The Kidnapped Turnabout

Episode 3: The Kidnapped Turnabout is the third episode of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. In this episode, Miles Edgeworth is asked by Ernest Amano to find his son Lance Amano, who has allegedly been kidnapped. This episode introduces Edgeworth's new sidekick Kay Faraday and his rival Shi-Long Lang, along with Shih-na, Lang's assistant.

Beginning

 * 10:11 a.m.

Miles Edgeworth had the $1 million of ransom money ready. Dick Gumshoe was on the watch with his binoculars. Edgeworth walked across a bridge, where a man in a Proto Badger costume greeted him and welcomed him to Gatewater Land. Edgeworth declined an offer to take a picture with the Proto Badger.

Just then, the kidnapper called. He asked whether Edgeworth was a cop; it was evident that the kidnapper was using voice alteration. Edgeworth told the kidnapper that he was the prosecutor, and that he had the ransom money from Ernest Amano. The kidnapper instructed Edgeworth to go to the stadium, and then to the haunted house. The kidnapper directed Edgeworth to one of the rooms and told him to leave the money on the table there. Edgeworth did so, and then he heard a sound, but he thought little of it. Then, as he was leaving the house, a Proto Badger costume sneaked up behind Edgeworth and struck him with a sword...


 * 11:23 a.m.

As Edgeworth awoke, he heard some voices talking about betrayal and meeting up somewhere else, because police were arriving. He wondered how he had been caught up in this affair. He had only done this as a favor for Ernest Amano, the owner of a powerful zaibatsu called the Amano Group, and an individual to whom he owed a debt of gratitude. Now, he had to find a way to escape his prison.

As Edgeworth struggled, a girl taunted him as she leaped down from the window of the room. He asked if she was one of the kidnappers, and she replied that she did not participate in such petty crimes. She introduced herself as the Great Thief Yatagarasu, also known as Kay Faraday. She untied Edgeworth, who then proceeded to ask her some questions.

Faraday insisted that she was the Great Thief, though she had not actually stolen anything. Apparently, she was the second Yatagarasu, inheriting her title from someone else. She was after only one thing, though what that was would have to wait. She tried to escape through the door of the room, but the door was locked, and the window was too high for her to make her exit.

Escape from the Isolation Room
Edgeworth found his cell phone and called Gumshoe. Gumshoe informed Edgeworth that he had already sent the police to Gatewater Land, but then another voice interrupted. The voice introduced himself as Shi-Long Lang, an Interpol agent. Lang informed Edgeworth that he was in trouble, and that he should have contacted the police from the very beginning. Lang declined to help Edgeworth out of his prison, only saying that after he had caught the kidnapper, he would get around to finding Edgeworth... eventually. Edgeworth's phone then ran out of power.

There was a sign for a "Badger Photo Rally" occurring at Gatewater Land. Getting a photo taken with the Blue Badger, the Pink Badger, the Proto Badger and the Bad Badger would net a persistent individual a prize. Edgeworth noted that he had seen the Proto Badger in the haunted house. Edgeworth also noticed eight boxes for Badger costumes; only one Pink Badger costume was present, meaning that the other seven costumes were in use. Edgeworth saw a key next to the costumes. There was a Bad Badger head in the room as well. Edgeworth noticed that the beam that he had been tied to led right to the window. Faraday tried to climb it using a hook on the beam, but she failed.

Edgeworth decided to see through the slot on the door to the next room, from which the voices had come. The next room had a door very similar to the one through which he was peering. Edgeworth wondered whether the room in which he was trapped had a trap door just like the one in the next room. The trap door was held open by a hook on a beam; Edgeworth removed the tarp that had been on the floor in the room he was in to reveal a similar trap door. It turned out that the tiny key found earlier was for this trap door. Faraday took her chance and jumped right into the basement, but she slipped on the ladder, which detached as she fell. Though there seemed to be no exit in the basement, Edgeworth realized that the detachable ladder could be used to make their escape through the window.

