The ringing phone pierced through her dream and wrenched her back into consciousness. Strings of long blond hair hung in her face and she pressed her feet against the icy floor. The sudden shock of cold jerked her from that place somewhere between reality and nod. She looked over at her clock, the numbers still a bit of a blur but visible enough for her to realize it was way too early in the morning to be getting a phone call.
"Ergh." She got up and drug herself to the phone on a table by the only window in the room. The lights of the city night set cast a soft glow on her slim nose, full lips, and stone blue eyes. "Hullo?" Her voice crackled into the receiver when she pressed it against her ear.
"Is this Marilyn Grant, the attorney?" Asked a deeply feminine voice. Marilyn couldn't help but picture one of those striking women from silver screen detective movies when she heard it.
"Yes." Her throat was smoothing out now and the strength of her tone rang through the room. Ms. Grant's was a voice that demanded attention when she spoke, and judging by the sudden silence on the other line it had jarred the woman just a bit. "Can I help you?" She forced it to soften if only to get this woman to talk again.
"My name is Rose Scarlet. I've just been arrested for murder." The deep voice replied. Ms. Grant looked just as unimpressed about the comment as the woman had sounded.
"Detention visiting doesn't start for another four hours. We can discuss this then." She stated blandly and hung up the phone. She half expected the phone to ring again as she walked back towards her warm welcoming bed, but it didn't. She drifted back into sleep with little trouble at all.

The morning light beat down on Ms. Grant so fiercely that she had to close her blinds in order to finish dressing. She had her black silk shirt and white tie already on. She pulled a black skirt over nude pantyhose adorned legs and flipped a black white rimmed jacket up onto her shoulders. The last touches were a pair of flat dress shoes and a powder blue ratted scarf around her neck. Marilyn Grant was ready to face the world. If only the world was as ready as she.

Her shoes thunked down the steps and her expressionless face met that of a young man's at her desk. He was in a set of white robes with a magenta shawl bunched up around his neck and nearly concealing the big white beads that led to a pink magatama. He greeted her with a bright smile even though she didn't return it.
"Good morning, boss!" He slicked back the tufts of brown hair that hung over his warm brown eyes, but it fell back immediately after.
"Come on, Brian. We have a client." Ms. Grant said calmly and walked past him to the door.
"Huh? Really?" Brian said and walked after her. He looked to be rushing himself to keep up with her long strong stride. "Who?"
"Rose Scarlet." Ms. Grant answered. Brian stopped walking if for only a moment so that the shock could settle in. "Th-THE Rose Scarlet?" He asked with the excitedness of a child who'd just found a dollar.
"Won't know until we get there." Ms. Grant said with a soft sigh behind it. Brian's jaw hung low, but Ms. Grant wouldn't wait for him to pick it back up again. Her face didn't show it, but inside she was slightly amused by his enthusiasm.
She hadn't known Brian Blankenship all that long. Only one of the three years she had been an attorney. But she couldn't imagine a trial without his bright smiling face next to her. She was a bit ashamed of the fact that she knew very little about him other than he was a spirit medium, and they had gotten off on the wrong foot when they first met.
"Um…we're here." Brian's voice jarred her from her thoughts and she turned her head slightly to see where 'here' was. The Detention Center was just as dark and foreboding as usual. They were lead to familiar chairs in front of a familiar Plexiglas window that separated them from the criminals. "You okay, boss?" Brian asked as they sat down. "You looked sort of spaced out for a minute there."
"I'm fine." Ms. Grant said bluntly.
"Ah, you came." Said the voice she'd heard on the phone that night. Her visualization of the woman hadn't really been all that off. True to her name the woman seemed very fond of red and she looked to be dressed for a dinner party before she was arrested. The red shawl on her head protected the black hair that was curled and pressed in a flapper fashion and her eyes might have been adorned with crow's feet but they were as sharp and clear as Ms. Grant's. She greeted the two with her ruby lips pulled into a smile, which Brian returned with red cheeks. "You must be Ms. Grant. I'm Rose Scarlet."
"Before I'll take your case there are a few conditions that must be met." Ms. Grant stated coldly.
"Awfully demanding for a low rate lawyer."
"I only accept a client if I know for a fact they're innocent."
"Well then you must have a spotless record."
"I've misjudged a client before. When I find out that they've lied to me and are actually guilty…I'll lose the case."
"My. That doesn't sound like the best of plans."
"If you're innocent you have nothing to worry about."
"Then I assure you I've never killed anyone in my life. But I'm curious. Why tell me this?"
"I've learned that if I want a client to be honest with me I must be honest with them first."
"I have a similar philosophy myself."
"Good, then please start from the beginning."
"The wind was biting that night. The frost soaked in my skin and iced my veins. If not for that accursed habit of mine I'd have never ventured out into that bitter rime. It was then that I heard a sharp clatter from within my home. When I returned inside the warmth ambrassed me only to be wrenched from my soul by an unearthly chill. My husband lay dead. A crimson dagger plunged into the depths of his heart. I contacted the police and was soon brought here. I did not murder my husband, Ms. Grant. I promise you that."
"I should hope not, Ms. Scarlet. For your sake. Brian, did you get all that?"
"Yes, boss….er…Ms. Scarlet?"
"Yes, dear?"
"I'm a big fan of all yours books…could you…um….sign my notes?"
"I would love to, but I'm afraid it will be a bit difficult with this glass between us."
"Oh! Right…sorry."
"Am I saticfactory, Ms. Grant?"
"I've no reason not to believe you yet. When has the trial date been set?"
"Two days."
"Unless I have need to speak with you again I'll see you then."

