January 26
Courtroom No. 1
12:30 PM
Deirdre Brigit
When we got back into the courtroom, the people in the gallery were chatting as obnoxiously as they always had. I looked over to Mr. Morix, a frown on my face. I still didn't understand any of what he had been hinting at out in the lobby. His words had been cryptic and vague. I had grown used to him being open with me after the case with Interpol the year before, but now, he was going right back to where we had started. It was frustrating, to say the least.
Judge Diaphan smacked her gavel down on the bench before her. "Court is back in session for the trial of Aria Claris," she announced. "Is the defense ready?"
I nodded. "The defense is ready," I replied.
"The prosecution is also ready," Prosecutor Lin chimed in, a small smile on her face. She had a triumphant look to her eyes, which already had me nervous. If the witness had some evidence that worked in the favor of the prosecution, it was going to be extra difficult to wrap things up. I would have to find a way to figure this out no matter what, and I knew I would get there eventually, but I didn't want to take any longer than we already had.
"Did the prosecution speak with the witness?" Judge Diaphan questioned, looking over to Prosecutor Lin and Prosecutor Burke. "I hope he arrived in time to testify..."
"We did talk to him, as a matter of fact. He's here and ready to talk to us about what he saw the day of the murder," Prosecutor Burke nodded. "If there are no objections, the prosecution would like to call him to the witness stand to testify about his involvement at the scene of the murder."
"The defense has no objections," I said quickly, eager to hear what he had to say. If he attempted to defend himself, then we would have proof to lash back at him with. All we had to do was test his fingerprints and see if they matched those found on the switch of the basketball goal. Plus, there was Ms. Claris' bottle to consider. If it was evidence only known by her and the killer, then we could catch him if he slipped up about it. It would only take one misstep for him to fall into our trap.
"Go on, Prosecutor Burke," Judge Diaphan instructed.
"The prosecution calls Denton Barr to the witness stand," Prosecutor Burke announced.
A man appeared at the stand a few seconds later. He had dark hair that swept low over his face. His hands were shoved in his pockets. I could see him messing with some cylindrical object in one pocket, but I couldn't tell what any of the details were. He had a baggy jacket on that hid most of his figure. He had sweatpants on as well. They were large and sagged, hiding even more of his body. His tennis shoes were ragged and torn up. Judging by the way he was dressed, he hadn't been expecting to come and testify in a courtroom. That didn't surprise me with what we had heard from the prosecution up until this point.
"Please state your name and occupation for the court, witness," Judge Diaphan demanded, her gaze harsh as she regarded him. I could tell she was suspicious of him, but I couldn't tell what she thought he did. If she thought he had pulled the switch, then she was certainly hiding her enmity for a potential murderer rather well. Granted, we hadn't proved yet that he was guilty, but I still know I would have been a bit more fired up than she was.
"Denton Barr," the man responded. He looked up at me and Mr. Morix, causing me to realize his eyes were a dark brown. He glared at us, looking ready to lunge for our throats. "I'm currently unemployed, though I'm going to interviews where possible."
"Mr. Barr, we have reason to believe that you changed the position of the basketball goal at the time of the crime. The person who flipped the switch on the basketball is under suspicion of committing a crime," Judge Diaphan remarked, still frowning darkly. Perhaps she wasn't hiding her anger as well as I had thought. "We require your testimony to ensure that you did or did not change the position of the goal. Be honest. The court will discover the truth if you are lying."
"You don't need to be so harsh with me. I know how court works," Mr. Barr grumbled with a roll of his eyes. He already wasn't turning out to be very likeable. And here I thought it couldn't get more obvious that he had something to do with the crime...
"If you really know so much about court, then go on and tell us about what you saw the day of the crime. How about that?" Prosecutor Lin asked, a friendly smile on her face. I had no idea how she could possibly be so excited in this situation. We had a potential murderer on our hands, and yet she could still manage to keep smiling.
