Sonic the Hedgehog: Attorney of Law Chapter 13: Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt 7, a sonic the hedgehog fanfic

Hello everybody! Here's a little warning to you all before I start talking here. This is the longest chapter that I have written for this story to date. There's a reason for this, though. This particular chapter is based solely on trying to convince a certain someone that another certain somebody is the only one who could've murdered Ms. Rose and assaulted Silver in his office. As such, this is a long and detailed chapter. It's also the reason why this has taken me a long time to get out here because of the information overload.

Anyway, that's all I have to say on this note today. Hope that you all enjoy this as much as I had creating it! Don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading this chapter, and that's considering if you all survive the minefield of details. Until the next update to any of my stories everybody!

And just as a little side note, please don't go talking to me about how this chapter could have been separated into two. I had thought about it at a certain point, but then the second one would be not only short but also considered to be redundant in that it still serves the same purpose as this chapter. That's why I chose to keep this as one long chapter. Anyway, happy reading everybody!

Evidence:

Newspaper Article: A clipping talking about Ms. Kuro Rose, a woman running for the position of senator in her district. It talks about how she served her country in the military's Special Forces team before being forced out because of a battle injury rendering her incapable of conducting anything overly stressful or strenuous. She promises to try and reduce the crime rate in her represented district if elected.

Silver's Shoe: The circular mark underneath the detective's shoe was made when it stepped on the front of Sonic's Attorney's Badge. It shows that the badge was not fully drenched in blood sometime during the scuffle in the office.

Attorney's Badge: Sonic lost it during the party earlier in the evening. It was found underneath Silver's desk and drenched in blood. However, Silver's Shoe proved that it was not bloodied on both sides at some point during the murder.

Knife: The weapon that was used in the murder of Ms. Rose. The evidence found at the scene suggests that it was used on the woman twice; It was also probably used on the fight against Silver since the blade was found underneath the door rather than on her body. Sonic's fingerprints are on the wooden handle due to a rookie mistake on his part when he first discovered the scene.

White Fragment: A small white piece found underneath Silver's desk. It is smooth with rough and jagged edges, almost as if it were broken off of some kind of clay figure. It is unclear as to where it originally came from.

Silver's Assault Report: The detective was beaten into unconsciousness due to heavy blows, although the marks on his fists show that he did fight back. Besides the bruises from said punches, there are no other wounds present on his body and the blood on his fur is most likely from Ms. Rose's wounds. He's expected to wake up in a couple of hours, but Vector, the detective who doesn't have much doctor skills, isn't completely sure.

Ms. Rose's Autopsy Report: She was murdered between midnight and one in the morning on 5/7. The cause of death was from two stab wounds, the first one suspected to be the abdomen and the second close to her heart. As such, she's suspected to have survived the first attack. Death was immediate on the second blow.

Bloody Hand Print: A print formed by blood that was found on one of the racks on the currently empty bookshelf. It's suspected to belong to Ms. Rose since she was the only two in the room to have lost blood. When compared to the distance from where it was found to where her body was, it's reasonable to believe that she was alive and moved around a bit before being killed.

LK-9 Files: Documents about a case that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow were involved in over two years ago. For some reason, they are missing from their original placements. It's believed that the person who attacked Silver and murdered Ms. Rose stole the files.

Pool of Blood: Blood found hidden underneath the mess of files. There are a pair of shoe prints situated close to the bookshelf. They are from Ms. Rose and prove that she was still on her feet despite being stabbed. She must have pulled the Knife out of her body for that amount of blood to be present.

Shoe Print: A single print left by a shoe. It belongs to neither of the victims, and it proves that Sonic had nothing to do with the incident since it doesn't match with his shoes. This means that it could only belong to the murderer. It's also clear that the murderer cleaned the bottom of his shoe since there's only a single print. It's believed that the murderer failed to notice he made the print because of the files already covering it.

Scale: Found by Prosecutor/Detective Vector when he spent great time examining Silver's unconscious body and the area around him. He found it on one of his gloved hands and surmised it came from the murderer when the two were fighting. Because of it's small size, the color is unreadable.

Profiles:

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He and Tails were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office, one dead and the other unconscious. He was considered to be the prime suspect by Espio, but has since been downgraded to person of interest with the help of his little brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old yellow-orange furred fox with two tails. He and Sonic were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office. He helped his older brother escape grave suspicion under Espio's eyes.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He paid attention to the exchange between Tails and Espio regarding Sonic's innocence and sides with the two's side of events. He plans to take over the initial investigation.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old senior detective who worked hard for his current position. He was found in his office severely beaten up with bruises all over him. It is currently unclear as to who it was that caused his extensive injuries.

Kuro Rose: A woman of Japanese decent who speaks very fluent English. She was a running candidate for her district's senatorial race and a former Special Forces member in the army. She was found stabbed to death in Silver's office. It is unclear as to who it was that murdered her.

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. He's skilled in Japanese ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. He was the first to appear on the scene after Sonic and Tails discovered it and considers himself to be an eyewitness to the whole ordeal.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. He loves the gold chain necklace that rests against his neck along with listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. He can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side, but he always strives for the truth within the heart of any matter.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not. He's currently out of town on business and entrusted the upkeep of the office to Sonic and Tails.

Shadow Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old hedgehog prosecutor who studied abroad to earn his Prosecutor's Badge. His office is located on the upper floors of the local Precinct. As such, he just happened upon the scene while making his way up to his office. He is currently accusing Knuckles of misconduct on his part and requesting he forfeit his control on the investigation and subject himself to an internal conduct investigation.

Chapter 13: Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt. 7

"Silver!" Knuckles exclaimed as he rushed over to the silver hedgehog's side and gingerly helped him to lean his back against the wall. "It's about time that you woke up! You don't know how worried you had us all when we found you like this."

