February 22 10:02 AM The Law Offices of Fey and Wright
To Phoenix Wright, it felt a tad disconcerting to receive such a prestigious award as the Perry Mason/Ben Matlock award at such an early stage in his law career. He had figured he would at least be recognized for an award at least at ten years later in his career. But he ultimately chose to accept the award with a measure of gratitude because of how much it meant to his partner, Mia Fey.
'If only she were here to join the festivities with me.' Phoenix thought of his lover and Mia's little sister, Maya. It did give him warm thoughts to know that she would've been very proud of both of them. Proud enough to where she would've sat by his side at that fancy dinner table. He was originally making his way to their shared office, when after opening the door, had come across a girl who looked like 16 years old, pacing around the beautifully furnished office of Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey.
"Umm...excuse me," Phoenix spoke to distract her from gazing at Mia's desk. "Can I help you?"
"There you are finally!" The girl said after taking a few seconds to look at Phoenix. "My sister's trial is tomorrow!"
Phoenix continued to stare at her with a blank look, "Umm...who are you?"
"It doesn't matter who I am!" she answered. "It only matters who YOU are!"
And then she said it, "You're the famous defense attorney, Mia Fey!"
Just then, the office door opened up and Mia walked in, "Hey Phoenix who are you talking to?"
"Apparently this girl was looking for you and thought I was pretty enough to be you," was his reply.
Mia let out a light chuckle at his answer, but then she saw the girl in front of Phoenix. Her hair was styled similarly to Maya's, same height and build as hers. But the difference was that their clothing was radically different. This girl was wearing a lab coat underneath she wore a traditional schoolgirl uniform. Her said lab coat contained three badges, one large surprised face with two smaller angry faces, it was made to resemble H20. Her two other possesions included red lens glasses and a large tote bag full of scientific equipment. Recognition began to struck Mia after studying this girl.
"Ema..." was Mia's first word out of her mouth. "Ema Skye."
She made a light jog past Phoenix to give Ema a hug, which the little girl returned enthusiastically.
"Phoenix, this is Ema Skye," Mia said after finishing her hug. "She's the younger sister of my law school classmate and oldest friend, Lana Skye."
It then hit Phoenix with realization, "The Chief Prosecutor?"
Ema nodded at Phoenix before turning to Mia with a hit of sadness. Mia took notice of her sadness and asked her what's wrong.
"She was arrested on suspicion of murder," Ema began to explain. "Her trial is tomorrow but she doesn't want legal representation."
"She's trying to represent herself?" Mia asked.
"No," Ema replied with a sad rage brewing. "She's planning to plead guilty...but I know she didn't do it!"
At that moment, Mia wrapped her arms tighter around Ema to help calm her down. At Phoenix's suggestion, the three decided to sit on the two couches they provided for potental clients.
"So let's start at the beginning Ms. Skye," Phoenix said after pouring some coffee into two cups for him and Mia. "For starters, you'll have to excuse me for being stupid, but can you tell me about yourself?"
Ema herself accepted a bottle of chocolate milk from Phoenix's fridge, "Well even though I'm set to be sixteen next month, as you can tell by the clothes I'm wearing, I'm training to be a forensics expert."
"She's actually proving herself to be a child prodigy, Phoenix," Mia cut in. "Although she's in the 11th grade, she's already making some noise in the cop world."
To Phoenix's mind, it was already impressive that this girl was sixteen years old but already on track to be a senior by seventeen. He didn't become a senior until his 18th birthday and had graduated by nineteen. 'But that's another conversation for another time,' Nick thought.
"Chief," Nick turned his head toward Mia, who was sitting beside Ema. "What kind of association do you have with Ema, here?"
"A few years before I passed the bar exam, Lana was top of her class," Mia replied before taking a sip of coffee. "Back in the day, I was very headstrong to become an attorney, when I heard of this student, who was a few years my senior, on track to graduate with honors, I persuaded her and she eventually accepted to become my tutor even after she graduated from the Themis Law Academy."
"Didn't know you went to the same school like I did," Phoenix remarked while drinking his own coffee before turning back to Ema. "So your sister is being held on suspicion of murder and they're already setting the trial for tomorrow?"
Ema nodded, "It's because she's planning to plead guilty tomorrow. I don't believe she did it, I don't care that they had a witness or video footage. There were a lot of errors being committed at the crime scene for the evidence to even be concrete."
