The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures/Episode 5: The Adventure of the Unspeakable Story/Trial, Part 4

The contents of the box
Picking up where they left off, in the courtroom, the small box that's been retrieved from Windibank's Pawnbrokery has turned out to be a music box. Inspector Gregson objects to the music disc being played, but the prosecutor is unfazed and allows it to happen anyway. But once it finally plays, it's just singular notes! Is there more to this than meets the eye? Ashley Graydon laughs it off, believing that he's been vindicated and saying the music box is "broken".

At the prompt, select the second option, "It could be a clue". Then, select the third option, and say it's "Not supposed to be music". Suddenly Mr. Graydon is not amused anymore, but you will still be asked to provide evidence to explain what's going on here. Iris examines the box and reassures you, it's not broken... but for some reason it was specifically made to be only able to play a single note. How curious, right?

When prompted, present Today's Newspaper, but make sure you have examined it first! You might have come across this without a second thought, and in this case, examine it now, turn it around and check the back where the news are upside down. You will be updated about a leak in secret communications between Great Britain's Ministry of Justice and its allies. The plot thickens... Anyway, once you're done examining this, the evidence will update and now you can present it.

In conclusion, the contents of the music box appear to be a message in morse code. Also, the communications office that deals with such high-level communications is the one that employs Mr. Graydon and Juror 5. Two months ago, a negotiation went underway inside the omnibus for the information contained in the disk, but said item ended up unclaimed at the pawnbrokery. If anyone found it before it made its way out of the country, the person responsible for creating it in the first place would be in pretty big danger, so the culprit had to recover it at all costs... and everything is pointing to Ashley Graydon as the mole who made this all possible.

Defiant, Graydon is asked to testify to counter these accusations, and as a suprise, Skulkin brothers came back to testify again alongside Inspector Gregson.

Graydon's Counter: Cross Examination
The Skulkin brothers have finally admitting to breaking and entering, unaware of any "conspirations" behind it, and also admit that Mr. Graydon was with them, even though he denies it. The Small Music Box will be added to the Court Record.

Press statement 1 to learn from a very starstruck Juror 5 that Mr. Graydon is actually the leader of a team in charge of setting up and testing every single one of the telegraphs used by the ministry. Not only that, but he works closely with the ministry itself and is one of the best code-crackers she knows. Graydon doesn't seem happy about her giving away this info.

Now, press statement 2. Graydon and the accusation claim that the sounds in he music box disk aren't Morse code because it's impossible to discern between the dots and dashes that form a message in said code. Graydon is happy and laughing again, but not for long.

When prompted, choose option 2, "Give it a try", to try and prove that Morse code can be played with this music box. You will be sent to the examining screen. Check the button on the bottom of the box again and present the other side of the music box. Unfortunately, since we don't have a second music disk at the moment with which we can prove our Morse code theory, the music box will have to be set aside for later.

Let's go back to the cross examination. Press statement 4 and, when prompted, pursue Ringo Skulkin. They will tell you that they have known Graydon from long ago, because he grew up in the same area as them and he used to be poor. However, he was clever from a very young age and would come up with ideas the Skulkin brother could never even imagine themselves. When asked, choose option 1, "Add it to the testimony", and a new statement about what you just heard will be added.

Now press the new statement. When it asks you if you want them to elaborate select option 2, "The business name", if you want to progress the story. You can choose option 1 too, but the only thing you will get from it is some fun backstory.

Once the plot moves on, you will pose an interesting question: if the milk delivery scheme was run bu the Skulkin brothers and Graydon, where did the "Milverton" part of the name come from? You might guess where this is going... Of course, Graydon doesn't accept anything the brothers are saying and doesn't want them to keep talking, but there's nothing he can do. As it turns out, Graydon's family was very poor and his father struggled so much with money that his mother walked out on them. She took the Graydon surname then, but Ashley's real surname is Milverton. He denies it, but Van Zieks points out that he works for the ministry, and as such, his personal details are recorded and can be checked at any moment. Unsurprisingly, the Skulkin brothers are telling the truth. As a side not, for consistency purposes we will still call Graydon by his current surname.

But what does all of this have to do with the current case? Graydon wasn't riding that omnibus two months ago and there's nothing linking him to that case... is it? Wait for a couple statements to roll, and then present the McGilded Case Notes on statement 3. If you've checked out the notes previously, then you might have noticed something that's very convenient for us right now... "Thrice-Fired" Mason's real name was Mason Milverton. The bomb has dropped —the victim from the omnibus case was Mr. Graydon's very own father.

The defence's theory is that Ashley Graydon was stealing confidential information from the ministry, encoding it in music box disks sets of two for safety, and selling it to McGilded through his father Mason to make ends meet. One of their deals went awry, and Mason met his end inside the omnibus. The disk that was present in that crime scene that night was the one that ended up being seized by Inspector Gregson, and is in your Court Record now. You also believe the missing disk was stuck inside the music box, and that it was stolen by Graydon on the night Mr. Windibank was shot.

