"Didn't I tell you, Nick? Larry asked me to come over!"
"Larry... what the hell!? Why Larry?"
"Yeah! He wanted to show me something really cool! He's showing me his--"
DING DONG!
Someone rang the doorbell, interrupting my dream. "What the hell?" I groaned, turning over in bed. Within seconds I drifted off again.
"... That's weird."
"Don't be jealous, Nick! He'll probably let you see it someday!"
"Maya, it's probably really valuable. If you touched it and accidentally broke it... I'd be the one paying."
"But Larry said I could! He said that he and I could get together and--"
DING DONG!
"--All day."
"Sounds ... interesting."
"Nick! Maybe I'll call Larry and ask him if you can come with me to see his--"
DINGDONGDINGDONGDINGDONG
My eyes shot open, not being able to withstand another second of that terribly disturbing dream. I prayed to God that Maya was talking about some sort of... Steel Samurai shrine Larry had in his basement... or something...
I shuddered in disgust.
DINGDONGDINGDONGDINGDONG!!
"Who keeps ringing the doorbell!?" I growled, throwing the comforter over my face.
I heard the apartment door open.
"Pearly!" Maya's voice rang through the apartment.
"Mystic Maya!" A little voice replied, just as cheerily.
Pearl's a little early today...
Usually, Pearl came over for lunch on Saturdays. It was only nine in the morning. Although I was a little reluctant to crawl out of bed, I figured it'd be best if I got up and made breakfast.
I fumbled out of bed and struggled to put on the same old blue sweatpants I wore the day before. Somehow, I lost my balance getting my right foot through the leg hole (of course... leave it to Phoenix Wright to make a scene out of something so simple as putting on pants) and ended up stumbling onto the floor awkwardly, my head hitting the ground with a loud thump.
The cold, dry hardwood flooring stung against my cheek. I had a great view of everything underneath my bed. Including...
"Damn it!" I rescued a small box from an army of dust bunnies who were trying to take it hostage.
It's all dirty now...
I sat up and meticulously examined the object. It was a small, black, velvet box... now covered in grayish lint.
I thought I put this in my jacket pocket-- oh.
The jacket I had tucked the box inside was also thrown underneath the bed. It was the jacket I wore the night of Maya's birthday...
I really need to start hanging up my clothes.
I scratched away at the velveteen box, trying to make it look as black as it did when I first bought it a year ago.
Yes, a year ago.
Trying to clean off the box was a lost cause. Frustrated, I threw it across the room. It clunked against one of my dresser drawers and fell to the floor.
And then I remembered what was inside that box.
Daaaamn it!
I crawled across the room quickly, grabbing the tiny thing and holding it tightly.
I can't just go throwing you around, can I?
My eyes shifted, scanning the room to make sure no one was around. The scene was already embarrassing enough. Sighing hopelessly, I opened the box.
A diamond ring sparkled back at me.
"Maya Fey, will you marry me?" It seemed so simple... as did every other profession of love I'd dreamed up but was too scared to say out loud over the years.
I missed my chance on her birthday. It was the perfect opportunity. A perfect opportunity wasted...
I've realized, over the last year, that I must be the most pathetic man in the world. I wanted to marry a young woman I'd never even kissed (well, really kissed).
Of course, I rationalized the situation in my mind-- "the emotional connection is there", "the physical things don't make the relationship"... things like that. Not that any of that is false, but it doesn't hide the fact that I can't even gather up the nerve to kiss the girl.
I imagined what would happen if I tried to kiss Maya out of nowhere. I'd do it spontaneously, perhaps before saying goodnight, and she'd be so shocked that she'd slap me. And then I would pull out the box with the ring in it, and she'd laugh in my face.
... I'm sure if anyone knew that I'd been hiding that box for a year, I could never show my face in public again.
I could feel myself blushing from embarrassment, just thinking about it. I closed the box and stood up. Still clutching it inbetween my palms, I pressed my ear against the bedroom door.
"Where's Mr. Nick?" I heard the muffled voice of Pearls asking Maya in the other room.
"I think he's still sleeping..."
"Good! Tell me all about Friday night, then!"
"Well...!" Maya sounded excited. I was kind of curious to hear what she had to say... silently, I cracked open my bedroom door.
"You should've seen Nick... he was being so cute!"
So this is what it sounds like to hear girls review their dates with each other...
"Really, Mystic Maya? Tell me everything!"
