Ace Attorney: Criminal's Masquerade

The Classified Turnabout, Part 5 (James)

//October 16, 2033. Detention Center, 1:34 PM//

After the trial was let out, I walked to the detention center. Lily was heading up to the crime scene early to look for the mysterious disappearing flash of color that L had mentioned in court that day. I was going to talk to U and hope that she had something new to say.

U was escorted in by a guard not long after I arrived. She was holding her shoulder tightly, as if she was in pain. When she sat down, she continued to cradle it with a deep and never ending frown.

"Are you okay?" I asked, staring at her shoulder. "That looks like it hurts."

"I told you yesterday. After I got to the crime scene, I saw the body, felt a sharp pain in my shoulder, and blacked out. I don't remember anything else besides that, in case that's what you came here to talk to me about," U said, crossing her arms and looking away.

"I was hoping that you remembered something else... But it's alright. I planned to ask you about something different anyways," I said to her. "In court today, L mentioned seeing a flash of color that stuck out at the crime scene. However, when she came back, it was gone. I was wondering if you just so happened to see anything of the sort before you blacked out."

"Alright... Well, I don't remember much. I saw the body and blacked out pretty quickly afterwards, but... I saw something sitting next to the body. It was a flash of color, dark brown to be specific. It looked kind of like a tangle of hair. I was walking towards it when I blacked out," U told me.

"I see... Can you give me any other specifics?" I questioned. "Anything at all will be useful. I don't care what it is that you have to say."

"There is one other thing," U began. "Whenever I was about to black out, I felt the ache in my shoulder like I mentioned before. Something, though it was probably more like someone, grabbed me sort of roughly. I think that they used some sort of choke hold up knock me out."

"Hm... That's interesting..." I whispered, nodding to myself. "Is that all?"

U shook her head. "No. I saw something when the person grabbed me. It looked like a flash of color, but it wasn't just any color..." she said, her voice trailing off.

"What color was it?" I asked, eager to hear what she had to say.

"It was the same dark brown color that I saw near the body. It must have been something on the killer in both cases," U told me. "I have a gut feeling that it's going to lead us to the killer."

"Thank you for telling me all this," I said. "I'm going to talk to L now. Maybe she'll have something to say on what you remembered."

"Alright," U nodded. "I'll see you in court tomorrow, Mr. Devine."

"See you then," I said before walking from the detention center's visiting area. I had to head over to Interpol as soon as possible. Finding L would no doubt take a while in such a large building, so I was going to need all the time I could get.

//October 16, 2033. Interpol's Headquarters, Q Branch, 2:03 PM//

After searching for around ten minutes, I got lucky and stumbled upon L in the Q Branch area of Interpol. I had no idea why it had that name, but I didn't want to ask. The agent I asked would probably judge me. The curly haired one in glasses in the corner looked particularly judgemental. He was doing something friendly, specifically petting a pair of cats, but I still got the feeling that he was the type to judge people rather quickly. I wanted to stay away from situations like that, so I made a beeline for the blonde L as soon as I saw her.

She was sitting at her cubicle when I noticed her. She looked to be sketching something out on a piece of paper. Her tongue was sticking out of her lips slightly as she concentrated, so I could tell she was especially focused.

"L?" I asked as I approached, not wanting to startle her.

Unfortunately, I ended up frightening her anyways. L jumped slightly in her seat and looked up at me, dropping the pencil in her hands onto the desk. "Hey!" she greeted, acting as if her little moment of fear had never taken place.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked.

L nodded in response. "Yeah. Sure. What is it?"

"I was talking with U. She said that she saw the flash of color that you mentioned in court. She mentioned that it was a dark brown color," I told her. "She then told me that she was attacked by somebody not long after and knocked unconscious. She saw the same flash of color on that person before passing out."

"Go on..." L said, her hand on her chin as she thought about what I was saying.

"I was wondering... Would you say that the flash of color is more likely to be clothing or hair?" I asked.

"Definitely hair," she told me instantly. "There's literally no way that it was clothing. I just know it."

"Thank you," I said. I started to go, but feeling a hand on my wrist, I turned. "What's up?"

L held out the paper she had been doodling on. "I drew a diagram of what I saw. It has the body, U, and the flash of color that I witnessed when I stumbled upon the crime scene," she said. "Take it. It might help."

"Thank you," I said gratefully, accepting the paper. "Now, I'll see you in court tomorrow, yes?"

L nodded. "Yeah. I'll see you then," she smiled, waving to me as I walked out of the oddly named Q Branch.

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I typed this up on my phone instead of my laptop due to feeling sick so apologies for any weird typos my phone is weird

-Digital