A/N: I... couldn't sleep. Soooo... another chapter, another chapter!
Review Replies:
Gamergirl: I really love that you're enjoying this so much! I'm having fun changing it for Clay. I wish we saw more of them together too. Who knows, Maybe we will in Spirit of Justice? If you know already, don't tell me! I want to wait and see! Thanks for still believing in me although I'm slow!
Guest: Gah! That was a mistake I didn't catch! It was supposed to be Herr Wright… I hope that didn't happen too often last chapter! Thanks for reading though!
Here we go!
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Chapter 15-2: The Second Trial
June
"Clay! Clay!" I cried, tears in my eyes as I dropped next to where he was laying on the couch in the defendant's lobby. A medic looked at me with a small, patient smile.
"He's alright. His stress asthma just acted up, and he didn't have his inhaler. Just give him a few minutes rest, and he'll be good to go," she said, packing up her stuff before leaving the lobby.
I watched after her for a few minutes before looking down at Clay with a quirked eyebrow. "Stress asthma?"
He opened his eyes and gave me a crooked grin.
"I had to think of something, and that's a real illness!" he defended himself.
"Clay! Don't you think I'm under enough stress as it is!?" I demanded, punching his shoulder, hard. He winced slightly, shaking his head.
"That's just it, Apollo. You're freaking out too much. It's not letting you think straight about the case," he said.
"I have a target on my back if I loose this, Clay. And I'm loosing!" I exclaimed.
"You're focusing too much on that. Take a deep breath," he said. I sighed, but did as I was told. "Now, think about Stickler's testimonies. Every time he'd say something that turned out contradictory, you touched your bracelet," he said. I looked at him for a moment before looking down at my bracelet.
"I… did?" I asked.
"Yes. And I remember you telling me that every time your bracelet tightens, it's because someone around you is lying. And during that last testimony, you touched your bracelet, again. You need to focus, like you did with Orly. It might be the only way to get through this," he said. I stared at my bracelet for a few moments, thinking back to my first trial, before smiling up at Clay.
"You're right. Thanks, Clay," I said with a grin. He grinned back.
"No problem, Apollo. Now, let's get back in there and prove Wocky innocent!" Clay said with a huge grin. I grinned back.
We walked back into the courtroom once the recess was over and took our places once more.
"Court is now back in session," the Judge said. I smiled.
"Right. We're fine!" I announced. The Judge turned and looked at Clay with some concern.
"Are you sure, Mr…?"
"Terran. And yes, I'm sure," he said. "My stress asthma just acted up, that's all. I'm okay now," he assured the court. Gavin smirked.
"Perhaps next time you plan to stand with Herr Forehead in court, you could remember your inhaler. I fear quite a few of his trials might get… stressful," he said. Both Clay and I noticed a glint in his eyes.
"…I think he's on to me…" Clay muttered.
"I wish he would stop being so… so cool. And arrogant," I grumbled.
"Let us dispense with these niceties and get straight to the matter. What are your plans for our gifted witness?" Gavin demanded.
"R-right. The defense would like to request another cross-examination! B-because… Because I forgot to ask something," I said, finishing lamely.
"There was no issue with the witness's previous testimony. I will grant your request, however. But this court will not permit stalling for time!" the Judge said. I took a deep breath, centering myself and my focus on the witness.
"…Understood, your Honor. Witness, please repeat your testimony from just before the recess," I said.
"Al-alright," he muttered. I kept myself calm, my focus entirely on him, blocking everything else out. "I could not prevent the killer from leaving the scene. Nor could I simply leave the scene in good conscience. Ergo! I used my cell phone to call the police—"
"Hold it!" I yelled, cutting him off. My bracelet had tightened around my wrist. "So you called immediately after witnessing the murder?" I asked.
"The police undoubtedly have a record of the call. Why not check with them?" Stickler replied.
"This is it, isn't it, Apollo?" Clay asked with a smirk. I nodded, allowing my focus to sharpen, specifically on Stickler. I could see every little twitch of each of his muscles, the tiny bead of sweat snaking it's way from his temple to the collar of his shirt, and each conscious and unconscious movement. Time seemed to slow as I watched him.
"Once more, Mr. Stickler, what did you do after the murder?" I asked.
