The warden who guards the witches.

Suspicions

"...... The victim, a twenty-eight year old proprietress of a tavern in the lower city, initially developed a beef with the inmates because of a case of counterfeit sales. On the twenty-sixth of March, a customer had reported the sale of counterfeit liquor in their tavern to Officer Veronica, who was patrolling the streets at the time, and Veronica, after a preliminary investigation of the tavern, had the tavern seized and the owner of the tavern - who was also the victim's husband - brought back to the police station. The next day, the victim, who had learnt of the incident, came to the police station to protest and verbally abused Officer Veronica to her face, leading to a confrontation between the two."

　　In the warden's office, Flanda read the information about Veronica to Aiden.

　　"Then at twelve twenty in the morning, gunshots were heard coming from the pub where the crime took place. The victim's body was then found, shot in the back, through the heart, and dead at the scene. Upon arrival, investigators discovered from the shell casings left at the scene that the g*n used to kill the victim was of the same calibre as the Mounted Patrol's sidearm, and Officer Veronica, who had been involved in a confrontation with the victim on that day, was named as a suspect. The investigative team then retrieved Veronica's sidearm from the mounted police team's vault and found that she was missing a bullet from her sidearm ......"

　　"Wait, she also returned her used sidearm to the depository?" Aiden interrupted her with a raised hand.

　　"Yes, the man manning the vault that day testified that Veronica had looked panicked and returned the sidearm in the early hours of the morning. His testimony and the g*n with the missing bullet became the key to convicting Veronica."

　　"But the returned sidearm was supposed to be inspected when it was returned according to the procedure. If it had been fired, it would have been discovered on the spot, right?" Aiden questioned.

　　Flanda nodded, "This was also mentioned, the person who manned the vault that day was a newcomer who had once received guidance from Veronica, and he claimed that he didn't check Veronica's sidearm at that time."

　　"That sounds kinda strange when you say it like that." Aiden rubbed his chin.

　　"What?" Flanda was confused.

　　"According to what it says here, prisoner 3308 killed the victim because of a personal grudge, so she should have killed him in an emotionally uncontrollable state, right?"

　　"Yes, that's what the judgement office also determined. It's a bit more likely that a werewolf would lose control of her emotions than an ordinary person." Flanda gave an affirmative answer, "After all, normally, but wherever she retained a bit of sanity when she killed someone, it would be impossible for her to kill someone with the police force's sidearm. If she hadn't used her sidearm to kill someone, the investigation team wouldn't have been able to track her down so quickly."

　　"When I was in the Heresy Trial Bureau in the past, I handled some injury cases about werewolves, and when a werewolf moves to injure someone in anger, they basically attack with their empty hands or throw an implement at hand. When werewolves are angry, they will unconsciously show symptoms of transformation, and although the female werewolf changes are not as exaggerated as those of males, their fingers will also thicken and grow claws." Aiden gestured with his hand to shoot, "It's not too convenient to use a g*n in this state, right?"

　　He retained the memories of the "previous Aiden", the ace investigator of the Heresy Judgement Bureau in the past, and compared to the violent cases of werewolves in his memories, it was indeed a bit unusual for Veronica to kill someone with a g*n.

　　"But Warden, Prisoner 3308 is a mounted police officer, she should be very skilful with firearms, even if it's a little inconvenient, it's not impossible to subconsciously pull out her g*n and shoot when she has a sidearm right at hand, right?"

　　"Then what should be the explanation for her killing someone and voluntarily returning her sidearm and not turning herself in? If she intends to refuse to confess, why would she voluntarily hand over the evidence that can convict her to the police force? Even if she didn't want to find a way to replace the bullets, she should have at least disposed of her sidearm and then claimed that her sidearm had been stolen." Aiden clasped his hands together, "She's at least a police officer herself, and judging by her CV, she's not the sketchy type, so there's no reason for her to be so stupid, right?"

　　"Well, maybe ...... it's because she was too flustered from killing someone?" Flanda also hesitated for a moment, then looked at Aiden with some doubt, "Sir, you don't really think she was wrongly accused, do you?"

　　"Just considering the possibility." Aiden shrugged.

　　Flanda sighed, "Sir, over seventy percent or more of the inmates here will weasel their way out of being wrongly accused, and many of them are still caught red-handed in flagrante delicto. You have to know that the most important point of doing our line of work is ......"

　　"Don't trust prisoners so easily." Aiden smoothly picked up, smiling, "I know I know, I don't believe her, it's just that a lot of this case does seem a bit strange, less than two months from the judgement to the execution, it's a bit unbelievably fast."

　　Flanda thought back for a moment, "I heard that it's because the murder of a mounted police officer affected the reputation of the police force, so the higher authorities gave an order to deal with it as soon as possible."

　　"Pressure from the higher-ups, ah, it's understandable, after all, this can be considered a big scandal for the mounted police force." Aiden nodded.

　　At that moment, someone suddenly opened the door and entered without even knocking.

　　"Warden!" A female prison guard shouted to Aiden in a panic, not having time to salute, "There was a prisoner fight over at the ...... baths just now!"

　　"Don't be in a hurry, tell us properly, which inmates got into a fight?" Aiden asked calmly.

　　"It's two inmates from room six in the core area, and two inmates from room thirteen." The female prison guard reported nervously.

　　Aiden and Flanda glanced at each other, the two inmates in room six were the female thief Catherine and the pirate Anna, while the inmates in room thirteen were Faye and Veronica - that wolf girl had actually just been transferred over and caused a scene.

　　"So what's the status now? Is the staff under control?" Aiden turned back to the female prison guard.

　　"It's all been brought under control by the riot squad, and they're all being handed over to the infirmary now; inmate 3307 in room thirteen is unconscious from a blow to the head, but he's not in danger for the time being, and two of the inmates in room six have suffered a few injuries as well."

　　"And what about prisoner 3308, the one on death row?" Aiden asked again.

　　"3308 ......" The female prison guard thought for a moment and shook her head, "She doesn't seem to be injured."

　　"What was the fight over, did you ask anything?"

　　"Still ...... not yet, I heard the movement of the smashing inside and ran in, the locker room was the only one standing on death row, and at that time she was still choking a person's neck, looking very fierce ...... then I called the riot squad over to Put the person under escort."

　　The female prison guard replied carefully, obviously worried about being reprimanded by her superiors because of this matter.

　　"Was there anyone else present there at the time?"

　　"No, the other inmates had already finished washing and assembled outside, and the four of them were the only ones in the locker room at the time."

　　"That means the condemned prisoner beat up the others right?" Frenda held her forehead and sighed.

　　"Show us over there." After a moment of silence, Aiden gestured for the female prison guard to lead the way.