Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. I know what most of you are probably thinking. I just said not two days ago that I won't be updating this story as frequently as I used to be able to before my long hiatus moment. Let's just say I lied for this chapter. I couldn't get this one out of my head, and I just had to bring it out for you all to read.
Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this new chapter. They're now in court and trying to figure out how to get Shadow out of the accusation that he murdered one of his coworkers in a foggy morning. Just how are they going to do that with not a log of information to go on?
Well, here's the evidence and profiles from the last chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story. I always read them and take it into consideration provided they are constructive criticism or just regular praise and not flames. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here everybody!
Evidence:
Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.
Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.
Profiles:
Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He works in Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm office and is currently on track on becoming a full-fledged attorney and escape from fledgling status.
Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old yellow-orange furred fox with two tails. After his performance in the previous case at the local Precinct, Dr. Robotnik has taken him in as the firm's local on-scene detective.
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.
Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.
Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old prosecutor who doesn't like nonsense and is childhood friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He's currently being held by the police under suspicion of murdering one of his coworkers at the Mobius Docks.
Chapter 18: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 3
When the next day came around, everything seemed to have happened in the blink of an eye. No sooner had Sonic and Tails arrived at the courthouse were they suddenly assaulted with a certain kind of tension floating around in the air. It hardly affected them in anyway, but its presence was more than enough to give one a slight chill down their spine. Whatever the reason was to this strange air was left undiscovered by them, however, as the court bailiff immediately ushered them both into the courtroom where the legal battle was to take place for the case against Shadow today.
"Uh, do you really have to rush us in here?" Sonic asked once they had arrived at their assigned desk. Even his little brother seemed speechless to suddenly being rushed in place as if they had arrived late. "It's not like we're late or anything like that."
"You obviously don't know about how the prosecution for this case is," the bailiff simply said once he noticed the two were in their correct positions and threw a quick glance at where Shadow was to sit as defendant. "He's probably the greatest that ever lived in Mobius's history of law. Except for one certain case that never ended with a ruling because of an unfortunate incident, he's never lost a case in his entire thirty years of working."
"That's impossible!" Tails exclaimed as the people started to file into the courtroom. "Nobody could possibly win every single case from the day they started. Not unless there was some kind of forging taking place."
"Trust me when I say that many have suspected him of forging evidence in the past," the bailiff said in a whisper as he watched the people calmly taking their seats and preparing to listen in to the court proceedings. "However, all accusations against him have gone unfounded for lack of evidence of any kind of foul play in court. But the fact that he's convicted so many for the wrongdoing they were accused of, he's garnered some kind of immense respect amongst everybody in the justice system."
"Yikes, he sounds like an absolute law shark!" the cobalt hedgehog groaned out as the bailiff simply shrugged his shoulders and left to take his position next to the judge's bench. "How the heck am I supposed to defend Shadow against a ruthless man like him?"
Before he could be granted any kind of calming suggestion from Tails, the outer doors suddenly opened and in came another hedgehog who seemed to be secreting a certain air of tension that both boys had been feeling the moment they had entered the courthouse. His fur was quite dark with hints of dark purple giving it an even darker look. It was also quite ragged and seemed to reflect his age when his very walk and stance seemed to say otherwise. His eyes were green like Sonic's, but they held a sort of sickly quality to it.
"So this is the great defense attorney and his young partner I've been hearing so much about," the old hedgehog responded in a strong and deep tone as their eyes contacted for the briefest of moments. He then said more to himself out loud as he reached the prosecutor's desk, "Must I really waste my intellect on an attorney who's still wet behind the ears? This'll hardly prove to be a challenge today."
"He's the prosecutor?" Sonic whispered to his little brother as he could not help but stare at the man who was still exuding this unnerving aura about him. "The very air he breaths out just screams nothing but evil! How am I supposed to work under such an intimidating aura bearing down on me?"
"J-Just make sure you don't get distracted on the facts and stay on the offensive whenever you can," Tails simply suggested with a shrug of his shoulders just as they heard the sound of the Judge's door opening and saw him approach his seat. "We'll worry about him later. Let's just listen to what the Judge has to say."
"Court is now in session!" the Judge announced with a pound of his gavel the moment he sat on his seat. Everybody in the room immediately fell quiet and took their seats. "Is the defense ready to present their case?"
"The defense is ready, Your Honor," the cobalt hedgehog responded confidently as he stood tall against the negative energy quickly filling the room. He then added mentally, I'm lying when I say it, but I can't really say anything else on the matter, can I?