"This is a waste of time," Stickler sighed. "I called the police on my cell phone!"
As soon as he mentioned his phone, his hand twitched, tensing and fiddling with the corner of a page in his book.
"Gotcha!" I called.
"Mr. Wright? Do you have something to say?" the Judge asked. I smirked with a nod.
"Yes. Mr. Stickler… allow me to ask a simple question. Why did you fiddle with the page of your book just now? The very moment you mentioned your cell phone?" I asked. Stickler lurched back slightly.
"Wh-wh-what are you talking about?" he demanded. I smirked, suddenly remembering the phone Trucy and I found in the garage at the clinic.
"My I see your phone?" I asked.
"Urk!? Wh-why? Whatever for?" he asked.
"Show me, and you'll find out," I replied.
"W-well I can't! I don't have it, you see," Stickler admitted.
"You don't have it?" the Judge asked.
"…Mr. Stickler. Is this your cell phone?" I asked, pulling it out.
"Yeeeeeow! Wh-where did you get that!?" Stickler demanded.
"Where did you find that?" Clay muttered.
"How strange, Mr. Stickler," I mused. Stickler stared at me, looking scared. "Can you explain why your cell phone is sitting here in my hand at this very moment?"
"Wait a minute!" the Judge gasped. "What is the meaning of this!?"
"This cell phone was found yesterday… in the Meraktis Clinic garage!" I revealed.
"The Meraktis… Why, that's where the victim lived!" the Judge gasped.
"Th-that's impossible!" Stickler gasped.
"Mr. Stickler, you lied to the court, didn't you? If your cell phone is here, how could you have called the police!?" I demanded.
"Uh… um… It.. It's true," Stickler sighed. "I didn't have my cell phone that night. That is why it can be said that I called the police from a public pay phone," he admitted.
"A pay phone! So you didn't call on your cell phone after all…" the Judge mused.
"Just where was this pay phone located, Mr. Stickler!?" I demanded as the map of the area surrounding the crime scene came on screen.
"Well, to indicate it with a startlingly high degree of accuracy… it was right around here," he admitted, pointing to a spot a bit ways away from the park and the Wright Anything Agency.
"That's… quite a ways from the park. But… but why did you lie?" the Judge asked.
"There can be only one reason," I said grimly. "He didn't want the court to know he had lost his cell phone. Because it was found… in the victim's garage!" I announced.
"Wh-wh-what are you saying!?" Stickler gasped.
"Mr. Stickler… you broke into the Meraktis Clinic garage on the night of the murder! This cell phone tells all!" I announced.
"B-but that's ridiculous! That makes it sound like… like I snuck into this fellow's garage to commit some crime!" Stickler gasped. "As though I were trying to kill him!"
"Well, Dr. Meraktis was killed that night," the Judge said.
"W-well y-yes, but no!" Stickler looked on the verge of a heart attack. "This line of reasoning has to be against the rules! Yes, it's true! I lost my cell phone! But you can't prove that I lost it that night!"
"Hmm…" the Judge hummed. "Well, Mr. Wright? If that cell phone was dropped the night of the murder… it does raise considerable suspicions as to a connection with the crime," he said.
"Now's your chance, Apollo! Stick it to Stickler!" Clay cheered quietly. I grinned.
"Just gotta prove his connection to the crime," I said, looking through the Court Record.
"You have evidence?" Gavin asked.
"Of course I have evidence!" I replied.
"Ooh, I like your swagger, Herr Forehead. Hit it!" Gavin replied.
"The court will see this evidence. Mr. Wright, 'hit it,' as they say!" the Judge added.
"The evidence that proves the cell phone was dropped on the night of the murder, is this!" I said, presenting the green, paint-smeared side-view mirror.
"That's… a side-view mirror?" the Judge asked.
"As it so happens, Dr. Meraktis's car was in an accident… that took place the night of the murder!" I announced.
"An accident!?" Stickler gasped.
"An accident," I confirmed. "It happened a little after nine that night, just outside People Park, our murder scene. Dr. Meraktis's car hit a pedestrian!" I explained.
"Wh-what are you trying to say?" the college student asked softly.
