Turnabout Airlines

Episode 2: Turnabout Airlines is the second episode of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. It involves a murder on an airplane, and Edgeworth must solve the case before he himself is incriminated. This is also the first case in the game chronologically other than the flashback case Turnabout Reminiscence.

Beginning
Two days before the murder of Buddy Faith, Miles Edgeworth was on Flight I-390 of iFly Airlines. When an air pocket made a sudden turbulence, there was a sudden downward movement, and Edgeworth collapsed. During the turbulence, a bottle of wine spilled all over the entrance to the elevator.


 * 6:13 a.m., Central European Time

Edgeworth found himself lying on the floor in the First Floor Lounge of the airplane with a headache. Edgeworth had a phobia of earthquakes, so presumably he had fainted from the turbulence. Just as he was about to push the button for the elevator in the area, a wallet apparently not belonging to him fell from his person into the spilled wine. As Edgeworth waited for the elevator, he hesitated, trying to get over his elevator fear from the DL-6 Incident. Once the elevator door opened, a man with blood on the back of his neck was seen lying down, with money all around him. Edgeworth was shocked, and just at that moment, chief flight attendant Rhoda Teneiro appeared and witnessed him in front of the body with the wallet in his hand.


 * 6:41

In First Class on the second floor, Teneiro tried to calm the passengers, for they had found out about the murder. Edgeworth was sitting handcuffed in one of the seats, insisting that he was innocent. Nonetheless, Teneiro was certain that she had caught the correct culprit due to certain incriminating evidence that she had found. Edgeworth convinced Teneiro to let him plead his case.

Teneiro's testimony and argument
Teneiro claimed to have seen Edgeworth with blood dripping from the murder weapon. However, Edgeworth had been holding not the murder weapon, but a wallet. Additionally, the wallet was stained not with blood, but with grape juice. Finally, the wallet contained only a passport, so it couldn't have been heavy enough to function as an effective murder weapon.

However, the passport belonged to Akbey Hicks, the victim, which placed suspicion squarely on Edgeworth again. Teneiro accused Edgeworth of trying to rob Hicks. However, this motive was impossible, for the killer had not picked up the money, which had been strewn all over the floor of the elevator after what was presumably a struggle with the victim.

The passengers were in an uproar now; the killer was presumably still out there. Edgeworth told everyone to calm down, and informed Teneiro that her accusation was quite understandable considering the circumstances. However, just as Teneiro released Edgeworth, a Borginian passenger yelled that Edgeworth was still the killer. The passenger was Zinc Lablanc II, an art dealer. He had seen Hicks enter the elevator at 6:00, using his cell phone. This meant that the killing had happened between 6:00 and 6:15, during which time every passenger except Edgeworth was on the second floor. Edgeworth insisted that he wasn't the killer, and he asked Teneiro for permission to examine the crime scene to ascertain the identity of the real killer. If they waited longer, some evidence was sure to be destroyed. Lablanc objected to sending "the fox to guard the henhouse", but Teneiro wanted the captain to decide what to do in this situation. Upon visiting the captain and coming back, Teneiro informed Edgeworth that the had captain agreed to the investigation, on the condition that Teneiro supervise Edgeworth. Edgeworth agreed to this, since he was still a suspect, after all.


 * 7:26

Teneiro informed Edgeworth that he had a limited time to make progress on his investigation. Edgeworth asked about possible hiding places for the killer. Teneiro confirmed that all the passengers had been accounted for, and that there was no place to hide. Movement between classes was only possible with an employee's keycard, which had not been used, so the killer was definitely from First Class.

Investigation: Lounge
Edgeworth knew that he was still the prime suspect, since he was the only passenger not accounted for during the murder. Edgeworth looked around and found juice-stained footprints heading towards the in-flight shop, as well as signs that something had been dragged. Teneiro told Edgeworth that the elevator serviced the first and second floors as well as the cargo hold, which was only accessible by keycard.

