Author's Note: Hello, guys. Sorry, this one took a while. I'm still working on my finals and I just now had time to finish this. Originally, this was going to be the final part of the investigation, but the investigation was lengthier than expected. As such, I've split this into 2 chapters. You should be getting the 2nd one sometime next week. I hope you guys enjoy this latest chapter of the Iris fic. Please let me know your thoughts on it. All I ask is for you to comment on it, it helps improve the story. Anyways, I hope you all have a good day :)
Sept. 19
Gatewater Hotel~ Engarde's Hotel Room
Iris took a deep breath before staring at Adrian Andrews, giving the best professional look she can muster. Somewhat cautious due to what happened to her sister, she glanced at her surroundings, taking notice of the giant bone sitting on one of the two plates, as well as the samurai weapons and armor scattered around the room.
Looks like they had T-bone steaks, Iris thought as she took notice of the plates. One plate was devoid of food but had a red stain and the fork and knife neatly placed, while the other had the bone, but the fork was the only utensil on the plate.
There's something... weird about this plate, Iris thought as she narrowed her eyes at the plate.
"I take it you're hungry?" Adrian asked, noticing what Iris was staring at.
Iris chuckled nervously. "No, no, I just had some things in mind. I just wish to get to the matter at hand."
"Alright," she began. "What do you wish to discuss?"
"I assume the first thing you need to know is what everyone was doing that night, correct?" Ms. Andrews asked stoically.
"Y-Yes, that is correct," Iris answered.
"Then I will tell you," Ms. Andrews began. "Before the award ceremony, I had dinner with Mr. Engarde. In this very room, I might add."
"Dinner?" Iris repeated. "What did you eat?"
"I told you. I hate to waste time with trifling details," Ms. Andrews said icily. "If you took a look at the table yourself, you wouldn't need to ask me."
...I bet she's a lot of fun at parties... Iris thought dryly.
"When the award show was starting, I headed for Viola Hall," Ms. Andrews added.
"And after the show ended, you came back to this room...?" Iris pressed. Andrew shook her hand.
"No, I had some small errands to run," Ms. Andrews said. "I helped with the preparations in the lobby."
"I see..." Iris rubbed her chin in thought. Preparations for the post-ceremony show, I suppose...
"When it was time for the post-ceremony show, I came back to call for Mr. Engarde. After that, I went to visit Mr. Corrida..."
"And that's when you found his body, isn't it?" Iris asked.
Andrews didn't answer aside from a quiet nod.
"Wow, you really held strong through everything..." Maya complimented, to which Iris had to agree. Compared to the people she talked to in previous cases, Ms. Andrews stood out for actually being professional. While Ms. Andrews' cold demeanor was offputting to Iris, the lawyer had to admit it was admirable.
"So, professionally, how is your relationship with Mr. Engarde?" Iris asked.
"I'm just his manager, simple as that," Ms. Andrews answered simply. "I take it you have some experience in the field, given you've helped Ms. Cadaverini get roles despite the controversy she faced."
"It was nothing really," Iris said with a small smile. "I just wanted to help her out."
"Very admirable of you, I must admit," Ms. Andrews complimented but remained as cold as ever. "Despite her dark bringing, I can tell she's someone with a good heart. ...but that's all he is and ever will be."
"What do you mean by that?" Iris narrowed her eyes at the manager. Ugh...what a horrible thing to say...
"...Society doesn't care about genuinely nice people, Ms. Hawthorne," Ms. Andrews answered, and for a second, her face twisted in pain before going back to her usual stoic demeanor.
"I wonder if something happened to Ms. Andrews..." Maya mumbled to Iris, who couldn't help but wonder as well.
...
"Okay..." Iris paused to think. "Speaking of managers, did the victim, Mr. Corrida have one?"
"No, he did not," Ms. Andrews answered. She then noticed the surprised look on Iris' face. "Global Studios has a very different policy from Worldwide Studios in that Worldwide Studios does not assign individual managers to their stars."
"I see..." Iris took note.
Maya stepped in. "Did you know about Mr. Corrida's rivalry with Matt Engarde?"
"Yes," Ms. Andrews sighed. "Honestly, they were like children when it came to that. Time and time again, those two competed with each other over the most uninteresting things. ... If either one of them weren't so stubborn, then maybe no one would have needed to die."
Iris raised a brow at that statement while Maya cringed.
"That's...pretty extreme," Maya pointed out.
"This industry is very ruthless and unforgiving," Andrew said, before narrowing her eyes at Iris after glancing at Maya. "Actually, you look quite ruthless and unforgiving yourself to your poor partner. Dragging a young girl like her to places like this. Honestly."
"Hey!" Maya shouted, bawling up her fists. "You're wrong! Iris didn't drag me into this! I'm helping her rescue Pe-"
"Mystic Maya, please no," Iris said, calming her sister down. "Please, remember what you said to me-"
Maya wanted to protest, but after a few seconds, decided to relent and give out a huff.
"Now, back to the topic at hand..." Iris continued. "Do you have any ideas?"
Ms. Andrews tilted her head. "As to...?"
"As to why Mr. Corrida was murdered?"
Ms. Andrews paused, blinking for a moment, but remained stoic. "Why would you ask me about such a thing...?"
Iris shrugged. "I'm just doing my job. So, do you have any ideas?"
For a moment, Iris saw a flicker of emotion from Ms. Andrews, sweat dripping down the latter's forehead. Suddenly, Iris felt a familiar warmth emanating from her Magatama. Before she knew it, the set of chains reappeared again to separate Iris and Ms. Andrews with four Magatamas locking them in place.
Iris tensed up, her mouth feeling dry. "You know something, don't you? About why Mr. Corrida was murdered..."
"Why are you asking me?" Ms. Andrews asked, maintaining her cold composure. "Sorry, but there's nothing more I have to add to this conversation."
Ms. Andrews turned to leave to another part of the hotel room.
"W-wait...!" Iris said. "I-I might have to ask you more in another time though, so do you have anywhere else to be?"
Ms. Andrews shook her head. "No, I have much work to be done here at the moment."
Iris sighed in relief. "Good. If you don't mind, I'll be investigating other areas of the Hotel. I'll come to visit you again later," she then bowed down to Ms. Andrews. "Thank you for your cooperation."
Ms. Andrews simply nodded and turned around before walking off to another part of the hotel room. Iris and Maya then stepped out and began walking toward Mr. Corrida's room.
"You saw Psyche Locks on her didn't you?" Maya asked.
"Yeah, and unlike Oldbag, she's clearly trying to hide something," Iris said. "I'm not sure of it, but we'll need to deal with it later...in addition to getting Oldbag her stupid present..."
"Iris, just let it go," Maya said with a huff. "You can't just let Oldbag get to you like this."
Iris thought about it for a moment and sighed as she and Maya stopped by the door to Mr. Corrida's hotel room.
"I'm sorry, Mystic Maya," the rookie lawyer said gently. "You're right. I can't let people like Oldbag or Dahlia get to me, especially with Pearl's life at stake."
She then opened the door to Mr. Corrida's room and absentmindedly entered. "I'll be sure to try and act more levelheaded from now on-"
"HEY!" a familiar voice roared, causing the two girls to jump. "DON'T YOU KNOW THERE'S AN INVESTIGATION GOING ON-Oh, it's you two."
"Oh, nice to see you again, Detective Gumshoe," Iris smiled. Really, she was glad to finally see a friendly face. "How goes your investigation?"
Gumshoe shrugged. "Still starting, just waiting for back up," his face then turned serious. "So, what about you? Dahlia and that De Killer guy! Has he contacted you again!?"
"Not yet," Iris frowned, dropping her head down to hide the sheer distress in her face. "He probably won't until we win Mr. Engarde's acquittal."
Gumshoe gave Iris an apologetic look. "Umm... You doing OK, pal? Hanging in there?" he asked hesitantly. He knew he wasn't exactly good at lifting people's spirits, but he can at least show concern for the rookie lawyer.
I just want my sister to be alright... Iris thought sorrowfully, her arms crossing so her hands could clutch them. Maya turned to look at her cousin sympathetically, sharing her worries.
Seeing the distress from Iris, as well as the life currently at stake, Gumshoe sighed. 'We don't have a lot of time left, but I'm going to help you as much as I can, pal."
"C-can you do that?" Iris asked, surprised. "Even if we want to look around this room?"
"Just this once...Special circumstances right, pal?" Gumshoe said. "I'll even tell you everything I know. But you've gotta keep quiet. It's my neck on the line here."
Iris could barely contain her relief and joy as she wrapped her arms around the large scruffy detective to hug him. "Thank you..."
Gumshoe smiled, hugging Iris back. "No problem pal."
Once they let go, Gumshoe suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, that's right. I got you guys a map of the hotel, pal," he said, pulling out the map from his coat's pocket. "Here you go, little missy."
"Wow, you're giving it to me!? Thanks!" Maya said, taking the map from Gumshoe.
The detective laughed. "Wouldn't want you to get lost in a hotel too big for its own good," his expression then turned serious again. "Now, you two better work fast. Ms. von Karma will be here any moment."
Iris groaned, feeling a headache already. First Dahlia, then Oldbag, and now VON KARMA too!? Who's next? Nichols? Wellington? MORGAN!?
"We'll have to split up then," Iris said. "Mystic Maya, you go look for clues while I interview the Detective. Are you alright with that?"
Maya nodded, firing herself up with determination. "You can count on me, Iris! For Pearl!" she then began scanning the entire room for clues, while Iris thought for a minute on what to ask Gumshoe. Examining the room, Maya saw that it was a mess with an absurd amount of bears (alarm clock ones, collector's editions, stuffed teddies, plastic models, etc.) scattered on the left side and a mess of broken vase shards and make-up strew along the floor on the right side. Knowing she had a lot of work to do, Maya immediately got to searching as Iris began to press Gumshoe for answers.
"Do you know what was the cause of death?" Iris asked.
Gumshoe pondered for a quick moment, scratching the back of his head. "Well, technically, the final autopsy report isn't out yet, but... one look at the scene of the crime should tell you, pal."
"The scene of the crime...?"
"Yeah. Here's a picture of what we found," Gumshoe said, taking out a photo and handing it to Iris. Glancing at it, she saw the body of Juan Corrida slumped on a chair, the open guitar case, broken vase shards, make-up, and the flowers strewn everywhere on the floor. Behind him was a dressing table with a mirror.
"There's a knife in his chest," Iris pointed out, jabbing her finger at the area where the knife was. Also, that wine glass looks untouched surprisingly...
Gumshoe nodded. "Yeah, pal, that's the murder weapon. We're looking at the fingerprints down at the lab right now."
"There were fingerprints on the knife?"
"Yup. And it looks like they're pretty sure they're Mr. Engarde's prints, pal."
"I see..." Iris mumbled. This is bad...really bad...
"So..." Iris thought for a moment. "You believe Mr. Engarde killed Juan Corrida due to their rivalry, right?"
Gumshoe nodded. "Yeah, pal. Well, that and the fact we found one of the Jammin' Ninja's buttons on Mr. Engarde
Iris nodded, remembering her client mentioned something like that.
"But that's not all, there was a witness too, pal."
Iris' heart skipped a beat. "M-May I ask who it is?"
Not her...please, anyone but her...!
"Ms. Oldbag."
OH, GOD DAMN IT!
"The prosecution has plenty of evidence to make a solid case," Gumshoe continued. "Not to mention there's something at the crime scene that was a little off."
Iris raised a brow. "Something a little off...? As in...?"
Gumshoe then smiled cockily. "As in, that's for you to figure out, pal!" he laughed heartily.
Iris sighed. Of course...
"Hey, Iris!" Maya shouted, coming to them. "I think I found some stuff that could help!"
Iris and Gumshoe then turned and approached Maya, who gestured to two objects she had picked up from her investigation, a wine glass and an empty guitar case.
"Okay, first, we have this guitar case!" Maya said, gesturing to the guitar case. "The Jammin' Ninja's signature item is a bright red guitar, but the case is empty!"
"Yeah, we looked for it too," Gumshoe said with a nod. "It's not normal for a person to forget to bring their most famous item to an award show."
It's starting to sound like that red guitar is related to this case after all... Iris thought, rubbing her chin.
"So about what about the wine glass?" Iris asked, gesturing to the pristine glass that she noticed in the crime photo from earlier. Upon inspection, she saw that inside the glass was tomato juice.
"Ah, so you noticed it, pal," Gumshoe said. "The whole crime scene was a mess, but this glass was the only thing that was untouched."
"You noticed that too, Detective Gumshoe...?"
"No, actually Ms. von Karma noticed it first."
Of course... Iris sighed in dismay before her eyes widened in realization.
"You said von Karma's going to be here soon," Iris said. "How much time do we have left before she does?"
Gumshoe started to look nervous. "I...I'm not so sure myself, pal. Is there any more you think you should get?"
Iris pondered about everything she had gathered so far. "No, I think we're fine for now."
..*beep* *beep*... ...*beep* *beep*... ...*beep* *beep*...
"Guys, Wh-What's that beeping noise?" Maya asked.
"It's Ms. von Karma..." Gumshoe said, sweating nervously.
"Huh?" Iris and Maya asked, both raising a brow.
"Whenever I hear that sound, for some reason, she pops out of nowhere and whips me!" Gumshoe cried out.
Iris frowned, understanding Gumshoe's pain far too well.
"S-Sorry! I've gotta make myself scarce! Later, pal!" Gumshoe shouted, turning around to make a run for it...
whp-CRACK!
"YEEEOWWWCHHH!" Gumshoe cried out in pain before slipping and falling to the floor. Von Karma stood over his body, glaring at him with contempt before turning her hateful gaze at the rookie attorney.
"von Karma...!" Iris muttered, narrowing her eyes at the pompous prosecutor.
"Ms. Iris Hawthorne...!" von Karma growled before jabbing her finger at Iris. "At last, you reveal your true nature!"
"I'm sorry, what?" Iris asked in a deadpanned tone. "You're not making sense like usual, von Karma."
"You're the type to steal information from pitifully hopeless detectives!" the prosecutor accused. "That's very dishonorable of you!"
whp-CRACK!
"Eeeek!" Iris shrieked as she jumped to avoid the whip strike. Gumshoe feebly tried to crawl away, but von Karma glanced at him and raised her whip.
"Don't you dare run away, Scruffy McTrenchcoat!" she shouted.
whp-CRACK!
"Uwaaaah!"
"I didn't think the detectives of this country could be this pitiful!"
whp-CRACK!
"AAArraaarrrghHh!" he cried out again, this time trying to crawl away again.
"Oh no, you won't!"
whp-CRACK!
whp-CRACK!
whp-CRACK!
"YEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!"
"At least face your punishment like a man, you foolish oaf of a foolish detective!" von Karma snarled, raising her foot and digging her heel into Gumshoe's back, making him cry out in pain even more.
Ouch! Poor Gumshoe, Maya thought, cringing at the abuse the poor detective was receiving. I don't think I'd survive working for someone like her!
After dealing with Gumshoe, von Karma's hateful gaze turned back to Iris. "Mr. Iris Hawthorne! You...you have soiled my perfect prosecution record. I'll never forget that. This time...Victory is mine!"
Iris paused for a moment, her mind registering the prosecutor's words. "Victory is yours?" she repeated incredulously before suddenly erupting into a fit of giggles. Then those giggles morphed into a slow, humorless laugh as she glared back at von Karma. "What, you want to be humiliated the third time!?"
Maya gasped while von Karma gritted her teeth.
"What!?" the prosecutor snarled, readying her whip.
"You heard me..." Iris responded, taking a step forward. "Listen to me well, von Karma. I have had it with you and your stupid whip! Lives are on the line with this case and those are more important than your stupid revenge quest over two measly losses! How many losses will it take for you to leave me alone!? Ten? Twenty? A THOUSAND!?"
"How dare-!" von Karma shouted, but Iris cut her off.
"No! I won't hear it! Not anymore!" Iris shouted, grabbing von Karma by the collar of her outfit to make her experience the full power of her demonic glare. "My sister's life is at stake, but I doubt you'd care! I am having a very, very bad day today and I'd rather not let some pompous, overdramatic bitch make it worse! Dealing with you in the last two cases was bad enough, but I have something on the line this time! Just remember that I managed to humiliate you in the last two cases we fought in, and if you try to get in my way in this case, I will gladly do so again!"
Tension hung in the air as Maya, Gumshoe, and von Karma looked at Iris with shocked expressions on their faces. Iris' hateful glare lightened a bit as she finally allowed herself to let go of the pent-up anger she had over von Karma since Maya's trial. After several seconds, von Karma managed to retain her composure and glanced at the desk below her. Quickly, she grabbed a piece of paper, crumpled it, and threw it at Iris' face to strike an eye.
"Ow!" Iris yelped, letting von Karma go to clasp her hands over the eye von Kama hit. What did she throw at me...!?
"H-Hmph!" von Karma huffed before glancing down at Gumshoe, who was still on the floor. "Come, Scruff-face! The investigation briefing is about to begin."
"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Gumshoe shouted, quickly standing up to salute von Karma.
Von Karma then glanced back at Iris, a determined look on her face as she glared at her rival. "This isn't over yet... I swear on my family's honor!"
With that, von Karma turned and furiously stomped out of the hotel room. After a few seconds, Gumshoe sighed.
"...Well, I guess this means I've gotta get back to the precinct now, pal," he said to Iris. "If you ever need me, come down to the Criminal Affairs Department, alright? And if you can, try not to let Ms. von Karma see you..."
Iris and Maya nodded, bidding the detective goodbye and good luck as he rushed out of the room to follow von Karma.
"I know that Pearl's kidnapping is making you stressed, Iris," Maya began, her hands shifting uncomfortably, "but that outburst...kinda topped the last ones you had today."
Iris sighed. "Yeah...can you blame me though? You've seen what von Karma is like."
"Yeah, but-" Maya suddenly paused when she looked down at the crumpled paper. "Wait..."
Iris raised a brow. "What is it, Mystic Maya?" she asked.
Picking up the paper, Maya uncrumpled it and gasped. "I...I think von Karma just indirectly helped us."
"What do you mean?"
Maya turned the paper to Iris, who gasped in surprise as she saw it contained the autograph of the late Juan Corrida. Diehard fans of Corrida could tell it was his signature through his eloquent cursive writing.
"And there's a message written on it too," Iris added. "To my dearest Wendy...wait, as in Oldbag?!"
Who in their right mind would call that woman 'dearest'!? That's-!
"Awesome!" Maya shouted happily, interrupting Iris' thoughts. "We can show this to Oldbag and get the info we need from her!"
Iris perked up on that. "O-Oh, yes. W-We have no time to waste then. Let's go!"
Court Record:
Evidence:
1. Iris' Attorney Badge
2. Magatama
3. The Nickel Samurai
4. Press Conference Ticket
5. Radio Transceiver
6. Guidemap
7. Crime Photo
8. Guitar Case
9. Wine Glass
Profiles:
1. Pearl Fey
2. Maya Fey
3. Viola Cadaverini
4. Ini Miney
5. Wendy Oldbag
6. Dick Gumshoe
7. Dahlia Hawthorne
8. De Killer
9. Adrian Andrews
10. Franziska von Karma