March 4

Prosecutor's Office

Room 708

3:00 PM

The timing of us arriving outside Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth's office was almost a bit too perfect. We barely had a moment to breathe before the door opened, and a moment later, Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth emerged alongside Mr. Morix and Prosecutor Lin. He offered them a small nod before glancing down the hallway to see that they weren't alone. "I do hope that you didn't stand outside my office the whole time we were talking," he said simply, his eyes narrowing in Mr. Wright's direction in particular.

"Of course not," Mr. Wright told him with a shake of his head. He glanced over in my direction, and I held the file from GC-9 just a little bit closer to my chest. I knew that we weren't going to have any issues with Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth trying to get a look at it, but I still wanted to make sure that we didn't lose it. After all, it seemed like this was going to be our trump card, and Chrysalis seemed to have gone out of her way to get it for us.

Speaking of Chrysalis, she had gone back to being just as silent as she previously had been, simply tracking the conversation with her eyes. When Mr. Morix came to stand beside her, I realized that the two had more in common than I originally expected. Their eyes were the most striking feature, but their facial structure was somewhat similar as well. I couldn't be too upset with myself for not picking up on it sooner though; the details were rather subtle, and you wouldn't know what you were looking for unless you were actively searching for it to begin with.

"I guess that it's time for us to get going," Mr. Morix said as he looked down at his sister. Chrysalis offered him a small nod before glancing up to me, Trucy, and Mr. Wright. "I hope that she didn't cause too many problems for you. Chrysalis can be a bit of a troublemaker when she wants to be."

I shook my head. "No, of course not," I assured him, though I suspected that he was just playing with us. Throughout all of this, Chrysalis' eyes did not leave me, staring right through my soul like she was trying to see the pattern of the wall on the other side. I wound up backing down from the staring contest, left to wonder just how much effort that girl put into glaring. It was impressive how easily she was able to bend people to her whim just by looking at them, though I supposed that was part of her trademark by now.

"I'm glad to hear it," Mr. Morix smiled, and he placed one hand on Chrysalis' shoulder. "In that case, we'll go on and get out of your hair. I think that Sora has a bit more to do in terms of looking around too, so we'll leave you to the rest of your investigation. I hope that it all goes well for you." He offered us a small wave before he turned on his heel and walked away, Chrysalis offering us one final look before she disappeared from view alongside him.

Prosecutor Lin was quick to turn to us at his words, and she gave us a small smile. "He's right about one thing; I do still have more investigating to do. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can tell me about your own search during the trial tomorrow. I'm sure that it's going to be great," she beamed. She gave us a wave of her own before she was gone around the corner, and just like that, the tension in the hallway seemed to dissipate. There was still a weight on all of our shoulders, but it had started to ease under the fact that the three peculiar siblings were no longer present.

Mr. Wright was the first one to speak as he turned to face Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth. "What did you want to talk to them about?" he questioned. "I think it's odd that you would want to meet with them out of the blue like that. There must be some deeper motivation."

Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth's pointer finger began to drum out a pulse on his upper arm. "The two of them are privy to crucial knowledge about Huber Turner that I thought would be important. I suspected that they were discussing it on the day of the murder, and they confirmed as much. I doubt that it will be involved with the case though; they were in a separate room as they spoke, and they didn't know about the murder having taken place until after their meeting was already over."

I had to agree with him on that much. It seemed like the only ones who had anything to do with this case were Prosecutor Gavin, Simon, Apollo, and Ms. Russell, and luckily for us, it seemed like we were starting to see the full scope of everything that was happening. We wouldn't have even come close to figuring it out without Chrysalis' help though, and that only made this whole situation more perplexing. She had been so quiet up to this point, and the first time that she broke out of her shell was to give us evidence that she had prepared specifically with the intention of giving it to us. Something more was going on in her head, but unfortunately, I had no idea how we were supposed to figure out the truth.

"What do you have there?" Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth questioned, snapping me out of my thoughts as he pointed to the envelope that I had tucked under my arm. "I don't recall you carrying that with you when you were last in the area."

