82 Right At The Edge
“I don’t hate you, because hate is a feeling and I feel absolutely nothing for you.”
~Auliq Ice~
Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth
Police Station, Criminal Affairs Department
March 21, 2018
“E-Edgeworth!” Phoenix croaked out, completely shaken out of the norm. “What the…?! How?!”
The prosecutor arched a sardonic brow at his old friend’s completely ashen mien.
“It’s been a long time…Wright.” He was completely in full, unruffled, composed Miles Edgeworth state, as though popping up out of the blue from the grave was an everyday event, and he couldn’t fathom the spiky-haired man’s gobsmacked expression in the least.
Pearl’s fingers flew to her lips as she gasped in surprise. Thus far, the little girl had only known the gallant man now standing before them entirely by name and reputation.
“Th-This person … This is Mr. Edgeworth?”
“In the flesh.” The prosecutor smiled indulgently at the tiny spirit medium and gave his customary grandeur bow in greeting, before turning to Franziska, who, unlike the defense attorney, looked more stormy than shocked at his unexpected arrival.
In other words, if she was as thrown by the sudden sighting of him as Phoenix was, her expression belied no such evidence.
Maybe stony-faced stoicism is a prosecutor prerequisite?
The King of the Turnabout hastily shut his gaping mouth as he observed the exchange between the prosecutors and the two sets of smoky orbs; one serene, one stormy.
“What am I going to do with you…?” The handsome barrister shook his head in dismay at the incensed Frau, with whom he appeared to be quite well acquainted. “Still blaming others when things go wrong? You haven’t changed a bit, Franziska.”
“Y… You…” The German’s cheeks were a heightened shade of pink. She was positively spluttering with rage as she turned her accusing pointer finger at the cravat-wearer. “How dare you show your face to me without a shred of shame upon it!? You’ve soiled the Von Karma name and dragged it through the mud! Runaway with your tail between your legs like the ill-bred dog you are!”
Ouch! Phoenix cringed slightly at the harsh blitzkrieg. Harsh much, lady?! The sharpness of that tongue could give her whip a real run for the money!
Although he had his own choice words for his one-time courtroom rival, Lady Von Whippingberg’s venom was comparable to a viper’s! What was the deal with these two?! He couldn’t determine if he was witnessing a confrontation was that of a family affair variety … or an old married couple from hell!
“Are you talking about the Von Karma family creed?” Edgeworth smirked, appearing completely unruffled by the directed ire. “To be perfect in every way. Then let’s hear it, Franziska. How are things going? I hear you are having a rough time maintaining perfection in this country.”
“Y-You… uneheliches Kind!” She glared daggers at him.
Both prosecutors appeared to have forgotten that Pearl and Phoenix, who simply continued to watch the terse exchange in wide-eyed silence, were even in the room.
“You seem to be getting crushed under the weight of it all,” the anterior Manfred Von Karma disciple remarked mildly, pointedly ignoring the German slur questioning his legitimacy. “That’s why I came back.”
“Keep your assumptions to yourself!” Franziska snapped. “I… I haven’t given in yet! I won’t lose! This case is mine! I’ll never hand it over to you! Never!”
OK, this is way too heated for mere sibling rivalry! The awed Phoenix decided. Now they just sound like a bitterly divorced couple from the fiery depths of Abaddon!
“Mr. Phoenix Wright!” The furious femme abruptly turned to the defense attorney and scowled darkly. “I will see you tomorrow… In court!”
Her fierce expression was now replaced by her customary smug smile.
“It will be a clinical lesson on the meaning of total victory!”
Edgeworth waited until his foster sister had stormed off before turning back to his childhood chum with a smirk.
“Humph. Still the same wild mare she always was.”
Seriously?! Is that all the unabashed son of a bitch has to say for himself?!
Phoenix, at last, found his voice.
“I thought you, the prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, had gone and died!” He bellowed, feeling a stinging sensation beneath his lashes and hating himself for it. He ignored Pearl’s stunned gasp of “Mr. Nick!” This whole ordeal with Maya and now his so-called ghosting friend unexpectedly apparating again was too much for his frayed nerves! “I… I never wanted to see you again!”
