With another murder happening at the same time, the same way and same victim this case has taken a turn for the strange.
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this.
DM77's Ace Attorney Chapter 47
The Evidence Room Suspect
February 23, 2:15 PM, J & Co. Law Offices
J and Makoto had return to the Law office to rest and process what they learned in the days trial, before planning their next course of action.
"Uh….um, Miss. J! So…" Makoto said looking determined "What's going on with the case, anyway?! I…I'm a little confused."
"Huh?! W-well, um…let's see." J said and thinks 'What is going on?' She then said "The victim, Detective Shuichi Saihara, was stabbed to death 5:00 PM on the 21st. He died in the Prosecutor's parking lot…and the Police Trooper Department's evidence room."
"What's this 'and the evidence room' part?!" Makoto asked, "The Prosecutor's Office and the Police Trooper Department are 30 minutes apart by car."
"Well…that's what we're going to find out." J said but thinks 'Or try to, at least…'
Makoto thinks and nods saying "Alright! Let's do it!"
'Glad she's in good spirits, but I'm not sure she's going to be much help with this…' J thinks and says in a whisper.
"Don't be so sure, Miss. J." Makoto said grinning.
"Huh?" J said surprised.
"Look, we're in this together, right?" Makoto asked her. "I'll prove that this thick rimmed eye mask of mine isn't just for show!" Makoto told her. "Let's go! Science awaits us!"
The two head out.
February 23, Prosecutor's Office, Underground Parking Lot
When they arrive, J looks around confused as Makoto had lead the way.
"You know, I really don't think we should worry about the Police Trooper Department murder!" Makoto said firmly "There wasn't even a body found there! Who cares?"
'Yeah! It was only our victim who was killed in their evidence room. No biggie.' J thinks sarcastically rolling her LED eyes.
"Besides, my sister would never do such a thing! I know it…" Makoto said.
They flashback to the trial during Verosika's testimony.
"That oil drum…Was it empty?" Hunter asked Verosika.
"The oil drum kicked over by the Chief Prosecutor…was brimming with water!" Verosika replied saying.
We come back to the present with Makoto looking down and said "My sister, erasing evidence at the crime scene? Never!"
'Even though she says they don't get along, Makoto really likes her sister…' J thinks and whispers looking at her.
"That's not it at all!" Makoto said overhearing her. "It's just…We're both professionals at what we do…and I trust her!"
'Big words for a high school student.' J thinks and said "Well, whether there was blood on the floor or not…The water in that oil drum washed it all away."
"He, he, heh." Makoto said grinning "Ignore the strength of my science at your own peril, Miss. J!"
"Huh? What's that grin for?" J asked confused.
"This situation calls for one thing, and that is…Luminol testing fluid!" Makoto said pulling out of her bag a spray bottle.
"L-luminol?" J asked.
"Blood is sticky stuff, you know. You can't just wash it away with a little water." Makoto explained "Even if you can't see it, it's still there…"
"But wouldn't the police troopers have already done those tests?" J asked her.
"Never trust anyone's eyes but your own, Miss. J!" Makoto told her and hands her bottle to her.
"M-me? Why do I have to do it?!" J asked shocked..
"I'm a minor! I can't even drink yet!" Makoto points out.
'We're testing blood stains with this stuff, not drinking it…' J thinks deadpanned.
"Here, look, I'll give you this eye upgrade chip that will be like this mask." Makoto said inserting the chip into J's head.
"Huh? You have a chip that is like that thing?" J said surprised and confused. When it was installed J's eyes turn red and she sees the world as red.
"To test for blood reaction just spray the luminol on it." Makoto explained and sprays the bottle "Like this, see? Okay! Let's find us some bloodstains!"
J nods and sprays the area near the body outline and sees something show up. As the two look closer J thinks 'I can see her eyes shining behind that mask…' She then asked Makoto "So, is this a bloodstain?"
"Uhhh…It's so…ugh!" Makoto said uneasy and shaking.
"Makot, you're shaking." J said to her concerned.
"It's just…this is my first time seeing real blood!" Makoto admits.
