Disclaimer: AngelofDarkJugdement does not own Phoenix Wright.

Turnabout Star

Chapter 1 – A fallen star

Wright and Co Law Offices

"Will the pink princess manage to overcome the evil sorcerer? Don't miss next week's episode: The evil sorcerer strikes again!"

"Wow, wasn't that cool, Nick?" Maya beamed at Phoenix, who sat beside her on the couch in the Wright and co law offices. The spirit medium in training was visiting Phoenix on a vacation from her training.

"…Uh… I guess.." Phoenix murmured. He was wearing a blue suit with a red tie, as usual.

"So, what did you think?" The seventeen-year old smiled at him.

"Maya… you know, it is a children's show.." Phoenix began carefully, trying not to say something that would make Maya flip out.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT?" Maya cried out and jumped up. She jumped in front of Phoenix and, with her arms crossed, began to talk. "Nick, what you don't know is that is takes at least someone at my age to really understand and appreciate that TV show!"

"Maya…" Phoenix sighed.

Maya smirked and laid her head to the side. "And, it takes a certain amount of intelligence too, you know. Not like some others I know…" She smirked again. From the look on her face it was obvious that "some others" included Phoenix.

There had not been much to do for Phoenix recently. Three weeks had passed since his last client. The most time had been spent sitting around or watching television. Phoenix had tried to read some of Mia's law books, but after a few lines of insane difficulty, his head usually started aching and he put the book back. On the other hand, one thing Phoenix had done was to reorganize his entire file archive. It was a surprise for both Maya and Phoenix when the office door suddenly swung open.

"Mr. Edgeworth?" Maya said in a surprised tone of voice.

In the door opening stood Miles Edgeworth, a prosecutor who had went to the same class as Phoenix in grade school for a year. Phoenix had defended Edgeworth in his most difficult case so far, and won. Phoenix and Maya were no less surprised when Edgeworth started to mutter to himself about "that idiot detective" and "wasted time".

Phoenix got up from the sofa and approached him. "What are you doing here?"

"Gumshoe called me." Edgeworth said grimly. "According to him, you had been murdered."

Phoenix grinned. "So that's why you looked like you had just seen a ghost when you came in!"

Edgeworth, seemingly annoyed turned his head toward Mia's potted plant, Charlie, instead. "I am tired of your stupid jokes, Wright."

Then he turned around and left the office as abruptly as he had entered it.

"And I thought we finally had gotten a client…" Maya murmured.

Phoenix walked over to the window in his office and looked out. He wondered how Gumshoe had managed to mess up like that.

"Maya, I'm going down to the police station to see if I can find Gumshoe there." Phoenix declared.

Maya nodded. "Okay, then let's go!"

Xxx

Since Phoenix did not have a car, he and Maya walked down to the station, where they had been several times before. Phoenix scanned the corridor. No sign of Gumshoe yet…

"H-h-hey, pal!"

Phoenix turned around to see Gumshoe standing behind him, looking sad.

"C'mon pal, you know that I've done you nothing wrong.." Gumshoe started. "So why have you come back to haunt me?"

"Umm… detective Gumshoe? Phoenix is not a ghost." Maya pointed out.

"Whaaat?" He cried out. "But… but… I got a message that you'd been murdered! Or… maybe it wasn't you after all…" Gumshoe chuckled. "Maybe I messed it up a bit, pal." The detective drew a note up from his pocket. "I wrote it down." He explained. "Here, look. Victim; Phoenix Wright, defense attorney; Laura Sanderson.." Gumshoe studied his note for a while, and suddenly his expression lightened and he laughed. "I must have confused your and the victim's name!"

Phoenix rolled his eyes. Typical.

"But… Detective Gumshoe, does that mean that Phoenix is the defense attorney?" Maya asked.

"Oh!" Gumshoe said as he noticed Maya. "Aren't you that criminal…"

"I'M NOT!" The spirit medium screamed at him.

"I'm sorry…" Gumshoe murmured. "But never mind. Yes, Phoenix is listed as the defense attorney in this case."

Phoenix lifted his right arm and scratched his head. "That can't be right.. I haven't had any clients for weeks."

Gumshoe grinned. "Don't think so, pal. You were assigned by the state."

Xxx

Gumshoe had given Phoenix a quick summary of the case and a copy of the victim's autopsy report. They had been at the detention centre, but Phoenix's client was not there, probably in questioning or something along those lines. Now, Phoenix and Maya were on their way to the scene of the crime, a private studio located on the other side of the city. While he and Maya took a cab, Phoenix used the time to think through everything again. The victim, Lara Sanderson, had been a rising pop star. She had been poisoned after recording a song, and her manager, Annie West, was the suspect. Before Phoenix could think over any more of it, the cab screeched to a halt. He paid (he always seemed to be the one who did that) and went over to the studio together with Maya.

They were stopped by a police officer, but they were let through after Phoenix showed his attorney's badge. The entrance hall was quite big. There were posters of Laura Sanderson all over the walls, and there was a sofa and some tables in a corner. In another there was a reception counter, but today it was empty. On the right side of the room there were a set of stairs as well.

"Hmm… It doesn't seem to be down here." Maya said. "Maybe we should go upstairs."

Phoenix nodded. It was strange to think about that the woman on the posters was dead now, he thought for himself. She was quite young, maybe somewhere in her early twenties, Phoenix guessed.

