Case - 2 : The Court.
I looked at the time out of the corner of my vision.
7 : 50 AM.
Right on time.
"We are here sir!" Raivesh, under the surprised gazes of everyone, stopped right on the front lawn of the main entrance of the courthouse.
Keeping my embarrassment in check I exited the PTV and left some parting words with Raivesh.
"Thank you."
"No worries sir! I am happy to help the law!"
'Oh. It seems that he too has realized who I am.'
'Well at least he doesn't treat me like an alien.'
"I hope you will call me again sir!"
"I will. I will." I nodded and set off towards the main entrance that shifted into the left arm of Lady Justice.
"Sergeant!" The cadets guarding the entrance on both sides saluted me as I nodded back to them and pushed through the crowd in the corridor in direction of the largest courtroom of the building.
"Dave!" Anneliese shouted for me as I was walking past her and held the sleeve of my shirt.
The two cadets who were guarding her looked at me with surprise for a second and were about to salute at me but I stopped them with the wave of my hand. I didn't want to get recognized and crowded around when I was already late.
"Oh, you're here. Good stay here until they call you inside." I spoke while trying not to get pushed because of the crowd of people that wanted to get inside.
"Yes, they explained everything to me. I hope you break a leg out there!"
"Break a leg? Why!?"
"It's supposed to be an old saying. Break a leg. I think it means to do well or good luck."
"Well then I hope you break a leg too." I nodded and left Anneliese with the crowd outside that was trying to stuff itself into the visitor section of the large courtroom.
As I moved I brought up a projection shield to mask away my face so that I wouldn't get slowed down in the already crowded halls of the courthouse.
Upon entering the room, an atmosphere that was comforting and professional enveloped me.
Several pairs of eyes turned toward me but I paid them no heed and walked to my spot on the prosecutors council.
People were mostly silent and only spoke in soft whispers, but their tone was loud enough for me to know they were speaking about me.
Most were excited about the court case that was about to begin while the rest had become tense after I took off my projection field, no doubt having bad memories of the times I confronted them about their not so out-in-the-light business dealings.
Sitting down on my chair, my attendant spoke to me.
"Greeting's Sergeant Dave."
The voice shook me to my core.
'What the heck is Gracewell doing here?'
"What are you doing?" I questioned her point blank.
"Did you forget Sergeant? You gave me custody of the two people who were our top suspects?"
"Ah shit."
"Language Mister Dave." A third voice near the head of the room, the judge interrupted.
Looking at the other familiar voice that sounded out to me I looked up at the person I dreaded seeing in any case ever.
'Justia Blackwood.'
The Blackwood family was a curious one.
The thing that set them apart from most other families that had a family name was that they were usually up to no good.
Justia was the current head of the family, and so we'd each had our own share of the other during my time as a police officer.
"Ah..shit."
"Language Mr. Dave. Once again, I implore you to mind your language, or I will not only bar you from representing the city's forces in this case but also from entering the courtroom on the next ones."
"..." I nearly vomited blood with how unfair the warning was but kept myself composed.
The worst thing I could do was let him know that he was getting into my head.
As soon as I connected to the inhouse network, a sharp notification appeared in front of me.
DING DING
[The court session is beginning.]
Taping it away, I looked back at the Judge, waiting for him to begin and he did by slamming his gavel for attention.
"Order. I request the participants of this court to remain silent and to make sure all external interface items are switched off or placed in silent mode."
He mentioned the last part after looking explicitly at me, prompting me to begin fiddling with the settings of my AR glasses to make it silent.
"All those who cannot follow these instructions please leave immediately as there will not be any warnings given to those who break the rules henceforth."
"..." Well it wasn't like I had any remaining anyway.
"The court may now proceed to examine today's case, Accused Revanche and Vera vs the State, on the murder of Neuinio Waltinger."
"The state may present their case."
I was about to get up but decided it would be better for the case if Gracewell did this instead and so I sent my preparatory files to her.
At least it was fun to watch her surprised unbelievable look as she looked at me like I'd done something terrible. But when I lightly pointed at Blackwood using my chin, she understood that I was doing this for the best.
With a soft sigh, Gracewell got up from the table and proceeded to communicate to the Judge that she would be the lead prosecutor in this case.
Once Justia accepted the change, Gracewell began her introduction.
"Greetings to all those present here, the honorable judge, the attorney council, the jury and to the one and only Sergeant Dave."
The public sitting in the viewing area all clapped but were immediately silenced by Justia as he slammed his gavel.
"Order, please maintain order in court!"
'So much for no warnings.'
The claps died down and Gracewell continued.
