Do you think my chapters are getting too long? Hmm, I have to shorten them... Anyway, on to the chapter! By the way, please review.
"We're here," Apollo said. "This has got to be it."
"What? It's so near!" Trucy exclaimed. It was. The DeLite residence was indeed near Gourd Lake. Just a ten-minute walk. "Give me that, Polly!" she said, taking the piece of paper from Apollo's hands. "Yeah! This has got to be it! See, over there—it says the number twelve. And Nick wrote down on this piece of paper that it's number twelve, Gourd Street. Wow, Gourd Street…"
"Yes, thank you, Miss Obvious," Apollo snapped. Trucy glared at him.
"I think we should knock," Pearl said. Phoenix nodded. "Okay. I'll knock." She knocked on the door lightly, but loud enough for anyone inside to hear. Pearl waited. A few seconds later, a woman answered. The woman stared at Pearl with her dark brown eyes.
"Yes?" she asked fearlessly. "What do you—" she noticed the spiky-haired man wearing a beanie. "Oh! Nicky boy! It's great to see you again. Now, who are these? And where's your friend… Maya is her name, right?" She said all of this really quickly.
"Hello, it's great to see you too, Ms. DeLite." Phoenix said. "We understand that your son is the witness of a very important case. So you must know what happened to Maya. This is Apollo," he said, pointing to Apollo. "This is Trucy," he put one hand on Trucy's shoulder. "And this is Pearl." He put the other hand on Pearl's shoulder. "So could we come in? We have to discuss something."
"Sure, Nicky boy!" Desirée exclaimed. "Of course you can come in. Ronnie's in right now, he'd be glad to know you're here."
"Is your daughter here right now? Because your son said that she might have witnessed the crime as well," Pearl said.
"Who, Joy or Ruby?" Desirée asked. "Oh, you must be talking about Ruby. On the day of the crime, I was taking Joy to the doctor because she had a bad cold. Ruby's here right now, yes. Follow me." She led them into the sitting room, which was a really messy room with two sofas pushed to the side. "Sorry about the mess; since we've moved in, we haven't really had time to clean up."
"Really? When did you move in?" Trucy asked.
"A few weeks ago, when we realized that our apartment was too small for the kids. We wanted a roomy place, because with three kids running around all the time, an apartment really is not enough," Desirée explained. "Anyway, why don't you wait here while I call Ronnie and make some beverages? I'll call Ruby later when she wakes up from her nap."
Phoenix shrugged and smiled. "We'd be glad to wait, Ms. DeLite." Desirée smiled.
"Do sit down," she said. After making sure that Phoenix, Apollo, Pearl and Trucy were seated and comfortable, she ran up the stairs and returned three minutes later with a reddish-brown haired man wearing a plain green shirt with Mask De Masque's logo in the middle. Phoenix grinned.
"Hey, Mr. DeLite," Phoenix said. "I'm glad you ditched the Mask De Masque costume." Ron laughed.
"Hello, Mr. Wright," Ron said. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong…? Because if there's something wrong, you can tell me and Dessie…" he trailed off, just like he used to. "And… I ditched the Mask De Masque costume because it reminded me so much about 'that' case…" he trailed off again. Trucy resisted the urge to slap her forehead and shout for him to get on with it.
So instead, she leaned in and whispered to Apollo, "This guy is giving me the creeps."
"I know," Apollo whispered back. "Me too… but if he will help us, I guess it's worth it."
"You guys must be thirsty. I'll go to the kitchen now and make some lemonade, though I'm not really good in making lemonade." Desirée declared. Pearl's face lit up. "So I apologize if it tastes like coffee," Desirée joked. Pearl grinned and went to Desirée.
"I'll help you, Ms. DeLite!" Pearl volunteered. "I know how to make all sorts of drinks," she said proudly.
Desirée smiled. "Okay, then come along. And please, call me Desirée."
"Um, Ms. Desirée, do you have one of those things you use to squeeze the lemon juice out of the lemon?" Pearl asked. Desirée pondered this for a moment before finally shaking her head no. "Oh. Then we have to do it the hard way…" Pearl muttered to herself. "Ms. Desirée, please hand me a lemon and a knife." Desirée handed her the items.
"Be careful with the knife, Pearl," Desirée warned. "You might cut yourself. Just a few weeks ago, Joy, my daughter, was trying to cut some celery but she cut herself in the process and started bleeding like crazy. I don't think you'd want to end up like Joy."
"Okay, thanks for the warning, Ms. Desirée!" Pearl exclaimed. She held the knife carefully and cut the lemon into two halves. "Please hand me a pitcher, Ms. Desirée." Desirée handed her a pitcher. "Thank you." She took one half, positioned her hand above the pitcher and squeezed it until all the juice was out. About one fourth of the pitcher was filled. She did the same for the other one.
"You're pretty good," Desirée complimented. Pearl smiled. "By the way, Pearl… have you seen my son? He's supposed to be back before dark. And he isn't back yet." Pearl's smile faltered and her shoulders sank. "Do you know where he is?" Desirée asked.
"Ms. Desirée… the detective found out that he witnessed the crime and hauled him to the precinct. I'm sorry," Pearl apologized.
"What are you sorry for?" Desirée asked, surprised.
"I'm sorry I didn't stop the detective," Pearl replied. "I should have stopped her."
