"Nick, when was the last time you bothered to look at these books?" Maya asked. The purple-clad nineteen-year-old stood on top of a rickety metal stool that looked as if it were about to give way any second. She grabbed her feathered duster and gently dusted Mia's old collection of books that Phoenix never bothered to look at.
Phoenix ignored Maya's question; being too preoccupied in his own thoughts. The latest case that he was involved in was still looming in his conscious mind. It was his first day back at the office after his case with Iris. He took the previous day off after being out late celebrating his recent victory with his friends over at Tres Bien.
The sound of metal crashing down to the floor finally dragged Phoenix out of his mind. He leapt out of his chair and looked over at Maya, who was sitting there in the floor with the broken stool kicked over at the other side of the room.
"Ouch, that hurt!" Maya exclaimed. She leapt up to her feet and brushed off her purple robe while adjusting her black hair.
"Are you alright?" Phoenix asked.
Maya opened her mouth to answer but she cut herself off. She saw something shining on the floor. "Oh, what's that?" She stooped over to pick it up.
"I guess that does mean she's alright…" He thought to himself as a small smile formed on his lips.
She stood up strait and held a thick gold bracelet at her eye level. The raven-haired girl examined the bracelet at different angles and then handed it over to the curious "Nick" who was standing beside her.
The first thing that Phoenix noticed when he saw the bracelet was the inscription on the inside of it. He twisted the bracelet and read the inscription out loud slowly. "Always and Forever, my Kitten." He shrugged and handed it over to Maya.
"I wonder if it belonged to Mia…" The young spirit medium thought out loud. "Do you think she'd mind us going through her possessions…?" She looked up at the young attorney.
"Somehow, I think that she would want you to find it." After Phoenix said that, Maya remained silent.
Wordlessly, Maya stooped over and picked up a tattered leather book that fell off the bookshelf along with the bracelet and other stuff. "This looks different then all the other books." Maya thought to herself. She flipped over the floppy cover and opened up the first page.
"What is it?" He asked, peeking over her shoulder, looking at Mia's elegant penmanship.
"It looks like its Mia's old diary." Maya announced as she fingered through the large book. "Should we?" The teenager pointed at the book.
"I don't see why not…" Phoenix ran his fingers through his spiky hair and grinned sheepishly.
Maya flipped over to the first page. "Dear Diary…" She began to read out loud.
Part 2
Dear Diary,
Tomorrow is my first day at Grossberg's Criminal Defense Law offices. I'm so exited I can hardly sleep! It's my first job as an attorney, so it's very exiting for me. I'm really wondering what the other attorneys are like. I can't wait until I get to go to court. I doubt that they'll let me go anytime soon though. After all, I am still fresh off the bar. It should be nice helping out in court though. I really want to help people any way I can; even if it means just filling out papers and finding evidence. I should probably attempt to go to sleep soon. The faster I fall asleep, the faster I can start my new day tomorrow.
Mia unclicked her pen, closed her diary and slapped it on top of her large, wooden desk at the far side of her one-room apartment. She stood up from her plush, leather chair and walked over towards the bathroom where she slipped out of her suit and into her long, white, simply-designed, cotton nightgown. Mia looked in the mirror and carefully brushed her waste-length brown hair so it wouldn't get tangled at night. Afterwards, she reached for her toothbrush and began to brush her teeth.
Finally, her nightly ritual was done and she moved back into her dimly-lit, simply designed bedroom. She let out a yawn and slipped under her green comforter. Practically as soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep.
The night past very quickly for Mia; pretty soon the sunlight filtered into her room through the curtains. Her eyes began to flicker open and she slowly rose from her bed. She shook her head from side to side, in an attempt to clear her dead. Then, it dawned on her; today was her first day at work. Her brown eyes widened and she swung her legs over her bed and ran over to the bathroom. Even though she had more then enough time to spare, Mia still wanted to arrive early for her first day at work.
