AWKWARD ZOMBIE

"Hold the phone, someone got murdered again?"

"You complete idiot!" Whitney yelled, straining against the cuffs. "Why do you think you're standing in the trial room right now?! While you were off in la-la land, someone..." She stopped and took a breath. "...I need to tell everyone the full story. Last night, I was planning on going to poke around the village a bit by myself, just to see if I could find anything out of the ordinary. But...before I could even open the front door, I was overcome with dizziness and passed out. I only woke up when Isabelle entered my house and told me that Cranston had been murdered. My keys and ID were missing...and replaced by Cranston's keys and ID. My shovel...was covered in blood and I'm pretty sure it's the murder weapon. And there was a crumpled up paper in my home as well, one that Pierce, Cranston and I had found yesterday and Cranston took with him." She turned to give everyone else in the courtroom a level gaze, stopping to stare at Pierce. "I did not kill Cranston--and I don't know who could have, at least not yet."

"Maybe we should start with a scenario then, just to get our bearings. That is, if it's all right with everyone else."

"Well, I remember that I was walking towards the plaza, and then all of a sudden I was here. How strange... Ah! I guess I'm still a little tired. Please forgive my ignorance. As for your rudeness, it's fine by me if you talk to me however you choose to, but please keep in mind that it could influence your standing in the eyes of others.

"So, the murder as it appears now: Whitney murdered Cranston with a shovel. Is there anything that negates this theory?"

Pierce is barely keeping himself from shouting.

"I'm telling you all, she isn't the murderer! Whitney wouldn't kill anyone!"

Joe stares at the ceiling for a while. "As always, the aristocracy are about as useful to my search for the truth as ever, not satisfied until I find something they like."

"Look, calm down a bit. This is how the murder appears right now, and only by presenting evidence that contradicts the situation can it be falsified. Do you have any evidence that contradicts the situation, Pierce?"

Pierce looks at Whitney, then lowers his eyes.

"N-no....not yet......"

"But we can't end the trial so quickly, especially based on first glances!"

The eagle looks at Isabelle. He seems agitated.

"Let's get a scenario going, already!"

"I...I know that's what it looks like," Whitney muttered, looking down at the podium. "But I swear I didn't kill him! We were trying to investigate together, we were trying to help. What reason would I have to kill him?" She buried her face in her paws with a quiet sniffle. "Why...why would anyone want to frame me...?"

"Well, the culprit would want to frame you because you happened to be with the victim when he died, albeit in an unconscious state. It's opportunistic. And we all have a motive for murdering each other: Escape.

"Enough of this, this conversation won't provide any new details. Isabelle, if you would?"

"Well, it wasn't me!" Punchy yells. "Why was I even chained up like this in the first place?"

"In my opinion, your laziness and tiredness makes you suspicious, Sucker" Octavian came from a corner, the suckign of his tentacles against the floor makign an eery sound, "Things areound here are getting too odd for someone to be tired allt he time. If You`re sleeping at night, why are you always is tired?"
the Octopus folded his arms, blowing a bubble from his extended mouth. "In my opinion, Punchy, you're the most suspicious out of all of us,sucker."

"Okay, since we have two suspects, I'm going to propose two different scenarios for you. Keep an eye out on any inconsistencies... since I wasn't able to investigate myself..."



SCENARIO 1A: Whitney

"Last night Whitney visited Cranston soon after nighttime.

Cranston let her into his house easily, having just seen her and having been in on finding the map together. H-he wouldn't suspect her...

With her shovel, Whitney swung around wildly, chasing Cranston around and beating up his walls and furniture in the process.

Finally, she begins to hit Cranston, weakening him with soft blows to his body, until she can stab him in the throat with her shovel.

She grabs up the map and Cranston's keys, hoping to come back later to hide the evidence.

However, Cranston grabs her ID and keys with his dying strength and hides it underneath himself so she won't notice.

Whitney goes back to her house, and for whatever reason, does not return to Cranston's house to finish the job...

Could she have been drugged at this point?

SCENARIO 1B: Punchy

"Punchy is the only one who bought medicine yesterday...

And Whitney claims she was drugged and fell unconscious just before the time of the murder.

It's possible that Punchy drugged Whitney with the medicine and tried to frame her.

All he's have to do is get access to her house at that point, grab her shovel, and convince Cranston to let him in.

Then, he'd kill Cranston with the shovel, and rearrange things to make it look like Whitney was the killer.

Including finding the map and putting it in her house, like she was trying to keep and hide it for some reason.

So if this is the case, Punchy did indeed drug Whitney!"

Evidence Bullet: Whitney's keys

YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG!

"If events played out the way you described it, rookie, then it seems unlikely that Whitney would be unable to get into her house after committing the murder."

"She would have locked her door in order to prevent someone from breaking and entering!"

"When I heard that Punchy had purchased medicine yesterday, I was almost certain that he was the one who drugged me." Whitney took her paws away from her face, frowning. "But when I poked around in his home, the medicine bottle was sealed. Not only that, but he wasn't even near me yesterday. There would have been no opportunity for him to drug me."

"W-well, the only reason I bought the medicine is because I was sick, mrmpht. I used it right away when I got it, so I don't know how it could've still been sealed."