Case 4 - Turnabout Goodbyes
Investigation (Day 3) - Part 1
: A memory… of a murder.
: … I don’t believe it. Not Edgeworth. Some painful memory has been troubling him recently… But he’d never take someone’s life! Never!
: Nick…
: Whaddya think of my performance today? I had 'em swooning in the ailes! Huh, Maya?
: S-swooning? Me?
: Oh… Oh, yes.
: I do remember feeling faint.
: Right on! Tell me the truth, it was like love at first sight, right?
: Right, Nick?
: H-huh? Me!? I… uh, well, maybe my heart skipped a beat or two…
: … I think you can do better than that!
: C’mon! I saved Edgeworth in there, dude! Edgey!
: You guys should be bowing before me! Yeah! Bow before your hero!
We should probably find out what happened between scenes there.
: Larry… You really helped out in the trial today.
: You did! If you weren’t there, Larry, I’m sure Mr. Edgeworth would have been found guilty!
: Hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah!
: But, seriously, Nick. That boat shop caretaker guy is pretty suspicious… But Edgey ain’t off the hook yet!
: Way to spoil the mood, Larry.
: Hey, I’m just a guy sitting in the audience, you know? But from where I was sitting, Edgey seemed pretty… edgy. I mean, can you really know he’s telling the truth about that night?
: …
: Nick?
: I don’t know. But… what I do know is… I’m going to believe in you two until the end.
: Us two?
: Edgeworth and… who else? You mean me right?
: Nah! He means me! Right, Nick?
: Yeah, you, Larry.
: Not… me? …
: B-but why you, Larry!?
: Huh? Um, actually, yeah. Why me, Nick?
: …
: Hmph. Enough with the silent treatment!
: Nick… Why do you trust Mr. Edgeworth so much?
: I mean, he’s changed recently, true.
: But when we first met him, he was kind of a jerk, don’t ya think?
: … You didn’t know him back then. Back when he wanted to become a defense attorney.
: Wait…
: Was that when you two were classmates?
: Yes. In grade school…
: They saved me… Miles… And Larry. They saved me and I’ll never forget it. That’s why I became a defense attorney, you know.
: Hey, hey, Larry. What’s he talking about?
: Huh? Uh… umm…
: Er, sorry. I kinda forgot.
: Hmph.
: Okay, Nick. Out with it! I’m going to hear this story today, and that’s final!
: Okay, okay. It’s kind of a long story, so hang in there. … It was the beginning of Spring, 4th grade. I was on trial. A class trial.
: A c-class trial!?
: You remember, Larry? Spring, 4th grade? A kid in my class got his lunch money stolen.
: Lunch money?
: Our school was really small.
: Huh, I see.
: Anyway, this kid’s envelope disappeared. With $38.00 still inside.
: Oh… Yeah, now that you mention it, I do remember that!
: I can see why you’d forget, though. You were out of school that day. Anyway, the envelope had been stolen during PE class. I was coming down with a cold, so I’d skipped PE that day. I was the only one not in class.
: So… they thought you did it?
: Yeah. The kids in class said I should be put on trial.
: Trial…?
: So the next day we held a classroom trial, with me as the defendant.
: “Guilty!”
: “He did it!”
: “Guilty!”
: “It was you!”
: “Thief!”
: “Give me my money back!”
: “You’re suach a meanie!”
: “No one play with him!”
: “Just admit you did it!”
: “You can’t hide the truth!”
: “Tell us the truth!”
: “We’re not gonna play with you any more!”
: “Yeah, and no borrowing my eraser!”
: “He shouldn’t be allowed in the relay race!”
: “Or on the library committee!”
: “Gimme back my 50 cents I loaned you!”
: “Hey, did you rob that bank the other day?”
: In the end, even the teacher thought I’d done it.
: “Apologize to the class, Phoenix.”
: I was so sad… I couldn’t stop crying. Everyone was staring at me like I’d done it… I tried to apologize. I went over to where the boy was sitting… … That’s when it happened.
: “He shouldn’t have to apologize! The only thing that belongs in a trial is evidence! Anything else has no place! You should all be ashamed… amateurs!”
: “M-Miles?”
: “No…”
: “Then you shouldn’t apologize! Everyone’s been shouting you did it, but no one has any proof! That is why, Your Honor, this boy is innocent!”
: “Yeah yeah!”
: “He did it! He’s the one!”
: “We don’t need proof!”
: “Make him say he’s sorry!”
: “Just think how he feels! He said he didn’t do it, so he didn’t do it!”
: “Very well. I will replace the money myself. This class trial is over.”
: After that, the three of us were always friends.
: Yeah… I had no idea, either! I mean, I forgot.
: That’s when I learned what it meant to be alone. Totally alone, without a friend in the world.
: You did a good thing, Larry!
: Um, yeah, well… I was just lucky that I took the day off from school. If I’d been there they would have thought I’d done it!
: So I took it kind of personally, see.
: (“When something smells, it’s usually the Butz.”)
: Anyway, Edgeworth and I talked after that class trial. That’s when I heard his father was a defense attorney. I remember, his eyes would shine when he talked about his father.
: “A famous defense attorney!”
: Right. I’m not sure, but the transfer probably had to do with his father’s death.
: That’s so sad!
: … It was several years later when I heard Edgeworth’s name again. There was an article about him in the newspaper. The headline was something like “Dark Suspicions of a Demon Attorney.”
: But why? What happened!? I mean, that’s not the Edgey I used to know at all!
: That’s what I thought too. I tried to get in touch with him I don’t know how many times… He never replied.
: I guess he didn’t want to see his old friends…
: I couldn’t just drop it, though. I wanted to meet him, to learn why he had become who he became. That’s when I decided.
