The Rhodes' house was much the same as Miles remembered it. During the trial he'd visited there once to sweep for additional evidence, but had paid the surroundings little mind beyond confirming the accusations against the brothers that were so very obvious. It was still a rundown house in a bad part of town, with a spotted lawn and holes in the garage door, but it felt intimidating in a way that it never had before.
What if he's in there? Miles wondered, though he discarded the notion. Lucy was deliberately leaving a trail; she wasn't actually an idiot. "Be careful, we don't know that the home is still safe. She's had time since the trial to leave traps for anyone checking on her."
"I'm still coming with you," Maya said. Miles had never thought that she wouldn't.
"What are we looking for?" she asked him thirty minutes later, after a cautious entry that turned into a fruitless search.
"I don't know," he said. "A lead for where she might have gone. A number for some contact. Anything." The three siblings didn't seem to have much money to spare, and there were no overlooked receipts giving any indication of where Lucy might have taken Phoenix. Nor were there photographs of a favorite destination, or a land line phone with messages to check.
What was there was useless. A few old movie posters covered cracked walls. Aaron's room had an breathtakingly explicit calendar on the wall; Miles pursed his lips in disdain, while Maya tilted her head. Jude's tiny room was a tornado of fast food bags and copies of Maxim. Lucy's, the master bedroom, was perfectly ordered and sparely furnished.
Nothing told him anything that he didn't already know.
"Detective," Miles said, his phone to his ear. "Where are you headed now?"
"We're checking out where the brothers murdered those guys," Gumshoe said.
Miles frowned. "Why?"
"To review the film archives, sounds like. They're hoping a video there will be some sort of clue. Do... do you think that sounds like a good plan, Mr. Edgeworth?"
Miles nodded slowly. "Yes." The murders had taken place on the lot of a discount film studio, inside a warehouse where old prints of commercials and near-softcore porn were stored. His kneejerk reaction was to doubt they'd find anything useful in the countless files, but those videos had never been touched during the murder investigation. They'd never bothered to try to tie the brothers to the studio, since any sort of deeper motive hadn't been needed and nothing about the place was in the public's eye. Clearly, Lucy was more involved with her brothers' lives than they'd originally thought. Perhaps there was something there, after all. "Was this Detective Starr's idea?"
"Yes sir, Mr. Edgeworth. She heard you were going to their house and said we'd check out the studio, instead." Gumshoe sounded vaguely nervous that he would be asked to choose between the two people in command, one of whom he reported to on that day and the other who made regular assessments of his salary. There was no need for him to worry, though Miles didn't bother reassuring him.
Time to review. One: Angel Starr, despite her earlier hostility, trusted Miles to search the suspect's house, the most likely source of leads. Two: she'd come up with an idea that he'd never thought of. Normally, Miles would be left uneasy at someone finding an avenue he'd overlooked, particularly when he'd already been left floundering by Lucy's bewildering behavior. But as the two of them were working together, any fresh plan of Angel's was a positive, as was the fact that she apparently trusted his investigative skills. One of the countless knots inside his chest loosened. "Thank you, Detective. We'll be in touch."
"What now?" Maya asked when he hung up. "I don't see a single thing that points to where she might be."
"No," Miles was forced to agree. Given how many cases Maya had helped Phoenix with, her identical cluelessness was also reassuring. Not all of them could be floundering. Certainly, they couldn't. "There are no things, and so at this point, I propose we look for people who might give us a lead. Someone in the neighborhood will know something."
If anyone did, they weren't willing to share that information. The house of the neighbor who'd stood as a witness was dark, and he didn't pick up when Miles called the number provided to the court. Everyone else looked with suspicion at the strangers; most made fun of their clothes, annoyingly. A few crossed the street to avoid them. "I stay away from those Rhodes kids," one old man said when he opened his door. "Anyone with a brain does. You got yourself mixed up with Lucifer? I bet it's your own damn fault."
"Lucifer," Miles repeated, brow furrowed. "That's the name by which people here call Lucy Rhodes?" A familiar nickname might signify any number of things. At the least, it had to mean some sort of local notoriety for the family, or Lucy herself. That meant knowledge.