"…Damn, I got the…worst headache of my life here…," Silver murmured in a somewhat confused tone as he brought one of his hands to the back of his head. "I never felt this sore…in my whole life. What happened here?"

"You were assaulted sometime during your meeting with Ms. Rose," Sonic explained as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Apparently, the assailant managed to make their way in here and get at you two before running out with a case file; the LK-9 Files."

"Th…those files?" the detective mumbled in a fashion that could have been considered as drunken banter if the others had not known what had happened to him. "I think I…remember someone around my bookshelf…looking for something."

"Do you remember who it was that was in here, Silver?" Tails asked as he leaned against a clean portion of the detective's desk and began to let the cogs in his head turn. "If you can even give us a description of what they looked like, then we'll be able to know who attacked you and killed…"

"I'm afraid that's out of the question, Tails," Shadow quickly butted in before he had a chance to say who had been killed. Just as the fox was about to complain about being cut off, he gave him a look that said all too clearly to not say anything about it in front of the recently revived detective. This caused the other to shut up with understanding reflecting in his eyes. "The detective just woke up from a potential coma not even two minutes ago. He needs to be transported to a hospital as soon as possible. That and he might not be able to supply you with the answers you seek. He might be suffering from the effects of a concussion and not remember the things leading up to his current condition."

"But he still might be able to provide us with a concrete answer before our time's up," the two tailed fox argued. "As you said, we got less than four hours to get things straightened out before this Precinct gets landed in hot water for an unexplainable incident. So unless you want this process to be dragged on by the typical police rules and give the chance for the real culprit, whom we've already named as a plausible fit for the title, let me ask Silver about what he saw. Even if he can't remember the exact moments, he might still be able to tell us something that we can then use to piece with other things that we know."

"Tails is right here, Shadow," the cobalt hedgehog agreed with his little brother with a nod of his head. "All I really gave us to go on was a theory that even I admit is too farfetched to be taken seriously without any serious evidence to back it. I doubt that we'll be able to dig up anything more with more investigating, and we can't go about dragging in my suspect without more evidence. This could be our last chance at gaining any kind of information whatsoever that can prove me right or wrong."

"But Sonic, I can't help but to agree with Shadow in that Silver needs to be in a hospital getting medical treatment right now," the echidna countered as he crossed his arms and tried to stifle a tired yawn. "The last thing he needs right now is to be questioned by us about what happened in here. If we force him to think back on something that he just can't remember, we might end up causing him more pain from the effort itself. Is that chance at pain really worth whatever kind of information that we can't even guarantee would help us in the long run? If you had evidence really helped to support your crazy theory, then I might be a bit less skeptical about this. However, you have nothing, and I really have to suggest against you and Tails' crazy idea of trying to get answers out of him."

"Just so we're clear on this, I'm not going to give my opinion on this matter," Vector, who had been quiet for a bit ever since the silver furred detective awakened, stated as he made his way towards the empty bookshelf as if he wanted to clarify something. He then continued after a few seconds and now making his way towards the door, "I don't want to be putting more complications on an already delicate matter. And besides, I'm afraid that I have something important that requires my immediate attention. And don't even think about calling me on my cell unless there's something real important. It'll be real unpleasant experience for you if you get on my bad side, so don't even think about testing it."

"B-but where are you going, Vector?" Tails asked with raised eyebrows at the crocodile's statement at needing to leave them so suddenly. "We might still need your help in case we need to get something clarified. That and you're probably the only one who could shed any kind of light to Sonic's accusation. And you're really the only one who has any kind of idea how Silver is medically holding up."

"I'm sorry, but this is something that I really need to take care of before it's too late," the crocodile prosecutor stated as he was just about to exit the office and stopped short from the doorway. "If everything goes well, then I should be done before your time for tonight is up. I'll be back soon, so try to keep the party going for as long as you can. I really want to see how you guys manage to wrap things up."

"Hold on just a second, Vector!" Shadow quickly exclaimed with a step forward before the other had a chance to even move one foot out into the hallway still occupied by the three officers. "Do you think you could tell us the current condition Silver is in? You're the only one out of all of us suited to answer such a question even with your minimal medical background. You should at least let us know that much before you leave so we'll know how we should be proceeding with our investigation."

"…It's because of that minimal amount of medical knowledge that I don't feel confident in providing you with any kind of answer," he said after taking a moment to think about the answer with what he knew. "However, the fact that he woke up less than even half a day after being found unconscious definitely means that his head injury isn't as serious as I had thought. As such…, I guess that it's okay for you guys to ask him questions without pushing him too hard on every little detail. The moment he starts complaining about any kind of head pain, though, stop the questioning immediately!" he quickly added in a stern tone so as to show that he was not kidding around with what he was saying. "If he feels like he wants to go to sleep, let him do so. I may not have good medical expertise, but I know enough to say that he won't die if he gets knocked out again. Now if none of you have any more questions, let me go and do what I have to do so I can get back before this case is closed."

"There's no guarantee that the case will be closed by eight, my friend," the ebon furred hedgehog said as the crocodile simply waved it off before turning the corner and disappearing into the hallway with only the sound of his footsteps proving he was still there. That soon faded from existence as they were heard descending down the stairs and away from earshot. The hedgehog then turned his complete attention to the other three other than the officers and Silver in the room. "Now that I've heard his opinion, let me go ahead and tell you mine. Since Vector just said that Silver's good to be questioned provided that certain conditions are kept in mind, I will allow for any of you to be asking him questions about the moments leading up to his unconsciousness. Just remember that I'll be watching you, and I will stop it if things become too stressful for him or if he looks like he's ready to slip back into unconsciousness. Is that a fair enough procedure for you?"

