as soon as they walked through the door, apollo was overwhelmed by the scent of art supplies, other then that, it was a pretty alright-looking studio
'Wow, this looks like... it looks like a studio'
'It's like life imitating art... Or, maybe, it's the other way around... Hmm. But the tape on the ground there... It's a bit jarring...'
'apollo nodded as he they both took a step back from the tape'
'Yeah... Looks like we found our crime scene...'
'Apollo! Look at all those paintings!'
she said as she eyed them with awe, apollo gently held her back
'Hey, don't touch those'
'It's OK, I'm just looking. Huh? Apollo... Look at this one'
Apollo examined the painting with his eyes, it wasn't a half bad painting if he was gonna be honest
'...Looks half finished'
"You can still see the rough sketch underneath"
'But, that's odd. The rough part doesn't look like the rest of the painting at all'
'Yeah, good point'
"That is odd..."
apollo made a note of that in his notepad, he picked up this habit more and more and now he become a natural thing for him to do, trucy walked around the place, and did a little spin in her spot
'...All the paintings have a really different style, too'
'Ah! I thought I might find you two here'
the two turned their heads to see a very familiar face, trucy grinned ear to ear
'Ema! Long time no see!'
Ema grinned as she took a out a snack from her back
'Oh? Seems like I run into you far too often. I'll bet I know why you're here, too'
'You know about the trial simulation tomorrow?'
he asked, ema shrugged
'I've heard about it, sure. So Mr. Wright chose you, huh?'
Apollo sighed
'We don't even know what the case is about'
'Well, he was killed. The artist who owns this studio, that is. Mr. Drew Misham'
'Misham...'
trucy muttered, mostly to herself
'And his daughter was put under arrest
'Yeah... We just saw her at the detention center'
'It was funny, though. She seemed more like a victim than the kind of person who could commit murder'
she said, ema raised a brow at her
'You don't say. Not even by poisoning? That's how it was done, you know. Poisoning's a common way to get the job done, when the murderer is a woman'
her eyes widen
'P-Poisoning...?'
'Anyway, Mr. Wright told me you'd be coming. Feel free to take a look around. I'll just be over here. With my Snackoos'
"We can't talk to anyone related to the case this time around... ...Which means we'd better find out as much as we can here at the scene. ...Or else"
apollo wasn't sure of what to think of this entire situation, on one hand, his boss was making this entire thing very difficult for some weird reason, but on the other hand, he said that their was a reason behind everything he does, ..he just wasn't sure on what it could be, while examining and looking around the place, apollo noticed the coffee mug and thought it would be a good clue to start off with
'Ah, that's the victim's coffee mug'
ema said as she fixed up her glasses, trucy looked up up at her
'Ah ha! So the poison was in here! This is my first time seeing a real poisoned mug of coffee!'
'I would hope so'
she stared down at the two
'...... "Poisoned Coffee"...? Not exactly, actually'
'What do you mean?'
he asked, looked up at her now
'No traces of poison were found in the coffee'
'What!?'
Ema shrugged at trucy's expression, picking up a snack to her mouth
'...You'll have to figure out the rest yourself. I'm officially not on your side, after all'
apollo sighed, ..even though ema said that the coffee wasn't the reason as to why the murder happened, he still had a strange feeling about it
'Hey... There's a painting hidden back here!'
apollo looked over to see what trucy was talking about
'...Hey, you're right!'
she then had on a smirk
'What if it's embarrassing somehow, and he didn't want anyone to see it!?'
Apollo raised a brow at her
'You certainly seem pleased by the possibility'
Trucy giggled as she took out the hidden painting, her smirk quickly went into a disappointed frown
'Huh. It's so... normal!'
'That's hardly something to get mad about... ......'
he blinked as he examined the painting closer with his eyes
'Huh? What is it, Apollo?'
'Well, doesn't this painting look like... never mind'
trucy blinked at him and stared back at the canvas, she didn't see anything off about it
"I'd better get a professional opinion on this..."
Trucy looked over to the other paintings on display
'I wouldn't mind taking a closer look at those paintings. I just love oils! You know, how they're so thick? Is that the word?'
'...These paints are all dry. I'm just surprised at how different these all are'
'Yeah... And what's going on with this half-finished one?'
she said as he pointed at it, apollo almost felt like an art critique staring at all these paintings
'It must have been a work in progress. You can still see the rough sketch below...'
