least..."
"Yeah, you heard right," M frowned. "There were roughly a dozen agents under him that were selling out the company. We've caught all of those who we're aware were selling secrets, but there could be others. Q had all the important information behind a very powerful lock made of code only he knows how to crack. Any who try and get inside instantly have their information revealed to him so he can deal with them personally. That is not a fate you want to meet, let me tell you."
"The higher-up information was kept to Q and Q alone," Deirdre murmured. "Any lower-level information could have easily been passed along to his underlings, and if they were selling out the company, anybody could have gotten into the computer system if they bought the right information. In other words, there's a chance somebody from outside the building got into the power to cause the outage."
"That could easily show that M didn't commit the crime," I smirked. "Go on, tell them. The sooner you can expose the truth, the easier our lives will be. I have faith in you."
Deirdre nodded. "Alright. If the correct information was sold out, then anybody from outside the building could have gotten into the power system and caused an outage the day of the crime. M being found in the room doesn't mean much of anything, especially when you consider that anybody who bought the right details could have caused the outage," she declared.
"Since the prosecution seems intent on linking the culprit behind the power outage with Y's killer, if M didn't cause the outage, it can be deduced that he also didn't kill the victim. It's as simple as that," Lily smiled. "What do you think of that?"
"I think I'd like to call my next witness," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke said. "I asked Q to wait in case we decided to have him testify. If we asked for details regarding the power outage, he would surely be happy to explain all that took place the day of the crime. He would know better than anyone how it took place being the expert of technology of Interpol."
"In that case, go on and call your witness, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke," instructed Judge Diaphan. "He is ready to take the stand, yes?"
"He is, as a matter of fact," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. "Detective Erikson, you are finished here. Feel free to take your seat in the gallery in case we have need of you again. Q, it's your time to shine."
A young man took the stand not long after. He was thin and lanky, looking rather awkward. He had dark curly hair that stayed close to his face. His brown eyes were framed by glasses, which he seemed to enjoy pushing up. He was wearing a blue tie. He had a white shirt with dark trousers and a brown jacket. His shoes were also black and looked rather fancy. He continued to fidget around with his glasses and jacket as we continued to speak. I had to admit, I didn't expect someone so young to be the leader of the technology branch. He looked like he was barely older than I was, if he even was at all. I couldn't tell, and at the same time, I got the feeling I wouldn't ever find out since Interpol was so strict on security.
"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Judge Diaphan told us, playing with her gavel mindlessly.
"I'm Q. I'm the leader of the technology branch at Interpol," Q explained, fidgeting nervously. "I'm sure you all know the drill now. I can't tell you my name for security reasons... It's been ages since my last time in court... It feels strange to be back under these circumstances."
"He's so young!" I couldn't help but hiss at Lily. She responded with a mystified expression and a slow nod. "I didn't think somebody so young could possibly be part of Interpol, much less the leader of a bunch of technological underlings!"
"Will you please tell the court about the power outage?" Deirdre asked.
Q nodded, pushing his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose. "Of course, yeah," he said nervously. I could feel the sheer anxiety radiating off him from feet away. And here I thought Chrysalis could get anxious and awkward...
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ The Power Outage's Cause ~
-"I'm sure the power outage was caused by a hacker from outside the building."
-"Getting into the system from the inside doesn't leave behind as many traces of invasion."
-"To put it simply, there are differences between a natural entrance and a hacking."
-"This was most certainly a hacking."
-"All agents who have either been working at Interpol for three years or are otherwise important officers of a branch can access the information to get inside."
-"I think a few agents with this jurisdiction were arrested on the grounds of treason."
-"In other words, they sold the information needed to hack the system, which caused this mess."
-"I don't know how anybody from the outside could have killed Y though, unless..."
"You sure do know a lot about this hacking business," I remarked under my breath. I wasn't exactly surprised since I knew he was an influential agent in Interpol, but at the same time, he was so young! Can you blame me for being shocked?
"It's my job. I was hired solely for my ability to gather information involving hacking," Q told me, pushing up his glasses for what felt like the millionth time already.
"Even if we didn't get the chance to talk to him yesterday, I can tell how important he's going to be to this case," murmured Deirdre. "There was one thing that bothered me about his testimony though."
