Ace Attorney Investigations: Haunting Memories

Chapter Three

February 25 11:35am

Fun Times Theme Park - Ferris Wheel ~ Felix Griffin's POV

"Well now, what's all this?"

I turned in the direction of the voice, almost completely forgetting about the two kids. Stood behind us was a man, with a smug smirk on his face. His skin was tanned and had black hair which framed his face. He had brown eyes which matched his brown jacket and wore a strap of the same colour over his right shoulder. He wore a black shirt underneath with black trousers and brown boots. He proudly adjusted the brown stockman hat on his head. "Is this trouble I see a-brewin' here today?" he called out.

"Who are you?" Miss Kirigiri asked in her usual monotone voice. It's weird: she's so dark and emotionless normally, but I've noticed that she seems a bit lighter around Sebastian. Huh. Weird.

"Me? Name's Manitoba Smyth." the guy introduced. "This here's my assistant."

I was a bit confused at first, but I noticed that there was someone standing behind this 'Smyth' guy. Her red hair was tied into a bun and a pen was resting behind her right ear. Pink eyes hid behind blue framed glasses. She wore a white shirt with a blue and red collar. Her gingham patterned knee-length skirt was red and matched the red heels she wore on her feet. She gripped a clipboard close to her chest. "Dakota Mercer." she introduced shortly.

"What are you doing here?" Miss Kirigiri interrogated. "This is a crime scene. No unauthorised personnel are allowed."

"I think you'll find, beauty, that I am allowed here." 'Smyth' pulled out some sort of badge. A detective badge, I think. But I wasn't paying attention to the badge; I was thinking more about how Sebastian would flip when he hears that some random guy we just met called Miss Kirigiri 'beauty'. "Detective Manitoba Smyth at your service." he laughed. Man, he's cheery.

Detective Smyth wandered over to Kotoko and knelt down to reach her height. "Well, aren't you a little beauty." he smiled. "What's your name, kiddo?"

"Kotoko!" the girl replied, clapping happily. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Smyth!"

"You can just call me Manitoba." he gently ruffled her hair before turning back to the rest of us. "Anyhoo, I came here to give y'all a little something. Something you might like."

He whistled some kind of short tune and Ms. Mercer stepped forward, gazing at her clip board. "A suspicious man was seen fleeing the area on the night of the crime."

"'Suspicious man'?" Miss Kirigiri repeated, clearly skeptical. "Just where did you obtain this information?"

"Various eye-witness testimonies." Ms. Mercer responded. "Shall I give you the specifics?"

- Argument -

- The Suspicious Man -

"Various eye-witness testimonies state that they saw a suspicious man escaping the theme park."

"Such suspicious man was middle-aged and was even said to have known the victim."

"This leads Detective Smyth and myself to believe that he should be investigated, as he may well be the culprit."

"I-I guess that's a pretty solid argument..." I muttered. "What do we do, Miss Kirigiri?"

"You haven't noticed?" Miss Kirigiri asked with a small smirk. "You didn't see the contradiction in their reasoning?"

"Contradiction?" I repeated, tilting my head slightly.

"I see you haven't realised. In that case, allow me to show you."

- Rebuttal -

"Various eye-witness testimonies state that they saw a suspicious man escaping the theme park."

*HOLD IT!*

"Did they say what time they saw this event?" Miss Kirigiri asked.

Ms. Mercer glanced at her clipboard before responding. "That would be at about 3:30am."

"Just what are you trying to prove here?" Detective Smyth asked. "I see no problem."

"You'll see in a minute." Miss Kirigiri told him. "For now, please add that time to your argument, Ms. Mercer."

"If you wish..." Ms. Mercer complied.

"The witnesses claimed that they saw him at 3:30am."

*YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG!*

"While I agree that such an event is suspicious," Miss Kirigiri began. "I doubt that this man is the culprit."

"Oh? And what makes you doubt it?" Detective Smyth asked, a small grin on his face. "It was a mere half an hour after the murder occured, right?"

"That's correct." Miss Kirigiri nodded. "And exactly that bothers me. Why would the culprit of a murder flee the scene half an hour after the crime? What were they doing in those 30 minutes?"

"Ah!" Kotoko gasped, bouncing slightly. "There's no explanation!"

"Precisely." Miss Kirigiri agreed. "Detective Smyth, have you tracked down this individual yet?"

"I've got boys looking into it." Detective Smyth replied before peering over my shoulder. "Oh. There's one now."

A police officer quickly approached us and came to screeching stop before saluting. "Detective Smyth, sir! We've located the suspicious individual! But..."

"But...?" the detective prompted.

"He's struggling an awful lot, sir!" the officer announced. "I'm not sure how much longer we can hold him!"

"We'd better get right over there, then. You lot coming?" Detective Smyth asked, turning to Miss Kirigiri and I. Miss Kirigiri responded with a nod before turning to the two kids behind us.

"You two should go home." she told them. "This is very dangerous and no place for-"

"I wanna come!" Kotoko piped up, bouncing on her heels. "I wanna come, I wanna come!"

"But..." Miss Kirigiri looked like she wanted to protest, a small hint of concern on her face.

"I say let her come along." I said with a smile. "I know for a fact that she's not going to give up any time soon. You're okay with it, right, Kitoka?" I turned to the girl's brother.

"Um, sure." he shrugged. "Just take care of her." He said his goodbyes to Kotoko before leaving the park, hands in pockets.

Kotoko cheered loudly and grabbed one of my hands and one of Miss Kirigiri's hands and dragged us away to follow behind Detective Smyth and Ms. Mercer.

This investigation certainly got more lively.

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Yeah there are gonna be Arguments and Rebuttals that are like Witness Testimonies and Cross Examinations, like in the normal Investigations games

That's kinda all I wanted to say here, so...

: 3

AceAttorneyFan over and out!