Alright, this was a trial. It was time to do some trial stuff.

“Let’s hear from the one that discovered Volk’s body,” I said. “I call Rayne to the stand to testify.”

“Stop right there, Sir Allard.” Lyili slammed her fist onto her table making everyone jump again. “Who said you get to call the shots here?”

It was actually the prosecution that called witnesses, but there was no way for her to know that. “The king, YOUR king, literally told me I’m in charge of this.” I slammed my fist too, but no one jumped. And now my hand hurt.

“His majesty very well may have put you in charge…” Lyili crossed her arms. “But I am a necessary check and balance. Without me, you could very well take advantage of our king’s kindness.”

There were murmurs in the crowd.

Fuck her. I mean, she wasn’t wrong. I could most likely totally take advantage of my position, but it’s not like I had actually done it yet.

“Allard! Is that your plan?” Minzfel spoke in his usual tone of ‘way too loud’ and ‘way too annoying’. “Think you can pull a fast one on my father?”

God, Minzfel was an idiot. If I was manipulating the trial in my favor, it would be in his best interest to support me. That was, unless he wanted Violetta to take up fulltime headless horseback riding.

“Minzfel, enough,” the king said. “That’s a serious accusation you’re making, Ms. Lyili. Ryley has sworn his loyalty to me.”

I don’t remember swearing my loyalty to anyone, but I appreciated the vote of confidence. It was nice to have someone on my side for once.

“And I’ve personally threatened to end his life should I suspect him of treachery,” the king continued. “I will be on the lookout for any abuse in power.” He grinned, giving me a thumbs up and wink. What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Was he on my side or not?

“Anyway, you’re free to call witnesses to speak too,” I sighed, massaging my hand. How the hell did she hit the table so hard without hurting herself? “Do you have a problem with Rayne telling her side of the story?”

Lyili smiled. “Not at all.”

This fucking… whatever the hell she was. Of course she didn’t. She was just doing everything she could to undermine me. Everyone in this room’s life goal was to make this the most painful experience I had ever had.

Before I could voice my well thought-out grievances pertaining to the bullshit that was going on in this ‘courtroom’, Rayne emerged from the audience. She walked with her head held high, stopping in front of the stand.

“Hello everyone,” she said. “I’ll… answer any questions you have for me.”

We were finally getting somewhere. It was time to cross-examine the fuck out of this blue skinned… I was getting carried away. Rayne seemed like a perfectly nice ogre. It was time to dial it down a little.

“Rayne,” I said, clearing my throat. “Can you start by telling us about your relationship with the victim?”

Rayne looked down at her feet. “I was… Mr. Volk’s secretary. And his wife.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” I wasn’t actually sorry for her loss. I was more concerned with why she never mentioned that in the first place. “I noticed that you refer to him using “Mr.” for his name. Why is that?”

“Objection!” Lyili yelled. God damn it, I really wanted to be the first one to say that.

“Oh, something’s happening!” Yaika said to no one in particular.

I sighed. “What’s wrong now?”

“For starters, Sir Allard, I do not appreciate your lecherous eyes undressing me,” she said.

First of all, my eyes were only a little lecherous. Second, undress what? Take off her skin?

“As for my objection,” she continued. “I fail to see the relevance of how Madam Rayne addresses her own husband.”

Jeez, for someone that had never even heard of a trial, she sure sounded like a prosecutor.

“Her husband was the murder victim,” I said. “Any information about his relationships with the people around him could be relevant to his murder.”

Lyili turned to the king. “Your majesty!”

“Hmm…” The king lifted one of his ripped arms to adjust the crown on his head. “I also fail to see the relevance.”

Great.

“That said,” the king’s spoke in his trademark boom. “I think that for the sake of the trial, we should hear all the information we can so that I can make a sound judgement as… the ‘judge’.”

Lyili glared at me. “Hmph.”

The king grinned again and gave me another thumbs up. What the hell? Now he was making it look like we were in cahoots or something.

