In the parking lot, the investigation was starting to wrap up for the day. Officers were putting any equipment into their vehicles and getting ready to go home. Miles and Maria left the crime scene together.
"I should stop by the criminal affairs department to see if Detective Skye has found anything," Maria said.
"Mind if I go come along? I'm curious about the results as well," Miles said.
"If our defendants truly are related, this will matter to you as much as they will to me. You probably should," Maria said, skimming her file once again.
She must have memorized everything in that file by now. "Alright then."
They hailed a cab to take them to the police department. It wasn't a long drive, so Miles and Maria were soon walking into the criminal affairs department. They spotted Ema right outside her office. She looked up and smiled when she saw the prosecutors. Something tells me she has good news.
"Ms. Coldstare, Mr. Edgeworth," Ema said.
"Detective Skye, have you gathered anything useful?" Maria said.
"I had some DNA tests done like you suggested. The results were pretty interesting. I was just about to go to the records room for some extra information. Come with me and I'll show you what was found," Ema said, flashing the papers in her hand.
The three of them walked through the police department as they spoke.
"So exactly what did you find, Detective?" Miles asked.
"I looked at what was on Rocky Roade's file and found it to be pretty limited. So I got some samples and had a few experiments done. Once I had a few relatives confirmed I did some extra digging and made a few connections. I couldn't believe what I found," Ema said.
"Go on," Maria said.
"Rocky Roade isn't the defendant's real name. His real name is Rocky Ontha, scientifically speaking."
"Rocky Ontha, huh?" Miles said.
"Nice job, Detective Skye," Maria said.
Ema took some Snackoos out of her bag and munched on couple. "The really clever part though is that the defendant is related to someone named Rocky Roade. 'Roade' was his mother's maiden name. The real Rocky Roade is the defendant's uncle. This is what threw us off the whole time."
"He really thought this through," Miles commented.
"Yeah, but you can't fool DNA," Ema said proudly.
"By any chance, does Rocky Ontha have a brother, or maybe a cousin, named Mark Ontha?"
"Yep, your defendant is Rocky's older brother."
"How did you…"
"C'mon, Mr. Edgeworth. You really think I wouldn't notice something like that?" Ema said. She popped another chocolate treat into her mouth.
Miles gave a lopsided smirk. I was right, they are related. Rocky Ontha… why does that strike a chord? He crossed his arms and thought harder. After giving it some thought, it hit him.
"Hmm, Rocky Ontha. That name reveals yet another connection," Miles said.
"You mean other than being related to Mark Ontha?" Maria said.
"Take a look at this," Miles said and pulled out the necklace with a ruby set in a mahogany medallion.
Maria looked at the ruby necklace for a moment, then said in a voice slightly louder than necessary, "Oh, Edgeworth, that's so sweet! How did you know I had a weakness for rubies?"
Some police officers looked at them curiously. Miles recoiled in shock, his face reddened slightly. "What? No, this is evidence!"
Maria put her fingers over her mouth and gave a sly smile. "You can get flustered very easily sometimes, you know that?"
Ema didn't say anything, apparently absorbed in the task of eating her Snackoos.
That was revenge for the fingerprints, wasn't it? Miles cleared his throat and tried to look unfazed. "Anyway, look at the back of the medallion. There's an engraving on the bottom."
The two women stared at the back of the wooden disk.
"RO+HW," Ema read.
"Rocky Ontha + Hailey Wethers," Maria said. She looked at Miles, "Where did you find this?"
"In Mark Ontha's apartment," Miles said, leaving out the fact that he had rifled through a jewelry box to find it.
"Why would he have this?" Maria said.
"I'm not entirely sure, but if those initials really do stand for Rocky Ontha and Hailey Wethers that would mean they knew each other at least."
"Do you think it belonged to Ontha or Wethers?" Ema said.
"Again, I'm not sure. I think this requires further investigation. Perhaps we should get to the records room now?" Miles said.
Ema, Miles and Maria went into records room and started browsing the shelves. After several minutes of searching, Miles heard Maria say, "I found something!"
He found her at the end of one of the shelves, already absorbed in the binder she held. 'R. Ontha' was written on the cover. Ema soon joined them and read over Maria's shoulder.
"Anything good?" the detective said, swallowing a Snackoo.
"Could you please not crunch those chocolate things right next to my ear?" Maria said numbly and turned the page.
