A/N: I'm back! This story's going fast, too! Only two more chapters after this one. Can you believe that?

Well, onward with this chapter!

Chapter Seven: Investigation – Day Three

Zach leaned against his rented white Mercedes Brabus, deep in thought. Luke's reaction in that cell phone video kept playing over and over in his head. He couldn't get the… the fear of Luke's voice out of his head.

"Zacharias?" Zach opened his eyes, finding himself face to face with Miles Edgeworth.

"Chief Prosecutor," he said, standing up straight, a last remnant of his Knightly training. Miles smiled at that slightly, recognizing it now that he knew the true story behind the man in front of him.

"Are you alright? You look exhausted," he said, crossing his arms.

"I… yes, I'm okay. I just…"

"Didn't sleep well last night?"

"No. I tried your suggestion, of using memory triggers. My mother had a favorite song that puts me right to sleep, but it didn't work. I still had nightmares," Zach admitted.

"It must not be a strong enough trigger then," Edgeworth mused, before studying the prosecutor again. "But I feel there's something else bothering you."

"I… Mr. Edgeworth, I'm starting to doubt Luke Triton's guilt," he admitted.

"On what basis?"

"First, I've met Luke before. He's smart. If he was planning to poison someone, he would have disposed of the poison as soon as he used it, not kept it in his bag. But he's not like that, and I doubt arguments about school work would force his hand like that."

"Even if grades were one of the most important things to him?" Miles asked. Zach nodded, cupping his chin.

"Yes, even then. Finally, there's the fact of when did the poison end up in Luke's food, and his reaction to Mr. Lacker's death. It was almost like… it traumatized him as well." He looked up at his boss. "I know it's my job to get a guilty conviction, but… I can't send an innocent man to jail. Especially one who has so much of his life ahead of him."

"I agree," Miles said with a warm smile. "Besides, it's not just our job as prosecutors to get the guilty verdict. That only applies to the guilty defendants. But when there's an innocent defendant on the stand, it is the prosecutor's job to force the defense attorney to prove, beyond a doubt, that the defendant is, indeed, innocent. Do you follow?"

Zach looked at Miles in surprise as his words sank in.

"We play the devil's advocate in those cases," he said, and Miles smiled.

"Yes. Now, if you truly believe Mr. Triton is innocent, go find the evidence you will need tomorrow in court. And do not worry, Phoenix Wright will no disappoint when it comes to defending his clients." Miles smiled fondly at a memory. "Especially if they are a friend of his."

"Thank you, Chief Prosecutor," Zach said with a smile.

"Zacharias, please, you can just call me Miles," he said, clasping the man on the shoulder before walking away. Zach watched after him in surprise, getting the feeling that not many people got that privilege. He then climbed into his car and took off, ready to continue his investigation.

Phoenix, Apollo, and Maya waited as Luke was led into the visitor's room of the detention center once they were done questioning him. Apollo was shaking his head at Maya, who was quietly teasing Phoenix about his reaction to her going into the flames. She'd been at it every free moment they got since Zach told them.

"Miss. Fey, how are you so calm about that? Didn't it scare you?" Apollo asked, looking over at the woman, who smiled warmly at him.

"Nope!"

"Liar," Phoenix immediately countered.

"Oh alright. It did… a little. But I'm okay, right? So why make it depressing?" Maya countered.

"True…" Apollo trailed off as their client sat in front of them.

"Hey guys," Luke said with a tiny smile.

"Hey, Luke. How you holding up?" Phoenix asked.

"As well as I can, given the circumstances. They just questioned me about when I was in Quanter Hall," he replied, shaking his head. "To be honest, I'm surprised you're my visitors, heh. Pearl's been here as much as possible, keeping my company."

"This is where she's been? Good to know. How the elders of the village can stop worrying," Maya said, laughing.

"Well, Luke, it's Quanter Hall we want to ask you about. When have to been there?" Phoenix asked.

"Never," Luke answered, looking between the three.

"But your hair was found there. You must have been, at least once," Apollo replied. Luke looked down with a small sigh.