: Wait… You don’t mean…? That’s why!? That’s why you became a defense attorney!? To meet Edgeworth!?
: If I was a defense attorney, I knew he’d have to meet me whether he wanted to or not. In court.
: …
: Edgeworth believed in me, and I believe in him. He’s in pain… And no one’s on his side. I’m the only one who knows the real Edgeworth. I’m the only one who can help him.
: Whoa… Nick. S-so, is that why you helped me out for free?
: Uh… yes. I helped you because I believed in you. (Except I don’t remember saying I’d do it for free…)
: Aww, Nick! Nick!!!
: Nick! We have to save Mr. Edgeworth if it’s the last thing we do, okay?
: Right. (It very well may be…)
: First, there’s that rental boat shop caretaker.
: We need to find out who or what he is!
: I’d settle for who. (I guess I can clean out some of this evidence I no longer need… …)
And he does - the Court Record loses about a quarter of the items within it.
: Okay, let’s go!
And we’re off to check in with Edgeworth.
: …
: You look as grim as always.
: Hmph.
: Um, Mr. Edgeworth? I heard the story about the class trial…
: Class trial? What do you mean?
: You… don’t remember?
: No, I don’t.
: Your lunch money was stolen, wasn’t it? In 4th grade…?
: Lunch money…? … Oh… Oh, right. Yes, I seem to remember something like that.
: Nick. I think you’re the only one who really remembers.
: Well, it probably only really mattered to me anyway.
: Mr. Edgeworth, didn’t you know? The trial was the reason Nick became a defense attorney!
: … Ridiculous!
: (Gee… thanks.)
: That said… It does sound like the kind of thing you’d do.
: You haven’t changed a bit, have you, Wright? So… simple. To a fault, even.
: Well, maybe yeah, but… I think you changed too much, Edgeworth.
: … Perhaps.
: Hey, Edgeworth. Why did you become a prosecutor, anyway? You used to look up to your dad… You said you wanted to be a defense attorney, right?
: … I couldn’t let myself deny reality like you.
: What do you mean?
: My father was taken from me, and you want me to defend criminals?
: I’m sorry, Wright, but I’m not that good of a person!
: One suspect was apprehended in your father’s murder, right?
: Yes. The man trapped in the elevator with my father. His name… was Yanni Yogi.
: He had to be the shooter, any way you look at it! Yet… he was found innocent. That defense attorney got him off the hook!
: When we were rescued, we all suffered oxygen deprivation. I had lost all memory of the murder.
: Lost your memory?
: He claimed Yanni Yogi had been “not of sound mind” due to the oxygen deprivation. Yogi was released due to a lack of evidence… innocent.
: I started to hate defense attorneys.
: What’s your relationship with von Karma?
: He’s my teacher, and a man who deserves respect. I learned everything I know of courtroom techniques from him.
: So, he’s like my sister was to you, Nick.
: He is a perfectionist in all things. In court… In his personal life… He is obsessed with doing everything perfectly.
: Perfectly, huh?
: In all the cases he has taken on, none were left unsolved. And not one suspect was declared innocent. Ever.
: But… but that’s…
: I know. It’s possible some of the suspects were indeed innocent.
: However, it is impossible for us to accurately determine that in every case. All von Karma does is his job, to find the suspect guilty, perfectly.
: In any case… It’s nigh well impossible to find a weakness in him. Should a weakness appear, he would do everything in his power to make it go away.
: Um, Edgeworth? If what you’re saying is true, you’re headed for a guilty sentence tomorrow!
: Now’s no time to praise the enemy, Mr. Edgeworth!
: Mmph…
: It’s a strange situation in which I find myself, I’ll admit.
: (No kidding.)
If we try to show Edgeworth the photo of his dead father from the DL-6 incident…
: N-Nick! No!
: Th-that’s a photo of his father! Don’t show him that!
: (You’re right… Now probably isn’t a good time to dredge up those memories…)
: What is it?
: Uh, um, n-nothing.
: Huh?
If we show him Lotta’s picture of the gunshot going off…
: Um, uh, no reason.
: … You know, I was impressed by your deduction in the trial today. Granted, you were at the end of your rope, but still.
: Nick, he noticed.
: Hah hah.
We should probably check in with Gumshoe, too.
: (Hmm… Looks like Detective Gumshoe hasn’t gotten back yet.)
: Oh… really?
: He said there was some guy he had to arrest by tomorrow.
: (The boat shop caretaker…)
: He shouted something about “catching him if it’s the last thing I do, pal!”
: (Good luck, Gumshoe!)
So, to the lake!
: Oh! Detective Gumshoe!
: Close one today, eh!
: I got so worked up, I snapped my tie in half!
: Uh… Sorry about that.
: No prob, pal! Thanks to you, we now know who really did it!
: You mean, the boat shop caretaker?
: Look, I’ll make you a promise. I’ll have that scoundrel in my custody by trial time tomorrow! Come what may! It’s my duty to you as a police officer!
: Now, I’m off to catch me a criminal!
: …
: Detective Gumshoe sure is… active today.
: Oh, one other thing!
: Eek!
: No one can go into the woods today.
: The woods?
: (Where Lotta was camping?)
: The woods are off-limits to camping, and apparently the park ranger found out. He got pretty mad. No one can go in for a while.
: I guess Lotta’s in a ‘lotta’ trouble…
: Anyway, I’ll be seeing you tomorrow!
And he leaves.
: Huh? The Steel Eyesore is missing…
: “Eyesore”!?
: Looks like the hotdog stand is closed, too.
: I guess Larry’s been too busy with the trial to show up for work…
Next time: Visiting the boathouse.