No physical evidence to counter the prosecution's claims. Just theories and suspicions and desperate pleas for reasonable doubt.
"The defense calls Lin Shuyin to the stand."
The courtroom erupted in whispers as Shuyin stood on shaking legs. She walked to the witness stand feeling like she was walking to her execution.
The bailiff held out a Bible.
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
"I do." Her voice came out as barely a whisper.
Zhou Mei approached, her expression sympathetic but strained. "Miss Lin, can you tell the court about your relationship with your grandmother?"
And Shuyin tried. She tried to explain how her Popo had been the only constant in her life. She had been the one person who loved Shuyin for herself, not for what she could do for the family. How she had been Shuyin's sanctuary, her safe place, her home.
But even as she spoke, she could see the jury's faces. They didn't believe her. Or worse, they thought love and money weren't mutually exclusive motives.
"Can you explain how the vial of poison came to be in your closet?" Zhou Mei asked.
"I can't explain it because I never put it there. I've never seen it before. Someone must have planted it there. Someone is framing me."
"Who would want to frame you?"
"My family." The words tumbled out, desperate and raw. "My wedding was cancelled the day before this happened. My fiancé was having a baby with my stepsister.
My parents, my uncle, my aunt, they all knew. They all left for an island vacation the same day, right before my grandmother died. They left me to face the scandal alone. And now this, they're framing me for murder. They killed her and they're making it look like I did it!"
The courtroom buzzed with noise until Judge Chen's gavel cracked down. "Order!"
"Miss Lin," Zhou Mei said carefully, "do you have any evidence that your family was involved in your grandmother's death?"
"The timing! The convenient vacation! The way they left right before it happened! The vial that appeared in my room! The media that was already waiting at the hospital like they'd been tipped off!"
"But what about physical evidence? Witnesses? Anything concrete?"
Shuyin's voice broke. "No. But I know they did this. I know it."
Zhou Mei looked pained. "No further questions."
The prosecutor stood for cross-examination, and Shuyin knew this would be the killing blow.
"Miss Lin," he began, his voice deceptively gentle. "You claim your family framed you for murder. Let me see if I understand correctly. You're saying that your parents, your aunt, your uncle, your entire family, conspired to murder your grandmother and frame you for it. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"And you claim they did this because... why? Because your wedding was cancelled?"
"Because they wanted me out of the way..... "
"So your theory is that your family decided to commit murder and frame you for it, rather than simply... what? Disowning you? Cutting you off financially? Sending you away? You're saying that murder and framing were somehow easier than these simpler solutions?"
Shuyin faltered. Put that way, it did sound insane.
"Miss Lin, your family had already left for their vacation before your grandmother died, correct?"
"Yes, but....."
"They were on an island, unreachable, when the death occurred?"
"Yes...."
"So they couldn't have been the ones to trigger the fatal stress event that killed your grandmother, could they? Since you were the only one present?"
"They poisoned her beforehand! Over three days!"
"Three days during which you were the one caring for her. You were the one administering her medication. You were the one with constant access to her food, her drinks, her pills." He leaned forward. "Miss Lin, you've admitted that you were emotionally devastated yesterday. Your wedding had just been cancelled. You'd been betrayed. You were angry, hurt, humiliated. Isn't it possible that in your emotional state, you lashed out at the one person you knew loved you unconditionally?"
"No! I would never...."
"Isn't it possible that you wanted to hurt your family the way they'd hurt you? And the best way to hurt them was to take away the matriarch they all depended on?"
"That's not...."
"Or perhaps it was more practical than that. Perhaps you realized that with fifty million yuan, you wouldn't need your family anymore. You could start over. Be independent. All you had to do was remove one obstacle..."
"She wasn't an obstacle!" Shuyin was shouting now, tears streaming down her face. "She was my Popo! She was the only person who loved me! I didn't kill her! I didn't!"
"Then explain the poison in your closet."
"I can't! Someone put it there!"
"Explain the pharmacy records."
"I picked up her medication like I always did!"