For a couple of seconds, the two tailed fox thought about what Vector had said and Shadow's proposal. Altogether, it sounded more than fair, but Knuckles clearly did not agree with it. He had a hard scowl plastered onto his face and crossed his arms in a stubborn fashion. Sonic, on the other hand, was more than happy at this opportunity that they would be able to have a chance at figuring out the real culprit. That and he wanted to get out of the radar as person of interest in the case. After all, that was second worst to being full-on accused of murder, and he did not want to be anywhere near that boat.

"…As long as I get a chance to ask Silver some questions about what happened here, then it's alright with me," Tails finally responded with a resolute nod of his head. His older brother simply had a smile that appeared on his face and was quickly growing. "That's all that I've been asking to do since we got onto this topic."

"Then go ahead and ask to your heart's content," the prosecutor stated as he stole a glance at Silver and saw that he was still conscious, although he looked somewhat lost in his own little world. "Just remember not to be too rough or pushy for details. This is one of those times where you're probably not going to get what you want to hear."

"Thanks, Shadow; that's all I wanted to hear," the fox said as he walked up next to the fallen detective sat down next to him while being careful not to mess up the scene around them both. The echidna, on the other hand, chose to lean against the wall, an indication that he did not want to take any part in the questioning. It was obvious that he still felt this was going to prove more harmful than helpful in the long run. "Silver, do you mind telling us a few things regarding the moments before you were attacked?"

"B-but I can barely remember anything about it," the silver furred hedgehog responded with the repeated breaks in his sentences now gone. "I think I'm suffering from a concussion or something. My mind's feeling kind of foggy."

"That's okay; even the smallest thing that you can remember might prove to be helpful. It all depends on whether it has anything to do with the attack. Just don't push yourself too hard just for the sake of trying to provide us with answers."

Argument: Events Leading up to the Attack

Well, I remember staying behind in my office after we ended the party. I was talking to…to somebody about…something important. I don't know why, but I feel kind of annoyed when I think about the person. I'm not sure, but I think that somebody knocked on the door just as we were finishing up our meeting. I remember opening it to see who it was, but that's when things start to get a bit fuzzy.

End Argument

"And that's all that you're able to remember?" Tails asked as he tried to keep himself from sounding disappointment at the weak and relatively uninformative piece of testimony. Then again, he had figured that things might have turned out like this, so he knew he was getting his hopes up on hearing anything strong and concrete.

"Sorry I can't be of more help to you guys," Silver responded quietly with a small groan as he pushed himself further up against the wall in order to make himself more comfortable. "Like I said, my thoughts on what happened just before and during the time I was attacked are real fuzzy. I just can't get all the facts together."

"Well, that really ended up giving us a lot of help," Sonic stated sarcastically with a roll of his eyes as his shoulders slumped a bit at the dejecting testimony. He then added in an equally sarcastic tone, "That really was a whole bunch of new and helpful information he just gave us. We probably only got to figure out half of what Silver ended up doing after we all left, and that half sounds shoddy at best! There's hardly anything new in there that seems even remotely worth poking through for anything!"

"I told you two that asking him questions was to be nothing but a complete waste of time," Knuckles reminded them with an annoyed huff of his breath, never once leaving his position against the wall and his arms still in their crossed formation. "All we determined was that he was here in his office when somebody went knocking at his door during his private meeting. There's nothing important in there to ask about."

"Not unless we try and dig a bit deeper into those seemingly meaningless statements," the two tailed fox countered as he lightly bit his tongue in thought. "If we take the time to take apart what he said and reassemble it to our liking, then we're bound to figure out something new. Just give me a couple of minutes to work on this."

"Just don't forget to practice some restraint when you're questioning the detective, Tails," Shadow reminded in a tone laced with warning as he also had a thoughtful look on his face. "If he's your only lead to new information, then it wouldn't do to cause him pain and clam up involuntarily."

Begin Rebuttal

"I'm sorry for asking this Silver, but do you think you can remember who it was you were talking to?" Tails asked despite knowing full well who it was. He just wanted to gauge just how bad the silver furred hedgehog's memory really was.

"Uh, I think…it was a woman," Silver as he tried to think back to before he was attacked. "I can't help shaking the feeling that she has some kind of importance to our city right now, but I can't explain it. Sorry that I don't have a name for you right now."

"Well, at least this shows me that your memory's not as bad as I had thought," the two tailed fox responded with a short nod of his head in understanding. "Besides the name, you managed to remember the bare basics of who you were meeting with. And can you remember just what it is that you were talking to her about?"

"I think that's something that's supposed to be between me and her," the detective answered as he twisted his face in thought. "B-but if you think it's important, I'll try to remember. I know that it's something that I've been working on for almost a year and that she's been bugging me about the details."

"You were working on the LK-9 incident for a year," Knuckles stated as he helped to straighten out the other detective's jumbled and fuzzy thoughts. "Ever since I've been with the force, you agreed to let me help you out since I was directly involved with it. …Ms. Rose has been pestering both you and me about the details for a while now."

"Ms. Rose… That kind of sounds familiar…, …Wait a minute; isn't she the senatorial candidate that I was supposed to be meeting with tonight?"

"I see that you remembered something," Shadow suddenly stated after being quiet for a while. As he had promised, he had been watching from a distance and making sure that things did not take a turn for the worse. "I don't know the full details of what you were meeting with her tonight for, but she was a senatorial candidate for our district."

"Did you happen to be looking at some files during your meeting with her?" Sonic asked as he remembered the missing LK-9 Files.

"Yes…, yes I was!" Silver exclaimed as it seemed his recollection of what happened was starting to slowly come back to him. "I took a file off the bookshelf that held the documents concerning the LK-9 incident. After we were done, I put it back on the shelf. That was right before…before someone knocked on the door…, I think."

"Well, that is the only way for the person who attacked you could've gotten in here," Tails stated as he tried to find more spots to dig for more information. "And speaking of which, do you have any idea who it was that ended up knocking on the door? That's who I think was the one who ended up beating you into unconsciousness."

