Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, I've been dealing with a lot of stuff at the moment. Thank you so much for waiting and I hope you enjoy this latest chapter. The new Iris Hawthorne cover was made by barracudahato, please check them out (https/barracudahato/gallery)
July 7
Winter Cloud Building
"What do we do now, Big Sis?" Pearl asked as she and her older sister gazed at the darkness inside the Winter Cloud Building.
"I...I suppose we should enter then," Iris said, turning on the flashlight Penny had given them, before turning to Pearl.
Pearl's head perked up, remembering a certain detail. "Oh, Big Sis!" she said, pulling out a crumpled paper from her kimono and handing it out to her sister. "I found this paper here, and I was hoping it could be evidence."
Tilting her head, Iris took the paper and read it.
"Come to the Winter Cloud Building and face the consequences for taking everything from me," Iris read, wondering what it could mean. "Wait…"
The rookie lawyer stopped to dig into her files, taking out a copy of the torn-up letter Franziska had presented in the trial. She held it and the crumpled up paper together and read aloud:
"I know your secret. You've been keeping this from me and everyone else, but that ends today. Come to the Winter Cloud Building and face the consequences of taking everything from me."
"What do you know, they match," Iris mused.
"Does it help?" Pearl asked hopefully and was greeted by her sister's warm smile.
"Oh yes, it does," Iris said, affectionately patting Pearl's head. "Good job, Pearl."
Pearl grinned, wanting to jump for joy, but she knew this case wasn't over yet. "Should we go inside the building now?"
Iris nodded. "Stay close to me, Pearl."
Pearl obeyed, tugging at the back of Iris' blazer as they slowly and carefully walked into the building, shining the flashlight all around the dark building.
Observing the dark surroundings, Iris saw there wasn't any furniture inside the building, which shouldn't surprise her really. From Oldbag and Penny's words, the place had been abandoned for years, so it would make sense most of the furniture was gone.
As they continued their search, Iris felt a drop of water drip down onto her head. Flashing her light up, she saw a large man-sized hole on the bleak, concrete ceiling.
"Hmm..." Iris raised her brow, stroking her chin. Observing the hole, there was nothing but darkness on the other side.
"Big Sis," Pearl said, tugging at her sister's blazer. Iris turned to Pearl, who gestured to the small glowing red dot a few feet away. Iris flashed her light towards it, revealing an elevator.
"Hmm..." Iris and Pearl stepped forward to the elevator. Iris pressed the elevator button and the door opened with a loud BING!
Iris and Pearl nearly shut their eyes at how bright the elevator light was. Reluctantly, they stepped inside the elevator, and Iris pressed the button to the 2nd Floor. There was a small bump, but aside from that, the ride to the 2nd floor was successful.
"It works," Iris mumbled to herself as the door opened, revealing the consuming darkness outside. She stared at the darkness, then turned to Pearl. "Pearl, can you stay in the elevator while I investigate?"
Pearl nodded. She didn't like the dark and judging by when she stepped inside the elevator, the elevator was sturdy enough for a child like her. Assured by Pearl's safety, Iris took a deep breath and walked into the shadowy abyss of the 2nd floor.
Turning on her flashlight, she flashed it at the floor, taking her steps carefully until she saw the hole. Peering her head into the hole, Iris observed the darkness of the 1st floor until she felt a drop go down in the back of her head. Motioning her flashlight on the ceiling, she saw another man-sized hole.
"I wonder..." Iris whispered to herself and quickly moved back to the elevator where Pearl was in.
"Did you find anything?" Pearl asked.
"Yeah," Iris said before pressing the button to the top floor of the building: the tenth. "And I think it's given me a hunch."
In a moment, the elevator rose Iris and Pearl to the tenth floor. Upon arrival, the doors opened and the two sisters were greeted by the sunlight that showed from the windows of the tenth floor.
