May 21

Courtroom No. 3

11.03 AM

After a ten-minute recess, the court reconvened. (Edgeworth must've known what I was gonna do and arranged for the warden to be here,) Apollo thought. He looked across the courtroom and Edgeworth gazed back, a quiet smile on his face. Apollo hoped he hadn't read the older man wrong.

The judge banged his gavel, silencing the low murmur from the gallery as Warden Peace took the stand. He was wearing the same suit he'd worn on the first day of the trial – made of dark material, and a little tight around his broad shoulders.

"The court will now hear testimony from the warden," the judge declared. "I expect this to be our final witness…" He directed a stern look at Apollo. "…so I suggest you make your cross-examination count, Mr. Justice."

Apollo gulped. "Yes, Your Honour."

He glanced quickly at Kristoph, sitting in the dock. He hadn't had a chance to talk to his client during the recess – Kristoph had been very insistent about his need for a bathroom break before court reconvened. Currently, he was staring at the warden with a look of pure hatred.

"Witness," Edgeworth declared, jabbing a finger at the warden, "please state your name and occupation."

"Stanford Peace," the warden replied, a calm smile on his face. "I'm the warden at the State Penitentiary."

"Warden," Edgeworth began, pausing to clean his glasses, "my esteemed colleague at the defence bench alleges the crime scene was tampered with prior to being photographed by the firefighters." Peace chuckled and Edgeworth cleared his throat sternly, indicating that he hadn't finished. "Mr. Justice further maintains that you were the only person with the motive and opportunity to do such a thing."

Peace turned that calm smile on Apollo. "Does he now?"

Edgeworth slipped his glasses back on. "The prosecution would like to hear your thoughts on this matter."

"Of course," Peace replied. "It's like I said. I got to the cell and activated the release mechanism. I saw Armando and Gavin on the floor. I realised Armando was dead, so I went back downstairs and called the police."

"And you did nothing else?" Edgeworth pressed. "You touched nothing in the cell?"

"No, I didn't," Peace answered irritably. "Look, what am I being accused of here?"

"Tampering with –" Edgeworth began, only for Peace to cut him off with, "Tampering how?"

Apollo eyed the warden carefully. (He's fishing for information so he can craft a convincing lie.)

Edgeworth smirked, tapping his forehead with one finger. "I'll let the defence fill you in," he replied.

Peace seemed to calm down a little, and flashed another empty smile. "Well, at any rate, I had no reason to disturb anything at the crime scene," he declared.

"Thank you," Edgeworth said.

"That all sounds reasonable to me," the judge remarked. He frowned at Apollo. "I warn you, Mr. Justice, if your intention is to influence the jurists with unfounded accusations, you will be harshly penalised. If you cannot provide any solid proof to back up your theories, I will direct the jurists to disregard them. Do you understand?"

Apollo nodded. "Perfectly, Your Honour."

"You'd better watch your step, Polly," Trucy warned.

"It's okay," Apollo murmured. He stared at the warden. "We can prove he told at least one lie just now. As for proving the other…" He swallowed and looked at Edgeworth again. "…that depends on him."

The warden began to repeat his testimony.

"I got to the cell and activated the release mechanism. I saw Armando and Gavin on the floor. I realised Armando was dead, so I went back downstairs and called the police. I touched nothing in the cell."

"Objection!"

The warden snapped his head around and stared at Apollo, a faint blush creeping onto his face.

"Mr. Peace," Apollo declared, "a wise old judge once said, 'When you tell the truth, you don't have to have a good memory'."

"Hmm!" the judge exclaimed. "I don't seem to remember saying that, but it certainly does sound like something a wise old judge like me would say…"

Apollo slumped. (I wasn't talking about *you*, you daft old coot!) He collected himself and continued. "You did touch something in the cell. We established this during your testimony on the first day of trial."

The warden's blush deepened as a look of recognition settled over his face. "The bunk beds. Yes, I moved them off the bodies."

"I can see how you would forget," Apollo continued, shuffling through his papers for a transcript of the warden's earlier testimony. He handed copies to the bailiff for the judge and Edgeworth to look at. "After all, you forgot to mention that fact to the police during the investigation…"

"I – I can explain that," Peace interrupted. He shrugged briefly. "When I saw the bodies on the floor, I lifted up the bunks and…well, it was so instinctive I never thought anything of it." He flashed a sheepish smile. "And in my testimony just now…I guess I assumed Mr. Edgeworth was asking if I'd touched anything else in the cell."

