Ace Attorney Case Files: Rise From The Ashes(Part 2/3)

 Welcome back to my Case File for Rise From The Ashes. This entry will pick up where we left off last time, and get to the second investigation and trial days.

Previously On...

Two months after Maya's departure, a girl named Ema Skye hired Phoenix Wright to defend her sister Lana, a public prosecutor accused of killing a detective named Bruce Goodman in a parking lot. Phoenix accepted, despite the fact that Lana's guilt seemed certain.

Phoenix learned that Edgeworth, who was prosecuting the case, was the subject of many unpleasant rumors, and that Edgeworth's subordinate Detective Gumshoe had been ostracized.

During the trial, Phoenix cross examined Angel Starr, an ex-detective with a hatred of prosecutors, and managed to cast doubt on her claim that she saw Lana commit the murder, while finding a clue to a past incident known as SL-9. Police Chief Damon Gant took the stand, and revealed that Goodman had apparently been killed in the evidence room of the police station, and that the police have a suspect in custody.

Investigation Day 2

Phoenix and Ema are unsure what to think about the same person being murdered in two separate places, and have a brief conversation recapping the situation for the benefit of those who set the game aside after the save  point. Since I stopped playing for a little while after the first trial day ended, i found this rather convenient.

Ema takes Phoenix to the parking lot and insists her sister didn't wash away the blood. Phoenix believes Ema really does love her sister, but Ema claims that she's certain of this because Lana is a professional.

Ema shows Phoenix how to check for traces of bloodstains by spraying Luminol, and Phoenix uncovers a small amount near Edgeworth's car. Naturally, there's far less than one might expect from someone who was stabbed to death.

Angel shows up again, and insists that she saw Lana stab Goodman despite fudging some details on the witness stand. Unsurprisingly, Ema is rather cross with Angel for lying in order to get her sister convicted, but Angel condescendingly brushes her off.

Angel fondly recalls her days as a detective, but reveals that she was let go after the SL-9 incident. Goodman was the head detective on that case, but Angel is convinced that it isn't over yet.

After sharing several pieces of evidence with Angel, she tells the truth about the SL-9 incident. In that case, they caught and executed a criminal, but it turned out some evidence was fabricated. Angel was fired while Marshall was demoted to patrolman. Marshall and Angel are both cooperating on the case, so Angel asks you to bring Marshall a Salisbury steak lunch.

Phoenix and Ema head to the police station's security office, which has Old West decor. Somewhat counter-intuitively, investigating the office doesn't get you anywhere. On your way out, you see Gumshoe, who's famished and desperate for evidence now that they caught the perpetrator behind the killing in the evidence room.

Your next destination is the Detention Center, but since only four destinations are available for each area, you'll have to go from the Police HQ to Wright & Co Law Offices and then to the Detention Center, which is somewhat inconvenient. Then again, this does sometimes force you to pass through certain locations on your way to other locations, resulting in you seeing mandatory scripted events.

Mike Meekins is waiting at the Detention Center, accused of killing Goodman in the evidence room. He claims to have gone into the evidence room, which Marshall watches over, in pursuit of a suspicious person, but was knocked out. His hand is bandaged, not unlike Lana's, although he did a far more sloppy job of bandaging it.

As suspicious as Meekins seems at this point, he claims he didn't know Goodman, and that by the time he came to, Goodman's body had disappeared. Presenting Goodman's ID has Meekins claim Goodman attacked him after he asked Goodman to show him his ID. Despite the fact that it seems evident that "Goodman" might have been a fake, Meekins was arrested because of the security footage.

In the Criminal Affairs Department, Phoenix and Ema meet Gant as he supervises the investigation. Gant mentions that the Prosecutors' Department's reputation is in tatters after Manfred von Karma was exposed as a murderer and forger of evidence, which means that they might want to make an example of Edgeworth. Gant is tight-lipped about the current case, but talking with the Chief of Police, by examining the desk in the background reveals that Goodman was working on a lost item report on the day of the crime. When asked politely, Gant mentions that he prides himself on being so helpful that he'd loan $50 to anyone, no questions asked, and he gives Ema a card to allow her and Phoenix to check the crime scene.

At the Security Guard office, Phoenix and Ema find Marshall, who's unwilling to talk until you give him Angel's steak. A lot of evidence from the first game serves no purpose other than fulfilling fetch quests, but thankfully, this mechanic has become less common in the series over time.

Marshall mentions how he tends to leave watching the evidence room to the security cameras, since he's none too enthusiastic about being a patrolman. Like Angel, he was a detective until two years ago, when he lost the job due to the SL-9 case, and refuses to give up on the case, even though the evidence was transferred the other day, meaning the case will never be reopened.