"…Sorry, but I just can't remember," the silver furred hedgehog said after taking a couple of seconds to think on it.

"Don't forget to go easy on the detective," Sonic reminded his little brother in a soft tone as he remembered the warning the prosecutor had gave them before starting. "He's not in the greatest of forms to be undergoing this right now."

"I just thought I'd give it a try," the two tailed fox responded with a shrug of his shoulders. Apparently, getting any kind of info that might have a chance at supplementing the cobalt furred hedgehog's wild claim of Espio being the one who committed the crime tonight was going to be harder than he first thought. "It's better than trying to stab in the dark by asking something not even related to what we're talking about."

End Rebuttal

"Why don't you stop before you make yourself look bad, Tails?" Shadow suggested with a small sigh. "I like it that you're trying, but you never figured out anything new here. All you managed to do was jog Silver's memory a bit."

"Well, at least that's a step in the right direction for him," Tails countered with a snort of his breath. "If I can't get any real answers from him, then the next best thing I can do is to try and refresh his memory. Maybe then he'll be able to remember something and tell us something that'll help us break this case open."

"Look, don't you think you're torturing Silver enough with this stupid questioning session?" Knuckles asked as a small growl emanated from the back of his throat. "He obviously can't remember anything. Isn't it better if we tried to look for more answers in a different way that doesn't involve him?"

"Well, if you know of something that he haven't tried out yet, then we're all ears Knucklehead," Sonic countered, the other giving him a hard stare at the nickname and not saying anything. "…I thought as much. Since you don't have another suggestion, we'll just continue on with this until we get an answer or he becomes exhausted."

"Ms Rose…," Silver suddenly said in a sort of far-off voice as if he were trying to recall a distant memory. "…She's dead, isn't she? You guys haven't said much about her ever since I woke up, and I don't see her around anywhere."

"…We figured that it was best you didn't know until after you've made a full recovery," the ebon furred hedgehog stated after a moment's pause from everyone in the room. Without knowing it, they had all somehow managed to block the view of the senatorial candidate's body from their position in the room around the poor detective. "We didn't want to overwhelm you with the fact of her death."

"…I don't know why, but I don't feel all that surprised at hearing she's now dead," the silver furred hedgehog admitted with a thoughtful glint in his eyes. It was almost as if he were expecting that kind of an answer without asking to look at the woman's body for the sake of confirmation. "In fact, it's almost as if I'm starting to remember something now that you've helped me confirm my suspicions."

"It sounds like we're slowly undoing the damage from the concussion you have," the two tailed fox responded with a smile on his face at the progression they were making. Knuckles looked on in slight disbelief that what he thought was going to be a waste of time was slowly turning into something that was potentially informative. Sonic, on the other hand, simply gave off a smug smile at the chance of proving the echidna wrong in his assumption. Shadow remained rather indifferent to how the scene was unfolding, but he did cross his arms rather loosely as if bracing himself for what was to come next. "Is it okay if I asked you what it is that you think you're remembering?"

"Ha, I think I know how it feels like now for potential criminals in court being asked so many questions because the things we already found out just don't add up," the weak detective chuckled lightly with a small smile reflecting his agreement at making another statement. "Talk about having the tables suddenly being turned on you."

Argument: The Moment of the Attack

Someone did come into my office just before my meeting was over. I checked who it was and let them in. I think it was only a couple of minutes before he started attacking us. It must've happened pretty fast, because I don't remember seeing Ms. Rose get hurt. I think she was hanging around the bookshelf after the attack, but I'm not too sure. I was busy trying to subdue him so I could get other detectives up here for an arrest. We struggled against each other for a bit before I was knocked around so bad that I began to black out.

End Argument

"Well, that was a lot of things that you ended up remembering there, Silver," Shadow said with a raised eyebrow after the Silver was done recounting what he could remember about the incident that happened in his office. He had since taken the liberty of leaning his body against the wall with his arms still loosely crossed. "I guess it was for the best that we ended up telling you the truth about Ms. Rose."

"That must've been the catalyst being that the majority of what happened tonight most likely revolved around her," Tails stated as he figured that it was the heart of the matter. "That's the only thing that makes sense. I still can't believe he managed to remember that much about the moment of the attack and murder."

"Well, he always was pretty diligent when it came to investigating and had a knack for remembering the small things that others tend to not take note of," Knuckles added with a shrug of his shoulders. "He even helped me get my case notes in order when I was asked to attend an information meeting suddenly."

"Yeah, he sure did sound like an organized type of guy when he questioned us about that LK-9 incident," Sonic stated with a half-grin at the memory. "I don't know about now, but he was always writing something down in the notepad he was carrying. Talk about being a rookie trying to impress their boss."

"Could you guys please not talk about me as if I weren't here?" Silver asked, clearly getting annoyed at how they were taking about him in third person. "I'm still here hearing everything you're saying about me. I swear; you make it sound like I'm in the hospital or already dead in the morgue."

"Sorry," the two tailed fox apologized with an equally apologetic smile appearing on his lips. "We didn't mean to make it sound like you were somewhere else. Let me just go ahead then and ask you some more questions."

Begin Rebuttal

"Do you remember what time it was when this person came knocking at your door, Silver?" Tails asked in hopes of being able to establish a concrete time for when this whole problem occurred. "Maybe we'll have a better chance at figuring this out if we could get just a rough estimate."

"I'm sorry, but I can't remember that," Silver apologized as he did not even try to think about it. "I don't really make it a habit to look at the clock when I have a meeting. It makes the time drag on, and I don't like to have boring things feel like they're taking longer than usual. I only remember the knocking that I heard from the door."

"I remember that we left the party a little before half past eleven," Sonic stated as he thought back to when he and the fox left. "We came back about forty-five minutes later to get my Attorney's Badge. Silver and Ms. Rose were already taken care of when we got here, but that still doesn't give us anything new to work with."