Iris then stepped out of the elevator with Pearl following her this time due to the light source. Iris scanned her surroundings before noticing a large grey tarpaulin sheet on the floor, several feet away from her.
Iris and Pearl walked toward the sheet, staring at it curiously.
"If my hunch is correct..." Iris whispered to herself before turning to her sister. "Pearl, can you help me move this sheet out of the way?"
Pearl nodded and Iris went to the other side of the sheet, kneeling and gripping it. Pearl knelt and held her side of the sheet as well, and in a few seconds; they lifted the large sheet and tossed it aside, revealing the large man-sized hole underneath.
"I knew it," Iris said with a smile, stepping closer and peering down the hole to see the vertical drop to the bottom. Pearl went closer to look down at the hole too, but Iris quickly raised her hand and gestured Pearl to stay put.
"Why would there be a bunch of holes leading from here to the ground?" Iris pondered and looked up to see if there was another hole in the ceiling, but all she saw was a black steel beam that was attached to the wall.
Narrowing her eyes, Iris noticed that this beam had a line of headlights attached to it, with one that was noticeably missing due to the large gap in between the spaces. In between two of the headlights was a pulley and upon motioning her head downward, she saw that the pulley lined up perfectly with the hole on the floor.
Iris stroked her chin, which was a habit that Pearl noticed. "What are you thinking, Big Sis? What does this all mean?"
"Hmm...there's a missing headlight. I would say it fell from the hole, but it's so far away from it for me to say that," Iris said. "This also begs the question: why is there a set of holes that create a vertical path to the first floor? And why is there a pulley above it?"
Pearl shrugged, still gazing at the hole curiously. "Maybe we can ask Ms. Oldbag or Penny?"
"Ms. Nichols is busy for the time being, and I already promised Oldbag that I'd leave her alone..." Iris muttered.
"What about Ms. Starr?"
"She's on von Karma's side, I highly doubt she'll be helpful," Iris said before checking her watch. "It's almost evening. If I'm correct, that von Karma should be done talking to Ms. Viola, so we can probably ask her about-"
"Hey! What are you two doing here!?" a familiar voice shouted at them from the direction of the elevator. "This place is employees only!"
Iris and Pearl turned around to be greeted by Celeste L. Starr, who was stomping her way towards them with a furious snarl. Pearl yelped and hid behind Iris, who took a hold of her hand and stepped forward in a protective stance.
"Ms. Starr, what a surprise," Iris said, eyeing Celeste carefully.
"You two shouldn't even be here! Get out now or I'll call security!" the actress shouted, reaching into her pocket for her cellphone.
"Actually, Ms. Starr, we're allowed clearance to be in this building," Iris said. "It's the crime scene, so we need to investigate."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Celeste muttered, rolling her eyes. "So get your investigation over with soon and leave. I want you two out of here, whether you like it or not."
"Then why don't I ask you a few questions then?" Iris offered. "If you do that, then we can leave you alone."
Celeste scoffed. "As if I have anything to say to you," she then shoved her hands into her pockets and turned to leave.
"But your words might help bring light to what's really going on in this case!" Iris called out, but Celeste shrugged.
"I already talked to a lawyer, it's out of my hands now. And besides..." she turned to give Iris a cold glare. "You think I'd go out of my way to help you or that Cadaverini? Please..."
Celeste turned her head away from the two sisters and began to steer away from the sisters. Iris opened her mouth to speak again, but Pearl suddenly stepped out from behind her sister.
"C-can we talk and get your side of the story!?" Pearl asked loudly, earning the surprised stares of Celeste and Iris. Pearl's face flushed red at that.
"What?" Celeste said, staring at Pearl as if she had a second head. "But, I'm on the prosecution's side."
"Y-yes, but..." Pearl paused for a moment to think. "...but we'd like to hear your side in the matter too. We know you're against Ms. Viola and you want to see her locked up, but it would be good for all of us to know everything about this case."
"Why's that?" Celeste asked, her eyes narrowing at the child.
