The Sherlock and Watson Chronicles {Episode 1: the Deadly Twinkie}
Part Dose... WAIT! I hate Spanish... Part Er
"How are you feeling?" Hangeng asked me. All of us were in the limo on the way to the courthouse. Surprisingly, every single member came along. I was sure someone would try to get out of coming.
"Me? I feel like I'm going to die. Not a pleasant feeling." I answered.
"You'll be fine." He said reassuringly.
"I hope so. I'm just so nervous right now. I think I'm going to puke."
"Alex, calm yourself! You will do great!" Jessica yelled at me. What a motivator.
"Alright... Thanks Watson. What would I do without you...?” I said sarcastically.
Everyone in the car was doing their own thing. Jessica and Kyu were talking about their favorite video games, Ryeowook was sitting quietly looking out the window, Kibum was reading a book, Shindong and Kang In were eating a bag of chips (No surprise there..), Heechul was combing his hair and looking at himself in a mirror (What a douche bag), Siwon was reading an American newspaper, Sungmin and Yesung were in the middle of a conversation (Lord knows about what...), Henry and Zhou Mi were talking to each other in Chinese, Eunhyuk was listening to his iPod and Hangeng was helping me prepare for the trial. We eventually arrived at the courthouse. As soon as I stepped out of the limo, I was blinded by the camera flashes. I turned to Hangeng and said. "It looks like the paparazzi is here to see you guys."
"Sorry... Just try to ignore them."
"Good advice except that's kinda difficult when tons of strangers are taking my picture and blinding me..." I turned and did my best just to make it to the front entrance. I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Hangeng. Having him with me was comforting, but having tons of people around me kind of ruined it. I put a fake smile on my face as we walked to the courthouse. We finally made it after what seemed like hours. When we walked into the lobby we found Donghae waiting for us. "Good morning Donghae."
"Good morning Alex." I saw him look past me. "Good morning Jessica!"
Jessica gave him a smile. "Good morning Donghae. Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be..."
"Don't worry. Alex will clear your name and I'll be right..." She came over and linked arms with me, "...here! Right next to her to help…" I looked at her and she gave me a big smile. The same one she gave me before our last, my first, trial. It said, "You'll be fine. No matter what, I'm here for you." The bailiff told us it was time to head into the courtroom. Jessica and I headed towards the defenses desk and the rest of the SuJu members took their seats in the crowd. Donghae sat to my left and Jessica to my right. The prosecutor sat on the other side of the room. The judge's seat was still empty so I quickly looked over the evidence. I have to admit.... I was a bit nervous as to who the prosecutor would call as witnesses... The judge walked in, in his powdered wig glory. Everyone rose, which I didn't understand. I never got why we had to rise for the judge. I mean, the only thing they get to do is decide if the person is guilty or not. I mean, I'm the one who is risking so much, why doesn't everyone rise to me? I probably did a lot more work than him. But this wasn't the time for my childish thoughts. The judge ordered everyone to sit down. Then the judge began.
"Trial for Lee Donghae is now in session. Before we begin, Mr. Dick Gumshoe (from the amazing Phoenix Wright games!), the head of Seoul Police Center, is going to give us the autopsy report."
A bulky man in a trench coat stepped up in the witness stand. He had scratches on his face, and he looked very familiar. The judge nodded towards him. "You may begin."
"Well...” Mr. Gumshoe started "The murder took place between 10:20 and 10:25. At 10:20 the victim was poisoned and killed, and at 10:25 the body was found. The body was found in the defendant’s dressing room no doubt. The two items found in the scene of the crime both contained rat poison in them. One was the container of poison, inside what seems like an empty soda bottle; the other being a Twinkie, which the victim consumed. Both items had the defendants and the victim’s finger prints on them. Tests done also showed the defendant’s finger prints on the victims arm. That's pretty much it."
"Can I ask a question?" The judge asked. "Was the defendant in the room when the body was found?"
"Yes. The defendant was in the room at the time."
"Alright... I think that is good for now. Prosecution, it is your turn to testify."
The prosecutor was a very thin man with huge glasses and no hair. He also had a very high, annoying voice. Listening to him talk was like being jabbed with nails or something. He walked in the middle of the floor and faced the judge.
