Ainsley stood before the Judge's stand and faced the others as he began his testimony. "We arrived at the bank to begin the heist at around 8am. Me and Eddie entered the building and made our way over to the vault. Since Boomhauer was already employed at the bank he was tasked with sneaking a high powered explosive inside using one of the bank's small money cases.

He was supposed to set the timer so by the time the two of us met up with him, the vault door would have already been blown off and we could quickly rob the place dry, amidst the chaos. But then Hartmut showed up out of nowhere and got into an altercation with Boomhauer and before we knew it, we'd all been blow straight to Hell."

"An interesting twist of fate." Panuel pondered. "It would appear Hartmut's brash and impulsive actions are what led to your deaths. His interruption prevented you all from escaping the blast zone, ending your lives. I'm afraid this doesn't bode well for you, Mr. Hartmut."

"WHAT!?" Hartmut protested in shock. "Your Honour, did you miss the part where the three of them used a bomb to rob a bank!? Why am I being chastised!?"

"We must focus on properly establishing your cause of death. The rest of their actions can be judged at a later time. Now then, do the three of you have anything to say in regards to Mr. Atomizer's statements?"

Eddie was too scared to speak up, so his angel Sera answered for him. "N-no, Your Honour. I think that's what happened."

Meanwhile, Jerry turned to Boomhauer. "You don't have to say anything if you don't think it will help you."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Hartmut called. "You can't just withhold information like that! If Boomhauer's side of the story is different then he should speak up, too!"

Once again, Jerry was unfazed by Hartmut's comments. "It is a Guardian Angel's duty to always keep their human's best interests in mind."

"That's a load of crap! First you keep the Personal Files a secret and now your trying to silence one of the witnesses! That has to be against some kind of rule!"

"As long as we're not outright lying, we can do whatever we want, so long as the Judge allows. And for your information, it was Lily's idea to not use the Personal Files."

"Hey! Don't pin this on me!" Lily cried. "You didn't have to agree to it!"

"I refuse to be labelled a cheater over an idea you came up with."

"I don't care which one of you came up with it!" Hartmut yelled, losing his patience. "This is still nonsense!"

"BE STILL!" Panuel's voice echoed throughout the room, silencing the squabbling spirits. "Mr. Hartmut, you are the only one yet to share their thoughts on Mr. Atomizer's testimony. As it is your death we are trying to establish, do you agree with the statements he's made regarding the events of that morning?"

"Obviously not. First of all, that was a rather vague description you gave. I'm pretty sure banks don't just let you waltz right into their vault without some resistance. It couldn't have been that simple."

"Bah." Ainsley scoffed. "This is about our cause of death not the heist itself. I was merely getting to the point."

"And yet despite that, you still never really got to that point. Namely: How DID I die!?"

"Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you were killed in the explosion like the rest of us. What else could it have possibly been!?"

"And you're certain that explosion was powerful enough to kill someone?"

"Of course it was! Just look at us! Eddie and I scarred by burn marks and Boomhauer has lost his body entirely! There's no doubt that's what happened!"

There was a sudden smug smirk on Hartmut's face that caught Tanya off guard. It was the first time he'd actually smiled since he got here, but it was a smile she recognised. Suddenly all the gloomy clouds over her head were beginning to clear. "If that's what you really believe, Ainsley, then I'm afraid there's a clear contradiction here!"

"I beg your pardon!?"

"YES! Tear him a new one, Hartmut!" Tanya cheered.

"You see- Wha- HEY!" With a feathery wing in his face, Hartmut almost lost his train of thought. "Tanya, do you mind!?"

"I'm sorry! My wings always do that when I get excited. I can't help it!"

"Well, can you please control yourself? I can't nail this guy with feathers in my mouth."

"At least I didn't knock over any vases, drinks or tables this time."

"Wait, entire tables? Really...? No, hold on! AINSLEY! Your claim that your injuries are a result of a bomb explosion is logically sound. However, what about MY injuries!? Care to explain those!?"

"What the devil are you talking about!? You don't have any injuries!"

