Ace Attorney: Secrets beneath Secrets

Turnabout Betrayal, Part 7

April 22

Prosecutor's Office

2:00 PM

Chrysalis Starr

Soon after we decided to start looking for other witnesses, we realized that not many people were in the Prosecutor's Office today. It sort of made sense, as anybody who was unrelated to the case wouldn't need to be hanging around when the investigation was taking place. It was frustrating to think that many potential witnesses had already disappeared, but we would just have to roll with it. Maybe later we'd get lucky and find a few people who would help us, but for now, our only option was to bite our tongues and deal with it.

However, just because the Prosecutor's Office didn't have many people in it didn't mean it was empty. The few people who were around had to be important, right?

Our search had been underway for about ten minutes when we first ran into somebody who could help us out. I saw a person standing alone up against the wall outside their office, and it took me a moment to realize that the person was somebody I knew. As a matter of fact, it was Prosecutor Wood.

Sora was the first one to see her, and she practically threw herself through the air to greet her adopted daughter. "Baby!" she chirped, picking up Prosecutor Wood and wrapping her in one of the tightest hugs known to man. "What are you doing here? I thought that you would be at home waiting for me to get back still!"

"N-No... I had a few other things to take care of here," Prosecutor Wood explained, barely able to choke her words out with Sora's arms wrapped so tightly around her. "P-Prosecutor Lin, could you please let me go? I can't breathe..."

Sora pulled back immediately, a sheepish smile on her face. "Ah... Sorry about that, Niamh," she apologized. "We're investigating the case is all. I didn't expect you to be around here. I mean, barely any prosecutors are around. If they haven't been deemed helpful to the case, the police let them go home, or rather, forced them to go home."

"Since I'm living with you and Chief Prosecutor Bespoke, I was allowed to stick around... The police officers didn't seem eager on kicking me out when they'd have to deal with him once he found out," Prosecutor Wood explained with a nervous laugh. "They're acting like he's a monster of some sorts. He's just a guy, and a rather sleepy guy at that..."

"Hey, it lets me say hello to you at work, which is always a good thing. Now, let's take a moment to talk about the other reason you're here. Related to Ghastly or not, the only people that are left are related to the murder at hand. Would you happen to know anything about the victim or the way in which he was killed?" Sora asked, placing one hand on Prosecutor Wood's shoulder. "Any details will help us out a lot, no matter how small and unimportant you think they are."

"Well... If you're really so sure... I was in my office most of the day of the crime," Prosecutor Wood began to tell us. "I didn't really have a reason to leave, so I didn't... I stayed in there basically all day, but the one time I did leave, I did see somebody that I found a little bit odd... I figured at the time that somebody had a visitor, or that Chief Prosecutor Bespoke was going to be holding a meeting with that person as a guest, so I didn't think much of it, but..." Her voice trailed off, and I didn't need to be a psychic to know that she was thinking about the fact that the crime was committed shortly thereafter.

"I see... Is there anything else that you noticed about this peculiar person? Is there anything at all that seemed out of place?" Cotoli pressed. I knew what he was thinking of too. He thought she was talking about the same person who Prosecutor Yin had run into at the time of the murder when she was leaving the office. If that was the case, then Prosecutor Wood could have very easily been the last clue we needed to find the culprit. If her description was accurate, then we'd be able to figure out who the killer was and call the case as good as done in a matter of half an hour or so. Wouldn't that be a dream after all we had suffered through at the hands of Prosecutor Daegana?