"So, you don't believe me either," he said softly.

"We're just trying to get to the bottom of this mystery, Luke, that's all," Phoenix said, before getting an idea and pushing his hand into his pocket, fingering the Magatama. Apollo had the same idea, pressing his fingers against his bracelet.

"I know, but I'm telling you, I've never been inside Quanter Hall! I have no idea how my hair got there!" Luke said, looking between the two. Silence ruled to room for a moment longer before Phoenix nodded.

"Alright. I believe you," he said, removing his hand from his pocket.

"Same here," Apollo said, dropping his hand from his bracelet. Luke looked surprised.

"Wait… just like that? What changed?" he asked.

"Nothing. These two are just human lie detectors!" Maya said brightly, putting her hands on both men's shoulders.

"Maya…" Phoenix said, before shaking his head.

"Oh…" Luke mumbled, before an officer came in.

"Meeting's over," he grunted.

"Wait, what? But we have more questions for our client!" Apollo said. The officer shook his head.

"So do we." With that, Luke sighed.

"Guess I'll see you later," he said, following the officer back.

"Damn…" Apollo mumbled.

"Well, now what?" Maya asked.

"Now, we returned back to Quanter Hall and see if we can figure out how Luke's hair got there," Phoenix said, leading the two out.

Once in Quanter Hall, the trio ran into Isabella Donald once more. She was carefully pruning a small, flowering shrub with the utmost of care, muttering to it as she did so.

"Uh… why are you talking to that plant?" Apollo asked. Isabella jumped slightly, looking around at the three.

"You guys!" she gasped in surprise.

"Didn't Nick tell you that talking to a plant while you take care of it, it grows better?" Maya asked.

"No. I thought he knew, since he's always talking to Charley…" Phoenix said before Apollo could respond. Apollo sighed softly.

"I just wanted a sympathetic ear to complain to about the chaos in the office…" he muttered, though he went unheard.

"I thought Charley looked a lot more lively since Apollo started there!" Maya said with a huge grin.

"Um… can I help you guys?" Isabella asked.

"Oh, right. We wanted to talk to you more about the night you were here, when you found Luke's hair," Phoenix said.

"Well, like I said, I came here to check on my project," she said.

"What kind of project was it?" Apollo asked.

"I had to grow and study a specific type of plant – a Harring Flower. They're native really only to a tiny island off the coast of England, and usually need the other flora around there to grow. I'm attempting to see if, under the right conditions, they can grow elsewhere," Isabella explained.

"Which is why you have to check on it so often," Phoenix said while Maya studied to flower. It seemed… familiar to her.

"Right. Other then finding the hair and missing leaves though, nothing else out of the ordinary happened that night. Now, if you don't mind, I really need to get to class," she said, rushing off. Apollo frowned after her.

"Mr. Wright, something…"

"Seems off about her? I agree," he said, before sighing. "Let's continue searching."

Thre trio found nothing in the greenhouse like room, leading them to investigate the rest of the building.

"Hey look, a ladder!" Maya said brightly, pointing to a stepladder leaning against a wall in the lobby of the building.

"I wonder what a ladder is doing here…" Apollo mused.

"That's actually a 'step'-ladder," Phoenix said.

"Well, excuse us for our lack of ladder discrimination," Apollo said, crossing his arms and looking over at the older man, how looked surprised.

"Yeah, Nick, stop being a stick in the mud. They do the same thing. You need to stop judging things based on narrow-minded cultural assumptions!"

Phoenix looked between the two, unsure as to what to say.

"As for your original questions, Mr. Justice, a janitor was just in here, changing a light," a voice full of laughter said from behind. The trio turned to find Zacharias Barnham walking over to them. Phoenix almost groaned in embarrassment when he realized the prosecutor hear all of that.

"Ah, that would explain it," Apollo said, also looking mildly embarrassed.

"Prosecutor Barnham! You're investigating too?" Maya asked.

"Of course. After all, I have to make sure I'll be able to defeat Sir Blue Knight in our final battle of wits tomorrow," he said.

