The source of my strength

The dark abyss

A/N: This chapter has a trigger warning for discussions of suicide, as well as depicting an attempt. Which just says everything about this arc in general. It's time for mystery!

Chapter 25: The dark abyss

The silence that followed Hugh's statement was suffocating. To be sure, it finally explained Logan's mindset all throughout the case. But suicide even as a concept was one that was so difficult to grasp. It also raised the question of just how this was related to the case at hand.

Ring of saliva added to the Court Record.

Ema could tell that everyone had been badly surprised by this result. Still, she couldn't afford for the case to grind to a halt here. So she decided to be the first to keep the conversation going.

"While you're all here, I need everyone to follow me."

Ema lead the group into the alley, before stopping right in front of a side alley with an open gate.

"This is where the culprit is thought to have lost the police," Ema explained. "The gate you see on this opening was closed on the day of the crime, but glove markings were found on top of this gate. This likely means Athena's shooter climbed over this gate to get away. The new evidence I found confirms this."

This caught Apollo's attention. "So that's what you called us here for. Where did the culprit go after entering this side alley?"

Ema dug around in her bag, taking out a map and handing it to Apollo. "Beats me. This alleyway has so many side paths, as you can see on this map. All the shooter had to do was enter a few of them then choose an exit."

Observing the map, Apollo noticed that there were several openings into the alley along the same street.

Alley map added to the Court Record.

Next Ema gestured to a trashcan beyond the gate. "Previous investigation searched through this alley but couldn't find anything. On a hunch I searched through that trashcan and found something at the bottom."

She pointed to a large blue bag next to the trashcan. The bag was open, revealing a black hoodie inside.

"That jacket. Does it belong to the shooter?" Hugh asked.

"More than likely. The head area is soaked with sweat, and while I couldn't get any D.N.A from the sweat it does indicate the person wearing it was running a fair distance. More importantly, look inside the hood."

The defense team did as Ema said, finding a single blond hair with a green tip inside.

"Is that hair dyed?" Juniper asked.

"It is. It belongs to a man named Michael Brash," Apollo said.

Ema shuddered. "I recognized it as well. I ran a test on it and it is in fact Michael's. I thought I'd seen the last of the creep when he was arrested."

Large bag added to the Court Record

Blond hair added to the Court Record

"Ema, I think you can start to connect the dots here," Apollo said.

Ema nodded. "It's starting to look like Michael is the true culprit of this case, just like he was back then. Let's go find him. I'd really like to give him a piece of my mind."

Apollo grinned at his good friend. "Thanks for all your help. We couldn't have gotten this far without you."

"Is that so? You've been a b-a-d girl, Ema."

Robin and Detective Marsh stepped out from around corners on the other side of the alley, both glaring furiously at Ema.

"I was wondering how Detective Marsh could miss something like the footprints in the plastic strawberry," Robin said. "So I asked him if he could think of how that was possible."