The former Demon Prosecutor sighed. If he’d been at all affected by the words, it was impossible to determine from his typical stoic expression.
“I think that’s enough of a warm welcome for someone you haven’t seen in a year…”
Phoenix crossed his arms and fixed the other man with one of his best stares.
“Are you going to run tomorrow’s trial?”
“You heard her, right?” Edgeworth shook his head ruefully. “That wild mare hasn’t given in yet, it seems. So, no, I don’t think I’ll be making an appearance.”
Phoenix merely glared at him, still fuming but too livid to say another word.
“Your hatred for me is quite unhealthy, not to mention one-sided,” Edgeworth noted in a surprisingly gentle tone. “But I will say one thing; you can’t win on your own at the trial tomorrow.”
What is that supposed to mean? Of all the cotton-picking nerve! Is he doubting my capabilities?!
“I have something definitive that you lack and that’s the definition of teamwork, Wright,” Edgeworth informed him. “It’s the power to find the truth.”
“The truth?”
The charcoal-haired man nodded in affirmation.
“In order to understand this case, you have to understand a certain truth. If you ever feel the need for my assistance, it is available to you. I’m not in charge of this case, so I can be a bit more generous with information.”
The defense attorney was thrown into dumbfounded silence by the unexpectedly generous offer. Especially considering the source. The barrister was notoriously tight-lipped with information of any sort – that was partially what had made him Phoenix’s most formidable courtroom rival to this day!
Just what is going on inside his head?! I will never understand this man. Ever! I don’t care to anymore anyway! It’s too late to atone now, you jerk! I’ve moved on! And I don’t need you!
“A lot of things may have happened,” Edgeworth went on. “But Manfred Von Karma was still my mentor. And a perfect win record is proof of a Von Karma.”
Unwavering navy orbs peering unwaveringly into the granite ones.
“One year ago, you could not establish a perfect win record,” Phoenix countered. “You could not establish guilt in a few cases. Are those losses the same reason you suddenly disappeared from the Prosecutor’s Office?”
He was too incensed now to notice the flicker of sadness that now reflected on the other man’s features and stepped up his attack.
“Did you leave because you lost your perfect win record?”
This time, the magenta-clad legist visibly winced, but the normally benevolent lawyer was too infuriated and worked up to care.
“To think your motivation for prosecuting trials was so selfish!” The one-time good-natured attorney was
flat-out yelling now. “It’d have been better for everyone if you never came back from the dead, Edgeworth!”
Edgeworth expelled a deep breath and his downcast glance appeared focused on something on the ground during this verbal onslaught. However, when he finally raised his gaze to meet his dialogue partner’s, his countenance was once again indecipherable, although when he finally spoke, his tone was mild-mannered and not at all combative.
“I see. Then let me ask you something; why do you stand in the courtroom? What is your reason?”
“Well if it was Franziska, she would most definitely say ‘I will defeat you this time!’ the instant she saw me. But the courtroom is not a personal battlefield for prosecutors and lawyers. I stand in the courtroom to defend my client … To save their lives.”
His speech only resulted in him being subjected to that accursed raised eyebrow again.
“To save your client, you say?”
“Those who think only of their own ego-driven goals… those kinds of prosecutors are reprehensible to me!” Phoenix declared, not giving a damn that he sounded sanctimonious. “No matter if they are a prodigy, or someone like you, Edgeworth!”
The other man eyed him coolly.
“It looks like there is still a lot you have yet to learn.”
Dammit, he’s got a set of stones on him! Is he for real?!
“A lot I have yet to learn?” The blue attorney laughed humorlessly. “Me?”
“Humph. That’s enough for now.” Edgeworth crossed his arms and refused to meet Phoenix’s prying gaze then. “The time when you will see is coming soon enough.”
Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth
District Court, Defendant Lobby No. 3
March 22, 2018, 10:00 AM
The next morning Phoenix went to court with Mia, who was being summoned by Pearl.
Although he saw Franziska Von Karma as a mini terrorist and a replica of her Machiavelli father in female form, the rookie lawyer would have been telling the truth if he’d said as much as he disliked the cruel perfectionist, he certainly wouldn’t have wished any harm on her!
