Abel Lazarus
Jack just raised an eyebrow at Abel’s sudden tape interrogation. A murder trial didn’t seem like the time for this, but who was he to deny someone begging for his expertise? Hmm hmm.
“Dunno ’f I’d say good, but at least a little less…” While searching for a word, he fumbled the coin threading between his fingers. Still snapped it up before it could hit the floor. “…y’know. Like those were.”
“Honestly, the tapes’ve never been part of a car’s thing. Not like I’ve been to every single one, but I don’t think these’re s’posed to be anywhere we can get to ’em. Only ever seen ’em on the black market, ’r in the hands of some shady Denizens.”
Taran “If they’re a recurring thing out here, it sounds like Neko’s trainjacking tendencies are probably at work, but someone else could have been involved here.”
“Awful suspicious this guy had so many an’ wanted us to watch ‘em. Bet they wanted to trap us. Probably spliced up the tapes themselves t’ get rid of the decent parts, if ‘m understanding what splicin’ is at this point.” People sure had been talking about it enough, even if the tapes could trap people without anything that fancy and high-tech.
R.N.A. “The only people… who do not have… solid alibis are… Fenna, Melvin, Taran, Viper and Jack. They are the… five we should focus on… going forward.”
“Sure, I can accept that. ‘cept the big footprints get rid a’ me and Viper. Everybody else in our group saw ’em, too, so it’s not like we’re just co-conspirin’. Down to Fenna, Melvin, an’ Taran, then.” …Whichever ones those were. Maybe he needed to pay slightly closer attention to people’s names. As if that’d be easy.
But Fenna was easy enough to place just from her clear dismay at the looks of suspicion. First time falling from the “upstanding citizen” judgment, huh? Always a time.
Fenna Van Daalen “Bah, that’s prolly what it was. I did go out swimmin’ earlier…”
“Oh, y’mean to wash off the gun residue?”
Hoo, that oughta get some of her guard dogs after him. Maybe that’d liven things up enough to wake him up a little better.
“Doesn’t put her anywhere in particular, no. But does mean she’s been barefoot, and I coulda sworn there were some toe marks in those prints at the scene.”
Now that he thought about it… He bent to check his socks, but they were still far from dry. Dang. Sure felt like they’d been in here long enough. He sighed and wrung them again before laying them out at a different angle.
Melvin Greene “Huh, I kinda thought the scratched up tape that thing* dropped off might have been Jack’s. Had the scar, I think–” he gestures across his own face for emphasis (on the wrong side, for the record, but you get the idea) “– but I thought he threw his into the ocean???"
“Did it, now.”
…Relax. No one had watched his tape. No one knew anything. It was fine.
“…‘s what I said, yeah. Guess some things keep washin’ up on the shore, but mostly from the shipwreck…”
“…I’m sure it was someone else’s tape. Can’t be the only guy in the world who got my face scratched up.” With a grin, he inclined his head toward Abel. “Right, buddy?”