"From the absence of a mirror, it's clear that the car was parked after the accident. Which means it was parked there after nine PM on the night of the murder. If your cell phone had been dropped before the car was parked in that garage… then it would have been crushed. After all, it was lying on the ground, right under the wheel!" I explained. Stickler winced, but I wasn't done. "Ergo, Mr. Stickler! You know what that means? You did break into the victim's garage that night."
"This is most unexpected! Mr. Wright… are you naming the witness as a suspect in the murder of Pal Meraktis?" the Judge asked.
"N-no, stop!" Stickler pleaded. "This is too much! This can't be happening! P-P-P-P-Prosecutor! Say something!"
"I suppose it is worth saying this: No connection has been found between Wesley Stickler and Pal Meraktis. That is, other than this," Gavin said.
"I believe our next testimony will be most… revelatory. Is the witness prepared?" the Judge asked.
"Y-y-yes, Your Honor!" Stickler muttered.
I know that face… that's the face of guilt. Thing is… I got a bad feeling about this. Wait… no… he's not… is he?
"That night… yes! I went to the supermarket," Stickler said, starting his next testimony. "I must have dropped my cell phone on my way back. And when I was walking through the park, I happened to witness the crime! I saw the killer, the victim, the stand… all as clear as day! It was him! I saw the defendant at the scene!" he testified.
"Yes… but your cell phone was lying in a garage," the Judge said, for once having a smart moment.
"Ah, yes, well, as you can see, my model of cell phone has a defect… it is given to rolling!" Stickler said. "It's quite a pain when I drop it alongside the road, you know."
"…Looks like a normal cell phone to me. In any case, Mr. Wright, the cross-examination, please," the Judge asked. I nodded, rubbing my wrist.
No nervous habit this time. Looks like I'm on my own.
"So you went shopping that night," I clarified thoughtfully, pulling my cards from my pocket and shuffling them. "Which means… you were holding a grocery bag when you witnessed the murder taking place?"
"Eh!?" Stickler gasped. "W-well, yes, of course…"
"Incidentally, the prosecution has received no report of this domestic detail," Gavin added helpfully. Clay tipped his head to the side, while I glanced at the prosecutor, wondering what he was doing. I then looked back at Stickler, giving him a small smirk.
"What happened, Mr. Stickler? Did you make the bags… disappear?" I asked, making the deck vanish from my hands. From the corner of my eye, I saw Clay face palm, but I ignored him.
"No! I mean, yes!" Stickler said. "I did go shopping, really." My bracelet didn't react to his words, so I knew he was telling the truth. "I walked around the supermarket, trying out the free samples… it's… a deeply spiritual time for me," he admitted. I rose an eyebrow at him, making my cards reappear so I could continue my shuffling.
"I'm sure the store clerks would disagree," the Judge replied. Clay snorted quietly.
"I wish sampling free food counted as a religion…" he muttered.
"You would," I muttered back.
"In any case, that night… I sampled to my heart's content, and was on my way back home, yes, cutting through the park" he said.
"And you dropped your phone in front of the clinic?" I asked.
"Why…" he hesitated. "Yes. That's correct," he said.
"Talk about a suspicious pause…" Clay muttered, crossing his arms.
"Seriously," I muttered before clearing my throat. "Which entrance did you enter the park from?"
"Well, to be exact… One might say that I went in from the entrance closest to the Meraktis Clinic," Stickler answered.
"The same entrance our victim used," Gavin added helpfully.
"Did you notice anything when you entered? Wheel marks from a noodle stant, for instance?" I asked hopefully. Stickler rose an eyebrow at me.
"I have no recollection of such a thing, no. Yet, though I might have missed the tracks, I cold not miss what happened next! I can be a keen observer… of the obvious, you might say," he said. I groaned almost silently, really getting annoyed with the man. You saw the murder. WE GET IT! I thought. Clay put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder, and I sighed softly, going back to my shuffling.
"What did you see?" I asked.
"I saw the killer, the victim, the stand… all as clear as day!" he replied.
This part of the testimony is the key, I thought. But what is it about this testimony? I thought hard about his words for a few minutes, before the answer hit me.
"Do you happen to remember the noodle stand?" I asked.