She hurried into the shower and turned on the water. After going through her ritual in the shower, she hopped out and dried off and wrapped a towel around her buxom body. After brushing her teeth again, she leaned in closer to the mirror and applied her makeup. She reached for the blow-dryer and dried off all the water in her hair. What should I wear? Mia thought to herself. She wandered over inside of her bedroom and picked out her favorite black suit. She slipped it on and ran a comb through her fine brown hair. Finally, she looked into the full-length mirror and smiled at what she saw looking back at her. She looked amazing in her suit. She worried that she looked too amazing though, for her neckline was very low and her skirt was very short; she didn't want to make a bad first impression. Her face looked like that of an angel with her expressive eyes and thick lips and her there wasn't a hair out of place on her head. She slipped on her favorite pair of white high-heals, grabbed her long black trench coat and her over-the shoulder black purse, and walked out the door.
Luckily, Mia lived close to her new office so it was only a quick ten minute walk to get to work. Because it was in the middle of December, it was very cold outside. Mia was very glad that she brought her long trench coat. Even though it was cold outside, it was still an enjoyable walk for Mia. Before she knew it, she found herself at the front door of Grossberg's office. She took in a deep breath to steady herself and pushed the door open.
The foyer was beautiful; there was a large couch for visitors to sit on along with a wooden coffee table. Many pictures hung on the tan walls which gave the room a welcoming feeling. Mia hung her coat on the coat hanger on the other side of the room and gingerly walked over to the couch. She slowly sat down and began to fidget with her hands.
"Ah, Mia Fey, it's a pleasure to see you again." She hopped up from her chair to greet the stout man clad in a red suit waddling over towards her. The two of them then shook hands. The man was obviously older; his grey hair and mustache gave that away.
"Mr. Grossberg; thank you for hiring me." Mia flashed him a smile and smoothed out her dress.
"Come inside of your new office; you'll be sharing with Mr. Armando."
"Oh, Diego Armando, the famous defense attorney?" Mia asked as she followed him down the hallway.
"The one and only." She heard an unfamiliar voice answer. She let out a gasp of surprise and spun around on her heels. She was then face-to-face with her new co-worker. She instantly felt intimidated by him. He was much taller then she and his rippling muscles showed through his silk vest and red shirt. His skin radiated a healthy glow and his hair was black and spiked back. He smirked when he saw the young attorney. There was something about his smirk that when combined with his expressive dark eyes that just made Mia's heart pound in her chest. His sheer masculinity intimidated her so she had a hard time looking up at him directly in the eye. So, instead she focused on his black goatee and looked at his eyebrows instead of looking at him directly in the eye.
"Mr. Armando, this is our newest lawyer, Mia Fey." Mr. Grossberg pointed to Mia.
The man grabbed her hand and kissed it. At that moment, Mia hopped that she wasn't blushing too much. "It's a pleasure."
"For the next few months, you will be training with Mr. Armando." Grossberg continued to speak. "You know; helping him out with cases and stuff."
Mia's heart then sank at that moment. Even though she knew she wouldn't have any of her own cases for the first few months, she still had this faint flicker of hope that she would be able to try her first case.
"Well, I'll leave you two kids alone; I'll be in my office should you need anything, Mia." With that, the stout man walked down the hall and vanished behind a door.
"Come inside," Diego motioned for Mia to enter the office. It was quite a large, spacious office with an ebony desk sitting in the center with a matching table at the far side of the room cluttered with papers and a coffee pot. There were three leather swivel chairs there; one for Diego, one for Mia, and another for the client. The walls were painted burgundy and the floors were a polished dark wood. On the wall there stood a variety of pictures; from paintings to certificates. Diego pulled out Mia's chair and she quickly sat down. He moved a few files so she could have a space to work before taking his seat next to her. He leaned backwards and rested his hands behind his head and faced Mia, who was fidgeting with her hands.
"So, it looks like you're stuck with me, huh?" He yawned and swung his feet up on the desk.
Mia had no idea of what to say at that moment. She really didn't want to aggravate her new boss who she would deal with every day for at least two months. "I really don't mind though."
"Is that so, kitten?"
"Kitten?" Mia raised an eyebrow.
"It's a nickname I give to pretty girls." He flashed her one of his famous smirks.