"But we do have the Autopsy Report that I wrote up when I had a chance to examine her body," Knuckles corrected as he recalled the notes he made about her body. "I estimated her time of death to have been between midnight and one in the morning. You said that you both came back around a quarter past twelve. That would mean that the murderer came in sometime between midnight and the time you two arrived back here."

"Assuming that your report is correct, that would mean that we should really only be concentrating on the fifteen minutes between midnight and when Sonic and I came back," the two tailed fox surmised as he furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "That means we'll most likely have to be collecting alibis from certain people for those moments if we want to see if Sonic's claim is right."

"We can worry about that after we're done with this, Tails," the cobalt hedgehog simply responded with a small wave of his hand in dismissal. "We don't know how long Silver is going to last here before he starts to ignore us again. We need to get all the information we can get from him before that happens."

"I guess you're right about that, Sonic," the other responded with a shrug and sigh at his big brother's choice of words. "Silver, you said that you don't remember seeing the moment Ms. Rose was stabbed the first time. Did you, however, hear some kind scream of pain or something like that at the time?"

"Uh, I kind of remember hearing a kind of grunt of pain that sounded like it belonged to a woman," the silver furred hedgehog said as he thought back to that particular moment. "I was by my file cabinet at the time and accidentally shoved it closed when I heard the noise. I then turned around and saw her being shoved into the bookshelf. I don't remember much after that except that I rushed towards the attacker in hope that I could subdue him for the other detectives to arrest him."

"So you knew she was at least attacked in some way," Shadow stated in a tone that could have been almost mistaken as questioning. "As such, you were trying to do your duty as an officer of the law and arrest the assaulter. Are you completely sure that your attacker and her murderer was a man? Also, do you remember seeing any kind of weapon in the person's hand while you were fighting?"

"I'm more than sure on that the person who entered my office with the intent to cause harm was a man," the detective stated with such sureness that nobody could possibly argue with him on the fact. "Unfortunately, all that I can remember was us exchanging one blow after another with each other. I think it would be safe to say then that he didn't have any kind of weapon on him, or he would've used it to make faster work against me. However, I don't think that any of my punches ever met his body," he added as he thought deeper into his scuffle. "He blocked and dodged every single hit I threw at him."

"Then this person must've had some great martial arts skills along with some quick movements to have been able to land a strike on the woman," the ebon furred hedgehog said more to himself in a contemplative manner. "That's the only thing that makes sense with what we already learned. How interesting…"

"And what else do you remember while you were fighting?" Tails asked. "Was there something off during the fight?"

"I'm sorry, but my mind was already starting to black out after a couple of minutes into our struggle. I remember being pushed to where I am now. I do remember, though, that he stopped momentarily as he was approaching me. That was when I heard something fall to the ground. I only saw it for less than a second, but I think it had a sort of bronze coloring to it before it rolled away towards where Ms. Rose was still at."

"That must've been my Attorney's Badge that she threw at him!" the defense attorney exclaimed as he tried to piece the two together. "She must've thrown it at the attacker in hopes of distracting him away from you. She probably grabbed it from the table where I probably left it. And when it rolled back towards her, it must've stopped in the Pool of Blood that was then collecting around her."

"Then why is it that we didn't see any kind of round marking in the area where she was stabbed?" the echidna asked with a raised eyebrow. "We took a good look at the area, and we didn't find anything like that."

"Well, she was still alive at the time, so the blood could've easily just covered that part of the floor after it was kicked under the desk where I found it," the other explained as if that were the only answer. And in truth, that was the only reasonable answer that anybody could come up with for that particular moment in time.

"And it was probably around that time when she took the Knife out of her to try and take a stab at her murderer," the two tailed fox concluded. "She obviously failed at that attempt and was instead stabbed a second time."

"If I remember correctly, though, there is an unexplainable round mark underneath Silver's Shoe," the prosecutor asked as he tried to raise some loose ends that have yet to be closed. He clearly did not want any future accusations to start flying around when there were unexplainable questions still lingering within the recesses of his sharp mind. "How do you go about explaining that?"

"Silver, what did you do while your attacker was distracted from you?" the fox asked without answering the other's question. "Can you remember the things that you saw around you or managed to do then?"

"Naturally, I took the time to hit him from behind," the detective answered as he brought a hand up to his head. It was clear that this was starting to take its toll on him, and he was not going to last much longer. "I remember startling him so much that he sort of fell over sideways. That was when I saw his head hitting the edge of the table. I heard it happen, but I don't remember seeing any kind of mark on his head that would've indicate he had been struck there. And I don't know how, but we somehow ended up switching positions, me being where Ms. Rose was earlier and him where I was."

"I guess then that she was already fatally stabbed the second time and lying at the front of your desk when you threw that surprise attack," Knuckles stated as he tried to organize all the new facts that they managed to obtain. He also lost the skeptical feeling he had about asking the recently conscious detective about his own assault ordeal. "And you most likely stepped in the Pool of Blood that still had Sonic's Attorney's Badge in it, thus creating that strange round mark on the bottom of your shoe."

"And somewhere during round two of the struggle, my badge got kicked under the table, and you somehow ended back here where you then became unconscious," Sonic added on to what he believed to have been the events that took place in here with the testimony and evidence they have collected during the course of the long night.

"And even though the attacker then had the knife in his hands when he killed Ms. Rose, he must've lost it when you surprise-attacked him and didn't know that it was lying under the door even as he made his escape," Tails finished off as he saw loose end after another being quickly closed. "Being that he couldn't waste any time looking for it or another deadly weapon without running the risk of getting caught, he settled on trying to give you a concussion with fist blows in hope that you would forget about the incident should you survive and end up recounting the scene to the police."

