Chapter 26 the accused speak

(Nicole POV)

Nicole was truly captivated by this trial. She'd seen a lot of detective shows, but she'd never imagined that she'd end up as a juror in a trial. After all, it was hardly a real trial, since the rules had nothing to do with the law. At best, it was a parody of justice, and at worst, just more entertainment for the audience.

Yes, Francisco was probably right. Only the hearing mattered. Already, the cat's **** didn't matter. It was just a cat. Nicole wasn't in favor of animal ****, but she had to be reasonable. It wasn't even a question of choosing between a cat and a human being. She'd studied to be a doctor, not a vet.

“I'd like to call Charlotte to the stand,” said Light after Nezoko had returned to sit with the other jurors.

Nezoko was annoyed at being in the same place as Nicole and the other candidates, and the feeling was clearly mutual. Nicole probably despised Nezoko as much as Nezoko despised the whole human race.

After Charlotte had settled into the seat previously occupied by Nezoko, the prosecutor began his questioning.

“Miss Buch, can you tell me what this is?” asked Light, showing her a bloody knife contained in a transparent pouch.

_“It's a knife,” _replied Charlotte.

“Indeed it is. Can you tell us if you've ever seen this knife?” asked Light.

“Yes, I've seen it,” replied the policewoman, glancing away from the knife.

Quite frankly, Charlotte had the attitude of a guilty woman. If she were innocent, she'd be looking the prosecutor straight in the eye, Nicole mused.

“And when was the last time you saw him?” asked Light.

“The last time I saw it was when Marion impaled Matamune on the knife blade I'd just torn from her!” screamed Charlotte.

Oh, so Marion impaled Matamune on the knife blade Charlotte was holding? How could such a thing be possible? Honestly, unless they were working together, it would take an incredible stroke of luck for that to have happened.

“So you agree that it was you who was holding the **** weapon?” asked Light.

“Yes, but...”

“And you also admit that it was you and Marion together who caused Matamune's ****?” continued Light.

“Yes, but..."

_“Ah yes, the famous responsible-but-not-guilty position. It's not my fault, it's the show that **** me. It's Nezoko's fault for making me take part in this show. It's the girl's fault for getting ****, she shouldn't have worn such a short skirt. This is exactly the kind of excuse that keeps criminals of the worst kind off the streets. Admit it, I'm sure the jury will be merciful. Everyone can see you're wracked with guilt. Confess and you'll feel better,” _said Light, glaring at Charlotte.

Honestly, Nicole didn't know what Charlotte was going to do. She wasn't even going to confess after pleading not guilty, was she? After a long minute, Charlotte finally answered.

“I'm not guilty of killing that cat. I did everything I could to save him,” Charlotte replied.

“Did you really? Well, if that's how you save people, I'd advise you to change professions and especially to refrain from trying to save anyone. Unless maybe that's the problem, maybe you tried to save Matamune after putting her in danger voluntarily so you could become a heroine and prove yourself. You have a great desire to prove yourself, don't you think?” questioned Light.

“That's got nothing to do with it,” Charlotte protested.

“Are you sure? I've got a commissioner's note here about you. Quote: “Inspector Buch is a promising newcomer, but she's still struggling to win the esteem of her colleagues. To this end, the inspector accepts any request entrusted to her by her colleagues. This powerful desire to prove herself clouds her judgment and leads her to make impulsive decisions. End of quote. These are the words of your direct superior. Can you remind us how long you've been working under him again?” asked the prosecutor.

“7 months but...”

“That's all for my questions, Your Honor. I think I've made my point,” said Light.

That much was certain. Quite frankly, the prosecutor's arguments were powerful. It was hard to imagine that Charlotte hadn't played a part in the cat's ****. At best, it was unintentional, an accident, but it was also possible that it was ****, even if Nicole still found that hard to believe.