Once outside Ms. Grant was accosted by Brian's dour state.
"Oh, what is it?" She asked with a hint of exasperation behind her tone.
"You could have been a little nicer to her, you know."
"The woman has been arrested for murder."
"She said she didn't do it. Why is that never enough for you?"
"Because people lie, Brian. Especially guilty people. Now let's go."
"Yes, boss." He sighed.
Ms. Grant was very fond of Brian, but his unshakable optimistic faith in people irked her. It just wasn't something she could afford to have in this sort of business, and sometimes she felt a little jealous that he could throw his trust out there so willingly and without fear if it being taken advantage of.

"Judging by all the cops squirming around this must be the place."
"Hey! You can't be here, pal! This is a crime scene!" A large man thundered over to them. This long putrid green coat flowed behind him and slapped his shins when he came to a sudden stop. "Oh. It's you." He walked up to the two a bit more slowly now. He gave a large smile to Brian, which was returned full force "Hey, Brian!" then turned and gave Ms. Grant the whipped puppy dog look she had grown used to. "Um…Ms. Grant." He muttered through the side of his mouth. Ms. Grant crinkled her nose. This wasn't because of any distaste towards the detective, but the scent of stale cigarettes draped around him and it bothered her. The oddest part about this was that she was certain she'd never seen him smoke before.
"You know what I'm here for, Mr. Gumshoe." Ms. Grant said blandly. The detective gave her a deep frown.
"Aw, Ms. Grant. You know I can't just give you that kind of stuff." He said with the deepest regrets. Through the side of her eyes Ms. Grant could see Brian slink off.
"Nothing stopped you before." She said coldly. This seemed to strike Gumshoe in the heart.
"I shouldn't have been given it to ya then either, pal." He rubbed the back of his thick neck before looking her in the eyes again. This was something not many people could do, and Ms. Grant always had a slight amount of respect for him for it.
"Mr. Gumshoe." She said with the sternness of a patient mother. "You know that Brian needs something from the body at the time of death to summon the spirit."
"Yeah, I do, but…" His sad dog exterior cracked into a light rage. "Listen, pal! You can't go making me feel bad about it this time! That stuff is evidence and you can't just go around touching it!" Ms. Grant looked totally unfazed by the outburst and simply blinked at him before continuing.
"Have it your way, Mr. Gumshoe. I'm sure we can figure something else out." She stated.
The anger melted from him as quickly as it came and he flashed her a big white smile.
"Thanks a lot, Ms. Grant. You're gonna save me a lot of trouble." He said cheerily. His eyes jumped over to Brian who had managed to return to Ms. Grant's side without either of them noticing.
"Anything for you, Mr. Gumshoe." Ms. Grant almost gave him a smile.
"Aw, gee, thanks, pal!" His face defied the laws of physics by making his smile even bigger than before. It shrank back down into a blank expression of concern before any real damage to reality was done. "Wait, were you being sarcastic?"
"Of course not, Mr. Gumshoe." Ms. Grant assured him. "Well, we should be going now."
"See ya later, pal!" Gumshoe even gave them an enthusiastic wave as they left the large home and stood in the freshly fallen snow just outside the big red doors.
"Did you get anything, Brian?" Ms. Grant asked.
"Sure did, boss." Brian fished a black leather wallet from his robes.
"Good, let's get back to the office."