End Rebuttal

"Humph, it looks like this question and answer session wasn't as wasteful on time as I had first thought," Shadow responded as a thoughtful look crossed his face. "You managed to close up a few holes and inconsistencies. But there's still one thing you've failed to establish even with all these closed holes. In fact, you haven't got an answer for the real reason you embarked on this line of questioning."

"Wh-what do you mean, Shadow?" Tails asked with genuine confusion trailing behind his words. "We got a whole bunch of things to help us, as you said, close up a few holes. What is this real reason that we didn't get an answer to?"

"Well, you originally embarked on this once tedious line of thought under the guise that you would be able to both identify what had happened here tonight in the office and who the culprit responsible for all this chaos was," the ebon furred hedgehog reminded as he stood up straight and uncrossed his arms. "Correct me if I'm wrong here, but you've already tried asking him a few times if he could give any telltale signs on who his attacker was. All you managed to figure out was that it was a man. That's hardly a basis for reaching the grounds for indicting someone, wouldn't you say?"

"I hate to admit it, but he's right on this, Tails," Sonic admitted with a childish pout appearing on his face. "We managed to get a good idea on what happened in here, but that doesn't help us much in the long run. What we really wanted to know was if my assumption had anything to back it up. We didn't really find anything like that."

"But you do have to admit that we found quite a few things that kind of danced around with the idea," Knuckles added with a shrug just as he saw Silver's eyes starting to close. "And even if we thought Silver could possibly remember the person through description if not by name and wanted to ask him again, it's too late for that. He's out like a light."

"And that just makes things a bit harder for us," the cobalt hedgehog grumbled as he moved over towards the back of the desk area and rested his back against the wall. "Talk about trying to prove our point here taking a turn towards impossible lane."

"Remembered what we agreed upon earlier," the prosecutor quickly reminded the other. "Should Detective Silver fall unconscious again at any time, we are to not disturb him again. It's a sign that we've strained him enough for the evening. I'm afraid that all you have to fall back on now is what you remember him telling you."

"He deserves the rest after all the strain we put him through in trying to remember what happened a few hours ago," the fox stated with a small nod of his head as he looked at the once again unconscious Silver. He then added with a sigh, "Even though he didn't give us anything concrete as to who the one responsible for all this was, he still gave us details that we could try and piece together to make a relatively educated guess. Would that satisfy your need in us requiring both a relevant and plausible reason as to why Sonic felt claimed earlier that Espio would be the main suspect in all this?"

Argument: Prove That Espio is a Suspect

I have to say that this is still the most farfetched idea I've ever heard of. As far as I'm concerned, Espio is a proud and well-known freelance detective in this Precinct who works for an equally well-known private detective agency. And as I've said numerous times before, you have yet to convince me to think otherwise of him. Of course, you're right now offering to provide me a reason to think so with the badly fragmented pieces of truth we've just learned from Detective Silver. I'll tell you what; if you can adequately convince me that Sonic's earlier claim has the power to turn into a plausible reality, then I'll bring Espio in here myself. Otherwise, I'll be calling for an end to your investigation of this scene due to the lack of any further developments.

End Argument

"So that's the challenge that you're putting me up on, huh?" Tails asked as he seemed to give Shadow's words a bit of thought. "You sure are a hard person to convince on anything, you know that, Shadow? …Alright then, I'll go ahead and take you on. I believe that Sonic's right in his claim, and the only way for me to convince you of it is to prove it to you through our broken pieces of information."

"Well, you've already proven to me that your mind is as sharp as it possibly could be tonight," Shadow responded with a smirk and a small snort of his breath. It was clear even with that slightly rude gesture that he was complimenting the other in having such a genius mind. "I wonder, though, if your power over logic can handle finding a truth through a sadly crafted claim that Sonic had allowed to come out from his thoughts. I suppose the only way to know is to press on. Let's not waste any more time then. It's almost five, and the police should be arriving in three more hours. I'm sure that it'll be in everybody's best interest if we could get more factual answers before then."

"Boy, this is going to be real interesting," Knuckles whispered under his breath as he walked over to where Sonic was still standing on the other side of the table. "I wonder how Tails is going to convince Shadow of this one. I know he's good with piecing together facts, but everything we got seems scattered at best. That and you actually went ahead and accused a freelance detective well known in this Precinct of assault and murder. Of course the guy's being completely skeptical about the whole thing."

"Didn't I ever tell you before that Tails actually stood up against a top ranking college student who specialized in public speaking and debate?" Sonic questioned in an attempt to reassure the other that the fox could handle it. "I don't remember what they were talking about, but he managed to get a good chunk of the audience backing him when he was through. The point here is that I know he can handle this. All we can do here is shut up and listen since I doubt you and I have been keeping track of everything that we've learn up in our heads and constantly working on them."

Begin Rebuttal

"Let me start off by admitting right off the bat that I have nothing definitive or concrete that says Espio was the one responsible for all this," Tails began with his explanation as both Sonic and Knuckles quieted down and stood watching the exchange begin. "However, I can still show that it was more likely than not that the freelance detective could've been the one to have committed this crime as Sonic had suggested earlier. All we have to do is gather the fragments of information and piece them together into a coherent fact."

"While coherent facts are all well and good, it's the end results of said facts that will be contributing the most to what you want me to believe," Shadow reminded the two tailed fox with a raise of his eyebrows as he set his face into a serious expression. "Could you explain to me just how it is that these fragments allow you to come to this near unbelievable conclusion that the freelance detective is the one responsible for all this?"

"Well, how about we start off with the details of the meeting Silver and Ms. Rose planned to have in here," the fox stated more than suggested. "First off, the fact that they were even having a meeting was supposed to be known by only the two of them. However, since we were all still at the party at the time, we just happened to overhear that they were meeting tonight. Nobody else in this Precinct should have had no knowledge of that. Wouldn't you say that would be a fair statement?"

