Chapter 4.

The importance of a good investigation.

I decided it was good to just press ahead, I'm sure that Vera did it, and no matter what Wright does, I'm sure justice will prevail. "Your Honor, the prosecution would like to hear further testimony from Mr Brushel." I said with certainty.

"Very well, Mr Brushel, please testify to us regarding what else you know." The Judge said as he banged his gavel.

"Yes your Honor." He answered. "When I arrived at the studio, Mr. Misham was at his desk. He seemed to be writing a letter... but he quickly sealed the envelope. I thought nothing of it at the time, of course. Now that I think about it, what if he was writing a suicide note?"

As he finished his testimony, I felt like I'd been punched in the face. Did my own witness just suggest that this case against Vera was wrong and Drew committed suicide? I decided to take action. I slammed my fists on the desk. "Mr Brushel, please do not make suppositions. Unless you know what was written on that letter?" I asked.

Brushel tapped his head again with that toothbrush of his. "Well, no... I couldn't get a good look at it. Still, it's possible, "Once the impossible is eliminated, then presume everything else is the truth." End quote." He concluded with a smile. I could have sworn that quote went differently...

"Well then Mr Wright? Your cross examination if you'd please?" The Judge asked. Mr Wright stood once again with his calm smile, it was kind of eerie compared to how I'd seen him before back when I idolized him. He looked so much more... in control... It was like seeing your favourite character as a kid suddenly becoming a slasher villain.

"You say he was writing a letter?" Mr Wright asked.

Brushel nodded. "Oh yes, I arrived early for our interview you see and the door was open. When I went in he hurriedly stuffed the letter he was writing into a yellow envelope." He finished with a smile. I got the feeling this was a habit of his, turning up early and seeing his interviewees with their pants down... well, I don't mean like that... and why am I even trying to explain myself?

"Mr Wright, is there any importance to this?" The Judge asked. I tried to remember the scene. Admittedly, I was put on this case pretty late, I only got to have a brief visit to the crime scene and meet that detective woman who seemed to be a fan of my mentor. I can't remember seeing any letters there...

Mr Wright nodded. "I think it's of vital importance." He said calmly.

The Judge nodded. "Very well, Mr Brushel?"

"Sure." He said with a smile. "It was a yellow envelope. ...I heard it was left at the crime scene." He finished. My stomach had butterflies in it. I didn't know about this note... and clearly Mr Wright had something up his sleeve.

"OBJECTION!" He shouted out. He pulled out his cards, this time however he did that thing where they flick the cards from one hand to the other. I don't know what it's called...

"Mr Wright, I hope you have a valid reason for springing cards in my courtroom?" The Judge said, making me feel like more of a grandpa than him for not knowing what that was called...

"I have here another card to play your honor." He said as he put one of the cards on the table. On it was printed a red envelope. I started to question when and how he found the time to get these images printed on the cards. I was more worried however as to why there was a red envelope there. "Only one envelope was found at the scene of the crime. And as you can see, it was quite clearly coloured red." He pointed suddenly. "Well? You were quite clear that the supposed envelope was yellow!" He shouted at Brushel.

Brushel seemed to strangle himself with his tie even more violently hearing this. "B-but I swear! It was yellow!"

I felt like the wind was knocked out of me also. Out of shock, I felt my hair seem to droop down. "Well he... was probably just mistaken..." I said. "Yeah, he probably just couldn't remember it was red, he did witness a murder afterall!" I concluded a little more confidently.

"HOLD IT!" A voice shouted out. To my shock, it was Brushel himself. "Are you saying that I'd get confused over such a simple fact!?" He shouted out angrily. "I know what I saw! That envelope was yellow! I'm a reporter, I wouldn't be where I am now if I got facts wrong!" He continued.

The Judge slammed his gavel. "Mr Justice, was a yellow envelope found at the scene?"

I felt nervous, like I'd turned up to school and forgotten the big math's test today. "Er, well not to my... knowledge..." I said nervously.

"There was not your Honor." My Mentor said next to me. I felt sudden relief before quickly realizing this would be trouble for my case if my witness was felt to be unreliable.

I decided to try and fix this. "Your Honor, really, this can be easily explained. Who's to say for example that after using the yellow envelope to hide the letter in, he didn't decide to simply put it into the red envelope instead while Mr Brushel wasn't looking, like if the yellow envelope had a tear on it or something?"

"Well, yes that does sou-" The Judge began, however he was interrupted. "OBJECTION!"

Mr Wright was smiling, this time it seemed more of a smirk than his previous smile. "I'm afraid that won't work. Look at the address on the red envelope. It's addressed to Drew Misham." He slammed on his desk with both hands. "Why would he send himself a letter, much less a suicide note!" He shouted. It was at this point I made a mental note to never accept a case last minute again like this.

"I think I can explain this. There's something I forgot earlier." Brushel suddenly announced. So much for his reporter's knack for getting facts right... "You see, when he put the letter in the envelope, he started looking everywhere for a stamp. He found one eventually and put the letter into his mail box. He then turned around and said he was ready to start the interview, and we began." He tapped his head again with that toothbrush of his as he said this.

"Hmm... sounds like this letter's not really related to the case then." The Judge said deep in thought. I noticed Brushel start sniffing again. He had that look like he could smell a story here. "Well then, Mr Brushel, it looks like that's all the information you can give us for now. You're free to leave." The Judge told him.

"Hmm...? Oh, right, yes I'd better head off and start writing my piece then..." He said, although he sounded like his mind was somewhere else. I couldn't let him walk away if there was something on his mind.