"I…" Once again, Mia had no idea of what to say. She really wanted to say that she didn't want to be called kitten, but again, the threat of being with this man for two months prevented her from speaking her mind.
"Well, speak up."
Mia flushed red. It was obvious that this man could see through her lies.
"It is important for an attorney to be able to express his thoughts. So, speak up, kitten." Diego swung his legs off of the desk and turned to face the bewildered girl. He looked her strait in the eye. "Say it already."
"Why do you automatically assume that the attorney is a male?" The words automatically flew out of Mia's mouth and she raised her hands over her mouth and let out a gasp as soon as she realized what she said.
Diego let out a loud laugh and clapped his hands. "Well, well, it looks like the kitten has claws."
Mia shifted her weight in her chair and bit her lip.
A long silence loomed over the two of them and finally Diego hopped up from his chair and waltzed over to the other side of the room. He flicked off the switch to his coffee pot and poured himself a cup. "Want some?" He lifted the large pot of coffee.
Mia shook her head. "I'm not much of a coffee drinker."
Diego let out another laugh. "More for me then."
"You're going to drink that whole pot?" Mia exclaimed.
"Yeah, what of it?" Diego asked.
"Well, that's a lot of coffee. I mean, that's enough for eight cups."
"It should last me an hour."
"An hour!?" Mia exclaimed. Her face turned bright red from embarrassment yet again from this sudden outburst. She scratched her head and looked down at her white shoes.
"What's the matter kitten? We're going to be working together for at least two months. So, say what you want to say or it's going to be a long two months for you." Diego took a swig of his coffee. "Besides, the prosecution will eat you alive if you act like that in court."
The thought of loosing in court instantly woke her up. Mia looked up at Diego and her posture instantly straitened. "Now that's the spirit." He got up from his chair and poured himself another cup.
"It looks like you will drain through the pot in an hour."
"Yeah…" His voice trailed off and he scratched the back of his head. "I drink a lot of coffee. A lot."
"I can see that; how much is 'a lot'?" She raised a slender eyebrow.
He let out a small chuckle. "I like to drink seventeen cups of coffee during a trial. Outside of court…" His voice trailed off. "Well, I lost count."
"That's a lot of coffee."
Diego walked over to the other side of the room and dug through his papers. "I have a surprise for you, kitten." He continued to dig through his papers. "If I can find it…"
Mia wondered what this 'surprise' was. Somehow, she really didn't want to know. She just sat there with her hands folded on her lap, watching Diego dig through the mountain of folders on the table at the far side of his office.
"Ah!" He dragged out a manila envelope from the mountain of papers. "Here we go…" He said as he walked over towards the desk and dropped the paper right in front of Mia.
The female attorney picked up the envelope and began to open it.
"It's a collection of facts and information about a case that we're going to be working on; the autopsy report of the victim, profiles of people involved, and a few photographs of the crime scene."
The color drained from Mia's face as she looked at the pictures of the dead, bloody, body. It appeared that he was stabbed to death because there was a knife sticking out of his stomach. She felt her stomach churn as she looked at the collection of pictures. They all showed the same thing; a man, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, lying in a pool of blood. She quickly stuffed them back inside of the envelope.
"If you're going to work in criminal law, you have to toughen up, kitten." Diego said as he rose from the desk and headed towards the door. Mia cocked her head to the side and looked at him. "Are you ready?"
"For what?" Mia asked.
"To check out the crime scene, of course." He held the door open for Mia. "In order to discover the truth, we need to collect all the evidence. So, are you coming or not?"
The young brunette wordlessly rose from the table. She hoped that her legs would be able to hold her up after looking at that gruesome scene. Thankfully, they did and she swiftly moved out the door, clutching the manila envelope against her breast. When she entered the foyer, she grabbed her coat and quickly buttoned it. She watched Diego do the same with his black, wool coat.
"Whose car are we taking; mine or yours?" He asked, dangling the keys in front of him.
"Oh, I walk to work." Mia answered.