"You must be thinking about the awkward way he ended his testimony. It felt like he was supposed to go on a bit longer, but in the end, he didn't finish. He seemed to have an idea of something to say next, but he still chose to hold back. It's certainly suspicious," Lily agreed with a nod. "You should press him on that when the cross-examination begins."
"Maybe you should get to asking the witness about his testimony instead of whispering more than schoolchildren," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke cut in, crossing his arms. I could see Prosecutor Wood shifting through the papers in front of them, a frown on her face. He didn't seem to notice.
"Of course. We'll get right to it," Deirdre nodded.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ The Power Outage's Cause ~
-"I'm sure the power outage was caused by a hacker from outside the building."
-"Getting into the system from the inside doesn't leave behind as many traces of invasion."
-"To put it simply, there are differences between a natural entrance and a hacking."
-"This was most certainly a hacking."
-"All agents who have either been working at Interpol for three years or are otherwise important officers of a branch can access the information to get inside."
-"I think a few agents with this jurisdiction were arrested on the grounds of treason."
-"In other words, they sold the information needed to hack the system, which caused this mess."
-"I don't know how anybody from the outside could have killed Y though, unless..."
"Hold it!"
"You seemed hesitant to finish your sentence there, witness," Deirdre commented, a frown on her face. "If you don't mind my asking, what is it that you were considering saying? Any ideas you have regarding the case are very much appreciated."
"I was just thinking there must be multiple people behind this plot," Q said, still fidgeting with his glasses. "The hacking signature clearly came from someone outside the building, but at the same time, it would have been nearly impossible for someone to get in and out without help. There's the chance an Interpol agent was working alongside an outside accomplice to pull of this crime. I can't say for sure since there isn't any proof, but it might be something worth looking into. If there were multiple people working behind this murder, that could point the defendant in a suspicious light. If anyone has authority here, it would be him."
I frowned. That certainly wasn't going to help our case. I had been hoping calling in Q would help us out by revealing M couldn't have possibly hacked into the security system, but it had only done the opposite. In other words, this was going horribly. I was not a fan of this case the longer it crawled on.
"Since the hacking was from the outside, he couldn't have turned off the power from his place inside the power room. I suppose that just happened by circumstance," Lily commented. "I can't think of another explanation. I bet the culprit wasn't even trying to frame him. It could have just turned out that way purely by accident. I mean, I doubt it would have been widely broadcast he was heading to the power room."
"That doesn't change the fact that he has ultimate authority of Interpol. He's the most important person in the whole building, so if anybody would have authority to pull the strings behind this, it would be him. I'm not saying it's pretty, but it's our job to explore every possibility. Such is the work of people like us, huh?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked, a small smirk playing at his lips. "It's going to take a bit more snooping to say conclusively if he did this, but we can't discount the chance."
"I was thinking Q would help our case by saying the hacker got in from outside. After all, M was clearly in the building at the time of the crime, so he couldn't have gotten into the security system, but in the end, it's just dug our graves even deeper," Lily muttered. "I have to say, the point about there being an accomplice would make sense. If multiple people were behind this murder, one person could have hacked in from the outside to take suspicion away from the culprit. The actual culprit could then sneak into Y's office, take the files on her desk, and get rid of her. In other words, just one person being behind this is impossible."
"I do wonder one thing though... What if the culprit wasn't part of Interpol?" I asked. "Think about it for a minute before calling me nuts. I don't really know how to articulate this, but... How could the culprit have escaped without running into N or O? They came out of their offices after hearing a slamming sound. That was when the power went out. Even if the power was gone, I still get the feeling they'd be able to sense somebody going past them in a cramped hallway, and yet, they didn't mention anything of the sort. Where did the killer go after killing the victim? The hallway is clearly out of the question, but we need to think about where else they could have gone."
"It wouldn't have been possible to hide in the room until the power came back on. That would be like asking to be arrested. The culprit would have been called suspicious immediately for being found in the room with the victim. Plus, I don't think anybody was found in the same room as the body, so that's certainly out of the question," Deirdre murmured. "I hadn't thought about it before, but you do bring up a good point. Until we can figure out where the culprit escaped to, we can't really call M the killer."