"Hold it! Mr Brushel?" I suddenly let out without really thinking.

"Yes?" He replied.

"Er... you... seem to have something on your mind. Is there anything else you can tell us?" I asked. I wasn't sure if I wanted to get him to say more, but at this rate, my case was looking pretty weak.

"Well, you told me earlier not to make suppositions." He replied.

"If there's anymore information you have though, then it's vital we hear it. It's the only way to secure the truth behind this case. And, you do look like you've just caught wind of a story." I told him.

"How do you... well, alright. I suppose as I'll have exclusive rights to this anyway, I can tell you." He replied.

"Do keep in mind you're in a house of law Mr Brushel, you are meant to tell us all that you know regarding this case." The Judge said sternly.

"R-right... er, well there is something." He said as he began to sweat a little and pull at his collar.

"Then please testify once again Mr Brushel." The Judge said with a nod. I felt something big was lurking here... and it worried me. But at the same time, I wanted to get to the truth. My Mentor taught me that whilst we must strive to do the best we can, the truth is still our priority, so we must hear everything, no matter how damaging it could turn out to be...

"Actually, it took a bit of work to get a thumbs-up on the interview."Reporter Leverages Story, Get His Interview", end quote. The story concerned a certain case from a couple of years ago. That red envelope probably had something to do with it. Say what you will, but Drew's talent was without compare." He finished and the courtroom went silent.

"So you blackmailed him?" Mr Wright said calmly.

"Why I would never! It was just simple persuasion... that's how it works to be a journalist in this age! "Secrets hide more secrets." End quote." He exclaimed.

"Well, I think we should just get on with the cross examination now Mr Wright." The Judge said. Something told me things were about to get a lot more heated...

"So, this case you refer to. Tell us about it." Mr Wright began.

"Well, it was a certain famous case from a couple of years ago." He started, I realized that while I wanted to get to the truth, I couldn't let Mr Wright just walk all over me.

"OBJECTION!" I shouted out pointing. "Your Honor, this case has no relevance to the case at hand! It tells us how Mr Brushel got his interview, but I see no explanation of how this case relates to our poisoning!" I finished.

Mr Wright smirked again. "Mr Wright? Does this case have relevance to the case at hand?" The Judge asked him.

"Yes your Honor. I cannot tell you how though until we hear what Mr Brushel has to say." He said.

"OBJECTION!" I shouted again. "Your Honor, if Mr Wright has proof he should present it now!" I concluded pointing still at him.

"Hmm..." The Judge said deep in thought. He slammed his gavel down. "Overruled. We will hear about this case, however I warn you Mr Wright, if this doesn't give us results, I'll have to impose a tough penalty." He said.

Mr Wright nodded and Brushel continued. "The case was a high profile theft. The thieves stole a famous painting, and replaced it with a near identical fake. They were never caught and the case went unsolved." As he finished, everything came into focus for me. I noticed there was something odd when Brushel said about Drew's talent being without compare... why else would this case have anything to do with him if it wasn't that? But still... I had no proof of that, so really, this was all just theorizing.

"I see. I understand now what link this case has to our case. I also think I now understand what this "Talent" of Mr Misham's was that you mentioned." Mr Wright said as he pulled three cards out and laid them on the desk. On each were what looked like paintings. "These were found in Mr Misham's office, however, there was another painting there which was hidden. I found it with help from the Detective working at the crime scene." He put another card on the table, it was the same as one of the paintings on his other cards.

"Mr Wright, I think you've shown us the wrong card?" The Judge said his eyebrows high as he blinked with confusion.

"No, this is the right card. The painting we found you see was the original. These other paintings all shared something which this one didn't though. The line art underneath, was completely unrelated to the actual paintings. I think really this is pretty good proof..." He gathered the cards together and slipped them back into his pocket, before looking up and pointing. "That they were forgeries!" He shouted out.

The gallery began chatting about this as the Judge banged his gavel. "Order! I will have order!" He shouted. "Mr Wright, you mean to say that Mr Misham was a forger?"

Mr Wright nodded. After he did, I heard a slam next to me. I turned to see Mr Edgeworth hunched over the desk glaring with his teeth clenched. "Portsman... why didn't you include this painting in your report!" He said angrily, although not loudly enough to be heard.

"Of course... that's not the only thing he's supposedly forged." Brushel suddenly announced. "There are rumors that his skills extend beyond just paintings. That he's even forged evidence in the past." After this there was a sudden uproar, the Judge banged his gavel a couple of times and eventually after a while things calmed down.

"This is a most unexpected development. I can only wonder where we'll go from he-" The Judge began when he was interrupted.

"OBJECTION!" Someone shouted which rang out through the courtroom. I turned to see my mentor pointing forward. "Your Honor, it appears that there has been a grave error. In having the case turned over to us, this information was somehow omitted. As such, we require a recess in order to revaluate our current case." I was unsure of what we were going to do now. This was definitely a trial by fire.

"Hmm... Mr Wright?" The Judge asked.

"If the Prosecution needs time to make up for it's mistakes, then I'm happy to let them have this recess." He said with a slight chuckle. I felt the urge to punch him again.

"Very well then. Court is adjourned for a ten minute recess. I hope we can get this matter sorted and be ready to proceed when we return." The Judge said. He bashed his gavel on the desk and everyone began to head out to the lobby. This case had suddenly gone crazy, but I almost felt like I was on a rollercoaster going up, getting ready for the sudden drop down ahead...