"Exactly."

"Then what was the point of.... AH!"

Even the Arch Angel himself couldn't help but smile at Hartmut's display of bravado. "Oh my... it appears Hartmut has uncovered a fascinating contradiction in this case. If he really was killed in the explosion, then he should have similar injuries to the rest of you and yet, his body looks virtually unharmed. How DOES one die in a fiery explosion without suffering any bodily harm?"

"Your Honour!" Hartmut called. "At the risk of jumping the gun, I'd like to present an alternate possibility."

"By all means. Enlighten us."

"If I wasn't killed in the explosion, then that means my death must have an entirely different cause. Considering the criminals we're dealing with, I'd like to bring up the possibility of murder!"

"WHAT!?" Boomhauer cried.

"Oh no." Sera also muttered as Eddie looked down at the desk in a panic.

"Murder..." Panuel thought aloud. "Quite the brazen accusation and yet... I cannot deny the possibility. But, tell me this, Hartmut. Will following this train of thought lead us to your true cause of death? 'Thou shalt not kill.' is one of the ten defining commandments He bestowed upon humanity. If this does turn out to be a murder, then there will be dire consequences for the culprit. Those sins do not fade easily."

Ainsley returned to his seat as the three men conversed with their angels in low whispers.

"Nice one, Hartmut!" Tanya cheered as the detective sat back down in his seat. "Talk about putting the fear of God in them."

"Don't celebrate, yet." He replied. "Things are only going to get trickier from here."

"What? How come?"

"Now that there's a risk of punishment involved, the others will be more motivated than ever to try and pin the murder on each other, or try to refute it ever happened at all."

"But, isn't that a good thing? You've backed them into a corner and now all you've got to do is pick apart their lies."

"That's easier said than done. It's gonna be difficult to tear apart their arguments when we don't have any physical evidence to shove in their face. I feel like we've played our trump card too early."

"This is quite the pickle. I wonder...."

Panuel banged his gavel to grab everyone's attention. "That's enough deliberating among yourselves. Now that murder has been established as a serious possibility we must go over the events of this bank robbery in finer details in order to determine the potential killer. The question is, which of you will be brave enough to take the stand?"

The room fell silent.

"I see... in that case, I shall decide for you. Eddie Explosion, your name seems oddly appropriate, you shall share your account of the events of that day!"

"Wh-what...? I-I..."

"Wait, Your Honour!" Tanya interrupted. "I have a better idea! I believe a different witness should take the stand!"

The Judge was intrigued. "Oh? You believe Bernard Boomhauer should testify?"

"Nope! I think Sera should!"

The timid angel practically leapt out of her skin in shock. "M-me!? Wh-why!?"

"I know for a fact that me and Lily weren't watching the events of that day, but what about Sera and Jerry? They could provide excellent testimony and since they're Guardian Angels, we know they can't lie, or there'll be consequences. We can get an unbiased look at the events without the culprit trying to mislead the trial."

"Have a Guardian Angel testify on the death of a human they weren't even watching over....?" Panuel toyed with the idea for a moment before coming to a conclusion. "A rather unorthodox suggestion, however this is a rather unorthodox situation. Given the severity of the possible crime, perhaps an angel's testimony would be more trustworthy. Very well, Sera, you will describe to us the events of that day, as you witnessed them."

"W-wait!" Sera cried. "I-It's not like I was in the building with them! I can only explain what I saw while watching over Eddie!"

"That will suffice for now. Please, tell us what you saw."

"How was that!?" Tanya asked, awaiting praise from her favourite detective.

"That was... surprisingly quick witted of you."

"I learned from the best."

Sera stood before the others, shaking and sweating as she tried to wrestle with her nerves and calm herself down. "U-um... I-I... Wh-where do I even start...?"

"We don't need the guy's life story." Hartmut responded. "Let's just start from the moment they entered the bank that morning and work our way through the heist."

