'During the trial yesterday... I was overcome by a fit of coughing..., Apollo stayed with me and we went to the courtroom ruins together., But then I was called back to this courtroom to give testimony..., Apollo insisted on staying behind in Courtroom No. 4., I swear I didn't attack Apollo! Why would I ever hurt such a kind person?'
the judge went into deep thought
'So Mr. Justice stayed by your side while you were feeling unwell...? What an admirable young man! I thought his loud voice was his only outstanding feature...'
phoenix spoke up
'i hire only good people with good hearts your honor'
'But one has to wonder... Why did Mr. Justice stay behind in the ruins?'
the judge asked, juniper shrugged
'I think Apollo might have figured something out...'
'Something? What kind of something?'
'Something to do with the courtroom bombing kind of something, I think...'
'Oh ho! New evidence for the case, was it?! That's a very big kind of something, indeed!'
she nodded
'I believe so. He mentioned looking for some evidence when I was called away'
paynge smirked, smuge as ever
'Just as I thought. There IS a connection between the two incidents. But the defendant has told a very big lie, Your Honor'
'What lie is that?'
phoenix glared
'get to the point asshole'
payne huffed but carried on anyway
'When she learned Mr. Justice would be looking for evidence, she attacked him. She attacked him to give herself the chance to destroy that evidence!'
juniper eyes widen in alarm
'N-No...! I never...!'
'Ms. Woods repaid Mr. Justice's kindness with violence'
'OBJECTION!!'
phoenix yelled out, outraged by this
'have you have any proof of this bullshit or just baseless conjecture?!'
payne smirked widened
'yes, actually we do, We found the proof of her foul deed there in the courtroom ruins'
he said as he took out for the court to examine, phoenix's examined in closely as did athena
'Do you see it? There in front of Mr. Justice's right hand? Witness the message he left us!'
the judge stared at it, flasbbergasted
'It-It's written in blood! "W, O, O, D, S"...? Why, isn't that...?'
'That's right, Your Honor, it says "WOODs" in capital letters'
juniper was shaken to her core
'What...?'
she muttered in debelief
'I submit that Mr. Justice left us with the name of his attacker before he fainted!'
'N-No! That can't be true... Why would Apollo write my name...?'
athena fist clenched
'Mr. Wright! The NERVE of him leaving that message! Why would he do this?!'
she cried out in outrage, phoenix, however, had doubts
'hold on cykes, we don't know everything yet'
'huh?'
'just watch and listen for now'
he said, Athena didn't understand, but did as told, despite phoenix seeing if he had a pulse, they didn't get a chance to properly investigate themselves, they had to leave everything to the police, which already made phoenix upset, he didn't trust cops, even after all these years, he still holds a grudge for what they have done to him in the AL-9 case
'Now then, please begin your cross-examination, Mr. Wright'
he nodded and went back to his more gentle side to cross examine woods
'So he started his search with the witness stand, you say?'
'That's right. I guess maybe he wanted to start from the furthest point in the room. He was being so brave... *cough* and strong... *cough*'
'Under the circumstances, he shouldn't have been capable of that...'
'But he was! And he still is! He might not look it, but he really is brave! And kind, too!, he's an amazing friend!'
phoenix gently shook his head as he spoke
'that's not what I was talking about ms. woods, i was talking about the physical aspect of it, With the courtroom being a huge mess, how was it possible to walk up to the witness stand?'
'Oh!'
woods muttered as the judge nodded in agreement
'Hmm. I see your point. The rubble blocks off access to the area around the witness stand'
Payne smirked
'Hmph. Does such a tiny inconsistency even matter? Perhaps the witness is simply misremembering it'
he grinned smugly up at phoenix
'A real man doesn't make mountains out of mole hills, you know'
phoenix glared at him
'your right a real man breaks the bones of a rat-bastard!'
he warned, staring right into his eyes, payne flinched as he backed up a bit, the judge quickly stepped in before things could get ugly
'So, was it really impossible to approach the witness stand? I have to say, it's a bit hard to tell with any accuracy from just this diagram. Mr. Payne, do you have any other photos of the crime scene?'
Payne nervously fidgted in his bookbag
'Er, let me see, Your Honor... Ah, yes. I have one more. Here it is. It's a more pulled-back version of the photo I presented before'
'is the metallic object in that photo, tonate's bomb transport case?'
'That's right. Is there some problem?'
