Case 3: Turnabout Bride

Chapter 11: Careless Hatter

The Judge frowned, looking straight down at Riley Hatter, who was gritting his teeth and grasping the witness stand so hard his knuckles were turning white. "This is a grave matter indeed," said the Judge, "The witness, the victim, the groom, all connected by this top tune engineering. We must search into this matter further. If Top Tune is indeed a company built on the foundation of blackmail and extortion, then that gives this witness a clear motive."

"Objection! Heh..."

"What is it Mr. Edgeworth?"

"You're all forgetting one...

tiny...

little...

detail."

Apollo glared, "And what would that be?"

"It's simple Justice, or have you not been paying attention to the trial? Oh you've given a solid motive, and I must say you've truly swayed the jury with your words. In fact, if circumstances allowed it, The Mad Hatter here would be our primary suspect, but as it is currently,it's impossible to prove such a thing. You see, the fact remains that Riley Hatter was in the hotel during the time of the murder, and the detective's found nothing over there. Also... there's the unresolved matter of the weapon found at the scene of the crime, fired by the defendent no less...

"You make bold claims, but I wonder, can you truly back them up?"

Apollo sweat dropped, 'You've gotta be kidding me. How the hell did he kill him?'

Trucy tugged on his sleeve and frowned, "Polly. A magician always has a trick to their magic. It could be an illusion with mirrors, strings, or even smoke. Even another person..."

'Another person?' Thought Apollo, 'Could it be?'

The Judge frowned and pounded his gavel, "Very well. The prosecution indeed raises a good point. Even with motive to commit a murder it was impossible for the witness to do so. Even after that fact, the question of why still remains. Why would this witness murder Jennifer Clives?"

"Indeed," said Edgeworth, "It looks like you came up a little more than a penny short Justice. Blackmail is a clear motive for murder, but we don't know the details. The only conclusion that can be reached is that Top Tune has nothing to do with this case."

Riley grinned, "See? I told yas, I told yas I didn't do it."

"Very well," said the Judge, "It's time to hand down the verdict."

"HOLD IT!"

Edgeworth smirked, "Kicking and squirming until the bitter end. You could be his clone."

"Your Honor, the defense believes that Mr. Hatter killed Jennifer Clives the day of the wedding and I can PROVE it! The defense requests that Dmitri Sevor take the stand once more!"

"Objection! Justice, you're the one that kicked him out of the court room, or did you forget? Sevor was being influenced by torture, his testimony can hardly be reliable."

"Objection! That may be true, but the fact is, he was being tortured and lied about this case very openly. The question remains as to who was doing it, and why? Could it have been to keep his mouth shut?"

"What makes you think he won't lie again?!"

"Even if he does, I'll dig through the lies to find the truth!"

Edgeworth smirked and shrugged, "Very well, your Honor, I request a thirty minute recess in order to prepare the witness. We'll see if these claims hold any ground when the humble waiter takes the stand."

"Request granted, a brief thirty minute recess. Mr. Justice, if you cannot find anything worthy in Mr. Sevor's testimony, then I am afraid I will have no choice but to hand down my verdict. Court is adjourned."

----------

Alice frowned and rubbed her neck, sitting on the couch, "What does this all mean Mr. Justice?"

Apollo sighed and leaned against the door, "Eric Black was an employee at Top Tune, which means he was in on the blackmailing ring. He was about to marry the mayor, so Hatter took the highlight of his wedding away from him, the veil."

"But why would he do that?"

"I can only think of one reason, Black was about to bust the whole operation wide open. Now that his wife is dead... he's scared for his life, which is why he was so indirect in giving me information. When Black didn't listen to Hatter's threats, Hatter took the next step..."

"And killed Jenny," muttered Alice.

"And that's not all, he knew you'd be at that wedding Alice, you are after all, best friends with Eric Black and Jennifer Clives. In the process of planning this, Hatter needed someone to take the fall. He chose you, the one woman who tried to lock him up and throw away the key. You didn't actually get him thrown away in prison, but you were a gigantic threat nonetheless. He had an accomplice plant the gun near your seat at the wedding, and framed you for murder."

"I guess we should get prepped for the trial huh?" said Alice.

"Hold it!"

-------------

"Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick..."