Ema took a step back and bit into a Snackoo. The crunch was so loud it sounded like she chipped a tooth. Maria ignored it and continued to read. A few page-flips later she exclaimed, "That's it!"
"What's it?" Miles said.
"Look at this. Read the third paragraph," Maria said and tilted the binder in his direction.
Miles looked at the page and his eyes were immediately drawn to one sentence. "His fiancé was Hailey Wethers," he read aloud.
Ema put her hand to her cheek. "Fiancé?"
Miles took out his case file and checked the victim data. "There's nothing here about a fiancé."
"Look at the photos, is she wearing a ring?" Maria said.
"No, not anywhere," Miles said. "Perhaps they broke up recently?"
"It's possible. Or the killer could've taken it." Maria said.
"I suppose that's a possibility as well. I wonder if there's anyone who would know of the relationship between Wethers and Ontha."
"I imagine the family would know," Maria said.
"I guess I could call them. I think I have his mother's phone number somewhere on file," Ema said.
"Sounds good, Detective Skye," Maria said.
"I'll back in a few minutes," Ema said and left the two prosecutors in the records room.
Maria went back to reading and Miles looked around the room. He waited patiently for the detective to return with confirmation. During that time he mentally went through all the facts of the case. I suppose if the victim was his brother's ex-fiancé; that would be a motive for Mark Ontha. It feels kind of… distant though. He has a better motive to kill Taylor Maide. Come to think of it, Rocky would have a better motive to kill Hailey Wethers.
He noticed Maria had finished reading. "Anything useful?" Miles said.
"Not particularly, I wish I had found something to link him to Taylor Maide," Maria said.
"Motive does seem to be an issue here. It would be simple if the defendants were in each other's place, though."
"Actually, it would be even harder to prove them guilty," Maria said.
"Why do you say that?"
"You already know it's impossible for Rocky Ontha to have been in the parking lot at the time of the Wethers murder. Same goes for Mark Ontha when Taylor Maide was killed."
"That's right; Mark Ontha wasn't at the Lordly Tailor that day."
"Exactly, it's pretty obvious."
"Well yes, I suppose it would be for someone who's been reading case files constantly."
"Knowing all the facts does make things easier, you know."
"I'm well aware of that."
"Is that- wait. Do you hear that?" Maria said, looking around the floor.
At first, he didn't hear anything. Soon, however, he couldn't stop hearing it. There was a low rumbling noise, followed by a sensation of instability. That tremor… don't panic ,Miles. It's just an-
"Earthquake!" Maria said. Just then the rumbling grew louder and the shaking intensified. Maria screamed.
Miles barely registered what was happening in front of him. His vision started to blur as his sight melded with memories of the past. Don't faint, Miles. Don't faint. Keep it together. He felt numb and disconnected from the world around him. His eyes were open, but Miles saw nothing. He was too ensnared in his mind as the room around him shook. He could only manage one thought. Don't faint.
Miles didn't know how long the earthquake had lasted, or how long he had been trapped in his daze. Slowly, he escaped from inside himself and realized that everything was still again. He noticed he was sitting on the floor, with his arms wrapped around his legs. Miles looked in front of him and saw Maria standing across from him, her back to a bookshelf. She pressed the binder against her chest while her crossed arms clutched her shoulders. Behind her now crooked glasses, her eyes were distant and unfocused.
Miles stood up and leaned against a shelf until he regained his balance. When his legs finally stopped trembling, he let go.
"Coldstare?" he said.
Maria's eyes regained focus and she straightened herself. While readjusting her glasses, she said, "Edgeworth, are you alright?"
"I'm perfectly fine," he lied.At least I didn't faint. "What about you?"
"I'm unharmed," she said, loosening her hold on the binder and standing rigidly.
"Good to hear," Miles said. He looked at the floor, trying to think of a different topic. "Looks like some of the binders fell off the shelves."
Maria looked down and noticed the scattered documents around her feet. "We should probably fix that. Everything is packed in quite tightly, though. So there shouldn't be too many."
Glad to have something constructive to occupy his mind, Miles collected the books off the floor and put them on the shelves accordingly. It was a simple task; the prosecutors finished the job in mere minutes.
"I wonder where Detective Skye is. I hope she wasn't hurt," Maria said.
"I'm sure she's fine, but we should probably check. It was a small tremor, though," Miles said. I think.
