Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth/The Kidnapped Turnabout/Part 3-4 - End 1
It turns out that the spare Blue Badger costume was hidden in some tall grass before it was discovered. Since Agent Lang has yet to arrive, we can investigate the costume. Examine the silver object in its neck hole. It looks similar to the victim's pendant, but before we can figure anything out, Agent Lang interrupts us. He says that it's a piece of decisive evidence, as it has the name "Lauren" engraved in the back. Ms. Paups's Pendant is added to your Organizer. That means that Lauren Paups is one of the kidnappers, which she confesses to. Agent Lang now shifts his suspicion of the murderer to Ms Paups, as his team found Officer Meekins' gun that didn't show signs of having been fired. Ms Paups confesses to this too! This case can't be that simple, so she must be hiding something! Edgeworth requests that she give a testimony.
Testimony: Lauren Paups edit
- The one who came up with the kidnapping plan was the butler, Mr. Deacon.
- We knew that we could get rich by holding Lance hostage.
- Mr. Amano would pay anything to get his son back, after all.
- Everything was going according to plan, but as soon as we got the money...
- ...Mr. Deacon turned on me, and tried to kill me!
Rebuttal: Ms. Paups's Confession edit
Press her fifth statement, and raise an objection when prompted. Ms Paups says that Mr Deacon probably planned to kill her from the very beginning, though he couldn't have. Raise an objection and present Ms. Paups's Pendant, then present Mr. Deacon's Pendant. They have a similar colour and are made of the same material, so they could be one pendant. Connecting them makes a Pegasus pendant. Now, for extra proof, present the Colin Devorae Dossier. Oliver Deacon was just an alias of the victim, used to avoid capture after he broke out of jail, but there's one thing that holds special interest. Present the words sole daughter. Colin Devorae is Lauren Paups's father, so he couldn't have planned to turn on his own daughter. Lang thinks there's another possibility why Mr Devorae turned on Ms Paups.
Argument: Shi-Long Lang edit
- I'll grant you that the two of them are father and daughter.
- But, isn't it possible that they both knew that fact?
- It was no coincidence that the reunited pair became involved in the house of Amano.
- And the two of them made good use of their meetings to plan this little kidnapping.
- Wouldn't you say my scenario is perfectly probable as well?
Rebuttal: Another Possibility edit
Present the Stolen Costumes at the fourth statement. Four costumes were stolen by the kidnappers, though one is found at the kidnapper's hideout. That means there must have been a third kidnapper. The third kidnapper could be the mastermind of the kidnapping. When asked who he is, present Lance Amano's profile. Lance doesn't seem to recall a third kidnapper, so he could be simply faking the kidnapping. Agent Lang and Lance himself say that Lance wouldn't have seen all the kidnappers while he was kidnapped. Lance tries to recall his kidnapping.
Testimony: Lance Amano edit
- I was kidnapped yesterday morning.
- They had me shut in that room, blindfolded, the entire time.
- But the kidnappers suddenly disappeared around the time I heard rain falling outside.
- My hands were cuffed, but it was a stroke of luck that they left me alone.
- I made my escape and ran away from that room as fast as I could.
Rebuttal: Lance's Testimony edit
Press the fifth statement to get a new piece of testimony about Lance's escape.
- The door leading outside was locked tight, so I had to use the underground passageway.
Present the Broken Prop Sword on this new statement. The door itself was unlocked - only the sword was jamming the door up until Agent Lang's men broke into it. Even if his hands were cuffed, Lance could easily have removed the sword. Lance must have locked himself in to pretend he was being held captive, but because he didn't have the key to the door, he had to use the prop sword. Agent Lang says that Lance doesn't have a motive to fake a kidnapping, but he does! Present the Love Letter. This love letter isn't a love letter at all, but a collection bill from a loan company. Lance was in quite a debt, so he had to fake his own kidnapping to get the money to repay it.
Lance confesses that he kidnapped himself, though he was later betrayed by Mr Devorae. The victim attacked Lance when he was alone, though Lance managed to subdue him. Then, he and Ms Paups escaped by wearing the costumes and getting away separately. Ms Paups wore the Blue Badger costume and escaped first, but Lance was attacked again by Mr Devorae. He then put on a Bad Badger costume and took the money. Lance contacted Lauren and warned her about the victim. Ms Paups still thinks that she killed her own father.
Testimony: Lauren Paups edit
- That man was not my father! I mean... Because... at the stadium...
- There was a Bad Badger pulling the suitcase with the $1 million in it.
- But that Badger pointed his gun at me, aiming to shoot me dead!
- That's why I... I used the gun I got from Lance...!
- There was a gunshot, the other person crumpled to the ground, and I ran, scared for my life.
Rebuttal: Chain of Events edit
Press statement three. You get a revised piece of testimony.
- But that Badger pointed the gun in his left hand at me, aiming to shoot me dead!