“Francisco, you can ask the witnesses your questions,” said Dakota, who was smiling broadly. Now that Nicole was paying attention, she was surprised that Dakota didn't have the teeth of a shark or at least a vampire, which would have been more consistent with the rest of the character. Or else a dragon with horns and claws could be so sexy. Nicole had to admit she had a weakness for strong girls, and what could be stronger than a dragongirl? But let's get back to the trial. Francisco was now standing in front of Charlotte, who didn't seem to have recovered from the prosecutor's questions. It wasn't going to be easy being on the defendant's side for once.

_“Miss Buch, I'd like to know what you think of your first transformation,” _questioned the lawyer.

“My first transformation, the dog ears?” asked Charlotte as if she'd misunderstood.

_“Yes, that's exactly it. Can you describe all the differences you've observed since this transformation was applied?” _asked Francisco.

_“Yes. No issue. I can do that. First there are these ears. They're really strange and they let me hear a long way off. Then there's my tail. Frankly, right now it's more of a hindrance than anything else. You can't imagine how annoying it is to sit with it. I've also noticed that my sense of smell has sharpened,” _says Charlotte.

_“Oh, If I'm to believe the description of your transformation I'm looking at, there's no mention of a change in your sense of smell. So I have several hypotheses to explain this contradiction. First of all, you're lying and there's no change in your sense of smell. But in that case, why would you lie about something that can only bring you trouble? Then there's the possibility that there are hidden parts in the transformation that would cause an improvement in your sense of smell. Finally, there's the possibility that there are involuntary transformations linked to the basic transformation that manifests itself. Tell me, Miss Buch, what do you think of this line of reasoning?” _asked Francisco.

“It seems to hold together and be coherent,” replied the inspector.

“Thank you. But then it's possible that there's another part of your transformation that you're not aware of, don't you think?” asked the lawyer.

“I suppose it's possible,” replied Charlotte hesitantly.

_“And in that case in your opinion dear jury what are the chances that there is also a natural predisposition of dogs against cats to add to this transformation? I'll leave you to ponder on that. I've finished my questions, Your Honor,” _said Francisco before taking his seat.

So this was what he was getting at. Interesting. The basic argument was a little shaky and not worth much in itself, but coupled with the others, it reinforced the idea that Charlotte's transformation had led her to kill that cat, but that in the end it was more the show's fault than the policewoman's. Anna stood up and headed for the door. Anna stood up and walked over to her client. She looked stressed, and frankly, she had reason to be. The trial really didn't seem to be taking a good turn for them.

“Would you mind telling us how events unfolded from your point of view between the moment you split up to look for the cat and the moment Nezoko arrived?” asked Anna.

Charlotte then began her account of events. She told how she'd started searching on her own, how she'd sat down in despair at not being able to track down a cat. Then she told how she'd heard the cat meowing, how she'd seen Marion running after Matamune with a knife. She told how when Marion cornered Matamune she decided to intervene. She told of her fight with Marion. And finally, she recounted how she had finally snatched the knife out of Marion's hands, only for Marion to plunge Matamune into the blade of the knife.

_“Thank you for that description. I'd like to clear up a few things if you don't mind. First, did you plan to hurt Matamune?” _asked Anna.

“No. Of course not. Of course not! I tried to save him. But once again I failed,” Charlotte replied tearfully.

“Okay, did you bring a knife when you looked for Matamune?” asked Anna.

“No, of course not,” replied Charlotte.

“Did you know that Marion was going to attack Matamune?” asked Anna.

“Objection, Your Honor. That's pure conjecture, based solely on what his client says,” exclaimed Francisco.

“Objection sustained. Please rephrase Anna,” Dakota said.

“Okay. Were you aware that someone was going to attack Matamune?” asked Anna.

“No.” replied Charlotte, who had regained her composure.

"Thank you. So let me get this straight. You claim that you tried to save Matamune, that you had no negative intentions towards him whatsoever. Nor did you bring the knife to the scene of the crime. It's all right, I've finished my interrogation,” Anna replied.

Charlotte sounded sincere, but from what she knew of the person, that didn't mean much to Nicole. Honestly, couldn't they stop this charade of a trial? Nicole really didn't want to get involved in the whole thing.