'Scientific investigation in action…' J thinks.
"O-okay, well, we definitely know that this is a bloodstain." Makoto said looking at it "But, doesn't something strike you as odd? Scientifically speaking, of course?"
J thinks on what's odd with was the amount of blood and said "The perpetrator and Detective Saihara fought here, right? Don't you think there'd be a little more blood?"
"I definitely think so!" Makoto said smiling as J reverts her eyes to normal. "I mean…" She shows the image of Saihara's shoe soles "Look at all the blood on the sole of the vicim's shoe!"
'It IS pretty strange!' J thinks 'If they fought here, there'd have been more blood than this.'
"Uh, h-hey, Miss. J!" Makoto said smiling "I'm going to mark up the floor plans when we find a bloodstain, okay?" She then marks the spot in blue and shows J. "See…I'm pretty handy to have around, right?"
"Uh, yeah. And this stuff's pretty handy, too." J said looking at the luminol fluid bottle.
"I saved up my allowance to buy that!" Makoto said proudly. J nods and adds the Luminol Testing Fluid to the Criminal Record as she puts it in her bag. "We can't be sure that the police troopers will reveal all their evidence in court. Sometimes they fail to mention evidence that doesn't fit with their view of the case."
"Then let's drag that 'hidden evidence' out into the light of day!" J said firmly.
"Yeah!" Makoto said proudly. "It feels like we're really investigating a crime now, doesn't it?"
'Guess I should give this a spray on anything suspicious.' J thinks looking at it in her bag.
"Hah!" A famailar voice laughed and the two see Verosika Mayday approach. "I wonder how that fluid of yours would react to a nice Deli Box?"
"Miss. Mayday!" Makoto said surprised.
"You only trust your own eyes, hm? Not bad, you two…" Verosika said with a smile and hands them a lunchbox with rest and sushi in it "This day-old Deli Box is on the house…"
"Sorry, it's just, that kind of lead in doesn't really get my mouth watering." J said.
"Well, you certainly put me in a tight spot today." Verosika said to J referring to the trial.
"My apologises Miss. Mayday, but…" J said to her.
"No, no, it's okay. It was my fault." Verosika told her.
"Oh, we know." Makoto said.
"I witnessed everything from that security room right there." Verosika said pointing to it. "But…I was afraid that wouldn't sound convincing enough, you see…I was wrong to thing that. I'm sorry."
"Sorry? You lied on the witness stand! That's unforgivable!" Makoto said angry.
Verosika looks at Makoto then gives her serious look and said "Little girl, don't forget what's important here. Even if the place I witnessed the events from was different, I still saw what I saw. I saw Chief Prosecutor Niijima stab a man in cold blood, and that testimony still stands!"
"Ah…" Makoto yelps at that.
"I swear it on my honour as a detective! She stabbed Saihara!" Verosika said firmly. Makoto looks down sadly.
'I know this photograph has something important to tell us…but what?' J thinks looking at the crime photo
"So…you were a detective, weren't you, Miss. Mayday?" Makoto asked her smiling.
"Yes…It was a long time ago. Well, two years ago." Verosika said smiling "No matter how hardened the criminal, when they faced me…" She flips to serious look "They coughed it up."
"Coughed it…up?" J asked though easy to see how interrogation works well for a succubus.
"They confessed." Verosika states "They babbled like love struck fools." She then hands over a lunch box with a smile "You know, I may be a type of demon and act like one…But can be an angel, too."
"I wouldn't doubt it." J said with a nod.
"Every day, I dragged the dirt out of the mouths of suspect after suspect…And before long, they called me…" Verosika said and gets serious "The Cough-up Queen!"
"Oh, and here I thought someone had gotten food poisoning from your lunches." Makoto said writing in her notepad.
"And….you were 'let go'? Er…fired?" J asked.
They flashed back to the trial with Past Verosika said "I felt that I had found my dream job when I became an investigator…And if these prim and proper prosecutors hasn't let me go, I'd still be one today."
The present Verosika said with a serious look on her face as if containing her anger "It's all because of that case….The SL-9 Incident."
