Ace Attorney: Council of Crime

Part 17 (Annie)

We all arrived at the cell next to Giuseppe's shortly after M and N returned from their adventure to go talk to the strange prison warden (Robert West, if I recall correctly). The cell that we arrived in had a set of tally marks on the far wall, about a few months worth of days tallied up. X started looking rather uncomfortable once we got inside, shifting nervously and gulping.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

X ignored my question, instead running to the corner, where a note sat in the corner. He picked it up and read it, eyes going wide. "T-this is...!" X whispered, shocked more than a little clearly.

"Are you okay?" I repeated, walking to X with a frown.

X was starting to shake, so I decided to give him a little bit of peace. I didn't question it when he ran from the room, a few tears dripping down his face. Nobody had a chance to ask what was wrong before he was gone.

"That was... Odd," I commented, shaking my head in confusion. "I always knew X was a little bit strange, but that..."

Milan ran from the cell and ran after him. "I'll be back after I find him!" Milan cried, waving to us before disappearing around the corner.

"That aside, this is the cell of Rosa Uccello, one of the rest prison escapees," M explained. "She broke out with Pierre Giuseppe, Dee Vil, and Dark Ness a week or two ago."

"Those names are the funniest things I've ever heard," Connor groaned, rolling his eyes. "Ha ha ha. Whoever came up with them must be sooo creative."

"Your sarcasm does not go unnoticed," Vesgate muttered.

"If you guys are done talking about that stuff, I think we should ask X about that note that he took with him. It could be important evidence to the case," I suggested.

Milan and X reentered the room, the latter still gripping the note he had picked up tightly in his grasp. "Sorry for running off..." X apologized, his eyes downcast.

"It's okay," I assured him. "What's that piece of paper all about? It looks pretty old. A few years or so."

"I-its an old suicide note from a former prisoner here. She would keep it really close to her, but somebody ripped it up a few years ago. It isn't any evidence," X muttered.

"Are you sure about that?" I heard M frown. "Let me see it."

After some hesitation, X handed over the note, making M gasp. "This note...! There's blood on it...!" M exclaimed.

"What?!" X yelled, his eyes going as wide as saucers. "A-are you sure?!"

We all crowded around M to stare at the note. As much as nobody wanted to believe it, M was right; there was blood on the note.

"Why would there be blood on an old suicide note?!" Celosia exclaimed.

"Guys! Guys!!"

J came running into the room, face red and panting. "I-I just heard something from one of the prisoners...!!" J yelled, staring at us all fearfully as she leaned over with her hands on her knees.

"What is it?!" N shouted, still panicked from seeing the bloodstained note.

"I heard that one of the prisoners... The one who lives in the private isolation cell... That... That..." J panted, unable to get her words out in her panic.

J started coughing madly, holding her hand over her chest. "A-are you okay?!" Vesgate asked, running to her side and placing an arm around her shoulders for support.

"J-just tired... From... R-running..." J told him, starting to recover her breath.

Vesgate helped J sit down on the bed near the tunnel. J flopped backwards onto it, her hair fanning out. She panted for a few more minutes, maybe one or two, before finding her voice enough to speak. "W-well..."

"Calm down for a second and tell us what happened," I instructed of her, my eyes going hard.

"I-I was talking with one of the prisoners... She lives in the private isolation cell... And heard that she... She... She found something earlier..." J choked out.

"You're scaring me," X told her, biting his lip nervously. "What does it have to do with the bloodied suicide note? I don't understand..."

"I-I didn't hear anything about a bloody suicide note... But I did hear one other thing from the prisoner... I-it isn't all that good..." J said nervously.

"Don't keep us in suspense and tell us!!" Celosia roared at J, making the latter shriek and jump away in fear.

"No need to yell at me!! Geez!!" J exclaimed, looking like she wanted to slap Celosia.

"Everybody calm down!!" I shouted. Nobody said a word after that, making me smile sweetly. "Continue, J. Tell us what you found."

"One of the prisoners staying in a private cell, I think her name was Peyton Treble, said that she was heading into her cell after roll call this morning when she smelled something," J began. "Treble followed her nose and ended up finding... She found..."

"What?" T prompted, gesturing for J to continue.

"...The body of Rosa Uccello," J finished. "The body was already starting to decompose, meaning that there's a possibility that she was killed the night of the prison breakout."

T gasped, taking a step back in her shock. "S-she's dead?!"

"She was stabbed in the back by a long, sharp object, killing her instantly," J continued to explain.

"This means that our suspects of being helpers in the Kuranin issue are just looking more suspicious," M frowned.

"I guess that this is the point in time where we start investigating," X sighed, rubbing his eyes on his sleeve.

"In that case, let's get to looking around," J agreed, rising to her feet and leading us off to the reserved prison cell.

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Raise ur hand if u saw that comin

Even I didn't tbh

Jk I know all-

-Digital