"Oh!" I gasped, my eyes going wide. I glanced down to the envelope in question a moment later, a frown on my face. "Um... Well... It was actually something that Chrysalis gave us. She thought it would be helpful. She managed to figure out what the shredded case file was from the scene of the crime, and she gave us a copy in case we wound up needing it in our investigation."

"The details of this case are starting to become increasingly clear thanks to her input," Mr. Wright commented, his expression slipping into something dark. "I get the feeling that there's more going on behind the scenes than she's willing to let on, but she knows something. This case file is her way of pointing us in the right direction, but it seems as if we're going to have to be the ones who figure out the truth in the courtroom."

Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth frowned, a light hum pushing free of his lips as he continued to stare at the file. "I've known of her for quite some time, but she hasn't ever spoken much. She comes to visit with Prosecutor Lin every once in a while, but I can't say that we've ever held on an extended conversation. She keeps to herself when she does come by here... I'm afraid I can't say how she would manage to figure out what exactly was happening with this case or how she knew about the case file that was on the floor at the scene of the crime," he commented. "It's clear as can be that it's there, but figuring out which case file it is... That's something that even I found difficult to do when I was conducting my first scan of the crime scene. I'm impressed that she managed to figure it out at all, even more so given how quickly she was able to find the details and bring them back to you. That was a rather fast turnaround for finding the truth, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah... It was," I agreed, my voice no louder than a soft murmur. This entire situation was strange from top to bottom, and I didn't think that it was going to be getting any easier for any of us any time soon. It was disappointing that we probably weren't going to be able to figure out what was happening with Chrysalis, yes, but I knew that there were other things that we had to focus on instead. In fact, there was one thing that we had to concentrate first and foremost that was much more important.

"I don't know what she's up to, but I think that we should accept the gift for now. If she gave us this case file, then she must be confident of its relation to the case. In fact, it seems clear as can be how it's tied in with everything already. Her explanation certainly made the bridge between this old case and the current one perfectly clear," Mr. Wright announced. "But right now, we can't ask many questions. We're operating on minimal time as it is, and there's one thing that we have to do before we go any further."

"We need to go see Apollo," Trucy finished for him. She was met with a nod from her father before she glanced up to Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth. "We're going to have to go for now, but if you find anything that you think could help us, don't hesitate to reach out."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth responded simply. He gave us a small nod as he took a step back to retreat into his office. "I'll be looking forward to seeing what you do in court tomorrow."

Mr. Wright just smirked to him. "Trust me; we won't disappoint."

"I never expected you to," Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth told him with a light smile of his own. From there, the door clicked shut, and he was gone from view a beat later.

I turned to the other members of the investigative team before letting out a sigh. "Well, we know what we have to do. Let's get to it, shall we?" I questioned. They nodded in return, and I did my best to push back my confusion and anxiety about all of this. I didn't know what was going on with Chrysalis, but I could tell that she had done us a great service already. I could only hope that it was enough for the truth to be revealed at long last. We had been through more than enough during this case, and we deserved to be able to see honesty after all this time. Apollo deserved that too... And he was going to have a field day when we told him about everything we had figured out.

March 4

Detention Center

Visitor's Room

4:00 PM

Apollo entered the visitor's room soon after we arrived, and he settled down with a small smile on his face. Before he had the chance to greet us, Trucy spoke up. "Where did Prosecutor Gavin go? He said that he was going to stick around with you, didn't he?" she questioned.

Apollo nodded. "He was here for a while, but I wound up sending him back home. He hasn't been sleeping well since this case started, and I could tell that he could use the extra rest before the trial started back up tomorrow," he explained. "But enough about that. Were you able to find anything that might be able to help out with the truth behind this case?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. We might have a lead on who the culprit is. At the very least, we know that there was somebody else who was at the scene of the crime on the day of the murder around the time the victim died, and that has to count for something," Mr. Wright replied. "We still haven't solved the issue of the cabinet doors that opened and closed on their own though. That's something that we're going to have to dig into a bit more if we want to find the truth."

"But we were able to figure out something else," I said with a smile. "Well, we didn't figure it out as much as we were handed the information on a silver platter, but... There was someone at the scene of the crime who gave us the case file that was torn up on the floor of the scene of the crime. She figured out what file it was and gave us a copy with all the information she thinks we're going to need to solve this case."