"Alright... Who does the prosecution call as a witness?" I felt my palms become sweaty. The prosecutor cleared his throat. "The prosecution calls Mr. Dai to the stand." Before the witness even took his seat, I heard Donghae mutter to himself. "Oh god...” I looked at him, confused. "What's wrong? Do you know the witness?" He couldn't even look me in the eyes he looked so terrified. "That man hates me." He finally said. Before I could ask him why, the witness was seated. He was a very big man; he gave Shindong a run for his money. He also looked very angry. The prosecutor asked him. "Name and occupation…?" I always thought it was stupid for the prosecutor to ask this. I mean, HE was the one who asked the witness to testify in the first place... He should already know his name and occupation, but whatever. The witness answered, in a very loud, angry voice. "My name is Dai, and I'm the janitor at the venue where the murder took place." The judge then asked. "How do you know the defendant?" Mr. Dai's face went from angry to rage. "He's a member of that sleazy group of no-talent-wannabes that call themselves a band!" Well, I could see why Mr. Dai hated Donghae so much. Instantly, the court was filled with the voices of people yelling.
"We're not wanna-be's!" Leeteuk shouted, actually really hurt by Mr. Dai's statement.
"Did he just call them sleazy?" Jessica asked blankly.
"Hey fatso…! Before you start calling us names, why don't you go lose a few pounds first!" Heechul screamed. I have to admit, I kind of giggled. I mean, I still hated Heechul, but it was kinda funny.
The judge screamed to everyone. "Order! Order!" Everyone shut the hell up. Mr. Dai then pointed a chubby finger at Donghae. "And that boy..." he sounded like he was about to jump of the witness stand and eat Donghae's face "HE is the worst one out of all of them!" The yelling rose in the courtroom...
I looked at Donghae, with a mix of confusion and anger. "What did you do to that man?" I questioned him, restraining myself from slapping him right in the face. The judge did his thing, and once it was quiet, told the witness to testify. Everyone shut up. Mr. Dai told the story, his voice very loud.
"I was asked by a member of the band to help clean something else. I passed by the Devil Childs dressing room..." I was probably the only person in the entire courtroom to get a chuckle out of Mr. Dai's pet name for Donghae. Unfortunately, they both heard me, since they glared at me. Mr. Dai went on. "And there he was... standing over the body of my boss."
"What did you do when you saw this?" The prosecutor asked.
"I did what any human being would do, I called the police, or in this case, the security."
The judge seemed like he was thinking all this through. Then he turned to me. "Alright Miss Struhar, you may begin with your cross-examination." This was it... the moment of truth. When I stood up to go to the front of the court, Donghae grabbed my arm. He looked at me and said sweetly.
"You can do this." It was probably the nicest thing he had ever said to me. I smiled back at him.
"Thanks!"
"Alright Miss Struhar... You may begin."
"Mr. Dai...did you actually see the death of the victim, or just the dead body?" The question surprised not just him, but the whole courtroom. It was to be expected though; usually the cross examination starts off with easy questions like when the murder was or where it happened. But I didn't need to double check that. Mr. Dai looked taken aback, but regained himself.
"Well...I just saw the body. But from the looks of it, it seemed like he was murdered recently."
"But how can you be so sure? For all you know, someone else could have killed him, and Donghae could have just walked in casually without knowing what happened. Did that scenario ever pop into you head?"
"Well... well no. I mean... I did what any normal person would do."
"Well don't you think Donghae did what any normal person would do?" I asked. Mr. Dai looked lost. From the looks of it, I had the entire courtroom lost; even Watson, who usually caught on to stuff like this. "Well...if I walked into a room and saw a dead body, I certainly wouldn't call anyone for help first. I would be in shock, which was the state of my client when he walked into his dressing room and found a body. Another thing, if I walked into a room and found someone looking over a dead body, my first instinct wouldn't be to call the police. I would ask that someone what the hell happened before assuming it was them. But then again, that's just me. I have no idea what the rest of you would do." The courtroom was stunned, but seemed convinced. So was the judge, which was a good sign. However, we weren't in the clear yet. Not even close. The judge then said,
"That is a good point Miss Struhar, I know I would be in shock if I found a dead body, but that doesn't answer the question as to why his finger prints were on the Twinkie and the bottle of poison."
"I have the answers for those, too, your honor." The prosecutor looked at me like I was lying, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve. "My defendant was needed on stage around 10:20 to perform a song with Super Junior K.R.Y. Before realizing he was to go on stage, he was in the extra dressing room, or basically where the entire band gets together to hang out. When Donghae stopped in there, he found none other then a Twinkie and a bottle of pop on the desk. So what was the first thing he thought to do? Eat it, which he almost did."
The crowd all gasped in shock, including the judge and Mr. Dai. The judge looked at Donghae, surprised. "Son, you almost ate that Twinkie; the Twinkie that was poisoned?" Donghae nodded. "Yes your Honor. I thought it was one of the guy’s snacks, but I figured I could pay whoever back... I grabbed the pop to drink it first, but decided to eat the Twinkie instead. Right before I put it in my mouth, I heard the people in the crowd screaming my name. I realized I was late to be on stage, and just put it down." The judge looked at him like he almost felt bad or something.
