Gah, sorry for the long delay for an update. I have been busy working and have been distracted with my new iphone. That, combined with other matters, caused this extremely delayed update. Sorry about that, but let's begin the chapter.
Phoenix was looking at the notes he made while at the prison. He and Maya were both sitting in a taxi, heading to the police station. Sighing, he set his notes down and rubbed his hands together. This is going to be an interesting trial tomorrow…
After a while, the taxi pulled out in front of the police station. After getting out and paying the driver, Phoenix and Maya entered the station, to be met by a familiar person.
"Ah, Mr. Wright, it's been a while."
Phoenix stopped in his tracks. "Ah…Lortimor…what a surprise…"
"I bet it is. Now, I'm wondering why I'm here. Well, let me tell you that I'll be seeing you tomorrow…in court!"
Phoenix groaned. "That's…not so great…"
"I couldn't contain my excitement when I heard about it! Now we will see who the better attorney is!"
"You do know that I've beaten you two times already. I think that should tell you something."
Lortimor only scoffed. "Those were just lucky cases. This time, it will be different!"
Phoenix rolled his eyes. "You just think that. I'll be going now. See you tomorrow."
Phoenix pushed past Lortimor and went to the forensics lab, to find Ema standing over a machine.
"Hey, Ema, what are you doing?"
"I'm testing the DNA of this strand of hair found at your crime scene. Lortimor gave it to me for analysis."
"Are you sure that strand of hair has anything to do with the case?"
"Yeah, it does, since it was found under a drop of the victim's blood."
"That…would make it relevant…"
"Yeah, hopefully this will find who the real killer is!"
Phoenix sighed. "Well, I came here to collect the results I had you test for. Where are they at?"
Ema motioned to a table near her. "They're over there."
Phoenix walked over to the table, picked up the results and the evidence, and said goodbye to Ema.
"Good luck at the trial tomorrow Mr. Wright!"
Phoenix nodded his head in agreement, then went back up to see Maya. Luckily, Lortimor had left, leaving Maya and the receptionist. Maya noticed Phoenix had returned. "So, got anything interesting Nick?"
"Nothing that we already know. However, I do have a question."
Turning to the receptionist, Phoenix asked, "Where is the forensic expert for the rape cases about two years ago?"
The receptionist frowned. "Oh, that guy. He's still around. Last I saw him, he was going to a crime scene in the northern part of town. Here, I'll give you the address."
The receptionist took out a pad of paper, wrote down the address, tore the piece of paper off, and handed it to Phoenix. "Here you go."
"Thank you."
Phoenix and Maya left the station and flagged down a taxi. (I'm seriously considering Phoenix getting a license. This is getting WAY too repetitive.)
After a taxi ride, they arrived at their destination. Looking at the crime scene tape, Phoenix went to a nearby officer. "Excuse me, my name is Phoenix Wright, and I need to speak with your forensic expert on the scene about a case."
The officer shook his head and went inside the building in which the crime occurred. After about thirty seconds, the officer reappeared, along with an older looking man. He had a white lab coat on and big, round, shiny glasses. When he reached Phoenix, he firmly shook hands with Phoenix. "My name is Rick Doug. I heard that the famous Phoenix Wright needed to speak to me about something."
"Yes, in fact I do. Now, do you remember the cases where one of the police officers named Juan Castrillo was accused and convicted of four rapes and murders?"
"Yes I do. It was a big blow to the police department's honor. We spent a couple months trying to get it back. Why bring it up now?"
Phoenix looked confused. "You mean you don't know? Juan is getting retrials in every case he was accused of. I have proven him innocent twice. You didn't know that?"
Rick scratched his head. "Well, I'm usually pretty occupied with my work. I don't have a lot of time to go gossip with other people. So, what do you need to know about those cases?"
"How much money did you make two years ago?"
"That's a personal question Mr. Wright. Also, how does this pertain to the case?"
"The second victim had a large sum of cash on her the night she was raped and murdered. However, not one trace of the money could be found, but the bank records prove that she withdrew a large sum. Now, there are a couple witnesses who told me that after the murder, you suddenly became 'rich' as they said, giving them money just for the heck of it. So, how much do you usually make, and how much did you make two years ago?"
Rick's face turned red. Suddenly, chains appeared and one psyche lock appeared. I knew that a psyche lock would appear…but only one?
"As I said Mr. Wright, it's a deeply personal question. I refuse to answer you."
I don't have anything against him right now. I'll just have to come back later to break it.
"I still have one more question. During the trial, there was a photo that was presented that showed my client killing the victim." Phoenix took out the photo and showed Rick. "I was told that you were the one who deemed this acceptable to be presented in court. Am I correct?"
"Yes. I personally looked over this photo. I found that this is a genuine article."
"Funny you should say that, because I have another person, who is gifted in forensics, say that this photo was tampered with, but the forensic expert."
Juan's face lost its color. "She must be wrong! I—I would never do such a thing!"
"First some extra money, and now a tampered photo. This is starting to look kind of suspicious if you ask me. But, of course, that's just me." Phoenix turned to Maya, with a look on his face. "Do you think that this looks suspicious?"
Maya gave Phoenix a lopsided smile. "Why, yes it does. I'm sure a judge would also find it suspicious."
Phoenix turned back to Rick. "Well, it's not just me then. Now, it's time to tell us the truth about what happened that night!"
Rick only scoffed at Phoenix. "We have nothing left to discuss."
Rick then turned and walked away. Phoenix was about to follow when the officer from before walked in front of him. "Sorry, Mr. Wright, but since you aren't an attorney in this case, you don't have access to the crime scene."
Phoenix sighed. "I'll be back later today. Please be sure to bring Rick back out when I come back."
"Will do Mr. Wright!"
As Maya and Phoenix were walking away, Maya asked Phoenix, "Now what?"
"We're going to the victim's bank. It's time for us to know exactly where the money went."
And that's the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, even though it was a LONG time for an update. Anyways, thanks for reading and don't forget to review!