'...That's what's so weird. The sketched part doesn't really fit the finished parts'
he nodded, making a little mental note of that in his head
'I noticed'
"That is weird..."
Trucy walked over to ema to ask any questions that could possibly help them, apollo had his own doubts on how much ema was allowed to tell
'So, this, um, Drew Misham was some kind of artist?'
'Apparently. Did a lot of illustrations for books, I hear. Had a lot of female fans, too, for what it's worth'
'Oh? Well, I guess his stuff is kinda pretty. Like that oil painting over there, for instance'
she said, using her head to paint at it, apollo noticed how she grabbed for a snack
'Um... yeah. That... wasn't one of his illustrations, actually'
"Huh? So it was a standalone painting or something? Is that what she means?"
she shrugged as she popped a snack into her mouth
'He was an odd bird, Misham. Hadn't shown his face to anyone until the end'
'What do you mean, "to anyone"?'
apollo had to admit, trucy was good when it came to asking the right questions sometimes, maybe it was something her father had taught her
'He was always locked up here in this studio, apparently. His only connection to the outside world... ...was through letters he'd put in that letter box there'
'Letters? Do people still write letters?'
Trucy raised a brow at him
'What do you mean, Apollo?'
'I mean, when was the last time you wrote a real letter? Don't most people use e-mail and stuff these days?'
Ema shrugged again
'Not Mr. Misham. Couldn't stand technology, it seems. He did everything by mail'
'Maybe he thought that way was more artistic, you know?'
trucy pointed out, apollo nodded but he had his doubts on it
'In any case, the only person besides him allowed in here... ...was his daughter, Vera'
'Oh, you mean the killer?'
Apollo sighed
'...The "suspect", please'
'We took some fingerprints, of course. The only ones found in the room were Mr. Misham's and Vera's, basically'
'"Basically"...?'
'Actually, last night... ...Mr. Misham gave an interview to a reporter for the first time. It happened during the interview, apparently'
she explained
'His first interview ever...?'
Apollo quickly brought out his notepad again, double-clicking his pen
'Could you tell us a bit more about what happened the night of the murder?'
she shrugged
'Like I said. Last night was the first time someone from the "outside" came into this studio. I guess mysterious painters who never go outside make for good articles'
'And it just so happened that he died the night of his first interview...?'
'...At around 9:00 PM every night... ...Vera always made him a cup of coffee. Last night, he drank his usual coffee, and suddenly became violently ill...'
'...And died? She poisoned him on the night of his interview!? Wouldn't the reporter see?'
trucy said
'He wasn't near Mr. Misham when she brought her father his coffee. He was checking out some equipment in the back of the room. ...Supposedly, that's why she didn't notice he was there. It was the reporter who called the police, in fact'
'Wait, but why is she the suspect? If anyone is suspicious, it's the reporter!'
apollo pointed out, good, he had least one suspect he could pin on someone else
'Yet the reporter never got near Mr. Misham's coffee. Even Vera acknowledges that'
"Regardless, I want to know more about this "reporter""
before apollo thought to ask about that, he wanted to know more about his client vera
'So, this woman, Vera... She's Mr. Misham's daughter, right?'
he asked
'Yep. A real sickly girl, ever since she was little. Hardly ever went outside'
'She did kind of give off a withdrawn sort of aura...'
trucy explained, not sure on how else to describe it
'She was home-schooled by her father, apparently. It was quite a scene when they took her to the detention center. She was screaming about how she'd die "if they took her outside"'
apollo blinked at that, not sure on how to process the thought
'That... does sound like a scene'
'In the end, she agreed to leave if she was allowed her "good luck charm" for company'
'Her "good luck charm"...?'
'Apparently, she has this charm that magically gives her the courage to go outside'
Apollo felt his eye twitch in irritation
"...Why can't I ever get a normal client?"
his first client was his boss, who was mysterious and down-right terrifying, his second client was a mob-bosses son who wanted to be convicted as a criminal, his third client was a 14 year old piano player who was just lying to him from the very start, and now, he had to deal with this?!!
'But why would a shut-in daughter kill her own dad?'
'Don't look at me'
ema said as she crunched on a snack-roo
'So, about the poison... It was found to be in his coffee, right...?'
she shook her head
'No... Not precisely'
trucy narrowed her eyes at her
'Not precisely? What does that mean?'
"It means "see for yourself", I think"