Turnabout Reversal

Turnabout Samurai: Chapter Eight

"Yesterday, Mister Edgeworth presented us with a very interesting theory. He claimed that the real scene of the crime was in fact not Studio One, but Studio Two. Today I'll call upon someone who was present at Studio Two on that day to prove that nothing happened there. The prosecution calls Miss Dee Vasquez to the stand." Phoenix seemed on edge, like he had already lost control of his witness. Miles wondered if Detective Byrde had told him about what happened yesterday with Miss Vasquez when he and Ema had confronted her. She seemed as put together as ever, not a single hair out of place. She didn't even seem to be worried about the incriminating evidence he had against her anymore.

"I was at Studio Two from about noon until four o'clock on the day of the murder for a meeting. We took a break around two thirty, during which Sal and I ate steaks out on the table in front of the trailer. Sal drove me to Studio One in the van after the meeting due to my fatigue. That's all."

"Miss Vasquez... I can already see a clear contradiction in your testimony."

"Tsk tsk Mister Edgeworth... you mustn't always be so quick to accuse the witness of lying. You'll only get yourself into trouble." Being scolded by Phoenix again.... Great.

"I'm sorry Mister Wright... but there's no way that this witness is telling the truth."

"About what pray tell? Sounded fine to me."

"There is absolutely no way that Miss Vasquez ate steaks with Mister Manella out on that table. Compared to the ones that we found in the Employee Area," Ema held up the plate that had been tested on, wrapped in a protective plastic, to show that it still had bones on it, "the plates that were at Studio Two had no bones. Meaning! That no steak was eaten there at all! The steak had been thrown in the incinerator to make it look like someone had eaten there because Miss Vasquez had actually met with the Steel Samurai during that break and killed him!"

"Surely you jest. There's no way that I could be the culprit... I am a woman of petite stature, I couldn't have lifted that heavy spear." If Miles was right on his next theory, there was no need for her to have been able to lift the spear at all.

"Ah, but you had no need of lifting the spear Miss Vasqeuz, for it was not the murder weapon. There's no possible way it could have been. The handle had been broken and fixed with duct tape, making unpausible to be a murder weapon, especially if you were stabbing someone through a thick costume."

"What do you propose is the real murder weapon Mister Edgeworth?" Perfect, the question he had been waiting for him to ask. He smacked down the five year old picture that the security lady had given him.

"The real murder weapon is in this picture Mister Wright... see the spiky fence by the stairs? Miss Vasqeuz pushed Mister Hammer onto them just as he had done to another actor five years prior. Whether she intended to kill him or not, no strength would be required to kill him. All she had to do was push him off the side of the stairs." Miss Vasquez giggled, smirking at Miles as if she knew something that he didn't.

"If the murder did occur at Studio Two like you claim: then how did Hammer's body end up at Sutdio One in the Evil Magistrate costume?" She raised a fair question, but he had already thought of an answer to this one, unluckily for her. He had figured it out as soon as she had mentioned the van.

"You and Mister Manella took the body and put in the back of the van, where you then transported it to Studio One after the meeting, putting it in the Evil Magistrate costume."

"I concede that it is a possibility... but you don't have any proof do you Mister Edgeworth?" Shit... she was right, he didn't have any proof.

"That's right Mister Edgeworth, it's very likely that the w-witness could have done it but you lack... decisive evidence." Phoenix didn't seem sure of himself. He looked like he was at a loss, like he was conflicted over what to do.