"O-okay... I-I can do that... I-I think..." Sera took a deep breath as she began her testimony. "B-before entering the bank, Ainsley and Eddie set up the getaway car next to the closest window to the vault. Th-then, when they entered the bank, Ainsley grabbed Eddie and p-pulled out a g-gun, pretending to keep him hostage in exchange for money. With the security guards distracted with the fake hostage situation, Ainsley lured them inside the building where Boomhauer was able to redirect the guards away from the bank vault.

Th-there wouldn't be much time before the guards figured out they'd been mislead, so the three of them quickly entered the room with the bank vault, but before they could barricade the door, H-Hartmut followed them into the room. H-he started yelling questions at them and Boomhauer p-panicked and then the two of them got into a f-fight. I don't remember what happened very clearly after that. E-Eddie dove to the ground in fear and I did my best to comfort him. All I remember is hearing a loud bang, followed by a ticking noise, then an explosion before our connection was severed."

"So, what do you make of this, Mr. Hartmut?" Panuel asked.

"Um, there's a lot to unpack here, Your Honour."

"Indeed, but that's what the cross-examination is for. You may begin."

"I don't remember the Bible saying anything about having to play defense attorney when you die..."

"Just remember, Hartmut." Tanya added. "Angel's don't lie, but they can withhold information, so make sure you squeeze her for all she's worth, like a big juicy orange."

"I'll... uh... keep that in mind, Tanya." Hartmut rubbed the back of his head, unsure of how to proceed. "Okay... where to start...? Something about that loud bang concerns me, but maybe we should work our way through her whole story from beginning to end. So Sera, the getaway vehicles were already placed in advance? How did they plan on escaping exactly?"

"B-boomhauer already worked security, so they had a pretty good idea of the building's layout. They knew there was a window they could escape from inside the vault room. They were going to barricade the doors to buy time to steal the money and then l-leap out the window."

"That sounds pretty ballsy, as far as bank robberies go. But, what about this fake hostage situation? How exactly was that pulled off?"

"A-Ainsley had Eddie in a headlock with a g-gun pointed at his head. Once he had all the security officers in the main reception area of the bank, they ran into a hallway. Boomhauer then created a diversion that lead the officers down the wrong hallway and then returned to the others."

"How did he create the diversion?"

"H-He fired his gun to get the officer's attention."

"Right, Boomhauer was a security guard, too. So, then all three of them met up in the bank vault room and just as they were about to barricade the door, I showed up?"

"Y-yeah... you barged right in and started yelling at everyone."

"Tanya said I didn't have any jobs lined up that day, so do you have any idea why I was even on the scene to begin with?"

"U-um.... money?"

"Oh... that makes sense... Wait! Does that mean I just happened to be on the scene during the robbery by pure coincidence!?"

Tanya giggled. "Your luck always takes a nosedive whenever I'm not around. You probably saw right through their ruse and ran in to stop them."

"G-good to know... Still, nothing about this sequence of events seems very suspicious so far... but now we're getting to the most important part. Sera, what exactly happened during my altercation with Boomhauer!?"

"I-I don't know... Eddie immediately ducked down, so I was wasn't watching...."

Stolen story; please report.

"Are you for real...!? But, that was the very moment I was about to die!"

"I-I'm sorry! I'm only obligated to watch over my human, not someone else's!"

"O-okay, you said you comforted him, right? Um... how?"

"W-well, Guardian Angels are sort of like that gut instinct you get. When you feel the need to leave a certain area, right before something bad happens, or when you feel calm in a bad situation because you know everything's going to be okay. That's what we are, we can't communicate with, or control you directly, we just help guide your instincts."

"So, did you try to get Eddie to dive to the ground, or did he do that on his own?"

"H-he did that on his own."

Hartmut groaned to himself. "Man... maybe getting an angel to testify was a bad idea... I'm no lawyer... Without evidence I got no idea how to get more info out of this woman, assuming there's anything left for her to say."

"It seems we have a better understanding of the events of that morning." Panuel surmised. "But, we are still no closer to figuring out Hartmut's cause of death. Perhaps it wasn't murder?"

