[M] Endless Nights - Daybreak

[ShinyGreenButton]

Could it finally be time to break my lurking streak? Maybe, maybe.

But really, after going through all the Endless Nights in two-ish days, being able to catch one live seems like a lot of fun. (Wasn't able to solve most of 'em, though.)

Spoiler : So, uh, the mystery. :

I'll start off by listing off points I find interesting in no particular order.
The .txt file I made is around 160 lines long so bear with me if I'm missing something obvious.

- It was never directly stated if the accomplice was required to tell the truth in purple.
- Klavier is just... out of character, what with his anger directer towards Apollo. No idea how that would play in to the case.
- Alfred, despite being appointed as trustworthy by the GM, still has his testimony given in purple rather than red.
- I think the mysterious string of numbers is linked to Larry's romantic note. Either that or they're both totally irrelevant :shrug:
- Franziska claimed Larry showed her a letter in the library before being knocked out, but that doesn't make sense to me. How did Larry find the time? He was waiting for Winston to arrive in the study, and when Winston left the entrance, Franziska was still there. Afterwards, Winston was chased to the entrance by Larry. Was there really a large enough time frame for Franziska to interact with him? Part of me feels this isn't the right hill to die on but oh well.
- How did Larry survive his heartbeat disappearing? Cardiac arrest isn't easy to live through, especially without any doctors or medical equipment around. My first conclusion is that Larry killed Franziska then disguised her corpse as himself, but I don't have anything to support this.

I'll try to think of a complete theory later. For now, I hope my ramblings will help somebody else think things through

[smkramer313]

Spoiler : DJJ6800 :

How exactly was Larry revived after being killed, though? And what caused Larry and Franziska to open the doors to their killer?

Spoiler : astand :

And to make this mystery easier, Alfred is not the culprit.
The name of the butler is Alfred

[DJJ6800]

Spoiler : :

He was revived through CPR. As for why the two of them opened the door, again, they were working together on the corrupt prosecutor case and the killer likely told them they had crucial evidence regarding that.

[smkramer313]

Spoiler : DJJ6800 :

The killer talking to Larry and/or Franziska through the doorway alone would not be enough to get Larry and/or Franziska to open the bathroom door.
CPR was not used at any point in this case.

[DJJ6800]

Spoiler : :

A defibrillator then? Maybe that was in the house somewhere. As for the bathroom door, perhaps the culprit had a file containing evidence for the corrupt prosecutor case. The two wanted to see it so they opened the door and that's why they were killed.

[astand]

Spoiler : :

Now I hope I didn't forget the details of the case already.

Phoenix Wright is the culprit. Larry is the accomplice.

Phoenix had plenty of opportunity to knock out Klavier and barricade him, as no one else was in left side of the building.

What Larry did is almost identical to my previous theory - he knocked Edgeworth out, moved him to library, took his key to dining room, freed Franziska and let Franziska flee to right bathroom.
Then he threw the bottle into the study (through the dining room door) and locked it quickly. It was to lure Payne and Alfred into the study.
Immediately after Payne and Alfred left the central hallway, Phoenix run through, into the right hallway, passed the cellar key to Larry (who placed it on Edgeworth unconscious body in the library), ran to right bathroom, made Franziska open the door, stabbed her, killing her immediately and ran back to the left hallway and to the cellar, before Payne and Alfred came back to the central hallway from the study. I don't think it running through hallways would take that much time, and Franziska could respond pretty quickly too, and the killing was just a single stab.

When Payne opened the door to study room, Phoenix knocked him out, took his stuff, killed Larry, then probably moved to cellar with Payne's body.
Again, there is no testimony as to movements of Klavier or Edgeworth or Alfred at that point or later, so there should be a lot of ways bodies got discovered and ways Phoenix placed Payne into the study.

[astand]

Spoiler : Alternative theory :

Another theory, which would be similar in many parts:

Klavier is the culprit, Larry is the accomplice.

Klavier did have opportunity to take the cellar key from Phoenix.
Larry's actions are mostly the same, Klavier's actions in regards to killing Franziska are also the same as what Phoenix did in my previous theory.
Except here Klavier hides in files room after returning to left hallway. When Payne chases Larry and Larry enters the left hallway, he places a barricade on files room and hides in a cellar, then knocks out Payne after the barricade is removed and goes to left bathroom.
Then Klavier could kill Larry too and place dining room key on Phoenix.

