Chapter 35, as promise! :D When I writing this I kind of just kept going straight where I had left off, since this is basically one chapter (event, really) split in half. For anyone who forgot, we're cross examining Edgeworth with the power of Little Thief and Justice. I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter. I love you all! ^^
"Ah, yes," Miles said dryly. "Of course, Your Honor. Where was I?"
"Walking in the park," Maria instantly replied.
"Right, thank you," Miles said.
At some point, I hear a gunshot followed by a girl screaming.
"Hold it!" Apollo said. "You heard a gunshot? You're sure about that?"
"Yes, I've heard enough of them to know what one sounds like," Miles said.
"Where exactly were you when this happened?" Apollo said.
"If you look at a map of the park, you should see a path that leads into the forest," Miles said. "I believe I was approximately halfway through the woods when I heard the gun being fired, followed by Kay's scream."
So about 40 feet away from the clearing, give or take a couple yards. Good.
"Think of something, Polly?" Trucy said.
"I'm on the verge of it," Apollo said. "I think if I talk this out, I can figure out the silencer mystery."
"Taking a leaf out of Daddy's book, I see," Trucy said. "Go for it!"
"Alright!" Apollo pounded his fist against his desk. "Your Honor, I would like to present a theory to the court. A theory that will tie everything together and explain exactly what happened that day in People Park!"
"My, is that so?" the judge said. "Well, this certainly sounds worth listening to. Are there any objections?"
"Nein, Herr Judge," Klavier said. "I'll withhold my objections for afterwards."
"I see," the judge said. "Well, Mr. Justice, the floor is yours."
"Thank you, Your Honor," Apollo said, nodding his head. "Now then, let's start with the gun. As Mr. Gavin explained, in the beginning it was given a silencer to make gunshots quieter. Mr. Edgeworth just happened to be in range to hear it though, as he just stated. But here's the question, where did this first bullet end up?"
"I believe that bullet was also found during the recent investigation," Klavier said.
"Correct. It had ended up in a tree, one of the branches to be precise," Apollo said. He presented the fallen branch. "And before that, straight through this one. If you look at the base of the branch, you'll see half a bullet hole where it snapped and fell. Based on the location of the bullet and the position of the branch before it fell, one who have stand roughly fifteen away and fire up at the tree. Now why would someone do that?"
"Perhaps it was a warning shot," Klavier said.
"Good guess, but not quite," Apollo said. "Looking at the fallen branch again, you'll notice that something caused it to snap. A bullet would certainly weaken it, but you would have to add weight to get it to fall off."
"What are you implying, Mr. Justice?" the judge asked.
"I'm implying the Kay was in that tree, hiding from the shooter," Apollo said.
"Why in the world would she be hiding in a tree?" Klavier said.
"Well, would you look there?" Apollo said. "Don't write me off as crazy yet, there's more. So, the shooter fired at Kay. She fell out of the tree, which caused her to scream. This is what Mr. Edgeworth heard, after which he decided to investigate. But that would have taken a few minutes, right? So, Kay would have been defending herself against her assailant."
"Assuming she and the attacker were not one and the same, yes," Klavier said.
"Right. Now we get to the silencer being removed," Apollo said. Meaning I'll have to start thinking on my feet from here on out. Talk it out, Justice, talk it out. "Given the circumstances, it's silly to think that the shooter would choose now to take the silencer out. Meaning that Kay, the only other person around, must have taken it out somehow."
"And how did she do that?" Klavier said. "I find it hard to believe the defendant would slide it out of the barrel and hand the weapon back to her attacker."
"That's true," Apollo said, pressing his forehead with his index finger. "She must have knocked it out somehow."
"Knocked it out? With what?" Klavier said.
Look through the evidence, what was there that Kay could have used? There must be something… Apollo skimmed through the evidence list on his desk, searching for the missing link. Something… wait, that must it!
"Take that!" Apollo said, presenting Kay's yo-yo.
"That toy?" Klavier said. "You're suggesting that the defendant used a yo-yo to remove the silencer from the gun?"
"You're suggesting that it wouldn't hurt if I threw this at you?" Apollo said. "The defendant could have easily whipped this out and thrown it at the shooter. It must have hit the gun just the right way and as a result both the silencer and the yo-yo were lost in the fallen autumn leaves. That's when Mr. Edgeworth appeared, and was shot on sight. Since the gun was no longer silenced, Ms. Coldstare and Ema were able to hear it."
"Can you prove that?" Klavier said.
"Both the yo-yo and the silencer were found on the ground!" Apollo said, pounding his desk. "Can you offer up another explanation for this?"
Klavier swung his fist around and hit the wall behind him. "There are other explanations. Just not one that I can think of at the moment."
Apollo leaned against his desk, exasperated. Really, Gavin? That's all you've got?
"Polly, you've got him cornered!" Trucy said, her hands balled into fists. "Go for the kill!"
"You got it!" Apollo said, the burning light of determination reflecting in his eyes. "Given these circumstances, there's no way the shooter was Kay!"
"Objection!" Klavier said. "I'll admit that your theory has some merit, but how does it prove the defendant's innocence? Who's to say that Ms. Faraday and the shooter are not, in fact, the same person?"
