[ WEEK ONE – TRIAL ]

[sheriffexe]

TRIAL

In the morning, the town comes back to life. Birds crow overhead, a snake nearby hisses, a lingering coyote dips behind a shop before disappearing into the wild. It's a frightening contrast to the stillness of yesterday but it doesn't mean it's over yet. After all, today is the trial. The Sheriff stands on the porch of the Town Hall and brings his hand up to his mouth to let out a whistle. He'll thumb back to the Hall behind him and very clearly state -- "Trial time, folks. Get in here and figure out who did it." And then he'll turn to leave before pausing and adding on, "Bring a snack or somethin' too. The Town Hall is set up more like a court house, a Judge's bench at the front but instead of at center, it's off to the side as if more for observation than participation. There's a table at the front of the room already holding a small box and a pad of papers and pen, for voting apparently. A side room containing only a metal gurney is next and today it's obvious why there's a gurney there at all with the corpse, resting right on top of it. Aside from that, there are rows for everyone to take a seat and it's only after everyone is inside and settled, that the doors close and the Sheriff speaks. "Well, have at it. You've got till nine." And then, he points to a clock on the wall that reads 12:00. Good luck. Welcome to the trial post! Characters are free to discuss everything related to the trial here. They won't be let out of the room until 9PM when voting ends. Every character must vote and the voting post can be found here. If there are any questions, please shoot a message to this journal or to robowest.

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Comments

[thatsthespirit]

[MILLA BROUGHT EVERYONE LUNCHABLES!!! literally lunchables, you're welcome. she also brought some fruit and fizzy drinks]

[but that aside, once they doors are closed, she gets down to business]

Let's make a list of everything we've found relevant to the murder. Something in these clues must point to the killer.

[tightly]

[ She's going to write something down and pass it to Milla. Possibly through a convoluted game of "pass the piece of paper". Do you like me y/n? ]

There was some sort of incident on the train tracks near the rail station. I'm not sure what to make of it, but there were blood handprints going in one direction and footprints going in the other.

[thatsthespirit]

[y!! she reads the note and nods at Chane]

What directions were the handprints and footprints leading towards?

[tightly]

[ At first, Chane will try to answer through a complicated series of gestures before simply giving up and writing again... ]

Footprints - Saloon
Handprints - Mines

[thatsthespirit]

[mines??]

Did anyone check the mines?

[feminitis]

When we went back to the church and the graveyard, we found a broken shovel in the shed there. I'm not sure if it's exactly relevant, but... considering the graves were disturbed, it may be.

[ceded]

You mean, like, in addition to the shovel Riku was using?

[ Riku and. Other people. You know. Whatever. ]

[feminitis]

That's right. It was a separate broken shovel, inside the shed.

[ceded]

So ... two shovels were used, then. But ... wasn't the one we were using ... bloody?

[ She seems to remember seeing something like that, but she wasn't terribly close to that whole ... situation. ]

Um... did the broken one show any signs of use? Like, was it dirty or anything?

[thatsthespirit]

One bloody shovel and one broken shovel?

[h. . . hmmmm]

I wonder why one shovel was broken?

[impulsiveness]

[Ha... hahahaha........... Before the trial gets derailed too much:]

Because I broke it popping the coffin in Rin's grave open.

[HE LOOKS. NOT EMBARRASSED, BUT DIDN'T THINK HE'D HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT.]

Rin and I wanted to know if anything was under the graves. So we, y'know, dug it up? A couple days ago.

[They talked about it yesterday, too.]

[tightly]

[ ............. ]

[ Oh, Jason. ]

Was the skeleton in there at that point?

[ Either he can read this or someone can read it aloud for her, idk. ]

[ceded]

[ looks .... shocked, but ]

You ... you dug up a grave?! So ... does that mean the broken shovel wasn't used yesterday at all?

[ jason why are you like this ]

[thatsthespirit]

. . .

[pffffft]

Perhaps in the future we should all be more careful not to break anything at a crime scene.

[athenite]

Honestly not a bad idea.

[ SHE WAS CURIOUS, TOO ]

[hydrokinetics]

The only thing Mr. Barnham and I found was the trail of blood we followed once we saw it through the windows of Town Hall, but most of it looked like it pooled more toward the railroad and got thinner closer to the graveyard. So, it supports the idea that somebody was moved from point A to point B.

[thatsthespirit]

I see. The saloon was a bloody mess when we investigated it, so if there'a a trail from the saloon to the railroad, then perhaps the culprit moved Ao's body several times throughout the night.

[holds up three fingers in succession]

From the saloon, to the railroad, to the graveyard.

[hydrokinetics]

But why to the railroad in the first place? To throw us off on what really happened?

[impulsiveness]

Elizabeth and I found additional injuries on the palms of Ao's hands. Really nasty gash on her right one. We think they might have been self defense wounds.

[thatsthespirit]

Considering her neck was cut open, I think that's likely. Were there any pieces of glass in her hand wounds?

[impulsiveness]

Not that I could see at the time, no. But her body's right there, so we can check again.

[Though it seems like Robin mk. 5 is already on that.]

[combattente]

We found broken glass at the saloon... From a root beer bottle, to be more specific. I'd assume it was used as a weapon.

[thatsthespirit]

Ao's neck had a shard of glass stuck in it as well, correct?

We may have found the murder weapon.

[combattente]

Sí, that's what I thought. But I'm curious about the order of it all... What happened first and where, considering the damage to her throat...

[saurloser]

[ Diego plunks himself next to her and starts reaching for snacks, like, as many as he can hold at once/small> ]

I haven't ever found murder to be that organized, but I wont tell you how to spend your time.