The Shifu

 * 12:11 p.m.

Edgeworth and Faraday met Gumshoe outside; they were in the Wild, Wild West area of the park. Nearby, an MIB sounded off 99 officers. Agent Lang then walked out from a saloon with his right hand assistant Shih-na. Lang told the MIB not to count off his officers because they were all #1 to him. Lang told Edgeworth that he had heard a lot about him, and then claimed that he would have solved Edgeworth's previous murder case before fellow agent Akbey Hicks had even died. Now Lang was out for revenge. Edgeworth told Lang that the kidnapped was someone he knew, and so he asked to help with the investigation, but Lang shouted:



Lang told Edgeworth to go back to the courtroom where he belonged, and that this case didn't need a prosecutor to distort the truth. Edgeworth felt a sense of loathing emanating from Lang as he sent his subordinates off to find the kidnapper. Edgeworth realized now what Franziska von Karma had meant when they'd talked at Hope Springs Airport. Edgeworth asked Gumshoe what was going on, but Gumshoe insisted that he had called the Criminal Affairs Department, only for Lang and his agents to take over the investigation out of the blue.

Faraday reassured Edgeworth that he should continue his investigation with her. She said that she was the Yatagarasu, and the one thing that she was after was the truth. Edgeworth recognized Yatagarasu as a vigilante thief who had thrown the business world into panic seven years ago by stealing evidence of shifty dealings and exposing corruption.

Ernest Amano then found his way to Edgeworth. Edgeworth thanked Amano for helping Edgeworth with his international law studies by contacting the relevant law offices. Amano replied that he and Manfred von Karma had been friends, and so it was natural for Amano to have helped Edgeworth. Edgeworth told Amano that the kidnappers had presumably taken the money and were now on the run, while Ernest's son Lance Amano was still missing. Ernest noted that his butler, Oliver Deacon, was also missing. Deacon had taken a leave of absence, after which not even his family heard from him again. Edgeworth wondered whether this disappearance was related.

Edgeworth vowed to Ernest that he would be the one to find Lance. Gumshoe and Faraday were at his side, ready to help.

Investigation
Unfortunately for Gumshoe, he was a part of the police force, which was now under Lang's direct command. A fellow detective came to drag Gumshoe out of the Wild, Wild West area, leaving Faraday alone with Edgeworth. Edgeworth told Faraday to go home, but she insisted that she had stolen the role of Edgeworth's assistant, and Edgeworth had little choice but to let her tag along.

Edgeworth noticed many sets of muddy footprints in the area left over from rain from a while ago, though he would need to know what the kidnappers had been wearing. Edgeworth also found a set of three muddy tire tracks near a garage, implying a getaway during the rain using an unusual vehicle. Faraday found the Blue Badger near the tracks. She took her picture with the Blue Badger and then unmasked him. Inside the Badger was Mike Meekins, an old affiliate of Edgeworth's.

Meekins was apparently undercover for Lang's investigation. He had been in the Wild, Wild West area for the past hour, but he hadn't seen anything suspicious except for a second Blue Badger. Edgeworth knew that only one Blue Badger was supposed to be in the park at a time. Edgeworth also knew that seven of eight Badger costumes were missing from the Isolation Room, which meant that the kidnapper had escaped as an extra Blue Badger, and an extra Proto Badger and a Bad Badger without a head were still around. For now, Edgeworth had found which footprints to follow.

There were two Badger footprints, one leading to the stadium and the other leading to the garage. Faraday opened the garage to find a dead body, which Ernest identified as Oliver Deacon's body. Edgeworth wondered whether Deacon had been one of the kidnappers, and he knew that he had to work quickly before Lang showed up.

