-THWACK-

Athena twitched, her eyes flicking toward the double doors leading to the courtroom.

(That sounded like a gavel.)

Now would probably be the time for it. Widget was still back in Aura's lab in the space centre, so Athena hadn't been steadily tracking the time while she waited in the witness' lobby, but ten o'clock sounded like a reasonable guess.

Detective Gumshoe was standing near the doors. He had arrived shortly after Prosecutor von Karma left for the courtroom, giving Athena a brief greeting before making his way to where he now stood, and spending the time since quietly practicing his testimony. Aside from the detective's low-key mumblings, however, the lobby had been fairly quiet.

As a whole, it seemed like sound hard a very hard time penetrating the lobby's walls, actually. Maybe this was to help witnesses calm their nerves and prepare for their part in the trial? That was certainly the case for Athena, anyway.

Detective Gumshoe was still hunched by the doors when they suddenly swung open. He hastily stood upright and turned to face the bailiff entering the room.

"You're up, Detective."

Athena watched them go. The detective wasn't looking forward to testifying on behalf of Prosecutor von Karma, going by the way he had sounded while practicing. Once the double doors closed again, Athena let herself slide downward on the bench a bit. It probably wouldn't be long until Detective Gumshoe's cross-examination was finished, and she was running low on time to prep her nerves for her own.

Trying to keep his movements subtle, Phoenix nudged Mia's side with his elbow.

"What?" she asked through the corner of her mouth.

"So, what's the prosecutor's story? I mean, what makes him so intimidating? …Besides the outfit, of course."

"Would you believe he's just that good?" Mia asked. Phoenix, surprised by her answer, shook his head after a moment's thought. Mia smirked. "Good call, I wouldn't either. Von Karma's got a whole laundry list of unpleasant rumours to his name. You've heard the phrase 'anything to win', right? Well, if the rumours can be believed, no one takes that more literally than von Karma. People say he personally coaches witnesses, withholds evidence - maybe even destroys it if it could get in his way."

"He can't do that." Phoenix said, unable to fully conceal his look of shock.

"Well, no, you've got a point about that." Mia replied, "And I'd hate to believe that we'd let someone like that take charge of trials, but it's hard to explain a record like his otherwise. Now be quiet."

Phoenix obediently returned his attention to the witness stand, where the detective from the investigation had taken his place. The courtroom fell deathly silent quite suddenly. This silence was pierced just a moment later by the sound of Prosecutor von Karma snapping his fingers into the air.

"Get on with it, Detective." he snapped. "Your name and occupation."

"Yes, sir…" Detective Gumshoe said. "Dick Gumshoe, homicide detective."

"And your account of the crime."

"Yes, sir." Gumshoe repeated. It didn't take much effort to spot how nervous he was working with Prosecutor von Karma. "Two days ago, at 1:39 PM, we got a call reporting that a woman had been shot just outside the back doorway of the Stanton Ironworks office building. We found two people on the scene when we arrived: the defendant, Garvin Eisley, who was first brought to the station for questioning before we made our arrest, and the witness who reported the crime."

"Hold on a moment, Detective." Mia interjected. "This witness reported that there had been another person present on the scene at the time of the murder, didn't they?"

"That's right, ma'am." Gumshoe replied. "But when we arrived, only the other two were there."

"Objection!"

Von Karma's unexpected outburst seemed to rattle everyone in the room. "As it happens," he went on, apparently unconcerned, "The witness in question will be testifying once the detective has finished. Ms. Fey, if you must insist upon interrupting a perfectly good testimony, think your questions through beforehand."

There was a short silence in the immediate aftermath of von Karma's complaint.

"Isn't the judge supposed to say things like that?" Phoenix asked quietly.

"As a matter of fact, he is." Mia replied, her disdain evident even in her low tone of voice. "Welcome, Phoenix, to the wonderful world of von Karma."

The judge, who, in fact, had yet to speak at all since before Detective Gumshoe's arrival, finally said, "Right. Carry on, witness."

Phoenix watched Mia's expression as they listened to Gumshoe continue his testimony. Every now and again, the focus of her determined gaze would briefly snap from the witness stand over to the prosecution bench and back again, only holding for a moment at a time. As the testimony continued, he listened to it intently, but at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder what was going through Mia's mind.

Detective Gumshoe was now presenting a pair of small evidence bags. "This is the bullet recovered from the body of the victim, Ms. Monique Hurst." he said while displaying the smaller of the two. "We were unable to locate the murder weapon on the scene, and ballistics analysis has been inconclusive as far as tracing the bullet back to any registered firearm, but-"

"Hmph."

This particularly exaggerated noise drew attention away from the witness stand.

"Something to add, Mr. von Karma?" the judge asked.

"Nothing of consequence." the prosecutor replied. "I was just privately lamenting the sorry level of standards that police investigations have fallen to."

The people of the court took a moment to process this, during which Phoenix muttered to Mia, "Isn't he supposed to be in charge of the investigation?"

Mia looked thoughtful. "It's strange," she said, "I've just been thinking about how involved von Karma really is in this case. He wasn't at the crime scene when we dropped by, and – well, d'you remember what Detective Gumshoe said when we talked to him there?"

"… About Prosecutor Edgeworth?"

"Yes. Edgeworth was the first person they called in to manage this investigation, but he backed out, which meant that von Karma got the case."

"Sorry, but I'm a bit lost here." Phoenix said. "What are you driving at, exactly?"

"Alright," Mia said, setting her hands on the defence bench and gesturing as she explained, "Von Karma's a perfectionist of the highest caliber. I've never heard of him flying blind like this, just jumping into an investigation at the last minute. Now, of course, we don't know for certain whether that's what he's doing here or not, but it's sounding pretty likely, given what we do know. And if we're right about that, he's leaving us an abnormally wide open spot to punch holes in the testimony."

"Hmm. I get it. So what happens now?"

"Now? Well, this could very well be a trap, but it's as good a lead as any."

Detective Gumshoe had resumed speaking midway through their discussion. In the time since, he had presented the second evidence bag – one containing the victim's bloodstained scarf – and gone on to talk about the specific state of the victim's body when it was found.

"Sorry to backtrack, Detective," Mia interjected once more, "But I just want to clear something up."

"OK, shoot."

"You said that only the defendant and the witness were present on the scene when you arrived, and now that you were totally unable to find the murder weapon."

Gumshoe nodded.

"Normally this would be the part where we talk about the defendant hiding the gun, but if Mr. Eisley had taken the time to do that, the other witness would definitely have noticed. So, that considered, I think we should focus on possible explanations for the gun's disappearance."

"I hope you're not thinking about dragging this supposed third person back into your cross-examination." von Karma warned.

"I don't see any other way to move forward from here." Mia retorted without missing a beat.

"Hmm. Ms. Fey may have a point." the judge said. "Detective, do you have any further evidence to present?"

"No, sir."

"And Mr. von Karma – are you ready to bring in your second witness?"

Von Karma had his eyes closed and was restlessly gripping at the sleeve of his jacket. "I see no reason to push on this branch of questioning, but in the interest of moving the proceedings forward, I will comply."

Athena thought she'd heard Mia's voice a few times from beyond the double doors. The courthouse walls blocked out sound quite well most of the time, but the architects probably didn't account for visitors with hearing as keen as hers. She was quite certain that she knew who the more recent deep-voiced roar she'd heard came from as well. She was just wondering how Mia's questioning of Detective Gumshoe was going when the doors were pushed open again to reveal the detective himself, along with the bailiff that had escorted him into the courtroom.

The latter glanced over at her. "Ms. Simons, Prosecutor von Karma's calling on you."

Athena sprung to her feet. She was surprised by how short a time Gumshoe had spent testifying, but it had been enough for her to think through her own plan on a basic level. As she followed the bailiff through the doors, she thought it through again.

She wasn't about to act as von Karma's hand puppet, that was for sure. The way he'd lined out his description of his expectations for her, it sounded a whole lot like he expected her to flat-out lie about what she'd seen at the moment of the murder, and that was a no-go in her book on any day. So, as far as she could see for now, her testimony would be as heavily stacked in favour of the defence as she could reasonably pull off.

The courtroom looked very different from what she was used to, unlike the relatively unaltered lobby. Von Karma was giving her a chillingly unpleasant look from his bench. She tore her eyes away to look over at the defence bench instead, where Mia was watching pensively and Phoenix was shifting about nervously.

Once positioned at the witness stand, she looked to the judge.

(… Jeez, did he ever have hair?)

Von Karma straightened up. "Your name and profession, witness." he said.

"Ath-" Athena covered her brief slip-up with a false cough. Mildly surprised to have made that mistake again, she amended, "Andrea Simons. I'm a defence attorney."

The judge blinked in surprise. "A defence attorney? Well, this makes for a unique occasion."

Von Karma was less impressed. "This isn't the time for chatter." he snapped.

"Of course," said the judge, "Ms. Simons, you were the first person to come across the crime scene, correct? Please testify to the court about this."

"I'd love to, Your Honour." Athena said. As she spoke, she flashed a smile to the courtroom at large. Somehow, this seemed to make von Karma's perpetual glowering expression deepen further. "Two days ago, I was walking home from lunch with a friend, when I cut through an alley."

"Just for convenience?" Mia asked. "Or was there some other reason?"

"Oh, just convenience." Athena replied. "You know how miserable traffic can get out there."

"Indeed." the judge agreed. "I find myself wanting to do the same all the time when I'm out for a walk."

In no time at all, von Karma interrupted with another "Objection!". Athena flinched. How could one person fit that much utter contempt into just one shout? "If you can all stomach it," he went on, "Keep idle digressions about your personal lives out of this."

Athena took the silence that followed to resume her testimony. "Anyway, I noticed that something was going on about a little ways down the alley. I wasn't paying a lot of attention, but there were two people talking at first. They only got my attention for real once I heard the gunshot. Right as I looked again, one of the two people was running away."

"And that'll be our third person." Mia said. "Did you notice anything distinct about them?"

When Athena met up with Mia at the detention centre the previous night, she and Garvin had mentioned what little the latter remembered of the third person on the scene. "A woman with sunglasses and black hair" wasn't a terribly substantial account, but it was something.

"I think you should ask your client about that." she said.

"Alright," Mia agreed, shifting focus to the smaller bench where Garvin was seated. "Mr. Eisley, do you mind telling the court all you remember?"

Garvin hadn't said anything since being brought into the courtroom himself at the very start of the trial. "S-sure." he stammered. "I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. A woman told me to come to the back entrance of the Ironworks office. I work in the factory, so I figured it was just something to do with work, but-"

"Excuse me," the judge interjected, "But I don't remember hearing about your job before."

"Right, s-sorry." Garvin apologized. "I work in assembly at the main factory for Stanton Ironworks. When I got the call, I thought it must be one of the supervisors needing something from me. So, when I got to the office, there was a lady there."

"The third person?" asked the judge.

"Right." said Garvin. "She was dressed pretty heavily, so I didn't get a really great look at her. We didn't talk for very long, either. I just remember that she had black hair."

"What did you talk about?" Mia asked.

"Well, I asked why she needed to see me, and she asked about the working conditions at the factory. I told her what I thought, but she didn't have much else to say about it. I've been thinking about it, and I think she might have just been stalling me."

"That does seem strange." Mia said. "If she had you on the phone, she could have just asked you then."

"That's what I thought." Garvin said, nodding. "I thought we might be going into the offices for something, but that was when the door opened. Ms. Hurst came out and-"

"Was shot immediately." von Karma finished.

"Hmm. It sounds like a confusing situation all around." the judge remarked. "You didn't say anything about a gun on the scene. Did you not see one?"

Before Garvin could respond, von Karma snapped, "Mentioning his own weapon would be quite counter-intuitive. It seems quite clear to me that he used the momentary distraction to conceal it, discarding it once he realized that there had been a witness to his crime."

"Ms. Simons, you don't remember seeing a gun, either?"

"No." Athena responded. "I heard the shot, but I never saw the gun itself. Now, if I had to guess, the other witness might have run off with it."

"That does seem quite plausible." the judge concurred.

"Nonsense." von Karma cut in. "Beyond the word of the defendant and this witness, whose descriptions are half-baked at best, we have no reason to believe that this third person exists in the first place."

"Objection!" Mia shouted. "I doubt I need to remind you that Ms. Simons is your witness. Surely you checked the facts with her beforehand?"

"My involvement in this case began only once the investigation had nearly concluded. The ineptitude of the police force in verifying the details of the witness's account remains wholly out of my control."

"That's rather unlike you, Mr. von Karma." Mia remarked. "If you intend to accuse my client of not only killing Monique Hurst, but also of concealing the murder weapon from the police and lying about another person on the scene, I'd expect you to have a few more facts to work off of."

Von Karma said nothing.

"So let's say, for the sake of argument, that we do have proof of the presence of this third person on the scene." Mia continued. "Whether they shot the victim or not, their escape from the scene makes for a strong opportunity for the gun to be hidden."

"If you'd like me to find further charges to set upon your client, Ms. Fey, I would be more than happy to oblige." von Karma responded. Athena had her doubts about there being anything in the world that could make him feel happiness.

"I'd just like to address the crossroads I see before us." Mia said. "The way things stack up now, I don't see how you can possibly prove that Mr. Eisley is guilty of anything more than answering his phone."

Again, von Karma said nothing.

"Something seems weird about this." Phoenix said.

Mia dropped the steely expression she had been using to glare across the court at von Karma and replied, "That's how I feel about it. I'm not kidding when I say that I've never heard of von Karma coming into court with anything other than an airtight case. This doesn't make any sense so far. Even before I started asking questions, it seemed like he barely had anything to go on."

"But can we really prove anything either?"

"That's another thing. The case as a whole feels like it wasn't ready to go to trial yet. Mr. Eisley shouldn't have been arrested until at least after the police discovered the gunpowder stains on his clothes and the scrap metal around the alley. And even then, Andrea told them all about the third person on the scene beforehand, so I don't know what they were playing at arresting Mr. Eisley right away. There's something more going on here, and we need to find some way to get to it."

The judge looked deep in thought. "It's rather unusual," he said, "Considering that this trial hasn't even been going on for an hour as of yet, but unless either side has anything to add, I don't see any way that I can pass my judgment at this point."

Murmurs of assent passed around the courtroom until...

"I might be able to help with that."

The judge blinked in surprise. "Who said that?"

There was a commotion in the gallery as the onlookers began to take notice of the speaker. A dark-haired woman was standing by the main doors to the courtroom.

"I'll introduce myself." she said, moving the pair of classy sunglasses covering her eyes to rest atop her head. "Ida Stanton, CEO of Stanton Ironworks."

"That's-!"

Athena turned at the sound of Garvin's brief outburst. Nobody else appeared to have heard him. Judging by his reaction, Athena thought she might know what he was thinking.

(I believe we've found our third witness.)