"Objection, Your Honour!" Everyone suddenly turned to Jerry, who stood up from his seat, glaring at the meek angel. "Sera, why aren't you telling us the whole truth?"

"Wh-what are y-you t-talking about?" Sera stuttered, more anxious than usual.

"Lily and Tanya might not have witnessed the events of that day, but I certainly did. Or do you take me for a fool?"

"Pl-please... I d-don't..."

"Yo, Jerry!" Hartmut called. "Care to explain!?"

"Sera's leaving out a crucial piece of information. The fact that Eddie had a gun."

"A gun...? Wait! That bang! She said there was a loud bang during our fight! Was it a gunshot!?"

"AH!" Sera cried, having been caught out.

"Sera! There really was a gunshot!?"

"Y-yes... the loud bang was a gunshot! I'm sorry!"

"You lying little-! No... it wasn't a lie, you were just being intentionally vague! That's politician levels of slimy!"

"H-how c-could you say something like that!?"

"Wait, please!" Eddie interjected. "Sera didn't do anything wrong. She's just trying to protect me."

"Then what was the gun for? Did you shoot me!?"

"I didn't shoot anyone! The gun was just for my own protection! I panicked and threw it away when I ducked for cover!"

"And why DID you duck for cover?"

"If you really want to get into that mess, then why don't you ask Boomhauer? After all, if you two hadn't gotten into that fight, none of this would have happened."

"You know what? I agree. Let's get straight to the heart of this issue. You Honour, we need Boomhauer to testify about the fight we had! I'm certain if anyone here knows how I died, it's him!"

"Are you sure you want Mr. Boomhauer himself and not his angel's testimony?" Panual asked.

"Absolutely!"

"If you insist." Panuel banged his gavel to signal the next phase of the trial. "Return to your seat, Sera! Bernard Boomhauer, you will stand before us next and tell us all about the struggle you had with Mr. Hartmut!"

"Oh, I see what you're doing." Tanya smirked. "Picking apart lies is a lot easier for a detective than half-truths."

Hartmut laughed sheepishly. "Actually... I just really don't want to mess with that angel, Jerry. He's a little TOO on the ball for me to handle. Boomhauer seems way more nervous and emotional, so he should crack under the pressure a lot more easily."

"Yeah... you'd think a featureless, floating ball of light would have a way better poker face than him..."

"I-I heard that!" Boomhauer whined. "You think this is gonna be easy? Well, buckle up, because I've got one hell of a tale to tell!"

And so, Bernard Boomhauer flew out in front of the hastily assembled court and gave his impassioned testimony. "Yeah! I'll tell you exactly how all this went down! Just as we were about to barricade the door, that Hartmut guy just ran into the room. He starting yelling stuff like: 'Nice try!' and 'I'm asking the questions here!', like he was some big shot superhero! The other two blocked the door so no one else could barge in and then he gets all indignant on us, flashing his detective ID thing like it'll magically make us stop, like dude, we've got guns and a bomb, just let us rob the place and leave already!

But, for some reason, telling him that only made him angrier! He came right up to me and tried to grab me, but I backed off and started swinging at him! I got in a couple of left jabs before knocking him on his ass with a solid right hook to the face. Somehow in all of that he must have activated the bomb and gotten us all killed, as a final petty act of revenge! Yeah, that's what happened!"

Hartmut couldn't believe what he was hearing, he looked around and saw Eddie with his face firmly planted into his desk and Ainsley covering his face with his hand, both in utter disbelief and Hartmut couldn't even blame them.

"How strange..." Panuel spoke up. "Mr. Boomhauer's version of events seems slightly different from the others. I'm actually a little excited to see where Hartmut's cross-examination will take us from here."

"Wow, that was a train wreck." Tanya smirked.

"Well, at least the Judge is having fun." Hartmut replied.

"Not as much fun as you'll have giving Boomhauer a reality check."

"I suppose shooting fish in a barrel can be pretty entertaining sometimes."

The little ball of light flickered, irritably. "What!? You think you can prove me wrong!? You don't have any evidence!"

