Rei Ryghts: Ace Attorney

Turnabout Of The Night

by Derald Snyder

Trial- Day 2 (Part 3)

Court Record:

Demitri's Autopsy Report

Holy Water

Simone's Footprint

Crime Scene Diagram

Crime Scene Photos

Bloody Mace

Vampire Aura Tracker

Simone's Combat Cross

Security Camera Footage

Locker Fingerprints

November 14, 10:51 AM

Lastation City District Court

Defendant Lobby No. 4

"The janitor... it makes perfect sense," Simone nodded. "A low-profile job where your bosses are dressed in garb traditionally associated with vampires... perfect for a blood-sucker trying to avoid discovery."

"The question is, how do we prove that he killed Demitri Paler, or even that he's a vampire?" K-Sha inquired worryingly. "With the evidence we've got, all we can really prove is that he tampered with evidence..."

"Do you not still have the aura tracker on your person?" the hunter asked.

"We d-do, b-but it's not admissible i-in c-court," Rei pointed out. "Y-you all b-but said so y-yourself..."

"I have that jug of holy water," K-Sha stated, "But as soon as I bring that out, Her Honor will probably take it away as a dangerous substance, given what happened yesterday..."

Rei blinked as a light bulb suddenly went off in her head. "B-but what if it was in a d-different c-container?"

"A different container?" Simone blinked. "You mean, so the judge wouldn't realize it was holy water?"

"But how are we going to do that?" K-Sha asked in mild confusion.

"Easy," the lawyer said as she brought the other two women in close. "Here's what we're going to do... mumble mumble whisper mumble whisper whisper..."

November 14, 11:23 AM

Lastation City District Court

Courtroom No. 3

"Settle down, everyone, we're back in session," the judge stated as she banged her gavel, the gallery swiftly quieting. "Mr. Heinlein, has the witness arrived yet?"

"Detective Thomas told me they just arrived at the courthouse," the prosecutor assured her. "It shouldn't be long now..." Just then, the court room doors opened, revealing Thomas, Lisa, and a brown-haired janitor dressed in an orange uniform and a white baseball cap with an orange bill. "Ah, excellent timing, Detective, Mrs. Paler."

"Indeed," the judge agreed. "Any longer and I might've held you in contempt, Mr. Thomas..."

"N-no need for that ma'am!" the bearded man nervously saluted. "Harold Thomas always gets his mark!"

Meanwhile, Lisa and the janitor were conversing in hushed tones, though the woman's angry expression and liberal use of her pointer finger made it clear who was leading the conversation. Lisa then pointed to the witness stand, the janitor nodding and walking swiftly to take his place. "Ah, hello everyone," the man muttered nervously.

"Witness, state your name and occupation," Willard ordered.

"Ah... I'm Al Poker. I work as a janitor at the sunscreen factory."

"Witness, you need to speak up," the judge declared, banging her gavel for emphasis. "I can barely hear you! And also, take off your hat! It's impolite to be wearing any sort of headgear in a court of law!"

"Y-yes ma'am. So sorry ma'am," the man complied, removing his hat, revealing dull brown eyes. "I've, ah, *ahem* I've never stood in a courtroom before," he raised his voice slightly.

"Do you know why you have been summoned here, witness?" Heinlein asked pointedly.

"W-well, according to Mrs. Lisa, you guys think I stole evidence or something..."

"Well, to be blunt, Mr. Poker," Rei spoke up, "a weapon belonging to my client was found in your clothes locker at work. But this weapon had already been surrendered to police custody!" She slammed her fists on the bench. "So how did it end up in your possession?"

"M-my locker?" the janitor sweat-dropped. "But I don't get it... I usually have a padlock on that thing..."

"Detective Thomas?" Willard turned to his subordinate.

"Look, as far as I know," Harold shrugged, "the forensics team didn't find any padlock, broken or otherwise..."