According to Marshall, security tapes are erased every few hours, and only those with IDs can get into the room, leaving their ID numbers behind when they do. He refuses to share the records unless Phoenix proves their relevance to the case, which Phoenix does by sharing Goodman's ID. Marshall then shows that Goodman accessed the room at 5:14 p.m., just before the stabbing.

Inside the evidence room, Phoenix and Ema find Gumshoe, who's interested in the rumor that Gant will loan anyone $50. Once again stuck with the undesirable jobs that keep him out of the way, Gumshoe is tasked with guarding the evidence room, and mentions that he has a locker only he can open. The lockers are locked with a fingerprint scanner, one that some people don't know exists- obviously, the tech-ignorant Marshall fits the bill. Gumshoe is just as loyal to Edgeworth as ever, and says that it's "fate" that he's involved in a trial relating to the SL-9 case. In that case, Edgeworth convicted a serial killer, and Goodman, the head detective, was supposed to have put the case to rest for good.

There's a wealth of clues in the evidence room- a large bloodstain near Goodman's locker, a bloody handprint on Gumshoe's locker, a piece of a shirt hanging out of another locker, and a broken jar with a piece missing. Once the investigation is finished, Gumshoe excuses himself to see Edgeworth, and Phoenix also heads over.

It's a bit of a hike to Edgeworth's office, going from the Evidence Room to the Security Guard Office, to the Police Department Entrance to the Underground Parking Lot and finally to the High Prosecutor's office.

Once inside, Phoenix sees the Bellboy(a witness from "Turnabout Sisters") again, as well as a depressed Edgeworth. Edgeworth got the report Gumshoe gave him, which was written on a flyer for Tres Bien from Trials and Tribulations. It's a nice call forward to later games in the series, even if it doesn't mean much on its own.

Edgeworth mention that the committee decided he hadn't concealed evidence, but notes people have had suspicions about him since two years ago. He also mentions that he's lost control of the investigation to the police, and resents that decision, insisting that he's done nothing wrong. The latter seems to be trying to convince himself as much as it is to convince Phoenix.

Incidentally, if you spray Luminol on Edgeworth's office, you'll find small traces of blood on the carpet, implying that Edgeworth beats up Gumshoe over the detective's rather frequent blunders.

When asked about his ID showing up in the records, Edgeworth explains that Gant asked him to deliver a screwdriver to the Prosecutors' Office. When shown the knife from SL-9, he recalls that he was determined to solve the case, but denies forging evidence.

The conversation concludes with Edgeworth passing along a fingerprinting set to Ema, allowing her to investigate the evidence room. After hiking all the way back there, you use the set on the lockers; sprinkle the dust with the stylus and blow it off with the microphone. The first print turns out to be from someone wearing gloves, while the second is Gumshoe's and the third is Marshall's. Ema is rather shocked at the idea that Marshall is a suspect.

Trial Day 2, Part 1

On the second day of the trial, Lana apologizes for being unavailable since the end of the previous trial session. She nonchalantly mentions being interrogated all night, without access to her attorney, something that would never pass muster in the U.S.'s legal system. At least Lana appears to have gotten off easy compared to Jeff Masters of Ace Attorney Investigations 2, whose hair turned white after a night of intense questioning, and endured that for a year before cracking and giving a false confession.

She then mentions a plea bargain in which by cooperating with the prosecution, they won't seek the death penalty. Phoenix, however, has other plans, and intends to accuse Marshall. One other thing that strikes me as odd about Ace Attorney's trials is that while witnesses are frequently unavailable due to questioning, the results of the questioning never become relevant in court.

As the trial begins, Edgeworth is confident despite having been in the dark thus far, and calls Meekins to the stand. Meekins takes the stand, and is apparently convinced that he himself is guilty.

When cross-examined, Meekins reveals he went to the Evidence room twice- once to put the Blue Badger there, and once to retrieve him after everything settled down. He also once again claims that he fought with Goodman.

Meekins shares a security tape with the court. which shows Goodman going into the evidence room, opening his locker and fighting with Meekins. In the end, Meekins is left on the floor, while Goodman leaves. Both Phoenix and Edgeworth are at a loss, mainly focused on the Blue Badger, but Edgeworth asks for Meekins' testimony.

Meekins is sure that Goodman is the one he encountered based on Goodman opening his locker, but Phoenix proves the locker was already open when "Goodman" arrived, because of the glove jammed in the sensor. Despite this, Meekins has proof that Goodman was in the evidence room- his ID number was used.

The judge takes a moment to ask why so few people used the room, and Edgeworth says that it has a special purpose- storing evidence related to extremely violent cases involving the police. It's a bit surprising that the evidence room's purpose is this specialized, but it foreshadows the true nature of the SL-9 Incident.