"No, but I do have short term memory. Long term memory, not so much... So, let's address the elephant in the room. Where was the gunshot?"

"What!? I don't know! Somewhere in there! I was too busy having a fist fight to notice!"

"But, it's a gunshot! Even if you were deaf, surely you would have noticed the bullet hitting something in that room."

"Nope, the bomb exploded before I had a chance to notice anything."

"But, there were only four people in the room! Thirty seconds is plenty of time to notice someone had fired a gun!"

"Well, I didn't! I had other priorities, like handing you your ass while bobbing and weaving through your little baby fists!"

"Bobbing and weaving, huh....? You seem really proud of your fighting prowess, but are you really sure I didn't land a single punch on you?"

"Absolutely!"

"Are.... are you... really sure you want to stick with this story...?"

"Wh-why are you looking at me like that!? I heard you earlier, you said you don't have any evidence, so it's not like you can even disprove my claims!"

"I feel kinda bad embarrassing him like this, he seems so proud of himself, but embarrass him I must. I do have evidence. Everyone please take a look at my face and ask yourselves. Does this look like the face of a man who just received an ass beating?"

"Your face certainly doesn't look like any ass I've ever seen."

"Th-thanks, Your Honour..."

Sadly, Boomhauer still wasn't buying it. "Of course your face looks fine! Your dead!"

"Oh my God.... Jerry, you're his Guardian Angel, could you please explain it to him."

Still unfazed, Jerry fixed his glasses and addressed his human. "Bernard, any injuries your body has suffered are implanted onto your soul upon dying. If the fight really did go the way you insisted, Hartmut's face would be covered with the injuries you inflicted on him."

"Wait what!?" The tiny cried, shaking on the spot. "I didn't know it was THAT specific!"

Smirking, Hartmut added. "That means either you didn't land a single punch on me, or you're the one with the tiny baby fists."

"N-no way! I didn't lose to some detective half my size! I just misremembered the details of the fight, that's all!"

"Then could you please tell us what ACTUALLY happened this time!?"

"Y-yeah! So, maybe I didn't actually land a single punch on the guy, but could you blame me!? I was holding a bomb at the time and he kept trying to grab it! In fact, he's the one who set off the timer and got us all killed!"

"You're really adamant that I'm the one who activated that bomb, aren't you?"

"Because it's true!"

"In that case, Eddie! You're the one who created the bomb, right? Could you describe it for us?"

Though hesitant, he looked over to his Guardian Angel who gave him a nod of approval. "Well... not to get into the technical details, the bomb needed to be strong enough to blow through the vault door. So it ended up being pretty heavy and bulky, about 15 inches long and 5 inches wide. It was designed with a timer display and a red button for the detonator, so even an idiot like Boomhauer couldn't screw up triggering it. That's about it, really. Pretty standard, but very powerful."

"E-Eddie!" Boomhauer cried. "Don't tell him that! Who's side are you on!?"

"NO! This is fine." Jerry suddenly rose from his seat and joined Boomhauer in front of the Judge's stand, leaving Hartmut with a feeling of dread.

"U-uh... what are you doing?"

"My job, as Bernard's Guardian Angel. As Eddie already explained, the bomb was designed so even an idiot could figure it out, so it's not farfetched to assume that such an experienced and intelligent detective like Hartmut also managed to deduce how to detonate the bomb, simply by looking at it."

"I-I mean... that's not... untrue, but why would I do that? Why wouldn't I just take the bomb from him to avoid anyone detonating it?"

"That is also a possibility and maybe in an attempt to wrestle the bomb from Bernard, you accidentally activated it?"

"Wh-what!? That's obviously not true! Besides, we've already established that I couldn't have died in the explosion!"

"Yes, you most likely died during the thirty seconds before the bomb exploded. Which reminds me, wasn't there a gun fired during all the commotion? Perhaps someone shot at you to prevent you from fiddling with the bomb?"

"I... can't deny... that might have happened...."

