WN: Well hello to you all and a happy new year's eve's eve :3 Hope we all had a great Christmas and here is to a fantastic 2014 Anyway here is a new chapter courtesy of the lovely Kisatine Hope you all enjoy :3
Chapter 11: Chapter Sensitive Trigger
Phoenix, Maya and the manager rushed in the direction of the noise - the prop room - that banging sound, it resembled gunshots all too sickeningly well! "Peals! Pearly!" Maya cried out, the fastest one out of them all. Her hair was flying in wisps and strands, her top knot unravelling. Maya's cheeks were flushed as she shoved open the prop room door and her voice was a panicked roar, "Put that down now - Gently!" Maya was standing in the doorway, Phoenix had to look over her shoulder. Mouzie Mouse and Pearl were huddled in close to one another, the small medium was holding a gun loosely in her hands and there was the bitter taste of gunsmoke in the air. Pearl's mouth was slack in shock and there was a faint tremble in her hands.
She hadn't expected there to be bullets. She should have expected it. It took Maya telling her to put the gun down again to snap the girl out of her shock, carefully she knelt and placed it onto the floor. "I'm so sorry - I didn't realise - " Pearl sobbed.
Mouzie had her face in her hands. Pressed up against the wall opposite the two girls was Charlie and Larry 'Laura' Butz. There was fabric laying by their feet. Larry was clinging to Charlie in abject terror and a faint squeal was rising up from his mouth. There were two bullet holes several inches from his head. Phoenix picked up the gun with a cloth, careful incase it went off again. His face was grim as he stared down at the smoking weapon. Even though he knew that the police had already found the murder weapon on Kat Nep's person, this gun...
(Theatre gun placed into court record)
"Come over here, now, Pearl!" Maya ordered, face still panicked. "And you too, Mouzie!" The two girls hurried over to Maya's side, leaving Phoenix with the gun. "What on earth is going on?" The manager appeared in the doorway, tapping her whip against her hip in annoyance. "Charlie?" The designer swallowed and tightened her grip around Larry. "We - uh - I found Laura and I needed her help with a torn sleeve for one of the extra's costumes so we came here and -" "The door banged open," Mouzie babbled. "It startled us and the gun suddenly went off!" "I'm so sorry," Pearl said, eyes wide and filling up with tears as the thought that she could have killed someone. "'s alright," Charlie mumbled, still staring at nothing. "Never thought I'd be shot at in a prop room." Wish Gumshoe was around to take this off of us, Phoenix thought to himself.
"Hey, pals! Phoenix almost dropped the gun when he heard the overly cheerful detective - Please don't be an actress pretending to be him... But no, it was the real detective Gumshoe, grinning at them all. "I thought you'd left," the manager grumbled to herself. "Nah, we came back." Odd, Gumshoe's usual posse of officers weren't surrounding him, so what was this 'we?' "Who's 'we', Gumshoe?" Maya asked. "Why, the prosecutor for the case, of course." I wonder who that is, Phoenix thought to himself. Though I doubt Gumshoe would tell me. The gun was still heavy and smoking in the attorney's hand, reminding him just why he wanted Gumshoe to appear, like some sort of ... scruffy angel.
Phoenix lifted the gun to get Gumshoe's attention. "Uh, Gumshoe..." "Whoah!" Gumshoe leaned back. "Who did you shoot!?" "What?! No-one!" Phoenix felt like groaning in exasperation. "We found this and it went off by accident." "A likely story." "I'm serious!" Gumshoe glanced around, saw no one was lying on the ground and bleeding, and decided to give the guy a break. "All right, all right, pal. I believe you... this time." It's a wonder I don't have high blood pressure, Phoenix thought to himself tiredly as he held out the gun. "Please. Take it."
(Theatre Gun given to Gumshoe)
Gumshoe put it straight into his pocket. Phoenix tried hard not to groan in exasperation. So much for health and safety. "Thanks, pal!" Gumshoe beamed at him. "I'm kinda glad this was found." "Why?" "Well... heh.. heh.. you see... that gun we found at Kat Nep and the victim's apartment wasn't actually the murder weapon. The bullets inside were blanks." Several pairs of eyes fell onto Gumshoe's coat pocket, where the gun was hiding. "So..." Maya began. "This gun could be the murder weapon?" "Probably!" Gumshoe replied.