Ergo, he was horrified when, before the trial could commence, he got another call from the kidnapper. His antagonist cryptically stated he was giving the defense attorney ‘a gift.’ It became horrifyingly obvious what the latent meaning of the sinister implication was when Franziska didn’t show up behind the prosecutor’s bench.
This is insane! He thought wildly. How has it all come to this?!
The equally alarmed judge wasn’t even able to answer his frantic query about how the Nosferatu’s offspring was faring!
At that moment, a certain chess-loving legist showed up, reporting that Franziska had been shot in the shoulder on her way to court and that he, Miles Edgeworth would step up to take her place.
I thought he’d show up!
This time, Phoenix shared none of the shock that the judge expressed at the unanticipated sight of the presumed dead prosecutor. Now that his anger had fizzled somewhat, he actually couldn’t help but feel relieved by his rival’s presence for some unfathomable reason, although he couldn’t quite pinpoint the reason why.
I’m still pissed at him…but dammit, given the choice I’d still take him over Franziska any day! Edgeworth, at least, I know has a soul, even if it doesn’t come with any sort of conscience, seeing as how he played possum for a year! However, that’s neither here nor there right now…
Gumshoe took the stand first. The poor man was about to lose his job again because of what happened with Franziska, but he advised the court that the real cause of death was strangulation, from a scarf discovered around his neck. The knife was stabbed into Juan Corrida’s chest after he was already dead.
Edgeworth was totally on his game. For every contradiction that Phoenix raised, the other man had a perfect explanation. Even Mia was impressed, and at this rate, there wasn’t much keeping the prosecutor from getting a guilty verdict. He told Phoenix that he’d spent the last year seriously contemplating what it meant to be a prosecutor, and the answer he’d found was just what he was showing today.
Oldbag was called to the stand, momentarily throwing the austere prosecutor off of his game with her syrupy, lovesick greetings.
“It’s been a year since I’ve seen my Edgey-Wedgey,” Oldbag cooed, batting her eyelashes at the aghast barrister before then turning to glare at the poor judge. “So, don’t interrupt us, gramps!”
The stupefied judge hastily agreed, much to Edgeworth’s unmasked dread.
“No, no, no, please, by all means, interrupt her!” The slate-haired DA begged plaintively, unable to disguise his horror. “Please!”
Seeing the normally stolid man get this shaken up was so laughably palpable it made Phoenix amusedly wonder just where the calm, composed opposition who’d been making him work up a sweat all morning had vanished off to!
“I saw her name on the testimony!” Edgeworth groaned. “But who knew under that helmet was the Wicked Witch of the Witness Stand?!”
I’m going to withhold judgement on the poor guy in this case. After all, it’s not like Oldbag can’t bring out the worst in people…
The day before, even sweet, polite Pearl had questioned the senior citizen’s origin.
“Um… I was wondering if that old lady is really a person from Earth. I mean, maybe she’s really from waaaaaay out in outer space…””Yeah, actually, I was thinking the exact same thing,” Phoenix had chuckled. “She’s too strange to be from Earth!”
Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth
District Court, Courtroom No. 3
March 22, 2:25 PM
Phoenix wasn’t expecting any surprises when Adrian Andrews took the witness stand. The day before, even after he’d lambasted the other man, Edgeworth had still given him two pieces of important information.
The first was about Celeste Impax, the victim’s former manager. The two had recently cut off their engagement when the poor woman had killed herself. Corrida had found the body, and it was suspected that he might have concealed his fiancée’s suicide note and will. The second piece of information was about Adrian. Engarde’s manager had a co-dependent personality – her cool, calm exterior was simply an act that covered up the fact that she couldn’t function without support from someone else. She’d been very close to her mentor, and after Celeste had died, had even attempted suicide herself.
Adrian’s testimony looked favorable for the defense. It appeared Phoenix had the true killer!
However, after her testimony, when she began to be accused of planting evidence, Adrian abruptly exerted her right not to testify! Phoenix realized that she was hiding something, probably due to Franziska’s coaching the day before. And with the key witness refusing to confess or testify, the Judge had no choice but to suspend the trial for another day!
