Case - 2 : Finale.

"Worry not Ms. Gracewell, the court will do as it sees fit and deliver justice. But please understand, this is the court's business, not yours." Justia spoke solemnly as he motioned for her to sit down.

The court broke into a crackle of whispers at the overbearing remark as Justia was forced to use his gavel to deliver an announcement in the short silence that ensued.

*Slam* *Slam*

"The court will take time for a fifteen-minute recess and will convene once again to hear the second part of this case, where the Prosecutors and the Defense will both present their arguments on how they think the murder was committed."

Getting up to leave to his private chamber, Justia put away his gavel and picked up his coat hanging on the chair behind him as I watched Gracewell pick up her things too.

"That was nice." I praised Gracewell.

Gracewell paused for a second and continued packing her things as she responded, "I was only doing what I am trained to do."

"Still, I'm surprised you are so good at arguing for cases. I'd never have thought you would be so fantastic." I was excited and it showed in my praise for her.

"Then if you would've paid a little attention to me in the last two years you would've realized that I have been the department's go-to lawyer for the last two years. This is not my first case."

It was my turn to freeze in place as I watched Gracewell leave under my shocked gaze.

'She was the department's go-to lawyer?'

'Is that why she was promoted to be a lieutenant?'

'Oh god! Why did I tell her she was promoted because she was kissing people's behinds!?'

Wanting to bury my head like an ostrich out of embarrassment I slowly packed my things too, which was nothing, nevertheless, my hands moved mechanically around the table, drumming it with my nails that had grown slightly long.

'Tsk. How foolish.' I thought as I remembered what I'd told Gracewell in anger moments before I left her to handle the arrests of Vera and Revanche.

Getting up I found myself pushing through the crowd as my projection shield worked full-time to keep my face hidden so that people wouldn't recognize it was me walking down the aisle beside them.

"Wait!" I said pulling Gracewell's thin hand as I halted her to a stop parting the crowd moving both ways around us.

"What's wrong?" Gracewell asked with confusion as I let her hand go when she turned to face me.

"I'm sorry for judging you improperly earlier." I apologized.

"Oh?" Giving me a soft smile, Gracewell spoke in a tone I'd rarely heard from her but also what I fell for, "That's alright."

The glassy velvety tone struck a chord with me as I heard the familiar phrase Gracewell used to say two years ago fall out of her mouth like drops of water into the parched throat of a man in a desert.

"Mistakes can happen with everyone, what's good is you learning to sidestep their repetition."

Gracewell walked away after those short words but I was left hanging.

'It can't have been. No way.'

'No way she has her memories back.'

'But the people at Mnemosyne figured out a way to bring back memories!'

'No way! That is just a beta product that hasn't been publicly available yet!'

'What if she was one of the beta testers!?'

'Not possible. Her record would've shown that she attended a program to recover her memories!'

'But I missed her being the department's lawyer for two years too!'

'It's just not possible!'

I couldn't believe it.

I didn't want to believe that she'd regained her memories but wanted nothing to do with me yet.

'Why didn't Riyane tell me, mom was going to a doctor's office during our appointed times!?'

'*sigh* I don't know what to believe anymore.'

Gracewell had not seemed to be a woman who would want her memories back, yet now she was spouting lines that I'd given up on hearing from her.

The short break flew by as I ruminated over my findings unable to gather the required courage to ask Gracewell if she remembered the memories she'd forgotten.

*slam* *slam*

The slamming of Justia's gavel brought me back to reality as I looked at him with focused eyes.

'Now is not the time for this Dave.'

'You can figure everything out later.'

I looked towards Gracewell and found her with her eyes closed, as she too appeared to be thinking about something. It was likely the case she was working on, but maybe it was me. Maybe.

I could at least hope.

"The court will now resume its proceedings. I request everyone to approach with silence so that we can properly hear and make out exactly what everyone wants to tell. Thank you."

Flipping through virtual pages in his Neural interface, Justia inspected the pieces of evidence that would be used in the second part and started speaking after the short silence.

"I request Mr. Argentum to begin the second phase of this court proceeding."

Morpheus stood up and walked towards the podium where he made a rather exciting request.

Exciting at least for me.

"I would like to call upon Sergeant Dave to question his evidence-gathering methods."

"Objection your honor! The question lacks foundation." Gracewell objected.

"Objection overruled." But Justia ignored her since he could use this to try and spite me in some way.

The courtroom broke into a rush of whispers as everyone became excited at my appearance.

Calmly, I walked up to the witness box and stood, waiting for any questions Morpheus had for me.

"Although I carry a deep sense of respect towards you Sergeant, today you have to answer a few of my questions. Is that alright?"

"Not a problem. I said with a soft smile."

"As you insist in your report of the situation, Revanche committed the crime by manipulating his Wavelength ID using a frequency-generating device to copy the ID of the thugs who happened to pass by purely by coincide-"

"Objection your honor, he's trying to lead the witness." Gracewell rejected his attempt at forcing in his claim about the thugs just 'passing by'.