"Yeah. He was found in the power room, so he couldn't have killed Y," Lily nodded. "Once again, we bring up the issue of the hallway. The culprit couldn't have crept by N and O without being spotted. Even if one of them was an accomplice to the killer, the other likely would have noticed it. The hallways of Interpol are narrow, so nobody could have gotten past, and that includes M."
"You're right in saying we haven't determined how the culprit escaped at the time of the crime," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke hesitantly admitted. "It's an avenue of exploration we haven't had time to pursue. The killer most certainly wouldn't have been able to take the hallway out or hide in the victim's room. Nobody suspicious from outside was found on the property when the police arrived. N and M were stationed outside the room once the power came back on, and I even heard they looked inside it to ensure nobody was hiding inside. It's a conundrum for sure, but there is one possibility."
"What would that be?" Judge Diaphan asked with a deep frown.
"The time of the murder was not when we initially anticipated it to be," suggested Chief Prosecutor Bespoke.
The limited members of the gallery began to chatter above us. Judge Diaphan picked up her gavel and slammed it down with a frown. "What are you implying? I thought we already figured out what time the crime took place. It was stated firmly on the autopsy report."
"When the power goes out, what are a few things you lose?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked.
"Light, electricity, heat... Oh," Lily murmured with a sigh. "I think I know what you're getting at now."
"When the power goes out, the heat leaves the room as well. In other words, the temperature dropped inside the building. It's colder outside, so the temperature would go down instead of up. Any sudden changes in temperature, in case you weren't aware, can mess with the autopsy report and cause the time of death to be misinterpreted," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke explained. "It's something we can't exactly discount with the situation at hand."
"He sure did think this through. If the killer didn't have an escape route, there must have been an explanation for it," I muttered. I wasn't really surprised since I knew how he worked, but it was still a bit annoying. "If he couldn't figure out a way for the killer to get away, he would just have to look at this from a different perspective. Curse that genius."
"When do you propose the crime took place then?" Deirdre asked, her hands clenched into tight fists. Her knuckles were growing white after a few seconds.
"An hour or so before wouldn't be out of the question. The victim was killed instantly, so she wouldn't have been able to fight back against her assailant. In other words, it would have been a nearly silent crime," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke told us.
"What about the slamming noise N and O heard? That has to be tied into the murder somehow, but if the murder took place an hour earlier, that can't be the case," Lily frowned. "What do you think of that?"
"Have you considered that the sound was unrelated to the case?" Prosecutor Wood asked, still flicking through the papers before her. I was starting to get the feeling she wasn't doing it with purpose anymore, instead just finding reasons to avoid eye contact. It didn't surprise me. She had always been the shy type of person.
"You could have a point, but I still must ask you what that sound could have been," Deirdre said. "It's got to be important somehow. Even if the crime was an hour earlier than anticipated, the sound... We originally thought it was something to do with the murder, but if that isn't the case, we need to figure out the source, whatever it may be. Do you have any theories? I believe we need to tackle this before moving onto another subject."
Chief Prosecutor Bespoke opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off by Q, who was finally talking again. "You said the crime could have been a silent murder, yes?" he asked, turning to face the prosecutor.
Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. "I did. Is there something wrong with that?" he asked.
Q nodded. "As a matter of fact, there is. The crime could not have been silent given the circumstances. The victim's skull shattered a vase on contact. That would have made a loud noise, and that's not even mentioning the glass falling to the floor. In other words, this crime could not have been silent. While I do admit the crime could have taken place at some other time because of the discrepancy in temperatures, a sound similar to the one heard by N and O would have been caused by the victim's death," he explained.
I thanked the universe for treating us kindly and having Q side with us on here. He did have a point, I had to admit. I was glad he had brought it up though. I hadn't thought about it like that.
"O stated yesterday the sound was similar to a slamming of a door," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke told the court. "Prosecutor Wood can attest to that. The sound caused by a vase hitting someone's head would be very different, I wish to point out. While I do agree now the crime could not have been completely silent, I still think the slamming sound they heard was not the victim dying."
"Somebody must have heard that sound though," Deirdre murmured. "Even if it wasn't one of them, I'm sure someone in the building heard the victim die to the vase. I can't imagine such a loud sound would be missed. It simply doesn't seem logical."