“Ms. Adrian Andrews has refused to testify,” the judge decreed. “And the defense’s theory that she is the actual murderer has not been fully substantiated with solid definitive proof.”
“But that’s not true!” Phoenix cried.
“In this situation, there is only one thing this court can do,” the magistrate went on, ignoring him. “And that is to declare a recess.”
“R-Recess…!?”
The judge nodded.
“I request that both the prosecution and the defense look further into this matter. And at tomorrow’s trial…”
The room began to spin for Phoenix at that moment at the words.
T-Tomorrow…!? We don’t have a “tomorrow”! If we don’t get a not guilty verdict today, then…
“Hold It!” He shouted desperately. “Please wait, Your Honor! Th … That’s not necessary! The trial … Please continue the trial!”
“What are you sweating for…?” Edgeworth eyed him suspiciously. “Your client is getting one more day to live, isn’t he?”
“That… That’s not it! This isn’t about that! Edgeworth!” Phoenix beseechingly stared across the courtroom into the face of the man he’d once called a friend, his heart in his eyes. “I know you know who the real killer is! Please … Let the trial continue! If I don’t get the verdict…then Maya…”
His voice cracked then.
Edgeworth’s startled eyes widened upon hearing the name of the young woman who’d put her neck on the line for him the year before, and never asked for anything in return. Moreover, the expression of undisguised pleading on the spiky-haired man’s panicked mien was impossible to miss. The prosecutor instinctively knew something was wrong – and that he had to act. Now.
“But it’s impossible to continue as long as the witness refuses to testify.” The judge was adamant. “Now then, this court is…”
“Objection!” The prosecutor shouted, never taking his gaze off his courtroom rival, even though he was speaking to the judge. “It is not impossible for this trial to continue!”
Adrian gasped, the color draining from her face.
“Mr. Edgeworth!” The judge was astounded. “Wh-What are you…”
The undaunted DA demanded Adrian testify about the juice she’d left in Corrida’s room, reasoning it couldn’t possibly incriminate her. The pretty blonde admitted that the tomato juice bottle pictured in the crime scene photo is the one she poured the juice from. When she first entered the room, she’d thought the actor was just asleep, and she’d poured the juice for him, not for herself. Phoenix objected that if Corrida had a knife through his chest, there was no way she could have thought he was still alive and calmly poured the juice.
“I don’t know what it is about Edgeworth today, but I can’t get a good read off of him,” Mia noted thoughtfully. “Is he friend or foe? I just don’t know…”
Neither do I! The defense lawyer thought. Edgeworth, what the heck is going on in that brain of yours?!
Nonetheless, he fervently needed to believe that a man who was astute and merciful enough to have noted his unspoken plea earlier to prolong the trial, without even knowing the circumstances involved, couldn’t be his enemy. He just couldn’t!
Adrian clammed up once more, and again the Judge tried to adjourn for the day, and again the prosecutor objected, declaring that he could explain why she wouldn’t bear witness.
“Ms. Andrews. Since you absolutely refuse to testify…” Edgeworth shrugged with complete insouciance. “It falls on my shoulders to disclose this to the court.”
“…S…Stop…” Adrian stammered, sweat beginning to form at her temples.
“M-Mr. Edgeworth!?” The judge was confused.
“This witness… How should I put this…? She has an illness,” the barrister remarked casually, as though discussing the weather.
“What!?” The blonde gasped, eyeing him with dread.
“And because of this illness, she has tried to commit suicide in the past.”
“S-Stop… Please stop…!”
“No matter how much you want to hide it, it’s no use. I have the evidence right here.” Edgeworth tapped the folder on his table and met her pleading stare unflinchingly.
“Ah!” Adrian stammered. “Th-That’s…!”
That’s the second part of the suicide report; the attempted suicide report! Phoenix realized dazedly.
The warning note in Edgeworth’s voice was impossible to miss as he threatened to reveal to the court the secret of Adrian’s co-dependent nature, despite knowing that having other people know about it scared her more than anything else in the world.
“I will now reveal to the court,” the prosecutor declared. “The true nature of the pitiful woman known as Adrian Andrews!”
