J'accuse! - Part 1: Accused

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J'accuse! - Part 2: Redemption

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J'accuse! - Part 3: Perseverance

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J'accuse! - Part 4: Disappearance

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---

(Sealed)

The officer walked Theo into the young couples bedroom. Looking around the room, everything looked slightly out of place, the furniture pulled out from against the wall, presumably from the hunt for the artifact.

"What did you find?" Theo growled, not seeing much of interest in the room.

"Well detective, we thought it seemed odd for the suspect to have a hidden safe, unless he had something to hide in it!" The officer stated cheerily. "Maybe we could find it locked away there"

This all seemed too good to be true, the case had been so difficult so far.
"And?" Theo queried, waiting for a catch.

"We can't find the combination, sir, it appears we need a locksmith."

"Great" The detective muttered sarcastically, " more time we don't have. If we don't find some good evidence here, the case isn't going to have any legs to stand on."

"There's always another option I suppose" The officer stated, "Have we spoken to his wife?"

---

(Silence)

That phone call with the Universal Spider left Mallory stood in silent fear. A flurry of emotions flooding through her head, and anger rushing through her veins. She didn't know who's actions had shaken her more, Shirley's denial to be a part of it or the Spiders suggestion of "Eliminating" the threat.

Mal's best bet was to call Shirley, they had been so close for years, she was sure that it wouldn't take much convincing. She pulled up her contacts and sent a call in to Shirley.

Her heart pounded as she heard the first ring. It seemed silly, all these adrenaline fuelled heists and she was anxious over calling an old friend. Her thoughts were pierced by a voice.

"The person you are trying to call is unavailable, please try again later or leave a message after the beep"

The beep tone sounded, but Mal didn't have any message to say. After a second of shocked silence, Mallory reached for the landline, it wasn't like Shirley to not pick up, especially when it was someone she knew. Mal had only moved recently, so Shirley wouldn't have had her number of course, but Shirley was the type of woman to answer the phone whether she knew the number or not.

"Hello, this is Shirley, Who is this?" Shirley rehearsed into the phone

"God Shirley, you scared me by not picking up on mobile, its Mal! I need to talk to you, are you free" Mal pushed, hoping for a yes.

She didn't get a yes, all she heard was a sigh on the other end. The silence that came after that sigh was deafening.

"Mal, please don't call me again. I can't do this anymore, I'm blocking this number too"

---

(Time)

Time was something they had little of, thankfully they had bounties of authority. It didn't take much of a phone call to get the wife into giving a statement, it was going to be a lot harder getting her to assist them locking up her husband.

"Ms. Bel, I'm glad you could make it on such short notice" Theo smiled, he had a feeling this woman was going to be as stubborn to interview as her spouse was earlier.

"I'm more that happy to prove my husbands innocence" She glared back at him, her eyes held a cold glare. She was definitely going to be stubborn.

"I don't want to waste your time here Ms. Bel, so I want you to be clear with me. We know your husband is guilty, and you were with him, so of course you know too. If you choose to lie to me and protect him, you will be charged with obstructing the course of justice. Now you know what's on the line Ms. Bel, we need to know the combination for your husbands safe. "