"And I suppose it's redundant to ask, but is the prosecution ready?" the old man asked as he set his attention to the prosecutor on the other side of the room.
"You say it's redundant, yet you still bother to ask the question," the prosecutor simply responded with a cocky half-smile and shake of his head. "Since when have I ever not been ready to uphold my end of a case argument?"
"I suppose I can only translate that as a yes when coming from you. Very well, we'll be looking over the case against Prosecutor Shadow Hedgehog today. Do you mind giving us the main details, Prosecutor Mephiles?"
"I'll be more than happy to," the prosecutor now known to be Mephiles responded in his strong tone before looking down at one of his papers he had neatly set before him. "The defendant, Prosecutor Shadow Hedgehog, is accused of having murdered his fellow coworker, Prosecutor Flora Mae, at the Mobius Docks yesterday. He then attempted to dispose of her body in the Mobius River, but the current had been dead since the beginning of this week and was easily dragged from the bottom of the river by authorities."
"Was an autopsy report conducted and completed before the start of today's court proceedings that showed how and when Ms. Mae died?" the Judge asked after hearing the short cap of what the case was revolving around.
"Thankfully, they managed to complete the process just before I was to make my way here," the prosecutor stated as he took a document in his hands that was presumably Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report. "They concluded that she was shot in the chest by a bullet and had fainted as a cause of it. With that said, it wasn't the bullet itself that had stolen her life. Rather, it was the fact that she was dumped into the water that ended up doing her in. She had drowned from the result of being shot and shocked to unconsciousness."
"Hmm, such a sad way for anyone to die. The court will happily accept the autopsy report as evidence. And I suppose that it was Prosecutor Shadow who has something quite damning that ties him to the murder?"
"Well, I'm sure he isn't sitting in the defendant's chair simply because he wants to," Mephiles countered with a snort of his breath. "However, before we go into the details of how Shadow was brought in as the main suspect, I would like to reveal to the court the scene of the crime through the eyes of a detective who was the first responder on the scene. I summon Senior Detective Silver Hedgehog to the stand!" he commanded in a sure tone.
"The request is acknowledged!" the Judge announced with slight hesitation at the force used upon the calling of the witness. It was almost as if the prosecutor was taking control of the entire courtroom simply by the power of his vocal chords alone. And this left Sonic on his end starting to sweat a bit. "The detective will now take the stand."
"Looks like we're finally able to get some information on the crime scene now," Tails whispered to his older brother as they saw Silver walking up to the stand to see his turn to testify in front of the court. "Guess we can only use this time to get more information since we don't really have anything to even counter someone of his profession. Let's just hope he spews out something useful for us to use later."
"If there even is a later for us after this," Sonic responded somewhat dejectedly as the negative aura was starting to take its toll on him.
"Senior Detective Silver," the Judge began once the silver furred hedgehog was situated on the witness stand. "You were the first detective from the Local Precinct called onto the scene in order to investigate the incident. Is that correct?"
"Yes, Your Honor," Silver simply responded as he sounded like the professional he was supposed to be as a senior detective. He seemed to have recovered for the most part from his assault from a month ago that left a senatorial candidate dead. It was almost as if nothing had happened to him if you only took a quick glance. "I've also been assigned to take charge over the initial investigation."
"Can you please provide the court with testimony regarding the scene of the crime as you remembered it when you first arrived?" the old man asked with a light bang of his gavel in order to officiate the request turned command. "I feel that we'll be taken out of the dark once we've all heard some of the details."
"Then allow me to guide you all out of this dark maze," the detective simply responded before flashing a quick glance at Sonic and Tails with eyes that pleaded with them to get any and all information they could get out of his recollection.
"As if this were even a maze to begin with," Mephiles stated haughtily while waving his hand over his bangs as if the entire proceeding was nothing but a chore he was obligated to attend. "I'm sure the defense and his little partner will agree with me once they've heard the testimony."
God, I already hate this guy before we even got to the cross-examination, the cobalt hedgehog growled out mentally as he tried to ignore the comments and pay attention to the detective's recollection of the scene.
