A/N: The trial continues! Our witnesses are about to reveal what they saw on the day of the crime. Will Juniper be able to reach the truth in these dire circumstances? Enjoy, my fair readers!

April 27th, 2029

District Courthouse, Courtroom #4

12:00 p.m.

-Witness Testimony-

-At the parking lot-

"I was being driven around in the parking lot," Miss Sapling said, tugging on her ponytail. "It was only by chance that I saw that one of the cars' trunk was open."

"I drove my client with my usual speed! It was a stellar job of a driver of my stellar caliber!" Mr. Swerve exclaimed, raising his fist.

"And inside the trunk, I saw the body of that poor girl," Miss Sapling said, sniffling delicately. "And the defendant was strangling her with his bare hands!"

"As the forensics investigator on scene, I will state that no one's fingerprints were found besides the defendant and the victim," Ema added.

-End Testimony-

"Huh?" Juniper reviewed the testimony just to make sure she heard correctly. "What is this obvious hole in the testimony?"

"We can probably ascribe this to Miss Sapling only testifying what she saw," Hugh said. "So all we have to do is point out the contradiction to her."

"Is the defense ready to cross-examine the witness?" The Judge asked.

"Yes, Your Honor." Regardless of the presence of this obvious contradiction, Juniper was going to press on.

After a few months of not standing in court, Juniper's voice felt out of practice. So Juniper took a few deep breaths, making sure she didn't strain herself.

Once she felt ready, Juniper shouted, "Objection!"

"Oh! I haven't heard your 'Objection' before, Juniper!" Robin exclaimed. "It has a nice r-i-n-g to it!"

You really think so, Robin? I'm pretty sure I can be louder then this," Juniper said, twiddling her fingers. "But not as loud as you can be, of course!"

Hugh gently elbowed Juniper in the side. "You had an objection?"

Ah, right!" Juniper slammed her hand on the bench. "Miss Sapling, I have my doubts about one part of your testimony."

"What part of what I said was wrong? I only said what I saw," Miss Sapling said, scratching her cheek.

"I'm not saying anything was wrong with what you said. It's something you didn't know," Juniper said, holding the autopsy report in front of her with both hands. "But the victim's neck had no fingerprints. In other words, Mr. Artisan couldn't have strangled the victim with his bare hands!"

"What in tarnations?!" Miss Sapling exclaimed, jumping back.

"That's right! If the defendant was bare-handed then he should have left fingerprints," The Judge said, his eyes wide. "Does the prosecution have a rebuttal?"

"Eh heh heh, nope!" Robin said cheerfully. "The defense made a perfectly valid point."

"Well I have a rebuttal!" Ema yelled, scowling. "I will show you the power of forensic science!"

"So then what is your explanation, Detective Skye?" Juniper couldn't think of what rebut her point.

"It's simple. The defendant must have worn clear gloves when he committed his crime," Ema said. "So that's why he left no fingerprints, and why the witness believes he was bare-handed."

"HOLD IT! The prosecution would like to state for the record that no gloves were found anywhere near the crime scene," Robin declared.

"Because the defendant threw them away, of course," Ema said. "The important thing is that this proves how they didn't leave fingerprints on the victim's neck."

"If that's true, then there is no room to doubt the defendant's guilt." The Judge closed his eyes. "After all, the crime was witnessed first hand."

"Wait, is the judge already going to pass a verdict? We've barely begun the cross-examination!" Juniper exclaimed, tugging on her pigtails.

"When we talked to Detective Skye yesterday, she seemed confident that Mr. Artisan would be found guilty," Hugh said, rubbing his neck. "This must have been what she meant."

Is there really nothing else to the contradiction that I uncovered? It was so obvious, I feel like there must be something more to it…

The Judge raised his gavel. "If there are no more objections, then I will now pass my verdict. This court finds the defendant-"

"HOLD IT!" Juniper yelled, pointing at the Judge. "The defense would like to explore the previous contradiction!"

"Look, young lady. I know that as a defense attorney you need to fight as hard as you can for client," Ema said, scratching her neck again. "But after a certain point, you need to know when to accept defeat."

"My name is Juniper Woods." Juniper glared at Ema. "And I will not give up until I know for sure that we've reached the truth."

"Don't look at me like that!" Ema exclaimed, looking away. "This is the evidence that I uncovered at the crime scene. So if you insist there's something more, present the evidence that proves it!"

"Defense, you interrupted my verdict to make this assertion," The Judge said. "So if it turns out that it holds no grounds, then I will have to harshly penalize you."

"I u-understand, Your Honor." Juniper mentally reviewed Ema's assertions- that the defendant wore gloves, and that's why no fingerprints were left on the victim's neck.

Something about that has been ringing false to me since the first time I heard it. But what is it about Ema's theory that's so strange?