Present the Colin Devorae Dossier on this new statement. The victim was right-handed, so the person that aimed at her couldn't have been her own father! Agent Lang then says that the Bad Badger had a model gun in his right hand, so the victim could only have used his left hand to hold the real gun. If that's the case, then the Bad Badger must've been carrying the gun in his left hand and the suitcase with his right hand. There's an obvious contradiction here, so the only way to explain it is that Both are correct. There was a way for the Bad Badger to use both hands freely. Present the Bad Badger's Head. The head of the costume could have easily been matched with the body of another costume. Which one? Present the Proto Badger. The Pink Badger's body is a different colour and Ms Paups was already wearing the Blue Badger costume at the time, so the only possibility is that the person she killed was wearing a Proto Badger body.
Ms Paups says that Lance was wearing the Proto Badger costume. Lance was only pretending to be the victim so that Ms Paups would have thought that she killed the victim. There is only one reason Lance would want to do that, and that's because he was the murderer! Lance reveals that he is indeed left-handed, which matches Paups's testimony. Agent Lang says that Lance must know that the bullet could have passed right through his costume and killed him, and he probably did, so he did something to prevent him from being killed. Present the Missing Model Gun. The model gun has been ripped off of the disposed-of Bad Badger costume, and it can fire blanks. Lauren threw the gun into the sea, so there's no way to prove our case. We also don't know where the murder really took place. The murder must have taken place at an earlier time.
Lauren says that she witnessed the victim in a restrained state, so he couldn't have been killed any earlier. Or could he?
Testimony: Lauren Paups edit
- I came back to the hideout long after the other two.
- By that time, Lance had already subdued and restrained Mr. Deacon.
- He had tied Mr. Deacon securely to the beam in the room next door.
- After that, the two of us put on our costumes and made our escape.
Rebuttal: What Ms. Paups Saw edit
Press statement three. You get a new piece of testimony.
- The captive had a Bad Badger's head on, so I'm absolutely sure it was Mr. Deacon.
Press this new statement and raise an objection. Present the Bad Badger's Head and, when asked to choose who it could have been instead, select Miles Edgeworth. The kidnappers abducted Edgeworth to make him look like the victim! If Edgeworth was mistaken for the victim by Ms Paups, that means the victim had already died by then. Lance then let Paups escape first before removing the Bad Badger head and staging the murder. However, since Ms Paups never actually checked who the captive was, she couldn't verify that Edgeworth was there either!
Bad Ending Six: If your logic runs out here, Lang arrests Ms Paups, telling Edgeworth that his logic needs work. Ms Paups says she'll pay for her actions.
Another costume edit
Out of nowhere, Mr Amano arrives to make up for his son's actions by presenting a new piece of evidence. It's the missing Bad Badger costume! Mr Amano says that he fished the costume and the gun from the sea, and explains that he has gotten permission from the Chief of Police to do as he pleases. He had it privately examined by a group of forensics experts, who confirmed that the blood was the victim's and the fingerprints on the gun belonged to Ms Paups.
Examine the neck hole of the head. There are pieces of a mirror in it, but why? The Mirror Fragments are added to your Organizer. Then, examine the gun on the badger's abdomen to add the Revolver to your Organizer. Finally, examine the bullet hole. The hole has burnt marks around it, which means that the victim was shot point-blank. The Victim's Costume is updated in your Organizer. It's up to Lance to tell us his version of events again.
Bad Ending Seven: If you run out of logic after Mr Amano finds the missing costume, Lance decides that Edgeworth is wasting everyone's time. Mr Amano decides to let the court go through its process, leading to Lance being acquitted of charges due to a lack of evidence.
Testimony: Lance Amano edit
- Make no mistake. There are fingerprints on that murderous gun.
- And they proved that it was Lolli who killed Oliver.
- But Oliver was also after Lolli's life.
- So Mr. Edgeworth, even you must see that Lolli was only acting in self-defense.
Rebuttal: Decisive Evidence edit
Press Lance's first statement and Raise an objection. Ms Paups' prints couldn't have been on the gun. Present either the Stolen Costumes, the Bad Badger's Head, or the Blue Badger Bible. Lauren Paups was wearing a costume while she was at the stadium, so how could she have left prints? Her fingerprints could have been left when she touched it when the other kidnappers went to collect the ransom money. We also have proof that the whole murder is, in fact, set up. Present the Victim's Costume and then the bullet hole. If the victim was shot from below the stage, there shouldn't have been any burn marks!
Agent Lang now challenges you to give the true crime scene. The only place Lance and the victim were alone was when they went to collect the ransom. Present the Haunted House, then present the Mirror Fragments. The fragments were found in the costume, and the only place they could have come from was the Haunted House. Agent Lang states that there is another broken mirror at the hideout, and although it is much less likely for the fragments to get into the costume, we can't prove that the fragments came from the Haunted House!
If we can prove the murder happened at the Haunted House, we can prove Lance's guilt! Unfortunately, Mr Amano states that he bought the deed to the Haunted House while we were arguing, so we can't investigate it. That's a big problem for our case...
The chapter now ends.