"Quite well, yes!" Stickler replied. "For a student of the sciences, keen observation and healthy curiosity are vital!" he said, casting a superior look in Clay's direction, who rolled his eyes boredly. "I remember everything! I could even read the sign! I believe it said… Er… 'NOODLE.'" He hesitated before nodding to himself. "Yes, that was it."
"Well, duh," Clay breathed, but my eyes were narrowed, the cards still in my hands.
"As the defense said, thank you for telling us that a noodle stand sells noodles. Very enlightening," the Judge added sarcastically, before turning to me. "Well, Mr. Wright?" he asked. I quickly looked over my notes for the stand before gasping softly, spotting exactly what I thought I would find.
"So, the sign on the noodle stand said 'NOODLE'…? It appears the defense has just obtained a vital piece of testimony!" I announced.
"Is this noodle stand's broth really that delicious? I'll have to go sample the wares one of these days. I think that's worth adding to the testimony as well," the Judge said.
Well… yes, it is. But that's not what I'm talking about… I thought, looking at the old man.
"Hmph! Whatever sort of noodles that stand sells, it can't match up to Ivy U.'s cafeteria! Some apply to the school merely for a taste of our Smart Noodles!" Stickler snapped.
"Uh, not really," I muttered.
"I preferred the Astronauts Ramen," Clay commented.
"Ew, that was gross," I replied, remembering the one time Clay force fed me that crap. I shook my head.
"Are you absolutely sure the sign read 'NOODLE'?" I asked, attempting to steer the conversation back to the main point of the trial.
"Why, just last week, my professor offered me this praise: 'At least you have good eyesight, Stickler. I'll give you that.'" Clay let out a loud cough that I just knew was covering his laughter. "It read, without a doubt, 'NOODLE.'"
"I see…" I said with a smirk, shuffling my cards again.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Is that… pity I see in your eyes!?" the man demanded.
"Let's take a look at the map, shall we?" I offered, putting my cards away as the map came on screen. "So, you're claiming that when you saw the sign, you were standing… here, was it?" I asked, using a laser pointer to mark his spot. "Although, it would've been a bit hard to read the sign from this spot," I said.
"Y-you think so?" Stickler asked worriedly.
"Mr. Stickler, I'd like you to please take another look at the stand… and to carefully read what the sign says," I said, watching as the cart appeared on screen. Stickler looked carefully at it, before reeling back in shock. "See?" I asked. "That sign actually states the name of the stand's owner… 'ELDOONS.'"
"E… El… Eld…. Inconceivable!" Stickler gasped. "I'm certain it was definitely 'NOODLE' for sure! Positive!"
"I'm afraid your professor was wrong about that eyesight," the judge said bitingly. I smirked again.
"I wouldn't be so quick to jump to that conclusion," I said. The sign he saw changes everything! "The witness says the sign said 'NOODLE'… and he saw it right. What would you say if I told you… that there is one spot from which the sign would be read the way Mr. Stickler claims?" I said.
"What…?" Stickler asked, worriedly. As he should be.
"Mr. Wright! Show us this spot!" the Judge demanded. I looked up as the map appeared back on screen, using the laser pointer to show his spot, just north of the stand.
"The witness was standing… here! On the opposite side of the bank!" I announced.
"H-how do you know that?" the Judge asked. "When viewed from the south… the sign on the stand reads 'ELDOONS,' as we know… however! Observe the other side of the stand!" I said. The stand appeared once more on the screen and spun so everyone could see the other side. There, clear as day, the sign read 'NOODLE.'
"Oh! This side says 'NOODLE'!" the Judge gasped.
"Exactly! The name of the stand is split between the front and back signs!" I said before turning to the witness. "Mr. Stickler, you lied to the court! You witness the crime from the northern side of the park, not the south!" I said.
"Yeeeeow! Y-You got me!" Stickler cried.
"Objection!" Gavin yelled, before looking at me with a small smirk. "So what?"
"S-so what!?" I repeated, confused.
"What does it matter if he saw the killing form the north or the south side? It makes no difference at all!" Gavin explained.
"H-he's right! Travel far enough to the south, and you will end up going north! Viewed on a global scale, directions are utterly without meaning!" Stickler snapped.
