The next morning, Mr Wright insisted on accompanying Apollo and Athena to the courtroom.

“It warms my heart to see the two of you standing here, following in my footsteps,” Phoenix said, putting his hand over his heart for emphasis.

“That’s a bit out of character for you,” replied Apollo suspiciously. “I feel like there’s a but coming.”

“No buts,” he replied, ruffling both of their hair fondly. Athena grinned in delight, but then, she’d always been an advocate of everyone sharing their feelings. “I guess I’m just feeling sentimental today. I have a health check-up later.”

“At the Hotti clinic?” Athena asked, referring to their nearby doctor’s surgery. It was somewhere that the girls always went out of their way to avoid and Apollo didn’t blame them.

“No, it’s at Healsome hospital,” he replied. “I should get going soon, I just wanted to wish my two favourite protegees luck for today.”

“Thanks, Mr Wright!” Athena called after him, as he left the room. Her eyes flicked down to the pile of paperwork in her hands and she nervously scanned the autopsy report for the tenth time since arriving in the defendant’s lobby.

It was a while before the defendant himself arrived and Apollo’s first impression of him was of a nervous man, bent to half his original height by worry. He was wringing his hands together and Athena grimaced as soon as he walked in, touching her mood matrix.

“Please, try not to worry,” she said, putting a hand on his arm. “I’m going to make sure it’s a Not Guilty today, but you have to help me do that. It looks bad if you’re shaking like a leaf on the stand.”

“I’ll try my best,” Mr Druges replied in an equally shaky voice.

Apollo couldn’t imagine that this man had the stomach to commit a murder, but he was definitely hiding something. Athena felt it too and her hand was practically glued to her necklace as the three of them entered the courtroom.

The usual judge was in control of proceedings and Athena waved to Simon at the prosecutor’s bench. The corners of his mouth went up in a smirk, but otherwise he remained still.

“Good morning, everyone.” The judge greeted them. He seemed to be in as good a mood as Mr Wright and he gave the opening statement without even being asked. “On the 7th of February, Miss Toxi City was found, poisoned, in her own flat. The defendant is her boyfriend, Mr Class A. Druges, who works for a pharmaceutical company. Did I get it right so far?”

“Perfectly correct, your honour,” Athena cut in smoothly. “And I would like to remind the court that his job is the only reason that he was arrested – Mr Druges was at home, watching pay-per-view TV when the murder was committed and his financial records prove it!”

“Oh, please,” Blackquill sneered. “Anyone can set up the TV to start playing a movie and slip out of the back door to commit murder. It’s hardly an alibi.”

“I’d like to finish my opening statement, if I may,” said the Judge, timidly.

“Then get a move on, old man.” The prosecutor muttered, but the hint of a smile played on his lips. The good mood pervading the courtroom seemed to be affecting even him and Apollo smiled to himself.

The Judge furrowed his brow, deep in thought and there was a long pause. “The prosecution may call its first witness,” he finally said, banging his gavel.

Doctor Gutts wasn’t wearing his labcoat today. Instead, he wore a long, red tunic and a black, hooded cape. A few strands of black hair hung down over his heavy-lidded eyes. Apollo was expecting Simon to do his usual intimidation trick, so he was surprised when the prosecutor greeted the doctor cordially.

“How are you, Bludden?” he asked. “Seen any blue jays around the hospital recently?”

“Objection!” Apollo called out, when it became clear that Athena wasn’t going to. “That’s totally irrelevant to the case!”

“Sustained,” the judge said. “Although, it’s nice to see that our ex-convict has made a friend.”

“We’ll catch up after the trial,” said Blackquill, glaring at Apollo from across the room.

Doctor Gutts was surprisingly professional and the prosecutor barely prompted him at all as he explained the facts of the case.

“The poison found in Miss City’s system is extremely unique and nearly untraceable,” he finished, sweeping his hair back into its usual widow’s peak. “In my expert opinion, only someone who had worked in pharmaceutical development for as long as Mr Druges would have been able to develop the poison.”

The cross-examination came shortly after that and Athena stepped forwards confidently.

