Chapter 10
Perspective of Phoenix Wright
Date: 10 May
Time: 14:20
Location: Tender Lender
I paid the taxi fare and we went into the reception area. The door opened, showing the lean figure of Viola Cadaverini.
"Mr Wright." said Viola "How lovely to see you again. Please come in."
I returned the greeting and followed her into the office. Ema looked at me as if she didn't have a clue what was going on.
"I understand you're the one who found my daughter. Thanks for calling the police."
"It seemed the decent thing to do. Though my college wanted to just throw the poor thing out into the street."
"Why would he want to do that?"
"Well, Mr O'Brian's never been good with children. I think he has some favouritism issues from when he was a boy."
"O'Brian, now I know that name from somewhere." I said in my best off-hand type of voice. "It's not Ryan O'Brian is it?"
"Yes. Do you know him?"
"Well, my friend Winston sometimes sees him go by his house." I gave her the name of the street. Ema looked like someone hit her in the face with a fish. She said nothing but her facial expression and body language seemed to scream What the hell are you doing, Wright?
"Ah." Said Viola "We do have a rather unreliable client who lives in that area."
"What's his name? Maybe I know him?"
"Nice try Mr Wright." Viola smiled "I'm afraid that's classified. I mean, would you give the names of your old clients away to just anyone?"
I should have known it wouldn't be that easy.
"Good point." I said.
Ema finally fished her badge out.
"Miss Cadavaerini, I'm terribly sorry, I know I should have said this earlier, but we believe that the client Mr O'Brian was visiting was one Colby King, who is currently on trial for murder."
Why do I get the feeling that this will end in tears? Possibly for me.
"I see." Said Viola, calm as usual "Do you suspect me of foul play?"
I saw Viola's lips curl up, ever so slightly into a disturbing grin.
"No, but I believe that Mr O'Brian might be somehow involved."
Suddenly the door opened and a huge grey-haired man came in. It looked as though God was making a cross between a gorilla and a mastiff hound, gave up have way and tried to pass it off as a human.
"Ah, Ryan. These two would like to ask you some questions."
"Oi'm not sayin' anything!" he shouted.
I stood up.
"Why? Do you something to hide?"
He walked menacingly towards me. I took a step back.
"You feck off, before I knock yur fecking head through the wall!"
"Ah so you do have something to hide! Something to do with Colby King perhaps? Or that little girl who was kidnapped? That how you get your kicks?"
With a scream, he ran at me. With his hands aimed at my throat
I raised my hands to smash his arms open and brought my knee with up a jolt.
Ema shot up from her chair, jumped behind him and slammed him into the floor, ripping out a pair of handcuffs.
"Let me go!" he roared
Her teeth clenched like a tiger, Ema locked his hands behind his back and forced his face to the floor. Her eyes were wild and angry.
"You're under arrest for attempted assault and suspicion of kidnapping!"
She took a deep breath. Then lifted O'Brian to his feet.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"
With O'Brian screaming to be let go, I asked Viola if we could talk outside. Thank God. She agreed.
"You shouldn't have provoked him, Mr Wright."
"I know. I guess I lost my temper. But these are serious crimes and it won't be safe for my daughter until the criminals are brought to justice."
"I do appreciate you feelings Mr Wright, but I don't like having police around my office. Do you have any evidence against Ryan?"
"Well, the car that my daughter was carried away in was found near his work place."
"Hee…hee…hee…" Uh oh. It's that creepy laugh. I hate the creepy laugh. "Ryan's not the sharpest sword on the rack, but I doubt he's that stupid."
That was actually a good point. He couldn't be that dense.
Could he?
We went back into the office together. Ema had seated the handcuffed O'Brian in a chair.
"Have you called for a squad car?" I asked.
"Not yet." Said Ema
"Well, you can let him go, as long as he promises to behaving." I said.
"What?"
"We don't have enough evidence to pin him to the kidnapping. Not yet anyway."
"Ha!" laughed O'Brian "Hope ye know a good lawyer, since Oi can sue ye both for slander! Not to mention Police brutality!"
Oh shit…
"Ryan." Viola smiled, a bit too sweetly "I don't want to frighten you or anything, but if you sue, or call the police and try to get these two in trouble, I'll have to tell my grandfather about it."
The Irish thug suddenly began to turn very pale.
"Oh um, alright! I won't press charges!"
Ema grudgingly released him. I apologised for the ruckus and we made out retreat.
"What the hell?" Ema snapped when we were a good enough distance away.
"You do realise that I've just saved both our lives."
"What are you talking about?"
"Miss Cadaverini's grandfather. He's called Bruto."
Her eyes grew into wipe frightened circles.
"Bruto Cadavernini?"
That's right folks. The biggest mob boss in the country. The one even Gumshoe's afraid of. If that baddie is after money, you would either pay up or the police would never find your bodies. He can make it happen.
"Don't worry too much about it though. Viola's a decent person."
We decided to walk back to Ivy University to see if Leo King had come out of his lecture.
"Well." Said Ema "We now know that O'Brian has something to do with the kidnapping."
I smiled patiently.
"Do we now? Have you got a theory?"
"Yes." She smirked "I believe that Ryan O'Brian was the one who kidnapped Trucy. You've had dealings with Tender Lender before, so he was able to find out about you and your daughter, so he stalked Trucy, made the call to lure her out, and then snatched her up. His motive? If he's in jail, Colby can't pay off his gambling debt and O'Brian can't beat any money out of him."
"Well, it's not a bad theory." I had to admit, "But there is a rather puzzling flaw to your logic."
She blinked. Her face screwed up, as if in deep thought.
"I can't think of anything."
I chuckled and patted her on the shoulder. It'll probably click later.
"Before we start making our grand assumptions, let's make sure that we've heard every side of the story and from every conceivable angle. The reason Gumshoe's had so many salary cuts in the past, is because he twists facts to suit the prosecutor's theories instead of making his own theories to suit facts."
Date: 10 May
Time: 15:00
Location: Leo King's dorm
I knocked on the door and Leo answered, wearing overalls.
"Hello again." Said Ema "Can we come in?"
"Okay." Said Leo "But I have to head to work in a minute. I have a job as a hospital porter."
We went inside and made ourselves comfortable. Ema took out a notepad and pen.
"What is Miss Jessica James' relation to your family?
"She's my…well, was my girlfriend. We broke a few weeks ago."
"Can I ask why?"
He sighed.
"Jessica was at our house when that lone shark came looking for Colby."
His eyes eye at his feet.
"I see. O'Brian threatened her?"
"It was more than that." Said Leo "All the fights we had at home, Colby being in trouble with the police all the time…She just couldn't stand it."
He rubbed his face with his hands.
"Want a smoke?" I offered taking out the box I acquired earlier.
"No thanks." said Leo "I can't stand the smell of cigarettes. Beside, I probably shouldn't get the smell of tobacco on my work clothes."
"Probably for the best. It's sort of a hard bandwagon to get off."
"Anyway." Ema continued "We understand that Colby once stole a car to pay off a gambling debt. Can you tell us anything about that?"
Leo looked up at her.
"I remember it was silver. He used to joy ride in it. A lot. Eventually the police caught him and gave it back to its owner."
We asked a couple of other question then said our goodbyes.
"I think we should give the King household another look." Said Ema.
"Good idea." I said "The game's afoot…"
"Follow your spirit…" she joined in
"And upon this charge cry: 'God for Harry, England and St George'!"
Okay, so this is American and not England. Still a cool movie quote!