"Just look at what he made me."
She's not showing her that scrapbook...
"Aw, these pictures of you two are sooo romantic! And they say that home-made gifts are always more thoughtful than store-bought ones... so that means Mr. Nick really is your special someone!"
I knew giving a present like that would come back to haunt me.
"Not so loud, Pearly!" Maya hushed the girl. "Anyway..."
"Mystic Maya... are you ever going to marry him?" Pearl asked softly.
I looked down at the box in my hand. It was taunting me as I listened to that conversation.
"I'm not sure, Pearly..."
What? I jumped, almost dropping the box accidentally.
"WHAT!?" Pearl cried. Apparently she was as taken back by Maya's words as I was. "But... you have to! You have to marry your special someone!"
"It's just that, usually, the man is the one who does all that proposing stuff... and all that kind of stuff."
"What kind of... stuff?"
"Um! You know... asking the girl out, telling her how much he loves her... and, uh..." I could feel Maya's embarrassment hot on my own face.
"... Kissing the girl kind of stuff?" Pearl whispered loudly, as if it were taboo to say such a thing.
"Y-yeah."
"Well. Have you ever kissed Mr. Nick?"
She has, but she doesn't know it...
"I'm not sure..."
"What do you mean you're not sure! You either kiss him or you don't!" Pearl exclaimed. She realized she was yelling, and repeated what she had just said, whispering every word slowly.
After a moment, Maya replied with an excited sigh, "Yeah, I know... I'm just not sure whether I was dreaming or not!"
Dreaming?!... oh, Maya...
She thought it was a dream! I looked down at the box in my hand, clutching it tightly, holding my breath with boyish excitement.
"Mystic Mayaaaa!" Pearl swooned fanatically. "That's sooooo romantic!"
Maya giggled. "You're not gonna go telling that to Nick, are you?"
"I should. Maybe he would finally ask you to marry him, then! Oh, I can't wait until the wedding... you will let me help pick out your dress, won't you? And will I be able to wear a dress? Ooh! And maybe Mr. Scruffy can be the best man!"
"PEARL!" Maya shouted, obviously afraid that I would be able to her the conversation. I felt a pang of guilt for listening in. "I mean... Pearly. Please..."
"Sorry."
There was silence for a while, so I figured it would be okay if I made an entrance at that point. I opened my door the rest of the way and shuffled down the tiny hallway.
I entered the living room. Maya looked up at me from the couch and smiled, but barely acknowledged my presence other than that. As a result, Pearl wasn't aware of the fact that I was in the room. She asked excitedly, "So when are you going to kiss Mr. Nick again?"
Maya froze, and her cheeks turned a bright pink. Pearl turned around to see what could possibly make Maya react in such a way...
And she, too, froze. "MR. NICK?!"
"Mr. Nick!?" Maya repeated, then realized that she had just called me Mr. Nick, and buried her face in the blanket she covered her legs with.
"Yes, Ms. Fey?" I replied, a little more suavely than I had intended to be. Pearl practically fainted. When no one replied, I just said, "Uh. Good morning, Pearls!"
Pearl awkwardly stammered, struggling to find the right words for such an uncomfortable moment; "W-we were just... talking about... all about how you--"
"--Were going to make us breakfast!" Maya finished Pearl's sentence.
"That's right!" I played along with Maya's little game. I opened the refridgerator to list the various breakfast options. "What do you want, Pearls... Belgian waffles? Pancakes? Cheerios?"
"Mmm... waffles!" Pearl replied. I responded by getting out the box of frozen waffles from the freezer.
The awkward sound of silence filled the room. I could tell Maya was mortified by what had just happened.
Surprisingly, I wasn't embarrassed by the situation... I was just dying to know if Maya did, in fact, want to kiss me ever again. Pearl watched both of us carefully, making sure we didn't sneak romantic looks at each other.
"So..." Pearl started, "What are we going to do today?"
"Well," I took three belgian waffles out of the oven, and drizzled a little syrup onto each. "I'm not sure. I don't have any cases to work on... so, for once, we won't be investigating!"
I set three plates of waffles down at the kitchen table, and the two girls migrated from the couch to their chairs. Pearl began devouring her breakfast immediately, but Maya just sat there, hiding her face behind one of her palms. I looked at her, as if to coax her into eating, but she wouldn't even look at me.
I glanced over at Pearl. The sun seeping through the window lit up her young, innocent face. The sun was so inviting...