"SL-9?!" J said surprised and thinks 'Wait! She doesn't mean…!' She gets out Saihara's Note and presents it to Verosika.
"Um…What do you think about this?" Makoto asked as J shows the note.
"The 'SL-9 Incident'…It's written on that knife…And that note…" Verosika said looking serious. She then sighs a bit as if remembering something as she said "Saihara…" She looks to them "Saihara was the head detective on that case despite his age, you know."
"Really?" Makoto asked.
"That knife was evidence from that case…the murder weapon." Verosika explained "It was due for transferal the very day that Saihara was killed." She looks serious "As I suspected…SL-9 isn't over! Not yet!"
"Do you think you could tell us more about the SL-9 Incident!" J asked her. She then presents Saihara's ID Card to Verosika.
"I had one of those up until two years ago…" Verosika said with a smile.
"Back when you were the Cough-up Queen, right?" Makoto asked smiling.
"We found this ID card here in this parking lot…" J explained to Verosika.
"Well, there's no mistaking that. It's definatly Saihara's." Verosika said with a smile.
"But…" J began to say "It's the same ID as the man who was killed at the Police Trooper Department.
Verosika looks at her and said, "That's impossible."
'I wish I could be so sure…' J thinks and then presents the Crime Photo to Verosika.
"If you think about it, I could have taken that picture from the guard room." Verosika said looking at it. "But…even I get flustered sometimes."
"So, you went straight to the scene of the crime?" J asked her.
"I rushed towards the chain link fence in an effort to stop the murder." Verosika explained "That's when I took this photo, yes."
"In other words…five minutes after the crime?" Makoto said.
"Those five minutes are the whole problem…" Verosika said and looks serious "The hole in my testimony, as it were."
"The five minutes weren't the problem, Miss. Mayday, you lying was the problem!" Makoto states firmly.
"Listen, little girl. I've had my testimony 'disregarded' before…" Verosika said with a serious glare "And I wasn't going to have it disregarded again! Just like that time…"
'That time…?' J thinks and realized it was about the SL-9 Incident she was possibly meant.
"That incident really opened up my eyes to the truth." Verosika explained "We're nothing to them. Disposable."
"Disposable? To who?" Makoto asked.
"Two years ago…it was the biggest case I'd ever handled." Verosika explained. We see a flashback showing Veosika in a white first coat in a room with Anakin who was sweating more professional looking armor, Shuichi Saihara who had a blue cap instead of a fedora and another man who we don't see the face off but, just the back of him, but he had short brown hair, and whore a white sleeveless specialist uniform, brown fingerless gloves and blue boots. They were all around a map of Cyber City "The police troopers and the prosecutors were desperate for decisive evidence." Verosika explained.
"So…. they didn't solve it?" Makoto asked.
"On the contrary." Verosika said as we return to the present "It was solved quite cleanly. The criminal was caught and executed."
'E-executed…?' J thinks in shot, this case must have been serious.
"Yes, the criminal got what was coming to him. It doesn't get any cleaner than that." Verosika said with a serious smile. Then looks serious more so "The only problem was…they never did find decisive evidence. Not a shred."
"What?! But the criminal was executed, right?" J asked confused.
"On the basis of evidence…of a sort. Made up evidence." Verosika explained.
"Wh-what? You mean they executed someone with fabricated evidence?!" Makoto said in shock.
Verosika with a smile said "The best part came several months after the trial. Every detective involved with the case was dealt with. Some were demoted to patrol stormtrooper others found themselves out of a job…"
"And…you were one of those?" Makoto asked sadly.
"Myself, and one other person you know well." Verosika said smiling,
'Wait, could it be…?' J thinks knowing who the succubus meant.
"Exactly. Detective Anakin Skywalker." Verosika said nodding knowing what J was thinking. "Oops, I mean, Police Trooper Department security detail 'Officer' Anakin Skywalker."
Verosika then said "As professional detectives, we investigated that case from every angle. Anakin was particularly determined. And then...it was over. And he was demoted. However…" She then looks serious angry "He hasn't forgotten. And neither have I!"