Edgeworth noticed a gunshot wound in Deacon's lower right abdomen and another in his right shoulder. The bullet must have entered the stomach and exited the shoulder. The crime scene also seemed a little too clean. Edgeworth found a platinum horse pendant around Deacon's neck with an engraving reading "Colin Devorae". Edgeworth found this odd.

A woman walked into the crime scene looking for Lance. She identified herself as Lauren Paups, Lance's girlfriend, though she was immediately smitten with Edgeworth. She said that she had heard about the kidnapping, but seeing as Lance wasn't here, she promptly left.

Lang suddenly arrived at the scene. Upon finding the body, he arrested Meekins on the spot. Edgeworth was horrified at the rashness of Lang's arrest, but Lang replied that the logic and reasoning behind it were not his concern. Arresting suspicious people was his only job; that's how he kept criminals off the streets. Edgeworth refused to allow Lang's tyrannical handling of the case, so Lang agreed to play by Edgeworth's rules.

Shi-Long Lang's Logic
Lang knew that gun laws these days didn't allow anyone other than law enforcement to obtain a gun very easily. Lang claimed that this logic was based on the "philosophy of detainment", invented by his ancestor Lang Zi and used to this day by Zheng Fa law enforcement. Edgeworth asked about the other officers; Lang replied that he had already checked the guns of everybody else within minutes, finding that none had been fired. However, Meekins had lost his gun. Lang continued that Meekins had ambushed the victim in the garage and killed him with his gun. Edgeworth replied that the scene around the body was too clean for that to be possible. Lang conceded this, but then he asked what Meekins had been doing in the Wild, Wild West area in the first place.

Meekins's Testimony
Meekins claimed that he had been so caught up in his cover as the Blue Badger, driving his "Blue Badgermobile" (a three-wheeled mobile souvenir shop), that he had simply ended up in the Wild, Wild West area. Edgeworth pointed out that the Blue Badgermobile was now in the garage. Meekins then claimed that it had been stolen at some point, and that he had gone to Wild, Wild West to find it. Lang didn't believe his story, instead suggesting that Meekins had used the Blue Badgermobile to move the body. Edgeworth retorted that the real crime scene was still unknown, so no solid conclusions could be drawn yet. Lang wouldn't hear it; the "truth" was for prosecutors to discern in the courtroom with their "logic", not something for investigators to waste time on.

Lang then demanded that Edgeworth leave so that the body could be moved to the coroner. Lang warned that if Edgeworth stayed in his way, he'd be arrested for obstruction of justice.

Middle, Part 1

 * 1:22 p.m.

"Kay Faraday"

- There's something even thieves should never steal. Do you know what that is?

"Miles Edgeworth"

- You really shouldn't steal anything, however, I'll bite. What shouldn't a thief steal?

"Kay Faraday"

- A life. It's too heavy of a burden on your soul to get away with, ever.

"Miles Edgeworth"

- That's something we can agree on. Well said, Kay. No matter what we may try, murder is the one crime that can never truly be hidden. And I intend to prove that by my own hands... when I apprehend the murderer myself.

Miles Edgeworth and Kay Faraday found themselves in the Gatewater Land main gate. Edgeworth knew that he would first need to find the real scene of the crime. Dick Gumshoe rushed to Edgeworth's side to inform him that a witness had been found at the stadium, before he was forced back to his post.


 * 1:42

Edgeworth and Faraday met Ema Skye at the stadium. Skye was apparently visiting California for her spring break vacation. She had heard that Edgeworth had returned as well, so she had come to Hope Springs Airport to meet him. She had then followed Edgeworth's footprints using forensic tools to track him down. Additionally, Gumshoe had called Skye for her help in the investigation.

Edgeworth found the Pink Badgermobile at the stadium, as well as the Pink Badger. Faraday took her picture, and then the Pink Badger suddenly took off her head, complaining about the stuffiness - she was Wendy Oldbag! Oldbag had been stalking Edgeworth for a while now, and she was also the witness mentioned before.