Panuel looked down upon the Hartmut with a stern glare. "If this is true, then that means the cause of all these deaths may have been as a result of Mr. Hartmut's irresponsible and impulsive behaviour."

"Wh-what!? No!" Tanya cried, shaking the detective's arm. "Hartmut, how could you let him back you into a corner like that!?"

"I-I don't know!" He answered in a panicked sweat. "He just jumped in out of nowhere! Dammit, this is exactly why I didn't want him to testify! I knew he'd pull something like this! I could see it in his eyes!"

"Well, if you don't refute his argument, you're going to take the blame for all this!"

"But, how do I prove I didn't touch that bomb?"

"You can't." Jerry answered. "It's impossible. Whether it was accidental or on purpose, the most logical explanation for all of this is that someone shot you in a panic to prevent you from touching that bomb, but they were too late and the bomb detonated anyway. If I'm wrong, feel free to refute my theory with evidence."

Hartmut looked over at the other angels and witnesses, but they all kept their mouths shut. None of them had any reason to back him up. All he could do was look down at his own desk, desperately searching for an answer for this impossible scenario.

"That smug prick... he knows I don't have any evidence and there's no way to properly verify whether I touched that bomb or not. So... how do I get out of this...? This is all just his own speculation, but without any physical evidence, speculation is all any of us have.... Wait a second... Maybe I'm thinking about this all wrong... Yeah... I just have to fight speculation with speculation. Instead of presenting evidence that I didn't touch the bomb, maybe I can present the possibility that I COULDN'T touch it! And I think I know how!"

Looking back at Jerry, Hartmut was ready for a counterattack, much to Jerry's dismay. "Wh-why are you smiling? You couldn't possibly have found a way out of this."

"Actually I have. One small possibility that could change everything."

Panuel stifled a jovial chuckle. "This sounds most interesting. I'm rather eager to hear this. Please, do go on, Mr. Hartmut."

"See, it's not a question of IF I touched the bomb, it's that I COULDN'T!"

"Yes, you could!" Jerry, yelled. "There was nothing stopping you!"

"But there was. You brought it up yourself, Jerry. Someone had a gun."

"Are you seriously going to...?"

"Yep. I couldn't touch that bomb, because someone pointed a gun at me!"

"That's ridiculous! That's just a desperate bluff!"

"We know for a fact that someone at the scene definitely fired a gun! So, it's entirely possible! In fact, if anyone at the scene was going to be held at gun point, it was going to be the detective trying to stop the three bank robbers!"

"But you can't deny you still got into a fight with Bernard!"

"And you can't deny that whoever fired the gun could have shot the bomb by accident, causing it to detonate!"

"Then it was you, Hartmut! You must have been the one who fired a gun!"

"If I had a gun then why would I even get into a fist fight, with a bank robber in the first place!? That doesn't sound like something an experienced and intelligent detective would do!"

"That's... NO!" Jerry was left speechless. His seemingly airtight argument had a clean hole poked right through it by a new possibility Hartmut pulled out of Jerry's own testimony.

Panuel, once again banged his gavel. "Mr. Hartmut makes an interesting point. The origins of this mysterious gunshot seems to play a key role in this incident. If we don't clear this up, we'll be stuck with two very different takes on what actually happened. Therefore, the next question that must be answered is: Who fired that gun?"

"B-but... I-I... can't believe you managed to wriggle your way out of that."

"I'm Tanya's favourite for a reason, you know." Hartmut smugly responded.

Conceding defeat, Jerry soon calmed himself, as there were other questions that still needed answers. "Fine, well done. So then, Master Detective, if you are so brilliant, care to enlighten us on who the shooter was?"

"Sure... just... um... give a second... or ten." Hartmut immediately turned to Tanya for help. "Please tell me you have some ideas."

Tanya thought about it for a moment. "Well... according to Sera, the gunshot occurred during your fight, at which point Eddie ducked for cover and dropped his gun. Assuming Sera isn't lying, we can rule out Eddie as the potential shooter."

"Oh, right. And since I was fighting Boomhauer and I don't have a gunshot wound then that means it couldn't have been either of us."