Phoenix mumbled something incoherant and rolled over, pulling the covers over his body further to hide himself.

"Hey Niiiiiiiick."

...

"NICK!!!"

"I didn't do it! Don't take my badge away!" he shouted, jolting up in bed.

Maya giggled, "Calm down Nick, I was trying to wake you up."

Phoenix grumbled and glanced around his room in the office, "Couldn't you have been... I don't know, a bit gentler?"

"I tried, but you kept rolling over and mumbling something about "Finally solving that eight year case.""

Phoenix chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, "What time is it?"

"Ten fifteen, why?"

Phoenix's eyes widened, "Crap! The trial, Maya, grab your cell phone and call von Karma, tell her to bring what we found yesterday at the Hotel!"

"Come to think of it, where were you yesterday Nick, I looked all over for you and I couldn't find you anywhere."

"Gah! Maya... just, please, call Fanziska for me, okay?" he asked, pecking her on the lips before running to his closet and pulling out his grey hoody.

------------

Apollo's eyes widened when the door of the defendent's lounge burst open. In walked Phoenix Wright, flanked by a beautiful looking woman with short silver hair, a frilly suit, and a...

WHAP

"Ow! Mr. Wright, what are you doing with that woman, and why is she hauling that thing around? It hurts!"

Franziska frowned and glared at Apollo, "Apollo Justice..."

Apollo straightened out immidiately, "Y... Yes m'am!"

"You're as pathetic as Phoenix Wright is, always relying on other people for help!" She reached out a hand to Phoenix and he placed something in it. She tossed it to Apollo.

Apollo caught it and looked closely at it. It was a small hunk of wood with black markings on it. It smelled heavily of brass and gunpowder, a smell Apollo found all too familier these days, "Um, how's this supposed to help me again?"

WHAP

"OW!"

"Foolish fool who asks foolishly foolish questions!"

Phoenix smiled and chuckled a little, "Apollo, I did my own bit of investigating. I found out the murderer was in that hotel the day before you did, Edgeworth told me everything, so I went and checked it out. I ran into Franziska there, and she helped me find that in 's room, on the third floor." Phoenix reached into his hoody's pocket and pulled out a paper, handing it to Apollo, "Here, these are the schematics for the building. Ema had a look, and it turns out the angle from Mr. Hatter's window was perfect to take the shot with a long ranged rifle. That wooden block is extracted from the window that the weapon was fired from."

Franziska smirked, "This foolish defense attorney begged me to help him find this evidence for you."

Phoenix laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, "Anyways, this will be your decisive evidence for this trial. I'm sorry I didn't let you know sooner, but as fate would have it, it seems you've already figured out that Mr. Hatter murdered the victim from the hotel. An amazing bit of deduction really."

"Thanks, Mr. Wright. And... what's your name?"

WHAP

"OW!"

"Franziska von Karma, the perfect prosecutor, and you will NOT forget it, understand, Apollo Justice?!"

"Y... yes m'am!"

'Does she really have to say my full name?' he thought.

---------------

'Man,' thought Apollo, 'Mr. Wright has the weirdest friends. A spirit medium girlfriend, an adopted magician daughter, a scruffy detective who's name is literally Gumshoe (and I thought my name was a bad pun), a scientific detective obsessed with snackoos, the frilly guy standing across from me, and now a woman with a WHIP?'

"Is the defense ready ?" asked the Judge.

"Trucy," said Apollo, turning to his partner, "Has your dad always attracted these... strange people?"

Trucy grinned, "Oh you bet, daddy has a bad habit of making strange friends. Did you know that Daddy knows MaskdeMasque... personally?"

"I don't even want to know the story behind that one."

"Oh, you should hear Daddy's stories about Mr. Godot, a visor so intense its red beams burn into your soul."

"V... VISOR?"

"Ahem! Will the defense please save its personal conversations for outside the courtroom?" snapped the Judge. "Are you ready Mr. Justice?"

"Err, right... hehe, sorry Your Honor."

"Is the prosecution ready Mr. Edgeworth?"

Edgeworth smirked, "But of course. We have prepared our witness to testify."

Dmitri looked like he had been knocked down quite a few pegs from the day before, and he was fidgeting, rubbing his arms without thinking of it. Apollo frowned, 'This guy is really messed up. I feel sorry for him, but I can't back down now!' thought Apollo.