What Oldbag Witnessed
Oldbag had witnessed one ordinary man shoot another during her break at the stadium; the victim had then fallen to the ground. Unfortunately for Edgeworth, this testimony wasn't very helpful, as Oldbag couldn't even describe the two men. However, Faraday had a secret weapon on hand: the Little Thief.

"Kay Faraday"

- Dark skies of evening, when no other bird dares take wing, one alone remains all-seeing! Now, witness the true power of a real, modern-day Robin Hood!

Edgeworth was impressed by the Little Thief's ability to re-create the crime on a simulation based on known inputted facts. This would allow Edgeworth to verify certain aspects of a witness testimony easily.

Investigation
Edgeworth wasted no time finding the first contradiction; just like at the garage, there was no blood where the body should have been. However, he also remembered that if Deacon had been one of the kidnappers, he would have been wearing a Badger suit, which would have absorbed the blood. Now Edgeworth had to look for footprints, and Skye had just the tools for the job, confirming recent Badger footprints on the ground easily.

Edgeworth now found a contradiction in Oldbag's testimony. One of the "men" that she had seen was inside a costume, and so was definitely not an ordinary man as Oldbag had testified. Oldbag admitted that she had witnessed the murder from a second-tier seat in the stadium, and so she could only see the two people in shadow.

Edgeworth noticed that the stage had been broken down after the murder to prepare for another show. The stage was re-erected in the Little Thief simulation. Edgeworth now found that there was no room for the killer to have been in the location that Oldbag had claimed. This naturally meant that the killer had been standing on the stage.

Lang then arrived at the scene. Lang thanked Faraday for saving his time with her recreation, and then ordered his officers to re-erect the stadium; that was his own "re-creation" of the crime scene. He still intended to arrest Meekins for the murder.

Agent Lang's arguments
Lang argued that the killer had shot the victim from the top of the stage, just as the simulations had shown. However, this contradicted the victim's wounds, which indicated an upward trajectory for the fatal bullet. This meant that there was a mistake in the simulation; the victim had been the one on the stage. This also meant that the killer had also been in a costume; the killing had been from one kidnapper to another.

Lang pointed out the presence of tire tracks on the ground behind the stage, which were indicative of the Blue Badgermobile. Edgeworth disagreed, for there was no mud on the Blue Badgermobile now. This meant that only the Proto Badgermobile could have made the tracks in question.

Suddenly, Lance Amano stumbled into the stadium. He collapsed, and he said that he had been trapped in the room next to Edgeworth's until he escaped. He also said that one of the kidnappers was a woman. Lang now ordered Edgeworth and Faraday into Wild, Wild West again, but left Sky and Oldbag be to take their statements.

Middle, Part 2

 * 2:34 p.m.

Ernest Amano thanked Miles Edgeworth for finding his son, though he was still in shock over Oliver Deacon's death. Amano asked Edgeworth to deliver to Lance what looked like a love letter, though the letter was from Tender Lender, a loan company. Edgeworth then asked Lauren Paups about Lance. Paups replied that her father was an employee of the Amano Group, so Paups and Lance had grown up together. Paups's father's job had him fly around the world in one of the company's planes, named Pegasus. However, he had disappeared ten years ago. Edgeworth found it odd that Paups had known about the kidnapping, but thought little of it.

Edgeworth asked the officer guarding the kidnappers' hideout to let him in. The officer had received orders from Dick Gumshoe to let Edgeworth pass him, and to give Edgeworth a document concerning Oliver Deacon. It turned out that "Oliver Deacon" was really Colin Devorae, who had been convicted in a case ten years ago. He had then escaped from jail and become Oliver Deacon to cover up his real identity. Additionally, Lang had already investigated the kidnappers' hideout by breaking through the door.

Investigation

 * 2:55 p.m.