'Ah, yes. That transport case was there in Courtroom No. 4 when the bomb went off. It must have been there ever since'
juniper suddenly perked up
'Oh! That's it!'
phoenix looked over at her
'you remembered something sunflower?'
'Y-Yes! I just realized... Its position... It's different from before...'
'The position of what?'
'Um, the position of that big metal thing'
'The bomb transport case?'
he asked, she nodded
'Yes. When Apollo and I went there, it was in a different place. Where the case is in the photo was open space, so it was easy to search the stand'
'I see. So where was the transport case when you and conquer saw it?'
'As I recall, I think it was more to the right...'
phoenix quickly made the dots in his notebook, payne scoffted
'Who cares where the transport case was when? What difference does it make? It has nothing at all to do with what we were talking ab--'
phoenix was quick to cut him off
'Where the transport case was has EVERYTHING to do with this discussion!'
he argued, payne stared at him
'Wh-What...?!'
the judge nodded in agreement
'Well! That certainly sounds very relevant indeed! And you sound as though you know where the case was at the time of the attack'
'i do'
he then put out the diagram, presenting it to the court
'This diagram represents the crime scene as shown in the photo. And this is where the transport case was at the time of the assault on Justice, Your Honor, I assert that this is where the transport case was at the time of the assault!'
the judge and the payne gawked at him
'But that's...!'
'...I-Inconceivable!'
phoenix ignored them as he turned to juniper
'Ms. Woods, was this where the transport case was when you saw it?'
he said, holding it up, she nodded
'Yes... Yes, that's where it was!'
'I'm sure the court has noted an interesting fact about this position'
the judge was astonished
'The transport case covers up the writing in blood!'
'Exactly! If the transport case was in that position at the time of the assault, then no message could have been written there, because the case was in the way! which means Justice couldn't have left that bloody writing!'
'OBJECTION'
payne squeakily called out, now sweating bullets
'Why should we believe the defendant's claim that the case was in a different position?! She's obviously lying!'
phoenix glared into his soul
'The fact that the case was moved after the assault on Mr. Justice, is proved by more than Ms. Woods's testimony alone!'
payne gawked at him
'Wh-What?! And where is this "proof" you're talking about?!'
phoenix rolled his eyes
'if you have a fucking brain in that arrgont head, please for fuck sake use it, It's right here in the crime photo'
he said, pointing right on it
'look at the mark that runs over Mr. Justice's bandages here!'
the judge nodded
'I see it, but what is it?'
'This mark was made by one of the casters from the transport case carrying the bomb. As the case was moved, it ran over his bandages!, the transport case was first to the right of Mr. Justice! Then, after Mr. Justice was assaulted the transport case was moved!'
payne eys widen behind his sun glasses, and his wig nearly fell off, revealing his bald head
'WHAAAAAT?!'
he cried out, phoenix nailed him right where it hurts
'Just as Ms. Woods said, the case was covering the writing at the time of the assault! it was impossible for Mr. Justice to have left that message in blood'
'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'
payne cried out in defeat as he wig nearly came off, the court began to go a little wild, as athena jumped in cheer
'You did it, Boss! you pulled it off!'
'hold on, it's still not over'
he said gently, trying not to put damper her good mood, but it was not over just yet
'Order! Order in the court! Mr. Wright, that was a very clever deduction'
phoenix blinked at him in surprise as he blushed a tint of red, playing with his locket nervously
'i-i, um, ...t-thank you?'
'Boss! I'm sensing a definite "bashful and flustered" vibe coming off of you...'
phoenix shot her a glare as he felt his cheeks get brighter
'I have just one question, Mr. Wright'
the judge asked, phoenix cleared his throat, trying to calm down his blushing, ...which almost never worked out for him, in fact, it often made it worse..which he just hoped wasn't right now..
'Y-Yes, Your Honor?'
'If Mr. Justice didn't leave this message in blood... ..then who did?'
phoenix
'i do have an theory on who it could've been'
the judge looked at him
'you do?'
he nodded
'Candice Arme, the detective'
the judge stared at him in debelief, as then athena and payne
'WHAAAT?!'
the judge cried out, as the court began to murmur, athena looked up at her boss
'What?! Detective Arme?! Are you sure you know what you're doing here?!'
