The Trial

Part Two

I stop in front of the tape, peeking inside curiously. A well-decorated living room lurks inside, and there are blood stains everywhere. "What the hell..."
"Hey, pal!" Someone taps my shoulder, and I turn around in surprise. Detective Gumshoe is standing behind me, huffing and out of breath. "You, uh, aren't allowed to look in there." He pauses to catch his breath. "It's off limits, pal." I rub the back of my neck.
"Sorry, I didn't know. Mind if I ask what happened?" The detective shakes his head.
"Sorry, pal, I can't tell you anything. Now, move along, I gotta investigate." Gumshoe makes a shooing motion at me with his hand, and I step away while he tries to step under the tape with difficulty. I watch for a minute while he struggles before finally taking off his coat and stepping over the obstacle. Turning away, I walk to the fifth door in the hallway, and open it. "Mr. Wright?" Checking my phone, I see that it's almost eleven. He should be awake.
A head peeks out at me from my boss's office, but to my great surprise it's not the attorney himself.
It's Trucy.
"Polly!" The teenager wails, running towards me. "P-polly, it was awful, t-the police arrested him r-right in front of me!" I gasp as she wraps her and around my waist and starts crying.
"W-wait, what? The police arrested who? And why aren't you at school?" Trucy moves away, covering her face with one hand and pushing the other through her hair. I've never seen her act so distressed.
"They arrested Daddy! We were at the lake and I dared him to race me back to the entrance and when I looked back the police were putting him in cuffs and taking him away."
"Wait, at the lake? You mean Gourd Lake?"
"Uh huh." Trucy starts rocking back and forth on her feet, with tears still in her eyes.
"When was this?" I put my finger on my temple and hunch my shoulders, all the while feeling worry creep into my stomach.
"Yesterday, at around four." I hear a grumbling sound.
"When did you eat last?" I look at her, noting her pale face and swollen eyes.
"Um... Yesterday, at lunch with Daddy."
"Okay, go get dressed and I'll get you some food, okay?" The teen nods quietly and disappears down the hallway. While I wait, I head into the office to find my badge. I accidentally left it a few days ago when I came over for lunch, and I didn't have reason to cone back and get it until now. I rummage around for a second, before finally seeing the badge glinting under a few papers.
"We were keeping it safe for you." I jump, knocking over the papers, and turn to see Trucy standing in the doorway, her magician outfit on and most likely loaded with tricks.
"Thanks, I appreciate that." I pick up the pages, and notice that they have bits and pieces of words crossed out. Weird.
"Alright, Truce, we can get food now. Do you want to visit Mr. Wright after we eat?" Trucy nods quietly. "Er, alright then." I feel awkward in the silence, used to Trucy saying something or even fidgeting. Instead she just stands quietly, hands clasped in front of her stomach.
I walk out, grabbing the keys to the apartment and locking it being me. Trucy follows me, still not speaking. "Trucy, it's going to be okay. You know that, right?" She looks up, and smiles sadly.
"Yeah, I know. I'm just worried. I've never seen something like that." She nudges the carpet with her foot.
"Well, don't worry, okay? In fact, I want you to repeat after me: I'm Trucy Wright and I'm fine!"
"I- I'm Trucy Wright, and I'm fine?"
"You can do better than that. Be confident!"
"I'm Trucy Wright and I'm fine." She speaks up a little more, but still seems morose.
"Again, louder! You're Trucy Wright and you're fine!"
"I'm Trucy Wright and I'm fine!" She finally gains some courage back, and starts giggling. "Thanks, Polly."
"It's nothing. Just remember that everything is going to be just fine." I smile, feeling a little better myself, and take Trucy downstairs and outside. "I saw your friend, the noodle guy, a block away. You want to eat there?" Trucy grins.
"Yes!"
We walk for three minutes before reaching the stand, and find ourselves with two bowls of salty noodles within seconds.
"Hey, Trucy doll, what's happening? I didn't see you and Mr. Wright yesterday like you promised!" Mr. Eldoon pulls out a harmonica and plays a quick melody while Trucy answers him.
"Well, we couldn't... My daddy got arrested yesterday under false suspicion." Trucy sounds sad, but is still smiling. "But it isn't a problem, because my friend Polly is going to defend daddy in court and get him declared innocent!"
"Is that so? Well, Polly, you better be a man of your word." I rub my bracelet, feeling slightly out out by the noodle vendors lack of confidence
"I am! I'm going to get Mr. Wright declared innocent!"
"Good. And you better eat before the noodles get cold, because as good and salty as they are, they still aren't too nice cold."
Trucy laughs, and takes a huge slurp from her bowl. We finish the rest of the meal in general quiet, and end up leaving at around 12:50. My phone goes off, and I look to see a text from Athena.
Thena: Hey, did you hear what happened to Mr. Wright? It's so terrible!
Apollo: I'm headed to the detention center right now, try and meet me there if you can.
Thena: Will do.
Trucy tugs my arm, urging me to hurry while we cross the street, so I quickly put my phone away and run across with her. We make it to the detention center at around one o'clock, and I feel guilty for taking so much time eating. As we head in, I hear a deep voice and yelling from down the hall.
"You will release him at once! He's innocent!" A girlish voice, which I recognize to be Athena, shouts, and I hear the sound of a bird flying around as Trucy and I round the corner and look into the visiting room.
The scene inside is full of mayhem. Prosecutor Blackquill is standing off to the side while Athena yells in the face of an officer, and the prosecutor's bird is flying at anyone who tries to get near the raging girl.
"Ma'am, Mr. Wright was caught running from the scene, and his fingerprints are all over the weapon! Agh!" The officer covers his face while Taka flies into his hair, and Athena storms away to stand by Blackquill. "Alright, he told us, you can call Taka back." The prosecutor whistles, and his bird flies to him, landing on his shoulder.
"What the hell?!"
"Hey! Watch your language in front of Trucy."
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This probably sucks, but I'm trying my best considering that I decided to make my own trial... yeah, this is going to be a long one. Anywho, I hope I don't bore you guys with the lack of Klapollo, I just need to get some other stuff in to balance it out. But don't worry, the next chapter will have plenty of cute stuff for you to read.
Thanks for reading!
~Lexia