“How many people in this country would you say had the skills to develop this poison?” she asked and Doctor Gutts looked around uncertainly. Apollo gave him an encouraging nod and the doubt across his features cleared.

“Plenty of scientists are employed by pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs. My best guess would be a few thousand people in this country. Maybe a hundred in this state.”

“And how many people could have had access to this poison without being a scientist?” she continued. “I assume that pharmaceutical companies employ thousands of people, couldn’t one of them have stolen the poison?”

“Don’t answer that!” Blackquill shot at him. “Cykes-dono, your speculation is unfounded. It doesn’t matter how many people could have had access to the poison, when Mr Druges is the only one with a motive. Miss City was sleeping with someone else and our weak-willed defendant suddenly snapped, he killed her with his own personal poison!”

“May I speak?” Doctor Bludden Guts asked timidly. Every eye in the courtroom focused on him and he gave an embarrassed cough. “I was only going to say that there’s a bit of evidence that both of you are overlooking. It’s right at the end, in the footnotes.”

Athena picked up the autopsy report again and scanned through the last page, gasping in shock when she got to the end.

“Why weren’t we informed of this earlier?” Blackquill growled, his eyes flashing as his good mood was replaced with his usual terrifying façade. Taka flew at Doctor Gutts, but rather than clawing at him, he sat down on top of his head.

“It’s in the report,” the doctor replied innocently. “I tend to use a smaller font for non-essential findings.”

Apollo snatched up the autopsy report when Athena was finished with it and held it up to his face. The font was so tiny, he had to squint to see what it said.

“What the hell?” he breathed, turning around to converse with Athena. “The doctor found an uncut diamond in the contents of Miss City’s stomach? That’s insane!”

“I didn’t bring my reading glasses to court today…” the judge said guilty. “Can someone please explain what’s going on?”

“I found a four-carat diamond in the victim’s stomach while performing the autopsy,” said the doctor.

“How much would that be worth?” Athena asked, her voice faint.

“At a rough estimate, ten thousand dollars.” Doctor Gutts told her.

“And you thought this was a non-essential finding?” Blackquill groaned, hitting his fist against the bench so hard that the wood splintered. The doctor flinched. “Where is the diamond now?!”

“At the morgue.” The doctor gulped, finally aware that he’d made a major mistake. Sweat started pouring down his pale forehead and dark patches appeared under his armpits.

“Let me get this straight,” the judge said, his face also turning pale. “There’s a diamond worth ten thousand dollars, a crucial piece of evidence in this case, just sitting in the morgue at Healsome hospital?”

Everyone looked at each other. The galleries above the court were suddenly awash with activity as the spectators jostled each other, eager to get out of the courtroom. The bailiffs started shouting and barring their way, and even inside the court, it was chaos. Blackquill started barking orders to the police and Athena looked like she was going to faint.

“This is all my fault,” she groaned. “It was my responsibility to read the autopsy report before the trial!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Apollo replied, rubbing her shoulder to comfort her. “Who puts something like that in 8-point font?”

He was struck by a sudden burst of inspiration and took out his phone.

“Mr Wright is at Healsome hospital now! He might be able to get to the diamond before anyone interferes with the evidence!”

The judge called a recess and they returned to the defendants’ lobby. Mr Wright picked up on the first ring and agreed to go down to the morgue, however, Apollo had barely put his phone away when Detective Skye burst into the room.

“Is Mr Druges here?” she asked urgently.

“No, why?” Apollo replied, with a growing sense of dread.

“I think he escaped when everyone was distracted by the diamond,” Ema told them. “He’s gone! And I’m sorry, Athena, but the only reason why he’d escape in the middle of his trial…”

“He’s guilty.” Athena finished for her. She was as white as a ghost and Apollo tried to help her to a sofa, but she resisted. “Listen, it wasn’t just coincidence that he chose that moment to escape. I think this case revolves around the diamond.”

“Detective Skye, we need to get to the morgue at Healsome hospital!” Apollo said. “Can we take a police car?”

Ema nodded grimly. She led the way out of the packed lobby and they followed, breaking into a run when they reached the exit to the courthouse.