"I got a bit of testimony out of N and O yesterday alongside my partner here. If it's alright with her, she can tell you what it is they told us," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke said. He nudged Prosecutor Wood gently. She looked up and glanced around like a deer caught in the headlights before focusing back on her paperwork.
After finding what she was looking for, Prosecutor Wood gulped and began to speak. "N said he hadn't gone onto the floor until about two minutes before hearing the sound. Until then, he had been with Q talking about the invasion of privacy that came with the agents selling out the company," she explained. "You can confirm this, right, Q?"
Q nodded. "I can. He was with me until about five minutes before the power went out. After that, he was stuck on the fourth floor with O until the power restored itself and the police arrived," he declared.
"O got onto the floor about ten minutes before the power went out and hung out in her office until she heard the slamming noise. She had been with another agent, D, talking about the Oracle case beforehand," Prosecutor Wood continued. "D was unable to appear in court today due to working on other cases, but she confirmed she spoke with O before the power outage. We have an official statement from her here with us."
"You mean to say the crime took place before either one of them arrived on the floor," Deirdre frowned. "Nobody else was around the floor at the time to hear the victim's death, and even if M was there, he wouldn't have been able to hear from the power room."
"Exactly. Your inconsistency involving the loud noise was nothing more than an illusion, I'm afraid," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke shrugged.
"However, I do wonder what that sound was. If only N and O were on the floor at the time, who or what could have caused the slamming sound? I mean, it's not like one of them could have caused it. For example, if N had slammed his door, he wouldn't have left his office to investigate the sound. It wouldn't make sense logically," Lily pointed out. "The same applies to if the opposite took place."
"You think there was a third party there at the time to cause the slamming sound, don't you?" Judge Diaphan asked. "I can certainly understand where you're coming from there. The possibility of a third party is most certainly present, so we can't discount it. To do so would put the truth behind this case in jeopardy, which we cannot allow... You think that person was the real culprit behind this murder, yes?"
"Exactly," Lily nodded. "You seem to know when N and O got onto the fourth floor the day of the murder, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. If you don't mind my asking, did you happen to gather that information on the defendant as well? If his arrival on the fourth floor was inconsistent with when you say the murder took place, you can't claim he killed the victim. For the sake of your case, I highly advise you try to produce the answer to this inquiry. It would be wise, wouldn't you agree?"
Chief Prosecutor Bespoke turned to Prosecutor Wood, who was still shuffling through the papers. Okay, now I was positive it was simply a nervous habit for her. There was no way anybody could spend so much time looking through random pieces of paper, even if each one had a piece of evidence.
After receiving a nudge from her coworker, Prosecutor Wood jumped. She glanced around like an alarmed cat before picking up a piece of paper and starting to read it. "M was found on the fourth floor about twenty minutes before the power outage took place. He was looking for N, apparently. However, when he didn't find him, he went back downstairs to continue searching," she explained softly.
Deirdre seemed to be holding back a smirk. "It sounds like he wasn't on the fourth floor an hour before the presumed time. The autopsy report suggested the victim died at about the time of the power outage, but if what you say is to be believed, he was only there twenty minutes before the power outage," she declared. "What do you have to say to that?"
"It really isn't important how long before the power outage the murder took place. All that matters is that it was before N and O arrived on the floor, which we already said was roughly ten minutes before the supposed murder time and the power outage. Twenty minutes or an hour, it doesn't matter. M still could have killed the victim regardless of what time it was, so long as it was before N and O appeared on the scene," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke told us. "That contradiction doesn't really mean much in the grand scheme of things."
"I hate how easily he can adapt to the changes of the case... It makes our jobs so much harder," I heard Lily whisper bitterly. "I don't understand how he could be so good. When Mr. Morix told us about him a few months ago, he forgot to mention he was so talented at adaptation."
"He's always been pretty good at what he does, but this is something else. I suppose he's really toughened up since the last time I went up against him. It's a bit annoying, but there isn't much you can do about it," I told them.
"He certainly got in more investigation time than we did. I suppose he has that major advantage over us, which is really coming back to bite us now," Deirdre said next. "What we need right now is a major hole to poke in his story. If we can find a big contradiction, his case will probably be turned around on its head. I suggest we try and figure out more about the culprit's escape route."
"I don't understand. If the crime took place before we assumed like he said, then the escape route won't really matter," I frowned.