"You haven't forgotten SL-9?" J asked.
"There was another side to that case, a hidden side." Verosika explained "That's what we're after now. And no one up in their fancy offices can stop us."
"Wait!" Makoto said in surprise "Th-those lunches you sell…"
"There is only one reason I come to sell lunches in this accursed office." Verosika said serious. "I come here to meet old friends…boyfriends that can help me investigate."
'Miss. Mayday's old boyfriends…How many does she have, anyway?' J thinks 'Just when all the detectives on SL-9 have disappeared, we find new evidence…'
"There has to be a connection!" Makoto said determined.
"So, Rookie…" Verosika said looking at J.
"Wh-what!" J said taken aback.
"It seems like you're serious about investigating this case…" Verosika said with a smile.
"Yes." J said nodding.
Verosika hands over a lunchbox with a whole steak on it and said "Then you should take this."
"A…Mos Eisley Steak Lunch?" J said confused taking it.
"I know a certain guy who might help you if you tempt him with this treat…" Verosika said with a smile. J nods and puts it away and adds it to the Court Record as a reminder.
"Um, Miss. Mayday…?" Makoto said looking at her. "Officer Skywalker…is he your…um, are you his…? Are you g-g-g-goint out?!"
"Why do you want to know?" Verosika asked with a teasing smile.
"I was just wondering what happened to him?" Makoto said looking down sadly. "A long time ago, when he was helping my sister do cases, he was so nice. He got along so well with my sister, it made me jealous. And…he was nice to me too, back then."
'This would be when Officer Skywalker was a detective.' J thinks
"But now…now he's so cold!" Makoto said looking down.
Verosika looks at her and then said with a sympathetic smile "Anakin and I are merely cooperating on this investigation. We're putting the past to rest, as it were. Nothing more than that."
"I…I see. Thank you." Makoto said with a smile.
'Officer Anakin Skywalker…Hmm…' J thinks. She and Makoto to the Police Trooper Department.
February 23, Police Trooper Department, Entrance
J and Makoto arrive and see many of the officers coming and going. They also saw the Blue Kuriboh there at the front dancing away.
"It's even busier here today than it was yesterday." J notes looking around.
"The detectives are running around so fast they're blurring." Makoto notes surprised.
'I suppose it makes sense a detective did get killed here, after all.' J thinks.
"So…the evidence room. The scene of the crime!" Makoto said thinking and pulls out a pamphlet. "According to the pamphlet we got at the front desk…Here it is!" She points to it smiling.
'She's like a kid at an amusement park' J thinks with a smile.
"Ooh, a real crime scene! Let's go take a look!" Makoto said excited.
J nods and head on in.
February 23, Evidence Room Entrance, Guard Station
They enter the Guard Station and find it full of strange sci-fi Jedi warrior décor also there were come cacti for some reason. Across from there is a door with a ID lock.
"What's with the décor in this place? It's very…eccentric." J said looking around.
"According to the pamphlet, this is the guard station for the evidence room." Makoto said looking at the pamphlet.
"So, beyond that door is the evidence room…the scene of the crime?" J asked.
"It sure seems that way…Oh. Ohhh…" Makoto said realizing something.
"What's wrong?" J asked.
"It's those cacti! They're so prickly…so imposing! It's hard to think straight." Makoto notes.
'If you can't handle the cacti, stay out of the desert…' J thinks and then said, "What I want to know is, if this is a guard station, where is the guard?"
"I have a feeling I know who he is already…" Makoto said thinking.
J looks to the door to the evidence room and said, "The evidence room is beyond that door."
"Let's just walk in!" Makoto said as she goes to enter but struggles to open it. "It won't open."
"You thought it'd be open?" J asked her and thought 'I think we'd need someone's permission to go in there first…' She then looks at the security monitors "It looks like there's a video feed from the evidence room here."
"There's a light blinking below the monitor." Makoto notes smiling. "It says 'Recording'! I bet we could use this computer to check on who went in and out of there!"
J nods and with no one else here, they left the area and head back to the entrance.