Whatever. If that was the go-ahead, I was fine with it. “Now, Rayne. Can you answer my question for me?”

Rayne nodded. “I simply put my job as his secretary above my position as his wife. That’s all there is to it.”

Alright. I wasn’t sure what I could do with that information, but it was something new. That’s what I needed. I needed to pull information out of everyone that I hadn’t already heard back at the office.

“Can you, uh, detail the hours leading up to your discovery of your husband’s body at around 7:05?” This was starting to get easier now that I didn’t have the porcelain executioner breathing down my neck. Maybe I was cut out for fake lawyering after all.

“I was working at my desk while Mr. Volk was meeting with the girls,” Rayne said. “It was a typical night. I went through the applications I thought were good enough to warrant passing along to him.”

“I understand there’s a bathroom very close to your desk, next to the elevator,” I said. “Did you see anyone pass by you?”

“Hmm…” Rayne bit down on her bottom lip as she thought. “I… saw Cyana once. That was around 6:45, I think. Other than that, it was just the girls going into Mr. Volk’s office one by one.”

“What time did he meet with them?”

Rayne didn’t even have to think to answer. “Cyana was from 6:00 to 6:20. Goldie was 6:20 to 6:40. Violetta was 6:40 to 7:00. I would say that Goldie and Violetta’s meetings both ended a few minutes early though.”

I crossed my arms. “You sure answered quickly.”

“I am a professional, Mr. Allard,” Rayne answered. “If it’s on the schedule, I don’t forget it.”

Alright, I guess there wasn’t anything suspicious about that. Still, hearing the schedule laid out like that gave me an idea. “Why did he meet with them individually?” I asked. “Wouldn’t it just be easier to meet with them all at once?”

“That was just how Mr. Volk conducted meetings,” Rayne said. “You can always ask the girls themselves if you want to know more about them.” That was strange. For a moment, I sensed something like… annoyance in her voice. No, it was there for sure. I had been annoyed so much these last 24 hours, I was a licensed annoyance expert.

The only question was… what did it mean?

“Okay,” I said. “Please tell the court about when the fire alarm went off.”

“The fire alarm?” the king asked. I thought he was supposed to be reading all those notes that Brad took.

“Yes, your majesty. We think there was some kind of malfunction,” Rayne said. “The alarm went off at 7:00 while I was sitting at my desk. All of the girls came to me in a panic.”

This was it. This was my opening.

“Your majesty!” My voice came out way louder than I meant it to. Like, I was reaching Minzfel levels. Practically screaming.

“Mr. Allard…” The king’s eyes were wide. “Are you… okay?”

I coughed a few times. “E-Excuse me. I… got a little excited. I just wanted to bring something to the attention of the court.”

“And what might that be?”

“The possibility of a murderer other than Violetta.” I smirked. “One of the other Succy Girls could have slipped into Volk’s office on their way to Rayne’s desk.”

“Hmm, I don’t think that makes sense Ryley.” It was Yaika, opening her big mouth again. “Rayne can see the door to Volk’s office from where she sits, right? I don’t think someone could have gone in there without her seeing it.”

Fuck. Her big mouth had a point.

“The princess is right,” Rayne said. “Not to mention that Mr. Volk’s door was locked when I went to open it.”

Fuck.

“It was locked?” the king asked, once again proving he hadn’t read the notes Brad had spent so much time writing.

“Yes, and Mr. Volk and I have the only keys,” Rayne added. “I don’t think it was possible for someone to kill him after the fire alarm went off. Everyone’s meetings had already finished.”

Double fuck.

Lyili laughed a sort of high pitched ‘oh-ho-ho-ho’ laugh. “Sir Allard, are you saving my men the effort by digging your own grave?”

I still had that knife with blood on it, but when the hell was I supposed to bring that up? I mean, it had to be the real murder weapon. Why else would someone hide it? Why would they bite his neck? In a real court, you wouldn’t be waiting to reveal evidence, but this wasn’t a real court. If I brought it up and Lyili shot me down, I might not get a second chance.

The question of course was, when would the right moment come?