"Well, that answers that question." Diego clicked the button to his remote keychain and pointed to the shiny red Mercedes parked in front. He dashed over to the passenger's door and opened it for Mia. After she was inside, he closed the door for her and walked over to the driver's seat and hopped in himself.
Diego turned on the car and whipped outside of the small parking lot. Mia clutched onto her envelope tighter and was very grateful to be wearing a seatbelt for Diego was a terrible driver. She flinched as she watched the speed creep up higher and higher. "Um, Mr. Armando…?"
"Yeah?" He took one hand off the steering wheel to take a sip of his coffee.
"Could you pay more attention to the road?" Mia asked.
"What? You don't trust me?" He let out a chuckle. He took Mia's silence as a 'no', so let lowered his speed by a few miles per hour, but not before letting out another cackle. "See, all you have to do is speak up; if you have something on your mind, just say it."
"I'll keep that in mind." Mia said. Next thing she knew, Diego whirled into an apartment complex and the car came to a screeching halt.
"We're here." He turned off the car, hopped out, and rushed over to open up Mia's door. She slowly crawled out of the car and felt at ease as soon as her feet hit the solid ground. She looked over at the run down brick apartment complex.
"Is this the scene of the crime?" Mia asked.
"Yes it is." Diego answered. He placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her inside the apartment. The inside was quite dingy and Mia honestly didn't want to touch anything here. He led her inside of a rickety elevator and pressed the button to go to the fifth floor. The elevator cage closed and it slowly ascended. The young attorney closed her eyes and hoped that this elevator was steady enough to get them both to the fifth floor without breaking. The sudden jerks that it gave weren't' very re-assuring. Of course, Diego noticed this. "What's the matter; afraid of elevators?" He asked.
"No, just old rickety ones that are about to fall."
"You're too nervous, kitten."
"No, I'm just cautious." Mia thought to herself.
The two of them finally left the elevator, much to Mia's liking. It then donned on her; it's was going to be a long two months. It wasn't even noon and she had already been through more stress in one day then she had been in her entire life.
The two of them stood in front of a large, wooden door. "Is this it?" Mia asked. Diego nodded his head and then she reached for the handle. He quickly grabbed her wrist though.
"Wait," He instructed.
"Why?" Mia cocked her head to the side and looked at the older, spiky-haired man.
"I should have probably warned you…"
"About what?"
He let out a troubled sigh. "Seeing a picture of a crime scene is one thing, being there is entirely different. Even though there is no dead body, it is still very unnerving."
"I'm ready." Mia curtly nodded her head.
"If you say so, kitten." Diego let go of her wrist and she slowly opened the door. The stench of dried blood mixed with chemicals was overpowering. Mia staggered backwards into Diego as soon as she got a whiff of the smell. "Easy there." He put his hand on the small of her back to steady her.
She took a deep breath and walked inside of the apartment. Police where running around franticly searching for evidence. A younger man, around Diego's age but far less handsome, approached the two of them. He was dressed in a large tan trench coat and had strait black hair that matched the wisps of hair on his unshaved chin.
"What do you have for us, Gumshoe?" Diego asked.
"We didn't find anything special, pal; just his bank records." He handed a folder over to Diego. "Oh, and who's the girl?"
"That's Mia Fey."
"Oh, well, nice to meet you Mia!" The detective said in an enthusiastic voice.
"Nice to meet you too, detective." Mia smiled at him.
"So Gumshoe," Diego began to say. Gumshoe turned his attention away from Mia. "Do you mind if we take a look around?"
"No problem, pal." He scratched the back of his head. "See you guys later." Gumshoe vanished inside of the kitchen.
Mia slowly walked out to the center of the room, but kept her distance from the bloodstain near the rocking chair. On top of the bloodstain, there was an outline of where they found the body. She made a point to stand near the outline, but not too close because she didn't want to disrupt the crime scene. She made a point to note the footprints of high heals that belonged to the killer that were marked leading up to the body and around the apartment. She also noticed that the footprints were the same size as her footprints, but she would never wear a heal that was that high and pointy.
