Mr. Borg…Mr. Persecutor," the elderly judge said exasperated. "I'm getting too old for all these mysterious personas. Please just proceed with your pronouncement."
Borg extended a hand forward directly towards Mina. He did not point this time, only gesture lightly.
"LADIES FIRST."
"Uh…" Mina said, now flustered. "I'm sorry…what?!"
"THE DEFENSE IS A WOMAN SO I WILL LET HER SPEAK FIRST."
"Lawd…" Mina remarked, gritting her teeth. "At least ro-boy has some chivalry circuits."
"WHAT CAN I SAY?" the cyborg said, extending a hand and bowing. "I AM A GENTLEMAN AND A CYBORG!"
Mina's light brown eyes darted nervously. Perhaps he was setting her up for a trap. A cybernetic overlord prosecutor was no doubt a sinister villain.
"Okies…" she said, and cleared her throat. "My client, Ricki Montero has been accused of being world famous jewel and high art thief, Maria Santia…"
"GOOOOOOOO!" the audience roared.
Mina had been so taken by this weird robot man, she had hardly scanned the audience and when she did, she was not surprised.
The entire first two rows were completely bright velvet purple. Dressed in suave feathered fedoras, brilliant overcoats and heavy purple lipstick and mascara, fans of male, female and all genders had arrived dressed as their favorite vixen of crime. With signs in tow that read, "Free Maria" and "Steal my children, Maria!" there were clearly some super stans and stanettes in the audience.
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All together, they changed, "Let her go free!" until the big cueball head security guard silenced them with a loud grunt and a large fist slammed in his hand.
"It seems your client, Miss Hawkins," Divine Justice remarked. "Is highly famous in this town."
"Not just this town, your honor," Mina smiled. "The whole country has purple fever. Yes indeedy, she isn't just a mere thief, she's a brand!"
"Well…" the stern judge said. "When her brand is crime, it comes in conflict with my brand: law!"
"Yes, your honor!" Mina bowed. "But let's just say she has a very specific brand of thievery and not…well…murder! The previous night, she stole one thing, the Rubylove from Rocks On The Block, not someone's life."
"MAY I INTERJECT YOUR HONOR!" The Dark Persecutor announced. "FOR THIS IS WHERE OUR OPINIONS DIVERGE! RICKI MONTERO IS NOT HERE FOR FABULOSITY OR THIEVERY. RATHER HE KILLED SOMEONE AT HER VERY OWN CRIME SCENE!"
The judge winced so loud from the garbled vocoder echoing around the room. "Mr. Borg, can you please turn off your erm…speaking device or uh…reduce the capitalization of your text."
Mr. Borg turned a dial on his neck. Suddenly, his voice was very suave and manly. "My apologies, your honor. I didn't realize I was on all caps."
"No caps…" Mina muttered, rolling her eyes. "But at least he sounds better now."
"Anyway," Mr. Borg said, turning his notes around to reveal a balding middle aged man flashing his jewel covered rings on his fingers. "Mr. Jem Diamond was murdered in cold blood by Maria Santiago the night before. And you may ask…how do I know? Well, a detective was there and he found something… along with the body of the victim."
"What?!" Mina exclaimed and suddenly her eyes bulged wide open.
She hasn't been thinking about the actual crime scene due to so much that was on her mind. That and Inspector Croix-Saint had removed the room of all evidence and just given her a beige photo of the body.
Mr. Borg reached behind his back and pulled out a purple fedora. The room wobbled for the young attorney. Mina was feeling very faint. "You see, as all Stan-tiago's know…the quote-unquote fabulous Maria Santiago, something very stylish at every crime scene…
Both Mina and Cy spoke at the same time. "A calling card!"
"Or a calling fedora…" Borg remarked "in this case!"