Amicus Curiae (Ace Attorney Fanfiction)

Chapter 8: Turnabout Saviour Finale (Part 2)

She can't prove it...right? I thought. Why would she consider my parents, out of all the people on the tour? How could she even accuse them of...of... this...? I knew there was no way that they had anything to do with the crime, but it still took all my strength not to cry. I almost did, and whenever I felt tears coming to my eyes I would cover them with my sleeve until the feeling went away. But still, I did not cry. Finally, I looked up, and realised that the gallery was in chaos again. Mr Edgeworth and the judge were speechless. Ms Payne was smiling. After what felt like an hour, the judge called for order, and the courtroom became quiet after the fifth time. "Ms Payne! I cannot believe this!" The judge almost yelled at her. "To accuse this young girl's parents..."
"I warned her the truth wasn't going to be pretty," Ms Payne said smugly. "She said she could handle it-you heard her little speech, I take it?"
"Ms Payne, I am well aware of Miss Chime's words," the judge said sternly, "however, you had better have some strong proof in order to formally indict the Chimes. Especially as they are visitors to this country. The last thing we need is an international case."
"You needn't remind me of that, Your Honour," Ms Payne replied, "as it's one of the reasons I suspect them of being involved with this operation."
"Do elaborate, Ms Payne," Mr Edgeworth said.
"I take it that you know that the Chimes were the only foreigners at William's Cave that day, Mr Edgeworth."
"...Yes, I'm aware of that fact, but what exactly does it prove?" Mr Edgeworth asked.
"And as it has already been mentioned earlier today in court, you must also be aware of the fact that the Chimes were supposed to return to England today, just three days after the cave tour. It sounds like the ideal situation for a member of the smuggling ring: under the guise of tourists on a family holiday, they could arrange for the jewels to leave the country, then return home without leaving a trace. Bringing their sole daughter along would certainly give them a good reason to go on the cave tour, and having her 'go missing' would distract anyone sent to investigate the cave, should such a distraction become necessary. Of course, it became necessary for an entirely different reason, as I already explained..."
"Ms Payne, what you've been saying is nothing but conjecture!" Mr Edgeworth slammed the prosecutor's bench as he said this. "You can't prove that Mr Duthru or the Chimes are involved in this at all!"
"And last I checked, YOU failed to prove that Mr Robbington was involved, and if you can't prove that, then your entire case goes out the window!" Ms Payne screeched.
"At least my version of the incident explains how everything, including the smugglers' plan, was supposed to happen. How do you suppose Mr Duthru and the Chimes were supposed to leave the group to do their 'business' when there were so many people in the group, and all of them were prepared with whistles and torches?"

"The Chimes were easy," Ms Payne began. Has she forgotten I'm even here? I thought. I couldn't say anything at the moment, or I'd be removed from the courtroom. All I could do was stand behind the witness stand and listen to the two lawyers arguing.
"Since the Chimes were just tourists, the other members of the group wouldn't notice them leaving the group. I believe that they were supposed to separate themselves from the group after the break. Mr Duthru told the group they'd be taking a break, and as expected the children began to sit down against the wall of the cave. It was therefore inevitable that SOMEONE would sit against the fake wall that would send them into the hideout, and cause the fake blood to fall on them. The smugglers counted on the children's fear of the ghost of the cave to prevent them from getting suspicious. They had to cause a disappearance to cut the tour short, but to prevent any of the children from being able to give credible statements to the police that would come to investigate the disappearance, they made it seem that William O'Wisp's ghost had kidnapped the children-with the fake blood and ghost noises."

"Objection!" Mr Edgeworth yelled, slamming his bench. "And there your case breaks down, Ms Payne, for by asserting that both the boss of the ring and his accomplice, or accomplices, were in Mr Duthru's group, you fail to explain the noises which were heard from deep within the cave-deeper than Mr Duthru's group ever got!"
"I'm impressed that you picked up on that, Edgeworth; a prodigy you may be, but you're still a rookie, after all," Ms Payne said, twisting some of her hair around her finger. "However, I can explain how the noises were made-Mr Duthru gave his torch, hat and tour guide badge to Mr Chime, then snuck ahead to make the ghost noises. Mr Chime temporarily lead the group, then Mr Duthru came back, took back his gear, and nobody had any idea he disappeared."
"Objection!" Mr Edgeworth yelled again. "Ms Payne, I can imagine how the group members could mistake Mr Chime for Mr Duthru in the darkness of the cave-at least appearance-wise. But do you really think they wouldn't notice if their tour guide suddenly started speaking in a British accent? Especially as Mr Chime's own daughter was on the tour? And before you assert the it was Mr Chime that went ahead to make the ghost sounds, I shall explain why that is impossible: this holiday is the first time that Mr Chime has EVER been to America. And there are no records showing that he visited the cave during the holiday, apart from the day of the incident. Therefore, he would have had no way of navigating the deeper tunnels, where the sounds came from and getting back to the group without getting lost!"
"Ah!" Ms Payne exclaimed, then "Ah!" again as if she'd just realised something. "But surely, by using the sounds that the group members were making, he could find them. After all, as we know from the ghost noises, sound travels quite a distance in that cave. Not to mention, Mr Duthru's commentary and the frightened children's voices would have made it quite easy for him to find his way back to the group. He didn't even have to go that far in really; all he had to do was make sure the children would be able to hear the sounds in order to convince them that the cave was really haunted."