Mia pulled out her manila envelope and opened up the autopsy report. "Doctor Earl Grey…" Mia thought to herself. She looked at the picture of the Doctor back when he was alive; he had bright blue eyes, a cleft chin, and wavy blonde hair. He looked like a young, successful doctor. But, then she saw the picture of his dead body; bloody and mangled. His blonde hair was covered in a layer of dried blood and he wasn't dressed in his scrubs and lab coat, but instead in jeans and a t-shirt that were also covered in the red liquid substance. She also wondered what a successful doctor was doing living in this apartment. Her eyes narrowed and she placed her hand under her chin; a habit that she had when she was thinking.
"What are you thinking about, kitten?"
"I was just wondering what a successful doctor was doing living in a place like this…" Her voice trailed off. "Also, who would do this to him? What kind of person would stap someone twenty times until they bleed to death?"
"There are a lot of sick people out there, kitten." Diego's voice became softer. When he saw Mia's pensive face, he felt a little bit sorry for her; she was just a young girl, fresh out of law school and she was already exposed to all of the horrors of murder. "This is probably a bit too much for you; perhaps we should go back to the firm…"
"No," Her voice sounded a bit firmer. "We should go to the detention center and speak with our client."
"I admire your resolution; kitten." Diego smirked at her. "Oh, and I have more evidence." He pulled out a plastic bag with a bloody knife inside of it. "Bad news; this has our clients finger prints all over it."
Mia pulled out her envelope and flipped through it. "Out client is Jasmine Green right?"
"That's right; are you all set here?"
"Yes, I think I have enough information. What about you?" Mia looked up at Diego, still being too intimidated to look him directly in the eye.
"I'm ready if you're ready." With that, he waltzed over towards the door and held it open for her. Mia let out a sigh as she walked into the rickety elevator. She held her breath as it slowly descended downward; not exhaling until it came to a complete stop at the bottom floor.
She was walking over to the car door when Diego grabbed her hand. "The detention center is only down the block."
"Oh…" Her smile widened; she was very happy not to be stuck in the car with her boss who happened to be one of the worst drivers she had ever scene.
"Unless if you would prefer to drive, kitten."
"Oh no, I'd rather walk." She shook her head furiously.
"I thought so; we need to make a quick stop first." He began to walk down the street. Mia walked quickly to keep up with his long strides but she had to practically jog to keep up with his quick pace.
"Where are we going?" Mia asked.
"The coffee shop; I can think better when I've had my coffee."
"Didn't you just have a pot of coffee?" She thought to herself but thought it better to remain silent. The two of them walked inside a dimly lit café with burgundy tables, a brown tiled floor, and a large granite counter with bar stools for people to sit.
"Ah, Diego!" The man behind the granite counter shouted. "What's going on?"
"Ah, nothing much." He then pointed to Mia. "This is my new co-worker, Mia."
"Hey, nice to meet you!" The man enthusiastically said. "What will you two have today."
"Ah, just the usual." Diego ran his fingers through his spiky black hair. "And you, kitten?"
"I'm really not that thirty…" Her voice trailed off.
"Ok then, a cup of hot chocolate for the lady in case she changes her mind."
"But…!" Mia began to protest but Diego cut her off before she could finish.
"It's on me." He unbuttoned his black coat and draped it over his arm. Mia fumbled with the buttons of her trench coat and did the same. Diego then grabbed her coat and draped it over his arm as well and brought them both over to the coat hanger. In her half day of being here, Mia learned not to question these strange habits that her boss had. So when he walked over to one of the burgundy tables and pulled out a chair for her, she just quietly sat down and watched him sit down across from her. The table was very small, so she could feel the soft cotton of Diego's pant leg against her bare, crossed legs. She blushed at this small bit of contact. Finally, the man from earlier came out carrying a two cups of coffee and a cup of hot chocolate.
"A hot chocolate for the lady and the usual for you; black coffee, house blend." The man announced. Diego just pulled out a ten dollar bill from his wallet and handed it to the man. He retreated behind the counter while Mia was still fumbling with the purse.
Diego took note of this and let out a sigh. "Relax; I said it's on me. After all, a man should be the one to pay."