"Ahh-choooo!" Rei sneezed again, the force nearly causing her head to hit the bench... As she tried to right herself, her arm swung out and knocked her water bottle off her bench! "O-oh no, I s-spilled my water! I-I'm so very sorry, Your Honor! P-please d-don't hold me in contempt for g-getting the floor wet...!"

"Don't worry, I'll clean it up!" K-Sha said, quickly ducking beneath the bench.

"Calm down, defense. I'm not about to hold you in contempt for what was clearly an accident," the judge deadpanned. "Bailiff, get a handkerchief for Miss Ryghts, please." The NPC did as ordered, Rei gratefully taking the kerchief and blowing her nose.

"I'd mop that up for you, if I worked here," Al Poker muttered.

"Yes, about that," Willard spoke up, "Another reason you are suspected of tampering of evidence, is that your likeness was seen on video from the evidence locker's security camera, on midnight of the 12th!" The holo-screen popped up, showing the footage in question.

"Uh, wow..." Al sweat-dropped. "Yeah, I guess that kinda looks like me... But y'know, it's in black and white, and the face is obscure. Y'can't prove that's really me..."

"*HONK* OBJECTION!" Rei cried after she finished blowing her nose. "*sniffle* The hat that the man on camera is wearing is a dead ringer for the one you're currently holding in your hands!"

"B-but! But this's a really cheap cap that you can buy anywhere!" the janitor protested. "You can ask any of my co-workers! Heck, how do you know Tom Hall wasn't tryin' to frame me or whatever?"

"A valid point," Willard nodded. "However, Mr. Hall couldn't have broken into the evidence locker all by his lonesome, either..."

"Y-yeah, well, do I look like someone who's strong enough to break the hinges on the locker door?" Poker said.

Rei blinked a few times as if realizing something, then chuckled sinisterly. "Now that's strange, Mr. Poker... How did you that it was the hinges that were broken? After all, if someone was told that a locker was broken into, they would assume the lock was broken, not the hinges!" She slammed her fists on the bench. "That detail was never revealed to the public! So how did YOU know that, worm?!"

"Aaaack!" Poker cried as he hid his face behind his hat, the gallery murmuring in disbelief before being gaveled down. "S-shoot! OK, OK, you got me! I... I helped Tom Hall steal the evidence!"

"Y-you fool! How could you?!" Lisa yelled in disbelief.

"Order! Order! Mrs. Paler, calm yourself!" the judge ordered. "Witness, you have better have a good explanation for this!"

"Yes, why would you help Mr. Hall rob the evidence locker?" Rei asked rhetorically, as K-Sha set her water bottle back up on the bench.

"I-I... I was coerced!" the janitor stuttered, sweating. "Look, when Tom told me he wanted help getting into the evidence locker, I said 'no way'... but then another figure just... appeared behind him, all covered in shadow! A-and then he and Tom start talkin' at the same time, and I realized he was just the shadow's puppet! And then the shadowy guy shows off some sharp fangs! Believe me, I got the message loud and clear... either I help willingly, or I get my blood sucked dry and help unwillingly! So I took door number one!" The gallery muttered in shock and confusion at this.

"Order!" the judge banged her gavel. "Why didn't you tell anyone about this sooner?!"

"Like anybody would've believed me?!" Poker protested. "I mean, sure, this gal on trial's supposed to be a vampire hunter, but everyone thought SHE was crazy, too!"

"...The witness makes a valid point," Willard conceded. "So you didn't see any other identifying features of this supposed vampire?"

"Nothin' other than the fact he had long hair and was about my height," Al shrugged. "Other than that, I got nothin'!"

"So why did they need your help anyway?" K-Sha asked.

"C-cause I had to pose as the janitor to let the vampire in!" Poker stuttered slightly. "And no, he kept himself in shadow so I couldn't identify 'im! Th-then I had to cover up the camera while he and Tom Hall did the dirty deed!"

"Hmmm..." the judge pondered. "What do you make of the witness's testimony, prosecution?"