Edgeworth then examined the body and found that Hicks had died from blunt force trauma to the back of the head. As well, Hicks's glasses had been broken. Edgeworth also found a souvenir from the shop on the floor: a piggy bank resembling "Mr. Ifly", the company mascot. Edgeworth concluded that this was the murder weapon. Edgeworth also concluded that the killer had been in the elevator with the victim during the turbulence. Edgeworth knew from the footprints that he had found that someone had left the elevator alive, confirming his theory. Hicks's shoes, which were spotless, confirmed this as well.

Edgeworth examined the body further and found a photo of Hicks standing near a statue on his person, as well as a lanyard around his neck. The photo showed Hicks with his cell phone attached to his lanyard. The killer had been after the cell phone.

Lablanc suddenly burst into the lounge along with another flight attendant, complaining that his movie was late. He asked Edgeworth whether he had proven himself innocent yet, and Edgeworth replied that he had.

Lablanc's testimony
Edgeworth asked about what Lablanc had seen inside the elevator. Lablanc claimed that he had only seen "that Mr. Hicks man". The footprints contradicted this, but Edgeworth suspected that Lablanc was not lying. Lablanc continued that he had followed Hicks with his eyes, and he had seen no one else in the elevator. He had been looking at his watch intensely so that he wouldn't miss a movie that he had wanted to watch, but the movie had never played. Lablanc mentioned that he had set his watch to the destination time. However, Edgeworth informed him that the plane schedules used the departure location's time. Teneiro confirmed that the plane had stopped at a transfer point in an Asian country named Zheng Fa, but the clocks hadn't been re-adjusted at that time, so the plane was still using Borginia's time zone, a nine-hour difference from the destination's time zone. This meant that Lablanc had seen Hicks enter the elevator at 3 a.m., well before the murder had occurred.

The other flight attendant introduced herself as Cammy Meele at this point, and she claimed to have seen Hicks in his seat at 5 a.m. This was just after the layover at the transfer point, which had occurred between 4 and 5. No one had left or boarded the plane at that time, other than some of the employees, who had all boarded the plane when it took off. Edgeworth had then been in the lounge between 5 and 6. Edgeworth again became the prime suspect, having been the only person in the lounge between 5:00 and 6:15, the time frame of the murder!

Lablanc concluded from this that Edgeworth had waited to kill Hicks outside the elevator, and then he had moved the body into the elevator, explaining the footprints. Edgeworth disagreed; the shop had been open before the murder and, considering the murder weapon, the crime could have occurred there. Teneiro confirmed that the piggy bank had been in the shop, for she had gone from the shop to the flight attendant's room at 5:40 for "work-related matters", though she wouldn't elaborate. The shop had to be investigated.

Just then, Meele informed the group that Teneiro had not, in fact, asked the captain for permission to investigate the crime scene. When asked what the meaning of all this was, Teneiro simply left to see the captain. Meele was now the supervisor, as she had gone to the captain for permission to investigate the crime scene.

Investigation: In-flight shop

 * 8:32

Edgeworth knew that the murder weapon had been in this shop, so the killer had to have visited this place. He examined a suitcase that was on sale, which Meele told Edgeworth Teneiro had designed. The suitcase suddenly rolled across the room, having not been secured. Edgeworth also examined a display case, which had been broken during the flight. The broken area contained a miniature captain's hat. Edgeworth noticed that Mr. Ifly normally wore a hat, and guessed that the hat was supposed to be on top of the piggy bank. Perhaps the killer was after the contents of the piggy bank?

Edgeworth examined the display case more closely. He found it odd that there were no glass shards inside the case. Since the case was locked, this meant that the piggy bank had broken through the glass during the turbulence, and that it had been taken then. However, since the murder had occurred before the turbulence, the piggy bank may not have been the murder weapon after all. Of course, another possibility was that Teneiro had taken the piggy bank.