"Witness, you will testify, what is your relationship with Riley Hatter?"

"I... I don't know him. It is as simple as that. These markings, they are an extremely private matter, one which I'd prefer not to discuss, especially not in a court room. Before today,I didn't even know the man's name."

"OBJECTION! Mr. Sevor, your lies are flimsy, at best!" Shouted Apollo, pointing at Sevor and glaring. "I have proof you were associated with Riley Hatter, and it's right here, on his employee's list, your name! It's simple when you think about it, the one that's torturing you, blackmailing you, has SOMETHING on you, is none other than Riley Hatter!"

"Objection! Where is your proof of this? All we know is that the witness was being tortured, we don't know if it was Hatter that did the tying or not."

"You're right Edgeworth, I don't have a very decisive piece of evidence that shows he is Hatter's accomplice, but I do know one thing, and that's what Ms. Wonder told me herself, just the other day!"

"He ran behind the alter, and I shot at him."

"So let's see it then, what's your theory Justice?"

"It all goes back to that case... four years ago. I would like to call Alice Wonder to the stand. Dmitri was Hatter's accomplice, and I'm going to wrap this case up once and for all."

"Very well," said the Judge, "May the defendent take the stand."

"Alice..." said Apollo, "I want you to testify about the case four years ago. The murder of Adam Samuel."

Alice covered her mouth and felt a lump rising in her throat. "That man, Riley Hatter, he and I were dating at the time, Adam and I were close friends. Adam was a former employee at Top Tune. He always told me he wanted to be a police officer, that it was his dream... I didn't know about the secret that Top Tune was hiding back then, that is, until that day. Back then, Riley was clean cut, always wore a suit around, seemed like a real gentleman. The Riley here today is the real man... behind the mask."

"Hey Alice, you got a minute?" asked Adam.

Alice smiled and nodded, "Yeah, just make it quick," she whispered, glancing around the office above her cubicle walls, "I think the chief has it out for me or something. Can never do enough work for the big blue LAPD and all that jazz."

"Listen Alice, it's about Riley."

"What about Riley?"

"Well, I just got my badge, so don't hold me to this, but you really shouldn't be associating with someone like him. I used to work for him... and we did some things, bad things."

"Quit joking, does it look like April first to you?"

"Listen," he hissed, grabbing her shoulders and shoving her into her office chair, "The company he owns, you know it. At its core it isn't about mechanics or computers or cars, it's not about any of that. He has hurt people Alice, a lot of people, and I don't want you to fall into that trap."

"Adam, what are you talking about? Why are you acting so strange? Riley would never..."

"Alice I'm begging you, just listen to me."

"But what..."

"I love you Alice."

"Adam..."

"I've loved you for a long time, and I can't hide secrets from you anymore. Top Tune blackmails people to get its main source of revenue, and Riley is at the head of it all. I helped him build that monster Alice, and I didn't lift a finger to stop him. I want you to know the truth." Adam leaned forward, stroking her hair, and kissed her deeply. Her eyes widened, and then closed. Before she knew it he had pulled away, "Please Alice, stay away from him."

"Adam was murdered the next day. I knew it was Riley that did it. Out of my own anger and frustration, I arranged the crime scene so he would get an easier guilty verdict. Riley was declared innocent due to my own foolishness, and I was locked in prison for four years. People always say follow your heart, but my heart got me locked up, and got Adam killed..."

Apollo sighed and shook his head, "Hatter killed Adam Samuel because he had told Alice the truth. He would have killed Alice too, but she was declared guilty for tampering with evidence, so there was no need. This brings us to four years later, Alice is released from prison and befriends Ms. Clives and Mr. Black, another victimized employee of Top Tune.

"This creates a huge problem for the hatter, Alice meeting Eric Black. To keep Black's mouth shut he steals the veil as blackmail and threatens Black, but he didn't listen, so the Hatter, bitter over being ignored and worried he would be exposed for the fraud he was, murdered Black's wife to be. He tore Black's life apart just to keep his mouth closed, and used an accomplice, Dmitri Sevor, to plant a weapon and frame Alice Wonder.