"T-to-to find the truth about this case!" Pearl stammered out, trying to muster as much adamancy as she can. "Even if you're against us and Ms. Viola, hearing your side will help us reach that truth."
There was a moment of silence afterward, with Celeste still staring icily at Pearl. Pearl whimpered, praying she didn't screw anything up.
"Heh," Celeste chuckled, smirking towards Pearl. "You have a way with words, kid. You sure you aren't the real lawyer here?"
Pearl blushed at that. "I...I just thought of what my sister would say in something like this."
"Well, I think you did that...but better," Celeste said, affectionately ruffling Pearl's hair. Pearl mumbled, raising her arms to get Celeste to stop. "Alright, Lawyer, your little sister won me over. You have ten minutes."
Iris gave a thankful smile to her little sister, who smiled back, before saying to Celeste: "Ten minutes is all I need."
Pulling out a notepad, Iris cleared her throat and asked, "Alright, Ms. Starr, please tell us where you were before coming to this building."
"I was being interrogated by that whip crazy prosecutor," Celeste answered. "Heh, she really ran me dry on information on this case. Spent more than three hours getting info out of me."
Iris raised a brow at that. "And where exactly did she interrogate you?"
"The detention center, the same place where they kept that Cadaverini..." Celeste spat that name out venomously. "Why's that important?"
"I arrived at the detention center to speak with Ms. Viola about the case, and it turned out von Karma beat me to it," Iris said, sneering at the memory.
"That prosecutor sure has it out for you, huh?"
"Oh, you have no idea..." Iris groaned.
Celeste chuckled. "Well, lucky for you, she talked to me after talking with that witch. So you can probably go there now without getting whipped."
"Well, that's reassuring..." Iris muttered, stroking her chin.
"Doesn't this mean you'll stop talking to me now?"
"No."
"Damn it," Celeste crossed her arms and sighed. "What else do you want to ask?"
"Two important questions," Iris said. "The first, what's with that hole over there?"
Celeste glanced at the hole Iris pointed at and said, "Oh, that. Hey, kid," she said to Pearl. "You're a Crystal Crusader Rose fan, right?"
"A fan?" Pearl asked. "But I don't make wind."
"Pfff, no I mean-" Celeste stifled a giggle. "You know about the Wonderland episode?"
Pearl perked up at that and nodded. "Yes! The one where Crusader Rose was transported to this weird world through a hole!" the small child then gasped. "Wait, does that mean...?!"
Celeste nodded. "Yup. Will and some of the crew wanted to make an authentic scene of Rose falling down that rabbit hole, so they made a perfectly vertical path from here to the ground floor. It was a risky move, but considering many people loved that episode, I'd say it worked out pretty well."
"I see..." Iris mumbled, taking that detail down into her notes. "Say, would this hole be involved with that missing headlight over there?"
Celeste raised a brow and turned to the gap where the missing headlight should've been. "Huh. Never noticed that until now. Is this important?"
The autopsy report stated that the victim's cranium was damaged before falling from this building, Iris thought, stroking her chin. Perhaps...
"Tell me, when Mr. Powers fell to his death, did he fall headfirst?"
Celeste's face went pale, her face contorting in disgust and anger. "NO! Why the hell would ask that, you sick freak!?"
"M-my apologies," Iris stammered, bowing to Celeste. "It's just I have a theory that might clear his murder up somewhat...and knowing how he fell would likely clear it up."
That didn't fully calm Celeste down but was enough for her to let go some of the ire towards the rookie lawyer. "He got stabbed in the chest and fell back-first onto the pavement," she snarled. "Happy!?"
"Again, my apologies," Iris said again, to which Celeste scoffed at that.
"Whatever," Celeste hissed. "Just for that, I'll only give you one question left."
"But you can't!" Iris protested. "I still have so many to ask you!?"
"Then you shouldn't have upset me with that last question you did! Just ask your last question and get out!"