For two brief minutes, Phoenix and Mia gave each other a look of contemplation. They mutually thought that there was more to this case than what Ema was able to tell them. There was definitely a number of questions that were running through their heads but with a silent nod, the two attorneys got up and reached for their winter coats, much to Ema's hopeful optimism.
"We will talk with your older sister and see where we go from there," Nick said to Ema as he and Mia made their way to exiting the office for Mia's car.
February 22 Detention Center Visitor's Room
The attorney's noticed how quiet Ema had gotten when they entered the detention center visitor's room. They also noticed that the guard who usually stood still as a statue, was actually shivering with nervousness while being chewed out by the sharply dressed Chief Prosecutor: Lana Skye.
Even though she was a Chief Prosecutor, she preferred to wear her dress blues from her days of being one of the top detectives for the LAPD two years ago. Even though she wore a stoic look on her face, there was no hiding the anger in her voice.
"I specifically told you, I didn't want visitors."
"S-s-s-sorry, ma'am! It's j-j-just, your sister..." the guard tried to reply in between his nervousness.
"NO EXCUSES!" Lana raised her voice. "Or did you not want an annual raise this year?"
"My apologies, ma'am!"
Mia having just taken her coat off and sitting down on the chair opposite the viewing glass, was actually pretty annoyed at the behavior her old friend just displayed.
"You know I can understand you being sour because of being in jail, but that was a bullshit display of unprofessional behavior."
Lana attempted to ignore Mia's remark, instead directed her glare at her younger sister, "I seem to remember specifically telling YOU not to come here."
But Mia wouldn't have it, "You're not going to take this out on her, Lana!" she pounded her hands at the visitors glass making the other women flinch a bit.
"Last I checked, I'm the blood sister to her, not you!" Lana snapped back. "Perhaps my memory is failing, or perhaps you're trying to make attempts to adopt her?"
"Oh if you were on the other side of that glass, I would so beat the living shit out of you for that remark." Mia replied with a snarl.
That was when Phoenix had to come in between the two ladies to stop this screaming match between the two, especially since he began to notice that Ema was starting to tear up over Lana's harmful remarks.
"Alright Chief, either you calm yourself down or you can take Ema outside while I talk to Lana."
Mia was still full of anger over her old friends attitude had begrudgingly admitted that Phoenix was right. And to her credit, she knew if there was a neutral party that could give an adult stake in the case, it would be her senior partner. So she silently agreed to take Ema outside and wait at her car while Phoenix proceeded to talk to Lana.
After the two girls left, Phoenix began to sit down after taking out his smart phone to access the voice recorder app.
"So from what your sister told us, you are planning to confess to the crime that you're being held for."
"That is correct, Mr. Wright."
"Well before you do any confessing in court tomorrow, I do want to hear exactly what happened."
And so began Lana's explanation of what happened at the Prosecutor's Office, apparently the crime occurred at a specific time of February 21st 5:15 P.M. Right around the time when Phoenix and Mia had accepted the Perry Mason/Ben Matlock Memorial Award. There had been a witness, who had seen her stab victim Detective Joe Goodman in the chest. The most shocking thing that Lana told Phoenix was that the victim had been found in the trunk of Miles Edgeworth's car. Phoenix sat through her explanations with thoughts running through his mind that this would be the most complicated case that he would potentially work with since the Bluecorp Incident.
Deciding to change the subject, Phoenix began to ask "So you were three years ahead of Mia at the Themis Law Academy weren't you?"
Lana nodded, "She was considerably different than the other students, she was focused, dedicated. It was as if she was on a personal mission in addition to being certified to be an attorney."
"Well you gotta admit, she did reach the goal of that mission over the Post-Christmas season." Phoenix replied.
Lana had to agree with Phoenix's reference, "Who knew the conspiracy behind Gregory Edgeworth's murder reached all the way to Manfred Von Karma?"
"Or the conspiracy behind the disappearance of Misty Fey." Phoenix added which earned another nod of agreement from Lana.
There was another subject that Phoenix wanted to touch on, one that involved Lana's sister, but that idea was cut off when she began to speak.
"I wish to end this discussion, Mr. Wright," Lana began to get up from her seat. "If you and Mia still wish to take my case, I'll leave the rest to you."
"You may have confessed to this case, but it's definitely clear to me that there's a bigger conspiracy than what you're telling me...Therefore whatever verdict you gave to the arraignment judge, I'm going to have it reversed to nolo contendre."
"Do whatever you wish, Mr. Wright, until next time."
Without saying another word, Lana made her exit from the visitor's center and Phoenix made his exit to the parking garage where Mia and Ema would be waiting.