Edgeworth found that the lock on the door that he had just entered was undamaged from Lang's break-in. He also found a sword nearby whose blade had broken off of its hilt. Edgeworth deduced that the sword, not the lock itself, had been the obstruction in Lang's way. There was also a costume disposal bin in the room; Edgeworth noted that they were disposed in pieces.

Edgeworth then inspected the table in the room. He found three chairs near the table, as well as three Styrofoam cups containing coffee that had evidently been poured that day. Something wasn't adding up; Edgeworth had assumed that there had been two kidnappers, but had there been three?

Suddenly, the Proto Badger came in from the basement. Faraday took her picture of the Proto Badger, and then the Proto Badger promptly walked toward the Isolation Room, only to find that the Bad Badger costume was missing. The Proto Badger explained that the Bad Badger costumes normally weren't in use until a certain stage show in which the Bad Badger would terrorize the park and the other three Badgers would try to stop him. This meant that the kidnappers had actually stolen four costumes rather than three. However, a fourth kidnapper was impossible, for then the Pink Badger costume would probably have been the fourth missing costume. That meant that the second Bad Badger costume was needed specifically.

Edgeworth took out the sole costume inside the waste bin; it was a Bad Badger body. Edgeworth noticed a dent in the Bad Badger's right hand, where he presumed his gun would have been. Evidently, the kidnappers needed this gun. The Proto Badger told Edgeworth that the gun was only a model, though it could shoot blanks.


 * 3:34 p.m.

As Edgeworth and Faraday left the building, Gumshoe alerted them to a Blue Badger costume that had been found at the main gate.

End, Part 1

 * 3:45 p.m.

Apparently, the Blue Badger costume had been found in the tall grass near the fountain. Presumably, this was the Blue Badger that Meekins had seen earlier. Sticking out of the neck area was another platinum pendant, in the shape of wings. Shi-Long Lang then entered the scene; he examined the pendant and found an engraving "Lauren D." Lang had his new suspect: Lauren Paups. Paups admitted to being one of the kidnappers, and that was all that Lang needed to hear. Lang added that he had found Meekins's gun unused, clearing him of suspicion. Paups then admitted to the killing, but Edgeworth was still not convinced that the case had been so easily solved, and he asked for Paups's full account of the murder.

Ms. Paups's Confession
Paups explained that Deacon had come up with the kidnapping plot, but after they had gotten the ransom money, Deacon had tried to kill her, and she had killed him in self-defense. Edgeworth wondered whether Deacon could have planned the betrayal from the very beginning. Edgeworth looked at Deacon's horse pendant again and realized that the two pendants came together to form Pegasus. Edgeworth also pointed out that Deacon was actually a escaped convict, Colin Devorae, who had a wife and daughter. Devorae could not have tried to kill Paups, since he was her father!

Another Possibility
Lang, however, thought of another possibility: Devorae and Paups had known each other as father and daughter, and they had conspired together in the kidnapping. Edgeworth disagreed; various evidence in the kidnappers' hideout showed that there had been three co-conspirators in the kidnapping. Edgeworth suggested that this mysterious third kidnapper had been the real mastermind, and that this mastermind had been Lance himself! Lance had said it himself; he had seen two kidnappers. This was because he had been the third kidnapper.

Lance's Testimony
Lance testified that he had been kidnapped the previous morning, and that he had been blindfolded the whole time. The kidnappers had left by the time the rain had started falling. That was when he had made his escape. When asked about the escape, Lance replied that the door had been locked, so he had had to use the underground passageway under the kidnappers' hideout. However, Edgeworth knew that the door had been jammed, not locked. Lance should have been able to remove the sword jamming the door despite being tied up. Edgeworth concluded that Lance had intentionally jammed the door because he couldn't lock it. Furthermore, Lance had committed this entire charade because he owed money to Tender Lender.