"It still plays a key role in this case. If we still go on and assume the crime was earlier than anticipated, the culprit would need to get away. If the culprit was from outside Interpol, they would have needed a way to get in and out without being detected. We would have heard about it if somebody from outside came in that day," Deirdre began to explain. "If somebody from Interpol committed the crime, they'd need to dispose of bloody clothing. You can't hit somebody with a vase without getting blood on you. However, nothing of that nature was found."
"So, we need either an escape route or a hiding place for the bloody clothing," Lily nodded. "I understand now. Nothing was found at Interpol with blood on it outside of the crime scene."
"I didn't hear about anything that could be used to destroy something at Interpol, so does something like that even exist?" I asked.
"I don't think there is anything. You can't shred fabric. You'd need to burn it or something, but there weren't any signs of a fire," Deirdre continued. "If we think about it logically, that means the culprit must have come in from the outside, but how could they get in undetected? It doesn't make any sense..."
"I mean, I don't know any way to get in without using the door. Doors might be for people with no imagination, but I'd rather take them than the window... Wait! A window!" I exclaimed. "What if the culprit got in through a window?!"
"But the fourth floor is high above the ground. If you fell from that height, you'd be as good as dead. How could you even get up there to begin with?" Lily asked doubtfully.
"Q already proposed the idea of an accomplice. If you ask me, that's pretty likely given the circumstances," Deirdre pointed out. "It would take a ladder or something, but you could probably find a way to escape the window if you had help."
"A ladder... Hm... If the culprit used a ladder, they would be able to get in and out without garnering any attention. They could dispose of the ladder without any issues too, so that is possible," I muttered.
"Your theories about a ladder mean nothing without evidence, defense," Judge Diaphan pointed out. "Do you have any proof somebody climbed out through the window?"
"Proof of that simply doesn't exist. The culprit couldn't have gone out that way," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke frowned.
"But this is essentially a locked room murder, so what other option was there?" I questioned.
"The murder took place earlier... Hm..." Lily murmured. "As much as I hate to admit it, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke has a point on that. The temperature suddenly dropping would tamper with the autopsy's time. Even if the time of the crime was earlier than we suspected, we still have to have evidence somewhere to show the escape route was the window."
"I doubt logic will work right now, which is unfortunate since that would be the easiest way out of this," I sighed with a shake of my head. "Let's think... Windows... Windows are loud, right?"
Lily's eyes went wide. "Windows are loud! That's it! I have proof the culprit used the window as the escape route! It'll prove the defendant couldn't have committed the crime as well!" she cried out. "I'd like to turn the court's attention to the picture of the crime scene! This picture shows exactly what caused the loud sound O and N heard at the time of the power outage!"
"What was it then?" asked Chief Prosecutor Bespoke.
"The window in the victim's office! That was the only way to get out of the room. As we said earlier, the slamming sound O and N heard couldn't have been either one of them. It had to be a third party on the floor. A window shutting loudly could easily cause a loud noise that could be heard a few doors down. They said it sounded like a slamming of a door, or at least O did, so that would make more sense than the vase hitting the victim's door. In other words, the victim's window slamming shut was what drew the two of them out of their office! Since the killer was escaping through the window and M was in the power room at the time, he couldn't have killed the victim!" Lily exclaimed triumphantly. "The real culprit was a third party who snuck into the victim's office, killed Y, and got out through the window!"
Chief Prosecutor Bespoke didn't even bother trying to form new words. He let out a groan of anger and reached for something in his pocket. It was soon revealed to be a knife. He began to play with it, though I could tell he was tempted to dig it into the bench before him. It was still in its case, but Prosecutor Wood went pale at seeing it. She tapped his arm and pointed to it, prompting him to put it away. He hissed an apology her way before looking up with a deep frown. "I suppose you could have a point there," he admitted softly.
"He can't adapt to that, can he?" Lily smiled. "I'm glad we figured that out. I don't think he'll be able to produce another explanation on such short notice."
"Don't count me out just yet," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke cut in. "There is one more question that I have, if you don't mind my asking."
Sorry for randomly disappearing for a week? I totally had this update done but I forgot to get on my computer for a week and didn't post it lmao-
So you get another update this week. I hope you enjoy getting two updates today.
The plot is thickening for sure, so I'm definitely excited.
-Digital