"What about the lake?" I proposed.
"Oh, yes, the lake!" Pearl nodded excitedly.
"Yeah! Sounds... perfect, Nick," Maya chimed in unexpectedly, clearly trying to hide her embarrassment.
I opened my mouth to say something more meaningful to her, but couldn't find the words. I said without thinking, "Is something wrong?"
"Uh--! No, I'm just exhausted," she responded, "I could definitely use a trip to the beach."
Pretending to believe her, I replied, "Good! We can leave sometime around--" I was interrupted by my phone ringing. I jumped up from the table and grabbed the flimsy phone off the counter. "Hello?"
"Hey, pal!"
"Hi. You do realize it's 9:30 on a Sunday morning?"
"Something awful's happened! You gotta get down to the police station-- and quick!"
"Are you serious?" I glanced back at the two girls who were looking back at me with eager, wondering eyes. Pearl seemed so excited to see the beach... "What could've possibly happened on a Sunday morning that would require me to race over to the police station?"
"One of the detectives! Dead!"
I sighed, looking at the clock, "Crap... I guess I'll see you in about an hour."
"An hour?!"
"Okay... half an hour. It's Sunday morning!" I hung up the phone frustratedly.
"What happened, Mr. Nick?" Pearl asked. "Why was Mr. Scruffy yelling like that?"
"I'm so sorry, Pearls... it looks like we're gonna have to go to the police station today, though. Someone died," I replied.
The girl gasped in horror, "That's horrible!"
"Yeah. We better get going. Who knows what Gumshoe will have to say once we actually get to the police station..." I could feel a stress headache coming on already.
"Um, Mr. Nick? I'm going to the bathroom. Then we can hurry over there!" Pearl announced.
She scampered off into the hallway, leaving Maya and me alone. Maya stood up and, keeping her eyes down, made a run for the hallway as well.
I stopped her before she could, grabbing her by the shoulder. "Maya? Seriously, is something wrong?"
She looked around to make sure Pearl had left the room, then cried, "That was so incredibly embarrassing!"
"What was?" I tried to play dumb, but she gave me a knowing look, and I gave in. "Oh... that. Well, Pearl can't help what she says... besides, it's kind of sweet."
"She's ten years old now! You'd think she'd learn when it's appropriate to talk about certain things..." Maya twisted a lock of hair around her finger as a hint of pink appeared in her cheeks. "Wait a minute, you listened to that entire conversation, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I guess..."
Maya jerked her shoulder away from my hand, her jaw dropping in disgust at the idea of me eavesdropping. "Nick, that's horrible!"
"Please don't be mad! Wait!" I tried to explain myself. I scratched the back of my neck-- it's a nervous habit of mine.
"... What is it?" Maya asked, smiling as she watched me squirm.
"You weren't dreaming."
Maya's eyes widened in disbelief as she quickly turned away.
"Yeah, um... last night, I went to kiss you on the cheek, but you turned your face towards me and I accidentally-- wait, that's not right, either..."
I slapped my palm against my forehead. Rule number one when it comes to love: never make it seem as though you didn't want to kiss the girl.
"Oh," Maya responded embarrassedly, her hands on her hips. "So I guess it was stupid of me to think that you actually wanted--"
"No! I did! I mean... wait," I paused, "You wanted me to... to kiss you?"
Maya clearly was enjoying the fact that I was practically eating out of the palm of her hand at that point. She smirked, "Maybe!"
We both laughed, but I was dying for a definite answer. Some decisive evidence!
"We can leave now!" Pearl chirped as she came back into the room. I looked at Maya, waiting for her to say something definite, but the smug 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' look remained on her face. At least the situation wasn't so awkward anymore. Leaving the apartment, Pearl ran ahead of the two of us.
I couldn't help myself. I turned to Maya, extending my hand as we walked out the door. "Would you?"
"I guess so... eavesdropper," she laughed. Her hand melted into mine... and my heart fluttered.
--
There was quite a scene at the station that day. Cop cars (even more than usual) were everywhere, and the number of people hanging around made it practically impossible to walk around the scene of the crime. I grabbed Pearl's hand as we entered the building, trying to keep her from getting lost in a sea of taller people rushing around the building.