"Granted."

"As I was saying, I'm curious about your explanation for the second wavelength ID present at the scene?"

"Second?" I asked confused, 'Is he talking about A.V's ID?'

"I'm talking about the ID of the second thug that appeared on the scene."

"That's simple. Vera Morrigan was Mr. Sterling's accomplice, she pretended to be A.V. while Revanche pretended to be K.M."

"That's convenient, isn't it? Are we going to claim tomorrow that every wavelength ID that belongs to a thug was just impersonated by a civilian who wanted to commit murders? We can assume anything if that's the case."

"Objection your honor, Argumentative." Gracewell objected but Jutsia,

"Overruled."

"So Sergeant Dave? What do you think?"

"You're wrong."

"...?" Morpheus and the rest of the people in court looked at me confusedly since I hadn't presented any evidence to back my claims.

"I imagine, this has already been put into evidence but if after her accident Vera, recently, about three months ago, purchased a walking stick."

"So what?"

"The walking stick hid a frequency-emitting device."

*WHISPER* *WHISPER* *WHISPER*

The courtroom detonated into whispers as everyone began to discuss this new revelation, among which one question was very prominently heard by everyone in the room.

"How did the defense lawyer not know this? Did he not read the case files?"

The truth was, I had obscured the line on purpose so that no one would 'directly' be able to spot it without going through it a bunch of times, it wasn't a small subscript but buried in the appendix. 

I had planned it for a moment like this where the defense lawyer would skip away the appendix and dunk his approval in court when I revealed that it was actually in the report all along.

Justia looked at me with mock anger, because he already knew that I used such tricks and had read the report in full beforehand.

Morpheus's face morphed into a morbid expression as he realized the blunder he had committed, but like any new lawyer, he did not stand his ground and try to defend himself but fully ignored the issue.

"Thank will be all your honor.", Morpheus said, afraid I had other cards like this up my sleeve.

And it was a wise choice because I did.

"Ms. Gracewell would you like to cross-examine the witness?"

"Yes, your honor, with your permission."

Justia nodded and spoke, "Granted." as Gracewell moved toward me.

"Sergeant Dave, would you like to explain to the court how the murder was committed?"

"Sure. It will be my pleasure."

"Then the stage is yours."

"By switching their wavelength IDs Revanche and Vera effeciently committed the murder."

"What do you mean?"

"Revanche used his dog to pretend to be him and set up an alibi for himself at his home, while he himself along with Vera waited for KM and AV to pass by."

"How would they know that AV and KM would pass by?"

"Revanche, he set up a deal with the two to purchase more unregistered modified wavers. This is also recorded in the report after we interviewed KM about the murders Revanche and Vera orchestrated."

"So they went to the extent of forming deals with thugs just to trap them?"

"Objection your honor, there is no basis to claim that Vera was involved in communicating with the thugs." 

Justia nodded and said, "Granted." as I clicked my tongue at the lost opportunity to entrap Vera into this quagmire of a case.

"Once K.M. and A.V. passed by the curb where Nova was murdered and dropped their package that contained a waver and left, Vera and Revanche copied their IDs and switched their own Wavelength IDs using frequency modifiers."

"But if they communicated with A.V. and K.M. about buying wavers wouldn't they know that Revanche committed the murders?"

"No, all they knew was that their wavers were used to commit a murder, knowing who did it was another matter entirely since Revanche always made sure to wear a disguise as indicted by A.Vs' and K.Ms statements on the matter."

"Then why did they reveal this information during questioning?"

"Because I agreed to reduce their sentencing by two years if they did which is not a lot since they will be going to prison for multiple lifetimes because of the death of several Cadets as you stated earlier Lieutenant Gracewell."

"Yes, I did. So how do you presume the murder was committed?"

"Revanche used a frequency emitter device to copy K.M's wavelength ID and knocked on Mr. Waltinger's door. He ordered his home assistant to to open it without much hesitance after he realized it was just Revanche on the other side."

"Was it not Mr. Waltinger who opened the door?"

"No, it had to be the home assistant because otherwise there would be no reason for Revanche to make Waltinger sit down before he shot him."

"I see."

"And after he opened the door, Revanche shot him with the waver point blank, waving away all his brain cells, and quickly left the scene to dispose of any evidence directly relating him to the crime. Except he never realized in doing so he was leaving behind a trail for us detectives to follow."

"That was a great deduction, Sergeant Dave. I'm sure the court will take it into account to deliver a swift justice to everyone involved."

"Thank you." I politely nodded at Gracewell, but I still couldn't get it out of my mind.

'Has Gracewell returned?'

'Has she become the Olivia I used to know?'

'....'

It was a dream, but a dream that I was not willing to give up on so easily.

'Maybe I can ask her to regain her memories using the tech Mnemosyne developed. It shouldn't be too bad right?'

'...'

'The worst she can say is no.'