"Detective Skye's forensics skill are without question," Hugh said, adjusting his glasses. "So her report of the fingerprints is fact."

So then, maybe the fingerprints could be interpreted a different way.

"Well, defense? Let's hear your theory on why Ema's theory is wrong!" Robin exclaimed, pointing at Juniper.

Looks like I'm out of time! "Well, Detective Skye stated no fingerprints were found on the victim's yet. Detective Skye also said that no one touched the car besides the detective and the victim."

"So then what does that mean?" Robin asked. "What happens when you consider these facts together?"

"There is nothing wrong with the idea of the defendant and the victim touching the car. After all, they rode in it together," Juniper said. "What is wrong is the presumption that this means Mr. Artisan is the killer. After all, anyone could have strangled the victim!"

A silence fell over the courtroom after Juniper finished her declaration. At the witness stand, Dakota tugged at her ponytail. "Um, Miss Woods? Begging your pardon, but you're forgetting something."

"Uh, what is it, Miss Sapling?" Juniper suddenly had bad feeling.

"I witnessed that there man strangle the poor girl. So he's the only one that could have killed her," Dakota said.

"NNNNNOOOO!" Juniper screamed, snapping her pigtails into her eyes.

The audience in the witness gallery chattered among themselves, the voices washing over Juniper.

"Didn't we go over this point earlier?"

"Was that attorney even paying attention?"

"I had a feeling she wasn't up to it from the beginning…"

The situation was beyond grim. Juniper could already see the Judge preparing to lift his gavel again. "Well, what exactly did you see, Miss Sapling?" Juniper asked desperately. "Don't leave out any details!"

"The defendant opening his trunk, then reached out and… lifted the dead body of the victim," Dakota said.

"...!" What was that pause just now? Maybe, just maybe… it's what I've been waiting for.

"About your account, Miss Sapling. There is something missing from it," Juniper said. "So now I need to ask- did you witness the actual moment that the victim was strangled?"

"Umm…" Now sweat covered Dakota's face, and she wiped her brow. "I saw the defendant reach down. That must have been the moment he killed that girl."

Juniper slammed her hand on her bench. "But if Mr. Artisan's hands were obscured, that's not the same! He could have discovered his friend's body and was pulling it out to check on her!"

"That's- you're confusing me with your big words! I know what I saw!" Dakota exclaimed.

It looks like we'll need more testimony," Robin said, wagging her finger at Dakota. "Spare no detail on exactly what you saw!"

-Witness Testimony-

-Dakota's account-

"For starters, I only passed by the the defendant's car for a few seconds," Dakota said. "So it's a miracle that I saw anything in the first place!"

"At the speeds that I drive, I made many laps around that parking complex!" Dash exclaimed, running in place. "Exactly as I was told!"

"But I did see the defendant reaching down into the trunk of his car," Dakota said, running her thumbs on the straps of her overalls. "I can only think that it was to kill the victim."

-End Testimony-

"So we've gone from 'I saw him kill the victim' to 'I saw what could have been the moment of the crime. That is progress," Hugh noted. "Once we find more contradictions, we can blow Robin's case wide open!"

"...Right, that's how we're going to find our client innocent." For a while now, Juniper felt a pit in her stomach. Something about this trial didn't sit right with her. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

"HOLD IT! If you only passed by Mr. Artisan's car for a few seconds, then how could you have seen anything?" Juniper asked.

"The sight of a man reaching down in the trunk of his car does stick out," Dakota answered. "And then after seeing a dead body in the next second, I certainly couldn't forget it."

"One could only imagine how Mr. Artisan felt when he discovered his best friend's body in the trunk," Hugh said dryly. "But I'm sure you were quite surprised too, Miss Sapling."

It looked like there was nothing more to glean from this statement, so Juniper moved onto the next. "HOLD IT! You made several laps around the parking lot? Why would you do that, Mr. Swerve?"

"Because I always provide the service that my clients want! And-" Dash spun his arms in windmills several times, before pointing at Dakota. "My client wanted me to make those rounds."

"OBJECTION!" Robin was no longer smiling. In fact, her teeth were gritted, and she was sweating. "Witness, why is this the first time I've heard of this?"

"Because Miss Sapling also asked me to keep quiet if we were questioned by the police," Mr. Swerve continued. "But you aren't police, so I answered your question!"

Next to Mr. Swerve, Dakota was now sweating profusely.

Robin slammed both her hands on the witness stand. "Miss Sapling! Why did you ask to be driven around the parking lot? And more importantly, why did you try to cover it up?"

"It wasn't like I was trying to hide it. That sounds plain ol' mean," Dakota said, her eyes darting back and forth. "Truth be told, I didn't believe my eyes at first. So I asked this taxi driver to take me near the defendant's car again."

