A/N: I'm back!
So, despite SoJ never happening, I will use tiny elements from it. Like things about Blackquill, since, despite being a filler case, case four of SoJ did teach us a bit more about him.
Not much to say here, so… ONWARD!
…
Chapter Three: Investigation
Blackquill stalked through the lobby of the prison, Taka perched on his shoulder. He had woken up this morning to the Chief Prosecutor calling his phone, demanded he come down to this place.
The prison, of all places.
He hated this place with a passion. If it wasn't for how serious the Chief Prosecutor had sounded, he would have asked if they could have met somewhere else.
Seated at the desk was the Desk Sargent from last night, Officer Dee Sek. Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth was standing next to the desk, his arms crossed. He looked up at the younger man in black as he walked over.
"Edgeworth-sensei," he said with a nod to his boss. He looked at Sek. "Desk."
"Blackquill, this is no time for jokes," Edgeworth said seriously. He looked at Sek. "Are you sure it was him who came yesterday?"
Sek studied the man in front of him. Blackquill quirked an eyebrow at that, looking at Edgeworth questioningly.
"I-I'm sure, sir. Although he didn't have the bird or the feather. And… he had a ring," Sek said, looking back at Edgeworth. Blackquill's already raised eyebrow disappeared under his unruly bangs at that description, and he turned back to Edgeworth.
"What is he talking about?" he asked. Edgeworth sighed, turning to his subordinate.
"At least two guards place you here last night… only two hours before the Phantom died. Poisoned."
Blackquill stiffened.
"The Phantom… dead?" he asked in a low voice. He had been questioning the man for the past eight years, trying to get something, anything, from the man about the organization he worked with. So far, he had gotten nothing, but he was so close. For all of that progress to… vanish. Now, of all times?
"Yes. Blackquill, what were you doing here last night?" Edgeworth asked. The Twisted Samurai scowled at the question.
"I wasn't here, Sensei," he replied. "I never come to the prison to question the Phantom, or any other prisoner." He threw a sharp look at Officer Sek. "As all of the guards should know. I usually have them brought to my office." Sek slid down in his chair, almost as though to hide from the man.
"Alright. Then where were you between the times of eight and ten last night?" Edgeworth asked. Simon thought back to the previous night.
"I was at a Rakugo performance by the Toneido troupe. Uendo Toneido can confirm this. Before that, I had stopped for dinner at Whet Soba, for which Bucky Whet can confirm," he said. Edgeworth studied the man before him for a few minutes before nodding.
"I believe you. That leaves the question of who was here last night," Edgeworth said.
"I'd imagine that would be obvious," Blackquill said, tapping on his chin thoughtfully. "Who has already made an attempt on that man's life?"
Edgeworth looked at him for a moment, before nodding.
"The organization he works for. And we already know they're skilled at impersonation."
"Exactly."
"For what it's worth, sirs… the, er… man who was here last night made a call from one of the phones down the hall," Sek said. Blackquill looked over at the phones he mentioned, while Edgeworth looked at the desk jockey, confused.
"Why would he use one of those, instead of his cell?" he asked.
"No cell service," Blackquill said as he walked over to the phones. "Edgeworth-sensei, perhaps we should have someone pull up the records on these phones?"
"Well?" Edgeworth asked, looking once more at Dee Sek. "Can you do that?"
"Yes, sir," Sek said, turning his focus on his computer.
…
"Apparently the cell he called was located at Crescent Beach," Edgeworth said as weaved through LA traffic. Blackquill sat in the passenger seat, with Taka perched on his knee, and Kay Faraday, Edgeworth's now Legal Aid, sat in the back. Two squad cars followed Edgeworth's car.
"There's not much at Crescent Beach. Especially this time of year," Kay said, leaning forward to talk to the men.
"Exactly. Just a handful of houses," Edgeworth said.
"We might find something in one of those houses," Blackquill added, just as Edgeworth turned off of the main road. A few minutes later, he pulled to a stop in front of the small walking path that lead onto the private stretch of beach. The three exited the car, while Detective Dick Gumshoe, Detective Klu Hunter, and a few other officers parked and got out behind them.
They investigated this area first. It was Detective Hunter who found evidence of some kind of vehicle parked in an out of the way spot for a long time. There were indents in the grass from the tires that were deeper than the tire tracks to and from that spot, and plenty of cigarette butts of the same brand strewn about.
From there, they realized that the closest house was a two story, white, modern house, situated on the beach. Edgeworth instantly recognized it, especially after seeing the name on the mailbox.
"'Justice'? This is Dr. Skye's and Mr. Justice's house," he said.
"And it's the one closest to the location that vehicle was at. Going by the spacing between the wheels, I'd say that vehicle was big enough for a surveillance van," Hunter added. Edgeworth frowned, looking over the house. All of the lights were off, and there was only one car in the drive way; Apollo's dark red one. Ema's car was missing, though. He looked over at Gumshoe.
"Is Ema at work?" he asked, already pulling out his cellphone.
"No, sir. She called off today," Gumshoe replied. "Something to do with helping Mr. Justice through something."
"Hm," the Chief Prosecutor hummed, calling Ema's number.
"I assume you're calling her for permission to search the house?" Blackquill asked. Edgeworth nodded, then frowned as Ema's phone went straight to voicemail.