"I have heard that she sometimes preferred to have private meetings with certain individuals from time to time," the ebon furred hedgehog responded as he thought about the possibility. "And being that she's a senatorial candidate for this district, she kind of has the right to come and go as she pleases and conduct private meetings without any of the others knowing of it. And since you were all here in the party when she made that announcement with the exclusion of me, I suppose Espio would fit under that sole pretense."

"But I'm sure that that's not going to be enough to convince you. As such, there are other things that when put together, they end up placing suspicion on him. When Sonic and I first came back here, we discovered all this. A few minutes later, he was caught on his own in here by none other than Espio. At the time, I thought nothing of it and that he was simply doing his job. Over time, however, I started to find it odd that a great freelance detective like himself would actually jump to conclusions without first adequately surveying the scene for anything that would back up his claim.

"Nevertheless, I managed to prove him wrong in that Sonic had anything to do with this murder," the fox added with a small triumphant smirk. "After I proved him wrong, he simply left the scene and said that he'd be waiting in the Precinct cafeteria if we had any more questions for him. It was almost as if he didn't want to examine the crime scene."

"I suppose that would explain why I haven't seen him all night since I've heard of him being the first to make any kind of accusation in the case," the prosecutor responded thoughtfully with raised eyebrows. "Just because he's decided to hang around in the cafeteria, though, doesn't mean that he should already be made suspect in this crime. You're going to need more than just those two flimsy facts to convince me that he has anything to do with this."

"Geez, how much more convincing do you need in order to start believing that Espio is the only one with the strong possibility of committing this crime?" Sonic asked with an exasperated sigh escaping his lips. "You'd have to be a really stupid guy to not even start considering it, Shadow. And I know you're anything but stupid."

"I'm just trying to make sure that I hear nothing but things that could be construed into a plausible and explainable truth. I don't want you all to go accusing someone who has nothing to do with any of this at this point in time."

"Then how about we go ahead and start concentrating on the things that Silver said to us a few minutes ago?" Knuckles suggested as he tried to sound nonchalant about the entire situation. "Tails has only been stating things that we knew before we questioned him. Piecing things together from what we just found out might manage to convince you, and even me in this case, that Sonic's claim was even remotely right to begin with."

"Nice to know that you never believed me about this, Knuckles," the cobalt hedgehog responded sarcastically with a pout. "Remind me to never again tell you my theories if you're just going to throw them out the window."

"Anyway, I think I'll take up that suggestion and start concentrating more on what Silver said to us," Tails said with a small clearing of his throat. "It seems that's the best place to pick up the pieces. However, let me go on about the matter of time here in when Ms. Rose was killed. As we have discussed earlier, we've come to a conclusion that she was most likely killed between midnight and a quarter after."

"That's something that I'm not going to dispute," Shadow said without any hesitation. "I can also guess where you're going with this. You want anybody who knew about the meeting to give out their testimony as to what they were doing for those fifteen minutes so as to establish their alibis. Am I right on that?"

"That's pretty much it in a nutshell," the two tailed fox replied with a nod of his head. "And while we're on the subject, why don't we ask each other just what it was we were doing at that time?"

"Well, there's no need to be asking me about that," the defense attorney quickly said. "We were busy in the cab on our way back here. Thank god this particular cab company allowed for money to be transferred to them through wireless means. I used my phone to transfer the fare from my account to the cab company. I'm sure you'll see a record of it that should say I altered my account a few minutes after midnight. That's both my and Tails' alibi since he was riding with me."

"And I also happen to know the driver's name if you want further clarification for formality purposes," the fox added as he loosely crossed his arms. "I happened to get a good look at his cab driver identification card during our ride. Anyway, now it's your turn, Knuckles. What we're you doing around here in those fifteen minutes?"

"I was busy down at the second floor processing some files regarding on some of the cases that I was working on and finished," the echidna explained without any hesitation. "I had to go through the file storage room in order to process them correctly. There just so happens to be a camera situated right by the entrance. That and there's a card reader that allows only those who work in the Precinct and carrying their I.D. cards to enter. Just check the records on those things, and I'm sure that you'll see my name on it just before midnight. And if you check the camera, it'll show that I spent about ten or so minutes in there," he quickly added before anybody could question him about the duration of his stay. "I then went to the fourth floor so as to talk to Prosecutor Vector before leaving for home. And just for the record, he was on the phone talking to the second floor data clerk about some kind of mess-up with his computer. It was about ten after midnight, and he managed an appointment for two in the afternoon tomorrow. You can check it up with them for that."

"And I suppose that you're the good prosecutor's alibi since he's currently not here to testify on his own," the prosecutor stated with no signs of disbelief in his tone. "I'll look into that once we're done with all this. And just for the record, where was it that you ran into Tails when he was looking for help?"

"I had just left the fourth floor hallway and was about to go down the stairwell," the detective continued on to explain. "I heard frantic footsteps above me and turned around to see him running. He was frantic and asking me to quickly follow him. Vector had poked his head out of his office a couple seconds later to see what all the commotion was about."

"So now you have everybody in here with alibis that can be proven and shows we're not the ones responsible for this," the fox stated once he heard the finishing remarks of the red furred detective. "Sonic and I were busy in the cab and have both the payment transaction and name of the driver to prove it. Knuckles was busy in the file storage room with both the camera and the data from a card reader to prove it. And Vector was seen by Knuckles five minutes before we came back to Silver's office and saw him already on the phone finishing up making an appointment with the Precinct's data clerk. And don't even get me started with Charmy here. He might've been at the party, but it's definitely close to impossible for him to have done this due to his age, size, and rather hyper attitude. That in itself is an alibi for him."

"And the only person you have yet to collect any kind of information suitable for an alibi is Espio himself," Shadow finished off as he clearly sensed where this was all leading up to. "And just for the record, I was busy in a private meeting with the High Prosecutor until half past midnight. I know I wasn't at the party, but I figured the establishment of my alibi was appropriate so I could avoid being accused."