"So, that leaves only one other possible suspect."

"Right... let's see if we can ring the truth out of him. Your Honour, we've come to a conclusion. We believe the shooter was Ainsley Atomizer!"

"Wha-"

"EXCUSE ME!?" Before Ainsley had a chance to react, his Guardian Angel, Lily stood up. "Are you seriously accusing Ainsley of shooting someone!? He may be criminal scum, but even he wouldn't stoop to murder! I personally made sure of that!"

"B-but... you weren't even watching him at the time... also I didn't accuse him of murder..."

Lily seemed especially agitated, like all her bottled up emotions were coming to the forefront. "Just my luck... As if Ainsley's antics weren't frustrating enough..."

"Um... well... the only way we'll know for sure is if Ainsley testifies about the gunshot."

"Ainsley! I swear to the Holiest of Holies, if you actually shot him, I'll dump your ass into Hell myself!"

Not even Ainsley's stoic demeanour could whether the storm of fury Lily had thrown his way. "I-I'm sorry, ma'am! I'll try to clear this up, right away!"

Hartmut was left shaken by Lily's temper. "Man... that woman just exploded at him. That can't be proper etiquette for a Guardian Angel."

"I can't blame her..." Tanya responded. "That Ainsley guy's been a real handful for the past fifty years."

"Watching the same criminal making the same mistakes over and over again would probably drive me crazy too."

"For the record, though. I had a ton of fun watching you, Hartmut!"

"Thanks."

"Mr. Atomizer." Panuel addressed. "Please explain to us what you witnessed as well as your own actions during the moment of the gunshot."

"Y-yes... I'll try... Uh... let's see here... Well, to be honest, I wasn't watching the fight between Hartmut and Boomhauer. I couldn't bare to, knowing that idiot was swinging that bomb around. All I could think to do was brace myself for the inevitable. Besides, are you certain it was a gunshot that killed you?"

"It had to be a gunshot." Hartmut replied. "Based on what we know, nothing else makes sense. How do you fire a gun from close range and not hit your target?"

"I don't know, I wasn't watching."

"Then, when did you start watching again?"

"There was... an eerie silence after the gunshot... and then after a few seconds, something fell to the ground. That's when I looked back at the scene. Boomhauer backed up toward us and then the last thing I remember before everything went white, was seeing Hartmut dead on the ground."

"The two of you were so scared of the bomb going off that you didn't see how I died....? Just my luck..."

"Don't fall for this tripe, Hartmut." Jerry interjected. "Out of the three of them, Ainsley had the most opportunity to shoot you. After all, he still had his gun from the hostage situation."

"That's a good point.... it's possible Ainsley's simply lying to avoid taking responsibility for the crime."

"You can't just say that!" Ainsley argued. "Otherwise we'll be right back where we started! There must be some way to prove one of our theories correct!"

"Here we go with needing proof again... But I don't have any proof...." Hartmut, facetiously rummaged through his pants pockets, knowing full well there was no evidence in either of them, but what he did find was something else. "Wait... is this my wallet?"

"Sure is." Tanya answered, nonchalantly.

"Why do I have a little ghost wallet?"

"It's not a ghost wallet, it's your actual wallet. Look, it's even got your Detective ID and everything."

"Oh yeah... my name, date of birth, address. That would have been nice to know an hour ago."

"I-I mean it's not like it's relevant to the trial or anything, so we can pretend we found it earlier to not look like idiots, right?"

"What do you mean 'we'...? WAIT! THE SPIDER THING!"

"Spider....?"

"It's not just injuries that get implanted onto your soul, any objects you had, like clothing or personal belongings come with you too! That means... AINSLEY! The gun from the hostage situation, it should still be with you, right!?"

"You... want to see my gun...?"

"Absolutely! Let's see what condition it was in at the moment of your death! If it was fired recently, then that should clear up all reasonable doubts!"

"F-fine... but you won't find anything." Ainsley pulled out his handgun and placed it on Hartmut's desk as the detective began examining it.