Chapter ten: A foolish double testimony
Wn: thanks to all of my lovely reviewers, believe me, it is so appreciated. Just realised, thanks to a little help from a friend of mine, I have accidentally caused a rather blatant contradiction in the story, so I shall now try and work it into the story! (I hope…) thanks again crazyyoshi
Everyone made their way back into the courtroom and everyone went back to their respective places. Miles and Luke had just climbed up onto the witness stand, when the judge brought the court to order.
"Right, is the defence ready?" He enquired.
"Yes your honour".. Nick replied, trying to steel himself for the world of hurt that he felt like he was about to enter.
"And the prosecution… Miss Von Karma… what is the matter?" The judge was now concerned at the rather alarmed and angry young woman sitting on the side of the prosecution; slamming her fist repeatedly down upon her desk.
"Kill Gumshoe… Your honour… before we embark on the quest of seeing how foolish Phoenix Wright is, I am now forced to admit an error of foolishness of the prosecution.
"Oh?... this should be good…." Nick muttered.
"Well… it was initially concluded that the cause of death was a blow to the head courtesy of this trophy" Franziska exclaimed, and brought it up from under the desk. Nick and Maya gasped. It was the same one that Gumshoe was telling them about, it was stained with red.
"Very well… what is the problem with that?" The judge exclaimed.
"Well the thing is… it was then later concluded the cause of death was a fatal stab wound, since then, it has been found the poor victim suffered a blow to the head and a stab wound, however it is unclear as to which finished her off"… she finished, while looking like she needed to punch somebody.
"OH!... I see… so the autopsy report is inconclusive?... then why submit it?" The judge exclaimed.
"At the time your honour, I didn't notice…. I had used what I thought to be "credible" evidence from a certain foolish detective who will be finding himself out of a job after this trial for making me look like a fool!" she snapped.
"I see…." (autopsy report discarded from the court record from the time being)
"Wow… who would of guessed that Franziska would get something like that wrong?" Wright muttered. He thought something seemed a little off…
"Miss Von Karma.. did the trophy have any fingerprints?" Nick asked.
"There was a set to faint to get a proper analysis"… she explained.
"A ha!... then this means that there is a higher chance that my client isn't the guilty party!" Nick declared.
"Not so fast Phoenix Wright, before the prosecution is even willing to even consider such foolish claims, I require more evidence; that being said, I demand we get this… "double testimony over with!" she snapped.
"Oh dear.. Nick, be careful, she looks like she is gonna explode!" Maya whispered.
"I will… gulp" Nick replied, now feeling ill again.
"Witnesses, state your names and occupations, now!" she snapped, and readied her whip.
"Is there really any need to.. alright little sister.. I shall humour you for now…. As the person providing the first half of this testimony, my name is Miles Edgeworth, state prosecutor, and colleague of the woman over there who happens to have severe anger issues" He calmly stated.
"And I am Luke Triton, the assistant of the great Professor Hershel Layton!" Luke declared with a grin.
"Very well.. as this is the first time that the court has tried something such as this, how do you want to play this Mr Wright?" The judge asked.
"You are asking me your honour?" Nick exclaimed.
"Oww!" Nick yelped, as once again, Franziska whipped him, and yelled:
"FOOL! You are the fool who requested this foolish idea in the first place!" She snarled.
"Oh yeah… I mean, yes of course!" Nick stated…
(Think man wright… before she kills you!) he thought anxiously.
"The defence requests that Miles Edgeworth takes the first half of the testimony, then Luke Triton takes up the second half with what happened after the phone call!" Nick declared.
"Very well… Miles Edgeworth…. Please begin" The judge asked.
"Yes your honour"… and with that, Miles began.
"Witness double testimony part 1 by Miles Edgeworth: The Phone call."
"I was sitting in my office when I decided to call him"
"It wasn't often that Layton was in town; the only reason I knew that he was down to the fact that when I was walking to the courtroom, I spotted "that hat" moving through the crowd.
"I called him to ask if he and Luke wanted to meet me for a cup of tea at a local tearoom… this was at around 11:55am."