February 23, Police Trooper Department, Entrance
J and Makoto walk out and see many Police Troopers and detectives still coming and going.
'This place is charged with frantic energy, as always.' J thinks.
"Please!" A voice called out; it sounded familiar.
"Huh? Wasn't that…" Makoto said thinking.
"One energon steak lunch, please!" N said suddenly approaches but stops "Oh, it's you."
"Detective N!" J said surprised.
"Now's no time for chit-chat, pal. I'm a busy drone!" N said firmly. "What I really need is a energon steak lunch from Lunch Kingom."
"Oh…you mean one of these but energy based?" Makoto said holding up the Steak Lunchbox. "Actually, it's not for sale…" N's smile fades to a sad frown.
'I think I just heard the sound of his robotic heart breaking.' J notes concerned.
"Now's no time for despair!" N said composing "We've caught our criminal! Now we just need evidence!"
"The criminal…You mean…?" J asked.
"You heard about the stabbing in the Police Trooper Department evidence room, right, buddy?" N said smiling.
J flashes back to the trial
The past version of J said "On the same day that a detective was killed in the Prosecutor's parking lot…Another detective…. was killed at the Police Trooper Department?!"
"And the perpetrator? Do you have a suspect?" Hunter asks.
"Well, there was a suspect. Just arrested them in fact." Giovanni said smiling.
We return to the present as N said serious "It's the biggest scandal to hit the station in ages! Everything's topsy-turvy."
"But, Detective N, who was it?" J asked him.
"Listen, buddy, all I know is I need me a energon steal lunch, pronto!" N told her. "Standing around here talking isn't going to fill my energy bar!" With that he leaves.
"W-wait! Don't leave!" Makoto said surprised.
"If you want to know more, head on down to the detention centre, buddy." N called out after stopping "Questioning should be over, so I figure he's down there having a good cry. Later!" He runs off.
"He ran off to the evidence room…" Makoto notes.
"Well, this investigation is off to a running start." J states. She and Makoto then head to the detention centre.
As they walked Makoto thinks and said "Poor, Mr. Deamonne…"
We see a flash back of the trial as Giovanni laughs and claps saying "I know you're going though a tough time, Huntsman…What with all those rumors…You were even in the defendant's chair just this past December…!" We see Hunter glaring and looking annoyed.
"There was that business with him no reading that officer's report…" Makoto mentions.
"Ah, about the killing at the Police Trooper Department, right." J said nodding as she thinks about Giovanni laughing and clapping 'The Chief of Police Troopers was right about that…But I can't help but think…' The image of Giovanni stops clapping and just smiles with a hint of smugness 'Someone at the Police Trooper Department doesn't like Hunter…'
February 23, Detention Centre, Visitor's Room
The two arrive and sits on the chairs as they wait for the suspect of the Evidence Room murder was brought to them.
"Still, I do feel better about things. A little." Makoto said with a smile. "I mean, they caught the person who stabbed Detective Saihara, didn't they?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess they did." J said less optimistic and thinks 'Best to not go too far down that road right now. Things will just get confusing.'
Suddenly a lout siren sound is head like a loudspeaker being tuned interripts them. Makoto asked "Wh-what was that?!"
"Sir! That's what I'm saying! Me, a perpetrator?" A familiar voice said "I-I-I'd say I-I-I was the perpetrated against, sir! That's what I'd say!" They then see sitting across from them on the other side of the glass was Officer Toad who looked sad and salutes and said "Ah, oh, uh. Hi. Greetings, sir."
"Wait, I know who you are…" Makoto said smiling
We then flash back to the other day in Hunter's office where past Toad said saluting "Excuse me! But is Mr. Deamonne, uh…anywhere on the premises? I'm here, sir, at the request of the Chief, Sir! I've got your report, sir!"
We return to the present as Makoto said smiling "Officer Toad! So you're a guard here at the detention centre?"
"No, sir! I'm not sure! I'm a little lost Scout Patrol Trooper, like a little lost lamb, sir!" Toad said saluting still.