[smkramer313]

Spoiler : DJJ6800 :

No defibrillator was used in this case.

Spoiler : astand :

Larry was not an accomplice in Franziska's murder.

[DJJ6800]

Spoiler : :

Eh, can’t say I didn’t expect that. My best guess is that the bottle of sleeping pills was used for this. I’m since it wasn’t suicide or anything like that, perhaps he drank something laced with the pills. Enough to make him lose his pulse for a time but not enough to outright kill him. After all, red truth only said there was no pulse. Didn’t say he was dead at the time.

[astand]

Spoiler : :

To clarify - the accomplice was defined as such: "The accomplice is a person who knowingly assists the culprit in the creation of the locked room."
It doesn't actually state that "the accomplice" is related to murders, only to locking the room, so technically your red doesn't contradict my theories, as Larry may not even have known that murders were going to occur.
Can you confirm that Larry is not an accomplice by that definition as well?

I have another theory in case you confirm it, I don't have time to type it right now though.

[astand]

Spoiler : :

Next theory in case it's confirmed Larry can't be the accomplice period.

Phoenix is the culprit, Edgeworth is the accomplice.

Edgeworth's testimony, while accurate, contains several omissions. In the dining room, he let Franziska out and locked the door again (Franziska went to right bathroom as in previous theories). After that he went into the library, and back into dining room, where he found Larry. Larry hit Edgeworth with the bottle, knocking him out. This bottle shattered, which was the sound Alfred and Payne heard (thinking it came from the study was a mistake). Larry then carried Edgeworth to the library.
Phoenix used the time Alfred and Payne were in the study to kill Franziska (as described in my previous theory). He also was the one who barricaded Klavier beforehand.
How Larry entered left bathroom and Phoenix knocked out Payne is also the same.
Phoenix must have planted wine cellar key on Edgeworth at some much later point, maybe after transporting Payne even, and we don't know for how long Edgeworth was unconscious anyway.

[smkramer313]

Spoiler : DJJ6800 :

The first body discovered was definitely a dead body.

Spoiler : astand :

Okay, some clarification here. When I say Larry cannot be the accomplice, I mean that he is still able to lock/unlock doors without necessarily knowing murders would occur. The same goes for Franziska. However, your theories all leave out how Payne was able to be locked up in the study. Hence, the locked room still remains unsolved unless you can provide an explanation for how the culprit managed to lock Payne up.

[astand]

Spoiler : :

Regarding placing Payne in the study there was a red truth: By the way, the culprit placed your unconscious body in the study. You were wrapped in the blanket.
As far as I'm concerned, nothing says that he was actually locked there, just that he was there.

After both murders were completed, Phoenix was waiting with Payne's unconscious body in wine cellar. At some point in time after bodies were discovered, he broke down the door to the study and placed Payne there with all the items. Doesn't even matter what keys he had at the time.
This could work for Klavier culprit theory as well, provided Phoenix was passed out the entire time.

Clarifications for future theories:
Alfred's purple testimony: Well you and the Master were the only two to enter the central hallway from that point onward.
Only Larry can be referred to as "Master", correct?
And the statement means no one else could enter the hallway for all eternity regardless of whether Alfred could witness it or not, right?

[DJJ6800]

Spoiler : :

Well if it was a dead body, then there are two possibilities that I can think of. Either the first body was the real Larry and the second incident was a fake Larry, or the first body was a fake and the real Larry was still alive at the time. I’ll take the latter for now. The real Larry was still alive at that point in time. As such, who does the first body belong to? Let’s go over the options. Phoenix, Edgeworth, Franziska and Payne were all alive and at the scene. Klavier was barricaded in the file room and couldn’t have left. If Larry is still alive, it couldn’t have been him. And Alfred would be out too because he was seen alive later on. Then the only one I can think of is the victim of the corrupt prosecutor case. They were brought to the scene and used as a decoy.

[smkramer313]

Spoiler : DJJ6800 :

You are on the right track in terms of who the first body could be, but I won't say anymore until you've presented me with another theory.

Spoiler : astand :

While it's true the red doesn't explicitly imply a locked room, there has to be one (namely, the doors all leading to the study being locked) in order for an accomplice to exist.
No doors were broken down prior to Payne being placed in the study.
"Master" refers to Alfred's master (which may or may not be Larry). And yes, "from that point onward" means all eternity.