The judge observed the vibrant fedora with her wrinkled eyes. They were magnified behind her reading glasses, and she marveled at it. "Why, what a fashionable item! Before those so-called Edditors and Phonies wore those hats, they were at the height of fashion in my day!"

If Mina still had a bone to pick with the old justice, she would have said, "you mean the 1930's" but she had come a long way with her. She was, after all, her sadly negated grandmother-in-law.

Instead, Mina had to admit something. "Yes, yes. It's a beauty and has truly brought the hat back into fashion. But uh, Mr. Borg, I think you are forgetting something."

"Being half robot," Mr. Cyrus Borg said. "I consider all the odds. Or at least, half of them. What do you suppose I missed?"

Mina cast her hand out to the adoring audience of Maria Santiago fans, or rather the Stantiagos. There was a reflection on Mr. Borg's robotic helmet that cast his own doubt back at him.

"Did you not consider that there are hundreds of thousands of imitations of that iconic hat?"

"Indeed!" Ricki Montero said as he began to twirl excitedly from the witness stand. "That magnifico brim, that moreda color, the guapo young muchacho who fashioned it! How can you possibly know that my fabuloso hat is the genuine article! You can't, meester roboto!"

The judge glared accusingly at Ricki Montero. Both his theatrical antics and his bonito visage made him highly suspicious. Mina wished she could tell him to tone down the flamboyant gestures.

Divine turned to the imposing cyborg prosecutor who had crossed his arms disapprovingly. "I hate to admit it, since this odd young man is getting on my nerves. But him and Miss Hawkins are right. There must be hundreds of those hats by now. Ms. Santiago is a high fashion criminal."

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"Well...well..." Cyrus Borg answered. "This is why it's important to stagger evidence in a case such as this. As a human, I honed my brain to its top notches of legal technique and my robotic half enhances it further."

"Stagger...evidence..." Mina squeaked.

"Yes..." Cy answered. "You see. The authority in charge of the Santiago case has wisely chosen to keep one aspect out of public knowledge. And for good reason. Otherwise, we'd have a lot of copycat crimes and weird people playing dress up..."

He held up a piece of paper and Mina's mouth nearly dropped three feet. She had never seen this before. Inspector Croix-Saint who had been the only witness sitting in the prosecution chair was grinning with great pleasure behind his curly mustache. That escargot sucking lout had managed to pull one over on the whole country.

The slip of paper was a calling card for Santiago. And the logo was a perfect imprint of her lips smeared in fabulous purple lipstick.

"Those full and fabuloso lips!" Mr. Borg chuckled in his surprisingly suave laugh. "Could only belong to the smooth criminal who stole the heart of the country!"

Mina had to admit, she had never seen a more beautiful kiss and she had locked lips with two of the hunkiest, and sadly deceased men in the last couple years. All of the Stantiagos in the audience bemoaned the fact that a piece of paper has received a better smooch than them.

But the two people who had turned the palest in the room...were Ricki and Monica. They may have had similar faces and statures, but every kiss was unique and telling.

"Now!" Mr. Borg announced loudly. "Attorney Hawkins. Is your client gonna kiss and tell?! After all, if the kiss fits we must acquit!"

Ricki had toned down his flamboyance knowing the truth would be at hand in a matter of seconds. But, he was the older sibling and felt quite defensive of his sister, Monica. He puffed out his chest and grinned and spoke with a wiggle of his eyebrows. "Si...senor. Though judging by that dapper voice, I'd love to give a kiss to the muy bien muchacho behind that masque instead!"

The judge slammed her gavel. "Order! As steamy as that might be, I will have no seductions in my courtroom. Mr. Montero, I order you. Apply some purple lip gloss and give that piece of paper the biggest smooch ever!"

Mina gulped hard, knowing her client had just received the kiss of death!