The din of Todd's dissenters made Mina shake and hold her head. She couldn't shut the voices out of her ears. Even if Todd didn't do it, his appeal in the courtroom was at an all time low. She closed her eyes and imagined she was someplace else, anywhere, preferably watching colorful kidult cartoons on a streaming app in her apartment. But right when she was ready to throw up her hands and scream, a familiar 'ring ring' echoed in her ears.

It was her head-phone.

She immediately knew who it was and she answered the lifeline. Madame Butterfly's voice echoed in her head, interspaced with loud chewing.

"Frida?" Mina thought back to her. "Thank Dog it's you! But why are you chewing?"

"Just enjoying my breakfast muffin, dear," the medium said, continuing to chew. "Raisin bran... the bran that really be raisin me up in the morning."

Silence echoed in Mina's head over Frida's joke.

"Sorry," she said. "That joke was cornier than a corn muffin. What's wrong? I sensed a strong desperation aura coming from the courtroom."

Mina fired some petulant thoughts at her mentor. "I think my aura reading skills are busted! Todd doesn't have a clean conscience at all! He mistreated his bandmate and nobody likes that he did that!"

Frida paused to chew her muffin even louder. At last she gave a deep middle aged woman's laugh. "My dear!" she guffawed. "Just because a person has a green aura doesn't mean they can't be selfish. They aren't perfect people, their souls just aren't tainted with the essence of pure evil. This Toby Manuel guy, he can still be a jerko but he didn't murder or seriously ruin anyone's lives!"

It was like a spark illuminated Mina's brain. "Connection!" she thought. "Now I see what'd happening here! This is a misdirection from Ashley!"

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"Ah yes!" Frida chuckled. "Don't let naughty Miss Direction lead you astray! Find a way to redirect her!"

Mina nodded and opened her eyes. "Will do Frida! I hope you enjoy that special bran-d of muffin!"

"Ho ho ho!" the medium belly laughed like a female santa clause. "Now you're making muffin puns. Toodles dear!"

Mina grinned at the judge and even Ashley. The lioness looked quite confused by Mina's sudden burst of confidence. She was ready to take them both on at once!

Divine Justice banged the gavel. "I hope you have a good comeback dear. For your sake and to avenge my Willy!"

Mina crossed her arms. "I do! When Todd said those things to Christian at the end of the recording. He was simply angry and not murderous."

"Those are feelings," Ashley sneered. "Not facts!"

Mina nodded. "Of course. But I have more proof. You know how you said Todd's fingerprints were on Christian's jetpack. Well, I have a great explanation for that!"

Ashley frowned. She clearly wasn't expecting any kind of comeback.

Mina pointed her finger at Ashley.

"You know what you do when someone does a good job?" the young attorney asked. "Well I have reviewed the footage of DeFunkt's RoHuman Spectacle before Christian's er...wardrobe malfunction and when he did a good job being a funky robot. Todd patted his partner on the back!"

"Oui!" Todd exclaimed. "I remember zat. I was mad at Christian, sure. But when he and I created one final funky groove, I couldn't help but congratulate him with zee pat on zee back!"

A smile spread across the judge's wrinkly mouth. "Give yourself a pat on the back, Miss Hawkins, because I can totally see that!"

Mina grinned and did just that. She was winning people over again. "Now it's time to go on the offense!" she said to herself.

"Miss Ryan?" Mina demanded. "Now here's an interesting question. Who had such vested interest in Todd and Christian's relationship to want to film them? Who exactly was waiting for them to fall out?"

Ashley side eyed her witness and prosecution sitting on the bench. "Monika Kepes," she said calmly.

"Well then," Mina answered and thrust her hand in the direction of the spoiled French actress. "Miss Krepes is susy. Very very susy! I call her to the stand!"

As soon as the Marie Anette actress arrived at the podium, Ashley smirked. Mina suddenly looked very nervous. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because," Ashley said. "You fell right into my trap!"