"I do know that feeling. In this courtroom, I see unbelievable acts all the time," The Judge said. "That I sometimes ask the attorney and prosecutor to repeat themselves just to make sure I heard them correctly."

"No, there's something else that's wrong with this statement." Before, Juniper thought that Miss Sapling had made an honest mistake. Now Juniper wasn't so sure- it seemed like she was actively hiding something. "You were being driven in a taxi, right? So then why did you tell Mr. Swerve to take you to a parking lot in the first place?"

"Wait a second. When I questioned you before, you didn't say anything like that," Robin said. "What gives?"

"You're all focusing on the wrong thing! It was only by chance that I was in that parking lot," Dakota said, pulling on her ponytail. "And I saw what I did."

That lead into the last statement in her testimony. "HOLD IT! We're right back where we started. Without fingerprints on Miss Scribe's neck, you can only guess that's when the crime was committed."

"But you can't prove that anyone else killed that girl either," Dakota pointed out.

Ema Skye started at those words, putting her finger to her chin and swaying from side to side.

"HANG ON! Detective Skye, did Miss Sapling's words make you think of something?"

"As a matter of fact, it did. I think we're all missing something fairly obvious here," Ema said, still swaying. "The defendant is the only one that can open the trunk of his car. So obviously, he's the only one that could have put the body in there."

"Now that you've brought up the critical fact, add it to your testimony!" Robin exclaimed.

There was a piece of evidence that perfectly contradicted this new testimony. So without hesitation, Juniper yelled, "Objection! Detective Skye, there is a critical flaw in your testimony."

"What now? This trial has dragged on for far too long," Ema said, turning away from Juniper.

"Just now, you asserted that only the defendant could have unlocked his car," Juniper said. "Now normally, you'd be correct."

"'Normally?' Why don't I like where this is going?" Ema asked.

"Because the defense investigated the trunk of the defendant's car. And we found-" Juniper drew her arm back, and pointed at Ema. "That the lock was broken!"

"...Uh oh," Ema said, clapping her hand to her face.

"So the car's trunk had a broken lock. Does that mean that the defendant couldn't have opened it?" The Judge asked.

"No, Your Honor. Quite the opposite," Juniper said. "It means that anyone could have opened the car's trunk. But more than likely, it was the real killer that broke the lock, and stored the victim's dead body in there."

"That is what that would mean," Robin said, twirling a bang of her hair with a finger. "But one has to consider the question- just where was the victim killed?"

That was one thing that Juniper didn't have an answer for. She had a feeling that the convention center had something to do with it, but vague answers wouldn't be accepted at this point.

"Um, maybe I shouldn't speak up at a time like this," Dakota said. "But there is something that the defense is missing."

"I suppose at this point, we may as well hear all the testimony," The Judge said. "The court orders you to testify about what you believe the defense is missing!"

-Witness Testimony-

-What the defense is missing-

"So maybe the victim could have been killed somewhere else," Dakota said. "But I don't think that means that the defendant didn't kill her."

"The defense still hasn't rebutted the defendant's motive," Ema added. "So he is the only one that would want to kill the victim."

"More than that, there is nothing to point to that fact that anyone else could have killed that girl," Dakota said. "So I'm inclined to agree with the egghead."

"Ignoring that last comment, I agree with the witness," Ema said. "The defense has not proved that the defendant is innocent."

-End Testimony-

"So it looks like we need to work a little harder." Hugh smirked. "One last push until we can wrap up this case."

"Is that… really okay? Is it okay for the case to end here?" Juniper asked.

"What do you mean by that, Juniper? You're about to prove Mr. Artisan innocent of the crime," Hugh said, looking at Juniper with a raised eyebrow. "What else could there be to prove?"

"I don't know. But I should pursue this matter until the very end," Juniper said, rubbing her right wrist. "There's something more going on here."

By now, Juniper was used to pressing the testimony. "HOLD IT! Weren't you the one insisting that what you saw was Mr. Artisan killing Miss Scribe?"

"I didn't know what else I could think," Dakota said, her eyes wide and remorseful. "Seeing a dead body has my mind all scrambled up."

"Poor thing. The defense will take care to avoid badgering the witness in the future," The Judge said, narrowing his eyes at Juniper.

"Yes, Your Honor," Juniper said, nervously tugging at her pigtails. I really don't want to anger the judge at this point of the trial.

"HOLD IT! It is the defense's position that the defendant has no motive to kill the victim!" Juniper declared.

"And it is my position that a motive must exist," Ema said, munching on her Snackoos. "We've been going around in circles on these subjects for this entire trial!"

This was true. Even after spending so much time arguing, Juniper still didn't feel like much had been accomplished. Just the same points brought up, over and over.