“Please! Please STOP!” She begged. “I beg you! If people find out…If people find out… I… I’ll…”
Edgeworth looked at her stonily, his face an emotionless mask. “If you’re going to say you would “choose death”, that is of no concern to me.”
Phoenix gaped at the callous being who had once infamously been known as the Demon Prosecutor.
This is too much! All that’s missing is the red tail and horns! Was all that professed talk about rediscovery during his year away from America just a total crock? He thought despairingly. Edgeworth… How can you be so cold…!?
“However, before you die…” Edgeworth slammed his hand on the table. “I will pull the truth from your breathing lips, no matter what I have to do!”
The tactic was harsh, ruthless, and cruel. Phoenix never, in all his kindheartedness, could have ever resorted to such measures.
Nevertheless, it had worked.
Adrian crumbled like a dry biscuit under the strain and finally confessed that while she hadn’t killed Corrida, she had tried to frame Engarde for the crime because she knew somehow, he was responsible, and had ruined her beloved mentor’s life and was responsible for her suicide.
And that was that. Despite Phoenix’s protests, the judge ended court for the day and had Adrian arrested for questioning, citing there was not enough proof she was the killer.
The court was over for the day. And he still hadn’t gotten the required not-guilty required to set Maya free.
Phoenix’s head dropped into his hands in complete devastation.
He’d failed her.
“Witness…Would you mind if I asked you something?”
The black-haired head shot up at the harsh sound of the prosecutor’s normally level tone, which was directed at Adrian, still on the stand, as he asked about the card she was holding.
Edgeworth?
Adrian absently twirled the card in her fingers, admitting Phoenix had also asked her about that same, strange, shell-monogrammed card, which she hadn’t paid much mind to and unconsciously slipped into her pocket.
“Do you have any idea what you have stupidly, yet inadvertently done!?” Edgeworth slammed his hand down on the desk and glared at her, his voice rising. “This… I can’t believe you hid this from me all this time!”
“I… I didn’t mean to…” Adrian looked shaken.
“Wh-What is this all about…?” Mia gaped at the incensed DA, who practically had steam coming out of his ears, his broad chest heaving.
Phoenix stared with consternation at the other man, his alarm mounting.
I’ve never seen such an emotional Edgeworth in my entire life…That card…What in the world is it? And what does it mean…!
Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth
Hotti Clinic
March 22, 2017, 6:00 PM
After leaving court, Phoenix met up with Gumshoe. Now that Gumshoe had been fired (again) he wanted to help with the investigation. He was great at consoling the weeping Pearl, who was fretful the ended trial without a not guilty verdict would mean the end of her cousin’s life, but the men were able to reassure her that since Engarde hadn’t been declared guilty, there was no reason for the assassin to break his word and harm Maya.
“It’ll be OK! You’ll see her again, little missy,” the big man soothed the distraught child, who was now sniffling.
“Y-Yeah!” The child smiled slightly.
“It’s really important that you don’t give up!” Gumshoe reached down with his ham-sized fist and tried to softly bump it against the spirit medium’s small knuckles.
“O-OK!” Pearl smiled even more brightly now and returned the fist bump, her tears gone now. “I… I won’t give up. Ever!”
Phoenix was both touched and relieved at how good the other man was at cheering up the little tot.
I guess a big voice does give you a sense of presence…
“Hey! I know!” Gumshoe was excitedly saying now. “I’ll show you something cool! How’s this? It’s a real, genuine pistol…”
His big heart may make him great to be around kids, although at times I just don’t know where his head is! Phoenix facepalmed. Why does he keep insisting on wanting to have an 8-year-old play with a gun?!
The former detective searched his pockets for the sought item, and his face fell then. “I… I don’t have my pistol or my police badge anymore…” He mumbled sadly.
“Cheer up!” Pearl chirped. “You can’t give in!”
“Y-Yeah!” Gumshoe beamed then.
What in the name of Lady Gaga’s diamond bustier are those two doing…?! Phoenix wondered. Wait, do I even want to know..?
Gumshoe explained that while Franziska’s bullet wound to the shoulder was minor, the one to her pride was even worse.
