LogFAQs > #958948771

Trial Part 1 begins and unlike previous trials this one does not have a jury. Sholmes is here and his hair is back to normal. Here's something I didn't think about until now. What is Sholmes's connection to the Professor case? I don't think we know what he was up to 10 years ago and I get the impression he knows some things about that case that he isn't allowed to share. Gina and Mikotoba are here as well. Mikotoba is here to watch Ryunosuke in action since the Symposium got postponed. After finding out Ryunosuke thinks Van Zieks is innocent, Gina asks him to get the guy who really killed Gregson. So despite how everything looks, Gina is still willing to accept the possibility that Van Zieks is innocent and that justice won't really be done unless the real culprit is caught. With that the bailiff calls us in!

So the jury seats really are empty but there still seem to be member of the public in the gallery. Wait, I'm actually wrong. This is a closed trial. The people in the gallery are restricted to members of the judiciary. So are Mikotoba and Sholmes in the gallery? Maybe Sholmes can get in but it doesn't seem like Mikotoba would count. Kazuma then goes over the details of the case. It happened on November 1st at 5pm. Several witnesses heard a gunshot at the same time which is how they figured out when it happened. We get the autopsy report. This time the coroner's name is Maria Gorey. I wonder if this was the person we met in Sithe's office earlier. The Time of Death field is blank on the report. Huh? That's unusual. I briefly considered that this was a bug in the game but it would have been patched by this point in time. When a police officer arrived at the scene, only Van Zieks was in the room with Gregson's body. At the time, Van Zieks was holding the gun that is believe to be the murder weapon. Picking up guns without thinking is apparently something prosecutors like to do.

For the first witness, Van Zieks is called up to tell his side of the story. Van Zieks was in the room as part of his investigation of Gregson. It was dark and he couldn't make out much and then heard a gunshot. After that he picked up the gun on the floor and at the same time the witnesses entered the room. At that time, Gregson's body became visible. Van Zieks can't say why he was investigating Gregson. Why not? This is a closed court so the secrets would be kept a secret. Other than Van Zieks, no one was in the room until the three merchant witnesses burst into the room. Van Zieks has no idea why Gregson's body seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Kazuma objects to Van Zieks's testimony and presents a candelabra as evidence. I love how his defense attorney roots show up here. He uses it to point out that the room should have had lighting at the time. Kazuma also says Van Zieks is lying about have never been to the room before since it had a bulletin board with a bunch of clippings about the Reaper. That makes it the Reaper's secret hideout and Van Zieks is the Reaper. That seems super flimsy to me since it relies on Van Zieks being the Reaper and there's no known evidence of that. I briefly considered the idea that Gregson was the Reaper but that's impossible. Once again we know Graydon and Sithe were responsible for two of the kills. Also, Gregson was worried about Gina getting hit by the Reaper. That's not a problem if Gregson was responsible.

Continuing on, the three merchant witnesses are called in. Is that Beppo I see?! The three witnesses go by the names Gossip, Venus and Beppo now going under the name Sandwich. The witnesses say that for the whole day they only saw Gregson and Van Zieks enter the building. Gossip says he saw a person with red hair enter the building first but is a bit vague regarding whether that was really Gregson or not. Gossip was the first one into the room followed by Sandwich while Venus went off to find a cop. Based on what Gossip said we work out that the bulletin board was on the floor at the time when he entered the room based on a bloody hand print. So someone must have put it back upright. Ryunosuke proposed that bulletin board was near the door blocking the body and candlelight from view. When Gossip came flying in, he knocked the board over revealing the candle and body. That's why the witnesses and Van Zieks appeared to see different things and also why Gregson's body seemed to just appear out of nowhere.

The witnesses testify again about how the bulletin board got moved but no one seems to have any idea. Sandwich helpfully informs us that Venus really did go to the crime scene. Now that I think about it, I believe Van Zieks also said three people showed up after the gunshot. Venus confirms she did move the bulletin board while looking for things to steal. I don't really get how no one saw her do this. It's a big bulletin board! Anyways, Venus said she ultimately found and removed a pocket watch from the crime scene.

Suddenly Gina shows up and she is not happy with Venus. Turns out the pocket watch was a gift to Gregson for his work on the Professor case and Gina says she'll steal it from Venus if Venus tries to get it back. Gina is such a sweet girl. She really liked Gregson. We examine the watch and it appears to be broken and stopped at 5pm. Oh, I was thinking it would show a different time than 5pm to turn the case on its head since I feel that's how things normally go. How does this help us if it just confirms what we already suspected? Maybe it really says 5am? But, wait! The watch wasn't broken at all! It just wound down and happened to stop at 5pm. So this might mean that Gregson was dead for longer than we thought. If so, why wasn't this in the autopsy report? Why was the field just empty? I like how Ryunosuke calls her Inspector Lestrade to make her sound more important but I guess she is the lead detective on the case. At least, I think she is. Gina tells us that Gregson diligently wound his watch every evening for the past 10 years. If the watch stopped due to winding down it means Gregson was forcibly unable to wind it the previous night. So on the evening of October 31, Gregson was likely already dead!

If Gregson wasn't killed on November 1st, we need to show where the gunshot sound came from. Ryunosuke comes up with a neat trick for how it could work. Firecrackers were tied to a candle such that the candle would burn down to light them at 5pm. That's the source of the scorch marks on the candelabra. For better or worse, Van Zieks is super punctual since this went off barely a minute into Van Zieks entering the room. Also, correct me if I'm wrong but the original explanation was the candle got hit by a bullet but I don't think a bullet was found in the wall which should have killed that theory dead.

The next thing that needs to be explained is who was the red haired person who entered the room before Van Zieks if it wasn't Gregson. But, it could have been anyone since the witnesses only remember the red hair. Ryunosuke suggests it was the true killer disguised as Gregson! Now Kazuma suddenly starts laughing. He naturally noticed the omission on the autopsy report from the start. He thinks Ryunosuke's hypothesis regarding Gregson is plausible enough that it needs to be explored. Gregson didn't tell anyone what he was doing on the 31st but the red hair stuff makes it sound like he was investigating the Red-Headed League which just so happened to be holding an event on the 31st. On the bulletin board with articles about the Reaper, oddly enough there's also the newspaper clipping about the Red-Headed League. As luck would have it, Sholmes arrested two people as part of the Red-Headed League scam yesterday so Ryunosuke wants them brought in as witnesses. We get a 30min recess to make this happen.

In the lobby we meet up with Sholmes. So he was watching the trial. We go over some of the questions that are still outstanding. Like was the omission on the autopsy report an accident or on purpose? Why was Van Zieks investigating Gregson? Why was Gregson investigating the Red-Headed League? At least right now, they have no connection to the Reaper. What in the world is Kazuma trying to do at all?

Trial Part 1 done!

I think most of what we learned in Trial Part 1 was used to answer major questions that came up in Trial Part 1 so it's hard to predict where Part 2 will go. The missing time of death on the autopsy report is a big deal. Can we just get a second opinion from Tusspells or something? Like if Gregson died on the 31st, the prosecution's case against Van Zieks falls apart pretty hard. Surely we can at least find out what the explanation is for the missing time of death?

The decision to go with no jury is an interesting one. I don't know what 2-5 will be about but I assume something important that might also be a closed trial. So are we just done with the jury overall? Even in