"It's certainly a doozy," Willard shrugged. "It seems rather hard to believe, to be honest..."

"I agree with Mr. Heinlein, for once," Rei asserted. "I think we should apply Occam's razor to this scenario."

"Occam's razor...?" K-Sha looked over to Rei in mild confusion.

"The explanation that uses the fewest assumptions is usually the correct one," the horned lawyer elaborated. "Why would the vampire need Poker to let him in the police station, when he could use his shadow-ability to easily sneak in himself? And why would he have Poker cover the camera, when he could easily use a bat to do the same? In fact, might I remind the court that it was a bat that Mr. Poker was seen brushing off the camera!" The audience murmured slightly.

"What exactly is your point, Ryghts?" Heinlein asked pointedly.

"My point is this," Rei shot back, "that the man who posed as the police station's janitor and covered the security camera, IS in fact the vampire himself!"

"WHAT?!" Poker cried out. "You think I'M a vampire?! No way! It's broad daylight out! If I was a blood-sucker, I'd have burned to ashes or something by now...!"

"OBJECTION!" Rei slammed her fists on the bench. "According to our resident vampire expert," she nodded toward Simone, "sufficiently powerful vampires are only weakened by the sun, not destroyed outright! And on that note, there's the fact that you work at a sunscreen factory, and that your uniform covers nearly your entire body, perhaps to protect you from the sun!"

"Oh come on!" Al protested. "This's the standard uniform issued for janitors at my workplace anyway! And yeah, I use sunscreen because I burn easy... but that does NOT make me a vampire!"

"OBJECTION!" Willard cut in. "I think that's about enough of this farce, Ryghts! You know the rules of the court as well as I do... 'In a court of law, evidence is everything.' But what you have presented is only circumstantial at best!"

"...I must concur with the prosecution here," the judge nodded. "If you cannot present solid proof that this man before us is a vampire, or the man who killed Demitri Paler, then withdraw your argument or suffer a massive penalty!"

Rei heaved a sigh as she grabbed her water bottle, ostensibly to take a drink... "Well, in that case... Whoops!" She abruptly slipped, barely catching herself on the bench, which caused some water to fly out of the bottle, sprinkling on Al Poker's arm...

-which abruptly caught aflame! "EYOOOWW! Hot hot hot!" the janitor screamed as he dropped his hat and frantically brushed the fire away, which fortunately soon extinguished, leaving his arm barren and slightly burnt.

"What in the-?!" Willard gasped. "Oh, don't tell me...!"

"Hmhmhmhmm... HAAAA-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Rei let loose with an evil laugh as she stood straight, crossing her arms. "That's right, my earlier accident was simply a sleight of hand, so K-Sha could discreetly replace the water in my bottle with consecrated holy water!"

"Not the holy water again!" the judge groaned. "Don't you remember what happened yesterday, defense?"

"OBJECTION! Don't you remember what my client said yesterday, Your Honor?" Rei pointed. "That holy water only sets people on fire if they have a 'dark aura'! If Al Poker was just a normal human, the water would have only gotten him wet! Isn't that right, witness? Or should I say... vampire?"

The man at the witness stand was silent for a moment, his head bowed... then he began to chuckle sinisterly, before raising his head up and spreading his arms, laughing madly as his eyes glowed red, his hair spreading as if lifted up by an unseen breeze, his mouth showing two long, sharp canines! "AHHAHAHAHAHA! Well played, Rei Ryghts, well played indeed! I must congratulate you, it seems you have solved the case!" The gallery gasped in shock and fear.

"So it was YOU all along!" Simone rose from the defendant's chair. "I blame myself for this... had only my first strike been more accurate, this whole incident would not have come to pass! But now we know the truth!"

"You bastard! You killed my dear brother-in-law!" Lisa yelled angrily. "Consider yourself fired, Poker!"