"Oh, I get it. You're here to deliver a report?" Makoto asked him.
"No, sir, I, uh, how should I say this…" Toad said.
'Wait…he isn't…is he?' J thinks slowly dawning on what Toad is here right now. She asked "You…Officer Toad…You didn't…did you?"
"Err…." Toad said then calls out into his loudspeaker "Perpetrator Officer Toad reporting sir!"
"What…?! Whaaaaaaat?!" Makoto calls out shocked.
'Now this is an unexpected turn of events…'J said surprised.
"Sir! I'm a Scout Patrol Trooper with General Affairs, sir! SIR!" Toad said into his loudspeaker.
"Ow. I can hear you fine, Officer Toad." J said rubbing her ear receptors.
"I had some business that day, sir, and so I went to the evidence room, sir…" Toad said sadly "The guard station in front of the room was empty, sir!"
"So, normally there's a guard at the evidence room?" Makoto asked writing in her notepad.
"That's right, sir! Because evidence is kept in the evidence room, sir!" Toad said with a nod. "Now, the security officer…was none other than Officer Skywalker!"
'S-Skywalker?!' J thinks surprised.
"Then, sir, I happened to glance at the security room monitor!" Toad said thinking and smiling. "That's when I saw him, sir! A suspicious person in the evidence room! A suspicious person, sir! A suspicious person indeed!" He slams his fist into his hand and yelps out in pain.
'What the heck is this guy doing?' J thinks confused she think she saw a bandage in his hand but isn't sure.
"So, what happened then?" Makoto asked Toad.
"After that, sir, I…I…everything went white! I saw red! I blacked out!" Toad said "And…when I came to, I was here. In the detention centre."
'How long were you out?! Days?!' J thinks a bit annoyed.
"Um, might I ask…what happened to your hand?" Makoto asked seeing Toad's left hand was bandaged up.
"Sir! There was no one to bandage me, sir!" Toad said saluting. "So I did what I could to wrap it up, sir!"
'A bandage on his hand…. just like Miss. Niijima.' J thinks.
"Yet another similarity between this case and the one at the Prosecutor's Office…" Makoto said thinking.
"First things first…. tell us how you hurt your hand!" J said to Toad. "About your hand…Did that happen during the course of the crime?"
"Well! You see, sir, I, er…" Toad said in the loudspeaker but sheepishly stops.
"Don't you think you should just confess?" Makoto said glaring at him.
"But, sir! Sir! But! There was nothing I could do!" Toad said into the loudspeaker.
"'Nothing you could do'…?" J said confused.
"Sir, to tell the truth, sir, when it happened…" Toad said saluting "When the detective pointed that knife at me, I just hollered, sir! And the next thing I knew, I was unconscious!"
"The next thing you knew you were…huh?" J said now more confused.
"Then, when I opened my eyes…I was alone in the evidence room, sir! All alone!" Toad finished up saying. "Alone, because…Because Detective Saihara had disappeared!"
"What?!" Makoto said surprised.
"Then when I looked down, I was gushing blood from my hand, sir!" Toad told them both then in his loudspeaker said "Oh, the shock! Oh, the sorrow, sir! Can you imagine how I felt?"
'The victim's body…disappeared…?' J thinks surprised.
"Hmmm…That's some story." Makoto said thinking.
"Um, I don't mean to pry, but you are the perpetrator, correct?" J asked him. "You killed Detective Shuichi Saihara in the evidence room…right?"
"Sir…Please don't look at me with those sad puppy dog eyes!" Toad cried out sadly "If you have to label me as perpetrator or victim, sir…Then label me victim!"
"Um, I would, but you happen to be in detention. And alive and well at that." J points out.
"Ah, yes, well, that's true, sir. I suppose you could say that." Toad said sadly.
"Did you know the victim, Detective Saihara?" J asked him.
Toad salutes and said "Well, sir, if I had to label him as a 'stranger' or a 'total stranger'…" He then yells into the loudspeaker "Then I'd say he leans heavily on the 'total stranger' side!"
"So…you didn't know him?" J asked looking deadpanned.