Apollo was caught by surprise at those words, and he likely would have staggered backwards by a few steps had he still been standing. "What?" he asked, trying to process the overwhelming amount of information that I had just given him. "Who in the world did that?"

"Prosecutor Lin's younger sister, if you can believe it," Trucy replied. "She was at the Prosecutor's Office on the day of the murder, but she had an alibi for the specific moment of the crime. She was with her brother and Prosecutor Lin talking about the victim of this case, and... Apparently, she was conducting her own investigation behind the scenes. She was able to figure out which case file it was and gave us a copy when she caught up with us again."

"I can't believe that anybody was able to figure out what file was on the floor of that office," Apollo muttered under his breath with a shake of his head. "It was torn to shreds, and she still managed to figure it out... That's impressive."

"We aren't sure how she was able to find the truth behind what case file it was, but she claimed that she had seen the file enough times to be able to figure out which one was on the floor of the scene of the crime. Either way, she gave us the file, and you'll be interested to hear the details behind it," Mr. Wright told him.

"Do you remember the case that was mentioned on the news broadcast where Huber Turner was exposed for forging evidence by Oracle?" I questioned. Apollo tilted his head to the side before nodding slowly, but I could tell that he was in need of a reminder. "It was the GC-9 Incident, and apparently, it's at the heart of this case too. It wasn't just involved with Oracle, it seems. The case file was torn up on the floor of the crime scene, and now, we have a copy of it in our hands by some stroke of a miracle."

"Are you sure that it's going to be able to help you to find the truth behind this case?" Apollo questioned. "I haven't heard anything about this case in the past... You know, save for the news broadcast, but I feel like there were a lot of people out there who first heard about the case from that situation specifically."

I nodded. "We mentioned a witness that was at the scene of the crime at the time of the murder, right? Well, she was apparently involved with the GC-9 Incident, and the victim was wrapped up in it as well. We don't know all that much in terms of details, but it seems like the witness would have more than enough motivation to want him dead. Given the fact that she was in the building at the time of the crime, it seems like she at least knows something. She didn't give us her testimony or anything, but I think that we're going to be able to press at least a little bit out of her when the trial starts tomorrow. I'm sure that she's going to be called to the stand," I explained.

"It's good to know that you have a plan about what you're going to try and do next... Sitting around here is just as frustrating as you would imagine. I don't think that anybody ever really sees just how miserable of a place the detention center is until they have to stay there," Apollo said as he let out a sigh and shook his head. "But I do have confidence that you're going to be able to handle this. We're going to be fine!"

I nodded and clapped my hands together. "You're right! We've got everything under control, and we're going to make sure that you're out of there in no time," I assured him with a wide grin. "I know that there's still a lot that we haven't figured out, but we're going to see how the pieces come together in no time. It's just a matter of time before everything makes sense to us. You'll just have to wait and see what we can do from here!"

"We're just going to have to see what we can do during the trial tomorrow," Trucy announced with a light smile of her own. "I hope that we're able to figure out what the best next step is for us sooner rather than later after the trial comes back into session though... Even if we have a theory about what we're going to be doing next, it's still going to be best if we're able to have a plan as soon as possible."

"I know that you're going to be able to do it," Apollo told her. "If you think that you've got everything figured out, then I have faith in you. You aren't going to let me be found guilty of murder anyways. After all, if that happened, who would clean the toilet at the agency?"

Mr. Wright let out a small chuckle at that comment before he turned his attention to me and Trucy. "In any case, I suppose that we should go back to the agency so that we can prepare for everything that's bound to happen during the trial tomorrow," he told us. "We'll see you then, Apollo. We're going to do what we can to figure out the truth... And I get the feeling that it's all going to tie back to that case file."

I nodded as I glanced back down to the file in question. There were still so many questions that we had about this case, but I knew that this was going to be our starting point to figuring out what all of them were supposed to mean. I still had my fair share of questions about what was going on with Chrysalis behind the scenes, but for the time being, it was the trial that mattered most. We could figure out what was going on in Chrysalis' head later; for now, we had to get Apollo out of the detention center, and we were going to pull that off one way or another.