The judge frowned. "Witness, take more care when giving testimony from now on. After all, when you assume, you make…" His face took on its usual befuddled expression as he tried to remember the rest of the saying. "…you make a donkey… out of me!" He gave Peace a stern look. "And I don't like that."

Apollo slumped, spikes drooping over his forehead. (Why me?)

"Well, at any rate," Edgeworth said, cleaning his glasses again, "witness, kindly amend your testimony."

"Yes, of course," Peace replied. "I moved the bunk beds off the bodies, but touched nothing else. I had no reason to disturb anything else at the crime scene."

"Objection!"

Apollo folded his arms and smirked.

"Mr. Peace, you say you touched nothing else at the crime scene, but the fact is, something other than the bunk beds was disturbed."

"Objection!" Edgeworth snapped. "Justice, you still haven't shown any proof to back up your wild theory –"

"Objection!" Apollo interrupted. "You didn't let me finish." He held up a video cassette. "Witness – do you recognise this?"

"Yes," Peace replied. "It's the surveillance tape from the security camera outside Gavin's cell." His frown deepened and he leaned forward on the stand slightly, his shoulders bulging in his too-tight jacket. "What's the problem? I turned it over to the police myself, as soon as they arrived. They said it was blank!"

There was silence in the courtroom. Apollo smirked. The Judge blinked. Edgeworth's gaze slid off to the side, a faint smile appearing on his face.

Peace glanced around the room, nervous and wary. "…What?"

"Mr. Peace, you're right," Apollo explained. "This tape is blank. And it is the tape that was given to the police. But it's not the tape from the security camera. That tape…" He pointed to the VCR next to the judge's bench. "…is right there."

Peace clenched his fists on the bench, his face beginning to redden.

"It was found in the garbage by an anonymous source of mine," Apollo continued. He tapped his forehead. "I wonder how it got there?"

"You find my prints on it?" Peace spat.

Apollo feigned surprise.

"I'm not accusing you of anything," he replied. His expression hardened. "Yet. But I do wonder how the police wound up with the wrong surveillance tape."

Peace froze for a moment, then broke into a sheepish grin.

"I, uh, I guess in all the confusion, I grabbed the wrong cassette," he answered.

Apollo shook his head.

"I can't accept that," he replied. "Recall what you said only a few minutes ago – 'I turned it over to the police myself. They said it was blank'." He pointed a finger accusingly at the witness. "But the real cassette wasn't blank! The camera recorded seventeen minutes of footage before the power to it was cut by the fire! If the police told you it was blank…surely you would have realised your mistake!"

"Objection!" Edgeworth interrupted. "What proof do you have that the witness knew the real cassette could not have been blank?"

Apollo folded his arms and smirked. "Simple. The warden was on duty in the surveillance room that night. And he didn't leave that room until quarter past midnight to activate the release mechanism for the cells. If the police told him the cassette was blank, surely he would have realised that none of his monitors went dead during the time he was sitting there!"

The judge turned his attention to Warden Peace, who was glowering at Apollo. "Witness! Can you explain this?"

The warden gave Apollo one last, lingering stare, then straightened up. He tugged down on his jacket, and looked over at the prosecution bench.

"There are a lot of cameras," he growled. "A lot of monitors. And at the time, there was a lot of excitement with the fire. So no, I wouldn't necessarily have noticed that none of them went dead."

"Objection!" Apollo countered. "I find it hard to believe you weren't paying very careful attention to this particular monitor."

The warden was glaring again. "Why's that, son?"

"The point of having surveillance cameras is so staff can intervene if something happens," Apollo explained. He held up Armando's disciplinary record. "And given the victim's erratic, violent behaviour, something was more likely to happen than not happen. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Objection!" Edgeworth interrupted. "What does this have to do with the missing surveillance tape?"

Peace smirked, adjusting his tie. "I'd like to know that myself."

"So would I," said the judge. "Mr. Justice?"

