[Chapter One: The Night of the Murder]
(December 14, 3:45 AM)
(Jasmine West Memorial Hospital)
(East Wing, Children's Oncology Ward)
"It's raining kind of hard outside, huh, Mary-Anne?"
The little girl looked up at the doctor, her eyes glassy and watery from the medication being pumped through her arm. A smile still crossed over her lips as she mumbled out a few words, "I always liked the rain. Don't you, Doctor Annalyse?"
The blonde doctor returned the smile and nodded. "Of course. Even if it is raining quite hard outside, I still like it. It helps me sleep. How about you?"
Mary-Anne shrugged her small shoulders. "A little."
There was the loud sound of thunder that was nearly drowned out by the sound of a scream. Annalyse jumped from the edge of the bed, hearing the sharp sound of the fire alarm sounding. Promptly, Mary-Anne began to cry. "W-what's going on?" Annalyse moved forward, half out of the room. Her nurses were running around and she reached out, catching one by the arm. "What's happening? Why is the alarm sounding?"
"D-doctor Matthews is dead!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks, dripping to the floor. Her words didn't hit Annalyse until she looked over the nurse's shoulder, seeing the blood pool from the door frame down the hallway. She swallowed hard.
"C-call the police! Quickly!"
(December 14, 8:19 AM)
(Jasmine West Memorial Hospital)
(East Wing, Room 108, Children's Oncology Ward)
The two made quite a pair. After being disbarred as an attorney and fighting to get his little gold badge back, Phoenix Wright reopened his law office and started back his business. Today was his first case and he was meant to speak to some of the witnesses. He knew the situation was delicate, considering that his defendant was a seventeen year old male patient in the oncology ward.
Beside him was Maya Fey, the younger sister of his deceased boss, Mia Fey. She was quiet, much to his dismay. Ever since they picked up the case, she had been quiet. As they entered the ward, Maya reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Wright's blue jacket.
"Maya," he started, looking over his shoulder at the girl. "What is it?"
"Something doesn't seem right, Nick. I'm getting a weird feeling about this."
"Hey, pal! It's been a while!"
Phoenix and Maya jumped at the alarming voice. Suddenly, Maya broke from her silent shell and chortled, "Detective Gumshoe!"
Dick Gumshoe was a face that would never disappear. Nearly in all of Phoenix's cases, he was leading the police on the investigation, going into court to testify. Despite himself, Phoenix couldn't help but to grin at the detective. "Welcome back, pal! I couldn't believe it when Dalton said you took his case."
"Dalton?" Phoenix frowned. "Our defendant. You know him personally?"
"Sure do!" Gumshoe grinned proudly before adding, "My sister is one of the doctor's here! She was dating Matthews before he got killed."
Interesting…Phoenix shook his head and looked over at Maya, who was walking around the hospital, talking to the different kids. His attention turned back to Gumshoe. "Are all these kids…They all have cancer, don't they?"
Gumshoe's smile dropped. "Annie says that this is a rough place to work at. Some of the kids…" He trailed off before adding another smile to his lips. "Annie!" he shouted, scaring a blonde that was stepping out of one of the hospital rooms.
The blonde got furious. "Dick, shut up!" she hissed at him, her blue eyes raging at him. The heels of her black stilettos clicked fast against the tiled floor as she walked over. She wasn't dressed like the nurses – wearing a black pencil skirt and a white blouse. Over her outfit was a white doctor's coat, her name stitch into it. She reached into her pocket and wrapped a stethoscope around her neck. "The kids are finally asleep and you're over here shouting at me. Do you know how long it took to get Dalton to calm down? The poor little guy is so scared."
Her eyes looked right at Phoenix and narrowed dangerously. He took a step back just as soon as she let loose a barrage of words at him. "You! You're Dalton's defense attorney, aren't you? I heard about you—Dick can't keep his mouth shut about anything. My boy is innocent, you hear me? Just the fact that they would think that he was capable of killing James is…is just foolish!" Her hands flung up and she rubbed her tired eyes.
"Annie," Gumshoe started. "Did you get any sleep? You had a late shift, didn't you?"
"I've been here since noon yesterday. I haven't gotten any sleep. I haven't eaten, I haven't showered. None of my kids know about James. Every half hour, Dalton wakes back up and you can hear him howling down the hallway. He just went through a major surgery and now…this! His mother is furious. She's been here since six o'clock, raising complete and total hell." Annalyse brushed blonde hair from her right eye, clipping it back with a bobby-pin that she rescued from her pocket. Her focus finally turned back to Phoenix. "You'll have to talk to Dalton another time. I had to fight the police so they wouldn't take him into the detention center and I had to fight Dalton just to get him to go to sleep."
Down the hallway, someone began to scream. Someone began to cry, shouting, "I didn't do it! I'm sorry! I don't want to go to prison!"
Annalyse stiffened and started down the hallway, running in her heels. They followed behind her, trying their best to keep up without running into a medical cart or anything. Shoving the door out of the way, Annalyse jumped into action, seeing Dalton squirming in his bed. Police were startled, trying to run their investigation with the screaming boy.
"Dalton, sweetheart, you got to calm down! You're not going anywhere, okay? Not if I have something to say about it!" Annalyse grabbed his shoulders, looking over at the nurse from the night before. She smashed the plunged from the needle sticking out of his IV. The sleep medication flooded through and the boy responded to it instantly, his muscles weakening as he laid back on the bed.
"You won't let them take me away, right, Doctor Annalyse?" he asked him, reaching out his hand to her. Annalyse took it and squeezed his hand.
"Dalt, you've been my patient for four years. I'm not letting them take you away now."
His hand released hers and he fell into sleep. His mother, tears streaming from her eyes, walked over and tucking him in. Annalyse turned and looked at Phoenix. "Got all the information you need, Mr. Wright?"
Phoenix swallowed hard. Something was telling him that she wasn't going to play nice if he refused to leave. His eyes looked over at Gumshoe, seeing the grave look on his face.
The answer was obvious. There wasn't any way for the boy to kill someone. He was just in the wrong room at the wrong time.