"Son... did you realize you could have been killed?" Donghae shook his head. "Not at the time." The judge looked like he was about to just give it up and send Donghae free, but the asshole prosecutor had to bring up one thing... "Do you have any evidence of that? If you don't, then there is no way this court can believe a word you just said." I shrugged. "Kinda." I answered honestly. "Kinda? How do you kinda have evidence?" I walked over to my purse and grabbed the label-less bottle. I held it up for everyone to see. "I found this in the mini fridge of the extra dressing room. It doesn't have a label on it... kinda like the bottle of poison? Also, it doesn't have the smell of pop. May I see the actual bottle of poison found at the scene?" I asked the judge sweetly. Being a girl in the law business gets you a long way. He stammered. "I...I don't see why not... Mr. Gumshoe! The bottle please…?" Mr. Gumshoe ran out and handed me the bottle. I opened both bottles and smelled them. Oh yeah, they smelled exactly the same. Just to be safe, I let Mr. Gumshoe, the prosecutor and the judge look at it. "Well, there is no doubting it. The bottle of poison and this bottle are the same substance." Donghae and Jessica smiled, and I saw Hangeng give me a thumbs-up. Finally, I was getting somewhere. The judge turned to Mr. Dai. "I think we are done with you for now." That's when the prosecutor flipped.
"Excuse me? It's not near done. I suppose this young lady has an explanation of why the defendant’s fingerprints are on the victims arm..." I interrupted him. "Actually... I do!" The prosecutor seemed to be at a loss of words. The judge however, smiled kindly at me. "Let's have it!" I grabbed the video tape and slipped it into an ancient VCR played hooked to an even more ancient TV. The TV played the video of Donghae and John, and then stopped. "I couldn't help but to notice the time of the video was 10:16, a few minutes before the killing." the judge stated.
"Yep, it also explains why Donghae's finger prints were on John's arm." I stated.
"OBJECTION!" The prosecutor screamed. Finally, my favorite part of a trial had begun. "That doesn't explain why fingerprints were found on the body...”
"OBJECTION!" I screamed as loud as I could. "In case you weren't listening, the only tests done on the body were on his arm. And from the video, it was because Donghae and the victim sorta, kinda... awkwardly hugged."
"Objection! I have a question for you. What you are suggesting is the victim was killed in the extra dressing room... however the body was found in the defendant’s dressing room. What do you think happened? The body was moved or something..." He said, like it was a stupid idea.
"Yep... That’s pretty much what I'm suggesting." I said simply.
"What?" The judge asked. "Miss Struhar… that is something pretty big to be suggesting..."
"I know, but from the looks of it, it's the only thing that makes sense. What I think happened is the victim ate the Twinkie and died in the extra dressing room. Plus, if you remember, Donghae was onstage. Try asking the tens of thousands of fans that attended. Then someone moved the body, and the items. The person who moved the items must have been wearing gloves so fingerprints wouldn't show up. Anyways, the person moved the body to Donghae's room. Donghae, who didn't mention that he forgot his microphone in his dressing room, came back and found the body." The judge seemed to consider this.
"It would make sense... but do you have any proof?"
"Not really. But I do have a witness!" I said confidently.
"Well then... would the defense please call its first witness?" Mr. Dai had already moved from the witness stand. I turned toward the crowd. "Hangeng!" I shouted. "Can you come here?"
Less then five minutes later, Hangeng was in the witness stand. The prosecutor asked,
"Name and occupation…?" Ugh, what a stupid question.
"Umm... Hangeng... I'm a member of Super Junior."
"Alright Hangeng..." The judge said. "Can you please tell us what you saw that night?"
"Okay. Well the only thing I can really add is I saw Donghae come out of his dressing room during the time the murder took place. I saw the entire room; there was no body." He told the courtroom.
"He is obviously lying!" The prosecutor yelled.
That pissed me off to no extent.
"Don't talk to my man like that! He is trying to testify! Now shut your dirty mouth before I shut it for you!" I screamed to him. He looked terrified. But whatever, that wasn't my problem.
The judge didn't talk for awhile. He seemed to be thinking things out.
"Well... I don't know whose side to take right now. Defense, your story is full of holes and lacks evidence. However, it is enough to make this decision difficult. The court is now taking a fifteen minute recess." With that, he slammed the gavel down. The first part of my nightmare was done.