What is Godot and the other inmates going to be reveal? Will it hurt or help their case? And who will be the prosecutor for this case? (Well, go back in the story and you can probably figure it out.)
Chapter 18 – Secret Seekers
Apollo gulped. He had a feeling that whatever Godot was going to tell them wasn't going to be particularly good. He took a deep breath.
"So, what did you want to tell us?" he asked.
"It's something that happened before Engarde died," Godot told them, "I wanted to tell you in case the prosecution brings it up so you won't be surprised. The day Engarde died he and Gavin got into an argument in front of everyone. It got really heated, too. Engarde didn't seem to think he did anything wrong and Gavin said that the world would be better off if Engarde were dead."
Both Apollo and Phoenix tensed up. That would definitely not help their case.
"Can't you give us something that will help us?" Phoenix requested, trying not to sound desperate. Godot smirked at him.
"Oh, don't worry about that," he said, "I saw something very interesting that night. When everyone was asleep, I had insomnia so I was awake. I sat up, watching everything. Then, I looked over at Gavin and Engarde's cell. I decided to watch that cell for a while in case Engarde decided to try something again."
"And what did you see?" Apollo wondered.
"Nothing," Godot replied, "…at first. But then someone came by. I can see in the dark, but only a limited way, so unfortunately I couldn't see who it was. But this person came up to the cell and opened it and went inside."
"Wait a minute," Phoenix interrupted, "You're telling us there was a third person in that cell?"
"Yes, didn't I say that?" Godot said, "I don't know if this person left any evidence behind, though. That'll be up to you. However, I know I saw someone else go into that cell."
"Interesting," Phoenix murmured, rubbing his chin. He turned to where the brothers were still searching the cell. "Hey Gavins! Get over here and listen to what Godot told us!"
Klavier and Kristoph quickly made their way over to them. "What is it?" Klavier asked.
Godot explained to them everything he had seen. The Gavin brothers listened in intense silence. As soon as he finished, Klavier lit up with delight.
"That's great news!" he exclaimed, "Did you hear that, brother? You didn't do it after all!"
But for some reason, Kristoph didn't look nearly as thrilled as Klavier. He wrapped his arms around himself and looked down at the floor.
"Even if there were someone else in the cell that's going to be very difficult to prove," he murmured, "As far as I can tell there's no evidence of this third person. And who's going to believe the testimony of a criminal?"
"Excuse me, counselor!" Luke suddenly called from the next cell over, "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and I, too, happened to see a figure creepily creeping in the… um… night."
"I did too!" Gant added, "I couldn't sleep that night, what with everything that happened during the day, so I was awake. And while my eyesight isn't as good as Waiting's, I definitely saw a big moving third shadow in that cell!"
"So wait all three of you saw a third person?" Phoenix confirmed, "Did any of you notice any features on this person?"
"Nope!" Gant announced immediately and proudly.
Apollo was about to ask something, but a loud shout from behind startled all of them.
"GAVIN!" Dewey Watchum shouted into his bullhorn, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR CELL!?"
"Warden, please let me handle this," Andy Howe told him before facing the group, "Gavin, you know you're not supposed to be out of your cell. You're awaiting your sentencing, remember?"
Before Klavier could lash out in anger, Apollo and Phoenix quickly stepped forward.
"Hello, sir," Phoenix greeted calmly, "We're Kristoph Gavin's lawyers. I'm Phoenix Wright and this is Apollo Justice."
Howe narrowed his eyes at them. "Yes, I've heard of both of you," he said, his voice low, "You somehow fool your way to a win every time. And this boy used to work for Gavin, did he not? If that's true then he's just as trustworthy as he is."
Apollo wanted to shout a million comebacks at the man, but Phoenix simply but a calming hand on his shoulder. He wore a completely neutral look on his face, clearly having dealt with plenty of people like this before.
"Yes, yes, you're one of those kind of people," Phoenix taunted, "The kind that judges everyone based magazine articles or rumors a friend of a friend heard. But neither Mr. Justice nor I have to justify ourselves to you; our reputations speak for ourselves as we have kept countless of innocent people out of jail and even took down an international terrorist. But you know, whatever."
Klavier and Apollo stared in astonishment at Phoenix as Howe and Watchum glared. Howe narrowed his eyes at the lawyers. Phoenix gave them a smug grin.
"Fine," Howe hissed, "Go on and conduct your little investigation. You won't find anything. We all know Gavin is guilty."
"Ha! I know nothing!" Phoenix scoffed, "We can't even be sure Engarde is dead, now can we?"
Everyone gave him a confused look as Kristoph face palmed. Howe walked up to Phoenix and got right up in his face.
"Do take caution, Mr. Wright," he warned, "Your type of idiocy is not tolerated in my prison."
"Is there a type of idiocy you would be more comfortable with?" Phoenix asked. Howe glared at him with pure hatred.
"Just make sure you don't disturb the crime scene or the other prisoners," he spat, "We wouldn't want to have to throw you out."