"B-but-ugh!" Iris groaned, pinching the bridge between her nose. Okay, okay, last question, last question...what should I ask?
"Okay, um..." Iris mumbled, still thinking what to ask. She skimmed through her notes for any ideas but found nothing good. Her eyes then darted around the tenth floor, but only saw cobwebs and dust in this empty, desolate building. The building...wait!
"Alright, Ms. Celeste, I do have one question left," Iris began. "And it's going to be the one I will focus on primarily. What are you doing here in this building?"
Celeste blinked before tilting her. "Seriously? That's it? I just..." her eyes briefly glanced at the ceiling. "I just...wanted to be alone here."
"That's it?" Iris pressed. Celeste nodded.
"That's it. Nothing else," the actress said. Immediately, the background darkened behind Celeste. A set of chains erupted from the ground and three red Psyche Locks appeared to keep them in place. Iris gave a stunned expression at this. Pearl understood what this meant and quietly backed away, while Celeste looked even more confused than before.
"You alright?" Celeste asked, deadpanned. "You, uh...blanked out for a moment there."
"I-I'm fine," Iris stammered but managed to regain her composure. "Are you certain that it's only nothing, Ms. Starr?"
"Of course, it's nothing," Celeste said. "What makes you think otherwise?"
"Well, to get the obvious part out of the way, this place is the scene of Mr. Powers' murder," Iris said, flashing a faux smile. "It's certainly suspicious that you'd be here while others would normally stay away from this place."
Celeste flinched and Iris suppressed a smug smirk as one of the Psyche Locks broke.
"W-well, I..." Celeste stuttered, a little sweat dripping from her forehead. "Wait, didn't Penny come here a while ago? If you're hounding me for being here, why aren't you doing the same thing to her!?"
"How did you know Ms. Penny was here?" Pearl asked.
"We text each other," Celeste said, taking out and displaying her phone. "Not that I want you to, but why aren't you bothering my best friend as much as I am? Or did you miss her like the moronic lawyer you are?"
Iris huffed, narrowing her eyes at Celeste. "No, Pearl and I ran into when we came here," she said. "We asked her some questions, but we didn't press her as much because we didn't need to. Unlike an actress that happens to be right in front of me..."
"You have no idea what you're talking about..." Celeste said. "That's it. I'm leaving."
She turned around and began to walk away from Iris and Pearl.
"Go ahead!" Iris called out. "Go and leave! It'll only further your suspicion in this!"
Celeste halted and there was a tense silence. Celeste slowly turned around, glaring at Iris with a seething rage. "What did you just say...?"
"You heard me," Iris said, crossing her arms. "It's hilarious really. You go on about how Ms. Viola is the true culprit, yet we haven't looked into you, have we?"
"If you're implying what I think you're implying, then I'll be quick to tell you you're wrong!" Celeste snapped, grabbing Iris by the collar of her shirt. "There's no way I could've done it!"
"On the contrary, Ms. Starr," Iris said. "You said it yourself. And Pearl and I found the missing half of the letter that von Karma presented. It was a letter to Viola, daring her to go to the Winter Cloud Building. And you were the only one at that location during the time of the crime scene during the time of Mr. Powers' murder. Coincidence?"
"Yes!" Celeste barked. "As I said, I didn't kill Powers! Why would I anyway!?"
"Maybe because you didn't get what you wanted from him?!" Iris shot back, pushing herself free from Celeste's grip to see her second Psyche Lock break. "I know that you auditioned for the Crystal Crusader Rose part years ago, but lost it, Ms. Viola. Isn't that right?"
Celeste said nothing and just stood silent, lowering her head and balling her hands into fists. "S-so what if I lost the role to that Witch? You think I'd murder my own boss just for that...!?"
Iris shook her head, undaunted. There's only one more Psyche Lock left. I need to keep pushing!