The Initial Investigation
We received a call about a reported shooting at the Mobius Docks around seven in the morning that day. The woman calling the incident in sounded quite hysterical over the phone, but we managed to understand from her garbled explanation that something had just taken place. Being the one to have received the call, I immediately dispatched a small group to check the area along with myself. Once there, we saw the witness leaning against the railing as if she were close to fainting. Prosecutor Shadow was simply standing next to a gun that was lying on the ground and looking stoic as ever about the whole thing. We questioned them both about what had occurred. After hearing both their statements and collecting the evidence at the scene, we arrested the prosecutor under the suspicion of murdering his coworker, Prosecutor Flora Mae.
End Witness Testimony
"My, that was quite a detailed explanation about the crime scene," the Judge stated after the testimony was finished. "It definitely isn't a fluke that you're one of the youngest senior detectives in Mobius's history."
"Save your awestruck amazement for when we're conducting something other than court, Your Honor," Mephiles quickly objected to the Judge's sudden tangent to another subject. "The only thing that should be on your mind is to keep this proceeding moving and how to judge your ruling accordingly."
"S-Sorry about that, Prosecutor Mephiles," the Judge actually stuttered upon having his mistake being addressed and objected to. He then said with a clearing of his throat, "Mr. Sonic, the ball's in your court now."
"Yes, Your Honor," Sonic responded, inwardly surprised at just how much influence the prosecutor had over the entire courtroom in order to be able to talk to the judge like that. Things did not seem to be getting any easier anytime soon.
"Don't let him intimidate you, Sonic!" Tails whispered in silent cheer upon seeing his older brother slightly shaken up by the show of power. "Just stick with the facts and go with it like it was just another ordinary case."
"Boy, you sure know how to cheer me up, you know that?" the cobalt hedgehog replied back in a sarcastic tone before putting his full attention to the task at hand.
Begin Cross-Examination
"Detective Silver, there are a couple of questions that I want to ask you with regards to the phone call that led you to the Mobius Docks," Sonic started off with his opening question after taking a deep breath. God, he felt so much like a rookie on his first case again with such a foreboding presence watching him with a piercing gaze from across the room. "Could you tell us exactly what the woman said on the phone that led you to believe that you had to dispatch officers to check the situation?"
"Objection, Your Honor!" Mephiles quickly countered before Silver even had a chance to begin answering the question. "This line of questioning holds no importance whatsoever to the case. What does it matter what she said during those undoubtedly panicky moments for her? The main point here is that the detective saw fit to report it and dispatch some officers to check up on things. End of story."
"Objection sustained," the Judge quickly agreed without any argument whatsoever before pounding down his gavel. "I suggest that you try another line of questioning that pertains to further advancing the case, Mr. Sonic. I will not be tolerating any needless questions with no bearing to the advancement to this case."
"Yes, Your Honor," the cobalt hedgehog begrudgingly stated with a frown at being so quickly shot down. Even the silver furred hedgehog seemed to flinch a bit at the brazenness of the objection being taken so lightly and how the Judge seemed suddenly so keen on making the case move at an unusually fast pace. "You said that the witness looked close to fainting when you arrived with the officers. Just so I can get a general timeline here, how long did it take for you all to arrive at the docks after receiving the call?"
"I would say no more than five minutes at the most," the senior detective recollected with hardly any hesitation. "It just so happened that the Local Precinct is situated close to the docks where the call was made. Put that into combination that the general area hardly sees any kind of heavy morning traffic, and it's pretty easy to get there in the time we did."
"And exactly what time would you say that would be?"
"I can't be too sure, but I would say it was about five past seven when we arrived," the detective responded after giving it a little bit of thought.
"Objection, Your Honor!" the prosecutor objected once more with a sort of boredom in his tone this time around. "The time in which it took for the police and detective to arrive at the docks doesn't play much of a factor since we have a reliable witness who kept watch over the scene after it had occurred."
"And who exactly is this witness that we've all yet to hear from?" the defense attorney countered back in hopes that he would be able to gain some kind of ground with this. "If she's as important as you say she is, then shouldn't she be up here on the witness stand now testifying to us all instead of Detective Silver recounting the scene?"
"Because I don't feel the need to bother her with a case that's no doubt caused her a lot of unnecessary grief," he simply explained with an insipid smile making its way onto his old and slightly wrinkly lips. His sickly green eyes also seemed to shine with a force that was teasingly daring the teen to try and counter him on this. "Think of the inhumanity at subjecting her to what could've possibly been one of the most frightful moments of her life. That and I feel the evidence itself shall help prove the case for me. Now if we're done trying to exchange meaningless blows, can we please get back to the cross-examination?"
