Baking up a New Adventure! (A Cookie Run: Kingdom Story)

Part 11: Tearing Through Testimony

"Huh?" Knight Cookie pressed.

"You said this cookie was leaving behind a trail of spicy footprints, yes?" I asked him.

"Y-Yes--!!" Knight seemed to realize where I was going with this.

"Then, wouldn't you have seen footprints leading in the direction this mysterious figure came from?" I wondered.

"I-I err, well--" Knight stammered and his visor fell down in front of his face. "That's the strange thing about it. Before the steps leading up the palace, there were no footprints at all!"

"The only way a cookie could move without leaving footprints is if they were flying," I commented. "And last I checked, Chili Pepper can't fly."

"Don't think you've won yet," Rye warned. "Just because there were no footprints doesn't prove nothing. Chili Pepper can be very crafty. She could have easily figured out a way to get to the palace without leaving any footprints behind."

"Ahem, we're going on a bit of a tangent here," Wizard commented. "Knight Cookie, please continue with your testimony."

"Right," Knight nodded. "I followed them up the steps and through the hallways."

"Hold it!" I exclaimed. "Could you tell us approximately how far you were behind them?"

"Err..." Knight Cookie started to say.

"Luckily, I came prepared, and drew up a diagram of the entire castle," Wizard Cookie grinned, pleased with his forethought. "Use these two tokens to show where you and the culprit were at this time."

"I was... here," Knight put a token halfway up the stairs. "And the culprit was... here."

He put the second token by the fountain.

"So, the culprit was a decent way ahead of you, then?" I pressed.

"At first, yes," Knight confirmed. "But I started to catch up to them after a while. But... well..."

"What?" Wizard Cookie asked.

"I tried to stop them, but they were just too quick," Knight sighed.

"Hold it!" Gingerbrave hollered. "And where would you say you were on the diagram at that point?"

"You're starting to get the hang of this," I told him as Knight repositioned the tokens.

"So, you had managed to close the gap a little bit, then," I commented as I noticed that the tokens were closer together now.

"But... it wasn't enough," Knight sighed. "They opened the door to the royal treasury before I could get to them."

"Hold it!" I proclaimed. "And at this point you were...?"

"I was right here," Knight explained, moving his token a few squares closer to the door. "So, I could still see them."

"And they went through the door into the treasury?" I pressed.

"Yes, and they left it wide open, too," Knight nodded.

"What did you see next?" Wizard asked him.

"By the time I got to the treasury myself, the hooded figure was long gone, and so were all of our resources!" Knight finished.

"Hold it!" I exclaimed. "You say you weren't all that far behind them, right?"

"Right," Knight nodded.

"Yet by the time you arrived at the treasury, they were long gone?" I wondered.

"Yes," Knight confirmed.

"Something about that just doesn't add up," Gingerbrave concluded.

"I know," I nodded. "But without the proper evidence, we can't prove anything yet."

"But... there's one more thing that doesn't sit right with me about all of this," Gingerbrave told me.

"There is...?" I pressed.

"We found Chili Pepper's hair on the windowsill, right?" Gingerbrave recalled.

"Right...!" I agreed. "Gingerbrave, you're a genius!"

"Baliff--" Wizard Cookie started to say.

"Now, you hold on a minute, your honor," I interrupted him. "We're not done cross examining this witness yet!"

"Y-you're not?" Wizard gasped.

"There's still one thing in this testimony that just doesn't add up," I explained.

"Th-there is?!" Knight exclaimed.

"Knight Cookie, did this cookie happen to leave anything behind when they escaped?" I asked him.

"Leave anything behind...?" Knight wondered. "What do you mean?"

"I'm glad you asked," I responded with a grin. "Take that!"

I presented the evidence of Chili Pepper's hair.

"Err... what's that?" Wizard asked.

"It's a clump of Chili Pepper's hair that was found on the windowsill in the treasury," I explained.

"Ha! You must be out of your mind, presenting that evidence," Rye chuckled. "You've just poked a hole in your own case! If that was found in the treasury--"

"Not so fast, Rye Cookie," I warned. "This was found on the windowsill, yes, but..."

"If the crook was wearing a hood over their head, covering their hair as Knight Cookie claims in his testimony," Gingerbrave continued. "Then there's no way the culprit could have left this piece of hair on the windowsill that night!"

"G-GAH!" Rye gasped. "You little--!"

"Which can mean only one thing," I decided. "This evidence was planted after the fact to make Chili Pepper appear guilty!"

"Ack!" Knight Cookie gasped, fumbling with his javelin as the feather in his hat fluffed up.

Bang! Rye Cookie aimed and fired a shot up at the roof in her frustration.

"Gah! If she keeps doing that, this whole place could crumble! With us inside of it!" I gasped.

"You'd better have a good explanation this," She told Knight, pointing her pistols threateningly at his head.

"I-I'm sorry, that's just what I saw," Knight explained. "I-I swear, I'm not lying! I'm telling you exactly what happened! Please, point those away from me."

"We have no reason to suspect that he isn't telling the truth," Wizard agreed. "At least, not yet. Maybe this next witness could shed some light on things."