Limits of Perfection

Chapter 10:

Perfect Plot

Author's note: Okay…you know the drill. I don't own Phoenix Wright games or characters…and if I did, I'd be swimming in my own pool of money (which would be shaped like a dollar bill!) However! I DO own Marty Cruss and Herr Volker. No touchie!

To the reviewers:

LazyCatfish27: ooh! I know! Suspense, Suspense, Suspense!

nohbody: LOL, yup! That was the point!

awesome!: Thank you!

Here's a challenge for you! If anyone can figure out what criminal from Law and Order SVU Marty is based off of, I will write them a story of their request!

AND NOW...TO THE STORY!

Date: March 25
Time:2:48 AM
Place: Apartment Complex: Miles Edgeworth's Apartment.

The phone finally rang. When it did, Miles was asleep on the couch, his hand on the loudly ringing and vibrating phone. Perhaps it was the annoying, cheesy ringtone, or the fact that Miles had failed to pick up after the first hint of a call, that woke Phoenix up. The defense attorney stumbled into the living room and picked up the phone with a groggy, "Uhh...hello?" "Hey pal." Gumshoe's alert voice filtered through the phone. "I take it Mr. Edgeworth finally got some sleep?" "Yeah...that's what...uh..it looks like..." Phoenix replied, still half asleep. "Well you'd better wake him up, pal. I've got something down here that he needs to see...now." The detective replied seriously. This woke Phoenix up instantaniously. "What do you mean?" "Well, we may be one step closer to figuring out who pulled the trigger and who wanted her dead." Gumshoe stated in a hushed voice. "Wait! You're saying this as if it's two different people! Is it?" Phoenix asked, his eyes wide. "Like I said, both of you get down to the precinct. Now!" Gumshoe exclaimed.

"Be there in ten minutes."

Phoenix hung the phone up and looked down at Miles' sleeping form. The prosecutor had dark rings around his eyes from the lack of sleeping he had done. When the sun rose today...it would be exactly three days since Franziska had gone missing. Any much longer, and the defense attorney was sure that Miles would lose hope for good. Still, the one thing that worried Phoenix was what Gumshoe had said. It sounded as if two people were involved in this plot...If this was true, he was afraid it was another De Killer and Engarde case. It wouldn't be pleasant for anyone involved. And the worst part of it was...Phoenix wasn't sure to be worried for Franziska, if the person who would be playing the same role as De Killer had her held hostage...or worried for the kidnapper! If Franziska's memory was still lost, she might not know exactly what to do in this sort of situation. If she had regained it, there might not be anything left of the kidnapper by the time help arrived. Shaking his head of these thoughts, Phoenix bent down and gently shook Miles to wake him up. He had to be cheerful and encouraging...he was too afraid to find out whether Miles would actually choose death this time around if they could never find Franziska.

"Hey! Hey, Miles! Wake up! Detective Gumshoe just called and he needs us down at the precinct right away." Phoenix stated as he shook Miles gently. With these words, Edgeworth's eyes shot wide open, and he sat up before Phoenix could react. The two of them bonked heads, each backing away with a curse underneath their breath. "Wright, are you serious?" Edgeworth asked after a minute, rubbing his forehead and glaring at Phoenix. "I wouldn't be waking you up if I wasn't. You need the sleep." Phoenix replied honestly, wincing slightly as he touched the spot on his head where the two of them had colided. Miles muttered something underneath his breath again, before getting up and straightening out his suit slightly. He had fallen asleep in his magenta colored suit, leaving wrinkles in his normally perfect attire. Phoenix had done the same, but made no motion to straighten his out, figuring that they would just be going to the precinct and then coming back...Not much of a public appearance in his eyes.

"How long ago did he call?" Miles asked as he walked towards the front door to put his shoes on. "At the most, five minutes ago." Phoenix replied, following. The two of them basked in silence as they put their shoes on, and then Miles looked towards the door. "You ready?" he asked, not even bothering to look towards Wright. "Yeah." Phoenix replied with a nod.

A manilla folder was thrown onto an oak table, and it opened upon contact, revealing a photo and a large stack of documents. "Herr Wilhelm Volker, age 32. He was put into Bitburg Maximum Security Prison almost a month ago. About a week ago, the guards caught Volker on the phones in the prison, talking about a murder for hire plot. They couldn't charge him for anything though until they had concrete evidence, so they let him continue to talk. It was not until recently that the guards realized that the supposed murder had taken place, and they were to arrest and charge Volker with this crime today. There's only one problem. When the guards went to confront Wilhelm...they found him in the prison lobby where the phones were...with a phone cord wrapped around his neck. He was dead as a doornail." Gumshoe recited this to the two men in front of him, while pacing back and forth several times. "What has this got to do with anything?" Phoenix asked, raising an eyebrow. At this question, the detective turned to Miles in a knowing manner. The prosecutor nodded. He knew exactly what this had to do with Franziska.

"Franziska...she put this man in jail...and while he was being dragged away...he threatened to kill her."

With Miles' statement, Phoenix began to put several of the missing puzzle pieces into place. "What more can you tell us about this, Gumshoe?" he asked the detective, his mannerism changing completely. "Well, pal...I can tell you what the guards overheard him talking about...and what the theory is...but that's about it." Gumshoe replied, scratching the back of his head. "At this point, anything you can tell us will be of much help." Miles stated seriously, as the detective nodded. "Okay, pal. The guards said that they overheard Wilhelm talking to another man. His name was Marty. As far as we can tell, Marty lives here...but we don't know if his name is a codename...or a nickname...or even his real name. The police theorized that Wilhelm must have betrayed Marty in some sort of fashion...and that's why he ended up dead..."

"But if he's dead...and Franziska was most certainly alive when the murder was to have been carried out...where does that leave us?" Miles asked, folding his arms over his chest. "That's the other part to the theory." Gumshoe replied, finally sitting down in the leather desk chair. "The police believe that Marty lied...not sure why...but that he lied. And as to how Wilhelm ended up dead...well...that's where Guido comes into play." Phoenix and Miles were silent for a moment. They turned to each other and raised an eyebrow at the same time, before looking back at Gumshoe. Phoenix was actually the one to ask the question that the two of them were pondering. "...Guido...?" Gumshoe laughed nervously, before producing a mugshot photo from his endless pockets in his trenchcoat. "This is Guido. His real name is Maximillion "Guido" Hosetler. Don't ask me where Guido comes from...I don't really want to know. Guido is Marty's personal bodyguard. We have proof that Marty sent him to the prison, disguised as a guard, to make sure that everything went according to plan. And...since it didn't...well...you get the idea." "Yeah, we get it." Phoenix muttered dryly, looking at the picture of the ape-like man. "...so...we find this Marty...and perhaps we find Franziska?" Miles asked, trying to hide the emotion that his voice was holding.

"That's...that's what we hope, pal...that we find her ALIVE..."

They had reached the end of the line. This was the last stop, where the subway train got off, and Franziska had barely even noticed it. She had been wrapped up in conversation with Marty Cruss for the past several hours. In fact...Franziska didn't even realize where she was...It was when Marty looked up with a surprised look on his face, that the German woman had realized this was the last stop.

"My apartment isn't far from this station...would you care to continue the interview, Miss von Karma?" Marty questioned as he gathered up his belongings. "You're such a charming young woman to talk to...I would hate for this to end so soon." Franziska found herself to be eeriely flattered. "...erm...well...I see no harm in it..." she replied, faltering in her response. For a moment, she could have sworn that she saw some sort of creepy, joyous glint in Marty's eyes...but it was gone as soon as she thought she had seen it. "Excellent! Come, Ms. von Karma. We have so much to talk about! This will certainly make front page news!" he replied, as he stood up and offered his hand to her. Franziska raised an eyebrow and reluctantly reached for his hand. When she did so, he grabbed it so hard, that she immediately knew something was off. Alarms were starting to go off in her head... She barely had a chance to say something, when Marty pulled her towards the exit of the subway train, and onto the platform.

And then she heard him speak.
It was in a very low tone...but she knew clearly what he said.

"Make one wrong move...and I'll kill you."