"Come, we're checking out the woods," Dahlia said.

"Sure, why not?" Phoenix said.

The defense duo walked back to the public beach and saw Lotta fumbling with a tri-stand that held her camera. She repositioned it constantly, looking through the lens.

"Grah!" Lotta said. "It would be so much easier to get a good shot if those uppity rangers hadn't stopped me from camping in the woods!"

They walked past the frustrated photographer and soon reached the beginning of the woods. There was a clearing by the shore, which Dahlia and Phoenix stood in the middle of.

"Hm, this is a good camping spot," Dahlia commented.

"I guess so," Phoenix said, looking around. "It's peaceful, looks completely undisturbed."

"Yeah, I guess this isn't our murder scene either," Dahlia said, putting her hands in her pockets.

"Just because it looks peaceful doesn't mean no murder happened here," Phoenix said.

"Then where's the police tape; or the body outline?" Dahlia said.

"Oh yeah," Phoenix said. "Come to think of it, there wasn't anything like that at the beach or the boat place. You don't think…"

"The murder happened on the lake?" Dahlia said. "I'm starting to think so."

"I guess that explains the missing boats," Phoenix said.

"Yeah," Dahlia said, wandering around the clearing.

"Maybe these woods don't have anything to do with the murder," Phoenix said. "Didn't Lotta say people aren't allowed here?"

"Since when do killers follow rules like that?" Dahlia said.

"What does that make us?" Phoenix said.

Dahlia knelt down, examining a crushed bush. "The pursuers."

Phoenix bent down beside Dahlia. "What do you think caused this, Ms. Pursuer?"

"You're feeling pretty clever today, aren't you?" Dahlia said.

Phoenix shrugged. He stood up and entered the brush, carefully avoiding the scattered sticks and root.

"See anything useful?" Dahlia said, standing up as well.

"I can barely see the forest floor with all these sticks and stuff," Phoenix awkwardly tiptoeing around.

"Don't trip," Dahlia said. 15… 14… 13… 12…

"Eh, it's not too hard actually," Phoenix said, stepping over a bush. "You just need to watch your step."

"Mm-hmm," Dahlia said. 6… 5… 4…

"Yep," Phoenix said. "In fa-aaaaahhct!"

Zero.

The poor assistant had caught his foot on a root and fallen on his back into a small pile of twig.

"You okay?" Dahlia said.

"Yeah," Phoenix said, not sounding very happy with himself. He sat up and raked a few dead leaves out of his hair. He stood up and brushed the dirt off his legs. "As I was saying, I was following a trail so it was a bit easier to walk. I just didn't notice the root."

"A trail?" Dahlia said.

"Uh-huh," Phoenix said. "Look, there's a path of broken sticks and stuff. Starting with the crushed bush."

"I think I see it," Dahlia said, scanning the ground. Her eyes landed on a string, which seemed to be attached to something. She pointed it out to Phoenix. "What's that?"

Phoenix maneuvered over to the item in question and picked it up by the string. It was a brown shoe with an untied lace.

"I wonder what this was doing here." Phoenix said, twisting the lace with his fingertips.

"Hold it!"

The duo turned their heads to face the pathway to the clearing. Dahlia squinted when her eyes came in contact with direct sunlight. Casting a shadow was a young lady with one hand on her hip and the other extended in a stop sign fashion.

"All civilians are to be evacuated from these woods by orders of the Gourd Lake Nature Park Council with to the authority of the Los Angeles Police Department. Effective immediately!" the young lady said with conviction.

The defense attorney's eyes adjusted to the light and she smiled. "Hi Kay."

Kay stepped out of the sunlight and put a hand to her grinning mouth, shoulders bouncing. "Hi guys."

"Hey dude. What are you doing here?" Phoenix said.

"I'm Uncle Edgey's assistant, remember?" Kay said. "He told me to make sure no one was in here and to give 'em the boot if they were."

"How nice," Dahlia said with a dry smirk.

Phoenix managed to work his way out of the tangles mesh of twigs and roots, still holding the shoe by the laces. "So Miles is here too, then?"

"Yep, we just got here like 2 minutes ago," Kay said. "Now come on, we seriously aren't supposed to be here."

"Alright, alright," Dahlia said. "Come on, Nick."

Dahlia, Phoenix and Kay walked back to the beach to find Detective Edgeworth talking to a forensics officer. The man saluted and left Edgeworth reading some files. Quiet as a mouse, Kay snuck up behind him and reached into his pocket.

Edgeworth closed the manila envelope he held and whacked Kay's head behind him without looking up.

"Hey!" Kay exclaimed in mock pain.

"My badge is in my other pocket anyway, pal," Edgeworth said with a small smile. "Did you do what I asked you to do?"

"Of course," Kay said, moving in front of Edgeworth. "Look what I found!"

"I think you mean 'who' Kay," Dahlia said. "Hey Edgeworth."

"Ah, should have known," Edgeworth said, looking up from his file.

"Nice to see you too Miles," Phoenix said. "So how was Larry?"

Miles looked away, clutching his arm. "The same, he won't tell us anything. We're relying entirely on the witnesses to deduce what happened."

"Witnesses?" Dahlia said. "As in, more than one?"

"Yes," Edgeworth said, making eye contact once more. "3, to be exact."

"Seriously?" Dahlia said. Oh great. I've never had to handle so many witnesses before. "And they're all saying the same thing?"

"In their own special ways," Kay said, leaning her elbow on Edgeworth's shoulder.

And they're all crazy it would seem. Larry Butz, I hope you can hear me. I hate you. Dahlia started playing with her hair. "What happened around here anyway?"

"A man was shot in the heart, pal," Edgeworth said. He held up a plastic bag. "This bullet was retrieved from body. We just got the report back from the autopsy people."

"Can we see it?" Phoenix said.

"Here you go," Kay said, holding out a manila envelope.

"When did you get… never mind," Edgeworth said, shaking his head.

Phoenix took the report and skimmed its contents.

"The victim and the suspect were in a boat together in the middle of the lake," Edgeworth said. "The time of death is between 11:30 PM and 12:30 AM."

"Who is the victim?" Dahlia said.

"It took a little while to identify the victim," Edgeworth said. "It would have been so much quicker if he had been wearing his badge."

"His badge?" Dahlia said.

"Yes, the victim was a defense attorney. Not to mention very successful, pal," Edgeworth said.

"A defense attorney…" Dahlia felt the golden badge in her pocket.

"Yes," Edgeworth said. "Defense Attorney Manfred von Karma."

"Ah," Phoenix said, taking out a sheet of paper with a photo paper-clipped on. "Yep, here's his profile. Veteran attorney… Came from Germany… Whoa, he never lost a case!"

"Though his methods were questioned from time-to-time," Edgeworth mumbled.

"Larry's a prosecutor, and this von Karma man was a defense attorney," Phoenix said. "Did they ever go against each other in court?"

"No, actually," Edgeworth said.

"That would have been the trial of the century though!" Kay said. "The undefeated prosecutor versus the undefeated defense attorney, I'd pay to see that!"

"Yeah, too bad it'll never happen," Dahlia said. "I beat Larry anyway, so he's not exactly undefeated."

"Oh, right," Kay said. "How could I forget? Pretty foolish of me."

Foolish… von Karma… could it be? Dahlia dismissed the thought for the time being.

"Well, thanks Miles. You too, Kay," Phoenix said, closing the file.

"No problem!" Kay said, pumping her fist in the air.

"So the victim died in a boat," Dahlia said. "Where is it?"

"The police took it to be examined, pal," Edgeworth said. "You'll have to wait for the trial to get any more information."

"I guess we're done for the day then," Dahlia said, crossing her arms contemplatively. "Later guys."

"See you later," Edgeworth said.

"Bye guys," Kay said.

Dahlia and Phoenix walked back to the entrance of Gourd Lake. 3 witnesses, ugh. And to fight it we have a bullet, an attorney's badge, and a shoe. Dahlia looked up to the heavens. This might end rather quickly.