Apollo took in a deep, deep breathe, and gathered up all of his thoughts, ..it was now or never, now or ever!!
'...As his next move, Dr. Meraktis... ...stole Guy Eldoon's noodle stand!'
'What, "killing" me disturbed him that much? So much he randomly stole a noodle stand!?'
she said in a voice full of venom, but that wasn't about to stop apollo
'It wasn't so "random". Remember all the bowls in the clinic's foyer? Bowls that belonged inside that stand? I think it's pretty obvious, don't you? That stand was at the clinic. However, the question is why did he remove the bowls?'
'Maybe... because the stand was heavy?'
trucy guessed
'Or he wanted to put something in the stand in their place...'
apollo added, the judge's eyes widen
'Ah... Wait, you don't mean...!'
he nodded
'I do. Dr. Meraktis did replace those bowls with something... ...your "corpse", Ms. Tiala!'
Alita eyes narrowed nervously at his words
'M-My "corpse"!?'
'Dr. Meraktis panicked. He thought he'd killed you...'
'...His next move would be to dispose of the body!'
klavier added, as calm as ever, alita gritted her teeth and started to sweat nervously
'Th-That's crazy talk! You're all crazy!'
apollo semi-glared at her
'Then let's think about it... logically. The doctor had a place to dispose of you in mind... ...But on the way there... ...who should he run into but the defendant, Wocky Kitaki!'
'OBJECTION!'
klavier grinned a little as he snapped his fingers in a rhythm like motion
'...I question your "logic"'
he added playfully, apollo glowered at him, he hated it whenever he did that, and he barely even knew the guy
'What's this, Prosecutor Gavin?'
'The park is a dead end. Why would he head in that direction to begin with?'
alita chuckly chimed in
'That's right! He had no reason to go there! ...Oh, now I get it! It was a trick! That spoiled brat made him do it! He made the doctor steal the stand!'
'OBJECTION!!'
apollo yelled
'Tell me... Why would someone go to a "dead end"? ...Unless the park was his destination!'
'Wh-What...?'
the judge shrugged in his chair
'Apparently, the defense has an idea. Tell us where Dr. Meraktis was heading with the stand! Here, please show us on this diagram. To where exactly was the victim dragging that stand?'
apollo walked over to the diagram and pointed at the river, if his calculations were right, they should be in the clear
'There? That's a... a river!'
he nodded
;Yes, Your Honor. I scarcely need to explain why'
klavier played along
'...A perfect place to dispose of a body'
Alita eyes widen in surprise, a little startled from the suddenly knew information, apollo couldn't blame her to much, after all, finding out you were going to be pushed into a river wasn't exactly a comforting thought
'H-He was going to throw me into that river!?'
'He didn't have many other options, Fräulein'
klavier pointed out, alita went silent at that, apollo quickly interjected, not wanting to mess up his chance
'I believe this clears up all of the remaining questions. The victim pulling the stand, and the defendant before him. ...And inside the stand, you, Ms. Alita Tiala, And then, the denouement. Wesley Stickler, of panty-snatching fame, walks up. Seeing the two men, he shouts! In that instant...'
Alita beat him to it
'So... I shot him?'
Apollo kept his facial expression as poker as it be
'You were the only one who could have stolen Wocky's pistol. It had to be you!'
the judge narrowed his eyes at the witnesss
'...Well, Ms. Tiala?'
alita frowned as she put a hand on her waist
'...... Hmph. ...Nice work'
apollo blinked
'...You mean, I'm right?'
'I mean you've done a fine job dreaming up a story... ...to get that spoiled brat off the hook!'
trucy put on her terrifying father's glare and snapped back at the witness, apollo wondered where she got the courage to do that in court
'You're the one who's dreaming bitch! Apollo's backed up everything he's said with facts! If you're so sure he's making it up, give us another reason! Why was Dr. Meraktis pulling that stand through the park!?'
she demanded in a very scary tone, apollo was surprised to see her flinch at her words, but then very quickly composed herself, even klavier was a little taken aback to see that side of her, the wright's had a talent of scaring people into submission, ..apollo wasn't sure if that was such a good thing
'Who knows? But there's one gaping hole in your logic. I think Mr. Gavin knows whereof I speak!'
'Whereof what!?'
apollo repeated in a frustrated tone
"I can't believe she's still trying to deny this!"
'Is this true, Prosecutor Gavin?'
klavier grinned as she shook his head
'...Must I always be the one to point out Herr Forehead's errors?'
apollo growled under his breathe, ..but blushed a tint red as well,
"Ack, maybe there really is something!, great!, i just made myself look like an idiot in front of my own boss!!"