Lance was forced to confess. He explained that he had wanted to start a new life with Paups, but Deacon had betrayed them. When Edgeworth had dropped off the money, Deacon had suddenly attacked Lance. Lance had subdued Deacon and then he and Paups had worn Badger costumes to escape unnoticed: Paups in the Blue Badger, and Lance in the Proto Badger. However, Deacon had woken up, gotten into a Bad Badger costume, and attacked Lance again before running with the $1 million. Lance had then contacted Paups to warn her that Deacon was on the loose with a gun. Paups had then killed Deacon without even knowing that he was her father.

Chain of Events
Paups claimed that the Bad Badger had been carrying the suitcase containing the ransom money, and that he had aimed a gun at her. Paups had shot the Bad Badger using a gun that she had obtained from Lance. Edgeworth pressed further on the Bad Badger's identity, and Paups replied that she had clearly seen the Bad Badger aiming at her with a gun from his left hand. However, Deacon was right-handed. While the Bad Badger normally had a prop gun on his right hand, this Bad Badger's right hand was occupied with the suitcase; the Bad Badger was definitely left-handed. As for the missing model gun, Edgeworth suggested that the Badger's body suit had actually been that of the Proto Badger. (Both Blue Badger bodies were accounted for.) Edgeworth concluded that Lance had pretended to be the victim by wearing the Bad Badger head to the stadium, causing Paups to believe that she had shot the victim.

Edgeworth accused Lance of the murder. Lance was left-handed, just like the hybrid Badger in the stadium. He had even given Paups the Bad Badger's model gun, so that he wouldn't actually end up dead, which explained the missing gun on the Bad Badger body's hand at the kidnappers' hideout. Unfortunately, Paups had thrown the gun into the sea, making this impossible to verify. Furthermore, this meant that the real crime scene was unknown.

What Ms. Paups Saw
Paups then claimed that she had seen Deacon while Lance was restraining him. Lance had tied Deacon to a beam before escaping with Paups. Lance claimed that after Paups had left, Deacon had escaped his bonds and attacked Lance again. Edgeworth asked about Deacon's identity, and Paups replied that the person being tied had been wearing a Bad Badger head, so she was certain that he had been Deacon. However, Paups had actually seen Edgeworth; this was evident from the Bad Badger head in the Isolation Room. Lance had kidnapped Edgeworth for this very purpose.

Just then, Ernest Amano arrived at the main gate. He had gotten permission from the Chief of Police to do whatever he pleased regarding the investigation. He had then found a Bad Badger costume, complete with prop gun and a real revolver, that had been disposed of in the sea; he had gotten forensics to test it already, which showed Deacon's blood in the costume and Paups's fingerprints on the revolver. Edgeworth checked out the costume to find some mirror fragments inside the Bad Badger's head. As well, he noticed that the bullet hole had gunpowder residue; the gunshot had been at point-blank range.

Decisive Evidence
Lance insisted that the fingerprints were proof enough of Paups's guilt. Edgeworth was suspicious of Ernest's involvement in the retrieval of this evidence. Nonetheless, Lance's claim was impossible, since Paups had been wearing a costume. Paups confirmed that she had touched the revolver when she had handed it off to Deacon. The gunpowder residue also proved that the "murder" at the stadium was a fake, since in that case the killer would have had to shoot from some distance. Edgeworth considered the mirror fragments, and he concluded that the only place left for the real crime scene was the haunted house. Lang noted that there was also a mirror in the kidnappers' hideout, but he gladly granted Edgeworth permission to the haunted house nonetheless.

Ernest interrupted. It turned out that he had bought the haunted house from the Gatewater Group a while ago, so the investigation teams would have to go through him to investigate the haunted house. Ernest refused to give Edgeworth the permission. Ernest had preemptively worked to stymie the investigation!

End, Part 2

 * 4:27 p.m.

The investigation was now stopped in its tracks, but Kay Faraday still had her secret weapon. The investigation teams didn't have to investigate the haunted house physically because they had Little Thief! Dick Gumshoe had the blueprints to the haunted house, so everything was set.

