Ace Attorney: Secrets beneath Secrets

Turnabout Below, Part 7

May 30

Courtroom No. 6

11:30 AM

Cotoli Morix

A girl walked up towards the witness stand, and I found myself frowning slightly as she moved through the courtroom. This had to be the 'Celosia Quell' character that Ghastly had mentioned, though she was far from what I could have ever expected her to look like. I don't know what my brain was anticipating when it heard that name, but this most certainly was not it.

Her hair was a mint green color. A segment of it was taken out of her messy bun to cover her right eye. The left side of her head was cut incredibly short, and I realized belatedly that it had been shaved off. She had a pair of purple sticks in her hair, likely hair sticks of some sort. Her eyes were a pale blue color. She wore a blue tank top with green shorts. She had tall pale purple socks and messy black tennis shoes.

"Please state your name and occupation for the court," Judge Frost declared. He seemed to be shocked to see the witness look this peculiar. She was the type of person I would have expected to see at a house party when I was in high school, but then again, I couldn't judge people by their appearances. You never knew how somebody was based around the way they looked.

"Celosia Quell. I'm a high school student," Celosia replied bluntly. "I attend a private school near here. Is that good enough?"

When she first stated she was a high school student, I was a bit surprised. She certainly looked to be that old, but I hadn't ever seen her at Chrysalis' school when I picked her up after classes. Chrysalis hadn't ever mentioned her either, and you would expect to hear about someone with half their head shaven with mint green tresses. At the very least, I would have thought Anton would bring it up. The explanation of going to a private school made a lot more sense as to why I hadn't heard about her before then.

"That's perfect, witness," Ghastly told her with a firm nod. "How about you start by explaining what you saw at the time of the victim's disappearance? You were there with her in the agency the day she went missing, if I recall correctly. This is valuable testimony we cannot take for granted."

I found myself gasping in surprise. I turned my attention toward Victoria. She was frowning deeply, and I knew she was surprised to hear that the witness had been there when the victim went missing. I wished we had been given the chance to speak with Ms. Quell before our investigation ended the day before, as this was going to be one of the most important bits of testimony we heard regarding the case. We might not have known when the victim died, but hearing about the time of her disappearance was the next best thing in this difficult situation.

"Alright," Celosia said, crossing her arms and nodding slowly. I got the feeling she wasn't trying to seem rude, but instead, she was merely a blunt person. After all, while her phrases were choppy and short, she didn't seem to have malicious intent. That was something good to keep in mind as far as I was concerned.

"I don't think we should bother going over it outside of testimony format," Ghastly announced, turning his attention towards Judge Frost. "I do hope it's alright if we just have her go on and get into it. I don't want to waste too much time."

Judge Frost nodded in response. "That's fine with me. Witness, please go over what you saw the day the victim went missing in as much detail as possible."

~ Witness Testimony ~

~ The Day Dee Fence Disappeared ~

-"It was one afternoon I had gotten out of school early in the middle of February that she disappeared."