Hello my friends, you have reached the second chapter that I have updated today. If you got here using the fancy arrow-thing that takes you to the last chapter, please feel free to head back a chapter at this time, as most if not all of the following will make very little sense if you skip a chapter.

Thank you and enjoy.


March 16, 11:25 AM. Westin Arlington Gateway Hotel, Second Floor.

"Which room was it again, Nick?"

"Um, 220?" Maya knocked.

A blond man wearing a miniskirt and a blouse answered the door.

"Liet," he called to someone in the room, "did you, like, order some weird strippers again?"

(S-Strippers?! Why does he think we're strippers?)

"No, we're lawyers!" (Why is she not fazed by the fact that he thought we were strippers?!) "We're looking for the Vargas' room?"

"Oh, they're, like, totally in 226, you know."

"Thank you!" He shut the door.

(Sometimes I worry about the world if these are the people in charge.)

Maya knocked on the correct door this time, and a man with green eyes and curly brown hair answered the door.

"Hola! May I help you?"

"You idiot! I told you not to answer!" Someone shouted from inside, "Get your ass back over here and help me damnit!"

"Uh, we're looking for Lovino Vargas, but I guess we have the wrong room."

"No no! You have the right room! I'm just helping out," The man smiled and opened the door to let us in. "Lovino, you have guests!"

"Antonio, you bastard! Don't let people in other people's rooms on your own accord!"

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo
Age: 25
Works for the Spanish government. Has a sunny disposition. Likes tomatoes and cute things.

Lovino Vargas
Age: 22-23
Works for the Italian government. Was in town on the day of the murder. Rude to men, but soft on women.

Lovino was sitting with his arm half-bandaged on the table in the center of the room. Apparently Antonio had been helping him with first-aid when he decided answering the door to be a top priority.

"Oops, you're out of ice Lovi!" He smiled cheerfully, "I'll just run out and get some more!"

"Wait, you idiot, who's going to-" but the door shut and he was left alone with us, "Um, do you mind?" he lifted his arm and asked Maya.

"No problem," she sat in Antonio's vacant seat and continued bandaging his arm.

"Mr. Vargas, my name's Phoenix Wright. That's my assistant, Maya Fey," Maya smiled as Lovino gave her a nod and return smile, "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Chains appeared out of nowhere again, along with too many locks to bother counting.

"You're Alfred's lawyer right? I'm not talking to anyone about anything. It's in your constitution right? I don't have to talk if I don't want to."

"Please Lovi," Maya asked, looking at him with the best puppy dog eyes she could muster.

After very brief moment of deliberation on Lovino's part, the psyche locks disappeared.

(Well that was easy.)

"Ah, I guess I can answer some questions, since you asked so nicely. What do you want to know about?"

"For starters, what happened to your arm?"

"I tripped. Next."

"But, wait-"

"I tripped. It's completely irrelevant to Alfred's case, which I assume is what you're here about. Next question or should I just kick you out?"

(What a poor attitude.) "You were here on the night of the murder, correct?"

"Yeah, for the meeting. That's why we're all here."

"But the meeting wasn't until the next day. Why did you come a day early?"

"Hmph," he scoffed and winced as Maya tightened his bandages, "My brother is an idiot, that's why."

"Can you elaborate for us a little, Lovi?" she asked.

"Well, you see, Feliciano knew that that potato-bastard Ludwig would come a day early. Since he hadn't seen him in a while he had the brilliant idea to come a day early too so they could hang out. I didn't want him to go alone, so I tagged along. That's not a crime is it, Mr. Lawyer?"

"Not to my knowledge," I cleared my throat and tried again. "What were you doing the night of the murder? I'm not accusing you," I added quickly, "I'm just trying to piece together what happened."

The chains came back, this time with only one lock.

"I-I don't see why that matters bastard! It's not like I was anywhere near a murder scene!"

(Why is he so defensive?) I sighed and pulled out my magatama. "TAKE THAT!"

"What the, why is it all creepy all of sudden? Is Ivan here?"

"Mr. Vargas, I'm going to need you to tell me where you were on the night of the murder."

"I, was out with Antonio. He wanted to go sightseeing."

"Really?"

"Yes really! It's not like you were here and can tell me different, jerk."

"Actually, Mr. Vargas, I do have something that shows without a doubt you were not with Antonio the night of the murder…TAKE THAT!" I showed him the arrivals list for March 10 that I received a few minutes ago from Roderich.