"Why wouldn't you?" Iris shot back, narrowing her eyes at Celeste and taking a step forward. "You were famous when you were younger, were you not? Perhaps you wanted the Crystal Crusader Rose role to reclaim that lost fame..."
Celeste said nothing. Instead, she hung her head and clenched her hands into fists, her body quivering in anger. Iris paused for a bit, knowing that what she was doing might be a mistake, but she had to press on for information.
"And you were upset that Ms. Viola stole the role," Iris pressed further. "Perhaps you held that grudge not only toward Viola but to Mr. Powers as well for not giving you the role. Perhaps that's why you sent that note to him to meet you in this building."
"I would never..." Celeste whispered in a low growl. Pearl frowned at this, feeling uncomfortable at what could happen next.
"Big Sis, I think you should stop," Pearl said, but Iris could not hear her.
"You tell me that you'd never to do, but what proof do you have to show-"
"HE SAVED MY LIFE!" Celeste roared out, tears bursting out of her eyes. "WHY THE HELL WOULD I KILL SOMEONE WHO DID THAT!?"
As soon as the final Psyche Lock shattered into pieces, a tense silence filled the air as Iris and Pearl gasped in shock at what Celeste had said. As if to further her point, Celeste let out an angry sigh before moving her tank top up. Iris and Pearl cringed at the sight of the various scars on the side of Celeste's stomach.
"You see these, lawyer?" Celeste snarled. "They're scars. Scars that I gave myself because I couldn't stand the celebrity life my mother forced me into! The constant monitoring, days where I was forced to stay up late, having other people..." she paused, skin turning pale as she forced the vomit that was rising in her throat downward. "...have their way with me, because my mother told me to endure it. For the sake of my future..."
That line struck a core with Iris, remembering all the times Morgan did something like that to her and Dahlia during their childhoods.
"I was on the verge of jumping off the top of this building one day, and if Powers hadn't been there to stop me...I wouldn't even be here today..." she let out a genuine sob before turning to glare at Iris. "He called Child Services and got me away from my mom. He took me in as if I was his own kid. I'm still alive because of him...
"I came here just to pay my respects to the man who saved me. Are you still convinced that I killed him, lawyer?"
"..."
Celeste scoffed. "I thought so..."
With a huff, Celeste turned around and began to walk toward the elevator. It was only then Iris found her words.
"Ms. Starr, wait-!"
"Save it!" Celeste hissed, glaring icily at Iris. "I have had enough of you and the witch you're defending! I'm going to further my testimony tomorrow and I'm going to make sure that witch gets what she deserves!"
And with that, Celeste stormed out of the tenth floor, leaving Iris to ruminate on the poor words she had said to the actress.
"Big Sis..." Pearl whispered, moving closer to her sister. "You shouldn't have done that."
Iris turned to Pearl, hanging her head in shame. "Yeah...I shouldn't have done it...but I saw the Psyche Locks and thought...maybe..."
Iris sighed. "There's no excuse for this. What I did was wrong..."
"Maybe you can go to her and apologize?" Pearl said, but Iris shook her head.
"I don't think she'll listen to me after what I did," Iris sighed. "I think the only thing we can do now is to go back to the Detention Center and talk to Ms. Viola..."
Court Record:
Evidence:
1. Iris' Attorney Badge
2. Letter of Request
3. Security Cameras
4. Will Powers' Autopsy Report
5. Crystal Crusader Dress (Costume No. 1)
6. Key Card
7. Crystal Sword
8. Torn and Tattered Crystal Crusader Costume (Costume No. 2)
9. Mysterious Letter (updated)
10. Penny's Vehicle
11. Cart of Film Equipment
12. Flashlight
13. Holes
14. Missing Headlight
Profiles:
1. Pearl Fey
2. Viola Cadaverini
3. Franziska von Karma
4. Detective Gumshoe
Powers
6. Wendy Oldbag
7. Celeste L. Starr/Emerald Empress
8. Penny Nichols
9. Furio Tigre