'trust me when i say this, i can't bluff for shit athena, I'm a terrible liar'
she could sense the raw honesty in him, and nodded
'OBJECTION!!, What kind of ridiculous assertion is that?! If you had said the attacker left the message to throw people off, it might've made sense'
phoenix shook his head
'you lack insight payne, Apollo didn't shed enough blood to write such an extensive message'
he winced
'Uh-oh...!'
the judge nodded
'Ah, I see. Even the photo makes it clear there wasn't enough blood to write all those letters. And Mr. Justice did survive. I suppose he didn't bleed very extensively, in that case'
'But why would Detective Arme write the defendant's name? There is no connection between the two whatsoever!'
payne argued
'A-And I-I didn't even know the lady who was killed...!'
juniper said
'They had never even met each other!'
phoenix nodded in acknowledgment, as he thought for a momebt
'..maybe the intended meaning of the message is not what it appears to be?'
'The "intended meaning"...?'
the judge trailed off
'"Not what it appears to be"...?'
juniper finished off, phoenix nodded at both
'Maybe the message was not intended to be "WOODS."'
the judge stared at him
'mr wright, You wish to assert that this bloody writing could have some other meaning?'
he nodded as he took out his notebook and began to theorize, payne shook his head in dismay
'Hmph! It clearly says "WOODS," as anyone can plainly see! What other meaning could it possibly have?!'
'OBJECTION!!'
phoenix yelled out
'Arme was a detective! Maybe "WOODS" only means something to the police. Like a police scanner code?, or something else, that's not something we can just deny'
'Hmm... I didn't think of that...'
the judge admitted, payne, however, smirked is usual smug expression
'Heh heh. You may have tricked His Honor, but you'll never get the best of me. I have a thing for studying on the weekends, as you may have already guessed. And there is no such radio code as "WOODS" in the state, dear Mr. Wright!'
phoenix glared at him
'and you know so much about police codes?!'
weh. payne didn't' replay, he flipped him off and went back to his notebook, after a goos six minutes, he figured it out
'your honor, Take a look at the numbers on this case,. "L10015r". Doesn't this string look vaguely familiar?'
the judge squinted his eyes at it
'"L100"... What does that have to do with anything?'
'Hmph. What could those numbers possibly have to do with the case at hand?'
'if you shut your fucking mouth for once and listen, you'll find out'
he snapped, then pointed at the photo
'take a look at the bloody writing shown in the crime photo'
athena eyes widen
'Oh! I think I see it!'
phoenix grinned
'nice job wisdom'
'It says "WOODS."'
the judge said, nothing understand, phoenix however, pointed at the bloody message
'Or, you could say it's a horse of a different color, Your Honor. The first character isn't a "W". It's actually an "L" and a "1". The next two are zeros'
the judge's eyes widened in shock
'Oh! My goodness!'
he gasped out
'The true meaning behind the bloody writing isn't Ms. Woods's name. It's the number engraved on this bomb transport case!'
'OBJECTION!!, What are you talking about?! The next part doesn't make any sense! The next number is a "1", but the bloody writing says "D"!'
'OBJECTION!!, the number on the case and the bloody writing can be made to match up easily. This is how the number on the transport case can be made to match the bloody writing!, erase the third, downward stroke of the "W", and the curved part of the "D."'
the judge read it over aguan
'Well! Would you look at that! ............ "LIOOIS"?'
phoenix face slapped
'NO YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!, It isn't meant to be read as a word! It's the number "L-1-0-0-1-5" if you take away the final "R" is the exact same number that's one the bomb transport case!'
'OBJECTION!!, Hmph! Erase two lines, and they match up, you say?! Well, I can change anything into anything else simply by erasing two lines! What if we erased two lines from your name?! Would you be happy as "Mr. Wrigh"?!'
phoenix looked at him with a "you stupid bitch" look as the judge looked down at him
'Well? Would you, Mr. Wrigh?'
phoenix stared at him
'your honour, if you fucking call me that again, I'll got up their and shove that gavel up your ass!!'
the judge hid behind his gavel, terrified now
'y-yes i-i understand!!'
'The only right spelling is "Wright!", the two lines were added by the real culprit to intentionally mislead people!'
'WHAAAT?!'
payne cried out, phoenix continued out
'The original message Arme left behind was the transport case number! But whoever assaulted Apollo changed the message!'
'if you're right, Boss.. then what do you suppose Detective Arme was trying to tell us?'
she asked, phoenix however had an answer for that
'Candice Arme lost her life in the courtroom bombing. Her dying message only have had one purpose! To tell us the name of the one responsible for the bombing!'
the judge bange dhis gavel as the court began to go a little wild
'Well? Don't keep us in suspense, Mr. Wright! Tell us who she was trying to name!'
'as if it wasn't obvious, the one who caused the bombing was tonate'