Ace Attorney: Criminal's Masquerade

The Classified Turnabout, Part 4 (Yuri)

"You see, the blood splatter at the crime scene could be found all over the floor. There was barely any room to walk around without stepping on some blood," James told me. "And that's the very thing that creates our contradictions."

"How so? I'm afraid I don't understand," I said with a small frown. 

"The chances of the defendant killing the victim and getting to the wall before being covered in blood are very slim," James said. "In fact, it didn't happen." 

"But... The killer obviously must have done that after killing the victim," frowned the judge. "Or at least found a way to get out of the room without being covered in blood."

"That's true, but that's not the problem. The problem is that the blood surrounding the defendant was not perfect. In fact, the area around where she was found is rather small. Her legs were in the blood. The killer got out of the room, sure, but the defendant... Not exactly," James continued to explain. 

"I'm afraid I don't understand," I sighed. 

"In a nutshell, the defendant couldn't have gotten to the wall after killing the victim. Her legs were on top of the blood, judging by the patterns I saw when I was there. The defendant couldn't have been the killer, because if she was, she would have known to be fast enough to get to the wall and away from the blood before the splatter reached her!" James exclaimed. "The defendant did not kill the victim, as if she did, there's no explanation for why the blood splatter was underneath her!"

I stared at him with wide eyes. "Wow... That... I had no idea that was the case..." I whispered. 

"Let's just call the next witness already. I'm sick of Vinnie's voice," complained Prosecutor Jack from the other side of the court. "L! Get up there! We don't have time to waste!"

I stepped down from the witness stand. Another woman took my place. She had yellow hair that was cropped close to her head and blue eyes. A few freckles dotted her cheeks. 

"Name and occupation, witness," the judge instructed. 

"I can't really give out my name due to security reasons, but... I'm L. I work as an agent for Interpol in its technology type branch," the woman explained. 

"I understand that you saw something the day of the crime," the judge said, raising an eyebrow her way. 

L nodded in response. "Yeah. As a matter of fact, I did," she said, placing her hands on her hips. 

"Why don't you go on and tell us what you saw?" Prosecutor Jack asked. 

"Alright," L said. "I'll get right onto that."

WITNESS TESTIMONY: CHARLOTTE REY - WHAT I SAW

-I was walking through the hallways of Interpol when I smelled something weird. 

-I walked into the break room after following my nose. 

-Inside of there, the defendant was just sitting there...

-She was unconscious near where the victim's dead body was located. 

-She was covered in blood, come to think of it. 

-I called for help as soon as I saw that, figuring that I would need help. 

-I only work in Interpol's tech branch, so I'm no good with anything else. 

-The last thing I really saw was a weird little flash of color near the door...

"Go on and start your examination, defense. I don't have much patience today," Prosecutor Jack said, crossing her arms with a frown. 

"I didn't see any contradictions! What do we do?" I heard Lily hiss. 

"I didn't either, but I heard something that I want to ask L about a little more. I just hope that she can provide us with a little bit more information," James told her. 

CROSS-EXAMINATION: CHARLOTTE REY - WHAT I SAW

-I was walking through the hallways of Interpol when I smelled something weird.

-I walked into the break room after following my nose.

-Inside of there, the defendant was just sitting there...

-She was unconscious near where the victim's dead body was located.

-She was covered in blood, come to think of it.

-I called for help as soon as I saw that, figuring that I would need help.

-I only work in Interpol's tech branch, so I'm no good with anything else.

-The last thing I really saw was a weird little flash of color near the door...

"HOLD IT!"

"What exactly did this little flash of color look like?" asked James. 

"It looked sort of like... Like... I don't really know. It was really fast. I didn't see it for very long, but it was something," L replied. 

"Do you think you'd be able to identify it if you went back to the crime scene?" Lily questioned. 

"About that..." L began, her voice trailing off not long after.

"Out with it already," Prosecutor Jack demanded, tapping her foot impatiently. 

"I thought about going back after I noticed it. My curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to go and check it out again. I looked around for it a little bit after arriving, but... It was gone," L frowned. 

"So... Are you saying that somebody tampered with the crime scene!?" the judge exclaimed in shock, his eyes as wide as saucers. 

"I think that's exactly what she's saying, old man!" yelled Prosecutor Jack. 

"The defense requests one more day of investigation," James suddenly cut in. 

"Yeah. We want to look into this matter of somebody possibly tampering with the crime scene," Lily piped in. "Can we have one more day and continue with the proceedings tomorrow?"

The judge, seemingly charmed by her sweet way of asking, nodded. "Alright. Does the prosecution object to getting one more day of investigation?"

"It's fine by me," Prosecutor Jack declared, twirling some of her scissors over one finger. "Go on and give them a little bit more time. We'll have our final battle of wits tomorrow."

"In that case, court is adjourned for one more day of investigation!" the judge declared. "I expect both sides to continue their investigation and be able to propose new and important evidence tomorrow!" 

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this book is so quickly becoming one of my least favorites bc even though this case is my favorite of the book so far it's really boring and doesn't really excite people at all and I don't like it I just want to get onto the next one lakdjflkdjalfjdifodlsfmcdkfj

-Digital