"Maybe I will," Mr. Barr scoffed. "You don't need to get snarky with me."
"Before we start the testimony, I want to know what you were doing at the crime scene to begin with," Mr. Morix frowned. "You said you were unemployed, so why were you there?"
"The teacher leading the graduation ceremony asked me to help out with the setup. We're old friends, you see," Mr. Barr explained. "I was helping to put the decorations in the right place and all that."
"I see... Alright. I understand. Please, go on and testify about what you did in the gymnasium shortly after the murder," Mr. Morix instructed. "Any information you can give us about the basketball goal would be much appreciated."
"Alright, alright, I'm on it," Mr. Barr nodded.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ My Time in the Gymnasium ~
--"I was called to the school to help with setting up the graduation, as I already mentioned."
-"I headed to the gym to grab a few more supplies around the time of the murder."
-"I pulled the switch when I noticed the basketball goal was tucked up."
-"I didn't think it was supposed to be flat against the ceiling, so I returned it to its normal position."
-"I swear, I wouldn't have done that if I knew it would make me into a murder suspect."
-"There's nothing suspicious going on here. I just though the switch needed to be pulled."
-"I don't think you can hold this against me when it was an honest mistake."
"You pulled the switch because you thought the basketball goal was in the wrong position," I frowned. I didn't really buy what he was trying to sell us. I had a feeling something darker was going on behind the scenes. I didn't exactly have any proof, but judging by the way Mr. Morix was looking, he felt the same way.
"Can you blame me for thinking that way? I don't know much about the school. I thought the goal was supposed to be down when it wasn't being used," Mr. Barr shrugged neutrally. "It was an honest mistake. I don't think you can hold it against me."
"Our previous witness, Ms. Blake, saw him walking into the gymnasium at the time of the murder. Well technically, it was fifteen minutes after the fact since the defendant was already gone, off to wash the paint off," Prosecutor Lin announced. "We've found the one who pulled the switch at the time of the murder. It seems he did it because he didn't realize it was supposed to be set up differently."
"The defense still wishes to perform its cross-examination," Mr. Morix declared with a frown. "I have a few questions for the witness."
"As do I," I agreed with a firm nod.
"If we know for sure that he flipped the switch, all we need to do is attempt to prove intent. I doubt this could have been that innocent of a mistake. I think something darker is working behind the scenes here," Mr. Morix whispered to me.
"Plus, it seems to go against what we heard from Ms. Blake. I think you're right about something else going on," I nodded.
"Defense, please begin your cross-examination," Judge Diaphan announced.
"I'll get right to it, Your Honor," I nodded.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ My Time in the Gymnasium ~
--"I was called to the school to help with setting up the graduation, as I already mentioned."
-"I headed to the gym to grab a few more supplies around the time of the murder."
-"I pulled the switch when I noticed the basketball goal was tucked up."
-"I didn't think it was supposed to be flat against the ceiling, so I returned it to its normal position."
-"I swear, I wouldn't have done that if I knew it would make me into a murder suspect."
-"There's nothing suspicious going on here. I just though the switch needed to be pulled."
-"I don't think you can hold this against me when it was an honest mistake."
"Objection!"
"I don't think that this mistake was as innocent as you're claiming it to be," I frowned. "If you went into the gymnasium at the time of the crime, you would have noticed something incredibly crucial... You would have smelled the blood from the commentary room."
"The blood from the commentary room?" Mr. Barr echoed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Our previous witness, Ms. Clarith Blake, could smell blood coming from the commentary room, the scene of the crime, even from outside the gymnasium. It alerted her to the fact that something was wrong. She called the police since the smell was so strong," I explained. "And yet, you entered the gymnasium and flipped the switch without inhaling something like that? It was powerful enough to prompt a call to emergency services. I doubt you could have missed something so obvious."
Mr. Barr flinched at my voice. "Well... Um, you see... I can't smell anything," he explained hurriedly. "I've never been able to smell anything."
"Objection!"