This can't continue on like this. I need to break this stalemate!

With that thought, Juniper pressed the next statement. "HOLD IT! I believe I brought up a strong possibility on how someone else could have killed the victim."

"But saying that 'anyone' could have done it doesn't really mean anything," Dakota said. "Like, I don't see how anyone could have brought a dead body close to the a car without someone spotting it."

As soon Dakota said those words, a spark went off in Juniper's brain. That piece of evidence… I think I finally know what it's for.

Juniper didn't wait. Before she could even think about it, she shouted, "OBJECTION!"

The Judge's eyes widened. "It is not often that I hear a voice that loud from you, defense. I suppose that means you have a counterargument?"

"I do. I have evidence that proves that someone else could have carried the victim's body without being spotted." Juniper presented her crucial evidence.

"Is that… a scrap of paper?" Dakota asked, scratching her head.

Juniper shook her head. "Not just a scrap of paper. It looks like this was ripped from a larger wallpaper. I believe this is evidence that the culprit couldn't dispose."

"But, what is such a small scrap supposed to prove?" However, what Dakota didn't notice that Ema was now shaking.

"It proves that after killing Miss Scribe, the culprit wrapped her body in wallpaper. And after that-" Juniper slammed her palm down on the bench. "They carried the body to the defendant's trunk!"

"Ohhhhh! I guess that would explain it," Dakota said. "But then why didn't…?"

"OBJECTION!"

The loud voice ripped through the air, and the eyes of the court looked around for its source. It turned out to be from Robin, who had a furious glare on her face, her shoulders shaking.

"Detective Skye! Why wasn't this evidence brought to my attention?" Robin yelled.

"Don't get so worked up!" Ema snapped. "For all we know, it's trash that was left in the trunk of the car."

Robin slammed both her fists on the bench. "What have you done? I told you to not overlook any evidence!"

The Judge slammed his gavel down repeatedly. "Prosecutor Newman! You will calm down at once, or I will hold you in contempt of court!"

"What… is happening right now?" Juniper asked, clutching her hands to her chest. "I don't think I've ever seen Robin this angry."

"Now I'm starting to see what you meant earlier. This is not normal," Hugh said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Though why this is happening, I couldn't say."

"Vroom Vroom!" Those words came out of nowhere, however Juniper had a feeling she knew who had spoken them. "HANG ON! Mr. Swerve, may I have your attention?"

"You have my utmost attention! Speaking at once, attorney!" Mr. Swerve exclaimed, revving with his hands.

"Was there anything in the previous statements that you want to speak up about?" If it stopped the arguing between Robin and Ema, Juniper wanted to hear it.

"It's about the wallpaper that you presented. I've seen it before, while driving people in my taxi," Mr. Swerve explained. "It's from a national writing contest that Miss Sapling is participating in!"

"The wallpaper is from a writing contest? Miss Sapling, what is this about?" If Juniper remembered correctly, Miss Sapling had introduced herself as an author. But she hadn't mentioned anything about a contest.

"It's a contest being held in the convention center. And yeah, I'm a contestant," Dakota said, playing with her ponytail. "So I had Mr. Swerve drive me there."

"Don't be so humble, Miss Sapling! You aren't just a contestant!" Mr. Swerve said, patting Dakota on the back. "You'll beat Miss Scribe for sure!"

The words froze the air. Juniper, Hugh, the Judge and Robin all stared right at Mr. Swerve.

Robin spoke up first. "Witness, did you just say that Miss Sapling was going to beat Miss Scribe?"

"It was something like that! As I was driving Miss Sapling around, she complained about a 'Skylar Scribe' being in the same contest as her," Mr. Swerve answered. "But I'm sure Miss Sapling is as good of an author as I am a fast driver!"

As soon Mr. Swerve finished speaking those words, Miss Sapling's shoulders slumped.

"I was really hoping you wouldn't say that…"

"At first glance, this case seemed clear cut." The Judge shook his head. "However, I am no longer in a position to deliver my verdict. I will be forced to suspend proceedings for the day."

Juniper let out a large sigh of relief. We managed to make it through the day.

"Defense, I recommend you investigate this writing contest, and how it could relate to the victim's death." The Judge turned his heavy gaze towards Robin. "And I hope the prosecution will refrain from such displays in the next trial."

"Yes, Your Honor." Robin was still glaring at Ema. "I will question Miss Sapling and the detective."

We are nowhere close to discovering the truth of this case. All we've uncovered are more questions. And perhaps the most pressing question… just what happened to Robin to make her react like this?

To be continued.

A/N: That brings this court session to an end. However, this case is nowhere near over. In fact, one could say that the true case can finally begin. So stick around as the plot continues to escalate. See you next time! Please review.