APRIL 4- LUCIANO'S DRESSING ROOM

Luciano's dressing room was eerily quiet. Everything was left exactly the way it had been the night of the murder. There was a vase with an arrangement of yellow tulips and daffodils resting on the vanity. A tag on the vase read "Toi, toi, toi! Love, Carmen."

Phoenix immediately began tearing the room apart, looking for any clues he could. After a few minutes, he finally gave up. "There's nothing even remotely useful in here," he groaned.

Pearl, meanwhile, was focused on the flowers. "That's odd..."

"Hm, Pearls?"

"Mother taught me a little about the language of flowers," Pearl said slowly, "I can't seem to remember now...but putting daffodils and yellow tulips in the same arrangement...it's a little much, I think." She screwed up her face. "Too much yellow."

"I see." Phoenix made a note of the vase. We need all the leads we can get.

He looked down at Pearl. "Why don't we go have a burger or something, and then we'll go visit Ms. Puccini. I'd like her to see this note."

Phoenix and Pearl had barely stepped out of Luciano's dressing room when-

"Stop! What is it that are you thinking you are doing?"

Phoenix found himself staring right at a tall, thin man with thinning black hair and a pencil moustache. He was wearing a tuxedo and he did not look happy to see Phoenix and Pearl.

"This area is off limits to unemployees," he said sharply. "Please to be getting out now!" The man had a thick Italian accent. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, which had the effect of making him look even more threatening.

Phoenix instinctively flashed his attorney's badge at the man. "I'm with the investigation!" he said.

"Pah, investigators are not bringing their children to crime scenes!"

"It's...it's take your Daughter or Other Young Female Relative to Work Day!" Phoenix stammered.

The man looked down at Pearl, and his demeanor softened almost instantly.

"But isn't it scary for a such a darling childto be examining crime scenes?"

"I don't mind," Pearl said.

The man laughed and looked back up at Phoenix. "My name is Don Octave. I am the maestro! This opera company, it is my baby! Please, examine all you want!"

It couldn't hurt to ask about the murder.

"Um, Maestro, could you tell me about the night of the murder?"

Don Octave threw his head back and laughed. "Ohohohoho, you are being very clever. But the police tell me that I am not to be talking until I go to court tomorrow."

Damn. It was worth a try. But I bet there's something else I can ask...

"I just met Angelica de Los Angeles..." Phoenix said, experimentally.

"Ah, you have met Signorina Angelica? She is difficult to get used to, but she is a sweet person underneath! Why, a week before the incident, she was bringing us all an almond cheesecake!"

She brought a what? I hadn't pegged her as the kind of person to bring baked goods to share with...well, anyone.

"Uh, Mr. Octave, what did you say she brought?"

"Call me Signor Octave...or Maestro," the maestro said, "And she was bringing us all an almond cheesecake. And it was so, so delectiful! It's too bad poor Luci and Licia couldn't have any."

"Why not?" Phoenix readied his notepad.

"Luci was very, very, er...how you say? Allergic to almonds. Just one bite and he would be needing hospital."

"What about Licia?" Phoenix asked.

"She was taking their darling little boy to...dentist, I think." Octave looked up at the ceiling. "Yes. Yes, that was it."

"I see," Phoenix said. He started ushering Pearl down the hall. "Well, uh, we've really...got to go...get some lunch...yeah..."

"Please come see the opera sometime!" Don Octave called as Phoenix and Pearl retreated down the hall. "We are doing The Stoned Guest in summer and you will have wonderful time!"

Is he going to be the Stoned Guest? Phoenix couldn't help but wonder.

APRIL 4, DETENTION CENTER.

Licia was troubled by her dreams. Snatches of songs she'd learned drifted in and out of her head.

"I was young and foolish, now my heart is full of tears..."

And more disconcerting: "'Twas the love of my baby which has brought me to this madness..."

The scene in her dream changed. She was under a weeping willow tree, so old and so big it had long, thick branches that might as well have been curtains. It was winter now, and the leaves were gone.

Our tree.

Licia laid in the snow, curled up in ball, shivering. She'd been there a while. Sunlight filtered through the branches and dappled the snow with shadows that danced in the breeze.

Someone shook her shoulder.

"Were you waiting here all night?"

She turned, and saw Luciano crouching beside her, his brown eyes wide and full of concern. Some of his black hair had fallen into his face, but he made no move to push it away.

"Lu...Luci..." She bit her lip and tried to keep from crying. "Luci...let's go away together. Let's get married somewhere far away."

He gently, tenderly caressed her cheek. "We don't have to do this."

"Yes we do! Let's run away." She threw her arms around him, clutched his coat as tightly as she could. "I don't care what people say. I don't care about how mad my parents are going to be. Let's just...go."

Someone shook her again, more insistently this time. She turned away from Luciano and saw the face of...her guard.

Licia jolted awake and almost screamed.

"Sorry, lady," said the guard, although he looked anything but sorry. "Your lawyer wants to talk to you."

Licia nodded. "All..all right."

Phoenix didn't like to be kept waiting. Especially not by his clients. Especially not when said clients hadn't been entirely honest with him about their cases.

He drummed his fingers on the table while he waited and thought of what he'd found. Almond extract in her vanity, with the victim being allergic to almonds. That break-up note in her trash. The rumors about her cheating husband. She'd better have a good explanation for this.

Licia shuffled into the visitor's area and smiled slightly. She looked less frazzled than she had before, but somehow the circles beneath her eyes seemed more pronounced. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting you to be back, so I took a nap."

Phoenix crossed his arms "Ms. Puccini. I don't think you've been entirely honest with me."

Her brow furrowed. "Oh?"