"Odd…"
"Well, we're searching their house for their safety. I'm sure they won't mind!" Kay said, walking over to the door and dropping to one knee in front of it. From the small bag on her hip, she pulled out two pins, and got to work on the lock. Edgeworth sighed at that, while Blackquill smirked.
A moment later, there was a quiet click, and Kay stood, pushing open the door.
"Ta-da!" she said brightly.
The group moved into the house, and Gumshoe let out a low whistle. The foyer led immediately into the living room, where one of the walls was actually a large window, looking out over the water. Black leather couches and chairs, an old, solid oak coffee table, and an old television made up the furniture of the living room. Off of that room was an eat-in kitchen with a large island in the middle. Two coffee mugs and two bowls sat in the sink, waiting to be washed when the occupants of the house returned home. Back in the foyer was a staircase that lead to the second floor.
Up here were five doors. The one at the end, which was open, was a bathroom, while a second open one lead into the Master Room. The last three doors were closed.
Edgeworth opened one to reveal a small, basic bedroom. Going by the neatly made bed and the layer of dust, it was unused. Probably a guest bedroom.
The next door he attempted to open was locked. Feeling along the top of the door frame, he found a key and used it, gaining entry.
It was Ema's home lab.
"Ugh, another locked door," he heard from the hall. Exiting the lab, he turned to see Kay picking the lock of the last door. He walked over and felt the top of the door frame, finding another key, just as he heard a click from the door knob, and Kay pushed open the door.
"You just like picking locks, don't you?" he asked his legal aid, holding up the key. Kay grinned with a shrug.
"Maybe."
Inside was a study. Just like the living room, one of the walls was actually a window, facing the water. Two more of the walls were covered in bookshelves: the one behind the desk was full of new looking law books (and… manga?), the other full of both old and new case book. Edgeworth recognized the older ones as prosecutor issued. Curious, he walked over and pulled one down, opening it.
"'Chron Justice.' Hmm…. That sounds familiar," he mused.
"Oh! He was a pretty prominent Prosecutor back in his day. If it hadn't been for Manfred von Karma, Chron Justice probably would have been pretty famous in his own right for his skill in both investigating and in trial," Detective Hunter suddenly said, walking over.
"Ah, yes. I remember now. My father actually faced Prosecutor Justice in court once," Edgeworth suddenly said, thinking back to his father's case files. "I never even thought of Apollo Justice being related to him. But then, this house makes a lot more sense now," Edgeworth added, thinking about how the lawyers of the Wright Anything Agency were anything but rich. Especially since they take on mostly pro bono cases.
"Sir, the rest of the house is clean," Gumshoe said as he entered the study. He was holding a small device that was used for searching for bugs.
Before anyone could say anything, the device emitted a beep.
"Well, what are you waiting for, Dumb Shoe?" Blackquill snapped. "Search this room, too!"
Gumshoe nodded, walking around the room. Edgeworth, Kay, Blackquill, and Hunter stood to the side, watching.
As soon as Gumshoe pointed the device at the desk, and the bookshelf behind it, the little device went crazy. Gumshoe immediately pointed it at the red cellphone that sat, charging, on the desk surface. Edgeworth walked over and picked it up.
Mr. Justice's phone. He must have forgotten it. Edgeworth thought, removing the back that covered the battery. He then removed the battery to reveal a small, flat chip stuck to the interior of the phone.
"An audio transmitter!" Hunter gasped. He snapped on a pair of gloves and carefully removed it from the phone. Gumshoe, however, was moving around the desk, the device still going nuts.
"I think there's more than one," he said, before looking under the desk. Kay bounced over and looked under with him.
"You're right, Gummy!" she gasped, using a flashlight from her bag and pointing it up. "Here's another audio transmitter!"
Both detective and aid moved out of the way to allow Hunter to collect that one as well. Blackquill, however, was looking between the bookshelf and the red laptop that sat on the desk.
"Let me see that," he said, taking the bug-finding device before Gumshoe could protest. He walked over to the bookshelf, tsking when noticing more dust built up on the law book then the manga. At least he has good taste in manga… Blackquill thought as he recognized a few of the titles.
That dust, however, is what made him realize something was off. In front of one of the law books, the dust was slightly disturbed. He waved the device in front of that spot, and it went off for a third time. Pushing the book aside, he found something a little more serious than an audio transmitter.
"Is that… a video camera?" Edgeworth asked, moving forward.
"Yes. And with its position, the person watching can see everything that might be on Justice-dono's laptop," Blackquill said, before smirking. "Let's hope he never looked at anything unsavory, for his sake," he said before laughing. Hunter rolled his eyes, collecting the video camera. Gumshoe took the device and did another sweep, of both the room and the house, but found nothing.
"I don't understand," Edgeworth finally said. "Why spy on Mr. Justice? And only in the study?"
"Justice-dono's best friend was Clay Terran," Blackquill suddenly said. "And Terran was killed due to his involvement of the HAT-2 launch. He had classified information, info they probably never got thanks to the Phantom's rash actions." The Twisted Samurai suddenly looked up at Edgeworth. "Perhaps they believe Justice-dono has this information?"
"Which means Mr. Justice is in danger," Edgeworth said, already pulling out his phone. "I'm calling Wright."
…
A/N: Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUN!