"Sir! I work in a tiny department, devoid of light or other creature comforts!" Toad explained smiling and salutes "I don't know any detectives!"
"So, if he was a total stranger, why did you stab him?" Makoto asked him.
"Sir! I had n-no intention of killing him, sir! None!" Toad tells them and says in the loudspeaker "N-nor do I have any recollection of k-killing him, sir!"
'At least someone around here is more confused than I am.' J thinks at that. She then presents Toad with Saihara's ID.
"Um…do you think you could take a look at this?" Makoto asked Toad.
Toad looks at it and said "Hey! That's it, sir! That's it! That's it!"
"That's what?!" Makoto asked confused.
Toad salutes and said "My head was a blank until this very moment! But, sir, now I remember! I remember, sir!"
"You mean you remember what happened?" J asked him.
"Correct! That card, that card was the cause of it all!" Toad told them.
"This…ID card?" Makoto asked confused.
"Exactly, sir! That's exactly it!" Toad said nodding and said into the loudspeaker "Nothing could be more exact, sir! Nothing!"
'I'd better pry into this one a little deeper.' J thinks. She then asked, "Can you tell me what it is you do 'remember'?"
"Well sir, you might say I'm a lost little patrol scout trooper. A lost little lamb, if you will!" Toad said thinking. We see a flashback of Toad in the evidence room with who appeared to be Shuichi Saihara, Toad was saluting to him. "I didn't know Mr. Detective Saihara who was in the evidence room." Toad states.
"And that's why you thought he looked suspicious…" J asked him.
"Sir, I entered the evidence room, and asked the man to show me his ID card!" Toad explains saluting.
"Well, that sounds pretty much by the book so far." Makoto said smiling.
"Th-that's right sir! That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Toad told them.
"So, you asked Detective Saihara to show his ID card. What did he do?" J asked him.
"That's the thing! Suddenly he pointed a knife at me!" Toad said through the loudspeaker.
"What…?!" Makoto said in shock.
"Sir, I assure you I was as flustered as you are right now!" Toad said sadly. "So I whooped and leapt at him!"
'Detective Saihara pointed a knife at him?' J thinks
"'Do unto to others before they do unto you'! My own father's words, sir!" Toad states saluting.
"Wh-what happened then?" Makoto asked Toad.
"Well…" Toad said and thinks then said "My eyes, sir…everything went white. When I awoke, I was here."
'Right…' J thinks nodding.
"So, Officer Toad, why was if that they arrested you?" Makoto asked confused.
"What do you mean, Makoto?" J asked her.
"Let's look at what we know." Makoto explained "Now, Officer Toad didn't know Detective Saihara…And the 'victim' whom he met at the scene of the crime didn't show his ID card."
"In other words, we have no way of knowing if the victim was really the victim!" J states thinking.
"And if this 'body' just 'disappeared' from the evidence room…" Makoto said writing on the notepad "We don't even know if anyone actually died!"
"That's it, sir! That! That's what I wanted to say!" Toad tells them. But then gets sad "That is…I did say something along those lines."
"Huh? But you still ended up here…?" Makoto asked confused.
"They told me that it had to be him sir. 'On that day, at that time…Detective Saihara was definatly in the evidence room.' That's what they said." Toad explained saluting.
"But…you don't remember the events clearly?" J asked him.
"No…but the video tape is quite clear." Toad said smiling.
"Huh? Video tape…?" Makoto said surprised.
"From the security camera." Toad said saluting. "The crime, my crime, the crime I swore to stamp out! It's there! It's me! It's on tape!"
J and Makoto state at him wide eyed and silent and Toad remains silent. Makoto annoyed then asked "And you waited until now to tell us this?!"
Toad salutes and said "I'm sorry, really sorry, sir! I'll hand over my badge! I don't deserve it!"
"N-no thanks, I have my own." J said and thinks 'Well, guess we'd better go check out the crime scene.' She and Makoto then leave for the Criminal Affairs department.
Mysteries upon more mysteries, all that is left now is to investigate the evidence room to try and make sense of it.
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