"Because for any of this to make sense the shooter and Kay have to be two different people!" Apollo said, his Chords of Steel breaking through. "It would make absolutely no sense whatsoever for her hit her own gun with her yo-yo to remove the silencer! There would be no reason for it to come out at all, actually!"
"Ach!" Klavier covered his head and shook his head.
"Kay, does this all sound right to you?" Apollo said.
"Yep!" Kay said from the defendant's chair. "I actually keep that yo-yo with me for self-defense, not just for when I'm bored. My strategy is always to take out the weapon first, you know to even the playing field."
"Mr. Edgeworth, does any of this contradict what you saw or heard?" Apollo said, his tone revealing he was quite sure that wasn't the case.
"No, everything you've said up to this point matches with my recollection," Miles said.
"Then I have one more question for you!" Apollo said. "Who was this man that fired at both you and Kay?"
"I'd be happy to describe him for you," Miles said.
The shooter was wearing a long coat at the time. Most likely an older man, given his white hair.
"Objection!" Apollo said. "Are you absolutely sure about that?"
"Yes, there is no doubt in my mind," Miles said.
"… Positive?" Apollo said meekly. He broke into a cold sweat, leaning against his desk.
"Yes, a long coat and white hair," Miles said. "Why?"
"I'll spare Herr Forehead from having to say it out loud," Klavier said. "According to the defendant, the shooter's hair was black."
"Black?" Miles said, stunned. A low thump could be heard. "Nngh…"
"Are you okay, Mr. Edgeworth?" the judge said.
"I'm fine," Miles said bitterly. "I just hit my shoulder against the backboard. Did Kay really say the shooter's hair was black?"
"I'm afraid so, it's in her testimony," Apollo said.
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Trucy said.
"I believe it makes quite a bit of sense, Fraulein," Klavier said. "Simply put, their descriptions don't match because there was no third person."
"What?" Apollo said, recoiling. "But that can't be right!"
"Achtung, I believe it can be," Klavier said. "Allow me to present a theory of my own. I'll set the scene. A silenced gun in hand, the defendant hides in the tree line just outside the clearing after sneaking into the park. When she sees the victim is close enough, she fires at a nearby tree and screams to attract his attention. Being the man he is, the victim runs toward the sounds to see what is going on."
"Objection!" Apollo said. "What about the branch? You'd need weight to make it fall off!"
"You want weight? How about the rest of the branch?" Klavier said.
"I… guess I don't have anything to counter that," Apollo said. "But what about the silencer? You said you didn't have an explanation for that!"
"I just thought of one," Klavier said. "The defendant wanted the second gunshot to heard, so that the body would be found sooner and she would be cleared of suspicion."
"Objection!" Apollo said. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"Let me finish explaining," Klavier said. "Suppose everything had gone according to plan. The victim was dead and the police soon after find the body. However, by now the defendant is long gone without a trace. With everyone focused on the recent murder, she has the perfect opportunity to leave the park however she got in without being noticed."
"But then why would she leave the gun and the silencer behind?" Apollo said.
"I'm not done yet, please hold all questions until the end," Klavier said. "So her plan is to leave without a trace, foolproof on paper. But then a problem arises. By chance, she dropped her self defense toy with her name written on it. She realizes this and goes back to the scene to find it before the police do, but when she sees two women already there she has no choice but to drop everything that pins her to the crime and pretend to be an innocent bystander."
"Are you done now?" Apollo said.
"Yes, that's the end of my theory. You know what happens after that," Klavier said. "Do you have any-"
"Objection!" Apollo said. "You still haven't explained one thing! Why would Mr. Edgeworth lie in his testimony?"
"Isn't it obvious? For the defendant," Klavier said. "He ran towards her after hearing her scream. Even if the past didn't mean anything to the defendant, clearly it still meant quite a bit to him."
"But wouldn't getting shot by her kind of nullify that?" Apollo said.
"Not necessarily," Klavier said, leaning his head back. "There are people who will go to any lengths to protect those they care about, no matter what the circumstances."
"I would never lie," Miles said sternly. Apollo got the impression that even though he was alone in the room, he was still glaring icily.
"I don't enjoy playing this card, but not even for someone you cared about?" Klavier said.
"I would never lie, not even for Kay's sake," Miles said. "She despises liars as much as I do."
"And I respect that, but unfortunately there is no way of proving that with evidence," Klavier said.
Members of the gallery began whispering to each other, until it soon the voices escalated into one loud, ominous blur of sounds.
"Yeah, but…" Apollo said, barely able to hear himself over the noise. Is this really it? I must have something I can use! But I have no idea who the third person really is. I don't have a name, and now I don't even have a description!
The sharp crack of the gavel pounding the wooden podium cut through the sound like a knife, instantly bringing the courtroom into a dead silence. The pause of was more suspense and eerie than the murmuring.
"I can see no way for me to declare a verdict at this time," the judge said. "Until I see evidence that substantially confirms or disproves the existence of another person being at the scene, I cannot conclude this trial. Given that both parties seem to have reached the end of their rope, I will have to extend the trial to another day. This will be the last day of the trial, no matter what. Understand?"
"Ja, Herr Judge," Klavier said.
Apollo nodded. "Yes, Your Honor."
"Very good," the judge said. "Court dismissed!"