Of course, Graydon doesn't accept all of this "nonsense", but he has been such a drama queen and has been gesturing so much that now there's blood seeping through the left sleeve of his coat. There's no need to examine him for bullet wounds anymore! Ashley Graydon will finally admit to being at the crime scene that night and sustaining a bullet wound.

The next mystery to unravel is upon us: if Windibank's gunshot hit Graydon, and the brothers's shot hit Sholmes, where's the gun from which the fatal bullet was shot? The only logical conclusion is that the third intruder, Graydon, was also armed, and was the one to shoot at Mr. Windibank. However, said man is not going down without a fight! In another twist, he will now claim to have witnessed the moment in which Gina shot Mr. Windibank. He testifies that he has seen all this through the peephole in which he'll give out his statements for the court.

The Moment of the Shooting: Cross Examination
While listening to Graydon, you might have noticed a few inconsistencies that don't quite click with the fact we know up until now. However, thanks to Van Zieks's knowledge about modern German scientific progress, Gina's black overcoat will be tested to prove that it's bathed in human blood. You know it's not Windibank's, but since the court doesn't believe in your "untested" blood-testing methods, you just know nobody will believe it's not from the victim. If you don't uncover something decisive while the test is run, it will be over for Gina.

You will have to press every statement in this testimony, and Graydon will elaborate on all of them. Nothing too surprising except a couple of comments. He will, for example, claim that it was Gina who had the third gun, and that she used it to murder the victim. Pay close attention during the sixth and last statement, and pursue either Inspector Gregson or Nash Skulkin. The inspector got angry because none of the brothers mentioned the third gun when being questioned back at the police station. Nash will claim that they knew nothing about it, not did they know about the peephole in the door.

But why did Inspector Gregson take his anger out on Nash? Very suspicious. Could Graydon's last statement has anything to do with the Inspector? Some twists and turns are still yet to be revealed.

An errand to run
After that conversation, an officer will interrupt the cross examination and bring in the results of the blood test. Of course, it comes out positive in every sense of the word. You will still claim that the blood is Mr Mason's, but of course, nobody believes it. Van Zieks and the jury are all very disappointed in the fact that you are now calling McGilded a murderer after having defended him two months ago, knowing he can't defend himself now because he's dead. They call you a traitor. You were just... doing your job, though. What's the deal with the justice system in this country?

The jury will decide Graydon's testimony is the absolute truth and will pronounce a unanimous guilty veredict. It looks like a summation examination is about to start. However... we aren't done with the surprises yet. The officer that delivered the blood test results seems to know you. It's Herlock Sholmes himself!! Took him long enough to show up, and Iris is ecstatic.

He has an errand to run, and something to give you. It's a parting present for you, something Susato gave him the night before. Sholmes explains they both hoped matters could be settled without the need to use this gift, but it has come to this. You will unwrap the present and find... the cat-flap-making machine Iris invented, or the "Cat-Flapomat" as she calls it. Sholmes will tell you that, on the night of the murder, while you went out chasing the thieves, Susato used this machine for something. He won't say what for, though, but you might see what's going on here if you've been paying attention since the beginning of this trial. The Cat-Flapomat will be added to the Court Record.

Sholmes's time in the courtroom is over. Van Zieks is sure the die has been cast and there's no way for you to turn this around at this point... or is it? When asked, do not choose the summation examination, and instead choose option 2, "Further cross examination". You will ask to go back to cross examining Mr. Graydon, and since the fake officer/Sholmes asked for a temporary interruption and the judge agreed to it, there's nothing wrong with doing so. However, the judge is only giving you ONE more chance, literally —you can only choose one statement, and you can only present one piece of evidence. If you can't turn things around with that, the trial will be over.

Then, Sholmes will dramatically faint from the overexertion, and after he's been carried away you will be able to take your chance.

The Moment of the Shooting Again: Cross Examination
One statement and one piece of evidence. This is the moment of truth. Time to finish this case!

You don't even need to press another statement. Just roll the testimony up to statement 3 or 6, and then play your card: present the Cat-Flapomat at either statement 3 or 6. Making cat flaps isn't the only utility this machine can have... It can create a peephole in any door. You have recently been told that Susato made use of this contraption at the scene of the crime, shortly after you arrived in it and while you were absent, running after the thieves. Since you saw the scene of the crime through a peephole in the storeroom door, you can attest to its existence now, but until Susato created it, there wasn't any peephole there. Graydon's whole testimony is only sustained on the grounds that he watched everything happen through the peephole, so if there was no peephole back then to begin with, the whole testimony will come crashing down.