Edgeworth found it odd that the suitcases were the only items that were undisturbed in the shop. He took a closer look and found that only one of the suitcases was loose; the other one was secured with stoppers on the wheels. Edgeworth concluded that the loose suitcase had been replaced after the turbulence. Edgeworth found a piece of cloth inside the suitcase, which was stained with blood. Edgeworth guessed that the killer had moved the body using this suitcase, and that the murder had actually occurred in an entirely different location. Teneiro was looking quite suspicious at this point.

Teneiro came into the shop and informed Edgeworth that his time was up. The captain had ordered Edgeworth to go back to his seat. Edgeworth demanded that he oversee the preservation of the crime scenes, which Teneiro replied could be arranged.

Middle

 * 1:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time

Flight I-390 landed on Hope Springs Airport in California. Franziska von Karma was waiting for Miles Edgeworth; she had been assigned to the police investigation of Hicks's murder from this point. She told Edgeworth to stay out of her way, and she sent Dick Gumshoe to guard him and make sure that Edgeworth didn't skip town.

According to Gumshoe, the body had been taken to the coroner's. He also found it odd that von Karma had gotten the investigation started so quickly, as if something else was going on behind the scenes. She had entered the prosecutor's office about a week before the murder due to a certain investigation, though other details were apparently top-secret.


 * 1:37

Von Karma was interrogating the captain in First Class, so Edgeworth and Gumshoe moved on to the lounge.


 * 1:40

Lablanc was in the lounge, upset about his art trapped in the cargo room. Edgeworth recognized the bloody cloth as being similar to Lablanc's hat; it was from Borginia. Lablanc also told Edgeworth that Teneiro was in the attendant's room being interviewed. She had not come out for a while.

Edgeworth asked von Karma for access to the attendant's room to talk to Teneiro, but von Karma had her own questions for Edgeworth.

Von Karma's argument
Von Karma wanted to keep things simple. Edgeworth had been the only one in the lounge, so he must be the killer. Edgeworth knew that von Karma wasn't up-to-date on the evidence, so he showed her the suitcase that had carried the body. Edgeworth then pointed to the tracks on the floor beside the footprints, which matched the wheels of the suitcase, which indeed were stained with grape juice.

Von Karma would not relent. She postulated that Edgeworth had acquired the piggy bank before the turbulence; he had tried to store the body inside the suitcase but it had flown out of the suitcase, so he had hastily replaced the suitcase in its proper place and pretended to discover the body. While this story was reasonable, the piggy bank had to have been taken after the turbulence, as shown earlier, so the bank had to have been a fake murder weapon. The killer had tried to pin the murder on Edgeworth.

No other possible murder weapon had been found at the scene of the crime. Edgeworth knew that the killer had already used the suitcase to hide the bloody cloth, so the real murder weapon must be on the killer's person or at the real scene of the crime. However, von Karma had a different theory; Rhoda Teneiro had opened the display case to retrieve the piggy bank. Nonetheless, since Edgeworth had sufficiently proved himself innocent, von Karma let him into the flight attendant's room on the condition that she accompany him.

Flight attendant's room

 * 2:23

Edgeworth asked Teneiro why she hadn't actually asked for the captain's permission. Teneiro replied that the captain had ears only for Cammy Meele, and she wanted to make it up to Edgeworth for wrongly accusing him. Von Karma then asked Teneiro what she was doing in the shop. She reiterated that it was for her work. Edgeworth knew that the suitcase had something to do with it. Teneiro replied that she was checking how many of her suitcases were being sold, and that she had been glad to discover that only one was left. This contradicted the fact that two suitcases had been found at the shop after the murder, but Teneiro insisted that she had found only one suitcase before the murder.

Edgeworth also asked about a third suitcase that he noticed in the attendant's room. Teneiro claimed that it was for her own use, but the price tag was still on the suitcase. Edgeworth concluded that Teneiro, saddened at the low sales of her suitcases, had begun to buy them herself to make it look like they were popular. Teneiro admitted that she would buy one suitcase during every flight; her receipt for today's suitcase was time-stamped at 5:40 a.m. Teneiro lamented that the other suitcases were in the cargo hold, and that they would soon be disposed of. Edgeworth realized that the killer had taken the suitcase for the murder from there, which meant that the killer was one of the crew members.