The sun was starting to settle behind the horizon when they got back to the Law Offices of Grant, Grady, and Sullivan. The Grady of the name had passed on two years ago and the Sullivan had disappeared shortly after. There just wasn't any time to change the letters on the window. At least that's what Ms. Grant always told Brian when he asked about it.
"You know, the detective is gonna be awfully sore when he finds out I took that guy's wallet." Brian said with a hint of guilt in his voice.
"All the more reason we need to do this quickly." Ms. Grant replied. "Let's go down to the summoning chamber."
The summoning chamber had once been the building's wine cellar, but since Ms. Grant didn't drink she saw no point in keeping it that way. It was quickly and easily converted within the first three months of Brian working for her. She took extra special care to make sure it looked exactly like the one from Brian's village. She may have never said she cared out loud, but it was things like this that let Brian know she did.
She must have seen him do this a dozen times before. Brian closed his eyes and the pink magatama about his neck would drain of color and gain a faint blue glow. The room would grow cold and a tingling would shoot up Ms. Grant's spine. No matter how many times she experienced it, or how well she knew what to expect, she was always unnerved by the entire ordeal. Brian set aside his entire consciousness, and let some stranger's ghost take his body. Just so she could ask it a few questions.
Brian's appearance didn't alter much save the solid white eyes that would pop open in much the same fashion as the villain's in a horror movie. It was his temperament, his actions, sometimes even his voice that changed. Someone who didn't know Brian might just think he was acting, even Ms. Grant had suspected that at first.
His eyes shot open and he looked franticly about the room. Brian was now no longer there, and it was up to Ms. Grant to calm this spirit and get the information she needed.
"W-what? Who's there?" His voice had deepened only slightly, but it had gained quite a bit of age to it.
"Rhett Scarlet?" Ms. Grant asked plainly. Those empty white eyes shot over to her and it made her shiver.
"Who are you? Where am I?"
"I need you to tell me something."
"Y-yes?"
"I need you to tell me who killed you."
The room was perfectly silent for a moment or two. Rhett closed Brian's eyes and Ms. Grant had thought that maybe he'd lost the connection. When the eyes popped open again her bones nearly leapt from her skin.
"It was...it was..." The memory seemed a little too much to take for Rhett as he stumbled over his words.
"Mr. Scarlet, please! I need to know!" Ms. Grant exclaimed. The forcefulness of her voice had either calmed him or had frozen him with fear. Either way she got the answer she wanted.
"Gloria. Gloria White."
"Why would Gloria White want to kill you?"
"She was...my mistress..." Rhett seemed a bit embarrassed by this.
"That's enough then, Mr. Scarlet. You can go." Ms. Grant turned her head away and closed her eyes. She did her best to make it look like she was doing this out of annoyance instead of disturbance. The room warmed and soon Brian has regained himself.
"Did I get him? What did he say?" Were the first words from his mouth.
"We need to go see Miss Gloria White." Ms. Grant didn't even bother to look at him again as she walked back towards her office.

"Boss, I don't think we should just walk into this woman's house." Brian said as they entered the ungodly pink place that was Gloria White's living room.
"No one answered and the door was open." Ms. Grant tried not to breath in too deeply due to the thick candy smell berating her nostrils. "She might have already skipped town."
"Oh my. Who are you and why are you in my house?" Asked a sweet southern voice. She sounded a bit like someone from Gone With the Wind. She wasn't as true to her name as Ms. Scarlet had been. Gloria was wearing a black dress with a white belt and what looked to be a brand new white burette on her angelic golden curls. Her soft round face had a sweet as pie look to it as well.
"Gloria White?"
"Why, yes."
"I'm here about the death of Rhett Scarlet."
"Oh my! How terrible! But what does that have to do with me?"
"You're the woman who killed him." Ms. Grant said coldly. Gloria's face never changed, but the atmosphere of the room certainly did. It had suddenly gotten much much colder.
"Why, I have no idea what you're talkin' about." She said statically.
"Don't lie to me, Ms. White. I know it was you." Ms. Grant's calm rage melted the ice that had crept around them and made Gloria a little flustered.
"Oh my!" She fanned her face with her hand. "Are you the police? Am I being arrested?"
"No, Ms. White. I'm an attorney. But you will be going to jail. I'm going to see to that."
"My! What a rotten person you are! Why would you say somethin' like that to little ol' me?" She fanned her face a little harder.
"Because I believe you should be able to get all your affairs in order, Ms. White." Ms. Grant's pink lips pulled into a crooked smile. "After all, murder is 25 to life."
Gloria's sweet innocent look nearly slipped from her face when her brow knitted in anger.
"I do believe I would like for you to leave my house." She growled softly.
"That's you're right, Ms. White. Enjoy them while you still have them." Ms. Grant turned and left with Brian close behind her.

Once they were out of the pink monstrosity and in the snow Brian stated the obvious.
"Wow, she's really mad at you, boss."
"Good. That's what I want."
"Aren't you afraid she might skip town?"
"I'm banking on it. If she runs that's an admission of guilt, and that will make this whole ordeal much easier."
"Wow, boss. And here I thought you were just being cold and unfeeling because that's how you always are!" Brian laughed good heartedly. When he stopped he maintained his bright smile even though Ms. Grant was almost glaring at him.
"Let's just get back to the office."

[To Be Continued]

Sprite comic can be found here: http://forums.court-records.net/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5245
[CAUTION!] The fiction isn't as far along as the comic is. I just don't have time to update both equally and the comic is more fun to make.

I wouldn't expect a lot of updates on this.

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Last edited by SerenityBlue on Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:32 pm, edited 8 times in total.

I loved the story.
Ahaha.
Can't wait for the second half.
^-^

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Thanks! I'm going to try to keep it and the comic at about the same pace so that there aren't any spoilers.

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While I enjoyed this, I do have a little advice, if you'll take it. It reads a lot like a script in the exchanges. You don't have to stop at describing scenery! Do more on the expression, body language, inner thoughts, whatever. It makes the scene much clearer.

You have some, but in longer exchanges you almost seem to forget.

But other than that, it really is very good so far.

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I do often forget to add expressions to my characters as they talk. I blame this on being a script writer rather than a fiction writer. Thanks for the suggestion, and if I ever take this idea back up I'll go through and add a bit more actual story to it.

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