"I would appreciate it if you didn't lie to us, witness," Prosecutor Burke cut in. Her tone was condescending and low, making my heart pound a little faster in my chest.
"Uh oh. He's incurred the wrath of Polly. Good luck to him if he wants to get out of his one alive," murmured Mr. Morix from beside me. I held back a snicker to focus on the action taking place. Ms. Burke didn't seem too happy about him lying, and that was putting it lightly.
"We happen to have important files on every person involved with this case, and we would have known it if you were unable to smell anything. I would rather you tell the truth than continue to spout nonsense as if there's no tomorrow. If you lie to us, we will find out about it. In the end, it's inevitable. Why don't you make things easier on yourself, and on all of us, and tell the truth about that smell?" Prosecutor Burke asked. Her voice sent shivers sprinting up and down my spine rapidly. I was glad I wasn't on the receiving end of her rage. I didn't know how Mr. Barr was keeping his cool so well.
Speaking of Mr. Barr, he had his arms crossed. He tapped his foot and glanced around the room aimlessly and silently. He didn't say anything for a solid thirty seconds, leaving everyone in the courtroom to stare at him expectantly.
"Mr. Barr!" Prosecutor Burke finally roared, slamming her hands against the bench before her. Prosecutor Lin's cool exterior deteriorated for but a moment, showing her expression of shock at the sudden yell. "We won't tolerate your procrastination much longer! Speak! Now!!"
"I did smell the blood," he finally admitted. "I just didn't think anything of it at the time."
"You didn't think anything of it?" I asked in shock. "Why not? Anyone would be sent into a panic if they smelled blood, right? Why didn't you panic?"
"I figured it wasn't anything serious. Think about it. You can sometimes smell blood even if you've just gotten a cut on your arm. I thought I had opened a cut or something while I was setting up the decorations," Mr. Barr shrugged. "I didn't think it was something as dark as murder."
"If you thought you had cut yourself accidentally, wouldn't you have felt it?" Mr. Morix questioned.
"I did feel it," Mr. Barr explained simply. He pulled up one sleeve and showed deep cuts on his lower arm. I found myself flinching looking at them. They were certainly new and had likely been made over the course of the past day or so.
"What happened to cause your cuts?" Prosecutor Lin asked. "I would like you to testify about that next, witness."
Mr. Barr shrugged. "Alright, I guess. I suppose it won't hurt."
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ The Cuts on my Arm ~
-"The cuts formed yesterday while we were setting up."
-"I had been trying to put a backdrop up for taking pictures at the time."
-"The wooden backdrop fell on me and opened a few cuts on the way down."
-"It gave me a few splinters too, but I managed to get them out with some tweezers and elbow grease."
-"I think I might have bled onto the floor a little bit in the process."
-"See? Nothing suspicious about smelling blood and finding it normal as can be."
"I think his desperation is showing. He's blatantly lying about this," Mr. Morix hissed to me. "The cuts came from somewhere else."
"I think I know what you're talking about. There's something wrong here," I nodded.
"If there are no objections, it's time for the cross-examination," Judge Diaphan announced. "The defense certainly seems excited about talking to him."
"We'll get right onto it," I told her. Mr. Barr's testimony had a glaring contradiction in it, and I was already sure how to point it out. There was only one place he could have bled at the college, and it was going to be a nail in his coffin.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ The Cuts on my Arm ~
-"The cuts formed yesterday while we were setting up."
-"I had been trying to put a backdrop up for taking pictures at the time."
-"The wooden backdrop fell on me and opened a few cuts on the way down."
-"It gave me a few splinters too, but I managed to get them out with some tweezers and elbow grease."
-"I think I might have bled onto the floor a little bit in the process."
-"See? Nothing suspicious about smelling blood and finding it normal as can be."
"Objection!"
"There is something very suspicious about you smelling blood, actually," I frowned. "You said that you bled onto the floor because of your cuts, yes?"
"I did," Mr. Barr nodded. "What about it?"