When I finally saw Gumshoe, he looked as if he was about to collapse in exhaustion. He panted, "You're... HERE! It's been longer than an hour, pal! Now, listen! We can't find any evidence that leads to a suspect for murder..." He held up his hand and pinched his index finger into his thumb; "I'm this close to calling it quits, pal! They won't even let me take a lunch break!"
"Calm down, Gumshoe! Who was it? What happened?" I questioned, scanning the hectic room.
"Jeff Turner, one of the detectives working on Mr. Edgeworth's case."
"Edgeworth has a case?! You mean, to figure out what happened to him?"
"It's top secret-- I'll have to tell you about it later. Anyway, according to this letter right here," Gumshoe pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper, "Jeff Turner chose death last night at this very police station."
I grabbed the paper from him.
I must do this. To protect her.
Sincerely,
Jeff Turner
It was definitely a man's handwriting, that's for sure. And it was definitely to-the-point. "Who was he protecting, do you know?" I asked.
"Beats me! Like I said, pal... the chances of solving this mystery are as good as none."
"... Strange," Maya added, "That it was a guy working on a case for Mr. Edgeworth. Didn't Edgeworth write a weird letter, too?"
"Yeah. What's weirder is that it wasn't just any guy working on the case. One of the main detectives! I'm stumped. Who's the 'her' he's trying to protect! Why now? And why the hell can't I have a break for lunch!?" Gumshoe pouted. He was clearly losing it. Pearl hid behind me as she watched Gumshoe's ridiculous descent into insanity.
"Have you seen Franziska anywhere?" I asked abruptly, interrupting Gumshoe's mental breakdown. "She should be here, shouldn't she?"
"She's over there," Gumshoe pointed to a corner of the room, "but she's not speaking to anyone. She was apparently pretty close to Turner..."
"What!? When would she ever even have the chance to meet him?"
"The investigation on Mr. Edgeworth, of course."
"Oh. Right."
Gumshoe leaned in, saying quietly to me, "Listen, pal, there's something I gotta talk to you about!... Privately."
I raised an eyebrow in doubt, but I figured I would humor the guy. He was having a pretty rough day, after all. I turned to Maya and Pearl, and said quietly, "Gumshoe and I have to talk about something. So..."
"So...?" Maya didn't seem to get the idea that I was trying to get her to leave.
"So, Mr. Nick wants us to leave," Pearl clarified. "Is that right?"
"Not that I want you to leave... but I don't really have a choice here," I nodded.
Maya grabbed Pearl's hand quickly. "First eavesdropping, now telling us we can't be around... you're pushing it, Nick!"
I couldn't tell if she was joking or not. She turned around and walked away, dragging Pearl along behind her, too quickly for me to gauge her response. I wanted to run after her, but I was already being dragged by Gumshoe to a secluded corner of the room.
"So, about this Edgeworth investigation," he started, completely unaware of the fact that my assistant had just stormed off, "I didn't want to leave you out of the loop. But you gotta keep this between you and me, pal. I can't stress that enough! My salary's already bare bones; if they find out I told you..."
I tried to look over the many heads that were blocking my view of Maya and Pearl leaving the building. I sighed patronizingly, "Your secret's safe with me. So what's up with the investigation?"
"Well, we're treating it like any normal disappearing act-- finding out why he might have disappeared, and where he could've disappeared to. That second part is what's been holding the investigation back... we don't have anything that would give us the slightest hint of where Mr. Edgeworth could be. But I have a theory."
"And that theory is...?" I struggled to picture Gumshoe thinking of anything brilliant enough to prove where Edgeworth was.
"We raid Franziska's office tonight, pal!" he whispered loudly.
"What the-- why her office?"
"It was his office, you know."
"Was it? Well... in that case..." I thought about Maya. "Ugh. I don't think I can leave Maya and Pearl alone today, though-- can't we do this tomorrow?"
"Please, pal! This is important stuff! You're the only one I trust with this sort of thing! And it's now or never!"
"Now or never? Really?" I paused to think about whether I would stay or not.
I wanted to be at the beach. I wanted to apologize to Maya for eavesdropping and rudely telling her she couldn't be around. I made a mental note to myself: Once you find Edgeworth, make him PAY for all the time you spent looking for him...
Gumshoe didn't give me time to think. "Thanks so much, pal! Man, this is crazy. Okay, so the first thing we're gonna do is..."
Has it been more than a month since I've updated? Sorry... I was on vacation for two weeks and I've been studying like crazy lately. I promise this starts getting interesting by next chapter...