"Stickler, oddly enough… makes a good point. But this had to mean something… right Apollo?" Clay asked, looking up at me. I nodded thoughtfully, doing what Dad always did in this situation.
I turned my thinking around. I didn't need to think of if this is important to the case, but how it would be impossible for him to be where he actually was!
The answer hit my like a bullet.
"This changes everything!" I announced.
"It does?" the Judge asked in confusion.
"Yes. Remember the witness's testimony from before… The killer and victim are facing each other here," I said, motioning to the spot with my laser pointer as the map appeared back on screen. Then, at the moment the killer raises his weapon… Mr. Stickler shouts! At which point, the victim turns his head to look… and the killer fires his pistol. That's why the bullet hit him in the right temple. No contradiction, right?" I explained.
"Right. Where is this going, Mr. Wright?" the Judge asked. Clay gasped as he realized the answer, and even Gavin looked mildly shocked. I smirked, crossing my arms.
"If Mr. Stickler shouts from where he's standing now… and the victim looks in his direction… the bullet would have to hit his left temple!" I explained.
"Ah…" the Judge nodded, before realizing the gravity of my words. "Aaaaaah!"
I slammed my fists down on the bench in front of me, leaning forward with a smirk. "In other words, someone stand at point 'K'… couldn't shoot the victim in his right temple. It's impossible!"
"That's right!" the Judge gasped.
"So, not that we know that Mr. Stickler was standing on the northern side… the wound location takes on an entirely different meaning!" Clay added helpfully.
"Indeed… you are absolutely correct, Herr Assistant," Gavin finally spoke up. I was half surprised (and relieved) that it wasn't an objection.
"Wh… what meaning!?" the Judge asked, sounding scared. Clay glanced at me, and I smiled, motioning for him to continue.
"The entry wound was on the right side of the victim's head," he reminded the court. "And the right side of the victim's head… faces north."
"North…" the Judge mused, before starting slightly. "Ah! But that's where the witness, Wesley Stickler was standing!"
"Right. So, if he was standing north… then the only person here who could have shot the doc in the right side of his head… was Stickler himself!" Clay announced, pointing at the man. I crossed my arms, shaking my head slightly.
I bed he's just been itching to do that ever since he first saw me do the accusing pointer finger…
"WHAT!?" Stickler cried as the gallery erupted.
"Order! Order! Order!" the judge cried, slamming his gavel down. I grinned, crossing my arms.
We got this case in the bag!
"Objection!" Gavin suddenly yelled.
Or… not…
"Clarify one point for me if you would, Herr Forehead," Gavin requested.
"What now?" I demanded.
"Are you truly accusing this college student… of murder?" Gavin asked. I looked at him for a moment before studying Stickler.
Hrm… I can't say he exactly looks innocent. But… something still doesn't feel right. I just can't picture him as the real killer…
"No, please! Looks aside, I'm really a nice guy! All my friends say so!" Stickler pleaded.
"What friends?" Clay asked quietly.
"Down boy," I said, earning a dirty look from Clay. I was studying the man at the witness stand, that nagging familiarity bothering me once more.
The answer hit me so suddenly, and anger grew in my chest.
"No, I'm not accusing him of murder. I am, however, accusing him of something else," I said. Stickler stared at me, staying silent, while everyone else gave me questioning looks. "Mr. Stickler! You seem unusually quiet! Tell us why, now!" I barked at the man. He winced slightly.
"Th-the word 'confession' isn't in my dictionary!" Stickler said, looking away.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Herr Forehead. I'm afraid it falls to you to elucidate Herr Stickler's silence…" Gavin said before leaning forward with a smirk. "As well as to what has you fired up so suddenly."
"Mr. Wright, you did say you were accusing the witness just now… for a crime other than murder. Your reason? The court's all ears," the Judge invited.
"Gladly, your honor," I said, pulling out a piece of evidence I had borrowed from Trucy earlier this morning.
"Take that!" I shouted.
"What!? Is that… women's underwear!?" the Judge demanded.
"Aren't those Trucy's?" Clay asked, before suddenly gasping, his eyes widening as he realized what I was getting at.
"Yes," I growled. All eyes turned on Stickler.
"D-don't look at me like that!" he gasped, and the court erupted.