Edgeworth wanted to re-create the scene of the attack on him. He recalled that after he had left the dining room, he had seen a Badger costume in the hall at his right, which led to a dead end. He had then walked to his left toward the exit when he was ambushed. Edgeworth concluded that the Badger was his assailant. Lance claimed that he had never set foot inside the house, and that Deacon had been in charge of retrieving the money. This would mean that the Bad Badger had attacked Edgeworth, and since the Bad Badger had a model gun on his right hand, he would have to have struck with his left hand.

Investigation
Edgeworth noticed that there were mirrors in the house. However, these mirrors didn't match the mirror shards found earlier. Edgeworth then tried to recall how he had been hit; he had been hit on the right side of the head with a weapon. Edgeworth noticed a prop sword in the house and concluded that this had been the weapon. Lance must have brought the sword with him, and then sealed himself inside the kidnappers' hideout with it. Edgeworth requested a luminol blood test on the sword, which showed a bloodstain on the left side of the sword. This was a contradiction; had the Badger struck with his left hand, the right side of the sword would have hit Edgeworth. Additionally, the sword had a large hand guard attached to the hilt, so a double-handed blow was impossible. This meant that the Badger had struck with the right hand, which meant that the Badger could not have been the Bad Badger, which in turn meant that Deacon could not have been the attacker.

Lance was forced to confess that he had been the attacker. Although it would have been unreasonable for Lance to use his right hand to operate a gun, little dexterity would have been needed to swing the prop sword. Lance had intentionally used his right hand to pretend that Deacon had been the assailant. So Lance, in his Proto Badger costume, had been the attacker.

Lang told Edgeworth that his logic was wrong. As the Gatewater Land pamphlet showed, the Badger in the house was just a large Blue Badger doll used as part of the "Disappearing Badger" trick. Edgeworth did not relent, and Faraday updated the simulation with this information. Edgeworth examined the doll and found that his belt sash was on the wrong way in comparison to the Blue Badger's design. Edgeworth concluded that the doll was actually somewhere else, and that the doll in the simulation was a reflection. The hall was actually L-shaped; this illusion was the whole idea behind the "Disappearing Badger" trick. To make the the Blue Badger disappear was merely a matter of moving the mirror causing the illusion, revealing the real straight hallway. The mirror fragments found earlier had been from this mirror, which was camouflaged into the wall.

This also revealed the perfect way for Lance to hide himself: behind the mirror in the straight hallway. The mirror shards inside the Bad Badger costume showed that Deacon had been with Lance. Edgeworth remembered the sound that he had heard when he dropped off the ransom money: the sound of glass breaking. The mirror had been broken during the money drop-off, and then Lance had simply hid inside the branching hallway with the Blue Badger doll.

Edgeworth then found another contradiction. He had seen the Blue Badger doll both before and after the drop-off, which the simulation contradicted. As Faraday closed up the simulation, Edgeworth gave his final answer: The Badger that he had seen after the drop-off was the dead Oliver Deacon! Lance had killed Deacon during the drop-off, shattering the mirror in the process. The gunshot had simply blended in with all of the other sounds that had been playing inside the house.

Lance broke down into tears. He said that he had had no choice, as Deacon had attacked him all of a sudden. Lang then ordered the arrest of both Lance and Ernest, the latter for obstruction of justice. Lang then told Ernest that he had flown to California to talk to Ernest about a case from ten years ago: the KG-8 Incident. Edgeworth remembered that the trigger for that incident had been an Amano Group scandal concerning the charge of an internal smuggling ring. At the time, Ernest's secretary, Colin Devorae, had been arrested as the ringleader of the operation. However, Lang suspected that Ernest had merely pushed the blame onto Devorae. This was why Ernest had harbored Devorae after his escape from prison in exchange for Devorae's silence concerning the incident. Ernest tried to deny the allegations, but Lang told him to leave it until the interrogation.