And how about you stop being so pushy on every little thing I say? Sonic inwardly thought with an inaudible growl before trying to think of another way to bypass the man's ever persistent pickiness of details. I swear; you're acting like a cocky teenager refusing to be told otherwise by even the teacher!
"Don't let him get the better of you!" Tails warned with a friendly little poke on the arm to show he still had some moral support next to him. "He might be acting arrogant here, but you have to keep your cool and find a weakness past that wall. That's the only way you're probably going to be able to get anything through him."
"Easy for you to say since you're not the one trying to squeeze some questions past his ego-driven attitude," the teen grumbled quietly through gritted teeth before quickly regaining his composure and acting like the professional attorney he was supposed to be. "Detective, you said that you took the statements of both the defendant and the witness about what happened at the time of the incident. Do you remember what either of them said?"
"Unfortunately, I can only tell you about what Prosecutor Shadow told me since I only took his statement that day," Silver responded with a resolute nod of his head. "Another officer on the scene took the official statement of the witness, and I haven't yet had the chance to look it over for myself."
"Can you recall to us what Shadow said happened?" the defense attorney asked in hopes that he could find some kind of opening or at least gain more information that he could somehow use. At least it did not look like the prosecutor was going to be cutting him off soon like some kind of hungry lion trying to get at the food first.
"Well, he said that he was out for his regular morning walk before getting ready for work," the detective explained with a thoughtful look on his face as he recalled the conversation he had with Shadow then. "It was quite foggy then, but he didn't like to break a routine for an extraneous reason. And for the sake of convenience to the court, I have the Weather Report from that morning confirming that it was indeed a foggy day."
"The court accepts this as evidence," the Judge admitted the paperwork with a pounding of his gavel. "Please continue on with the rest of your testimony. What did the defendant tell you about his recollection of the morning?"
"Well, he said that he heard two people talking up ahead of him at some point along his dock route. He could only recognize the voice of his coworker since the stutter was quite memorable for him. The second person didn't do too much talking. He then heard a small scuffle before shots rang out. He then heard something being pushed into the river before he heard somebody running away from the scene. That's when he walked up to the gun in a daze and picked it up with his bare hands."
"Sounds like a convenient story fitting for a criminal who was just caught in the act," Mephiles added with a haughty snort before crossing his arms. "Nobody would just pick up a potentially deadly weapon in an apparent daze after bearing witness to a horrific murder and put themselves in the path of immense trouble. That's especially so with someone familiar with the law like the defendant himself."
"Speaking of murder weapons, why hasn't it been presented to the court yet?" Sonic asked Silver as he suddenly realized they were missing that key detail. "Has it not yet been fully dusted for prints and other details yet?"
"Uh, I-I apologize to the court for forgetting that," Silver quickly apologized with a small stutter upon realizing his mistake before pulling out a Pistol inside a plastic bag from his detective's coat and produced it as evidence to the court. "I didn't mean to omit that piece of information from the court. It just kind of slipped my mind."
"Then can you please show the court the weapon used to kill the victim, detective?" the Judge asked before pounding at his gavel.
"Yes, Your Honor; it was concluded after testing that this was used to kill Ms. Mae," he said as he began to explain to the court the key details about the murder weapon. "It was shot three times, but there's only one bullet wound on the victim's chest. It's believed that the extra shots occurred from the multiple shots the witness attested to hearing before discovering the defendant with the gun in his hands. The ballistic markings also match that with the Pistol, so we can clearly say she was led to her death with it.
"However, those aren't really the things that point the finger at Prosecutor Shadow as being the murderer," he continued on after pausing for a couple of seconds as if trying to figure out how to say what was next on his mind. "What really tied him into all of this was the fact that his fingerprints were found on the weapon's handle."
"The defendant's fingerprints were discovered on the Pistol?" the Judge repeated in shock as the courtroom began muttering with one another. After pounding his gavel in order to restore order, he said, "Forgive the unintended pun, but this does cast the defense's case under a rather harsh shadow."
"Now do you see why the story the defendant gave to the detective was nothing but an attempt to escape getting caught of his crime?" the prosecutor asked in a self-centered fashion as if he had the case in the palm of his hands already. "The fact that his fingerprints were found on the weapon should more than prove that he was the only person who could've murdered the victim. And let's not forget that he was the only one within the immediate vicinity to have easily both shot her and dump her unconscious body into the cold waters of the Mobius River. There's just no other plausible explanation for it all."