"I've heard...rumors about your relationship with your husband."

Licia leaned back in her chair. "I see. Are you going to ask me what you heard or are you just going to assume things?" She frowned, her grey eyes narrowed into slits.

"Let me finish," Phoenix said. "We found...some things in your dressing room. Ms. Puccini, you have to be very honest with me, because the prosecution is going to use everything it can to prove you killed your husband."

Licia grew even paler. "Tell me what you heard."

Phoenix told her everything that he had heard about how young Licia had been when she'd gotten married, about the fact that her marriage was arranged, the age difference between herself and her husband, and about the rumors of her husband's affairs. He thought of mentioning the rumor he'd heard about her son, but decided not to bring it up.

"Who did you hear this from?" The color had returned to Licia's face, somewhat. Her eyes twinkled with amusement.

"Miss...uh, Angelica."

Licia chuckled. "She's a real gossiphound, that one."

"How much of it is true?" asked Phoenix.

"Most of it," Licia admitted. She flipped some of her hair off of her shoulders. "The marriage was arranged, and we did marry when I was seventeen. My parents are very wealthy, you know. They own a massive media corporation. And Luciano wasn't just a genius singer...he owned a pretty successful classical record label."

Licia took a deep breath and looked down. "So my father's company decided they were going to merge with Luciano's..."

"And they used you to seal the deal?"

"Yes," Licia said, so quietly Phoenix almost didn't hear her. "But it wasn't like...it wasn't anything bad. He never...behaved inappropriately toward me. He was a close friend and mentor of mine before my parents even brought the marriage up. It's the only reason I agreed. And...we loved each other."

"Then why did he cheat on you?" Phoenix blurted. He winced when the words left his mouth. He hadn't meant to be so blunt.

Licia recoiled as thought Phoenix had hit her."I don't know," she said, "Does anyone ever know why the people they love hurt them?" Tears welled up in her eyes. She swallowed and spoke slowly in a voice thick with emotion. "He's never been unfaithful before. If he had been, I still wouldn't have killed him for it. I loved him too much for that. We...we would have worked it out."

Phoenix remembered the note he'd found in her trash just then. He pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to Licia. "We found this in the wastebasket next to your vanity."

She slowly read it. A look of confusion spread across her face.

"I've never seen this before," she said, finally. She set her jaw in a way that was almost defiant, daring Phoenix to challenge her. Phoenix clenched his hand around the magatama and saw a single Psyche-Lock over her heart. Damn. I knew one of these was going to show up sooner or later.

Phoenix decided to try a different tactic. He didn't think he had evidence to prove that she'd seen it before, but maybe he could find out if the writing on the note was Luciano's. "Is that your husband's handwriting?"

Licia nodded. "Yes, but the date written on it...that's strange. Luci never dated anything."

"I see."

He then showed Licia the bottle of almond extract. "We found this in your vanity."

"Not mine," Licia said bluntly. She frowned heavily. Confusion shadowed her lovely features. Phoenix couldn't see any Psyche-Locks on her this time.

"Then why would it be in your vanity?"

"To threaten me, maybe?" Licia said with a weak shrug.

"Isn't your husband the one that's allergic to almonds?"

Licia laughed softly. "You're good at your job. But...I am also allergic to almonds. If I so much as touch one I get terrible hives. I can just imagine what would happen to me if I ate anything with almonds in it."

I see, Phoenix thought, he opened his mouth to speak, but Licia spoke for him.

"So, you met the illustrious Angelica de Los Angeles, Mr. Wright?"

"I...er, yeah."

"I suppose you want to ask me about her." Licia leaned back in her chair with the ghost of a smile on her lips.

"Well, yeah. She doesn't...have a grudge against you, does she?"

Licia looked off to the side. "I don't think so, but she's difficult to work with. She's had trouble keeping work because of her attitude. I heard her contract was running out this month, and I'm sure she's desperate to get her contract renewed. I don't think she'd ever be desperate enough for murder, though. That would really put a clinch in her plans to be the next Maria Callas."

Phoenix nodded. "Okay. And we met another lady...Carmen Ghia."

Licia's face lit up. "Oh, Carmen! She's such a light in times like these. She's the one who brought me a change of clothes, and she's taking care of Ben." She smiled. "I'm glad you got to meet her. She's a good friend of the family."

Phoenix was about to ask another question about Carmen when he saw two more Psyche-Locks appear. If I want the truth I'm going to have to dig it out...but I don't think I have enough evidence to do it, yet.

Phoenix leaned back in his chair and let his mind wander. He couldn't break Licia's Psyche-Locks yet. There had to be something else he could find that could help him with his case. If I knew how the victim died...wait, that's what I'm missing!

Phoenix stood up. I've got to see about getting an autopsy report, he thought.

"Are you leaving?" Licia asked.

"Yes. I've got to go pick up Luciano's autopsy report..."

"I see." She stood up to leave as well, then paused. "Mr. Wright? Can you tell me who's prosecuting tomorrow?"

I'm not sure you want to know.

"Bram Pinkerton will be the prosecutor tomorrow," Phoenix said slowly.

As before, Licia's demeanor completely changed. She blanched, then sighed deeply. "I see," she said flatly. "I'm surprised it's not Edgeworth trying to keep that practically perfect win record." A heavy frown weighed down the corners of her lips. She looked down at the floor and bit her lip.

Pearl tugged on Phoenix's sleeve. She'd been quiet as a mouse the whole time Phoenix had been questioning Licia, and now she had a question of her own.

"Mr. Nick, doesn't it seem like she knows Mr. Pinkerton?"

When Phoenix looked to Licia for an answer, he saw five Psyche-Locks guarding her secrets.