"Bigger fish to fry?!" the judge said, a look of utter surprise on her face. "That's very suspicious."
"Unless he was really frying fish!" Raven smirked.
"Oh my lawd!" Mina shouted at Raven. "Who's side are you on?" She faced the judge. "Permission to question the witness further?"
"Yes," Divine Justice said. "This is finally getting juicy. And not like one of those Juicy Tabloids. You may question this man child further."
Nick Beard had his nose buried in the three screens of his Wintendo PS gadget, but his tears continued to run. "I'm not a manchild," he muttered. "I just like playing video games at age 35."
Mina smiled. "Exactly. You're never too old for video games. Now please, Mr. Beard, just tell me this. Where did Dirk go?"
Nick Beard looked up. "Just to his room. But of course I wasn't allowed in it. There was a security guard."
Mina's eyes turned to Goldie. "You mean Goldie right?"
"Yes…" Nick said. "Now can I get off the stand?"
"Yessir," Mina said, hitting herself in the head with a salute. "I've got like mind to question her."
Nick Beard walked off the stand, and as he did, he traded glimpses with the flighty security guard. He narrowed his eyes and bumped into her as she walked.
"Like ouch!" Goldie exclaimed. "That hurt!"
But unfortunately for her, all chivalry from Nick Beard was dead. He crossed his legs and glared at her from behind the prosecutor's desk. An unusually nervous look came over her face. "Umm what kind of question do you have for little old me?" she asked figeting.
"It's as simple as this," Mina responded. "Did you see Dirk Lord go into his room?"
"Of course!" Goldie said, a slight smile across her ruby red lips. "What kind of question is that? Of course, I noticed him enter his room. I am his personal guard after all.I just wished he'd notice me instead of that hussy, Star."
"Ah-ha!" Mina said, pointing a finger across at Star. "A motivation to kill."
"Um what," Goldie said, tossing her blond locks of neatly conditioned hair. "My name is Goldie Digsy. Not Blackie Widow! I have no reason to kill. Besides I'd have to be married to him for that to work!"
Mina rolled her eyes. "Wowee…so she just confessed to a crime in an alternate universe. Er… uh…so um…did anything suspicious happen?"
"Like what?" Goldie said. "I don't go into his room. As much as I'd love to…Look I don't know what you're getting at, girlfriend. Nothing suspicious happened. He just went in and left and that was it…"
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The justice shot a furious glare at Mina. "Well, it seems I was wrong. This was a complete waste of our time."
"Yeppers!" Goldie said, positioning her eyes skyward. "Nobody who wasn't authorized went into that room!"
Silence filled the room. That sentence was very strangely worded, Mina thought. She tapped her lucky butterfly necklace and let thoughts flock to her brain like a large pink monarch butterfly.
"Nobody who wasn't authorized?" Mina said, her eyes opening widely. "I hate to be negative, but that was a double negative! So you had to be authorized to enter his room?"
"Yes-and-cheese!" Goldie said, nodding her head with her eyes closed. "You'd need to be a cast member or have a day pass or something!"
Mina summoned her EAP and raised her hands, summoning her inner zin. Nick Beard had said he had gotten a day pass to go anywhere he wanted. Was it possible that?
"Connection!" Mina exclaimed. "Did Nick Beard go into his room?! He did say he won a day pass for Rocketstar Studios!"
"Ummm uh…" Goldie said, her hands twirling her golden blond hair like shiny spaghetti. She pointed in both directions with her eyes stupidly crossed. "Can I uhmm…buy a vowel?"
"This isn't Wheel of Fortune!" The judge screamed. "Answer her or it will be your misfortune!"
"I…I…" Goldie stammered. She looked nervously at Nick Beard, whose face had turned strangely red, like he was about to explode.
"Ok!!!!" Nick screamed, his chest convulsing. "I asked her to let me in. I am his number one fan after all!"
"And what did you do in there?" Mina asked. "Did you steal anything from your so-called hero?"
"Objection!" Blind Justice shouted. "This case has gotten so far off point we're basically in another, irrelevant case. Even if it turns out Mr. Beard stole something in his room, what does that have to do with Dirk's murder?"
"Yeah!" Nick Beard said, his face turning back to pale and pasty. He crossed his arms with a confident smile. "I just was combing his room for stray hair follicles and toe nail clippings I'm an extreme fan you see…"
"Objection!" Blind Justice shouted. "Not because I object to his testimony, but I do believe this witness has a problem with over sharing gross, if harmless information…"
"Well…" Mina said, a sly look on her face. "I think I may finally have you cornered, Mr. Beard. There was something of note stolen from Mr. Lord's room. In fact, it was a note."
Nick Beard took a deep breath and glared at Mina. "Oh yeah? What was it?"
Mina removed a sealed bag of evidence from beneath her desk. It was a small black box with a golden star embroidered in it. "There is a page of Mr. Lord's diary missing and it's from the date of his death. Someone could have only stolen it between them and now. And I have a good feeling that it has the truth written on it!"
"Puhlease!" Nick Beard said, his gloved hands holding his chest as he laughed. "There's no fingerprints on it. How do you know I stole it?"
Mina held her hand to her mouth and giggled. "Because only you would know that! Mr. Velcro Gloves! Now cough it up or we'll arrest you for theft!"
With another loud gasp, Nick Beard began to rock back and forth. He chest rose and fell dramatically as his skin turned a rosy pink. He reached inside his pocket for his inhaler, but it slipped out of his hands. "I…stole…it…" he sputtered and started searching through his pockets. "You…want…it…?" he whipped the piece of paper out and threw it on the floor. "Here!"
Nick Beard turned ghastly blue and he stood up, staggering around the room like a space zombie from sector Z. He continued to ramble as he hypoventilated. "It… says the…truth…" he weezed. "my hero…wanted to kill that troll….she broke his heart….she must die…that…troll…"
Gasping loudly, Star watched Nick huff and puff, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.
Now as purple as an eggplant, Nick howled loudly. "HE…must…die…too…he was…my hero…how…dare….he… ignore me…for that…dyk…! It was…I…who… switched…the…guns…"
Nick fell backwards and collapsed onto the floor, leaving the entire room in stunned silence. He gave one final gasp before passing out from an asthma attack.
"And…" Raven said, all smiles. "This case ends with a weeze!"