"Mr. Vargas, do you know what this is?"

"No, and I don't care, so you can take your paper and-"

"It's a list of everyone who arrived here on March 10. Antonio was supposed to show up, but it says that he didn't actually get here until the next day, the day after the murder."

"A-Alfred is, not very good with paper work. He must have been mistaken."

"I didn't get it from Alfred, I got it from Ludwig."

"…damnit."

The psyche lock broke and the chains disappeared.

"So where were you really on the night of the murder?"

He stared at the table and took a deep breath before answering, "I was with Gilbert and Francis. They were bar hopping and needed a third player. Since Antonio wasn't there they dragged me along."

(That's it?) "Why lie?"

"Have you met Gilbert and Francis? Plus they were so wasted they don't remember I was there, so it's not a very good alibi."

"I already said-"

"I know! But you can never be too careful when there's murder involved, especially since Alfred's taken an extra dose of stupid pills this week."

"What are you talking about?"

"Che, you're not much of an investigator are you."

Maya finished bandaging his arm and sat up,"What do you mean Lovi? Please tell us!"

Lovino sighed, "Since you asked so nicely," (I've been asking nicely the whole time!) "Well, you know we're all government officials by now, yes?" Maya and I nodded, "So, in this day and age where corruption runs rampart and governmental cover-ups are the norm, why do you think this case is so public?"

"Well, um, it's a murder case. A congressman was killed. It's much more serious than an affair or a bad check."

"Governments have been covering up nasty murders for centuries, believe me. And I'll let you in on a little secret: Alfred is much higher on the chain of command than some Congressman. With a word from him, this whole affair could be buried so deep the light of day is but a myth."

"So," Maya said, deep in thought, "you're saying that if Alfred could have, covered the whole thing up?"

"Exactly. It's completely within his power to pretend the whole incident never happened and dear Congressman Smith was killed by natural causes out of town. Or it was. Now It's spun out of his control, mostly due to his media being asshats and his inability to just shut the fuck up."

"What, but, that doesn't make sense!"

"Tell me about it."

(If Alfred could have just covered this up, why go through with the trial? Whoever he's protecting would be safer if this whole thing just went away! Why is he doing this?)

Just then Antonio chose to come back, holding the bucket of ice and talking on his cell phone in rapid Spanish.

"Lovino, you have a call," he said, handing the phone over.

"Damnit Antonio I don't want to talk to him!"

"Please? He says it's important." Lovino grumbled, but snatched the phone and started rambling something in Spanish.

"Sorry, but could you two come back later?" Antonio smiled, guiding us to the door, "This could take a while. You understand, si?" And with that we were locked out.

"Well now what?" Maya asked.

(How should I know?)


March 16, 11:45 PM. Alleyway.

"Nick," Maya complained, "Why are we back here? Gumshoe said the police already got everything."

"You never know. The police have missed stuff before."

"We're not supposed to be here though."

"Its fine, no one's here."

"Who's that?!" Maya quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me behind one of the crates as a figure came down the alley.

"Oh! I know you!" Maya jumped out, startling the man who backed up against the nearby wall.

"Bloody hell!" he shouted, "You gave me a fright there. What are you doing here?"

"Maya, who is this?"

"Eyebrows!"

"Eyebrows?" (They are really big, almost like caterpillars. Wait a moment, British, caterpillar eyebrows, why does that sound familiar?)

"Git. The name's Kirkland. Arthur Kirkland. Don't forget it."

Arthur Kirkland
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Works for the British government. Was with Alfred on the night of the crime. Says he's a gentleman, but has an abrasive personality.

"You're Alfred's lawyer right?" he asked, "I thought you looked familiar. Sorry I haven't been around much. I heard you wanted to speak with me?"

"Um, yeah, if you don't mind."

"Don't let his Britishness intimidate you Nick!" Maya whispered.

"Mr. Kirkland, how is it you know Mr. Jones?"

"Alfred and I go way back. A lot farther than I'd care to admit actually. Our relationship hasn't always been, pleasant, but it is better of late."

"Is that why you're roommates?"

"That is more of trial and error actually. Few people care to put up with Alfred's hero complex."

(I'm sure you have a few personality quirks of your own.)

"You were one of the people who came the day before right?"

"Yes, that's right. Alfred and I had a private meeting beforehand."