"You weren't here earlier when we got this test result back, but it's still important. There was no blood found in the school anywhere aside from the crime scene," I told him. "You couldn't have possibly been cut that badly by the wooden backdrop since no blood was found to match your large cuts!"
The gallery began chattering. I turned to Mr. Morix with a frown. "I don't know where this is going to take us, but I'm determined to find out. I have a sneaking suspicion this blood is going to lead us to the real culprit, and I think Mr. Barr is going to be related to them."
"It wouldn't surprise me at this point if he was the culprit. After all, there's only one place he could have possibly bled and not been noticed, and that certainly points to him having done it," Mr. Morix nodded.
"Order!" Judge Diaphan shouted. "If the witness couldn't have bled anywhere else, then where did his cut open?"
"It's simple. His cut opened at the scene of the crime," I explained. "That's the only place any blood was found in the school on the day of the murder. His blood could have mixed with the victim's which would make it out to be normal to any outsider who didn't know any better."
"I cleaned up the blood after cutting myself!" Mr. Barr cried. "That could explain your precious 'contradiction' easily!"
"Even if you had cleaned it up, Luminol testing would have revealed that blood had been there in the first place," I pointed out. "You can't hide the truth here. If you bled anywhere the day of the murder, it would have had to be at the crime scene."
"If you look closer at the picture of the crime scene, you can see something in the pocket of the victim," Mr. Morix told me. "Look at her pocket for a moment. You can see a thin outline of a rectangle. I would be willing to bet that outline is an indicator of a pocket knife."
"Let's think this through for a moment. If the culprit attacked Ms. Rensicks with a gun, and she had a knife on her for self-defense, she could have lashed out in return. If the cuts were blocked, they would have wound up on the same location on the arm where Mr. Barr's cuts are. Afterwards, the culprit could have put the knife back into her pocket to make it seem like it had never been used. Unless all the blood was tested, then nobody would know for sure if it was all hers or had some blood from a second source," I murmured. "It all comes together too well to be a coincidence. I'm positive this is the case. There's no way this could be false, right?"
"It would just require grabbing the knife and checking to make sure it had traces of blood on it," Mr. Morix nodded. "If the blood didn't belong to the victim, that would make it all come together even more perfectly. I'm sure we could ask Detective Erikson to take care of it. He isn't testifying now. I feel bad for dragging him to and from the crime scene so much, but the truth seems to require it... Unless we have another way of proving that he did it. I wonder if we should use the evidence that Ms. Claris mentioned to us."
"I think we should have him testify about his excuse. If he slips up, then we can catch him in his own lies. Ms. Claris has a point about him not knowing about the bottle. I don't know about you, but I've noticed a cylinder in his pocket. If it's the bottle Ms. Claris claimed was her evidence, we can prove that he was at the scene of the crime. Nobody could have taken the bottle except for the culprit," I told him with a small smile. "I don't know how we can possibly bait him into talking about it though..."
"Let's ask him for details about the time when he flipped the switch. That was when Ms. Claris saw the bottle in his hand. Maybe we can bluff and make him slip up," Mr. Morix suggested. "If we claim that the evidence was, for example, a cloth instead of a bottle, he'd go to correct us, which is when we'd attack."
"In that case, let's do it," I nodded. "But how are we going to get the prosecution in on our bluff?"
"I can handle it," Mr. Morix assured me. He looked up and at the prosecution. He met eyes with Prosecutor Lin and mouthed something I thought looked like 'trust me'. She hesitated before nodding. Confusion was still written on her face, but she didn't say anything, shooting a suspicious glance at Mr. Barr instead.
"The defense would like to have the witness testify about his flipping of the switch once again," Mr. Morix announced next.
"You're going from accusing me of murder to talking about a basketball goal?!" Mr. Barr shouted angrily. "What are you thinking?!"
"I'm thinking you're lucky we aren't pursuing this matter further at the moment," I told him with a tight frown. "Now, if you would be so kind, please tell the court in more detail about what happened when you flipped the switch at the time of the murder."