"This case begins with Sergeant Dave who was kidnapped by thugs from the outskirts as they petitioned for his help when they felt they were wrongly accused of a murder they claim they did not commit."
Everyone in the courtroom looked at me incredulously.
"Sergeant Dave picked up the case then and has arrested two of the lead suspects in his investigation of the murder of Neuinio Waltinger."
With the introduction finished Gracewell walked back down to the prosecutor's council beside me and sat down.
"Good job." I whispered while Gracewell just nodded.
"Now the Defense Attorney if you may please."
A lanky man with thin fingers took the stage as he spoke in an unbelievably slow speed that might put people to sleep if they heard him for long enough.
"Greetings...I am, Morpheus Argentum...As you've already heard, Sergeant Dave was kidnapped before the case began, and he was forced to take up the case… when he was not in his right mind...perhaps we should all...keep this in mind...as we proceed."
"You may now proceed with presenting your case." Justicia said while Morpheus walked back to his chair.
"Objection your honor." Gracewell interjected while I listened to what she was going to say.
With a nod from Justicia, Gracewell proceeded.
"Although Sergeant Dave had been kidnapped, it wasn't something that happened out of nowhere. Sergeant Dave was investigating the string of police force Cadets going missing recently and hence allowed himself to be kidnapped which he solved along with this one too."
'I did? Why didn't I know about this!?'
The audience watched in amazement as they looked at me with admiration that had increased beyond what would normally be possible.
"...objection your honor."
"Granted." Justia said as Morpheus stood up slowly and moved towards the center of the stand to speak.
"Sergeant Dave...visited bars in a random fashion...for two years...he was drunk dead on the night, I would like to admit them into evidence...your honor."
Justicia looked at all the evidence presented and then moved for the evidences to be admitted by slamming his gavel.
"Objection your honor." Gracewell stood up again as Justicia nodded.
"The reason Sergeant Dave had been an alcoholic for the last two years was because of his divorce. But since the beginning of this case, Sergeant Dave has turned a new leaf and is sober. The records for the past week can be requested as proof. It was also this drunken state that made him the prime target for being kidnapped since all the other kidnapped cadets had a similar routine for drinking alcohol."
'...aren't there too many drunkards in the police HQ then? What are we even doing if all we do is produce drunk officers for others to kidnap?'
"Do you have anything to add Mr. Argentum?" Justicia asked since it was already becoming hectic with the amount of time their back and forth objections were taking.
"...No."
'Ok, so this is an opening victory for us. Good job Gracewell.'
"Would you like to continue Ms. Gracewell?"
"Yes. The crux of this case is the fact that Mr. Waltinger, an account handler that worked in Suimanto banks as an area manager was murdered. The trouble began with the full autopsy report that was submitted to the Police. In its report the Coroner AI states that the death occurred due to brain force trauma which clearly is a mistake-"
"...objection your honor."
Everyone turned to look at Morpheus as he spoke in the same calm tone he'd spoken in till now.
"How can such a thing be a...mistake...when the official report states otherwise? Is the AI wrong?"
Questioning the validity of an AI was a frowned upon question because it meant that all the previous cases that used the same AI had to be questioned and retested too.
But answering his question Gracewell explained. "It is simple. The GAI is not wrong about its autopsy report, but is wrong because it did not have all the information about the situation before making the report. If you look carefully at the AI generated report the time it was generated was immediately after the accident and was the report generated by using the first responder's observations as a basis. And the first responders have clearly stated that they think Mr. Waltinger died of an aneurysm, the closest thing that falls under death by having a brain aneurysm is brain trauma."
"..." Everyone looked at the image that was being displayed using a holographic projector. It was the picture that was attached to the report. Waltinger was sitting limp in his bathrobe while streaks of blood emptied out of his nose, eyes and ears, mixed with brain fluid that had leaked out of his head.
"There are clearly two streaks of liquid in this media, one is blood and the other can only be brain fluid. This suggests that Mr. Waltinger was sitting in his chair in a relaxed fashion when the murder occurred."
Everyone looked at Morpheus to see if he had any objection to the image but he did not.
'Hmm..why did he object to such a simple thing? Does he plan on leading us somewhere?'
Gracewell continued, "Your honor I would like to admit media files six and seven into the case evidence. They are media that Sergeant Dave acquired based on his investigation."
"...objection your honor." Morpheus interrupted but this time I could guess what he had objected for. It was probably because I was 'officially' suspended from my post during these interviews with Vera and Revanche.
But I knew of a way to squeeze myself out of this tight spot. Even if he brought on the witness I think he was going to. So, I just nodded at Gracewell to let Morpheus carry on with this objection since it was going to be beneficial to us.
'Let's see what he has in store for us.'