"But, I thought everyone was here for a meeting of some kind," Maya said, confused.

"Yes, we were, but Alfred and I needed to have a private meeting to go over some things before we went to the official meeting."

"So many meetings, must get boring after a while."

"I suppose, but there are some other perks about the job that keep it interesting. I'd tell you a bit more if I could, but-"

"Classified?" I guessed. "That's fine. Can you tell me about the night of the murder?"

"There's not much to tell. Alfred and I had our meeting, but I can't really say much about that."

"How many people were there, or was it just the two of you?"

"No, there were three of us, Alfred, his boss, and me. Well four technically if you count my boss, but he was only there through a video conference."

"Who's Alfred's boss?"

"I can't answer, classified and all that. You understand."

"What about-"

"My boss? Same problem. They are most certainly not involved in this in anyway, I can tell you that much."

"What happened after you left?" Maya chirped in, "Alfred said you had a fight."

"We usually do. The boy doesn't take criticism very well, which is a shame, because he needs it."

(The boy? He's only four years younger than you!)

"Can you be a bit more specific?"

"Unfortunately no, I can't. Sorry, but it's just about some classified government information."

(Why is everything classified?)

"One of the hazards of taking on a government case," Arthur shrugged, "Believe me though, if it had any relevance or was able to help get Alfred off, I would tell you."

"Um, Mr. Kirkland," Maya asked hesitantly.

"Yes, dear?"

"Why won't the police let you near the crime scene? The detective we talked to seemed pretty adamant about making sure you weren't allowed anywhere near here. And why are you here now?"

"Ah well," he blushed and looked away, "I've been looking for the second bullet ever since that night. The police-and the prosecutors-believe him to be lying about that since no one's been able to find it, but don't misunderstand! I'm not doing it for him! I'm doing this for myself!"

(What do you have to gain from trespassing on a crime scene to hunt for a lost bullet?)

"Why do they think he's lying?" I asked, "I've heard his story and it seems reasonable. Besides, Mr. Jones is a pretty bad liar."

"The prosecutors have this crazed theory that his bad lies cover up for when he really needs to lie, but that's not the point. They, um, have some convoluted sort of 'evidence' to suggest otherwise."

"What kind of evidence?"

"I can't reveal the prosecutor's case to you. That's almost like cheating."

"You've been talking to the prosecutors?"

"Well, yes, I'm sort of, er, a witness?" He blushed again and refused to make eye contact.

"What?"

(Edgeworth did mention something about this yesterday, but still, Arthur?)

"You witnessed the crime?!" Maya asked, completely shocked.

"Well, sort of, it's a bit, complicated."

"Did you see Alfred shot the guy or didn't you?" I asked.

"What the, of course I didn't! How could I see something that didn't happen?"

"Then how can you be a witness for the prosecution?"

Arthur blanched and swallowed. Suddenly chains sprang out of nowhere accompanied by several psyche locks.

"That's not really important right now, now is it? You chaps feeling famished? I could sure go for some fish and chips right now; blimey I haven't been this exhausted since that football match that one time…"

(More psyche locks. Why is it that everyone seems to have a secret? I guess whatever he's hiding I can get out of him at the trial tomorrow.)

"Have you been able to find the second bullet yet?" Maya asked.

"No, not yet, not that these bloody American cops will let me anywhere near the bleeding alleyway."

"Well there don't seem to be any now, why don't we look together?"

"I've been searching for it for days," Arthur said, "I doubt you'll be able to just waltz in here and-"

"Found it!" Maya practically squealed.

"You, what now?"

"It's right there," She pointed up near the top of the right wall, and sure enough, after Arthur and I came to examine the spot where she was pointing, there was what appeared to be a bullet hole, complete with a bullet.

"Brilliant," Arthur mumbled, "How are we supposed to get it out to check if it's the correct one?"

"I'm sure we'll think of something." (I just wonder how it got up there in the first place.)

Second Bullet
Another bullet found in the alleyway. Found in the wall above where the murder took place. No way to check for ballistics yet.

"Hey! What are you three doing here?" A police officer shouted from the other end of the alley.

"Bollocks, they've switched shifts finally," Arthur muttered.

"W-we were just leaving."

"See that you do! This is a crime scene you know."

After that, Arthur agreed to treat us to lunch and take us back to the hotel so we could prepare our defense. There wasn't much and there were still a few questions left to be answered, but perhaps the trial tomorrow would shed some light.