Mia crossed her arms and glared at the man sitting across the table and let and huffed. "That isn't true; women are just as capable of paying as men are."
"Whatever you say, kitten."
This sarcasm just aggravated Mia to no end. "I'm serious; you shouldn't look down on women like that!"
"Then stand up for yourself." Annoyance and aggravation seeped through his voice.
"That's what I'm doing right now!" Mia's voice raised and she rose from the table, kicking her chair back in the process.
"That's what I'm talking about." Diego smirked. He returned to being his calm and arrogant self. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked up at Mia, who was leaning over the table, still fuming.
"I'm going to go pay for my drink now." She began to rip open her purse and grabbed three dollars from her purse and slapped it down on the table.
"Hold up." He rose from the table and guzzled his entire coffee in one swoop. "How about this; you can keep your three dollars because I brought you here and ordered the drink for you while you really weren't thirsty."
Mia was silent for a moment. She was tempted to refuse to take back her money out of spite, but he did prove a point. "So you bought it because you ordered the drink for me and brought me here, not because I'm a woman?"
"Exactly." He pushed the money over towards Mia, who slowly put it back inside of her purse.
"I'm proud of you." His posture became a bit more relaxed and he looked over at the still angry young attorney across from him.
"Huh?" Mia cocked her head to the side and became more relaxed herself. "Why?"
"Finally, you decided to stand up for yourself." He paused dramatically in the middle of his sentence. "Not only did you stand up for yourself, but you argued your point, made a convincing argument, and made an intelligent decision in the end that benefited yourself."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call three dollars benefiting…" Her voice trailed off and she scratched the back of her head. Her voice was significantly calmer and she had a slight blush on her face.
"You actually behaved like a real attorney." Diego continued and he nodded his head curtly.
"I wouldn't exactly call flipping out over three dollars professional…"
"Still, I thought that you were marvelous, kitten."
"Thank you?"
He walked over towards the coat hanger and tossed Mia her coat, which she caught and put on. She buttoned up the jacket and grabbed her half-drunk cup of hot chocolate. Diego put on his coat as well and took his other cup of coffee to have on his way to the detention center.
Once again, Diego swiftly walked down the street and Mia had to jog to keep up with him. When they arrived at the Detention Center, Mia held the door open for Diego this time. He couldn't help but to smirk that this gesture.
"We're here to see our client, Jasmine Green." Diego informed the guard.
"Right this way," The guard said. The two of them followed him to a room. He took out his key, opened the door and let the two attorneys inside. He stood there, in front of the door, staring strait ahead, not budging an inch. The two of them took their seats at one end of the table and looked at the frail girl across from them. She was much smaller then Mia and looked very pale. Her hair was dark brown and made her look even more washed out. She was dressed in a large, tan sweater that came down to her knees and had on white stockings to match. She had her hands folded neatly on her lap and didn't look at either Diego or Mia in the eye.
The two attorneys exchanged glances and Diego motioned for Mia to speak. "So Jasmine, tell us about yourself." Mia finally asked.
"I'm eighteen years old and I'm in my freshman year of college." She spat out.
"And what are you studying to be?" Mia asked.
"I want to be a doctor." She looked down at her hands.
"Why is that?" Mia placed her hand under her chin and leaned forward on the table.
"So I can help people."
Mia let out a sigh. She was tired of getting these one-sentence answers. "How does being a doctor help people? What is your experience with doctors that makes you want to be one?"
"My mother was really sick and a doctor murdered her. I wish to become a doctor to help people and save them instead of killing them..."
"Do you know this doctor?" Mia gently asked. She pulled out the picture of Doctor Earl Grey and pushed it over towards Jasmine. Her facial expression changed when she saw that picture. Her calm eyes narrowed and she pushed the picture away from her.
"He was the man who murdered her."
"Who?"
"My mother."
"What happened?"
"He poisoned her; said that he was releasing her from her mortal prison." Mia stared at her and motioned for her to continue speaking. "I think he killed other people as well."
"Did you do it?"
"What?"