"We agreed to meet up at around 1pm, which would give them enough time to unpack"
"After we had arranged everything, we hung up, and I decided to finish up some case work"
"What happened after that?... only Luke and Layton know"… Miles Finished.
"Alright… Phoenix Wright.. your cross examination please!" The judge ordered.
"Cross Examination Part 1: Franziska vs Wright"
"I was sitting in my office when I decided to call him"
"It wasn't often that Layton was in town; the only reason I knew that he was down to the fact that when I was walking to the courtroom, I spotted "that hat" moving through the crowd.
"HOLD IT!... there has to be more than one person who owns that hat… how could you have been 100 % sure that it was my client?" Nick asked.
"That is easy enough to answer, firstly, the hat is custom made and from England; reducing the possibility by quite a margin, and secondly…. There was a big meeting going on at a local university.. Ivy League I believe for some of the famous archaeologists of the world, and I knew that Layton would probably be there" Miles explained.
"Very well, Mr Wright, was there anything useful in that part of the testimony?" the judge questioned.
"Not really your honour… I think that the second half will be more helpful" he replied.
""Witness double testimony part 2 by Luke Triton: The arrest"
"After they talked, the Professor and I set to work unpacking our cases"
"We were staying at the Gatewater Hotel… I only learnt of its "history" later on"
"It didn't take us long to unpack… I would say it was at around 12:45pm when after we had talked for a bit, we set out to meet Mr Edgeworth"
"We were walking into the lobby… "
"When a man called out that the professor was under arrest!"
"Before I knew it… the professor was taken away!"
"He couldn't have done it…. He never left me!" Luke wailed.
"Oh dear… Mr Wright… your cross-examination please, but try not to be your usual hard self!" the judge ordered.
"I take offence to that… but yes your honour" Nick replied.
"Cross Examination Part 2: Franziska vs Wright"
"After they talked, the Professor and I set to work unpacking our cases"
"We were staying at the Gatewater Hotel… I only learnt of its "history" later on"
"HOLD IT!... what do you mean by its… history?" Nick asked.
"Well… the murder of the actor of course!" Luke replied politely…
"Oh yeah…." How could Nick forget that?... it was that case that nearly cost him the life of one of his closest friends!...
"It didn't take us long to unpack… I would say it was at around 12:45pm when after we had talked for a bit, we set out to meet Mr Edgeworth"
"HOLD IT!... Luke.. I know that this is difficult… but could you tell the court about what you and the Professor talked about"… Nick pressed.
"Alright… it wasn't anything special… we just talked about how it was nice to get away from England for a while… after all, it is my first time in America; and we talked about some of our past adventures, such as when we visited the phantom town of Folsense and met a vampire!" He exclaimed.
"A vampire?" Nick asked in shock. Now he had heard it all.
"Yes… will tell you about it later Mr Wright!" Luke replied.
"Okay… (now I am concerned… still, I have no room to talk, considering I talk with my dead mentor on a daily basis!)
"Please continue witness" The judge asked.
We were walking into the lobby… "
"When a man called out that the professor was under arrest!"
"Before I knew it… the professor was taken away!"
"HOLD IT!... Who was this man?" Nick enquired.
"Well… all I remember was he seemed to be wearing a rather dirty trench coat" Luke replied.
"Oh HIM… that is scruffy for you" Franziska replied in a dismissive tone.
""He couldn't have done it…. He never left me!"
"HOLD IT!... Are you sure that he was with you all the time?" Nick asked.
"Yes of course…. " Luke replied firmly.
"Your honour, this didn't prove a thing. if the court believes what the boy has said as the truth, then how come they didn't hear the murder take place then hmm… this is only because Layton is the culprit, and the boy is protecting his mentor!" Franziska declared.
"Ah yes, but neither did Summer, are you not including the possibility that she is the killer?" he shot back
"HOLD IT!"
"Your honour…. I have an idea as to why nobody heard the murder" A certain detective exclaimed, with Inspector Chelmey following close behind.