Of course, the efficiency of this contraption will be questioned. Iris, however, has taken the time to get ahead and created a cat flap in the courtroom door while you weren't looking, through which Wagahai will strut in. Also, the size of the cat flaps made by this machine are always the same, and the peephole in the storeroom door has the same measurements as the ones the Cat-Flapomat is set to.

There's another hurdle to jump now. Since Susato Mikotoba has left the country, she can't testify to having created the peephole, so to Van Zieks that means you can't prove whether she did it, or when she did it. However, you can! You can prove that you're right, and the evidence has been in your possession for a long time now.

Remember at the first stages of this trial, when you examined your first security camera pictures? The one with Gina and Mr. Windibank in it, and the one taken thirty minutes later? Check that first picture again. You might have noticed it the first time you compared the pictures side by side, and if you didn't, something will stick out as a sore thumb if you examine the first picture now —when Gina got to the pawnbrokery that night, there was no peephole. When asked by the judge, present the Photograph of Gina.

After proving the peephole wasn't there before the murder, Van Zieks will point out two things. One, Susato has tampered with a crime scene and that is illegal. And two, even though Grayson has committed perjury, this doesn't prove he pulled the trigger on Mr. Windibank. But, as Iris wisely says, one lie begets another. Does this phrase ring a bell?

When prompted, you have two options:
 * Choose option 2, "the peephole." That's right, if the peephole didn't yet exist at the time of the murder, and the pawnbrokery has been chock-full of police since a few minutes after the crime, how could Graydon know it was there?
 * Choose option 3, "the bloodstains on the coat." Once again, if the peephole didn't exist at the time of the murder, and the coat has been in Gina's possession almost the entire time, then how could Graydon know about the bloodstains on the coat?

Did someone tell him these things? Suddenly, Inspector Gregson seems to be in a hurry to leave the courtroom, but he's not allowed to do so.

Of course, when asked about who told Graydon about the peephole, present Inspector Gregson. Since he didn't know he would have to appear before this court today, Graydon couldn't have been aware of the existence of the peephole before coming into this room. He must have learned about it here, and the only person who could have told him is the inspector, in an attempt to give him some tools and information to counter any accusations. They were whispering to each other during Gina's testimony, seemingly "negotiating" on the stand a while ago.

However, what does Inspector Gregson have to gain from disclosing classified information to this man he says he doesn't know? There's only one thing Gregson could have wanted from Ashley Graydon. When asked, present either the Music Box Disk or the Small Music Box. Of course, we had come to the conclusion that Graydon had stolen the other disk from the music box on the night of the crime. Inspector Gregson would've made a deal with him —information about the case so he could save himself from trouble, in exchange for the missing music disk. With both in his possession, the confidential information contained in them would be safe.

This theory implies something very important. The missing second disk might very well be right there inside the courtroom as Van Ziek pointed out. Gregson wouldn't have agreed to the deal if he wasn't absolutely sure he was getting that disk out of it. When asked to be searched, however, he will agree, but why would he co-operate so easily? Surprising everyone, and when asked by the judge, choose option 2, "Search someone else!" Then, when asked about who you want to search, present Nash Skulkin, the taller brother. Gregson will then get very nervous and will try to stop the search, but to no avail.

To everyone's surprise, your instincts turns out to be correct —the missing disk is found is Nash's pocket. You will then explain that, during Graydon's cross examination, the inspector started acting very out of character, turned to Nash Skulkin, grabbed him and violently shook him. He used the threat as a pretense to hide the very disk in question.

However, Graydon will not admit to what he did. He admits that he lied in court, but attributes everything else to your vivid imagination. Gregson, on the other side, will ask the jury to believe in him, and believe that whatever he has done was in the best interest of justice and of all the people involved. You need to prove either that Graydon pulled the trigger, or that Gregson struck a deal with him, and you need to do it now!

When asked about who you want to present evidence first, choose option 2 or 1, Inspector Gregson or Ashley Graydon. As your final piece of evidence, present either the Small Music Box or the Music Box Disk. You want to listen to the music disk again but this time, you want to listen to both of the disks at the same time, the way they are supposed to be played. Of course, Gregson doesn't want you to do that. If you let that secret information out, you'd make an enemy out of the entire Great Britain! The inspector isn't much better though —he has struck an unlawful deal with a murderer and has lied in court because he wants to do his duty, by any means necessary. And so, you will do your duty too. Van Zieks will agree with you, and so, the music box disks will be played, together this time. Everyone will recognize the sounds as Morse code.

Finally Inspector Gregson admits to the crime. He will agree to confess to everything, if the court can stop the music box playing any further. Graydon approached him to make a deal after the recess, and for the sake of fulfilling his duty, he took it.