"I hope you know what you're doing, defense," Judge Diaphan murmured under her breath with a shake of her head. She seemed to be surprised by the sudden change of mood as well, but she didn't ask about it either. Perhaps she had seen Mr. Morix conversing with Prosecutor Lin and was going to go along with it...
"Please begin your testimony now, witness," I instructed of Mr. Barr. He sighed angrily in response before speaking.
~ Witness Testimony ~
~ Flipping the Switch ~
-"I already told you, I flipped the switch because I thought it was supposed to be the other way."
-"We went over this before. It's nothing criminal. It was innocent."
-"I don't understand why you're finding me suspicious."
-"I went in, flipped the switch, and went out. There was nothing more to it."
-"You're being overly harsh with me, accusing me of murder over a simple cut."
-"You have no evidence I was at the crime scene. You have no evidence at all!"
-"I flipped the switch and did nothing else!"
"He sure is getting confrontational," I murmured.
"I suppose that's what happens when you accuse someone of murder," Mr. Morix shrugged.
"We should go on and begin our cross-examination," I told him. "We don't have much to talk about regarding his testimony."
"Then go on and begin," Judge Diaphan instructed with a nod.
~ Cross-Examination ~
~ Flipping the Switch ~
-"I already told you, I flipped the switch because I thought it was supposed to be the other way."
-"We went over this before. It's nothing criminal. It was innocent."
-"I don't understand why you're finding me suspicious."
-"I went in, flipped the switch, and went out. There was nothing more to it."
-"You're being overly harsh with me, accusing me of murder over a simple cut."
-"You have no evidence I was at the crime scene. You have no evidence at all!"
-"I flipped the switch and did nothing else!"
"Objection!"
"You know, we heard from the other witness, Clarith Blake, that something else did happen relating to the murder and the switch being flipped," I remarked, a frown on my face. I hoped my poker face was alright, as I didn't know how we would catch him in his lies if this failed.
"What?" Mr. Barr asked. He clenched one hand into a fist and slammed it down onto the witness stand. "You had better start talking now!"
"The previous witness saw you entering the gymnasium near the time of the murder. Ms. Blake claimed that you entered the gymnasium with a cloth in your hand," I explained. Prosecutor Lin smirked from across the court before whispering to Prosecutor Burke to explain the plan. Prosecutor Burke nodded after catching on, and I could see a smirk playing on her lips too.
"A cloth? Why in the world would I be carrying a cloth into the gymnasium? There was no cloth," Mr. Barr growled. "She must have been mistaken when looking at me. I didn't have a cloth."
"If she didn't see a cloth, then what it is that you had?" Mr. Morix asked.
"I grabbed a bottle!" Mr. Barr snapped. "There was no cloth! It was always a bottle!"
Everybody was silent after he shouted that. Pride rose in my chest. Our bluff was working perfectly well. All we had to do now was show Ms. Claris' testimony regarding the bottle, and we would be home free!
Unfortunately, Prosecutor Lin didn't seem to want that to happen. She smiled to herself before speaking to Mr. Barr. "She told us that you had gotten it from the supplies in the gymnasium where all the decorations were being kept," she smirked. "Is that true?"
Mr. Barr growled. "No, of course not! The victim gave it to me!" he shouted.
Silence reigned once again. Prosecutor Lin broke through the tension by snickering. "You know, we came to that conclusion during the previous segment of the trial... We heard it wasn't from the supplies used for the decorations... If you got the bottle from the victim, where did you receive it and at what time?"
Mr. Barr was silent for a moment. He seemed to be piecing together phrases in his head, a frown on his face.
"You know, we talked to the defendant and the owner of the bottle during the recess," I commented. It seemed our plan was going well. We were tripping him up by stating falsities regarding the bottle. All it would take was for him to correct us on something he shouldn't have known about. Victory was in sight now.
"What did she say?" Mr. Barr asked.
"She told us what was inside the bottle," I explained. "Did you happen to hear about that from the victim at all when she supposedly gave it to you?"
"It's none of your business! I don't know what you're trying to do, but it isn't going to work!" Mr. Barr shouted.
"The bottle had sword-cleaning fluid in it," I told him. "She also told us that it was important evidence involving what she asked the victim to analyze. Did you hear anything about that before coming into the courtroom, or should we explain it?"
"No," Mr. Barr said bluntly.
"The motive we proposed for the defendant committing the crime involved this piece of evidence," Prosecutor Lin began. "She originally gave it to the victim to analyze for fingerprints. We thought that she had grown murderous when the victim refused to return it to her, but we didn't know what the evidence was."
"She didn't explain what the evidence was, but we believe it was taken from the crime scene after the victim died," I went on. "She told us during the recess that the evidence was a bottle of fluid she wanted tested for prints."
"It's not just any bottle of fluid," Mr. Barr grumbled.
"It has what inside then?" Mr. Morix prompted.
"It's none of your business!" Mr. Barr shouted, slamming one hand against the witness stand before him. "Just leave me alone already! I'm sick of all your pestering and nagging! Leave me be!"
"The victim had the bottle with her up until her death. She didn't give it to anybody else," I said firmly. "If she had it on her, she couldn't have given it to you. You would have had to have taken it by force, say, if you murdered her."
"I didn't try to get my hands on that damn sword fluid!" Mr. Barr exclaimed.
"How could you possibly know that's what was inside?" I questioned. "You wouldn't know what was inside unless you took it yourself since the victim wouldn't have given something up that wasn't even hers. It doesn't make any logical sense."
"Just shut up already! I'm sick of talking to you!" Mr. Barr cried out. He slammed his hands on the witness stand once more. "I didn't even want to come here! I wouldn't have bothered coming to testify if I knew it was going to get me accused of murder!"
"You know, we already have you caught here, Mr. Barr," Mr. Morix cut in with a small smirk. "Think about it. All we need to do is analyze the blood found at the scene of the murder and see if some of it didn't belong to the victim. All we need to do is see if any blood was found on that mysterious object seen in the victim's pocket in the photo of the crime scene. All we need to do is see if the knife in the victim's pocket matches up with the cuts on your lower arm."
I nodded to myself, catching onto what he was doing. "He's right. It would only take a short forensics test. Plus, you knew what was inside the bottle when you shouldn't have. You flipped the switch to lower the basketball goal. You covered up the bullet hole in the wall."
Mr. Morix let out a small gasp. "You know, the bullet that caused the bullet hole was never found at the scene of the crime... What if it was removed from the wall by the culprit when he went to lower the basketball goal? He could cover the hole and get rid of the bullet at the same time. Of course, letting something like that linger around could be bad... With the right tests on the bullet, it would be easy to figure out where it had come from," he commented.
"So, the culprit would have kept the bottle and the bullet," I nodded. "That being said, you seem to have something in your pocket, and it looks to be the outline of a small bottle, just the same as the one described by the previous witness... Isn't that quite the coincidence?"
"Shut up! Shut up already!" Mr. Barr shouted, his hands clawing at his head. "I'm tired of listening to you people and all of your lies! Stop talking!"
"It wouldn't take long to prove your guilt," I commented. "It would only take one forensics test or a search of what you have on you right now... Why don't you make this easier on yourself and hand over the bottle you have hiding in your pocket?"
"It belongs to one person, and unless your name is Aria Claris, it's not yours," Mr. Morix told him with a shake of his head. "I'm disappointed. Now, why don't you hand over the bottle and the bullet and make this easier on all of us? Maybe then you'll get off on a lighter sentence."
I looked to Mr. Barr and watched as he slammed his hands against the witness stand once again. When I saw the look in his eye, I knew we had done it. He was about to be proven guilty.
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Wattpad decided to mess up the structure of this book hhhhhhh
-Digital