“Well, until now, she’s always upheld the Von Karma Creed,” he explained to the baffled lawyer. “But since she came here, well, you’ve given her pride quite a beating, pal. I mean, she may act all grown-up, but she’s only 19 years old. Quite frankly, I worry about her, pal.”
The burly flatfoot went on to shake his head over Edgeworth’s courtroom antics that day.
“First time I’ve ever seen him be that kind of strong-arm tactics, pal, what with forcing people to say what he wants them to during testimony…I want to know what in the world happened to him all this time he’s been gone…”
Speak of the devil, Phoenix and Pearl bumped into Edgeworth himself when they went to the Hotti Clinic to visit Franziska. However, they’d first had to contend with the same skin-crawling, gap-toothed, itchy, scratchy, pink-haired pervert who was pretending to be Dr. Hotti but was merely a wannabe Dr. Bad Touch, whom the defense attorney all too vividly remembered from his last harrowing visit there!
Luckily, Franziska came along then and whipped faux Dr. Strangelove till he passed out and had to be carried away. For once, the weapon was a godsend!
Phoenix shuddered with relief when the creepy man was out of sight. Everything about this place gave him the heebie jeebs!
Franziska didn’t seem too worse for the wear and appeared to have thawed out somewhat towards both him and Edgeworth, so Phoenix figured he could talk to her a bit and asked the German how she was faring.
“I was shot in the shoulder en route to the courthouse,” she shrugged. “No big deal, these things happen all the time. I even had full intentions of running the trial this morning.” Rolling her eyes, she grimaced in Edgeworth’s direction. “But I was dragged here by that prosecutor.”
Edgeworth only looked at her, with an expression that clearly said: I’m not apologizing!
“He even went so far as to grab me by the wrist the whole way here!” The patient grumbled, looking more annoyed than grateful. “Dragging me along as I was a toddler!”
Edgeworth crossed his arms.
“It was the only logical course of action given the bullet was still lodged in your shoulder!” Now it was his turn to grimace as he added wryly, “But with me doing so…I found myself having to clean up after you and that irresponsible deal you made!”
The silver-haired beauty scowled at the implied reprimand but said nothing.
Phoenix’s gaze swiveled back and forth between the duo, knowing full well of that deal the other man spoke of… yet still not knowing just what the real deal was with these two! Were they … pseudo-siblings? Friends? Frenemies?
Or …a niggling thought occurred to him even though he had no hardcore evidence of such. Perhaps more than meets the eye…?
Unsurprisingly, Franziska didn’t seem to care that she’d almost gotten Adrian blamed for the murder, and shortly afterward, abruptly excused herself, leaving her Little Brother alone with Phoenix and Pearl.
The prosecutor, likewise, was unrepentant for presenting the evidence Adrian was so desperate to hide, even though Phoenix insisted that he’d never seen the other man act in such a ruthless manner before … didn’t Edgeworth agree he’d gone too far?
“Ah, but she wouldn’t testify about THAT until I said something. Listen, Wright. The courtroom is a garden of judgment. I am putting myself on the line when I stand in there,” Edgeworth stated unapologetically. “And that’s why I made the witness do the same…It’s only natural.”
Looks like we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one, Phoenix figured, and changed topics, asking about his friend’s uncharacteristic anger about the mysterious card.
The prosecutor explained that for years the police had been after a professional assassin, Shelly De Killer, who left cards with a seashell design at the scene of his murders. Adrian must have picked it up without thinking. This meant that De Killer must have killed Corrida, but Edgeworth still believed Engarde was the one that hired him, a fact he was deliberating how to break to Phoenix.
“My turn to ask questions now,” Edgeworth folded his arms over his chest and affixed the blue attorney with a level gaze. “I noticed something at the trial today. You were behaving in a very strange manner. Is something the matter?”
Seeing no point in hiding things any longer, despite his conflicting emotions about the other man – was he a wingless angel or a heartless demon?! – Phoenix reluctantly filled Edgeworth in on the details of Maya’s kidnapping and the stipulations involved.
Edgeworth listened with a furrowed, pensive brow, showing his genuine concern, and after hearing all the information, immediately offered to prepare a rescue team as soon as possible, and was confident he could resolve this matter by tomorrow.