Maya and Phoenix went up the stairs, and this seemed more like a crime scene. A door on the left side of the hallway was open, and detectives were all over the place. Phoenix was allowed to enter, but not before shoving his attorney's badge several times.

The studio was a middle-sized room, with light blue walls and a white carpet floor. A microphone stood in the middle of the room, together with a chair. On the left side of the room there was a sofa, and a low table with a plate and a few CD's on it. A few posters were scattered round here too. White markings on the floor shoved where the body had lain. The room was parted in two by a glass wall, and there were some mixers and stuff on the other side, but nothing suspicious. A woman and two detectives stood by the table and talked. She was probably a witness or something of the sort.

Phoenix scanned the room for clues, but the only thing that didn't seem to fit was a blood stain on the floor, near the body and a note. "Ann" was written on the note. Ms. Sanderson must have coughed the blood up before she died, Phoenix thought. Not exactly the nicest way to die…

"Ewww, Nick! There's blood on the floor!" Maya cried out. "And a note…"

"I noticed." Phoenix replied. "Maya, do you see anything else that seems suspicious?"

Maya crossed her arms in front of herself and thought for a little. "Hmm.. Well, a detective told me that the plate over there is where the poisoned food must have been." She smirked. "Maybe we should take a closer look?"

Phoenix slowly approached the table, nobody of the detectives seemed to mind. He reached out for one of the crumbs on the plate.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Phoenix froze when he heard the angry cry. He turned his head to see the woman who previously had been talking to the detectives come close to where he stood.

"This is a crime scene! Do you know what that means?" She snapped at him.

Phoenix opened his mouth to answer, but before he managed to, she burst into a new stream of words.

"At crime scenes, nobody except the detectives are supposed to touch things!"

The dazzled Phoenix lifted his attorney's badge.

"I don't care whether you are a defense attorney or not. If you have a desperate need to touch something, go outside and do it there!"

When her lecture was finished, the woman turned on her heel and went back to the detectives. Occasionally, she cast a glance at Phoenix to see if he would try touching anything else.

"Who does she think she is?" Maya hissed.

"Maybe she's a detective." Phoenix replied. "And I don't think we're going to find any clues this way… We should just head over to the detention centre instead and see we can find that manager there."

Xxx

When Phoenix and Maya returned to the detention centre they were met by detective Gumshoe.

"Hi, pal!" He beamed at Phoenix. "How are things going?"

"We're on our way to see our client now." Maya explained.

"Do you by any chance know if she's out of questioning now?" Phoenix asked quickly, before somebody would change the subject.

Gumshoe made a thoughtful expression. It lightened up after a little while.

"Do you mean that pop star who murdered her manager? Yeah, pal, she's back."

The outer Phoenix smiled stiffly, while the inner one grimaced and slapped his forehead. Would Gumshoe ever be able to remember who was the victim and who was the suspect? Probably not. But then, on second thought, Gumshoe had also helped Phoenix out several times without knowing it.

"By the way, Detective Gumshoe, do you know what type of poison was used in the murder?" If Phoenix was lucky, Gumshoe would give him the answer. After all, information like that could prove to be very useful in court..

Gumshoe shook his head.

"I'm sorry, we haven't gotten any lab results yet. In a couple of days maybe."

Phoenix nodded.

"All right. Tell me when you know, ok?"

Gumshoe gave Phoenix his hand and shook it.

"Count on me, pal."

Xxx

Annie West was a brown-haired woman of average height. Her brown hair was neatly pulled back into a ponytail, which made her appear younger than she actually was. She wore a black jacket with a white blouse underneath it, and a brown skirt of middle length.

"Miss West?" Phoenix called out.

The woman turned around and walked up to the bars that separated her and Phoenix. The look on her face was one Phoenix knew all too well; it was the look of a person who was charged for a crime they had not done.

"Who are you?" She asked.

Phoenix showed his attorney's badge, after a few cased he had learned that it was a good thing to start with when confronting an unknown person.

"My name is Phoenix Wright. I'm your lawyer that the state assigned to you." He explained.

The woman's sad expression brightened a bit.

"…So you're my lawyer?" She said, before she cried out; "Please believe me Mr. Wright, I really didn't do it! It wasn't me, I swear!"

Phoenix took a deep breath.

"All right, then tell me about what happened. I need to know for the trial tomorrow."

"O-ok…" Annie said in a shaky voice. "I was sitting in my office, fixing some papers. Apparently Laura was in the studio right across the floor from my office. Like I told you, I worked for a while, before some police officers suddenly came in and arrested me." She sniffed. "It wasn't me, I didn't have anything against Laura." Annie wiped away a tear. "For heaven's sake, why should I, I'm her manager!" She shouted. "Err… I mean, was." She muttered when she realized the illogic in her last statement.

"You know that a note with your name on it was found at the crime scene?" Phoenix asked. "The detectives believe that Miss Sanderson wrote it before she died…"

"What?" Annie shouted again. "But I didn't… I never would… did she suspect me? I can't believe it… I can't, no…" She mumbled frantically. Phoenix saw that she was on the verge of bursting into tears.

"Calm down, Miss West, I promise to do everything I can to help you!" Phoenix declared.

Maya clenched her fists and lifted them in front of her face, like she was going to fight somebody. "I'll do everything I can to help you too!"

To be continued…