"Wasn't personal, ma'am," the now-exposed vampire said. "He was just in the wrong place at the right time..."

"You sound awfully relaxed for someone who's just been exposed as a double-murderer!" K-Sha growled. "After all, you also sucked that poor Tom Hall dry and made him your puppet!"

"And then you tried to suck my blood as well, peon!" Rei pointed to the bandage on her neck. "Did you seriously think I would let you get away after that, maggot?!"

"I suppose not," Poker shrugged. "I admit I wasn't expecting that CPU to suddenly show up... had I been just a fraction slower, she'd have ruined everything then and there! But no matter, I still got what I needed for my plan..."

"What plan?!" Willard demanded. But suddenly, there was a sound like a low woosh outside, the courtrooms' lighting suddenly becoming slightly dimmer... "W-what in the?!"

"Your Honor!" one of the bailiffs shouted. "I-it's become pitch-black outside!"

"What?! B-but that's impossible!" the robed woman stammered. "It's high noon!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!" Al Poker laughed in triumph. "You may have exposed me, but too little, too late! Eternal night has fallen upon Lastation! Now my fellow creatures of the night can prowl and prey with impunity! And soon the night shall spread to cover all of Gamindustri as well!"

"Seize that creature!" Willard ordered, the bailiffs promptly lunging at the janitor, only for him to dissolve into a swarm of bats which scattered through the courtroom causing everyone to duck and cover! The swarm then flew out the courtroom doors, Al Poker's laughter echoing through the chamber...

"M-my word..." the judge gaped in disbelief. "I would never have believed it, had I not just seen it with my own eyes..."

"Me neither, Your Honor," Willard agreed, looking quite shaken.

"S-same here," Forsythia Lyster and Harold Thomas said in unison.

"Your Honor," Rei spoke up again, "A-at this t-time, sh-shouldn't you render y-your verdict?"

"Wha...? O-oh, yes, of course, the verdict!" Regaining her composure, the judge promptly banging her gavel. "*ahem* On the charge of aggravated murder in the first degree, this court hereby finds the defendant, Miss Simone Rondo...

NOT GUILTY

"And now I order the defendant's immediate release, so that she may do her job and stop that vampire!"

"The prosecution has no objection!" Willard concurred. "Please do all in your power to stop this eternal night!"

"I shall," Simone promised. "Miss Lyster, my whip, if you would, please..."

"Y-yes, here you are!" the spectacled woman nodded, handing over the evidence bag, Simone promptly taking out her Combat Cross and hooking it to her belt.

"Here, Simone! There's still some holy water left in this jug," K-Sha said as she handed the item to the hunter.

"Thank you, K-Sha," Simone smiled and nodded, before turning to Rei. "Miss Ryghts, you've already done so much for me, I feel greedy asking this... but perhaps you could lend your assistance in this hunt? If you still possess your power as a final boss, it would help immensely..."

"I give my assistance gladly," the ex-villain nodded. "After all, I still have to pay that maggot back for sucking my blood!"

"Miss Ryghts, with all due respect, are you sure you can fight in your condition?" Willard inquired.

"For your information, Heinlein, my HDD has a natural healing factor," Rei stated. "By the time we catch up to that blood-sucker, this pinprick'll be nothing but a faint memory..."

"I'm coming too!" K-Sha declared. "I'm a lot stronger now than back when we fought in The Order! I can even transform like Noire and Uni can!"

Simone just chuckled. "Very well, K-Sha, I can see the determination in your eyes. Perhaps it'll be like old times, friend."

"Alright, let's go!" Rei declared with a flourish of her pointer finger. "Time to show this vampire he messed with the wrong CPU!"

"Right!" With that, the trio ran out of the courtroom, the gallery cheering them on...

"Go get 'em!" Detective Thomas encouraged.

"We're counting on you!" Lyster added.

"Give that bastard as much pain as he did to Demitri!" Lisa yelled after them.

"We will!" the three women shouted back...

*To be continued...*