It had been almost a week since Edgeworth and Phoenix have talked to each other. Edgeworth decided to bury himself in tremendous piles of work to keep himself from thinking about what happened between him and Phoenix. However, no matter how much work he tried to bury himself in, his thoughts always returned to Phoenix. The loud patter on the window as if the sky lamented eternal tears of despair did him no better.
Edgeworth couldn't accept the fact that Phoenix would choose a man other than him. Wright, how could you do this to me? It was so uncharacteristic of Wright, for he knew him as the man who would seek the truth and justice above everything. And by the way Phoenix acted towards him it was as if he was really in love with him. All the kisses they shared seemed all too genuine that he couldn't believe Phoenix was merely pretending. Edgeworth would have been totally convinced it wasn't true, until he had seen Phoenix's assent with his own eyes. The image of Phoenix nodding remained embedded in his mind like a video being played over and over again. Phoenix's kisses once tasted so sweet, but now it left no more than a bitter taste on his lips.
Suddenly, a knock was heard from the door, startling Edgeworth out of his reverie. Wright? Despite his anger, his heart skipped a beat with the hopes that it would be Phoenix coming in from that door. He looked down dejectedly when he saw that it was only Detective Gumshoe.
What does he want now? "Come later, Detective. I'm busy." The sight of the incompetent detective did nothing to make him feel better.
"Mr. Edgeworth, sir, I was wondering—"
Usually, the Detective was probably here to talk about another case he'd somewhat totally screwed up investigating, to provide details for cases, or to ask a dumb question or two. "It can wait later, Detective." There was a slight hint of irritation in Edgeworth's voice. "Now, I would appreciate it if you—"
"But sir, it's really impo—"
"I have no time for your useless antics, Detective!"
Edgeworth realized he probably came off a little too harsh when he saw the Detective flinch.
Edgeworth pinched the bridge of his nose to suppress the oncoming headache and drew a sigh to calm himself down. "Detective Gumshoe," Edgeworth repeated, but this time in a more subdued manner. "as you can see I am terribly busy." He looked down at his paper again and started scribbling something. "Now, please…"
A clear, unlabeled evidence bag was placed on top of whatever Edgeworth was working on, stopping him in his tracks. The evidence bag contained what seemed to be a tiny white plastic syringe, which was empty.
Edgeworth crossed his arms and stared at Gumshoe with a raised eyebrow. "What's this about, Detective?"
"Sir, I swore to Mr. Wright that I would keep this a secret, but I guess I should probably tell you now."
Edgeworth's eyes widened upon hearing Phoenix's name. What does Phoenix have to do with this? He only felt more puzzled than ever.
"A few years ago, Mr. Wright was attacked on his way home from work. He told me that someone injected him some sort of poison with that syringe which he found lying beside him on that day."
Edgeworth remembered that day, although vaguely. He remembered that Phoenix was ill that day, but due to his work, Edgeworth was away from him most of the time. Edgeworth remembered telling Phoenix that he wouldn't miss his work for Phoenix, or for anything in the world—besides, it's not as if Phoenix was bordering between life and death. At Phoenix's behest, Edgeworth took Phoenix to the doctor, who also said Phoenix's injuries weren't enough cause to warrant an alarm, so he thought he was fine. I should have paid more attention to Wright--!
Edgeworth felt like his heart was about to shrivel when he remembered that he sometimes rasped at Phoenix whenever Phoenix bothered him that day he was sick. Wright, I-I'm so sorry! I pushed you away…
"I guess he didn't want to give you any more trouble than he did, so one day he approached me and asked me to find out who attacked him."
"Well? Did you find anything?" The impatience was palpable in Edgeworth's voice.
Gumshoe looked down the floor, quietly shaking his head. "There weren't any fingerprints found on the syringe, Mr. Edgeworth. There weren't any traces of DNA either, other than Mr. Wright's."
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner!"
"I-It was a promise to Mr. Wright! A-and it happened a long time ago, so I thought it wasn't too serious, since Mr. Wright seemed to have given up on it. But, I noticed you and Mr. Wright were in very bad terms lately, so I talked to Maya…"
Within the blink of an eye both Edgeworth and the parcel were gone out of the office. Edgeworth was in such a hurry that he didn't even bother to take his umbrella, which tumbled into view under Edgeworth's desk in his haste.
With Edgeworth gone, Gumshoe was left looking at an empty space on the floor, his face marked with concentration as his eyes followed the lines on the wooden floor, tinged with a bit of sadness. The sight of seeing Edgeworth's hopelessly miserable expression lately was heartbreaking to Gumshoe. He wanted to beat himself up for being incompetent.
If only I had sooner figured out what was wrong…this wouldn't have happened!
To be continued...