Desirée smiled. "Oh, it's fine, really! My son always dreamed of being part of an important trial. It's nice to see he finally has a chance to achieve his dreams, even if he is a bit young for it," she said. "I guess I'll have to pick him up later with the motorcycle I got for Christmas last year." Pearl smiled.
"Ms. Desirée, can I have another lemon?" she asked. Desirée handed her the lemon, and Pearl did the same thing she did with the previous lemon. "Ms. Desirée, how do you make two people fall in love?" Pearl asked. Desirée thought about that for a moment.
"You don't make two people fall in love," Desirée replied. "It happens naturally, Pearl. Why do you ask?"
"I want to make Mystic Maya and Mr. Nick fall in love with each other," Pearl said honestly. "I think they're just perfect as a couple, because they belong with each other and with no one else." Desirée pursed her lips together, thinking furiously on how she should reply to Pearl.
She chose her words carefully. "Well, Pearl, you don't make Maya and Nick fall in love with each other. If they really do have feelings for each other, they will soon fall in love with each other, but if they don't, you can't do anything about it. That's just how it is," Desirée answered. Pearl considered this for a moment.
"So I don't do anything to make them fall in love?" Pearl asked. Desirée shook her head. "Oh, I see," she added glumly.
Seeing Pearl's sad expression, Desirée decided to take action. "Oh, but I think there's still a possibility they'll fall in love with each other," Desirée said. Well, it was true. The two still had a chance. Pearl's sad expression disappeared immediately. She looked up at Desirée hopefully.
"Really, Ms. Desirée?" Pearl asked with the hope evident in her tone of voice.
"Really."
Phoenix's phone rang. "Excuse me," he said to Ron. Ron nodded. Phoenix reached into his pocket. He took out his phone, pressed the button that allowed him to answer the call and held it to his ear. "Hello…?" Phoenix said. "Oh! Edgeworth."
"Wright. I'm afraid I cannot make it, and neither can Detective Gumshoe. He's at home sick with a cold, because he hadn't eaten in three days, thus his immune system was lowered," Edgeworth stated. Phoenix could already imagine the annoyed look on his face. Phoenix smiled.
"Oh, no wonder he wasn't at the scene of the crime. You really have to stop cutting his salary, Edgeworth," Phoenix replied.
"Wright. I'm not the one cutting his salary," Edgeworth said. "That would be Franziska."
"Yeah, well, you can always tell Ms. Von Karma to stop cutting his salary. You are her brother, no?" Phoenix said sarcastically, knowing full well that if Edgeworth tried that, he would receive ten, no, twenty lashes. "Okay, okay, Edgeworth, I was just joking."
"I know you were, Wright," Edgeworth said. "Now, since I couldn't make it to the scene, I found out some extra information about the attempted murder." Phoenix told him to go on. "The prosecution tomorrow will be headed by Klavier Gavin, the lead singer in the now disbanded band called the Gavinners."
"I know that," Phoenix interrupted. "What else do you have to tell me?"
"The witnesses appearing tomorrow will be Mr. Williams, the man who found Maya floating in the lake and Phoenix DeLite, a fourteen year old boy who saw the crime happen. Have you found any other potential witnesses, Wright?" Edgeworth asked.
"We are currently at the DeLite residence, as the fourteen year old boy you're talking about has a little sister who might have witnessed the crime," Phoenix said. "That's about it. I've also talked to the boy, you know. Anything else you have to tell me?"
"No. I'm afraid that's all I have to tell you." Edgeworth said. And then he hung up.
A few minutes later, Desirée and Pearl reappeared. Desirée was holding a tray with a pitcher full of lemonade and seven glasses. "I'll go and wake Ruby now," Desirée said. "Pearl, can you handle it?" she asked. Pearl nodded. Desirée handed her the tray, and scurried up the stairs.
Pearl poured each person a glass. When she was done with that, she poured Desirée and herself a glass, leaving the seventh one empty. Trucy raised an eyebrow, silently asking who owned that seventh glass. "The seventh glass is Ruby's," Pearl said, sitting down on the space Trucy saved for her.
Two minutes later, Desirée returned with a little girl with light brown hair. "Hello, I'm Ruby," she said in a small voice.
Trucy and Pearl stood up at the same time. "Hey, I'm Trucy!" Trucy said before Pearl could speak. "And this is Pearl. But if you want, you can call me Truce, and you can call her Pearly." She turned to Pearl for approval. Pearl nodded slightly. "The one with spiky antenna hair is Apollo, but you can call him Polly. The one wearing a blue hat is—"
"Mr. Phoenix Wright," Ruby finished. "Yes, I know him. He's the one who saved Daddy's life, and the one who Nick was named after."
"Yes, that's right," Trucy replied. "So I heard from your brother that you might have witnessed what happened a few days ago. Someone pushing someone else into the lake. Have you seen something like that, Ruby?" Trucy asked. Ruby nodded, and sat down on the couch.
Trucy and Pearl sat down, and Ruby started recounting her experiences. When she was done, she took a sip of her lemonade.
"Hmm, what do you think about her testimony, Apollo?" Phoenix asked.
"Her testimony corroborates her brother's," Apollo replied. "That means she's also going to have to testify in tomorrow's trial, to prove that Nick's testimony isn't a lie."