Morix: Web of Mistrust

Turnabout Deception, Part 4

"In other words, it was impossible for someone to have snuck in through the window to commit the crime!" I declared. "The only three people that were in the building at the time of the attack were the Polly Burke, victim, Collack Strann, the defendant, and Jeff Lent, the witness. It seems clear as can be now who committed this crime if you look at it from the proper perspective."

"If Mr. Strann didn't do it and Prosecutor Burke was the one who got attacked, that leaves only one possibility regarding the culprit," Prosecutor Shield nodded. "It must have been Mr. Lent. There were no other people present at the time of the crime. I would have learned about them during my investigation, and I'm sure that there are others involved with the case who can back up that statement as well. Only one person could have done this."

The gallery burst into chatter once again soon after Prosecutor Shield finished talking, and I looked over to Chrysalis with a small smile. She smirked in response before turning her attention back to the trial. The gentle din of conversation surrounded us, but we didn't do anything to stop it. After all, we were going to find the truth sooner rather than later, so they could talk for as long as they wanted. It wasn't going to impact us in the slightest, so we might as well let them continue. Besides, they probably weren't going to listen to us anyways, assuming they could hear us without a gavel above the noise. 

Judge Frost picked up his gavel and slammed it down once again. "Order in the court! I will have order!" he roared. It felt like it took a thousand years for the chatter buzzing around us to calm down, and once it did, he let out a sigh, clearly not liking that he had to be so aggressive. "If there were no signs that somebody snuck in, then that means that only one person could have committed this crime... Prosecution, how do you respond to this? Do you have any objections to what the defense has proposed regarding the case?"

"I do not," Prosecutor Shield said, turning his attention over to Mr. Lent once again. "I must ask though... What do you have to say about being accused of this crime? Do you have a rebuttal?"

Mr. Lent walked back up to the witness stand with rage in his eyes. He glared at Polly as she passed him by, but she returned the favor with a fierce gaze that would make even the strongest of souls shudder. She returned to the lobby as Mr. Lent found his place behind the stand, and the door shut behind her with a loud tap. 

"You cannot really mean to say that I committed this crime," Mr. Lent declared angrily. "I would not attack the victim. I didn't know her, so why would I hurt her?"

"You not knowing the victim ties directly back to why you would commit this crime. If you knew her, then you would be aware that she was not the violent type, and that would keep you from attacking her in the first place. However, since you do not know her, then you could have attacked her and tried to justify it," Prosecutor Shield answered. 

"If you were aware of how she regularly behaved, you would know that she isn't violent. You wouldn't have attacked her when she began to yell at the defendant if you had known that she was not a violent person. Your lack of knowledge about her shows when it comes to who committed the crime," I continued. 

"I can't believe that you're basing your entire argument around the smell of the building from the time of the crime. In case you didn't already notice, she was attacked, so her memory could be fuzzy. Maybe she's blending different occurrences to use her testimony against me," Mr. Lent suggested. "She's clearly conspiring against me."

"Why would she conspire against you? You saw that she was in the lobby outside of the courtroom until recently. She had no idea that you were a suspect, and she had no way of knowing either. She was not conspiring against you because there was no way for her to be aware that you were a suspect," Prosecutor Shield pointed out, clearly getting sick of what Mr. Lent was claiming.