However, von Karma had already learned from Meele that elevator access to the cargo hold came only from a more unique keycard that only Teneiro had. Teneiro kept her card inside her locker at all times, but when she opened it this time, it was missing! Von Karma accused Teneiro of the murder, claiming that she was merely pretending to have lost the keycard. Teneiro was promptly arrested.

End, Part 1

 * 2:52 p.m.

Investigation
Edgeworth, Gumshoe and von Karma walked down the stairs into the cargo hold. Teneiro's suitcases were in the cargo hold, and one was indeed missing. Edgeworth noticed some glass shards on the floor near the suitcases. He concluded that they were from Hicks's glasses. Now all Edgeworth needed was the real murder weapon.

Hicks's suitcase was also in the cargo hold; it contained files profiling Franziska von Karma. He then asked von Karma what she had been doing at the airport, and she explained that she was following a large and governmental-level international crime ring, and she was acting as a liaison for Interpol to assist with the investigation. Edgeworth realized that Hicks was one of the Interpol agents involved in the case. Von Karma confirmed this, and she was angry that "they" - an international smuggling ring - had gotten to Hicks first. Indeed, Hicks had identified himself to one of the crew members, who had escorted him to the cargo hold, only to kill him. The killer had then gone into the elevator with the body inside the suitcase, but the body had fallen out during the turbulence, scattering his wallet's contents all over the floor.

Definitive Evidence
Von Karma was now even more convinced that Teneiro was the killer because of her keycard. Edgeworth pressed her further, and she claimed that the keycard had also been used to unlock the display case at the shop and retrieve the piggy bank. Edgeworth insisted that the piggy bank was a red herring, and that they hadn't even heard from the coroner yet to see whether the weapon could indeed have been the cause of death. Von Karma sent Gumshoe to fetch the autopsy report. Although the autopsy report was incomplete, it turned out that the trauma to Hicks's body went from his shoulder to his mid-back.

Just then, Zinc Lablanc tried to force his way through the guard at the cargo hold, but he went over the railing of the stairs instead. Edgeworth suddenly realized what had really happened. the trauma was continuous from the shoulder to the mid-back, suggesting a single blow. This meant that a much larger murder weapon was used: Hicks had been pushed off of the railing, just like Lablanc! Von Karma then pointed out that Lablanc had safely landed on some of the cargo, but Edgeworth knew that the cargo could have been placed there after the murder, during the layover at Zheng Fa. Indeed, some of the cargo was labeled "Zheng Fa Express"!

Second investigation
Edgeworth investigated the cargo further and found a label "Alif Red Statue". This apparently belonged to Lablanc. Edgeworth wondered whether the statue was fake, but Lablanc had a cargo certificate to prove that it was real. Edgeworth still wasn't so sure and he asked to unveil it. According to Lablanc, it was originally from a European museum and he had flown it here to showcase it. Edgeworth took a closer look and realized that it was the statue from Hicks's photo, except the eyes were red in the photo and here they were orange. This statue really was a fake! Furthermore, the statue had been placed on top of the covering of the Zheng Fa cargo - that is, after the Zheng Fa cargo had been placed there! As for the certificate, this probably meant that someone had forged it.

Hicks had taken the photo with him as a reference document that would look like a normal souvenir to everyone else. Then, he would have had to prove that smuggling was taking place. Taking a photo of the cargo hold during the layover at Zheng Fa, showing the Alif Red Statue missing, would have been proof enough for this.

A forensics investigator confirmed blood underneath the fake statue, which confirmed Edgeworth's theory. This meant that Hicks had to have been killed before the plane had landed on Zheng Fa, and then the killer would have taken the time to wipe off the blood using the Borginian cloth. This would completely contradict Meele's testimony that she had seen Hicks alive at 5 a.m.

Everyone involved with the case gathered in the cargo hold for the final showdown.

End, Part 2

 * 3:35 p.m.