"As if any of us were planning to do that anytime soon," Sonic stated with an irritated look at the teasingly weak accusation. "And we already figured that you didn't have anything to do with this. You didn't even know that there was going to be a meeting between Ms. Rose and Silver in the first place."

"Anyway, you've managed to put three things against the freelance detective in this," the ebon furred hedgehog continued on as he began to sound less defensive against the accusation. "One is that he didn't even bother to try and examine the scene before making his accusation; the second is that he was one of the few people who happened to know the senatorial candidate was having a private meeting because he was at Silver's promotional party; and the third being that he's the only one without any kind of solid alibi. It is starting to form the basis of a sound accusation, but it still sounds too scattered for consideration. If you could find something else that has greater substance than these claims, then maybe I'll change my mind."

"You really are a tough person to please, you know that?" Knuckles said with a small sigh. "It's not that I'm trying to disagree with you or anything like that, but couldn't you try to be less of a stickler on details?"

"Forget it, Knuckles; Shadow's right on this," Tails admitted in a tone that was anything but the sound of him giving up. "My reasons for validating Sonic's accusation are still flimsy at best. There has to be a more substantial form of information for even a court to consider such a strong claim."

"I'm glad that you're starting to see things my way, but the tone in your voice tells me you still have some fight in you," the prosecutor stated with his face showing his amusement at this little game of logic. "What else can you come up with that you feel would make me bring Espio up here for questioning?"

"If you think back on Silver's Testimony for a bit, he said something about the moment Ms. Rose was first stabbed. He said that he didn't hear anything out of her save a grunt of pain," the two tailed fox reminded the other of what Silver had told them. "She was stabbed with a Knife. I can't help but to feel something wrong with that picture."

"And just what is it that you feel doesn't fit right with you?"

End Rebuttal

"Well, if you just remember the details of the Newspaper Article from yesterday's paper that talks a bit about the senatorial candidate, I'm sure you'll see exactly where I'm going here," Tails simply said, not bothering to even show the article since he knew everybody in the room knew of its contents. "It says in there that she was more than proficient in knife combat. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but doesn't knife combat also include fighting an opponent with a knife even if you're unarmed?"

"It isn't technically considered to be a part of that definition, but it does have strong ties to it," Shadow admitted, his tone clearly showing he knew where this was going. "And you're saying that since she was stabbed in the front, there's no reason why she shouldn't have been able to at least block the strike."

"And you admitted to us at some point that the one responsible for this crime must have been well versed in the way of martial arts and weapons handling to have outdone her," the two tailed fox reminded the other. "And I remember Vector telling me and Sonic about how he owned his own dojo and specialized in the ninja arts. They're known for using weapons in combat whenever applicable."

"And being that he's the only one out of all of us who has that kind of skill and no set alibi for those fifteen minutes, he's the only one who could be considered a prime suspect," Sonic finished the explanation while in awe at how his little brother managed to make his previously crazy claim into a plausible scenario. "It would only make sense then why he wanted to pin the crime on me without any kind of investigation of his own. He knew that was guilty and was planning to steer us away from the scent by throwing me into the mix since I was the first person he saw when he came back!"

"Wow, talk about cooking up a quick last-minute plan on the fly like that," Knuckles stated with a low whistle. "Considering that the entire ordeal took probably less than five minutes and that he wasn't sure if or when someone would come stumbling in while he was still doing the deed. Ten or so minutes to think up of even a weak plan that could possibly steer us down the wrong path isn't an easy feat even for seasoned criminals."

"That sounds like a rather strong strike against Espio there," the ebon furred hedgehog admitted as he closed his eyes momentarily in thought. After a few seconds, he opened them and said, "When you use that as the binder to put together the other things that you've proven, I'd say that you have the means to go accusing the freelance detective of this. And as per my end of the agreement, I'll go ahead and get him from the cafeteria provided that he's still waiting there after all this time."

"It's about time that you're letting us confront the guy!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed with an over-exaggerated sigh and an equally dramatic throwing of his hands above his head. "We finally passed your stupid torture test!"

"And Knuckles," the prosecutor continued on while completely ignoring the other. "Do you mind sending the Scale and White Fragment to the Forensics lab on the third floor? Those pieces still hold secrets that we can't access without any forensic data. They just might be the key to figuring out just what happened here tonight."

"Consider it done, Shadow!" the echidna stated as he quickly nodded his head once in compliance. At the same time, the prosecutor turned around and walked out of the office in preparation to bring Espio up to the office for some well needed questioning. The detective then turned to Sonic and said, "Well, it looks like I have something to do here. I won't be here listening to what's going to happen."

"Just make sure you get these things figured out before we nail the guy to the wall or run out of gas trying," the attorney stated with a serious stare as he handed the two aforementioned items to the detective. "And do go losing them. I'll kill you if that happens."

"You just worry in making sure that you didn't make a stupid accusation and accused the wrong person for murder and assault," the other stated as he also began to walk towards the doorway. "I still can't believe the Espio was the one who did this, but Tails did provide good enough reasons to place him under suspicion. Just make sure you end up pegging the right guy for this when it comes around to it."

"I don't ever go around saying things without any basis behind it," Tails reassured the echidna just as he left the office and on his way to the third floor. He then added in an undertone so that Sonic could not hear, "I just hope all this time hasn't given Espio a chance to come up with plausible excuses for what he was doing just after midnight. That'll really kill us here. I guess all we can do is wait and see."

New Evidence:

Silver's Testimony: Testimony recorded from the detective before he went unconscious for a second time. While everything that he said has been pieced together logically, there is still one fact that is unclear. He said something about his attacker hitting his head hard on the desk when he surprise-attacked him during the assailant's moment of distraction. However, he saw no signs of bruising on his head that would indicate the damage.

Lost Evidence: