July 6th, 3:36pm
Gatewater Hotel
Room 212

"So we need to look at this room as the site of a potential kidnapping. What information should we consider this time?" Edgeworth crossed his arms as he processed his thoughts. While he had played a part in resolving a hostage situation a few months back, kidnapping cases weren't what he handled most often.

"Let's take this investigation from the top, sir! This time with feeling." Gumshoe beamed, visibly beating back the frustration everyone was feeling.

Kay dug through her bag. "If we're going to investigate an incident that happened a week ago, I say we bust out Little Thief. How should I set the scene?"

Edgeworth pondered the question. "We have reason to believe that the evidence missing from the wall over there was still hanging. Since we don't know the exact items that were stolen, you can input blank papers for those."

"Don't forget to have the lamp not be broken in your simulation, Kay. Do we think part of this mess might be a result of the kidnapping, sir?"

"I suppose it's possible. The hotel sheet we found by the lamp looks like it soaked up the bloodstain from the floor. Perhaps the sheet slipped off the bed in the struggle."

Kay input each and every suggestion the pair proposed. After recalling the evidence Caché took from the room, they felt confident they could recreate the scene exactly as it was at the time of the abduction. "We're ready, then?"

Edgeworth shrugged, then nodded. "We will realize in due time if we missed anything. Take it away, Kay."

"Sweet!" Kay held Little Thief up towards the ceiling. "In the dark of night, where no other bird dares take flight, one alone soars to shine the light of righteousness on the world's blight! And that one is me, for I am the Great Thief, Yatagarasu!"

Green light enveloped the room as Kay transported Edgeworth and Gumshoe back in time to June 30th. When Edgeworth could see again, Bower's figure cowered next to the nightstand as an unknown entity held the hotel lamp in the air. Clothes still covered every surface of the room, but the bed was somewhat neater. The web of evidence strewn across the wall had no loose threads.

-Begin Investigation-

"We don't know how the abductor made his way into the hotel room. The hotel manager claims Mr. Bower had no visitors. At the time that Bower's case was being treated as a missing person, no one on the hotel staff came forward regarding a suspicious person. This implies a few possibilities: either the abductor was also a guest at the Gatewater Hotel, or he did not approach Bower's room in a conventional manner."

"I doubt he left the normal way as well, sir. I don't know how anyone could drag a person through the hallway of a fancy hotel without people seeing it."

"You make a fair point, Detective." I best take note of this.

-Kidnapper's Path Through Hotel added to Logic-

Edgeworth turned his attention first to the struggling figures. "Something about these two figures confuses me."

"Huh? What about them?" Kay followed him over to take a closer look. "Do you think I input their positions wrong?"

Was that it? The lines in Edgeworth's forehead deepened as he considered the possibility. "...No, I believe their approximate position is correct given the bloodstains." The only other way for the kidnapper to hit Bower over the head given Bower's position would be to stand on the bed. Edgeworth saw neither evidence nor benefit for the perpetrator to take that path.

"So what are we missing here? What's so 'confusing' about Bower and his kidnapper?"

"The aspect that confuses me the most is…"

-The number of kidnappers

-What the kidnapper used

-The lack of witnesses in the room

"If the kidnapper planned to kill Bower and eventually did so with a knife, why knock him out with a desk lamp? The lamp would have been an improvised weapon in the hands of a premeditated attacker."

"That is weird," Gumshoe agreed. "If our killer had a knife, why use the lamp to knock Bower out? It doesn't make sense."

"But we know the kidnapper did use the lamp on Bower. The bloodstain on the lamp confirms it." Kay held Little Thief up to her face without pressing any buttons.

"We know the ultimate sequence of events, at least up to this point. What we don't know is how they came to be."

Gumshoe scrunched his eyebrows. "Do you think Bower fought back, sir?"

"Interesting. Why do you ask, Detective?"

"Well… I know Bower's the one who got hit with the lamp, but what if he had the lamp first? He saw the kidnapper and grabbed the first thing he could to fight him off. He was an Interpol guy once. Our victim was a fighter, I'll bet."

Kay picked up where Gumshoe left off, her voice akin to that of a sports announcer. "But it'd been too long since his training. Bower fought his hardest, but he lost a step against his attacker. His attacker had him cornered, took the lampshade out of his hands, and hit him over the head, knocking him out instantly!"

Edgeworth nodded. "I accept your theory. Good job, you two."

-Impromptu Struggle added to Logic-

"You both have come a long way in your investigative skills since I first met you."

"Awwww! We could say the same about you, sir." Gumshoe beamed.

Edgeworth ignored the praise, turning away from the struggling figures so he could think for a moment. "We will ask forensics to watch for mystery DNA in the room. If the victim fought back, it's possible that not all the blood in this room is his."

"Got it! Keying in an update." Kay changed the simulation to show both figures' hands on the lamp, each fighting for control of the object.

When Kay was done with that, she asked Edgeworth, "what else do we need to look for in this room?"

"I am most curious as to how our kidnapper removed Bower from the hotel room. The kidnapper's route from the hotel could tell us where he took the victim to next. I believe that location could be the ultimate site of our murder."

"I hope so, sir. The sooner we track down the scene of the crime, the sooner we can investigate it," Gumshoe stated the obvious.

Kay thought about the possibilities out loud. "What about a laundry bag? Or a cleaning cart? I bet a kidnapper could hide somebody in one of those. They could disguise themselves as a member of the hotel staff too!"

"That is a distinct possibility." It wouldn't be the first time an abductor used such a ploy. Edgeworth hadn't yet been on the case when that abduction occurred, but he knew what had transpired. "Detective, search the hotel's cleaning carts and laundry items for both missing items and large bloodstains. Call in a forensics crew while you're at it. Kay and I will continue to search the room for other clues."

"Yes, sir!" Gumshoe saluted, pulled out his phone, and exited the room.

"What else do you want to look at in here, Mr. Edgeworth?"

Edgeworth looked over the simulation, his eyes in a deep state of focus. "One moment…"

Edgeworth took in the extensive mess scattered about the room. Once again, he wondered how much of the disorder arose from Bower's personal inclination and how much was a result of Bower's fight with the kidnapper. Also worth consideration was the missing evidence on the wall.

"Kay… do you believe the kidnapper stole the evidence while seizing Bower?"

Kay nodded. "Probably. I don't think a smart thief would return to the scene of the crime. The police started watching this place soon after Bower went missing, right? How would the kidnapper have gotten in here a second time without the cops seeing?"

Edgeworth added onto her logic. "Furthermore, a kidnapper using a cart or container to transport Bower would not be limited by the victim's weight in their movements. They could afford to bring a few slips of paper along in their journey."

"If all the evidence Bower had up on the wall was paper," Kay clarified. "Evidence also includes things like murder weapons."

When you find a way to pin a gun to the wall with a simple thumbtack, please be the first to tell me.

Edgeworth moved on to a related train of thought. Once again, he examined Bower's cowering figure. His face was lifted from the picture used in Caché's flyer, but it had been distorted into a realistic image of fright. The kidnapper, for his part, remained faceless. "Where do you think Bower was when the kidnapper first came into his room?"

"He had to be close to the desk lamp, right? He would have grabbed another weapon if it were closer." Kay tilted her head. "What's wrong now, Mr. Edgeworth?"

"The mess in this room. What of it was generated in the struggle?"

Kay gave the question serious consideration. She bent down to examine the area around the bed, seeing both the present reality and past representation. "I think the sheets got messed up in the struggle for sure. The lamp broke then too." Kay gasped. "Do you think Bower was in bed when the intruder arrived?"

"What gives you that impression? The manager spoke to the victim the morning of his disappearance. He was awake then."

"So? He still could have gone to bed after that. Look at the sheets here." Kay ushered Edgeworth closer. "See how the sheets fell down from the side of the bed? But only the top parts because the bottom is still tucked in? That is exactly how the sheets look at my place right now. I was almost late for your trial because I slept in and had to jump out of bed."

"Thank you for being on time this morning, Kay." Such matters were news to Edgeworth, who typically woke up early, relaxed, and with time to make his bed each morning. "Could the kidnapper have meant to take Bower in his sleep? How would he have known the victim was not awake?"

Kay frowned, considering the question. "The hotel probably doesn't keep cameras in their guests' rooms. Mr. Bower seems really paranoid, so I bet he searched to make sure he wasn't being watched in here." She turned to the window. "Could the kidnapper have watched him through the window?"

Edgeworth shook his head. "The manager said Bower preferred to keep his curtains drawn. Besides, if Bower were really laying down for a nap, why would he let the sunlight into his room?"

"I don't know!" Kay admitted, frustrated. "This kidnapping scenario is really weird. It feels simple, but it's also not."

Edgeworth didn't respond, but he agreed. Even after conceding the murder hadn't taken place in this room, something was still impeding their investigation's progress. Some critical assumption still dammed the flow of natural discovery. I should remember our discussion for later.

-Bower Caught Sleeping? added to Logic-

Before Edgeworth could call Kay's attention to anything else, Gumshoe burst back on the scene with limited enthusiasm. "Forensics is on its way, sir. I'm done searching the hotel's carts and laundry too."

"Did you find anything the kidnapper may have used, Detective?"

Gumshoe sighed, head hanging low. "No missing items, sir. No reported bloodstains either. I checked the luggage carts too after the manager suggested it, but nothing. I don't think the kidnapper used this stuff to take Bower away, sir."

Edgeworth frowned. Yet another stumbling block this investigation had tripped on. No matter. "How closely does the Gatewater monitor these items?"

"Pretty closely, sir. They take weekly inventory, and the last time they checked was July 2nd. They haven't lost any cleaning or luggage carts since they checked before that on June 25th."

"I see." Edgeworth reconsidered the possibilities.

While he was thinking to himself, Kay did her thinking out loud. "Couldn't the kidnapper have just returned the cart, though? They might have put Bower up in a car or something, then gave the hotel their stuff back."

"Would that not have left blood on the cart?" Edgeworth argued. "Bower was bleeding on the head when he was taken away. If the bloodstain on the floor and the victim's autopsy are any indication, his wound was quite serious."

"Maybe the kidnapper took a towel with them," Kay suggested. "I'll check the bathroom."

She walked off into the bathroom before anyone could say otherwise. While she was in there, she called back out to Edgeworth and Gumshoe to ask how many towels a hotel normally supplied to its guests. Because Edgeworth had both traveled extensively and investigated the Gatewater before, he knew the approximate answer to this question. This allowed Kay to confirm her theory. "Yep! A big white one is missing!"

Kay waltzed back into the room, updating her fighting figures to show the moment after Bower was struck. In the new image, the kidnapper was lifting Bower off the floor with a white towel in hand. "So now we know that."

"We do." Edgeworth made a note about the towel in his Organizer.

-"Gatewater Bath Towel" added to Organizer-

Edgeworth was beginning to wonder how much details like this mattered. Had the investigation strayed off topic somewhere, in addition to working with a false premise? He feared he was leading his assistant and detective astray. "So the kidnapper could have used a cart of some kind along with a towel to mask the bloodstains. In addition, he likely had something covering the unconscious body to prevent suspicion from onlookers. Hm…"

"Is something still wrong, Mr. Edgeworth?"

"Possibly." Edgeworth couldn't shake the doubts out of his mind. "Recall our discussion earlier regarding the kidnapper's choice of weapon. Once again, I am wondering why a kidnapper intending to kill Bower with a knife would not be prepared to wound him in his hotel room. Why did they not have their own supplies for dealing with a head injury? Rather, why tend to the injury in the first place?" Edgeworth was starting to have serious questions about the nature of the kidnapper in this case.

"I… don't have an answer to that one, sir." Gumshoe scratched the back of his head.

Kay looked even more confused than Gumshoe did. "I, for one, still think the kidnapper wanted to kill Mr. Bower in his sleep somehow. They must have panicked when he woke up and tried to fight them off." She frowned. "But why not stick to the plan? Why not kill Bower in this room anyway?"

Edgeworth gasped. "Kay! There's a gaping hole in your logic just now."

"What do you mean?" Kay looked around the room at her simulation. "Do I have something wrong?"

Edgeworth shrugged, a smirk growing on his face. "I suppose I shouldn't only blame you, Kay. Blame for this blunder rests on all of our shoulders. I feel blind to have not realized it before." He walked over to the door of the hotel room, which Kay's simulation showed as closed despite Gumshoe leaving it open.

He zeroed his focus on the lock. "Is this spot connected to any of the evidence I hold?"

Edgeworth shifted through his Organizer to the page where "Bower's Room Key" sat in the middle fold. "EUREKA! Hotel rooms are locked to outsiders. If Bower was asleep when the kidnapper arrived, how did the kidnapper get in?"

"Couldn't Bower have woken up and opened the door, sir?"

"Would a man paranoid about his impending death open his hotel door to strangers?" Edgeworth shook his head. "I think not. Furthermore, Bower crossing the room to let his kidnapper in contradicts our assumptions about this piece of evidence!" Edgeworth presented Gumshoe with the "Desk Lamp."

"Oh, right. Wait… why does that matter here?" Gumshoe didn't get it right away.

"Because in you and Kay's argument about the victim striking back against his kidnapper, you assumed he grabbed the desk lamp to defend himself out of convenience. He would have used something else were it in easier reach." Edgeworth gestured to the iron sitting in the closet next to the doorway to make his point. "A trained ex-Interpol agent wouldn't want to draw a potential murderer into their private room if they had a choice.

"So Bower didn't let his own kidnapper in…" Kay frowned. "Well, that's still easy to explain. The kidnapper had a keycard of their own."

Edgeworth tackled several related arguments in his response. "And how would the kidnapper have acquired one? The manager knew Bower was staying alone and wanted no visitors. He and his staff would not have granted a stranger access to the room of a guest in those circumstances, and stealing one would require a person to know which room Bower was staying in, no easy feat considering he wished to remain unlisted. Even using a skeleton key would require that knowledge lest the kidnapper open every room in the Gatewater to search for their target."

"How did the kidnapper know which room the victim had, sir?" Gumshoe asked. "The manager made it sound like nobody knew Bower was here."

"I'm telling you all, they spied on Bower through the window!" Kay insisted. "Didn't we pass an office building of some kind on the way over here? I'm sure someone who wanted to peek into this room could use an office there to do it."

Or vice versa, Edgeworth mused. Not that he thought anyone from the office next door had anything to do with this case. "It appears we have a locked room mystery on our hands. But this time, even the criminal may not have had a way in."

-Kidnapper's Keycard? added to Logic-

"Well, it's still possible there's a key the kidnapper used, sir. Either the hotel staff lost it or the kidnapper returned it with their cart." Gumshoe waggled his eyebrows as he thought the scenario through. "Do you think the kidnapper was posing as a guest then, sir? It would explain why he hadn't looked suspicious to anybody."

"And it would be difficult for us to confirm seven days later," Edgeworth lamented. Security at the Gatewater was frustratingly lax the last two times he investigated here, and a hotel this size had numerous guests checking out every day. Questioning potential witnesses about someone they might have seen a week after the fact was unlikely to yield productive results. The police didn't have so much as a description of what the abductor may look like.

Edgeworth had so many questions swirling around his head regarding this investigation, but his efforts so far had produced frustratingly few answers. Some bits of his logic were better connected by their contradictions than their connections.

Gnashing his teeth, Edgeworth returned once again to the spot in which the two figures had fought. Looking at the bed again, he agreed it seemed as though Bower had slid out of bed on its side facing the door. He wasn't yet sure if he accepted Kay's theory regarding the victim's mid-morning nap, but he didn't know what else a man hiding from his own murder would do to pass the time. Concoct new conspiracy theories, perhaps.

The desk lamp… so much of the investigation's proposed scenario hinged on the inclusion of the desk lamp as a weapon of convenience. Edgeworth sought to put the pieces of his logic together. The kidnapper wanted to catch Bower off-guard, asleep if possible. Was Bower Caught Sleeping? ...Whatever the intent, the kidnapper received an Impromptu Struggle from the victim instead. ...Wait.

"I've found a connection here!" Edgeworth exclaimed. "However the kidnapper knew Bower was asleep, he intended to take Bower at a time he was unlikely to fight back. Instead of getting his wish, the kidnapper had a brief struggle with the victim, eventually hitting Bower over the head with a desk lamp. This strike was intense enough to break the lamp's lightbulb."

"...Yes," Kay agreed, crossing her arms. "What of it?"

"So the kidnapper made too much noise in his fight with Bower. He feared witnesses may come to the scene and discover what he'd done." He turned to Kay. "That is why the kidnapper did not stick to his plan of killing Bower in the hotel room. He didn't want witnesses to see him fleeing the scene and leaving a dead body behind. So he took the victim away while he was still unconscious, hoping to kill him in a place where there could be no witnesses. That's why he grabbed the towel as a last minute addition, because the abduction wasn't planned."

"But… no one came to investigate the lamp breaking, sir." Gumshoe scratched his head. "Doesn't that make the kidnapper's change in plans a little pointless?"

Edgeworth shook his finger close to his temple. "It doesn't matter that no one came, Detective. What matters is the kidnapper feared someone would. The noise generated by the struggle spooked our abductor and required him to adjust his plans."

-Desperate Getaway added to Logic-

"So… the kidnapper hadn't planned to kidnap Bower? Just murder him? And they only took Bower because he fought back and made too much noise?" Kay asked, doing her best to keep her seat on Edgeworth's train of thought.

Edgeworth nodded. "That's where my logic has led me."

But that means… if the kidnapper never planned to take Bower with them, then they likely didn't have a body-carrying instrument like a cart at their ready. A kidnapper fearing discovery after a loud altercation wouldn't remain on the scene too long to look for such a thing either. They would already be afraid of running into a potential witness, at which point the noise from the fight would be difficult to explain. This Desperate Getaway made the Kidnapper's Path Through Hotel additionally treacherous.

The connection sealed in his head before Edgeworth continued his theory. "Unless our abductor also managed to steal a cart out of convenience, I don't think their path through the hotel could have used one. We don't know the time of day in which the kidnapping took place, but perhaps there was a maid cleaning a room nearby who left her cart outside."

Gumshoe wasn't convinced. "Wouldn't the maid have noticed if someone stole her cart, sir? No one said anything about that happening when I asked about carts earlier."

"What if they used something they found in the room? They used the towel to stop the bleeding. Why not a giant duffel bag or suitcase for Bower's body?" Kay speculated, fingers itching to add just such a device to the simulation.

Edgeworth saw no direct way to prove Kay's theory, but a major part of using Little Thief relied on speculation. Speculation Edgeworth fully intended to back up with evidence in later investigations. "I propose we search this room for anything we think could be used to transport a damaged but living body out of the hotel. Remember that Bower's ultimate cause of death was a slit throat, not suffocation. We need something he could have been stored within without dying."

Gumshoe missed the point of the exercise at first. "But if we find all the bags or suitcases Bower used to bring his stuff to the hotel, wouldn't that mean the kidnapper didn't use it?"

"Precisely, Detective. What we want to find is evidence of something that should be in this room, but is not. It's about time a scene's lack of evidence worked to our investigation's advantage, wouldn't you say?"

Kay fastened up her gloves. "I'm on it, Mr. Edgeworth!"

Together, the trio scoured the room once again, careful not to alter the state of the crime scene. They mainly searched for Bower's luggage, but eyes were kept out for signs of anything they thought could be used to move a man's body. Given the large quantities of dirty clothes strewn about the room, one would be inclined to believe Bower had possessed a large suitcase or duffel bag for them, yet initially, there was none to be found.

That is, until Kay thought to peek under the bed. "Found them! Two worn through duffel bags. They look like they've been under there forever."

Edgeworth knelt down to examine the evidence with her. Layers of dust had settled over two old bags, both too small to carry Kay out of the building, let alone a grown man. He stood up and straightened out the wrinkles in his backup suit. "Unless we can find no other alternative, I suggest we look for an alternative to how the kidnapper left the Gatewater with Bower."

-Exposed Victim added to Logic-

Kay took Edgeworth's hand for balance as she stood. "I think you know what I want to do next, Mr. Edgeworth."

"You want to check the window, correct?" Edgeworth frowned. The last time he'd investigated this specific room at the Gatewater, there had been nothing worth noting about the window beyond its view.

That was then. This was now. The Gatewater Hotel had undergone serious renovation over the past three years. Edgeworth wondered if this room had changed more than he thought.

Kay followed Edgeworth over to the window. The afternoon sun was blinding after investigating so long inside. Once both their eyes adjusted, they studied the window for any sign it may have been used nefariously. The window was old, ill-fitting for its current frame. Just beyond it stood a newly-installed fire escape walkway. The bottom of the window hung open ever so slightly past the sill, trapping a tuft of white fabric between it and the wall.

Edgeworth's eyes zeroed in on the piece of fabric. He reached out to feel it and caught the rough texture of a cheap towel on his fingers. On the edge of the fabric hanging outside was a drop of faded red. "Is this spot connected to any of the evidence I hold?"

He flipped open his Organizer to the page he'd most recently filled in. The page discussing the "Gatewater Bath Towel." "EUREKA!"

Kay had noticed him fiddling with the scrap of fabric before. When Edgeworth called out, she had an idea why. "Is that…"

"A piece of the towel we speculate the kidnapper used to dress his victim's wounds? I believe it is." Edgeworth smirked. "Anyone who spoke to the manager would have known Bower kept his curtains closed. That fact would have encouraged otherwise talented investigators like Franziska and Caché to leave the window area alone. Hence why they failed to notice it had been left partially open."

"You nearly fell for it too, Mr. Edgeworth," Kay reminded him. "I had to keep bugging you to check it out!"

I chose to examine it on my own accord. Edgeworth wanted to protest, but held his tongue. He offered a more diplomatic reply instead. "One of the many benefits teamwork brings to an investigation."

-"Gatewater Bath Towel" updated in Organizer-

But for the towel to have been caught on the window as it closed, that means… "Clarify something for me, Kay."

"What is it, Mr. Edgeworth?"

"Which do you think is more likely: that the kidnapper entered the hotel room through the door and only used the window to eject the body, or that the kidnapper both entered and left through this window?"

Kay took a second to respond. "Well… I know we're only on the second floor and there's a fire escape there, but dropping someone who's already hurt out of a window doesn't sound like a smart plan. I would think the kidnapper left through the window carrying the body."

"You would need a strong kidnapper to do that, pal!" Gumshoe commented from a few yards away. "Not everyone can lift a grown person."

"That is true, but we have already eliminated the possibilities we think are impossible. I don't find the idea of a powerful kidnapper improbable, either," Edgeworth mused. "We already think he wrested the desk lamp out of the victim's hands to strike him."

If our investigation believes the kidnapper dealt with his Exposed Victim by carrying him out the window… is there still a reason to believe a Kidnapper's Keycard was needed? I think not.

Edgeworth continued after connecting the two pieces of Logic. "More than just exiting through the window, I believe our kidnapper entered through the window as well. The sound of the kidnapper's entry woke Bower from his slumber. Frightened, he slid to the opposite side of the bed and grabbed a weapon."

Gumshoe nodded approvingly. "Put distance and a weapon between you and your attacker. That's exactly what they teach us at the police academy, sir!"

A shame it hadn't saved Bower. Kay added an open window and footsteps leading up from the fire escape to her simulation for good measure. "There we have it. How Bower was kidnapped!"

Edgeworth smiled at the finished simulation. It'd taken some back and forth, but the trio of them had wrested a few answers out of this perplexing crime scene. "I believe we've learned everything we can from this room for now. We should leave it so that forensics may do their job."

-Investigation Complete-

Kay saved, then powered down her simulation. "Well, it went better than the dumpster investigation did."

"I agree. Smelled better, too," Gumshoe joked. "What should we do next, Mr. Edgeworth sir? Look for new leads in the morning?"

"Not quite. There is one last area I want to check at this hotel." Edgeworth pointed at the window. "I don't wish to disrupt the towel fragment's position, but will one of you go out onto the fire escape and check it for any evidence related to our case?"

"I can do it!" Kay volunteered herself. She ran out the door and reappeared a minute later on the other side of the window's glass. She examined the area around her, looked down, then quizzically picked up a piece of paper. Edgeworth could barely hear Kay through the window as she put the piece of paper up to it for Edgeworth and Gumshoe to read. "I don't know what this is. Do you think it's part of our case?"

Edgeworth squinted. He couldn't read the paper with the sunlight shining through it. He gestured to Kay once more. "Bring it inside."

Kay obeyed her summons. A moment later, she returned to the hotel room with her slip of paper in hand. It was bent from where it had been stuck to the fire escape, but it did not appear to be damaged.

Edgeworth took the paper from Kay so he could read it. It was… a receipt of some sort. The one paying? Hakari Inc. Chief Executive Officer suite.

"This must be one of the missing pieces of evidence, sir!" Gumshoe, who was reading over Edgeworth's shoulder, proclaimed. "I'll bet the kidnapper dropped it on his way out."

"That's not all this is," Edgeworth murmured. "Look at who the payment was made out to."

Edgeworth pointed the relevant section out to Gumshoe, who gasped. "Not him again, sir!"

"Why, who is it?" Kay asked. "Why is the name important?"

"Steven Viper…" The man I helped another prosecutor apprehend several days ago. His murder trial concluded this morning. Yet his trial was for a murder that took place on July 1st… our case here happened the day prior.

-"Viper's Receipt" added to Organizer-

Could it be? Was it possible the killer in this case was already in custody for conviction of another crime?

"We need to visit the local prison. Immediately."

To be continued...

Organizer

Profiles:

Miles Edgeworth
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Description: Me. What can I say? Currently High Prosecutor for my local district.

Dick Gumshoe
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Description: A homicide detective, one of the many assigned to this district. How I nearly always end up working with him, I cannot say.

Kay Faraday
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Description: My self-styled assistant, best known for her claim of being the second Yatagarasu. Soon, her aspirations will be focused on higher education more than stealing from others.

Simon Blackquill
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Description: A new prosecutor on the scene, one who just finished trying his first case in court. Appears slightly uncertain of himself, but a respectful man besides.

Petunia Gardner
Age: 68
Gender: Female
Description: A retired landscaper who was tending to her home garden when her attention was drawn to the victim's body. Did not call the police until the next morning.

Apollo Justice
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Description: A teen orphan. Was wandering the street with the intent to vandalize when he noticed a corpse in the night. Identified by Gardner the morning after, though his current companion was not.

Kristoph Gavin
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Description: A defense attorney known for staying calm during his trials. Appeared on the scene of the crime to defend young Justice. Before that, he was Blackquill's opposing counsel in court.

Wess T. Bower
Age: 52
Gender: Male
Description: The victim of this case. Was once an Interpol agent until one case ruined his investigation abilities forever and he became an online reporter of conspiracy theories. Was already missing for several days at the time of his death.

Franziska Von Karma
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Description: ...Franziska. How else can I describe her? She's came to the city to investigate a tip Interpol received, but her contact (Wess T. Bower) never showed. He may well have been dead at the time of their scheduled meeting.

Joseph Caché
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Description: A former prosecutor who now works as a PI. He was investigating Bower's disappearance as a missing person's case before learning of his death.

Hotel Manager
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Description: Once a bellboy of Gatewater Hotel, this man now manages this Gatewater property. Was the last person confirmed to have seen Bower alive on the morning of the 30th.

Evidence:

Prosecutor's Badge
Type: Other
Description: My badge. It allows me to do my job, and is to be kept in my pocket at all times.

Caché's Flyer
Type: Other
Description: A missing person's poster for one Wess T. Bower. The name and face are unfamiliar to me. I received this item a few days ago. Not sure why it is still on my person.

Gardner's Testimony
Type: Testimony
Description: Gardner saw a group of teenage boys from across the street the night before she called the police. Claims they had spray paint in their possession, but fled without using it upon discovering the body.

Can of Spray Paint
Type: Evidence
Description: Full can of blue paint that is applied via spraying. Found near dumpster. Bear's Justice's fingerprints.

Justice's Testimony
Type: Testimony
Description: Justice and his friends happened upon the body while out last night by complete chance.

Victim's Body Bag
Type: Evidence
Description: A large black trash bag in which the body of the victim was stored. The outside of the bag is littered with fingerprints, Justice's among them.

Toukai's Calling Card
Type: Evidence
Description: A mysterious business card of some kind. The design is most irregular. Has someone's email address on the back. Check

Bower's Room Key
Type: Evidence
Obtained from Joseph Cachè
Description: Key to Bower's hotel room at the Gatewater. Bower was living there before his murder.

Bower's Email Chain
Type: Evidence
Partially obtained from Joseph Cachè
Description: Three emails from a larger conversation between Bower and someone at Interpol. Bower proposes a case that Interpol refuses, then later agrees to investigate. Portions of the email are redacted using black marker. Check

Cachè's Timeline
Type: Other
Obtained from Joseph Cachè
Description: A list describing the progress of Cachè's investigation into Bower's disappearance. Includes a few of my own additions. Check

Evidence Board
Type: ...Evidence
Description: A web of nonsense covering one wall of Bower's hotel room. Includes details of the victim's case against Hakari. Appears to have pieces missing.

Desk Lamp
Type: Weapon
Description: A broken piece of hotel property. Has a large dried bloodstain on its lampshade. May have been used to hit Bower on the head.

Autopsy Report
Type: Evidence
Description: While Bower was concussed with a blunt instrument pre-mortem, his cause of death was a slit throat. Time of death: sometime on June 30th.

Gatewater Bath Towel
Type: Evidence
Description: A missing white towel. Potentially taken from Bower's hotel room by a kidnapper to cover the victim's head injury.
Update: Bits of the towel was caught on the hotel room's window, indicating the kidnapper's escape route.

Viper's Receipt
Type: Evidence
Description: A receipt detailing a payment from Hakari higher ups to one Steven Viper. Was found outside the victim's hotel room as a potentially stolen piece of Bower's evidence board.

A/N's: PTV wrote this chapter with commentary and support from Ajani. Both would like to leave notes on the chapter.

PTV: It's us, back with your second of three updates to this story for the year of 2021! ...I hope I'm joking. I have actually been excited to write the next part of this story for a few years now. I don't know how much it comes through in the writing, but this investigation sequence was difficult to put together at first. I knew what we needed to accomplish, but how to do it was a touch and go experience. And of course there are always easier fics around to write. I haven't been connected to the AA fandom for a while either. I came back for the Great Ace Attorney localization announcement.

That said, I will finish this fic if it kills me. We've come too far with the story to give up now. With regards to the content of the chapter, I think pieces are starting to fall into place. Eagle eyed readers might notice a piece wrongly inserted into the investigation just now, but don't fret if you didn't catch any contradictions. All will come to light later. In the meantime, I hope you're excited to see Viper make a second appearance in the narrative. Bet you didn't think he was coming back.

AA: I'm pretty sure you'll all be intrigued as to where he shows up next time. Let's just say Miles is in for a bit of a surprise.

Anyway, we slowly move on, towards the inevitable conclusion. I hope you all enjoyed the little thief segment as well as seeing how both Kay and Gumshoe have managed to become decent at investigating in their own right. PTV did a very good job with that.

Anyway, short side note, I did say I would plug myself this chapter, so here we are. I am indeed streaming, currently once a week though occasionally twice, on Twitch. AjanisApprentice is the channel name, as you likely guessed. w w w .twitch.tv/ajanisapprentice is the link, hope it goes through (subtract the spaces). Been doing Pokemon fan games, though I've been considering doing some Ace Attorney fan cases (yes, those exist). Anyway, I'd be happy to see everyone there.

Plugging aside, we will finish this story. It may be a slow chug up hit, but we will eventually get to the top.