The man snorted and slammed the door. No answer came when Miles pounded on it, and he eventually gave up and looked tiredly at Maya. She asked, "Do you think the mechanic neighbor is hiding something?" Dark, bruised-looking circles were under her eyes. She looked even more exhausted than Miles felt.
"Possibly." Or he might have wanted to put some distance between him and that house after one of his neighbors was sentenced to lethal injection. Who could say?
"So... what now?" Maya asked, as her stomach rumbled loudly. She flinched and rested a hand over her torso. "Sorry."
Miles checked the time and frowned. "What we do now is stop field work and consider our options for the morning. Clear minds will be key for stopping this woman, and I refuse to let an obvious answer slip past me." Slip past me again, anyway.
"No!" Maya said, scowling. "We haven't found Nick yet! And we can't just stop to eat and sleep when he's in trouble. I... I'm sorry that my stomach growled, I didn't really mean it. It's not important. Focus on him, okay?"
"If you starve yourself, that's all you'll be able to focus on. You can't constantly talk about food like you do and then expect me to believe that you can ignore it today. Come on."
Maya opened her mouth to protest, but jolted when an alarm screeched. Miles swore and ran. Two coltishly young men scrambled off into the darkening evening as Miles reached his car and turned off the alarm. Grumbling, he knelt to check the underside of the vehicle.
"I guess your car stands out around here as much as we do," Maya said.
"Yes, it does," Miles said grimly, standing. There were definite advantages that department detectives had during field work, in their aggressively unremarkable clothes and cars. No one in this rundown neighborhood would have crossed the street to stay away from someone who looked like Dick Gumshoe. "No fluids are leaking and I don't see anything that's been attached to the body." Maya looked confused, and so he explained, "They must simply have been trying to steal it, not sabotage it."
Maya flinched. "You were really worried that... wow. Okay."
"Stand back," Miles said, to be on the safe side, and clicked the remote starter. When the engine purred to life and nothing seemed to be wrong, he dropped his hand from where he'd held it protectively in front of Maya. "All right. Let's go." She hesitated, then slid into the passenger's seat.
As they pulled out, Miles glanced at the police siren still attached to his dashboard and sighed. He could speed home if he wanted; the force would give him plenty of leeway right then. Phoenix Wright, for all the trouble he caused the Prosecutors' Office and the LAPD by extension, was still respected. The entire headquarters had to be in quite a state ever since the news had hit.
Speeding would do no good, though. It would only raise the chances of an accident with someone who didn't clear the road in time, and then where would Phoenix be without Miles hunting for him? Not that I'm much help today, Miles thought grimly.
Maya was uncharacteristically quiet, and so he was left along with his thoughts. I have to do this. I just... I have to. Over the past years he'd learned to fail, but this was a challenge in which he had to once again earn a perfect triumph. There was some bitter irony in it being Phoenix who'd taught Miles how to fail in the first place. Now, Phoenix was the one person who needed Miles to be flawless. Relentless.
And now I'm the one who's going to save him.
"What do you want?" Miles asked as he pulled into a driveway.
Maya looked owlishly up at the In-N-Out sign like she'd never seen it before. "Burgers," she said slowly.
"Yes, I know you like them. Even the courthouse janitors probably know that by now. What do you want?" She bit her lip and Miles frowned. "I don't want to block the driveway for other people if you're not ready. What do you want?" As he understood, this place carried very little but burgers. All the girl needed to do was to say how many she wanted, with how many orders of fries.
"I..."
He cranked the wheel and turned into the nearest parking space. "Here," Miles said, and thrust a handful of bills at her. "Go inside and order there, so you can study the menu. Then I can drop you off at your home and we can resume our search tomorrow." She studied her hands and his eyebrows dipped. "Ms. Fey, you're wasting..."
When she lifted her face and Miles saw the tears in her eyes, his terse words died. "Go home," Maya repeated shakily. "I... okay..."
Silence filled the car for a long beat. Thinking back to her reaction at him checking his car for sabotage, Miles nodded once, slowly. "Maya," he ventured, "would you prefer to stay at my condominium tonight?"
