Morix: Web of Mistrust

Turnabout Deception, Part 5

Mr. Strann walked up to the stand, and I looked to Chrysalis out of the corner of my eye. She still didn't seem too particularly impressed with him. I couldn't blame her given the way that he had been behaving earlier, and I was right there with her in the suspicious boat. The way that Mr. Lent had talked about Mr. Strann during his final moments in the courtroom were important to think about as well. As far as I could tell, we had another mystery to figure out after this was over, and Chrysalis could see it just as clearly as I could. There was something about this whole situation that simply didn't sit right with me, and that was my first hint to investigate as much as I possibly could. 

"Are there any final objections from the defense or prosecution?" Judge Frost questioned, looking down to me, Chrysalis, Prosecutor Shield, and Anton. 

Prosecutor Shield and Anton looked to each other before the former turned his attention back up to Judge Frost. He shook his head. "The prosecution has no objections," he answered. 

"What about the defense?" Judge Frost asked. 

Chrysalis and I shared a knowing glance. In all truth, we probably didn't need to look at each other given how similarly we thought both in and out of the courtroom, but it was nice to have that extra security. 

When we met eyes, I could see that she was just as determined about looking into the odd relationship between Mr. Strann and Mr. Lent as I was. We were certainly going to have to dive into this when we got the chance later on. Until then, we had to focus on the trial. 

"The defense has no objections," I replied, my hands clenching into fists. Now that Mr. Lent had been exposed as the culprit, I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. There was a lot more that we had to take care of, and I wanted to talk to Polly before we left the courthouse as well. Plus, there was the matter of Mr. Strann himself. Overall, there was more on my plate than I ever could have anticipated. 

"In that case, I believe that it's time for me to announce my verdict," Judge Frost proclaimed. He raised his gavel up once again. "This court hereby finds the defendant, Collack Strann, not guilty. Court is adjourned!" 

Everyone in the gallery began to shuffle around as they headed for the doors. I started pulling my evidence together as well, and Chrysalis did the same at my side. "Well... It seems like the case is over," I commented, a small frown on my face. 

"The case might be over, but I believe that this is just the beginning of our investigation to figure out what really happened," Chrysalis told me. "There's a lot that Mr. Lent said near the end that has to mean something. He knew Mr. Strann long before this case took place, and something bad must have happened to make him jump to conclusions like he did about Polly."

"They've definitely been in contact with each other before, but I can't help wondering what those circumstances could have been about... I suppose that all we can do is try to figure it out when we get the chance to investigate for ourselves," I pointed out with a small shrug. "From what I can tell, whatever happened had an immense mental impact on Mr. Lent. It was enough to sway him into being hired by Mr. Strann despite his regularly high bar. On top of that, it pushed him far enough to make him think that Polly was going to lash out at Mr. Strann despite the fact that there was no evidence that she was going to get violent."

"Perhaps it reminded him of a similar incident from the past," Chrysalis suggested with a frown. "I don't know what it was, but I know for sure that we're going to figure it out. We haven't been stopped by something like this in the future, and we aren't going to let this obstacle get in our way now. It's time for us to figure out the truth like we always have. We're the unstoppable team, and something like this isn't going to get in our way."