Phoenix realizes that there's a hole in the testimony, albeit one that's too obvious for his liking, but proceeds anyway. You can point out the contradiction by presenting Goodman's ID card or his lost item report, proving that the ID card was at the garage at the time. Edgeworth them smugly reveals that he lured Phoenix into a trap to prove that the murder in the evidence room was fake, which must mean that the one in the parking lot was real.

Phoenix regains his composure and demands to investigate the blood in the evidence room. He then calls Marshall to the stand, something Edgeworth wasn't expecting. He also decides not to tip his hand just yet, claiming that Marshall is relevant by virtue of being in charge of the evidence room. Phoenix seems rather competent in this case compared to the rest of the series, even if he does end up bluffing from time to time.

In the lobby, Lana still rebuffs Phoenix's help, much to Ema's frustration. Gumshoe arrives, having been asked by Lana, using Phoenix's name, to bring the SL-9 case files. The Skye sisters' names are in the file, and they're horrified to recognize them as the Joe Darke killings, something Ema had hoped was over. Ema runs off, and Gumshoe excuses himself, leading to a save point.

Trial Day 2, Part 2

The trial resumes, and Marshall takes the stand. He barely introduces himself before the judge gets tired of his vernacular and demands that he testify in plain English. For some reason, the judge, who's usually rather tolerant of witnesses until Phoenix catches them in multiple lies, is rather impatient with Marshall.

Marshall claims that he left protecting the evidence room to the two security systems- the card reader and the cameras- on the day of the crime, not particularly impressing the judge. As Phoenix suspected, he doesn't know about the fingerprint locks. Speaking of fingerprints, though, his handprint turns out to be evidence linking him to the scene of the crime.

Marshall is undeterred and uses the security footage as evidence to prove his innocence, but Phoenix sees the proof- the scrap hanging out of his locker, which proves Marshall opened the locker. He sums up his argument in eight words or less- "You can clearly be seen in the video!" After proving that only Marshall could have activated the fingerprint sensor to open the lock, he returns the challenge to Marshall, who says "I only got one word for you, pardner," and screams "NOOOOOOO!"

Phoenix then gets to the heart of the matter- Marshall impersonated Goodman. In order to prove that, he shows that Marshall had to stash Goodman's white coat in his locker after it got bloodied during the scuffle with Meekins.

Marshall admits defeat and sullenly says that if Edgeworth had been more persistent two years ago, the present situation would have been avoided. He confesses his plan to steal evidence to reopen the case, revealing that he was lucky enough that Goodman's locker was already open, but unlucky enough to encounter Meekins. Worse, still, it was all for naught- the evidence had already been removed.

Phoenix and Edgeworth both ask Marshall why he would go so far as to steal a detective's ID and assault a fellow officer, both of which are serious crimes, but Marshall insists he had a reason. Phoenix realizes that the SL-9 case was personal for him because the final victim was related to him- in fact, Neil Marshall was Jake's brother. Jake reveals that Darke killed Neil, which resulted in evidence leading to Darke's conviction, but refuses to believe that Darke was the one who killed his brother.

In the end, Edgeworth once again concludes that the murder in the evidence room is fake and the one in the parking lot is real, and the judge prepares to announce a verdict over Phoenix's objections when Ema arrives, and points out the bloody handprint. Phoenix then points at the Blue Badger, perhaps the piece of evidence that's strangest while still being relevant, and says that the handprint could only have been put on the locker before Meekins moved the Badger there. He then concludes that the actual murder took place there.

The ID Record list shows two suspects. Edgeworth and the owner of ID #7777777. Edgeworth, who arrived ten minutes prior to the murder, had too little time, so it could only have been the latter. Since Goodman lost his ID, he entered with the real murderer. Unfortunately, the owner of the number is someone with a rank of Captain or higher, who can only be investigated with a murder charge. At this point, there's only one person who's been introduced thus far who fits the bill.

Marshall, who has been sniping at Edgeworth the entire time, is unimpressed with the younger prosecutor. Despite knowing that Lana couldn't have had the ID number in question, he has a question for her about SL-9- whether she forged evidence. To Edgeworth's horror, the answer is yes. The court is thrown into chaos and the trial is suspended.

The Case Thus Far

This is a good example of a case that gradually grows more complex over time. One strong point is how while the two incidents seem unrelated, each gradually introduces clues that help build the overall mystery. The backstory is rather interesting, both on is own and how it relates to Edgeworth's character arc. It also ends on a rather exciting cliffhanger.

The third and final day is by far the longest section, but also the one that brings everything together. That installment will have the most commentary- both on that third and the case as a whole.