"Order! Order! Order!" the judge yelled, slamming his gavel until silence ruled once more in the room. "Mr. Stickler, while I can't say this comes as a shock…" the judge started.
"I-it's not what it seems! By Pythagorilla's Theorem, I swear it!" he cried.
"On the night of the murder, just past nine, my little sister catches a panty-snatcher red handed!" I growled. "I gave chase, but the snatcher flees… and hides himself in no other place than the Meraktic Clinic garage to avoid getting the snot beat out of him."
"Ah ha!" the judge gasped. I took a deep breath, looking to the side.
"Incidentally… these panties were found in the exhaust pipe of the care there. Presumably, he was trying to hid the evidence of his crime." I looked at the man sharply, and he coward behind the stand. "Ergo! While you may not be a murderer… you are guilty of panty-snatching in the first degree!" I snapped, pointing at the man.
"Please, hear me out! It's not what it looks like!" Stickler pleaded.
"You sick little perv!" Clay snapped. "How dare you disrespect little Trucy like that!?"
"Order! Order! Order!" the Judge yelled, slamming his gavel. I gripped Clay's arm, but the bailiff still got himself ready. Probably afraid I'd launch myself over my bench to beat the snot out of the witness. "Mr. Stickler. You should be ashamed!"
"It's… not… what… it… seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeems…" he whined.
"So, are we to understand that you were silent not because you were guilty of murder… but because you lacked the courage to admit your theft of a girl's undergarments?" the Judge demanded, before looking in mine and Clay's direction and muttering something. I could almost swear it was "not that I blame you at this point…"
Stickler cleared his throat. "Perhaps you are not aware that my school's name was originally written 'IV'! 'I' stands for 'intelligent,' 'v' stands fore 'valiant!' See!?"
"Your point…?" the Judge asked.
"I'm not done!" Stickler whined again. "Now, I'm a major in the Science Department… and what does science teach it not curiosity!? Yes, we of the Ivy U. Science Department are valiantly curious! No challenge is too daunting, and what greater challenge to science than a mystery!?" he said.
"Objection!" Clay yelled before I could. "I graduated from the same friggin' science department that you're now in, Stickler! Not only is that part about 'IV' a load of bull, but the professors do not teach us to go around stealing young girls panties!"he snapped.
"No! You do not understand! A mystery is the unknown, and the unknown is unacceptable! And, my friends, when it comes to mysteries, those panties are the promised land!" he began. At that, I nearly launched myself across the bench. Clay held me back, but it didn't escape Stickler's notice, and he coward even more behind the stand.
"That's my little sister you're talking about!" I snapped.
"Not like that!" Stickler replied desperately. "You yourself are a magician, Mr. Wright! You know what I speak of! From the moment I first laid eyes on them, I was compelled to investigate… for science! A full-sized car tire was only the first mystery those panties revealed!" he said. I froze, suddenly understanding.
It only made me want to punch his lights out even more.
"A tire…" I said monotonously.
"Yes!" Stickler said brightly. "I saw her do it! She pulled a tire out of those panties! But that's not all! First, there was the tire, then a stewpot, and a frozen chicken! One mystery after another! It was… it was magic!" he sighed.
"You're a regular." It wasn't a question, but a statement. I suddenly remembered seeing him sitting close to the stage every time I visited. "You're talking about Trucy's Magic Panties trick."
"I just don't understand… a broom… from a pair of panties? It mocks the very laws of physics…" Stickler continued.
"M-Mr. Stickler! You stole a girl's panties to understand a magic trick!?" the judge demanded.
"You say 'panties' but they are so much more than that! For me, they are an object for serious study!" Stickler replied.
I decided right then and there that I would start picking Trucy up at night, least she become an object for serious study for this creep.
"…I wonder… there has been a recent rash of panty-snatchings in the area… were they all you?" Gavin asked, and I could hear the barely contained amusement in his voice.