'I believe the Fräulein speaks of... Herr Doktor's car'
'His car...?'
Alita grinned in satisfaction
'That's right! The Meraktis Clinic has that big garage!'
'In which sat... a green sports car, was it?'
the judge asked
'Why would he steal the stand in the first place!? If he wanted to carry a body, he would have used his car!'
Apollo huffed in irritation, ..great, it didn't help that klavier's stupid pretty teasing smile was basically plastered on his face, ..wait pretty?!, forgot it
'And so we find our victim without probable cause to steal that stand... ...and our defense without a case'
trucy thought to herself for a moment before she spoke
'Um... I have an idea! You know that green car? I bet it wouldn't run! It was broken!'
klavier raised a brow at her
'Ah, what an excellent counter-argument, Fräulein. Too bad you're quite wrong'
trucy glared at him
'explain!'
she demanded, if apollo ever needed a reminder as to who her father was, all he had to do was think of the most terrifying man in the world, klavier grinned
'Don't tell me you've forgotten what happened to your daddy's vicim?
'Daddy's victim...?'
apollo's eyes widen in realization
Apollo:
Th-That's right...! That night, the car that hit the man Mr. Wright sent us out to investigate... ...was that green sports car!'
'Oh, yes! I-I'd nearly forgotten about it!'
'Afterward, he drove it back to that garage. It ran fine.'
Alita smirked
'...That's right. So why didn't he use his beloved sports car, hmm?'
she asked in a smug tone, apollo gritted his teeth
'A glaring contradiction, to be sure. More glaring than your forehead'
apollo was very tempted to flip him off and curse at him, ..but he bit back his tongue as the court started to go wild
'Order! Order! Order! Well, Mr. Justice? Why didn't Dr. Meraktis use his car to carry the "body"?'
Apollo groaned in frustraion, klavier leaned over and grinned
'Is that a groan of surrender I hear?'
apollo glared at him as he flipped him off with his middle finger, klavier chuckled as he simply shrugged at him and said
'Some advice: Now's a good time to review all you know. ...Everything you've learned over the last two days'
"Everything I've learned...?"
apollo blinked at him, ...why was he helping him?!, the sound of the judge's gavel rang across the courthouse
'Mr. Justice, this contradiction casts doubt on your entire case! This is truly your last chance! The defense will explain to us what happened that night!'
apollo thought long and hard on this, he flipped the pages in his notebook and reviewed his notepad along with it
"I have an idea... It's all coming together!"
' ...That night, Dr. Meraktis couldn't use his car'
alita laughed mockingly
'Hah! Now you're making even less sense than usual!'
apollo glared at her
'...Not according to my information, Ms. Tiala. Put one and one together, and the explanation is simple!'
'If it's so simple, perhaps you can show us some evidence? Show us proof why the car wouldn't run that night!'
apollo nodded, and reluctantly brought out the evidence, using gloves
'Let's see now... Panties!? Again!?'
the judge asked, trucy crossed her arms
'All sorts of things come out of my panties! ...Even the truth'
apollo sighed as he went on
'Another crime was committed the night of the murder. The theft of these panties! The latest in a string of similar thefts, actually. But that night, the snatcher was caught in the act! A brave young girl chased the thief until the hid... ...in the Meraktis Clinic garage'
alita eyes widen
'Wh-Whaaat!?'
'The snatcher hid the panties there before running... ...Perhaps someone in this court remembers where he hid them?'
the judge spoke in
'Why... weren't they found in the car's exhaust pipe?'
apollo grinned and nodded
'...Exactly. By the way, I learned something yesterday... ...A very important piece of information. ...And I learned it from you, Prosecutor Gavin!'
klavier grinned as he re-told the encounter to the court, despite how nervous alita was, she kept up her smug act in her voice
'My, how interesting'
'While Ms. Tiala and the doctor were struggling... ...the panty-snatcher snuck into the Meraktis garage. From that time, until the time we found these... ...that car wouldn't start'
her eyes widen
'Wh...What...!?'
'That's why Dr. Meraktis had to use the noodle stand! It was the next closest thing he could think of!'
trucy said, apollo nodded as he gave alita an dirty look
'...Well, Ms. Tiala? This wraps your doubts up quite nicely, I think!'
alita gritted her teeth, ..but then, ..regained her composure, ...and admitted her defeat at last
'... So it does'