Ace Attorney: Secrets beneath Secrets

Return to the Turnabout, Part 5

January 26

Courtroom No. 1

1:30 PM

Deirdre Brigit

True to my suspicions, it didn't take long for Mr. Barr to snap under the pressure we were putting on him. He slammed his hands against the witness stand once before looking up at me with a glare. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He raised it over his head before slamming it into the ground. I flinched, unsure of what it would be. I had a bad feeling about it though, and that was probably putting it lightly. My stomach turned and twisted as if it was an angry tempest.

In the end, my fears wound up being unfounded. The object in question that he had thrown was a bullet that appeared to have been smashed up against something. I smiled to myself. "Checkmate," I whispered. That was our final piece of evidence to prove he had done it. We had been thinking before all that would be required as a search of Mr. Barr to see if he had the bullet on him that had been taken from the crime scene, and sure enough, here it was. He had certainly made our jobs much easier.

"There it is!" Mr. Barr roared. "Now shut up! I've had enough of your words! It's time for you to shut up! I don't want to hear your voice anymore! Leave me alone! I'm sick of this!"

"It looks like the pressure finally got to him," Mr. Morix hissed with a small smirk. "I wasn't entirely sure if our plan was going to work, if you want the truth. It was starting to show a few cracks."

"I was worried too. It didn't seem like we would have been able to prove it without a forensics examination of the blood at the crime scene or a search of his person to see if he had the bullet on him, but the idea of being caught was enough to break him," I replied. "It's a win for psychology today, it seems."

"Maybe we should add that to our list of weapons in the courtroom. Psychological manipulation, that is," Mr. Morix laughed, though I could tell he was joking. We couldn't be sure it would work in the future, after all, so it was probably best to leave it on the back burner unless it proved to be vital.

"Bailiffs, arrest Mr. Barr," Judge Diaphan cut in. The bailiffs in the courtroom followed her instructions and moved towards him with handcuffs. Mr. Barr glared at them angrily, but he seemed to be able to sense that he couldn't do much of anything to fight back against them since they had the advantage of numbers.

Mr. Barr was taken out of the courtroom shortly after. He spent his entire path out glaring at me, ready to lunge for my throat. I was thankful he was restrained, as I got the feeling I would have wound up in a hospital bed or as the next victim if he was still free to do as he pleased.

Judge Diaphan waited until the courtroom doors were closed with a soft tapping sound before speaking. "It appears that we found the truth behind this case at the end of the day," she remarked.

"I didn't see it coming, that's for sure," Prosecutor Lin admitted. I got the feeling she was lying with how easily she had let us win. That part was still something of a mystery to me. I didn't know what Mr. Morix had been hinting at before regarding why Prosecutor Lin and Prosecutor Burke would have a motive to hold back. It didn't make much sense to me with the limited evidence I had.

"I'm willing to bet his motive had something to do with the bottle mentioned earlier. If that was the motive for the defendant, it could easily apply to someone else. I don't know why he would be after it, but the chance is still there," Prosecutor Burke announced.

"I suppose that will have to remain a mystery for another day, perhaps when his trial comes around," Judge Diaphan suggested. "Until then, I see no reason to hold this trial off any longer. Are there any objections from the defense?"