Apollo gulped. (Can't lose sight of where I'm going with this.) "It doesn't make sense, Your Honour." He held up Armando's psychiatric report. "The victim was classed as a danger to others by the prison psychologist – to the point where she recommended that he never have a cellmate." He held up Armando's disciplinary record again. "A mere two weeks before being placed in a cell with the defendant, Armando attacked another prisoner. In other words, there was no reason to believe he had stopped being dangerous." Apollo folded his arms and smirked. "It's incredible that the warden – whose job it is to make sure the men in his custody don't kill each other – would not keep a very close eye on any live video feed from that cell. In fact…" Apollo pointed accusingly at the witness. "…it's incredible that Gavin was placed with Armando to begin with!"

Peace was growling, knuckles white on the witness stand, shoulders straining the seams of his suit jacket.

"Mr. Justice," the judge said, looking from Peace to Apollo and back again, "that's all well and good, but what proof do you have that the witness interfered with the surveillance tape?"

Apollo clenched his fists on the bench. (I can't prove that Peace got rid of the real surveillance tape. Got to turn this around and look at it from a different angle!)

"Your Honour," Apollo answered, "the real tape was found in the prison trash. Therefore, someone took it from the surveillance room and disposed of it." He produced the transcripts of the 911 calls made from the prison on the night of the murder. "The witness testified two days ago that he returned to the surveillance room at twelve thirty that night, at which time Jake Marshall called the police and told them about the murder. The police arrived approximately five minutes later. Only Marshall and Peace could have disposed of the surveillance tape and grabbed a blank one to turn over to the police."

"Objection!" Edgeworth declared. "How do you know Marshall didn't switch the tapes?"

Apollo took a deep breath and let it out.

"Because…the real tape doesn't show anything incriminating."

Edgeworth recoiled, the judge blinked, but the only reaction Apollo was interested in was that of the warden. Peace grabbed at the witness stand, his whole head turning red as he stared at Apollo incredulously.

"Mr. Justice, please explain what you mean!" the judge declared.

"The tape cuts off before Armando dies," Apollo explained. "The only people it shows are Armando and Gavin. It doesn't even show the fight. There was no reason for a third party to hide it." He tapped his forehead. "That means…whoever got rid of it didn't have time to watch it first."

Edgeworth slammed his hand on the bench. "You mean…"

"Jake Marshall was alone in the surveillance room from approximately twelve fifteen until twelve thirty, when the warden returned and reported that Armando was murdered," Apollo continued. "If he was worried about what was on the tape, he had plenty of time to review it. But when Warden Peace got back, the police were on their way – had been on their way since twelve fifteen, in fact, just in case the fire was really arson. He had no time to watch the tape over."

"I'm getting pretty sick of this," the warden blustered, sweat beginning to roll down his face. "What are you accusing me of, son?"

Apollo stared at him, clenching his fists on the bench. (Time to put it all together!)

"You tampered with the crime scene," he declared, pointing accusingly at the warden. "You didn't just move the bunks, you moved the bodies, too! All to frame Gavin for murder."

"Objection!" Edgeworth interrupted. "This is yet another baseless –"

"You got some imagination, son," Peace growled, ignoring Edgeworth. "Why the hell would I do something like that?"

"Because your first plan didn't work," Apollo shot back. He held up the sheet showing the prison guards' new assignments. "Gavin had been a thorn in your side ever since he arrived! He got to the guards and he had other prisoners working for him. But you couldn't touch him because he never got his hands dirty. So you deliberately put him in a cell with a prisoner with a history of violence, who only two weeks earlier had brutally attacked another inmate. And you hoped the problem would resolve itself!"

"Objection!" Edgeworth tried again. Apollo ignored him.

"But what you didn't know was that somebody on your staff had finally given Armando the help he desperately needed. He was taking a mood stabiliser!" Apollo produced the toxicology report and Armando's disciplinary record. "No more outbursts. No more violence. And then came the night of the fire. You found Armando dead in his cell, with Gavin and the bunks pinned on top of him. Your plan had failed. So you did the only thing you could…"

Apollo pointed dramatically across the room. "…you put the bunk beds back upright, and flipped Gavin's body over so that it looked as if he'd killed Armando!"

The judge banged his gavel repeatedly and Edgeworth slammed his hand on the bench. "Damn it, Justice!"

Peace was scarlet and sweating, shoulders hunching in his jacket. Apollo pushed on, desperate to get his final words out before anyone stopped him.

