May 17

Hospital Wing Ward 3

1.35 PM

Even in a hospital gown, with tubes up his nose and one wrist in plaster, Kristoph Gavin managed to look as immaculately groomed as he had in his crisp indigo suit.

"Ah, Justice. It's good to see you again."

(Wish I could say the same.) Apollo pulled up a chair and took a seat next to Kristoph's bed.

"So, you're being accused of murder," he remarked.

Kristoph nodded. "Well, technically, I haven't been formally charged just yet," he replied. At Apollo's frown, he explained, "But the warden assures me I will be."

"And you want me to represent you," Apollo continued, biting back a remark about what colossal brass balls his former mentor had, asking him to defend him like nothing had happened. "What makes you think I'll say yes?"

Kristoph smiled, and it sent a chill down Apollo's spine.

"I've thought of what I could say to persuade you to take my case," he replied. "You'll be paid handsomely, of course, though I doubt the money matters to you." He lifted his hand to push his glasses up, and dropped it with a wry smirk when he remembered he wasn't wearing them. "Favour for your old teacher?" He saw the look on Apollo's face and closed his eyes briefly. "No, I thought not."

Apollo sat and waited, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else.

"I suppose," Kristoph continued, "the only thing I can appeal to is your innate sense of…justice." He shifted a little on his pillow, wincing as he did so. "I didn't kill that man."

(Yeah, like you didn't kill Zak Gramarye and Drew Misham.) "Why did you really ask for me?" Apollo asked. "There's got to be plenty of other defence attorneys who'd take this case, and even if you couldn't find one, you'd have been assigned a public defender."

Kristoph rested his hands on his stomach, cradling his broken wrist gently in his good hand.

"I want a good attorney," he replied. "One who cares about the truth and who won't allow his judgement to be clouded by his own prejudice…" He looked past Apollo, to the door of the ward. "…the kind of lawyer my brother used to be."

"Prosecutor Gavin thinks you did it?" Apollo asked.

Kristoph made a small sound of disgust.

"Everyone thinks I did it," he answered. "Even you."

Apollo felt a faint blush creeping up the back of his neck. "Well, you did kill two people."

"That's true," Kristoph replied. Apollo looked at him, shocked to hear him actually admit it. "I am serving a thirty year sentence for those crimes. I will not be paroled and I will not get time off for good behaviour." He gazed at Apollo with a serene smile that gave the young attorney the creeps. "I have accepted that. I will be sixty-three when they let me out, but the Gavin men are quite long-lived…and in the meantime I have made arrangements to make my stay here as bearable as possible."

(And when, exactly, did I ask for your life story?) "Well…good for you, I guess," Apollo remarked.

Kristoph again attempted to adjust his non-existent glasses. "Justice, if I'm found guilty of this murder, they will add time to my sentence and I will be stripped of all the privileges I've worked so hard to earn," he said wearily. "Surely not even I deserve to be punished for something I haven't done?"

Apollo shifted awkwardly and rubbed at the back of his neck. He hated to admit it, but Kristoph had him there.

"Well, before I can take your case, I need to know what you're alleged to have done," he said reluctantly.

Kristoph smiled, and Apollo's nervousness increased.

"Shortly after midnight a fire broke out in A Wing, which is where they house the…lifers," he explained. "I, like most of my neighbours, succumbed to the choking black smoke and passed out in my bunk. When I came round, I was here…and was informed that my cellmate, Diego Armando, had been found with the back of his head caved in." He lowered his gaze, picking idly at the blanket with his good hand. "I was further informed that I had killed him."

Apollo rubbed his chin. "Armando died while in the cell with you?"

Kristoph threw him a withering look. "Naturally. It was after lockdown. Every prisoner was in his cell."

"So, you're the only possible suspect," Apollo observed.

"That's certainly what the prison authorities think," Kristoph answered.

"Uh-huh," Apollo replied. His legal experience told him he shouldn't jump to conclusions, especially when he'd only talked to one witness, but this did look a lot like an open-and-shut case. "What do you say happened?"

"I don't know," Kristoph answered. "Perhaps the firemen were clumsy and dropped him when they were moving him out of the cell. Perhaps Armando chose a particularly messy way to commit suicide. All I do know is that I didn't kill him." He smirked briefly. "Though quite honestly, however he died, it was a merciful release."

Apollo winced. "I wouldn't say that out loud, if I were you."

"Believe me, Justice," Kristoph replied, "if you had heard him rattling in his bunk every night, you'd agree."

Apollo frowned. "Rattling?"

"Parkinson tremors," Kristoph explained. "Armando suffered from progressive nerve damage." He went a shade paler, and turned his head away. "He was…very badly poisoned, you see."

(And wound up sharing a cell with a poisoner.) Apollo ran a hand through his hair.

"I need to think about it before I take your case, Mr. Gavin," he said.

Kristoph nodded. "Yes, I understand," he replied. "As I said, I have yet to be formally charged, so your services are not immediately required. However, if you could reach a decision promptly…"

Apollo nodded. "I'll let you know by tomorrow," he promised.

"Thank you," Kristoph said. "Would you ask Klavier to come back inside, Mr. Justice? There are things I need to talk to him about."

"Sure," Apollo replied, standing up to leave. He was about to turn and head for the door, when he paused. "By the way…what happened to your wrist?"

Something flitted across Kristoph's face, and Apollo felt the faintest vibration from his bracelet.

"I don't know."

Apollo gazed at him long and hard, but couldn't pick up anything concrete.

"Okay," he said at last. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Kristoph lay back against his pillows and closed his eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Justice."

Apollo turned and walked toward the door, silently cursing Phoenix Wright for getting him into this mess.