Chapter Text
Simon and Apollo left the courtroom as quickly as possible when recess was called, filling Athena with a measure of grim satisfaction even though she felt more and more conflicted about her role in all this. She still thought Filch was innocent, but if she continued along the path Simon had laid out for her and he did not put up resistance anytime soon, she would probably manage to get a “Guilty” verdict.
She briefly considered paying the defense lobby a visit in order to tell him to get a move on, but ultimately dismissed it as too out-of-character. Apollo would probably catch so many tells from us that his arm might fall off.
She had chosen to remain in the courtroom, as she currently had nothing to prepare and preferred not playing the staring game with Odd Bi… Detective Doddbury, who was undoubtedly back in the lobby.
Feeling a bit forlorn with the other benches having been deserted for the time being, she looked up at the rafters, and suddenly, an idea began to form. It’s worth a try – the worst thing that can happen is that nothing comes of it.
Athena lifted her hand to her lips and whistled, causing Taka to descend and hit her shoulder with the force of a shot put ball. She searched Simon’s briefcase for a blank piece of paper, scribbled out a quick note in a sufficiently Simon-ese tone to hopefully conceal her intentions from Apollo, and raised the folded result to the hawk’s claws. When he dutifully grabbed it and looked at her as if waiting for further instructions, she dared to hope that this would work.
“Bring this to S… Athena.”
Taka took off from her shoulder with a shrill cry.
***
Simon and his associate, meanwhile, were holding a hasty war council in the privacy of the defendant lobby.
Justice was currently sighing. “I am almost at the end of my wits. Something tells me we need the info on those boots, and urgently.”
He checked his phone for the third time this minute. “Still nothing. Come on, Ema…”
Suddenly, a muffled outcry could be heard from outside, and a bailiff quickly pulled open the door to admit a feathery projectile into the room. Taka dropped a folded, slightly wrinkled piece of paper in front of Simon, and was gone again in an instant.
Curious, he picked it up, unfolded the note and read it.
Cykes-dono,
Your tanuki is about to be skinned. Maybe your neighbor should be called into action.
SB
Simon came perilously close to barking out a laugh. Clever girl, using code to let me know what she would do next in our place, and getting Taka to bring it over. If nothing else, this should buy us more time to wait for Skye and her damn report, although both witnesses have potential.
Justice eyed him curiously. “What’s it say?”
Knowing that he could hardly enlighten him as to the true meaning of Athena’s words, Simon quickly drew his eyebrows together in feigned annoyance. “Now the jerk is taunting me with notes, like an overgrown middle schooler. Here,” he shoved the note into his associate’s hands, reasonably sure that Athena and he would not be caught out.
Eyebrows raised, Justice read the note under his breath, only to crumple it up into a ball and fire it into a corner. “That’s the height of pettiness! Don’t let him get to you, Athena.”
Simon smiled, and it served well enough as an authentic expression even though his smile had little to do with attempting to alleviate Justice’s ire on his behalf. Just as intended. Well done indeed, Athena.
“No worries. In fact, I think I have an idea how we can get some worthwhile information that will actually help our case. First of all: If he doesn’t call Mr. Filch to the stand next,” she would, she had written as much in the note, “we will, since we don’t even have his own story on the boots yet. Also, I believe I saw Mr. Hapless in the gallery,” he had not, considering that he had never seen the man before, but Athena apparently had, “and since there was a boot print in his house and he lives right next to the store, he should testify on what he knows about the incident. Even if those two testimonies don’t yield anything new, we’ll buy ourselves a little more time for Ms. Skye to get here.”
Justice thought his proposal over for a few seconds, then he nodded. “That sounds like the best way to go on.” Suddenly, a grin appeared on the young lawyer’s face. “Maybe he should taunt you more often – it brings out your strategic mind.”
Simon, refusing to dwell on the fact that his strategic mind had apparently all but deserted him in the task at hand until Athena had decided to help out, forced his features into an answering grin. “I’m just tired of being yanked around by him. Let’s start playing hardball.”
***
Athena was relieved to see that Simon seemed invigorated after the short recess; apparently, her little ploy had worked. She gave Taka, who was perching on her shoulder once more, an appreciative scratch, and the bird preened, seeming quite satisfied with himself.
Then, the gavel met with the judge’s bench once more, and the trial continued.
They both pressed Filch from their respective sides for information, and it came out that his boots had vanished hours before the murder, only to resurface shortly thereafter, before the body had been found. His reason for not talking had been refusal to admit that a thief might have pulled one over on him, the descendant of the master thief Azuki Kozo, but now that the boot prints had become important to the case, he realized that his pride could be too costly for him to continue holding on to it now.
Ema Skye showed impeccable timing, as she entered the courtroom just as they had established the importance of the boots, explaining that she had found two sets of fingerprints on the upper rim, and that the soil on their soles contained a specific type of geranium fertilizer, which lifted Athena’s hopes for Filch, as she vividly recalled Mr. Hapless’ notably highly fenced in garden veritably overflowing with the flowers.
Simon brought the geraniums up after “having his memory jogged” by Apollo, and although Athena felt it necessary to assert that geraniums and their fertilizer were not exactly rare in Nine-Tails Vale, eventually Mr. Hapless was called to the stand. It did not take long for him to break down after being asked for a fingerprint sample, and he admitted to having attempted to steal the stone from the Moneypennys in order to use it to heal his daughter.
He had been caught in the act by Chip Moneypenny and murdered him, having prepared for contingencies by stealing the ax and boots from Filch. Always wearing gloves to handle the ax, only Filch’s fingerprints were on the weapon, but as Hapless had not been aware of the fact that leather could also hold the identifying markers, he had not exercised the same caution with the boots.
Filch had sought him out at the local bar prior to the murder, suspicious that Hapless had been responsible for the theft, which had led to the public altercation the villagers had witnessed. Watching from his house later that day, Hapless had waited until Filch had entered and exited the store, and the crime had happened shortly thereafter. He had gone upstairs into the Moneypenny residence directly afterwards to check whether Chip’s father had been home, which had resulted in the boot print.
However, the Moneypennys had outwitted him, as the stone in the display case had been a perfectly ordinary rock, while the real thing had been placed under the sofa in the living room by the elder Moneypenny due to a premonition that displaying it would invite thievery – as ultimately even the decoy had managed to do.
Court was adjourned at 4:55 PM with a “Not Guilty” verdict for Phineas Filch.
***
When Simon re-entered the defense lobby after it was over and Filch had said his annoyingly lengthy farewells, his nerves were more than a little strained.
This skin-of-the-teeth business is not for me. I think I’ll stick to prosecuting when – if – I get my body back.
Additionally, his headache had reasserted itself with a vengeance, thanks to the constant din of voices in the courtroom. Justice, sensing his obvious discomfort, sensibly suggested that he should go home and lie down, giving him an excuse to extricate himself rather quickly.
Ten minutes later, he wearily nodded to Athena in greeting as he sank down on the chair opposite her back at the restaurant.