"But is that really the only explanation that answers all the questions about this case?" Tails whispered thoughtfully as he tried to mull over what the detective had just testified about. "While the evidence is kind of flimsy, the way they were presented really helps to give that Mephiles guy a good advantage over us. He sure knew how to present them right when they would hurt you the most."
"Thanks for your vote of confidence, Tails," Sonic murmured under his breath as he gritted his teeth at the situation he found himself in against a prosecutor who seemed beyond relentless in his attacks. He then said out loud, "I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you on that, Prosecutor Mephiles. You see, we have yet to hear all the facts that pertain to this case yet. You can't possibly come to the conclusion that there's no other set of plausible explanations that help to explain everything about case."
"And just what particular fact are you saying we're overlooking from this painfully simple case, Mr. Sonic?" the man questioned with an eyebrow raised in amusement at how the defense attorney was still trying to stand against him. "If you can present to the court something more than reasonable that might possibly withstand a bit more scrutiny, then I'll gladly hear of it. Otherwise, I suggest you save yourself some unneeded embarrassment and keep the courts out of your baseless ideas."
End Cross-Examination
"You might think that you have an open-and-shut case, but that's far from the reality of things," Sonic stated as he crossed his arms and thought back to a particular subject that was repeated a few times during Silver's testimony. "There's still one thing that the court itself has yet to have the chance to look at to the best of its ability."
"And what exactly are you talking about here?" Mephiles asked with intrigue at a young defense attorney that he had no doubt been trying to scare into losing was still having a lot of fight in him. "Just running your lips isn't going to help bring your point across."
"What I'm saying is that we've yet to hear from the witness who supposedly heard the gunshots and saw my client after the act was committed!" the cobalt hedgehog responded with a firm look on his face. "You can't comfortably say that you solved this case before we've all even had a chance to hear her side of the story!"
"And I already told you that hearing from her would only be a waste of time," the prosecutor objected with a roll of his eyes at having to repeat himself. "Everything that this detective has just said supports the supposition and changes it into a fact that Prosecutor Shadow murdered Prosecutor Flora Mae. I object to your request. I'm sure that the Judge will agree with me wholeheartedly on this fact."
"Objection…overruled," the Judge announced after hesitating for a small moment. This, in turn, slightly shocked the old prosecutor a bit as he let in a sharp intake of air upon hearing his objection being rejected. "I have to side with the defense on this. While it may seem clear as of now that it couldn't have been anybody but the defendant who murdered the woman, we still have a witness that we've yet to cross-examine. I don't feel comfortable making my ruling on the case until I've heard from everybody involved."
"…If that's how Your Honor feels about it, then who am I to not comply with your wishes," the old man responded calmly despite clearly not liking the fact that the Judge disagreed with him on this. "I'll go ahead and summon the witness. However, I request that a recess be announced. I have a feeling that the defense has more redundancies up his sleeve, and I need to recover from his first bout of it. So if you don't mind, Your Honor…,"
"To be perfectly honest, I don't see the need to be calling recess at this time," the Judge stated with a small frown as he seemed less than nervous to disagree once more. However, that was short-lived as the sound of the prosecutor pounding at his table and sending him a harsh stare made him consider otherwise. "On the other hand, I suppose a ten-minute recess would be good for everybody's health. After all, sitting down on this bench for thirty minutes isn't really all too good for my back."
Just who exactly is running this court today? Sonic thought as he raised an eyebrow in shock at what was taking place. Even Tails seemed speechless at how the Judge seemed to be nothing but a simple windup toy being put at the mercy of Mephiles. Isn't it the Judge who should be the one to call the shots?
"The court shall now take a ten-minute recess!" the Judge announced before pounding his gavel down to make it official. "Court will reconvene after that!"
And with that, he along with everybody else in the audience booths got up and took their leave of the courtroom to do whatever it was they had to do. Mephiles made his way to the courtroom lobby while both Sonic and Tails simply looked on in shock at just how one-sided in terms of power this trial was. This was definitely not going to be the easiest case they ever had to take on.
New Evidence:
Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.
Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.
Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired three times. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints.
New Profiles:
Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old Senior Detective down at the Local Precinct. He was the first detective to have received the call about a disturbance at the Mobius Docks and has thus assumed leadership over the initial investigation.
Flora Mae: A prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office. She was Shadow's coworker and was discovered to have been murdered only after Shadow heard the sound of gunshots at the dock and quickly went to investigate it.