"Are you ever going to call me by my name?" Phoenix asked, causing Zach to chuckle.

"Perhaps, one day," he said.

"Hm. Well, we need to continue our investigation," Phoenix said. Zach nodded.

"Of course. Good luck," he said, heading towards the door. Maya noticed something fall out of his pocket and ran over, picking it up.

"It's a flash drive," she said, before turning it over and gasping.

"What?" Phoenix asked, quickly coming over.

"It says 'security footage' on it!"

"Well, then lets find somewhere to watch it!" Apollo said. Phoenix nodded, handing the drive to Apollo.

"Go find a computer lab and do so. We're going to finish investigating here" he said. Apollo nodded and jogged off. Phoenix then looked around at everything. The first, and most obvious spot, was the overflowing trashcan, causing his to sigh.

"Why did I send him away?" he asked, looking up at Maya, who laughed.

"He's the only one who knows computers out of the three of us? Alright, Nick! Roll up those sleeves and start digging!" she said brightly. Phoenix sighed, but pulled off his blazer, rolled up his sleeves, and started.

About fifteen minutes later, halfway down the trashcan, Phoenix straightened, wincing at a crack from his back, and held up a light blue hairbrush, the bristles snared with sandy, light brown hair.

"Thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked Maya.

"That you need a bath? Yes."

"No! About the brush!"

"Oh!" she studied it. "It almost looked…"

"Like it could be Luke's."

"Miss. Fey, Mr. Wri-whoa…" Apollo stopped, putting a hand to his nose as he looked at Phoenix. "Trash can?"

"Trash can. What did you find, Apollo?"

"Well, not once does Luke ever appear on screen. It's from the camera that over see's the only stairwell that goes to the fifth floor, so unless Luke flew, there's no way he was ever up there in the timeframe he would need to be to leave that hair."

"Good. I think we might have found another clue," Phoenix said, holding up the brush.

"Should we go ask Luke if that's his?" Apollo asked. Phoenix nodded and, after a trip to the bathroom for him, the trio headed back to the detention center.

Luke was still in questioning when they got there.

"Now what?" Apollo asked.

"Mr. Wright, is that you?" someone asked before Phoenix could answer. The trio turned to find Clark Triton walking over.

"Mr. Triton," Phoenix said, walking over. "How are you holding up?"

"As well as I can, given the circumstances," he sighed, closing his eyes. "Please tell me you're on to something."

"We might be," Phoenix said, putting his hand to his chin for a moment, before realizing something. "Maybe you can answer our question. Do you know if this belongs to Luke?" he asked, pulling out the brush, now sealed in an evidence bag.

"Why… yes, it does. Where did you find it?"

"In the trashcan in the lobby of Quanter Hall. Any idea of how it got there?"

"Well… a few days ago, Luke was running late for a class, so he drove himself across campus," Clark started, crossing his arms. "Around lunch, Luke called the police because someone had broken into his car. The back seat window was shattered, and his belongings scattered around in it. He had forgotten his wallet in there, and all of the money inside had been cleaned out." Clark shook his head. "When we got home that night, he realized his hairbrush was missing. I didn't connect it at the time, but when Luke ran out that morning, I do remember him taking his brush with him…"

"So maybe someone wanted to frame Luke and saw his brush sitting in his car, so they broke in…" Phoenix mused.

"But why take his money?" Apollo asked.

"To make it look like a normal break in. After all, wouldn't it be strange if the only thing missing from a car that was broken into was a hairbrush?" Maya supplied, to which Phoenix and Apollo nodded in agreement.

"So, this proves someone was trying to frame Luke of murder?" Clark asked. Phoenix smiled, looking at the brush.

"Not conclusively, no. But it's a start."

A/N: Alright! Here we are!

Whose trying to frame Luke!?

I already had the ladder gag planned, once I realized Maya and Apollo would totally gang up on Phoenix, hehe. When I went to write that is when I discovered the Ace Attorney Wikai has an entire page dedicated to that argument!

Wolfiered23, you predicted what I did right before I posted this chapter…