Sorrow & Mercy: a Great Ace Attorney AU

Soothing Conviction

Shock clutched the breakfast table. Lady Baskerville was silently reading the article over and over, her face filled with horror. Barok stared at her, brows furrowed, jaw tense. Susato touched her throat reflexively and felt her pulse hammering against her fingers.

"Yes. The body was discovered yesterday morning. Which is why I was absent when you awoke, love," Klint said.

"That's—That's horrible," Susato exhaled.

"Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Lady Baskerville said, setting down the newspaper and staring at Klint.

"Have you been assigned to the case?" Barok said.

Klint nodded and reached for his plate. "I am leading the investigation, in fact." He began to cut into the sausage that had been served to them.

"I imagine the public will be greatly panicked by this news," Barok said. "For a member of the House of Lords to be murdered so savagely. It will disturb their sense of safety."

"What a frightful way to kill someone," Lady Baskerville murmured.

"His deeds were wretched, but to be killed in such a manner...His murderer is less than human," Barok said

Klint stopped, his knife clacking loudly against his plate. He dropped his implements and shoved his breakfast away. "I should get to the office. We have much to do to," he said. And without any further preamble, he rose from his chair and exited the room.

"I feel no hunger," Barok said and stood. "I will be at my studies, should you need anything."

"Alright," Lady Baskerville said, her voice distant and thin.

Susato didn't know how to process this information. They had just been at Lord Stapleton's home, and now he was dead. Murdered, no less. A horrible chill clutched her.

A clock ticked from the other room.

***

The atmosphere that day was subdued. Susato and Lady Baskerville sat in the drawing room together, awaiting Klint's return and for Barok to emerge from his studies. Neither felt like speaking. And so, Susato read on the couch while Lady Baskerville sewed beside the window, nothing but the sound of the winter wind filtering in.

And then, at long last, Klint arrived. He strode into the room, his face pale and filled with exhaustion. Genshin and Gregson followed him inside.

"Miss Mikotoba, would you mind stirring the hearth? It is terribly cold," Klint said distantly. He touched his wife's shoulder, then paced over to the window and stared out at the mounting snow.

Susato stood and poked at the ash in the hearth, causing the flames to flare up brighter.

"Guessin' you all heard about the death of Lord Stapleton?" Gregson said, noticing her wan face. "It was quite the grisly scene."

"A hideous way to die," Genshin said.

Lady Baskerville pricked herself with her sewing needle and let out a loud hiss of breath.

"I cannot say I regret that the man is dead," Klint said without turning away from the window, the pale white light casting his figure with a wintry halo.

"Even if he committed horrendous crimes, it is still murder," Genshin said sternly.

"Of course," Klint said. "That is why we are doing our utmost to investigate the matter. But...can we really say his killer did not do us all a favour?"