March 5

District Courthouse

Defendant Lobby No. 2

9:35 AM

The next morning, I arrived in the defendant lobby the same way that I always did when it came to big trials like this. I let out a sigh as I looked to Mr. Wright, Trucy, and Apollo, all of whom were already gathered in the area. "So... Today's the big day," I told them simply. "This is going to be the time where we figure out everything that happened at the time of the murder... And we're going to expose the true killer along the way."

"Did you look over the details in that case file again?" Trucy questioned as she glanced up to me. "We're going to have to be as familiar with it as possible if we're going to be figuring out what happened in this case."

I nodded. I left out the admission about how I had read it at least half a dozen times when it came to the search for new information the night before. "Yeah, I read it," I told her instead. "But I did notice one thing as I was looking through it... There's a lot of information in here that's missing."

"What do you mean?" Mr. Wright asked, his eyes going wide. "I thought that Chrysalis said it was everything we were going to need for the trial."

"It is everything that seems like it's going to be necessary, but... I don't know. There are a few details that have been left out. It really does seem like she pruned it down so that it was only what we were going to need for the trial," I told him. "The victim's name isn't even stated in this file. It's been completely cut out for some reason or another. I don't know who died in this case, but I can say with certainty that it isn't stated in this file anywhere."

"That's strange... Do you think that it was deliberately kept out of the file?" Trucy questioned. "That's an official file, at least to some extent. That means that there has to be a copy of the file out there that shares everything that was discovered during the investigation. In other words, the victim's name..."

"It was intentionally cut out," I finished for her. "Chrysalis must have removed all the information that she didn't think we were going to need for the sake of convenience, but... I don't know. Something about that just feels... Odd to me. I might be jumping to conclusions a bit here, but I think that you would expect her to at least let us look at the victim's name or the names of the other witnesses behind the case."

"Was she right about the primary witness being unnamed in the file at least?" Mr. Wright inquired. "She mentioned that the witness was a minor at the time of the trial, so her name was ultimately kept off most records aside from the most exclusive copies."

"That does seem to be true, yes," I confirmed with a nod. "It's kept anonymous on here, so she was being honest about that much regarding the witness, but... I still don't understand why all of this happened the way it did to begin with. Maybe I'm just nitpicking a bit, but... I don't know. It feels like there's still something off about this entire situation. The case at large is something else, but... Chrysalis is weird no matter how you look at it. There's something else that she knows about this case that she isn't letting us on about, and I think that's going to be crucial information to get our hands on at some point or another."

"If she really wants to help us find the truth though, then why would she bother with hiding it? That doesn't make any sense," Trucy pointed out. "She said yesterday that she wanted us to figure out what happened at the time of the crime, but she's still doing something to hide the truth from us for some reason or another... I guess that we're going to have to see if we can get her to talk to us about it after the trial is over. I'm sure that she's going to be here in the building somewhere."

"On the subject of the trial, Prosecutor Lin came by to talk to me last night after you guys left the detention center," Apollo chimed in, speaking up for the first time since the conversation had begun. "She told me that there were going to be two new witnesses testifying during the trial today. The first is the chief prosecutor while another goes by the name of Darcie Russell."

I shared a knowing look with Trucy and Mr. Wright. "It seems like we aren't the only ones who heard about Ms. Russell's involvement with the case," Mr. Wright commented simply. "I wonder what she's going to be saying when she gets onto the stand though... We don't know all that much about her, so this is going to be a new experience for all of us."

"But this does fall in line with what we were hoping would happen," I pointed out. "We were hoping that we would be able to see her on the stand today, and it certainly seems as if we're going to get that chance. If we can hear what she has to say, then we can use it to figure out what happened at the time of the crime. This is going to be our best way to push the truth out of her, and I'm choosing to have confidence that it's going to work."

"I'm glad that everything seems to be coming together regarding this case... Though we still haven't answered the question of the cabinet that opened and closed without any outside input," Apollo pointed out. "I don't know what we're supposed to do about that. I wish I had an idea as to what could have caused something like that to happen, but I'm just as clueless as you are."

