Morix: Web of Mistrust

Turnabout Masquerade, Part 17

November 23

Courtroom No. 6

11:15 AM

Victoria von Graye

"Collack Strann..." I murmured to myself as I desperately attempted to figure out where I had heard this name from. It took me longer than expected to find an answer, but when I did, I let out a gasp. "Wasn't that the defendant of a case that Mr. Morix and Chrysalis worked on earlier in the year? That was from when Prosecutor Burke was attacked, right?"

"That would be correct," Prosecutor Burke said from across the courtroom, her eyes set in a scowl. "I thought all this time that he wasn't related to what happened, but it seems that I was wrong. I was too hopeful to say that he wasn't at all connected with the case. He was proven innocent, but I don't think that this fact isn't going to remain true in my eyes for much longer."

"He was the one who hired the culprit," Detective Umber explained. "He told us that it was a security precaution in case things got heated. The one who he hired was loyal to him because of everything that he had done in past times as an agent of Interpol. That was the real reason that you were attacked. It was a way for him to get away with the information that he needed without at all fearing your further interference. At the time, he told us that it was all about self-defense and that this was something necessary in order for him to stay safe, but... I don't think that's the case anymore."

"No, it wasn't true," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke remarked with an intense frowned. "It was never honest. Instead, it was something that he said as a way of keeping himself from getting into trouble over everything that he had done. It's nice to have the truth out at long last, but... I must say that I didn't like that in the slightest."

"I guess that I should tell you about what happened with the recent case at the high school next," Detective Umber said. She took in a heavy breath before shaking her head. "The culprit was hired in that case as well... You see, he thought that if he could get somebody crucial to the agency in his grasp, then he could blackmail the people involved to not keep on with their work. He wanted the agency to crumble, and he wasn't afraid to go really far in order to accomplish such an ambition."

"Chrysalis was caught in the crossfire, but Nevada wound up interfering before anything could get to be too bad," I realized. "She was going to be the pawn that undid the agency if the culprit got his hands on her. Even though harm likely wouldn't have come to her at the time, it... It still wasn't a good thing. Nevada didn't know this at the time, but she did a lot to make sure that the plan of the mastermind didn't play out the way that he had been hoping."

"Yeah," Detective Umber nodded. "It... It was difficult, to say the least. When he realized that everything wasn't working, he started to act different. I think that he was seeing that his plans were falling apart, and I realized that there was something more to it than met the eye. He had originally been telling me and my brother that we had to keep on helping him for the sake of avenging the people who had been lost. He said that we had lost two younger sisters that we were never given the chance to know, and then our mother was killed. He was desperate to get rid of the agency because of their involvement with Oracle."

"How ironic it is that he went this far," Deirdre murmured. "We were the ones who solved the truth behind the case where his previous lover was killed, and yet, he still insisted on doing more harm to the agency. In fact, I doubt that he even noticed everything that he was doing. He was too caught up in his revenge to give us a second glance unless it was convenient for him. If he had to acknowledge that we had helped him to find some important information, then that would mean that his plans were destined to fall apart."

"Yeah... It's not exactly a good thing," Detective Umber commented with a nervous laugh, though that felt obvious. "I didn't want to see all of this happen. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't find a way to make all of this logical somehow. It was wrong regardless of how I looked at it, and I hated the idea of having to continue with something that was so blatantly harming other people. In fact, it made me feel sick to my stomach. The guilt started to eat me alive. He had manipulated us."