“R-Really!?” Pearl squealed excitedly, clapping her hands and looking at Edgeworth as though he were the Hero of Heroes. “Did you hear that, Mr. Nick!? M-Mr. Edgeworth is going to…”
But the defense attorney wasn’t as easy to win over as the little girl. This wasn’t a TV show and this wasn’t that easy! The problem was not going to be resolved in half an hour and Phoenix was in no mood to forgive the other man his past sins in 20 minutes plus commercial breaks just yet!
“Forget it!” He said gruffly, shaking his head stubbornly. If anyone was going to be Maya’s hero, goddammit it would be him! “Stop trying to console me, Edgeworth! I don’t need your pity!”
“Mr. Nick?” Pearl regarded him in confusion and bit her thumb.
“There’s no way you can find her. We don’t have even a single clue to go on!” The blue attorney continued, irritated that Edgeworth thought the solution was so straightforward – if it had been, wouldn’t it have been obvious that Phoenix would have come up with the search party idea himself?! This wasn’t a simple situation where the prosecutor could just swoop down in his typical genius fashion and have all the answers. Not this time. This was beyond mere logic!
Edgeworth studied him with a knitted brow.
“There’s only one way to save her,” Phoenix went on. “I… I have to get an acquittal somehow! It’s the only way!”
Seeing how stubborn a man he was dealing with here – and that his trespasses were a long way away from being forgiven – Edgeworth shook his head and sighed in resignation. It was time.
“Wright. Listen, you need to know something.” His tone was serious and no-nonsense. “Juan Corrida was killed by Shelly de Killer. And the client who ordered the job…is Matt Engarde. Your own client.”
Phoenix’s face went as white as a hospital sheet. He shook his head violently, trying to block out the ugly words.
No! It couldn’t be true! It couldn’t! There had to be a mistake! Surely all this time he couldn’t possibly have been jumping through hoops trying to save a man from a crime he was guilty of! That would mean…no! His magatama wouldn’t mislead him!
“I don’t believe you!” He squeezed his lids shut, away from Edgeworth’s unrelenting stare. “Please, stop! I can’t listen to you. I can’t believe that!”
Edgeworth somberly regarded the rattled defense attorney and realized he couldn’t push the truth on him any further. Phoenix was thisclose to cracking, and there was a little girl right there who needed him to keep it together. Still, he felt frustrated.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Stifling a sigh, Edgeworth looked at his childhood friend with an acquiescent expression.
“I see. Well, if you want to continue your investigation, you will need this.”
“What is it?” Pearl asked.
“The hotel right now is restricted to police personnel only, as we are looking for any clues that might lead us to Shelly De Killer. This letter will allow the police at the hotel to let you continue investigating.”
The prosecutor turned to leave, but then looked back at the two one last time.
“In any case, I must attend to the preparations for Maya’s rescue team.” He held up a hand, silencing the protest Phoenix was about to make. “This isn’t about pity Wright. I care about the girl. She went out on a limb twice for me …and I’ve never forgotten. If you won’t let me do this for you, allow me to do this for Miss Fey.”
Phoenix hesitated for a moment, but then nodded assent.
“We’ll meet again, if anything should happen, Wright.” Edgeworth smiled faintly at Pearl and nodded at the defense attorney. “Now if you’ll excuse me…I must bid you adieu.”
Phoenix and Pearl stared after the prosecutor for a moment, then the little girl turned to look at him anxiously.
“Mr. Nick? Do you… Do you really think … Mr. Engarde hired an assassin…?”
“No way!” Phoenix insisted, desperately hoping it was true. I mean, he doesn’t have a Psyche-Lock…
Pearl seemed reassured by the conviction in his tone. “Y-Yeah, I guess not…” She smiled trustingly up at him and slipped her tiny hand into his. “Let’s get out of here before that scary-looking man comes back.”
As he led Pearl away, Phoenix sent a silent prayer out to the universe, hoping against hope that he wasn’t wrong and that somehow, Maya could feel or hear his thoughts.
Maya…he thought achingly. Wherever you are…Please… Come back to us. We need you so badly… Please God, if you’re listening, all I ask is you bring Maya back home, safe and sound!
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