Suddenly, another prosecutor, Jacques Portsman, arrived to take Ernest and Lance into custody; he had been placed in charge of the prosecution for this murder case. Lang was furious that his suspect was being taken away from him, and he reiterated that he hated prosecutors.

Lang thanked Edgeworth for helping him apprehend Ernest Amano. Edgeworth's persistence in going after Lance had caused Ernest to try to protect him, giving Lang an excuse to arrest him. Lang then accused Edgeworth of being the corrupt prosecutor who working with Ernest and the smuggling ring. Edgeworth denied this, to which Lang replied that his intel was never wrong; the corrupt prosecutor was in Edgeworth's prosecutor's office. Lang had suspected Edgeworth due to his relationship with Ernest as well as to Manfred von Karma, who was known for using forged evidence. Lang wondered whether Edgeworth was also twisting the truth inside the courtroom. Edgeworth retorted that the courtroom was where the truth was revealed. Lang laughed and ranted about how corrupt the prosecutor's office was. Lang warned Edgeworth that next time he wouldn't be so forgiving, and then he left the park with his men.

Edgeworth stopped Shih-na to ask her about Shi-Long Lang's hatred of prosecutors. Shih-na told the story of the long-honored House of Lang, which Shi-Long headed. People from the Lang family headed all of the police-related divisions of Zheng Fa at one time. However, one day, a corrupt prosecutor withheld and tampered with evidence submitted by a Lang family detective, which ruined the Lang reputation. Whether Edgeworth was corrupt or not, Lang was unwilling to forgive prosecutors for what had happened to his family.

Portsman then told his partner Buddy Faith that they should leave for their work, which they did. Edgeworth said the same to Gumshoe, and asked him to drop him off at the Prosecutor's Building. Lauren Paups thanked Gumshoe for helping her out of her bind, and she lamented that she hadn't recognized her father. Edgeworth told Paups that her father hadn't actually been interested in the kidnapping; this much was evident from his sudden attack on Lance. Lance had found out about their relationship and had used this to coerce Devorae into participating in the kidnapping plot. Devorae had come back to the Amano house in the first place to watch over his daughter, out of his overflowing love for her. Paups thanked Edgeworth and then left, mumbling that Edgeworth was so much older than her...

Faraday teased Edgeworth on his unintentional womanizing skills, and then she asked whether Edgeworth recognized her. She was annoyed that even Gumshoe didn't recognize her, calling him "Gummy". She then gave Edgeworth a piece of cloth, saying that she had promised to give it to him long ago. Edgeworth suddenly remembered that day, seven years ago, when he had first met Dick Gumshoe and Kay Faraday...

References to other cases

 * There is a cactus in the Wild, Wild West area that has a commemorative plaque stating that it was donated by the police force. Edgeworth remembers seeing a cactus "farm" somewhere in the local police station. This is a reference to Jake Marshall, a cowboy-themed detective that Phoenix Wright encountered at one point.

Secret cameos
At the beginning of Middle, Part 2, Edgeworth can leave Wild, Wild West into the main gate. There, he can find the Chief with his daughter, as well as Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey and Pearl Fey riding a boat in the background. Although the player can interact with the Chief, they cannot interact in any way with Wright, Maya or Pearl. Their presence is not even acknowledged. In order to see these cameos, the optional visit to this area must be done before entering the kidnappers' hideout because they will have disappeared by the time the Blue Badger costume is found at the beginning of End, Part 1.

Which side?
The contradiction between the bloodstain on the sword and the hand with which the Bad Badger would have had to strike Edgeworth is solved if one considers that the Bad Badger could have employed a backhand strike. Nonetheless, if one assumes that Oliver Deacon had struck Edgeworth, he had no particular reason to strike Edgeworth in this way.

Faraday and the Badgers
Kay Faraday, despite being very enthusiastic about photographing all four of Badger family, never did get the final photograph that she needed, that of the Bad Badger.