Mia could hardly say it herself. "Kill him?" Her voice shook as she said it. Even Diego was solemn when she uttered these words.
"No."
"Were you in his house that night?"
"No."
"Then how come your finger prints are on the murder weapon?"
"I don't know!" The woman shook her head violently and tears streamed down her cheek. "I was in my house all night studying!"
"Did anyone see you?" Diego asked.
"No, I live alone in my mother's old house."
"You are telling the truth, right?"
Jasmine nodded her head.
"We're your lawyers; you can trust us." Mia urged.
"That's all I have to say." She returned to looking downward at her hands.
The two attorneys rose up from the bench and walked over to the guard.
"Good day, sir." He opened the door and let them through.
Mia and Diego were completely silent as they walked outside of the detention center and back over to the victim's apartment where the car was parked. The walk seemed to be a bit longer as usual without the friendly banter. Finally, the two of them hopped inside of the car. Diego whirled out of the parking lot and, Mia was completely silent. She didn't even complain about his bad driving.
Finally, she spoke up. "…Do you think she did it?"
"You have to have faith in your clients." She raised an eyebrow at him. "So the answer is no; she didn't do it. If you want to be a defense attorney, you must have faith in your clients."
"…Ok." Mia took in a deep breath. "Where are we off to next?"
"The Hotti Clinic." He turned a corner and speed up the street.
"Why?"
"You heard our client; if he was poisoning people, someone in his hospital is bound to know about it." Diego answered. He then parked the car in the hospital and leapt out.
The hospital seemed like a normal hospital; nurses and doctors were running around and patients were in their rooms. An older man approached them. He was dressed in a lab coat, but he certainly wasn't a doctor; his crazy eyes and missing teeth gave that away.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Hotti." He smiled and scratched his head.
"Hello, Doctor. Do you know anything about this man?" Diego asked. He gave him the picture of Earl Grey. Mia gave him a harsh glare.
"What are you doing?" She whispered through gritted teeth.
"Just play along," He whispered back.
"Ah, the doctor who was poisoning his patients? Yup, I know all about him!" He paused for a moment. "He quit a year ago; Nurse Medley caught him in the act of killing a patient and cut a deal with him to quit. The deal was that she wouldn't tell anyone about what he was doing if he quit and gave her a large sum of money each month."
"Who's nurse Medley?" Mia asked.
"Oh, she's a real pretty girl, kind of like how you are." Mia felt a little sick when she heard him say that. His words combined with his creepy gestures made her stomach churn.
"Who's a pretty girl?" The three of them looked over to see a girl around Mia's height and build. She looked a lot like Mia, except dressed in scrubs and her face was arranged differently. She had thinner ruby red lips and her eyes looked a bit harsher. Her hair was Mia's color, except it was curled and ended at her shoulders.
"You must be Nurse Medley." Diego commented.
"Yes, I'm Mint Medley and I'm going to have to ask you two to refrain from speaking with the patients." She glared at the two attorneys.
"Well, we were just on our way." Diego paused. "It was a pleasure, Nurse Medley."
Diego and Mia rushed outside of the hospital. As soon as they got to the safe confines of their car, Mia spoke up. "Somehow I think she did it."
"I'm inclined to agree with you." He admitted. "I think we should go call it a day…"
Mia nodded her head.
"Where do you live?" Diego asked.
"Oh, just around the corner." Mia yawned and pointed to a large brick apartment building way off in the distance.
Diego whirled over and parked the car next to the building. The two of them jerked forward when the car stopped. Mia unclicked her seatbelt and hopped out of the car.
"Get a good night's sleep tonight; we're going to court tomorrow morning."
Mia nodded her head. "See you tomorrow."
Diego stayed parked outside of the building and waited until he saw Mia vanish behind the large door. Only after he was sure that she was inside safe and sound did he speed off down the street.
A/N: Hey, this is my first Phoenix Wright fanfic. After I played Trials and Tribulations, I couldn't resist writing a Mia Fey x Diego Armando fanfic. I really hope that you enjoy this; it should be around four parts long. Well, thanks for reading and I hope that you like it. Part 2 should be up next week.