With that, Howe and Watchum left. The group watched them leave. Then Klavier turned to the others.
"I'm going to go back to the prosecutor's office so we can officially bring this to trial," he said, "Give me a call if anything comes up." He gave his brother a hug, winked at Apollo, then departed.
There was a half second of silence before Gant spoke. "So, was that your brother, Gavvy?" he asked, "He was hot."
Kristoph sighed. "Really, Gant?" he growled, "Here and now? You have to do this now?"
"Is he single?" Gant ignored him to question.
"I'm not doing this with you," Kristoph insisted.
"Anyway, Gant, can we count on you to testify for us?" Phoenix asked him. Gant gave him a wide grin.
"Ya sure can, Wrighto!" he exclaimed, "We're tight here! We'll all do whatever it takes to help our Gavvy! Right guys?"
As the others all voiced their agreements, Kristoph buried his face in his hands in embarrassment. Phoenix smirked.
"Aw! Your friends care about you, Kris!" he cooed.
"Shut up, Wright," Kristoph growled.
"Um, is there somewhere we can interview all the prisoners one on one?" Apollo asked, trying to divert an argument. A guard came over to them.
"We can set up the cafeteria for you to question each witness," he told them, "We'll get that put together right away."
"Thank you," Apollo replied.
…
By the time the guards got the cafeteria ready, Klavier had returned. He sat with the three of them (Kristoph insisted on hearing what the others had to say,) and they brought out the first prisoner to give his deposition.
"Hey there, Wrighto!" Gant greeted again, "Funny seeing you here!"
Phoenix rolled his eyes. "Gant, you've known I was here for several minutes now," he pointed out, "Can you please just tell us what you know?"
"Sure, I can!" Gant replied enthusiastically. He gave them all his "Gant stare" then turned to Klavier. "So, you're Gavvy's brother, eh?"
It took a moment for Klavier to realize who he was talking about. "Ja, I'm Klavier Gavin," he replied to him. Gant smiled.
"Ah! So, another Gavvy, huh? Though, it'll get kind of confusing if you're both Gavvy," he mused, "Ok, so Klavier you're Gavvy 1 and our Gavvy can be Gavvy 2!"
"Why am I Gavvy 2?" Kristoph growled, "You met me first and I'm older than him!" Gant gave a comedic shrug.
"Anyway, can we get back on track please?" Phoenix begged.
"Of course, Wrighto!" Gant agreed, "Don't think I didn't notice that ring on your finger there! Finally got yourself hitched to ol' Worthy, huh?"
Phoenix blushed and fiddled with the gold ring with the red stone in it on his ring finger, looking away shyly. "Well, I, um…"
"Narumitsu, eh?" Gant interrupted. Phoenix shook his head and gave him a shocked look.
"What!?" he exclaimed.
"I ship it," Gant approved, with a nod.
"GANT!" Kristoph snapped, "Will you please get back on topic?"
Blinking, Gant gave him a smile. "Well you didn't have to shout, Gavvy 2," he said calmly. Kristoph sighed with frustration as Gant turned to the group. "So, my eyesight isn't as good as Waiting's, sorry… Godot's, but I definitely saw a figure go into Gavvy and Touché's cell. They didn't need to force their way in, so I knew it wasn't a prisoner. Once they were inside the cell I couldn't really tell what they were doing, because was even darker."
"Do you know about what time it was when this happened?" Apollo asked, writing all of this down in his notebook.
"Mmm… not precisely," Gant confessed, "There is a large digital clock on the wall so prisoners can tell what time it is for schedule reasons, but I can't see it from my cell. And before you ask why I was up, I had been sharing look-out duty with my cellmate to make sure Touché didn't… you know… do anything again."
Kristoph jolted slightly besides Klavier. He had no idea the other inmates had been watching over him. That was rather… touching.
"Can you see Kristoph's cell from yours?" Phoenix wondered.
"Admittedly, no," Gant said, "Not the one Touché died in. I can see their door from here, though. So I could see the figure go into their cell."
"Why did they switch cells?" Klavier questioned.
"Because an idiot inmate was trying to escape and forgot he was on the second floor," Kristoph growled in response, "And his cell happened to be right above ours, which destroyed our ceiling, so we were moved one cell over. But now that cell is a crime scene, so now I'm back in that cell."
Klavier tried not to laugh. "Who's the idiot inmate?" he asked.
"Frank Sahwit," Kristoph told him.
"Frank Sahwit!" Phoenix exclaimed excitedly, "I know that guy! He was the culprit in the first case I ever tried! Good times, good times!"
"Mr. Wright, please don't get off topic," Apollo urged. He turned to Gant. "Ok, I think we've got everything we need, unless you can think of anything else."
"Are you single?" Gant wondered.
"Gant!" Kristoph hissed.
After Gant was brought back to his cell, Luke Atmey was escorted out to them. He adjusted his monocle and gave them all a winning "I'm so smart" smile.
"Ah! Counselor!" he grinned, "Come to receive my darlingly daring deposition of dastardly deeds done by debonair denizens of despair?"
Phoenix sighed and rolled his eyes. "You mean tell us what you saw?" he translated. Atmey smiled widely.
"Hmm-hmm yes!" he replied.
"All right then, tell us!"
Atmey opened his mouth to speak but paused. "Oh drat, now I can't remember," he muttered.
"Well that's just great!" Phoenix sighed, throwing up his arms in defeat.
"No! No! Wait a minute!" Atmey pleaded, "I swear I'll recollect the memory of what happened that night!" He put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment. "Zvarri!" he shouted suddenly, startling everyone, "Now I recall! Yes! I see it clearly now!"
"You ready to tell us what happened?" Phoenix asked.
"Absolutely!" Luke replied, "As I was taking my noble night watch upon the place, the clock struck one. Suddenly, I sensed someone there and began to turn! The coward struck me from behind, a fierce blow upon my noble head! I had blacked out before I could land a single blow! About thirty minutes later I came to and called for help."
"Whoa! Someone attacked you?" Apollo exclaimed, "By who? Maybe it was your cellmate? Perhaps we should-!"
"Hold on a second, Apollo," Phoenix interrupted, thinking deeply. He stared down at the table in concentration before slowly looking up at Atmey with a look of anger. "Detective Atmey," he growled, "That's not what happened."
"It's not?" Klavier clarified.
"No, it's not!" Phoenix hissed, "That's the same testimony you gave us when you were trying to fool us all that you were at the Kurain exhibit! The 'someone' was supposed to be Mask deMasque!"
Kristoph, Klavier, and Apollo glared at Atmey, who gave them a small smile but looked nervous. "Forgive me, Sir lawyer," he said meekly, "I heard that you were out of the profession for quite a few years and I wanted to make sure you were still up to snuff."
He gave a weak laugh, but no one was smiling. "Anyway, I'll tell you what I actually saw," he promised, "I woke around two thirty in the morning. I know because my cell has a clear view of the clock and I always check what time it is when I wake. But anyhow, I wondered what had woken me when I heard the sound of a door opening. It was the door to our cell block. I am a light sleeper, you see, so even though this person entering was trying to be quiet I could tell that's what woke me."
Atmey paused and leaned in for drama's sake. "Now, normally there is a guard patrolling every cellblock on every level of the prison," he explained, "The guards do not change shift all night to avoid conflict. So I thought, 'what is this person doing coming in here in the middle of the night?' I knew it had to be a guard because you need a card to get into the cell blocks when they're locked. I wondered if there was an emergency in another part of the prison, so I laid in my bed and watched and listened. But this person didn't go to find another guard. Instead, they stopped in front of Gavin and Engarde's cell, which was right across from mine at the time."
Once again he paused and leaned even further forward. "This is where it gets interesting, counselor," he grinned, "This person entered the cell without force! They were moving around, I couldn't see exactly what they were doing, but I'm pretty sure they're the one that killed Engarde."
"Thank you Atmey," Phoenix said, "Did you see any features about this person?"
Luke shook his head. "The only thing I can say for certain is that it was a man because every single person in the prison is a man," he replied, "Unless one of the guard's wives stole his badge and key and snuck in. But I'm almost certain they leave all that stuff here. I don't know. You'd have to ask a guard."
They thanked Atmey for his testimony before he was escorted back to his cell. Unfortunately after that no one else was particularly helpful. Besides Godot who had agreed to testify on the stand for them, White, Tigre, and von Karma had all been asleep that night and saw nothing. And Wellington, Sahwit, Crescend, and the mysterious inmate they only referred to as Misty were in no position to see anything.
"Well, I guess that's all we're going to get today," Klavier concluded as they walked Kristoph back to his cell, "The trial is the day after tomorrow, so you still have another day to investigate."
"Do you know who the prosecutor is going to be?" Apollo asked, praying it would be someone incompetent like Payne.
"Yeah, that new prosecutor from New York City, Damien Darkart," Klavier replied, "When I brought the case to Herr Edgeworth, he happened to be in the office and he seemed very eager to take the case, for some reason."
"Huh," Phoenix made a sound of confusion but didn't elaborate.
Phoenix and Apollo allowed Klavier a moment alone with his brother before the three of them left the prison. "I think it would be a good idea to see what this Darkart is about before the trial," Phoenix advised Apollo.
"I think he has a trial tomorrow morning," Klavier mused. Apollo gave him a surprised look.
"Seriously?" he exclaimed, "He took on two cases at once? He's insane!"
Klavier shrugged. "I heard he was a devil back in NYC," he said, "He would finish his trials in one day."
"Dang," Phoenix muttered, "We have our work cut out for us then."
Sir Weston doesn't know how to end chapters! Next time will be more investigation and interaction with the inmates. And Apollo will try to see what Darkart is like. Fun times! Anyway, please leave a comment and maybe check me out on Twitter ThunderingWhite.