The whole truth
Ashley Graydon angrily snaps, break his walking cane and choke the inspector for breaking his silence. He will then confess to everything, and he will talk about his past life in the slums too. He will tell you that he only started selling confidential info to McGilded because he offered to pay for it, and Graydon wanted money, as much as he could get. His father Mason made the disks he then sold to McGilded, but in the end, after the amount of money Graydon was paying his father for his work, the old man realized something wasn't right. He ordered his son to let him do the next trade, or he wouldn't accept his payments anymore, and that's how he ended up in that omnibus with a knife through his belly. And so, Ashley Graydon swore revenge on McGilded. He hired someone to burn the omnibus with McGilded inside to avenge his father's death.

Then, he had to tie the one remaining loose end —part of the last set of disks he was going to sell was still out there. The first time McGilded had paid him, he did so in the form of a pawned jewel he had to retrieve and then sell for the agreed price. He guessed that McGilded would have hidden the disk in the pawnbrokery, and he would've also entrusted someone else with the ticket —in this case, Gina. Since he was present at McGilded's trial, he knew what Gina looked like, and her testimony was "peculiar", so he made a guess. However, when he followed her on the day of the deadline, she only redeemed McGilded's overcoat and disk number 1, which was in one of its pockets. The music box and disk number two had already been forfeited. When Inspector Gregson took disk number 1 with him, Graydon knew he was racing against time before the item disappears. What he was looking for had to still be inside the shop, and he had to recover those items before the police found out about them.

And so, he hired the Skulkins, his childhood friends, to break and enter the shop with him. Just as he had found and recovered disk number 2, though, Mr. Windibank caught them in the act and shot Graydon in the arm. Since he was armed too, he fired back without even thinking about it, and even though he wasn't really aiming on purpose nor did he want to hurt him, the bullet killed him instantly when the pawnbroker had already turned around to flee. Scared of his own actions, Ashley Graydon fled the scene and that was it. That was the whole truth, and the story of how Ashley Graydon hated McGilded so much that he became just like him in the end.

Thus the trial will come to a close. The jury will declare a unanimous Not Guilty verdict, and so the judge will acquit Gina of all charges. Note completely since she lied in the last case but she'll be out of jail in the sequel "Resolve". Anyway, congratulations!

On a last note, when Juror 5 says the sounds from the music box made no sense to her, and that it might not even be Morse code at all! Looks like it's far from over.

After the trial
Once everything is said and done, only Van Zieks and you will remain in the courtroom. He will finally start to acknowledge your talent, even though your cultures are very different. You will say that you're all human beings, no matter where you come from.

Van Zieks will admit to you that he only took this case to cross swords with you once more. Since the day he met you, apparently you remind him of another "Nipponese" who used to be his friend, but betrayed him terribly. He wanted to understand why he did so, by looking through you. He doesn't want to tell you what happened, but assures you in an eerie warning that you will one day know the answer, "whether you like it or not". Maybe you two were destined to meet after all. And you will surely see each other again in a courtroom.

Outside of the room, you will talk to Gina, and Sholmes and Iris will soon join you. Iris wanted to throw Gina a party, but she still has to go to prison and make amends for some pending offences. She's considering a new career, and hopes maybe she can leave the pickpocket business soon.

Iris will also inform you that the sea is especially choppy and all sailings out of Dover have been delayed. If you rush, you might still be able to say goodbye to Susato and tell her about the case resolution!

That's exactly what you do, and you arrive in Dover just in time to see her about to throw her British law book into the sea. She feels so bad for tampering with a crime scene, and has also felt that she has lost her faith in law and justice, so she doesn't think she's worthy of practicing law anymore. She will confess to creating the peephole because she was worried about Gina, and wanted to see if she was inside the storeroom and check if she was okay. Also, had Susato been in the courtroom with the cat door machine, the ending would've been very different and would've impacted Gina's freedom from crime she didn't commit.

The mystery isn't over, yet. Iris, clever as she is, though limited in Japanese, transcribed the message on the fly as it was being played —at least, the part of it that was played before Gregson confessed— and has deciphered one word out of it: Asogi. Susato happens to know Japanese morse code, and will decipher the rest of the message. It's a list with the names of four people: K. Asogi, A. Shin, T. Gureguson —aka. Gregson— and J. Wilson —Iris's dad. The rest of the transcribed message just says "That is all four..." and stops there.

What dark and convoluted mystery ties these four men together? Whatever it is, it will have to wait until the next installment of the series to be solved. For now, Susato has to go back to Japan. A cutscene will roll, and with this, you have officially completed the game!

But if you own PC, XboxOne, PS5 and Nintendo Switch English version of "The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles", if you finish this "Adventure", play the sequel "Resolve" to see more over the top characters, more crimes to solve and more deductions for you to correct. And most of all, how everything comes together.