"I'll take it to the lab for forensics to look at - though we'll only be able to compare the bullets, seeing as everyone's fingerprints are now on it." So are yours! Gumshoe chuckled to himself. Phoenix wasn't certain he wanted to know the reason why Gumshoe was laughing. "You're in real trouble, pal!" Oh, looks like Gumshoe was going to tell him anyway. "That girl's as guilty as Macavity -" Who? "- and just wait until Prosecutor Ed - uh, the prosecutor shows you just how badly Kat Nep has lied to everyone."
And with that Gumshoe laughed once more and walked off, much to the manager's annoyance as he had probably gone to harass her actresses again. Maya and Pearl exchanged a glance, the pair murmuring to one another, "Prosecutor 'Ed'?" Pearl asked. "Do you think he meant Edgeworth?" Maya mused. "Maybe." Phoenix didn't hear them, he was rubbing his chin in thought. If only they hadn't handled the gun!
But it had most likely been wiped beforehand and he couldn't exactly go back in time and change things. He felt a little uneasy about Gumshoe's exuberance, 'Kat Nep had lied to everyone'? Was there something else he hadn't found out about the witch? Was it a witness, an old document... a photograph? He knew Lotta Hart was involved somehow, according to Larry. He needed to find out what sort of motive the prosecutor would suggest was the reason for Kat Nep's guilt and then he'd be able to work out how to refute it.
It was at that moment, while everyone's minds were focused on their own dillemas, that one person had finally had enough. "I quit," Charlie murmured, everyone could barely hear her. "You what?" The manager asked. "I quit!" She shouted, making Larry jump, she ripped her choker off to reveal - An Adam's apple. Charlie removed his curly brown wig, underneath it he had spiky green hair. His face was flushed with bitterness with each angry word he directed to the manager, "All I've ever wanted to do is design!
To see my clothes upon the stage! Yet all of the other Takarazuka troupes already had their costume designers - all except for you, but you're so strict, no men allowed at all! So - So I lied - and I'm sorry for that, Laura," he told Larry before he returned to the manager. "But your screaming, complaining - whipping! And half the crew's either dead, missing or in prison. I can't take it anymore!" He strode out of the prop room, not giving anyone another glance in case his resolve crumbled and he stayed. The manager was still open mouthed, for once shocked out of her undercurrent of frustration and aggression.
Someone else wasn't so quiet. "Whaaaaat?!" Larry screeched, causing Phoenix to cover his ears. "So Charlie wasn't a Charlotte Charlie but a Charlie Charlie?" "Looks like it," Phoenix replied. "I... I'm not so sure..." Larry paused. "But he was getting so much female attention... all of those dancers - he - he - he could be my mentor!" And with that Larry leapt to his feet, with stars glittering in his eyes, and raced out, calling for Charlie to come back. Trust Larry to make the best out of any situation. Phoenix shook his head, a sweat drop appearing over his head. Hopefully that means that Charlie doesn't have any more locks to break - if this was what he was hiding.
Rei M and Em Mei's Dressing Room
"Hello again." Rei was leaning back in her chair and reading a gossip magazine. It still unnerved Edgeworth that she looked exactly like Phoenix yet had the mannerisms of a stranger. "What is it you wanted?" She asked. "I wanted to go through what you were going to say in court." "Alright then." Where had Kay got to? Probably went off to get someone's autograph. Edgeworth and Kay had gone to the theatre after they had examined the apartment, and acquired the medical reports that he had asked Gumshoe to obtain. The suspect's pyschiatric report had been very... interesting.
Funny how well the mind could block out traumatic events or imagine something else to distance themselves from it. Kat Nep was going to get a 'family reunion' when she was put on the stand. Rei put down her magazine and gave Edgeworth her full attention. Tucked into the dressing table mirror was a photograph, it was two women standing side by side. It was Em Mei and a woman who resembled her quite a bit, most likely sisters, Edgeworth reasoned. "Is this - ?" "It's Em Mei's." Rei picked it up and gave it to Edgeworth. "She won't be needing it anymore."
(Em Mei photo added to court record)
"Let's discuss what you saw two weeks ago," Edgeworth said as he slid the photograph into an inside pocket and brought out a notebook and pen. "This part of your testimony will establish Kat Nep's motive." Rei steepled her fingers. "It was just after rehearshals, we'd been acting out a brief scene involving Phoenix Wright, yourself and Julianna, Kat Nep's character. We were the only ones there then, the others had gone to the bar opposite the theatre." "What were the three of you doing?"
"Talking about our lives outside of the troupe, what we did before we joined. Kat Nep told us about her life in England, learning magic tricks. Em Mei herself had stayed in the UK, something to do with a student exchange..." "And yourself?" "Never got to me. I'd gone to get my make-up remover. I only had my back turned for a few minutes when they started to argue." "What was the argument about?" "I think Kat Nep recognised her, recognised some slight or wrong." Edgeworth held up his hand to stop her. "You cannot say 'I think' in court. The defence attorney will jump on that." "Oh, well, I didn't hear everything but I can quote what she said." Rei rubbed her throat. "The first thing I heard was 'did you ever go to London?' and Em Mei said yes, Kat then asked 'how old would you have been?'. I didn't hear the reply. Then they talked some more and then, I don't know, it was like Kat Nep was interrogating her. Then she shouted 'I knew it was you. I'd never forget that face'. It was at that moment that Kat threatened to kill her." "And then?" "And then she stormed out." Edgeworth closed his notebook.
It was a poor basis for a motive, he didn't even know the reason for Nep's outburst. He stared hard into Rei M's face. Edgeworth didn't like it when actors were involved in court cases, they were trained to lie and be someone else. If they were good at their job then finding out the truth would be even harder.
Theatre Corridors.
Pearl had needed a few more minutes to calm down so Maya had taken her somewhere to sit down, sip a juice drink and not think about the fact she could have shot Larry. Phoenix had decided to go search for Rei M. Not only did he want to question her but he wanted to see what she looked like, after all, he didn't want to be left flummoxed at court if she really did look just like him. He was walking down the corridors, checking each door in search of her dressing room, when someone banged into him. "Oh!" The young woman cried out, falling on her bum. There was a mass of scarves flying about her.
"Sorry about that." Phoenix held out his hand and helped her up. "It's alright, I wasn't really looking where I was going." She patted herself down and readjusted her scarves. "I'm Kay, by the way." "Are you one of the singers?" "Oh, god, no. Love their shows though. I'm here on business." "Oh, really? What for?" Phoenix asked.
"Hmm." Kay examined her fingers. Blue suit, spiky hair, considering Rei M was dressed as a defence attorney then this meant that she was speaking to the actual Phoenix Wright. Time for a little fun. "Well, I was questioning witnesses with my assistant. I'm a prosecutor." Isn't she a little young? Phoenix wondered.
"That's... great," Phoenix mumbled. "I'm actually the defence attorney." "I know." Kay beamed widely. "It's so nice to meet you." "And it's nice to meet y'all as well!" A voice suddenly said from behind them. Well, we've found Lotta Hart. Lotta slapped Phoenix's back, he turned around... She was wearing a police uniform. "Why are wearing that, Lotta?" "I'm workin' part time for the police!"
Why was Lotta always so chipper? "As what?" "A crime scene photographer." And out of her pocket she pulled out a polaroid. "Any pictures I take will lead me even closer to my big scoop." It was a photograph of Kat Nep being escorted by the police, she looked dazed and frightened. It was a full shot, showing that Kat Nep was only wearing a towel and there was blood on her hands and face. Phoenix and Kay peered at it with interest.
(Photo added to court records)
"That's not the only one I have," Lotta told them. "I've got an even better one - it's sure to make the judge pronounce her guilty." Phoenix was examining the first photo. This was good, there was no possible way that Kat could be hiding a gun in this shot. "What's the other one?" He asked. "A-hah - I'm not showing you!" "What?" "You're just going to have to wait until I get my day in court."
