Ace Attorney: Criminal's Masquerade

Turnabout Vault, Part 5 (Anton)

"Defense, begin your cross-examination now, if you would please," the judge said once Mukuro had finished speaking.

"It would be our pleasure," Jamsy declared. He always looks great when he says stuff like that!

CROSS-EXAMINATION: MUKURO ERIKSON- ABOUT THE CASE

-An unknown man was stabbed to death with a diamond. Due to the fact that his fingerprints were burned away, we don't know who it was.

-The police think that it might be a disappeared security guard who went mysteriously missing the night of the crime.

-The stone belonged to wealthy twins Abilene and Anthony Umber.

-The defendant stumbled upon the crime scene, so we had no choice but to arrest her for the crime.

-She seems like the most likely suspect, don't you think?

"HOLD IT!"

"You say that she's the most likely suspect for merely stumbling across the crime scene?" Chrysalis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, since she was found at the scene, what else could we do?" Mukuro asked. "She was the only one at the scene of the crime when it was discovered, so it must have been her."

"When she was found... Did she happen to have any blood on her, by any chance?" Jamsy questioned of her.

"Well... Um... No... But the one who found her seemed pretty insistent that she did it, so..." Mukruo's voice trailed off. She already knew that the defense had won the argument as far as I could tell.

"Did you hear that, Your Honor? The defendant was found at the scene of the crime, but there was no blood on her. If somebody stabbed a man to death, then it's rather difficult to avoid getting splattered with the blood from the backsplash," Chrysalis declared to the judge.

"That is a good point," the judge agreed, lost in thought at her suggestion.

"Who was the one to find her at the scene of the crime?" Jamsy questioned of Mukuro.

"We aren't all that sure. After getting the defendant in handcuffs, he just... Disappeared, oddly enough," Mukuro answered.

"Wait... Would it happen to be Sec Urity? You mentioned a security guard had gone missing by that name, so it's possible," Jamsy cut in.

"Maybe. But if it was him, then... That doesn't make much sense..." Mukuro muttered, her eyes filled to the brim with concern.

"What do you mean?" Niamh asked from beside me.

"We theorize that the victim was Sec Urity, who stole gems from the vault the night of the crime, but we can't be sure since the victim's prints were burned right off, making it impossible for us to identify them," Mukuro explained. "There wasn't a driver's license found on him either, so we couldn't use that to identify him."

"Maybe the culprit tried to make the victim anonymous," Chrysalis thought aloud.

"What do you mean?" the judge questioned in complete and utter confusion.

I was sort of starting to understand what she was getting at, but I couldn't be positive. My head was spinning at the thought. I had a feeling I was onto something, but without any proof, we couldn't identify it as fact just yet.

"Well... What if the culprit was the thief and killed the victim, Sec Urity, to try and escape from their crimes?" Chrysalis suggested.

"So you're saying that your client killed the victim because she stole the gems?" Niamh asked formally. "I don't know about that..."

"The gems were found in the hands of the victim's body. Do you really think that the culprit would leave them behind after killing to get their hands on the jewels?" Mukuro reminded her.

"I had a feeling that idea was a little stupid," Chrysalis admitted, blushing lightly. She rubbed the back of her head nervously at her blunder regarding the victim and their identity.

"We should move on now. Perhaps the prosecution could call their next witness," the judge suggested.

"Very well," Niamh said with a nod. She was faking her confidence, I knew, but I had to admit that she was doing pretty well at it.

"The p-prosecution would like to c-call Detective A-Abilene Umber to the witness s-stand to testify," I announced. Unlike Niamh, faking confidence didn't come as easily to me. I'd have to work on that a little bit more with Niamh, James, and Chrysalis after the trial was over...

After my announcement, Detective Umber appeared at the witness stand. She tossed some of her brown, blue, and purple locks over her shoulder once she had gotten there before adjusting her large black hat.

"Witness, please state your name and occupation," the judge told the detective.

"Detective Abilene Umber at your service. I work at the local precinct. In this case, I play a special role, however: the owner of the diamond used as the murder weapon," Detective Umber explained to the court.

"Why would you keep a gem as precious as that at the vault when you could display it in your home?" the judge asked.

I would have thought that he'd remember why she didn't, but either way, Detective Umber seemed ready to offer an explanation. "Crimes keep on taking place in my home, so I figured that it was safer to keep the jewel in the bank vault where it would be guarded by trained professionals," Detective Umber replied.

"I do seem to recall a few murders that took place in the Umber Mansion..." the judge realized.

"Either way, I assume that you'll be wanting me to begin my testimony now, correct?" Detective Umber asked, to which the judge nodded.

WITNESS TESTIMONY: ABILENE UMBER- THE DIAMOND WEAPON

-The diamond has been in my family for generations

-I was keeping it at the vault for safekeeping.

-It seems that this was a bad idea, though, as somebody tried to steal it.

-The diamond ended up being used in this case as the murder weapon, though.

-Even so, there is something that bothers me a little bit about the murder weapon being the diamond, but I can't put a finger on it...

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UPDATE BEFORE PLAY STOOF

-Digital