"You couldn't be sure what the tape showed and that's why you had to get rid of it!" he shouted. "For all you knew, it was a perfect record of your crime!"

"Why the hell would I frame Gavin for murder?" Peace yelled back. "He's already serving a life sentence!"

"Because if he was convicted of killing another prisoner, he could have more years added to his sentence!" Apollo shouted. "He could be placed in solitary confinement! He might even be transferred to a higher security prison, far away from you!"

"That's enough!" the Judge bellowed, rapping on the bench with his gavel.

"Thank you, Your Honour," Edgeworth said crossly. "Witness, don't say another word." He adjusted his glasses. "Justice, this ridiculous hypothesis of yours seems to depend entirely on circumstantial evidence. Do you have any concrete proof that someone moved Gavin while he was unconscious?"

Apollo stared at the prosecutor. (This is it. My ace in the hole.)

"Mr Gavin!" he called out. Kristoph looked at him, startled. "Could you take your shirt off, please?"

A murmur ran around the gallery as a bailiff helped Kristoph to remove his shirt. It was followed by a collective gasp as the yellow and purple stripe running the length Kristoph's chest was revealed.

"…!" The judge blinked in surprise. "…Mr. Justice! That's…"

"A bruise, Your Honour," Apollo replied. "A bruise caused when the bunk beds fell on the defendant on the night Armando died. Proof that Gavin was lying on his back when the beds fell…and not on his stomach, as the crime scene photograph shows." He looked at the warden. "Proof that someone moved him between the time of his injury and the time the firefighters photographed the scene!"

"Ugh… grrr…" Peace clenched his fists, shoulders bulging. "…!"

There was a tearing sound as the seams in Peace's ill-fitting jacket split at the shoulders. He slumped slightly on the witness stand, a look of pure malevolence on his face.

"You people," he spat. "You goddamn bleeding heart reformers. And you!" He glared at Edgeworth. "You call yourself a prosecutor? You belong over there with them."

"Witness –" the judge began, but was cut off.

"You think Gavin's gonna be rehabilitated or sorry when he gets out?" Peace asked, jabbing a finger at Kristoph. "You think that he'll be too old and clapped out to be a danger?" He swept the court with an accusing stare. "When he kills someone else his first week out of prison, you'll wring your hands and cry about how the system failed. Well the system doesn't fail - you failed the system! I did what I had to do, to keep that from happening!"

"And what about Diego Armando?" Apollo demanded. "Did you think about what would happen to him if he'd killed the defendant?"

"Armando was an animal!" Peace snapped, flecks of spit flying from his mouth.

"He was mentally ill!" a female voice rang out. Iris stood up in the gallery, visibly upset. "How could you use him like that? He didn't want to hurt anybody!"

The judge banged his gavel repeatedly.

"Order! Order!" He frowned as silence descended on the courtroom again. "These are serious accusations and they require a full investigation. Bailiffs, place Mr. Peace in custody. Witness, you have the right to remain silent."

Peace looked around him as two bailiffs took his arms and escorted him from the stand. "What…? This is funny. This is…" As they passed the defence bench, he suddenly lunged at Apollo. "You just made the worst mistake of your life, you snot-nosed little pissant!" The bailiffs wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him before dragging him away, still shouting. "You're gonna spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder!"

As the courtroom doors swung shut, the judge banged his gavel once. "The jurists will now vote on the outcome of this case. This court is in recess until they reach a conclusion."

After only seven minutes, court was reconvened. Apollo took his place behind the defence bench, fists clenched.

"We the jurists find the defendant, Kristoph Gavin…

Not Guilty!"

Confetti rained down on the courtroom. Kristoph slumped in the dock, a look of relief on his face. Across the room, Edgeworth smirked as he gave his glasses one last polish. Apollo couldn't stop a smile of triumph. He looked up at the gallery over the prosecution bench and saw Klavier lean back in his seat with a weary smile.

"It seems we've all learned something here today," the judge declared. "We must judge each case individually, regardless of a defendant's criminal record. And we must ensure that the men and women incarcerated in our prisons are treated fairly while they serve their sentences. There will be a full investigation into the events that have come to light as a result of this case." He banged his gavel. "This court is adjourned!"