Cammy Meele dozed off during her testimony, only vaguely saying that she was alone in the flight attendant's room between 3 and 4 a.m., and between 5 and 6 a.m. However, the latter was impossible, since that was when Rhoda Teneiro had bought one of her own suitcases. Edgeworth then asked what Meele's responsibilities were, and Teneiro replied that Meele was fluent in several languages, including Borginian, so she was valuable despite her laziness. This also meant that she took care of Borginian documents; she was the forger!

Meele's sleepy facade completely faded. She told Edgeworth that he couldn't make his accusations stick, even if she was the forger. She also insisted that Teneiro could just as easily be the killer. Edgeworth realized that the killer had, in fact, been trying to frame only Teneiro, because only then would the killer have taken the trouble to hide the body in one of Teneiro's suitcases. However, the turbulence had wrecked that plan, and the killer had decided to pin the murder on Edgeworth instead. The killer had been forced to frame someone because, with the murder happening on an airplane, the body would inevitably be found. Only Meele fit this description of the killer.

Meele asked Edgeworth for solid proof for his claims. Edgeworth replied that he had no direct proof, but he knew that Hicks's cell phone had been stolen, so he asked von Karma to call Hicks's phone to find it.


 * 4:12

The phone was found in the flight attendant's room, inside Teneiro's locker.


 * 4:28

Teneiro now looked like the culprit. It was possible that Meele had stolen Teneiro's keys and replaced it with the cell phone to frame her, but there was no proof of this. Edgeworth demanded that the phone itself be examined for the final, decisive evidence.

Upon examination of the phone, it was clear that Hicks had a camera phone, and that he was using it for his photographs. Evidently, the killer had little knowledge of electronics, and had only broken the LCD screens. The incriminating picture was still inside, able to be accessed through von Karma's phone. Indeed, the picture showed that the Alif Red was missing, though that was irrelevant to the murder case. It also showed cargo headed for Zheng Fa, as well as boxes containing bedsheets. Lablanc confirmed that the label read "cloth". Edgeworth had found the source of the bloody Borginian cloth!

Meele insisted that the killer didn't have to know Borginian to search the Borginian cargo. Edgeworth replied that a killer who didn't know Borginian would have gone for the bedsheets first. Meele, who knew Borginian, wouldn't have used the bedsheets, because the cloths would have been dropped off at Zheng Fa, eliminating the evidence that the boxes had been opened. All they would have to do now would be to contact Zheng Fa for evidence of tampering on the Borginian cargo. Meele was defeated, and she confessed to the crime.

Aftermath

 * 5:26 p.m.

Cammy Meele was arrested and taken to the precinct. Meanwhile, at the lounge, Miles Edgeworth and Dick Gumshoe talked about the smuggling organization. They certainly meant business, though Meele apparently hadn't been fully prepared to commit murder for the cause. Rhoda Teneiro thanked Edgeworth for clearing her name. Edgeworth thanked her in return for her cooperation, and he accepted one of her suitcases as a gift.

Edgeworth wondered where Franziska von Karma was. Gumshoe told him that von Karma was preparing to leave the country again to continue her investigation. Edgeworth had intended to leave, but he waited at the airport for von Karma instead.


 * 5:47 p.m.

Edgeworth told von Karma that it had been a while since their last meeting. Von Karma replied that she had no time for reminiscing because the organization that she was after was a very large one and this case was only a fraction of their dealings. Von Karma also told Edgeworth not to worry because a star Interpol agent was working with her, one with the highest successful arrest rate in all of Interpol. She then cryptically told Edgeworth that perhaps he'd meet the agent soon, and that she would be back soon as well. As von Karma left, Edgeworth thanked Gumshoe for his help as well.

???
Ernest Amano called Edgeworth to inform him that his son had been kidnapped, and to ask for his assistance. Little did Edgeworth know that this incident would have him cross paths with a certain Interpol agent...

Development
Early clips of Turnabout Airlines were shown in the Tokyo Game Show 2008 trailer, showing that Kay Faraday was once slated to be introduced earlier in the game. The episode itself was officially revealed a month later.