"The first shot is fired from the hotel, this is the shattering shot that penetrated Jennifer Clives' skull, the second shot is fired from Dmitri Sevor in order to garner the crowd's attention. Alice picks up the gun and fires at Dmitri, who fled behind the alter, she misses and hits the alter and Dmitri gets away clean."

"What?" asked the Judge, "That would make three shots."

Apollo sighed, "It's been bugging me too, that third shot that I heard. It makes sense, since it was so far away, and people were concentrating on the immidiate kill zone. Dmitri, can you confirm this?"

The waiter stood from the crowd, "... yes, I shot in the air to get everyone's attention. I... am sorry, but he threatened me, tortured me."

"Hold it!"

Apollo's eyes widened, the Judge coughed, and Edgeworth's eyes narrowed. Riley Hatter had run up to the witness stand, knocking Alice out of the way. "Youse got no proof! I was in that building, those detectives that scoured it didn't find nuthin'. The prosecutor said as much!" he shouted, pointing at Edgeworth.

Apollo smirked, "This is where your slopiness is your undoing Hatter."

"What?!"

Apollo slammed his fists down on the desk, "You were so close Hatter, so close to getting away with your crime. You had a fall, Alice, and an accomplice, Dmitri. You cleaned up after yourself at the hotel. Everything was perfect...

but ONE thing!"

Riley flinched, "What youse talkin' about?!"

"You left gunpowder residue on the window you took the shot from. The very shot that killed Jennifer Clives, Los Angelas' beloved mayor! The window that this chunk of wood is from has a perfect angle on the scene of the murder. When you took that shot the muzzle was close to the window sill, and left distinct gunpowder burn. You packed up the rifle and left, thinking you were scot free, when in reality, you were careless and left behind a piece of evidence that would lock you away forever!"

Riley gripped the witness stand, panting heavily, "How can youse... say this junk... you stupid...KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID..."

The Judge slammed his gavel down and sighed, "It appears this trial has come to a close, and a tragic one at that. Adam Samuel, killed because he said too much, and Jennifer Clives, simply in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Apollo frowned when Alice started to sob next to him, Trucy hugging her for comfort.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" asked the Judge.

"We have Your Honor. We find the defendent, Alice Wonder, not guilty."

"This concludes today's proceedings..."

----------------

Trucy escorted Alice out of the court room, following Apollo. The attorney turned around and sighed, "Alice, I'm sorry. Everything that's happened to you."

"It's just horrible!" shouted Trucy.

"She's right..." Apollo turned to see Miles Edgeworth, "Such a thing is unforgivable, and should not be tolerated. , I came here to apologize. I know now what you've been through, and I regret my actions, but you must understand, I'm just..."

Alice smiled sadly, "Doing your job. I know all about that Mr. Edgeworth. It's okay. I shouldn't have messed with that crime scene, Adam was important to me. Maybe if I hadn't done something so stupid, Riley would've been caught much earlier."

Apollo grinned, "You shouldn't blame yourself, none of this was your fault."

Edgeworth smirked, "Okay Wright's pupil, why don't you prove that it wasn't her fault? Got any evidence?"

"E... evidence?"

"That's right!" shouted Trucy, "Show her some evidence that it's not her fault, she is a cop after all!"

"Um... okay... lemme see here... The glock!"

Alice raised an eyebrow and smirked, "The glock? You must be joking."

Apollo grinned, "Not at all Ms. Wonder. Riley was scum, he blackmailed his way through life, and this weapon was his attempt to frame you!"

"So?"

"What did you do when you thought you saw the killer fleeing the scene?"

Alice glared in determination, "I picked up that gun and shot, I couldn't just let him get away!"

"See? You may have tampered with evidence, sure, but that's a forgivable crime, and not permanant in any way. The real evidence that it wasn't your fault isn't the murder weapon, it's your heart. You did everything in your power to make sure Riley paid for the crimes he had commited. When you thought that man was the killer because he dropped the weapon, you didn't even hesitate, you took action because it was the right thing to do."

"Mr. Justice..."

"It doesn't matter that Riley wasn't caught then, what matters is that he was caught now, before things got out of hand. Alice, this whole thing is the Hatter's fault... not yours."

"Thank you... Apollo Justice."

A very merry unbirthday indeed.