Ace Attorney: Quiet after the Hurricane

Turnabout Breakdown, Part 5

March 14

Courtroom No. 2

11:00 AM

Deirdre Brigit

"I sort of doubt that a rubber band was put over the latch to keep it from shutting," I murmured. "Ms. Rell just told us that the record only activates itself and records being opened when somebody puts their finger onto the fingerprint system. That means that Ms. Rell might have shut it down, but the killer opened it up again for some reason. If they didn't activate the fingerprinting system, then it wouldn't have been recorded."

"That seems much more plausible than the rubber band theory, actually... I mean, I'm sure that we would have found something like that at the scene of the crime. Either that or a police officer would have mentioned it up until this point," Chrysalis agreed. "Plus, Ms. Rell wouldn't have needed to put in the password on the box if a rubber band was on the latch to keep it open. She would have mentioned it if she didn't need to put in the password. The record is probably a key piece of this puzzle when it comes to figuring out who opened it up before her."

"Speaking of the record... I have a quick question," I said, looking up with a small frown to Ms. Rell.

"What is it? Did I say something weird?" Ms. Rell asked.

I shook my head. "No. I was just wondering about the record... Earlier, someone mentioned that you opened up the box to turn the power on. It was recorded to the file that states who opens the box and when. Well... Why haven't we put a concrete name to the one who opened the box before you? Wouldn't it be noted on the record?" I questioned.

"I'm afraid not... Whoever opened it messed around with the thing. They cut a hole in the page... One automatically comes out of the printer every six hours if somebody turns the power box on or off or otherwise meddles with it. The single page that pops out is the only record we have. It isn't permanently stored in the computer since the technology is kind of old and we haven't gotten around to updating it. We had plans to update it soon, but that doesn't really help us," Ms. Rell sighed. "Sorry..."

"That's unfortunate... But it means that we know something else that takes suspicion away from my client in the defendant's chair," I smirked. "You see, only somebody who knows of the record that is kept could get in there and cut a hole in the page. Plus, said person would need a lot of influence to get into that sort of important room in the first place. Further, the fingerprinting system wouldn't have her in the catalogue of people to allow inside. That keeps her from getting into the power box, which means that she couldn't have turned the power box. I mentioned earlier that the killer must have been the one to power off the box and cause the power outage to help the defendant escape. Therefore... My client is not the one who killed the victim!"

The gallery above burst out into another bout of chatter. I crossed my arms over my chest and smiled. It seemed that things were going my way in this trial... I couldn't really complain about this outcome.

"Good job, Deirdre!" Chrysalis grinned from beside me. "I can always appreciate the epic sort of turnabout!" After she had exclaimed this, her smile melted away to be a bit smaller as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear, embarrassed with her sudden outburst.

"I somehow doubt that Prosecutor Burke can come up with something that can counter that. Unless she has some sort of miraculous trump card hiding up her sleeve, we should be alright for the time being," I said.

"Don't jinx it... Polly is a really good prosecutor. She's passionate about her work. I doubt that she'll let this sort of thing go without some type of objection," Chrysalis frowned.