A match.

It was a match.

Maya hadn't closely studied the first note Adrian had received, but now that she was viewing it side-by-side with the ink stain on Edgeworth's jacket, she was nothing short of stunned. Part of the logo had been cut off on the letter, and the ink was slightly smudged on the fabric of Edgeworth's sleeve, but there was no doubt that it was the same mark. It was even the same size.

Adrian shared Maya's reaction, though to a lesser degree; this was due to hints of anger and disgust in the woman's voice. "I can't believe it. All this time...it was him?"

"I cannot say if he is the lone culprit," Edgeworth told Adrian, "but I don't believe for a minute he isn't involved. He knows something about Franziska's disappearance. If that isn't the case, then this letter had no business being in his office."

As the shock slowly wore off, Maya watched the two, taking in their conversation. And then, bits and pieces of their discussion earlier started to play through her mind. It seemed they'd had nothing but bombs dropped on them as of late, but something about this one was starting to nag at her.

"Ugh." Adrian shook her head. "How dare he act as though he had nothing to do with it? How many times did you talk to him, face to face, this past week? And he has the gall to kick you off that other case-"

"Wait a minute!" Maya exclaimed, interrupting. "That's it!"

The other three turned to Maya, waiting on an explanation.

"What is it, pal?" Gumshoe asked. "You remember something?"

"The other case Mr. Edgeworth was working on," Maya said. "The appeal. Remember when you said Chief Grayson was visiting the jail a lot, and that maybe he was trading notes with Matt Engarde about de Killer? Well... what if that wasn't the only thing they were working on together?"

Adrian caught on first; she looked positively ill by the notion. "That rotten little bastard..." The words easily fell out despite her quivering voice. "If that's true...if that's true..."

"Huh?" Gumshoe, by contrast, was totally lost. "What are you guys talking about?"

With Adrian shaking her head, Edgeworth was left to supply an answer. "Detective, at this point, we only know Grayson is involved with Franziska's disappearance. But to keep something of that caliber under wraps, he would have had to enlist some help. Since he was probably talking to Engarde anyway, and Engarde's memories of Franziska are less than kind, Grayson might have thought to ask him to play a part in Franziska's disappearance."

"Ohhhhh." The realization quickly swept over Gumshoe, and was followed by great indignance. "Hey, wait a minute! That's terrible! He'd better not be involved, or... or I'll..."

"There's no need to think about that yet, Detective. Right now, it is just a possibility...albeit a rather strong one."

"So...now what?" Maya asked. "I mean, we have no real proof of anything, I know. So what do we do?"

"Well, first thing's first," Edgeworth said. "We have to find some way of getting to the abandoned World Wide Studios, break in, and rescue Franziska, all without drawing attention to ourselves. And seeing as how we won't be able to ask the police chief for help, I imagine this will be no easy task."

"I still have my security card," Adrian told him. "Although...I have no idea if it will even work anymore, especially if someone else has taken over the building. At this point, they could have their own system."

"There's only one way to find out. In the meantime, perhaps we can get some information from the security company. Adrian, do you know who installed the security system during the studios' active days?"

"KB Security, I believe, but...do you think paying them a visit will help things?"

"Hopefully. At the least, we can find out if any changes have been made to the present system."

"You think they'll tell us anything?" Maya asked, looking skeptical. "I mean, won't it seem weird if we just barge in all, 'oh, hey, we're not on any official case or anything, and it's not like we have a contract, but would you mind giving us all the details about a security system model for some place that isn't supposed to be around anymore'?"

Detective Gumshoe chuckled at that, to her surprise. "Hey now, missy, I'm almost hurt you have no faith in us. Between me and Mr. Edgeworth, we can have a visit looking like an official investigation in no time! Of course...we'd have to be really quick about it, considering it's anything but official."

Despite the man's confident response, Maya could not muster up any enthusiasm. "That's...great. So...all that's left to do is to scout out the place."

"Maya." Edgeworth's voice, firm yet gentle, caused her to look in his direction. "I am sorry we did not find clues as to Wright's whereabouts. I do not intend to stop looking. However..."

"It's all right," Maya replied softly. "I understand we're on the verge of a breakthrough here. We can't stop now, or it could really be over for Ms. von Karma." She offered him the slightest hint of a smile. "Don't...don't worry about me. And I'm sure...wherever he is...Nick can hold out a little while longer." Please, Nick. "Besides, he'd never forgive us if we stopped now, given these latest clues..."

"The clues about the mountains," Adrian murmured.

Gumshoe uttered a groan at those words. "I can't believe I didn't see it before. Chief Grayson was always away, always working some case in the mountains. I mean, sure he was conducting investigations about the hiker homicides, but that probably wasn't the only thing. It would have been very convenient to use that as an excuse to do something else."

"...such as oversee the crime of abducting a young woman."

Gumshoe gave a long, sad look to Edgeworth, who had completed the thought. "I'm really sorry, sir. I really didn't want to believe things were happening, just like last time."

"Detective, this isn't something you can blame yourself for," Edgeworth told him. "Even I was slow to pick up on the pattern. Rather, I had my suspicions, but did not want to jump to conclusions without proof."

"Wait," Maya cut in. "What do you mean, 'just like last time'?"

"You know, with the chief of police covering up things," Gumshoe explained. "I think we only mentioned it to you, the whole Damon Gant thing, but the more things happen, the more it feels like history is repeating itself. I just hope..." He trailed off then, his expression somehow growing more depressed.

"Detective Gumshoe?"

"No, no, I don't want to say it. Forget it."

"...You're concerned Grayson might have been the one responsible for harming Franziska, or worse," Edgeworth said.

Gumshoe turned to the man. "Mr. Edgeworth..."

"It's fine, Detective," Edgeworth assured him. "That...is also a possibility, loath as I am to admit it. But...let us not dwell on that. As Maya said, we can't stop now. With that note, our chances of finding Franziska have greatly increased. Let us pay a visit to KB Security tonight."

"I'm all for that, pal."

As Adrian also nodded in agreement, Maya's thoughts again turned to Phoenix, as well as more grim possibilities. Not to mention the questions...countless questions which only served to make her feel just as downhearted as Gumshoe looked only moments ago.

"Is something the matter, Maya?" Edgeworth asked.

"Mr. Edgeworth," Maya started, "I know...I know that Nick was still worried about Trucy and Pearl, but...do we know that's all he talked about with Chief Grayson? What if he mentioned the note from Ms. von Karma?"

"...That would complicate things, yes. However, it does not change what we must do." He managed to crack a modest smile, one that was oddly encouraging. "If Grayson knows that we know, we'll just have to appear unaware on the surface...and take action more quickly while being even less conspicuous."

"I guess." Going ahead with the plan did make a lot of sense, Maya had to admit; the sooner they started, the better their chances of getting to Franziska before something else happened. And the sooner they knew she was safe, the sooner they could concentrate on finding Phoenix. It was a thought that was equally inspiring and crippling.

I just don't understand why any of this is happening, why Ms. von Karma had to disappear in the first place, or why she ended up in the mountains. Why did Nick disappear too, just when we get a lead on Ms. von Karma? And what's going to happen when we start looking for Nick? Will one of us disappear too? With the strange events occurring all around them, it was a valid concern. Even more so now that they were about to make a move.

Nick...where are you?