"I… I am sorry," Stickler sighed, looking away. "But I did it for science! Each time I spied a pair of panties flapping in the breeze, I thought maybe! Maybe this would be the pair that would elucidate the mystery… Even that night as he chased me through the streets, I wept tears of joy! Perhaps this is the night that I will seize the truth that lies within those panties! Yet woe I was! For once again the lacy heart-patterned truth slipped through my fingers a—"
"Still," the judge cut him off, eyeing both Clay and I. Stickler didn't realize just how dirty his words sounded, and how much that made both of us, Trucy's older brother and might-as-well-be-her-older brother, want to kill him. "That leaves one thing unexplained," the Judge said.
"Ah, you refer to our witness's other lie, yes? The witness claimed he saw the crime from the south, but was in fact, in the north," Gavin supplied.
"Indeed. Would anyone care to explain why he lied about that?" the judge asked. I glanced over the diagram, and more disgust filled me.
"The evidence that shows why he lied… is this," I said, pulling the other pair of panties out of my evidence bag.
"What!?" the Judge gasped. "More panties!?"
"Just how many panties are you carrying in you pocket, Herr Forehead?" Gavin asked with a grin, leaning over his bench. I turned a dangerous look on him.
"This is the last pair, I swear," I answered. Don't you DARE put me in the same category as that sicko! Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to calm down. "These were found in a trash can at the park. Looking at the diagram," I said, motioning to where it was on screen, "we can see that the trash can was right next to where the witness stood."
"Mr. Stickler… you didn't…" the Judge asked with dread.
"Alas!" Stickler cried. "I am a failure as a scientist! I can't unravel the mysteries of the universe! I can't even unravel a pair of panties!"
"At this rate, he never will…" Clay muttered, and I smiled, that one comment making both of us feel better at this point.
"So… these panties are your handiwork as well…" the Judge asked.
"Th… that night, I had been chased, hounded into Meraktis Clinic garage… weeping in frustration, I was forced to abandon my prize! Don't you see how I felt!?" the man demanded.
"…Believe me, I'd rather not," I replied.
"I hit in the garage for a short while… then, abandoning the panties, I made for home. To avoid the office where the siblings work, I went towards the south entrance… when I saw them hanging there on a clothesline by a giant mansion… a giant pair of panties!" Stickler explained. I glanced at the panties sitting on my bench, and blanched.
Apparently he didn't know those bloomers belonged to the mob…
"I had them, safe in my pocket, readt to take home… when I stumbled upon a murder," Stickler sighed.
"The murder of Dr. Meraktis," I said.
"I reported what I had seen, but as I waited for the police to arrive… I got scared. What if they searched me!?" he explained.
"That's when you disposed of the bloomers?" I asked.
"Yes… it was a severe blow to the progress of science… but one that had to be born," Stickler sighed.
"A fascinating, if disturbing tale," the Judge stated, and I had to agree. "I believe this brings today's proceedings to a close. And I'm more than pleased to dismiss this witness for the remainder of the trial."
Thank you!
"One last thing, if I might," Gavin interjected.
Now what!?
"Yes, Prosecutor Gavin?" the Judge asked.
"Regardless of where we ended today, some vital points were made. Namely, that the defendant, Wocky Kitaki, was at the scene of the crime. And… he was pointing a weapon at the victim," Gavin reminded us, shaking his head. I almost felt a target painted on my back again, and I knew Mr. Kitaki was glaring at me again. "One more thing. Wocky Kitaki has a clear motive."
"Indeed," the Judge said. "The defendant Wocky Kitaki is still the prime suspect in this case. The only suspect, in fact. Assuming there was no one else on the scene at the time. Yet, a mystery remains… the location of the wound in the victim's right temple has yet to be explained. The court requires further investigation from both defense and prosecution," the Judge demanded.
"…Ja, baby," Gavin answered.
"…No problem!" I said.
"Very well. This brings the trial for the day to a close. Court is adjourned!" the Judge declared, slamming his gavel down. I cleaned up all of my evidence and files before leading Clay out of the courtroom. He caught my shoulder.
"Hey, I have to run. I promised Mr. Starbuck I would meet him at the space station after today's trial," he explained. I smiled, clasping his shoulder.
"Alright. See you then," I said. He flashed a grin and ran off, leaving me to go back to the Wright Anything Agency alone. Thankfully I managed to avoid the Kitakis for the day.
…
A/N: Aaaaaaand… done. Whew! Well, I'll work on the next one later!