I sighed before nodding. "That was the one thing we were hoping we would find out about during the investigation, and that ultimately fell through," I murmured. "But I guess all we can do is talk to Ms. Russell and Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth during the trial today and see if we can figure out what happened at the time of the crime. There has to be something of value that they can tell us if they're being called to testify during the trial to begin with, right?"

"I'm sure there is something that they can help us with revealing, but we still don't have any ideas as to what it could be," Mr. Wright said with a light shrug. "We'll see what they have to say. Did you hear which one of them was going to be testifying first, Apollo?"

"Prosecutor Lin said that she was planning on calling Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth to the stand first," Apollo replied. "I don't know if her strategy has changed since we spoke, but that seems like it's going to be the most likely outcome. I guess we'll just have to see if she sticks with it."

"Prosecutor Lin seems to be working with us at the very least... I wonder if Chrysalis shared with her everything that she told us yesterday," I mused aloud. "Given the fact that those two are apparently sisters, it seems like she would share at least something with Prosecutor Lin... I just hope that doesn't somehow destroy our strategy. I mean, it doesn't seem like it's going to, but... It seems like you can never tell when you really get down into the thick of a trial." I let out a small chuckle at that, but the sound was hollow and humorless. Everybody could tell that this was a nerve-wracking situation, and all we could do was have faith that it was going to turn out somewhat decently for us.

I found myself opening the case file that was seemingly going to be our key to figuring out the truth behind this case, flicking through it absentmindedly. I still didn't know how the pieces of this case were going to be coming together, but I could tell that we were going to start seeing the greater picture soon. Chrysalis really did seem to be pointing us in the direction of Ms. Russell being the culprit, and all we could do was see if she was right through the trial. Ms. Russell certainly had a motive against the victim, and surely that counted for at least something in terms of the greater scope of the case, right?

"Defense! It's time to enter the courtroom!"

The voice of the bailiff nearly made me jump out of my skin, and it was only thanks to a last-minute gesture that I was able to keep the case file from tumbling to the ground. There weren't many pages in the envelope, but I didn't want to have to clean them up if I didn't have to. Luckily for me, I was able to maintain everything in its proper position, and I let out a sigh of relief once the file was balanced safely in my grasp once again. "Well, I guess that we know what that means," I told the others in my group.

"We're going to be fine!" Apollo exclaimed, his voice getting louder as per his regular nervous habit. I held back a wince at the sound, and he offered me a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that."

"Let's go in there and see what we can figure out," Mr. Wright declared, earning all of our attention a moment later. We nodded our understanding before shifting our attention in the direction of the courtroom's door. "This is going to be our best chance of finding the truth... So let's get to it."

I nodded as I followed him into the courtroom. There was still a lot about this case that we didn't understand, but we were going to have to hold onto some sort of confidence that we would be able to handle it. Apollo's freedom counted on it, and I wasn't going to let him down now. He had done quite a bit for me, Trucy, and Mr. Wright up to this point, and we were going to do what we could to pay him back for it.

I let out a small sigh as my gaze drifted down to the case file once again. I had no idea what was going on with the GC-9 Incident or the peculiar girl that had given us the file in the first place, but I knew that thinking about it for too long wasn't going to do us any good. We had to focus on the trial first and foremost. Apollo was counting on us, and I wasn't going to let him down just because I got distracted with something else.

As soon as this trial was over though, I was going to do what I could to talk to Chrysalis about everything. I doubted that she would be staying away from the trial given the circumstances, so I would press the truth out of her in full. My curiosity demanded it, and even if the case as a whole didn't need her testimony, I knew that I did.

I was going to figure everything out ranging from the murder to Chrysalis. I was sure of it.

And so ends the second segment of investigation for this case! Hell yeah!

This chunk of investigation was perhaps my favorite segment of the story so far between trials and investigations since I loved being able to set up the main plot. Since it was on the shorter side though, I decided to take this as a chance to get the defendant's lobby segment out of the way since I predict this trial is going to be quite an adventure. As was stated in the chapter proper, we're going to be starting off by hearing from Miles before eventually getting Darcie to testify later down the line. It's going to be great.

Since I want to end this chapter on the note of unease brought by the start of the trial, I'm going to be cutting this author's note short. Until next time when we reconvene for the trial proper, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital