-Chapter 2-

December 17, 2:19 PM

LA Police Department

Forensics Lab

"Let's see… all the commotion seems to be centered around this area, so that evidence room must be around here somewhere… Ack!"

Apollo and Trucy had been making their way calmly through the police department, confident that Gamma's decision to let them investigate had likely circulated around enough. Of course they had been stopped by a few incredulous officers, but usually someone more aware of the circumstances would come to clear things up. Even still, Apollo had wished Gamma or Gumshoe would've given him some sort of letter of introduction to avoid the tedium of being stopped over and over again by anyone still unaware of the situation.

Apollo was starting to worry that the person before him right now was another one of these "uninformed parties".

The forensic scientist who had come to stand before him with his arms crossed looked downright cartoonish. He had a weird, gawky stature and long lanky features, from a large head resting on an impossibly thin neck to a ridiculously frizzy hairstyle that would give Albert Einstein a run for his money. The man had a goofy grin in his face and parts of his lab coat and hair were charred black from what Apollo guessed was some sort of lab mishap.

"S-stop right there! You…. You two aren't police officers!"

Not again….!

Apollo let out a long sigh and Trucy looked over at him in utter shock.

"Wow Polly! I've never heard you sigh like that!"

Apollo slumped his shoulders and turned to his investigative partner.

"I learned it from someone I hung out with a lot growing up… it's kind of a long story, so I'll tell you more about it later."

Apollo turned back to the forensic scientist and nodded.

"You're right, we're not police officers. I'm Apollo Justice. I'm Detective Skye's defense attorney for the recent murder that took place here."

"W-WAIT!" the cartoonish man shouted, leaning a little too close to Apollo for his comfort, "You're Ms. Skye's Attorney!?"

Apollo leaned back to escape the lanky scientist's invasion of personal space and nodded uneasily.

"Y-yeah… that's what I-"

"Quick! Ask me anything! I'm totally willing to help!"

Apollo stared blankly at the strange man and blinked a few times.

"….."

"Well! Come on! I'm ready to answer anything!"

Apollo scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile plastered across his face.

"W-well, uh… I was going to investigate the evidence room. But-"

"Oh! You wanted to see the scene of the crime!? Yes… I see… I see… w-wait!"

The lanky man frowned and crossed his arms again.

"Even if I really want to help you, I can't let you in the evidence room yet!"

Apollo slumped his shoulders again.

Do I really need someone else to explain it to him!?"

"Ah, actually," Apollo began, trying to smooth things over without wasting another five minutes, "We've been allowed to investigate the scene by Prosecutor Gamma himself, so-"

"I know!" the lanky man shouted, interrupting Apollo's explanation, "When I heard about that, I was incredibly delighted! But right now, the evidence room is swarming with investigators! You won't be able to get in even with Gamma's permission!"

Apollo felt an insatiable urge to punch the nearest wall and scream profanities until he couldn't breathe. So far, everything about his case was totally botched. Ema couldn't remember anything that had happened that morning, the police had some pretty incriminating evidence already, and now Apollo couldn't even investigate the scene.

Apollo had worked with the detective on a few cases in his past, and while it was true he was mostly defending her for Wright's sake, he couldn't deny that he wanted to defend her himself. She just didn't strike him as the kind of person to commit murder.

If I can't win this case… not only would I be letting Wright down… but I'll be letting myself down as well. I know Detective Skye is innocent, but if I can't even get any evidence to prove it… then…!

"Ah! Don't look at me like that! Like I said! I'm totally willing to answer any of your questions while you wait!"

Apollo placed a finger on his forehead and scrunched his face up in a mixture of thought and disappointment.

"Fine," Apollo answered after a long pause, "We'll ask you some questions."

I guess this isn't a total loss. Maybe this guy knows something that could help our case.

"First," Apollo began, crossing his arms and regaining his composure, "Well, I guess it'd be useful to know who you are in the first place."

"Ah!" the scientist jumped back, "Right, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Derek Fanne! I'm a seasoned forensic scientist for this very lab!"

Apollo nodded, "Alright, Mr. Fanne. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to ask you what you were doing at the time of the murder."

Derek knocked his fist against his forehead a few times before his eyes lit up like he just remembered something, "Ah! You mean this morning! I was actually working at the other lab earlier. There was supposed to be a pretty big case coming up, and I heard even the Chief Prosecutor was going to be involved! When I heard the gunshot, I was so nervous that I nearly dropped my beakers!"

Apollo frowned. Something about that statement stood out to the defense attorney, and he figured it would be a good idea to get more information about it.

"Hold on a minute," Apollo continued with his questioning, "About the case you just mentioned… you spoke about it in the past tense… can you tell me more about that case?"

Derek scratched the back of his head awkwardly and cast Apollo and Trucy a sympathetic look.

"S-sorry… I actually don't know much about the case… I heard it was supposed to be a retrial of an old case from two years ago, but only the people directly involved with investigating were allowed to know anything… I heard that they didn't even detain the old suspect from that case to keep it secret."

Trucy frowned and turned to Apollo.

"That seems really bizarre that they would go through such lengths, don't you think, Polly?"

Apollo nodded at Trucy and frowned.

"It's definitely strange, but in this day and age, I can understand why the police might want to go through such measures."

Trucy's eyes lit up in realization, "Ah, you mean that 'Dark Age of the Law' thing that Daddy keeps bringing up…"

Apollo nodded solemnly and turned back to Derek to ask more questions.

"Um… earlier, I couldn't help but notice your… erm… enthusiasm to help us… Mind me asking what that was all about?" Apollo inquired.

Derek smiled sheepishly and began swaying back and forth on his feet.

"Ehehe, well, of course I'd help you! You're Detective Skye's defense team, after all! I have to help her in any way I can! If I don't, I'll never see her cute grumpy face ever again!"

Trucy balled her fists and grinned like only an energetic high school girl could.

"Polly, I think he has a crush on Detective Skye!"

Y-yeah… I wouldn't say you're wrong…

Apollo shook his head and turned his attention back to the scientist before him.

"So, you know Detective Skye?"

"Of course I know her!" Derek shouted back, almost indignant, "Such a marvelous detective! Her passion for science, her adoration for the chemistry! Every time she walks by the lab she stares at it longingly! Oh how I wish she could be here, in this lab! We could analyze bloodstains together!"

Apollo slumped over and he felt his two spikes fall over his forehead.

How… romantic…

"We-well… erm…" Apollo paused for a moment, "Ah! Could you tell me anything about the victim?"

I have a photo of him, but I don't remember Detective Skye mentioning his name or anything else about him at the detention center.

Derek immediately snapped out of his lovestruck ramblings and frowned.

"Ah, the victim… hmm… I think it was Allen Renchez. He was an officer here at the precinct. To be honest, I didn't really know him that well. We didn't really talk to each other."

Apollo's eyes widened and he frowned slightly. There was something about that last statement that bothered him.

"I'm sorry," Apollo's eyes narrowed at Derek, "Could you repeat that again?"

"Ah… you mean about Renchez? I didn't really know him that well. He didn't work with forensics a lot and we never really talked to each other."

There it was again. Apollo could feel the ornate bracelet around his wrist tighten at the words of the man in front of him. This was it, he was going to-

Suddenly, Apollo felt the bracelet tighten once again. With wide eyes, the red-clad lawyer glanced down at his arm and saw Trucy's hand clutching his wrist as she leaned into him. It was a false alarm.

"Trucy! You're grabbing my wrist, let go!"

Trucy's eyes widened as she realized her mistake and she pulled her arm back immediately.

"Sorry Polly, it's just that… that guy over there is glaring at us..."

Apollo turned his attention away from Derek to spot a very shady looking scientist staring at the two of them with crossed arms. The man had black hair that was neatly swept backwards and wore a pair of square, narrow framed glasses. The collar of his labcoat was popped up and he appeared to be wearing a casual black t-shirt underneath, as well as a pair of jeans as opposed to slacks or anything else more professional.

To top of the look, around his neck he wore a spiked choker of sorts that seemed to have something akin to a cat bell attached to it.

Realizing he had been noticed, the shady-looking scientist slinked over to where Apollo and Trucy were standing and flashed them a toothy, sideways grin.

"Heh, I see you've noticed me, Mr. Lawyer! Tell me, you really insistent on defending that clueless girl detective?"

Apollo, trying not to let the young scientist's cocky attitude get to him, merely nodded in affirmation.

"That's right, I'm Apollo Justice. I'm Detective Skye's defense attorney."

"Name's Victor Darke. I'm a forensic scientist. Actually, I'm the best forensic scientist at the precinct, bar none. Oh yeah, and about your defense tomorrow…"

The kid swept his hair back with his hand and shook his head in disbelief.

"Hahaha, give it up, man, she's guilty. Anyone with brains can see that."

Trucy frowned and turned to Apollo, indignant.

"This guy's such a stuck up jerk!"

"H-hey! Don't get mad at me about it!"

Apollo frowned. He really didn't want to question this guy any more than he had to, but it was part of his job and he needed more information.

"So, I take it you were here when the incident happened. Could you tell me more about what you were doing?"

"My job," Victor replied curtly, crossing his arms, "I was working in the other lab. I was doing most of the work because all my lab partners were bumbling idiots. Especially that guy over ther! Fanne? Ha! He's worked here way longer than I have and he's still a dunce! He's almost as bad as that stupid detective you're defending!"

Apollo frowned.

Hm… it seems like this guy has something against Detective Skye... That might be important.

Apollo straightened up and narrowed his eyes, taking a totally professional approach to his questioning.

"Mr. Darke, was it? I'd like to ask you what you have against Detective Skye, specifically."

"What do I have against her? Pfftt… she's such a dunce! She's always running around and acting like she actually knows stuff about forensics, but like I said before, she's totally clueless! I heard that in a couple of cases she actually had a couple of rank amateurs from the defense team help her out with the forensics! What a laugh!"

Er… yeah… you're kind of talking to those "rank amateurs" right now.

Trucy glared at the very unpleasant scientist before turning to Apollo.

"He did it. He's totally guilty! My Wright blood speaks to me!"

"H-hey! We can't be making brash assumptions like that without any evidence! Not to mention you're not a Wright by blood..."

Though I will admit his attitude towards Detective Skye definitely doesn't rule out the possibility he'd want to frame her.

"Heh, you're too transparent," Victor scoffed, "You're thinking, 'man, this guy's attitude means he'd probably do something like frame Skye' right? Well, sorry, but I've got a rock solid alibi. I was working hard on that one case's investigation. The one that mouth-breather over there blabbed to you about. Anyway, there were at least three other scientists in the room at the time, so I couldn't have done it!"

Apollo frowned. He had about enough of questions with this guy.

"Just one more thing I wanted to ask," Apollo began.

Victor sighed and raised his arm up to stop Apollo from speaking.

"Heh, next you're going to ask me, 'Did you know the victim, Allen Renchez?' The answer is no. I barely saw the guy. I don't like associating with many people around here, to be honest."

I'm sure the feeling is mutual.

Apollo raised his hand to his wrist to feel his bracelet more carefully, but there was nothing there. He wasn't lying.

"Well, I think that's all we're going to get out of these two. Maybe we should go back down and talk to Gumshoe and that new prosecutor."

"No need for that pal!"

The loud, booming voice of Senior Detective Gumshoe made Apollo and Trucy jump in place and whirl around to face the large man.

"It seems that the initial investigation is already finished. I was kind of hoping to participate in the investigation a little more, but it looks like I've missed my chance."

Gamma shrugged, as though he wasn't particularly bothered either way by the fact.

"I'll probably check the crime scene later, but right now reading through the investigation reports is my top priority. In the meantime, I'm sure the evidence room will be clear. You can probably use this time to do some investigating of your own."

Gamma made it sound nonchalant, but something about the way he said it made Apollo uneasy. It was like he was giving Apollo and Trucy the upper hand by letting them investigate before he even saw the crime scene. Apollo was used to Klavier letting him investigate crimes to some extent, but the sheer level of openness Gamma was taking with his investigation made it seem like he had some sort of ulterior motive.

Still, Apollo wasn't going to turn down his one chance to investigate an almost untouchable crime scene.

Apollo cast Gamma a final, suspicious stare before turning to Trucy and clenching his fists.

"It's time to do some investigating!"

December 17, 2:49 PM

LA Police Department

Evidence Room

Apollo and Trucy made their way into the evidence storage room and began to glance around uneasily. Apollo wasn't sure he'd ever get used to the sensation of standing in a place where someone's life was taken, though he supposed it was something he should be a little used to by now.

I wonder if I'll ever get to the point where I can walk onto a crime scene without batting an eyelash… I hope I never become that jaded…

"So," Apollo turned to Trucy and crossed his arms, "I guess this is where they found the victim, Allen Renchez, and Detective Skye, then…"

Trucy nodded before turning her attention back to the room and looking around, prompting Apollo to do the same. Much like how it was portrayed in the photo, the Evidence room was a small room with a wall of evidence lockers separating the room into two halves, stopping just short of the back wall to allow access to the second half of the room. It was along this back wall that, at least from what the picture showed, the bodies were found, collapsed on the floor next to some filing cabinets for case files.

Indeed, when Apollo and Trucy came to the end of the long room, they came face to face with the white tape silhouettes of two figures, one male and one female, as well as a rope marking off where a previously rather large blood pool had formed around the male corpse. Aside from the white tape, there was seldom anything on the floor of the room, though the floor still seemed wet from mopping up.

Well, I guess the wet floor explains why Gumshoe's shoes were squeaking like crazy earlier, he must've just come from the evidence room.

Trucy frowned and turned to Apollo, crossing her arms and looking up as though in thought.

"Something seems… wrong about the crime scene… it's like… it's almost too clean!"

Apollo looked around and frowned. Trucy had a point. Aside from the white tape, there wasn't much sign that any sort of crime had taken place here. Apollo was used to messy, bloodstained floors and clutter everywhere that could work as evidence. This crime scene, by comparison, was so clean that he could barely believe it.

"This is it, Trucy… if we can't find even a scrap of evidence to use here… I don't think we'll be able to do anything in the trial tomorrow!"

Trucy's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hand in surprise, "Oh no! Does that mean Detective Skye will be…?"

"No!" Apollo shouted, startling Trucy with his Chords of Steel, "I don't believe Detective Skye's the murderer! There must be something here that can help prove that! We just need to look for it!"

Trucy nodded, still a little shaky from Apollo's outburst, "R-right… so, where do we start?"

Apollo turned back to the crime scene and thought.

Hm… Let's see… I should examine anything that seems odd or out of place.

"Hey! Trucy, look at that shelf over there."

Apollo pointed to a shelf nearby Renchez's outline and Trucy looked over to the shelf.

"Notice anything unusual about that shelf?"

Trucy pondered Apollo's question for a moment before her eyes lit up.

"Oh! It looks like something's missing!"

Indeed, on one of the bookcases there was a shelf cluttered with all manners of what looked to be different types of trophies or rewards. On one of the shelves there was just enough empty space that it looked like there was supposed to be something there.

"Yeah," Apollo nodded, "It's possible the missing trophy isn't related to the case, but we should definitely make note of this."

-Missing Trophy added to Court Record-

"I wonder what all these trophies are doing here anyway." Trucy pondered, placing a thoughtful finger on her lip, "Maybe their rewards for the forensics team!"

"Well," Apollo replied, "I'd imagine since this is the evidence room, it's more likely that they're all pieces of evidence that just happen to be trophies…"

Trucy leaned in to read the engravings on some of them.

"Number One Evidence Handler, Number One Ballistics Analyzer, Number One Investigation Report Filer…"

Trucy turned back around with a smug look on her face and Apollo slumped his shoulders in exasperation.

"L-let's just move on…"

Apollo continued to scan his eyes back and forth through the room until he noticed something catch the light and glint from under one of the rack-like metal shelves set up next to the filing cabinets along the back wall.

"Hey, Trucy, it looks like there's something under here. I'm going to take a closer look."

Apollo made his way over to the metal shelf and pressed himself to the floor so he could see the narrow space between the floor and the bottom-most shelf more clearly. There wasn't much under the shelf save for a thick layer of dust, but one thing in particular caught his eye almost immediately.

"Hey, Trucy!" Apollo exclaimed, "There's a broken piece of glass under here!"

Apollo reached out and pulled it out before standing back up and holding it up for Trucy to see. Trucy observed the glass for a short amount of time before her eyes widened and she held her hand up to cover her mouth in surprise.

"A-Apollo! Look, on the glass… there's…!"

"Yeah, there's some blood on it. It's pretty fresh blood too, otherwise it would be darker or flaking off. This is probably connected to our current case!"

-Glass Shard added to Court Record-

"Hmm…" Trucy frowned, "Polly, I don't think there's anything else here!"

Apollo nodded before frowning. The crime scene was pretty immaculate otherwise. Apollo didn't see anything else he could use for evidence.

"All we've got is a piece of glass, but if there's nothing here, there's nothing more we can do."

Apollo was used to hopeless cases, but this seemed almost beyond hopeless. A clean crime scene, an amnesiac client, a room with only one way in or out, and plenty of witnesses who would no doubt claim that no third party fled the scene.

Apollo truly believed that Ema was innocent, but proving it in court seemed almost impossible at this point. All Apollo had as hard evidence was a shard of glass with blood on it, and he couldn't know until the trial just how far he could run with that.

As Apollo was internally lamenting, the door to the evidence room opened up and Apollo heard the sound of dress shoes on tile as someone stepped into the room. In surprise, Apollo whirled around only to come face to face with the one person he wanted to see the least at the moment.

"Hm… they certainly did a good job of cleaning up in here."

Gamma looked around as he made his way towards the back of the evidence room. He stopped in front of Apollo and Trucy and turned towards them, though once again Apollo couldn't quite get a good read on Gamma at all.

"Oh, you two are still in here? How's your investigation going?"

Apollo couldn't quite tell, but he got the impression there were some smug undertones hidden underneath the nonchalant manner in which Gamma had addressed Apollo. The red-clad defense attorney had the impression that Gamma knew ahead of time that the crime scene would be barren of clues, and he was subtly rubbing that fact in by asking them how they were doing.

"Actually," Apollo replied, grinning smugly, "The investigation's going great."

The confidence Apollo exuded was naturally just a front, but he really wanted to see if it would get under Gamma's skin.

"Good," Gamma replied, grinning a bit more openly, "and here I was beginning to think that this case was so simple I'd bore myself to death. I look forward to facing you in court."

Apollo's eyes widened as he felt his bracelet constrict around his wrist. There was no doubt about it this time. Trucy was standing behind him off to his other side, so this wasn't another false alarm.

Gamma's… lying? What's he lying about? Maybe I should try asking him about the case.

"Uh, Prosecutor Gamma, was it? Do you mind if I-"

Before Apollo could even finish asking the question, the red clad lawyer heard his phone ring in his pocket. Flustered, Apollo quickly retrieved his phone and checked the caller ID before realizing it was Wright.

Apollo quickly picked up and held the phone to his ear.

"Uh, hey," Apollo answered awkwardly, "What is it?"

"Apollo, I know you're probably in the middle of your investigation, but there's something I want to talk to you about as soon as possible, mind heading back to the office?"

"Actually," Apollo began, "We're pretty much done with the investigation already. We'll head back as soon as possible."

"Great. I'll be waiting."

Apollo turned to Trucy.

"That was Wright. He wants to talk to me about something or other, I guess we should head back."

As Apollo informed Trucy of what the call had been about, he caught Gamma turn towards him out of his peripheral vison at the name "Wright". Apollo wasn't sure if he had just imagined it or what, but there definitely seemed to be something strange about this mysterious prosecutor.

As Apollo and Trucy left the evidence room, Apollo turned back to look at Gamma one more time, as questions raced in his mind.

Who is he? What is he up to? Why was he so interested in the name "Wright"?

After Trucy and I left the police department, we returned to the office as soon as possible.

As to what Wright wanted to talk to me about… He said he wanted to personally help me with my investigation.

After I showed him what little information I had, He made a decision.

I was surprised when he told me he was going to come to the courthouse tomorrow.

I didn't understand what he wanted then. That was something I wouldn't find out until much later.

To be continued...

AN: Here you guys go. Chapter 2 and some actual investigation. I hope this isn't too dull or anything. Next chapter's going to be in court, which I've always found more interesting to write, so hopefully that'll be something to look forward to if you didn't entirely enjoy the way this chapter went. Hope you guys enjoy.