Ace Attorney: Council of Crime

Part 18 (Buddy)

The special cell was a lot nicer looking than I expected it would be. The walls weren't made of plain concrete, instead being painted rather nicely. The bed looked at least a little bit softer than the rest of the beds that the other prisoners had.

On top of the bed is where a girl, who I assumed was Peyton Treble, sat. She had brown hair with a slight tint of ginger and a few freckles. Her eyes were brownish hazel and looked down. Her hair was wispy and fell gently over her shoulders. She had the typical prison type thing on, but even with it on, she looked beautiful.

I slapped myself internally at calling her beautiful. Remember, Buddy! You're a happily taken man! And then there's the fact that if I cheat on Clarith with somebody like Peyton (who, I may remind you, is a criminal), Neptune would kill me. No joke.

"W-who are you...?" Peyton asked in a weak and fragile voice. She backed away from us fearfully.

"We're the investigation group on the Kuranin. We think that the murder of Rosa Uccello may be involved with the recent escapes of who we believe to be the Kuranin," I explained.

"I-I'm Peyton Treble..." Peyton told us, twirling her hair shyly. "I guess that you'll be wanting to hear about what I remember...?"

I nodded. "If that would be possible, yes."

"W-well, I was coming back to my cell after roll call... I shouldn't even be here... I noticed that my bed was lumpy, so I looked under the covers to see... The body..." Peyton told us, shaking ever so slightly.

"What do you mean, you shouldn't even be here?" M repeated.

"I-I killed in self defense..." Peyton squeaked. "T-that guy had a knife and he was going to kill meeeeee!!"

Peyton burst into tears, so I squealed and backed away. She didn't strike me as the crybaby type when I first met her, but this is a prime example of looks being deceptive, wouldn't you say?

"That explains why you have a private cell..." T muttered.

"Y-yeah..." Peyton choked out around her tears. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I guess that Uccello wasn't even going to be part of the Kuranin... Giuseppe, Ness, and Vil were using her as a pawn for escape, and once they were done with her, they killed her to get her out of the way," M deduced.

"So... The culprit was one of those three as part of the Kuranin?" F asked.

N nodded. "It seems pretty likely!"

"Before we continue, could I ask you something, Ms. Treble?" Vesgate questioned, turning to Peyton.

Peyton sniffled. "S-sure..."

"Who was the victim of the case where you killed out of self defense?" Vesgate asked her.

"I-I think his name was... Something Ness..." Peyton answered.

"I suppose that this means that Dark Ness committed the crime and placed the body in Peyton's room as revenge for killing somebody likely related to him," I declared.

"Can we go over what we've found out so far? I'm really confused now..." Milan piped up.

I nodded. "We know that the Kuranin is a group of killers who killed people who were involved in the case around the murder of Janelle Giuseppe. We suspect Pierre Giuseppe, Dark Ness, and Dee Vil. They were all locked up in prison after committing a crime and being found guilty. They used tunnels underneath the ground to escape with Rosa Uccello, and once they got out, they killed her and placed the body in Peyton's room to try and divert suspicion away from them," I explained.

"I think that the murder took place in Uccello's cell because of the blood being found on the note," Connor cut in. "But it was moved here without being noticed... Maybe via..."

"Who was in the special cell before you?" I demanded of Peyton.

"Dee Vil. Why?" Peyton answered.

"She must have dug another tunnel in here, too," I deduced.

"So the body was moved here without being noticed. Sneaky," N frowned.

"All of this is pointless!" J cried. "It's already three on the 22nd! The Kuranin are coming in two days! We need to hurry up and get out of here before we end up in even more trouble!!"

"I think J has a point. At this point, now that we've figured out how they escaped and who escaped, we just need to figure out where the Kuranin is. We're pretty sure of who it is, so I'd say that we're doing pretty good in our investigation," L agreed.

"But we still have no time to lose," I nodded.

"Thanks for talking with us, Ms. Treble," N said to Peyton, who shakily nodded in reply.

We all exited the special cell and made our way back outside of the prison. "What next?" I asked the group.

"Find out where the Kuranin is hiding. That might take a while, so I'm glad that we have so much time," F declared.

"You know, L hasn't called us in a while," Connor frowned.

"I'm right here," L cut in, rolling her eyes.

"I mean creepy stalker caller," Connor explained.

"Maybe something happened to her," I suggested.

"Did she get into trouble with the Kuranin?" F asked.

My laptop chose this moment as the perfect one to begin beeping just for the sake of annoying me. I sighed and flipped it open to see a picture of Stalkuma.

"Master Buddyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!" Stalkuma cried. "I couldn't find you earlier, so I ran back to Interpol to call you!!"

I flinched at the volume of the sound. His yelling earlier had been loud, and as much as I loved him, I was glad I wasn't losing my hearing until now. "Hi, Stalkuma," I greeted flatly.

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Stalkuma is here and not because I forgot about him nope what are you talking about

And if I haven't ever told you guys how much I love this story I really should have because it's grate like cheese

Get it

Grate

Like cheee

Like a cheese grater

I'll go-

-Digital