What he could now recognize as fear ebbed from her eyes. "Your condo with major security that no one can get through?" Maya asked shakily.
"That would be the one." The one whose safety I withheld from Phoenix. I suppose I owe this to her.
"You're sure you don't mind?" Maya tugged a lock of hair. "I can sleep on the couch if you want, I won't be any trouble."
Well, he'd take her up on that offer if she was willing to make it. "It will be no trouble at all. Please, I insist. Besides, it only makes sense; that way, we can get the earliest, most efficient start possible." She still hesitated, and he added, "We'll stop at a convenience store on the way to my building, so that you can pick up your own toiletries to use." A man's toothbrush was sacred.
That broke the dam, and she laughed nervously and nodded. "Okay, thank you. Yes, Mr. Edgeworth, please, thank you. I would like that very much." Exhaling, Maya managed to smile and threw off her seatbelt. "I'll be right back."
He hadn't realized the money he'd given her would buy so many hamburgers. "Not in the car," Miles said when she tried to begin eating, on every block after that, and again when he parked at the convenience store. Fortunately, they were only minutes away from his building, and she managed to hold back her complaints until they were safely parked and had climbed to the third floor.
"Dog," Maya said in surprise as Miles opened the door, promptly hung up his jacket in the hallway closet, and knelt for the greeting he knew would be coming. "There's a dog. A... big dog."
Miles ruffled floppy ears affectionately. Another knot in his chest loosened. "Her name is Pess, and I believe she smells what you're holding." Sure enough, Pess' wet nose nudged against Maya's bag, and the dog sat back on her haunches in expectation. Her thick tail wagged against the slick hardwood floors.
"Can I give her some?" Maya asked as she pried a bit of meat free of one burger.
"Certainly, but not much. I don't want to upset her digestion. Here, come in to the kitchen and feed her on the tile." Miles led the way past the living room he seldom used, gesturing at the couch on which Maya could sleep, before showing her to the sterile, sleek kitchen all in dark wood and silvery granite. "I don't have a dining table, but there are stools there for the counter."
Maya hopped up obligingly, then bent over to hand a tiny bit of beef to Pess. "It looks like there's room for a table over there," she said through a mouthful, and gestured to a far spot in the room. The empty alcove had a glittering view of downtown Los Angeles as its windows lit; they were the only 'stars' he ever saw in the city's nights. "A small one, I guess."
"There is," Miles allowed. "I just don't have need for it, and there are many other demands on my attention besides furniture shopping." And he'd never had the patience to complete a full contract with an interior decorator. They could be so sensitive about criticism.
"Oh," Maya said, chewing. She swallowed, but crammed in a wad of fries as soon as that mouthful was gone. "That makes sense, I guess."
Now that he'd said that, Miles felt awkward. Well, it wasn't like he made a habit of hosting dinner parties. Besides, he traveled a lot. A seat at the counter for caffeine and the morning news was all he needed from his kitchen. Irritated for no reason he could explain, Miles took the other stool and grabbed the bag. "I paid for these," he reminded Maya over her protests.
"The Demon Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth eats In-N-Out burgers?" Maya asked, with a small but real smile.
That smile vanished under his glare. "Do not use that name. That time in my life has passed."
"Sorry," Maya said meekly. "It's just a funny sight." She reclaimed the remaining food and silently continued feeding Pess, who seemed to have decided that Maya was her new best friend.
"I'm hungry and everything in my refrigerator would need to be prepared." Really, it was as simple as that. Miles chewed thoughtfully. Had he eaten that day? No, he'd started off the day with tea, had a bottle or two of water during the search, and nothing else. That was unacceptable; just as his body needed sleep to fuel this rescue, so did it need food. Even though his stomach roiled at knowing that Phoenix was injured and suffering, he forced himself to swallow, then chew, then swallow again. Tomorrow morning, eggs. We'll need the protein. He hoped the food would stay down.
By the time he finished, Maya had given nearly an entire burger to Pess in finger-sized bits. He didn't have the heart to protest. Hopefully her stomach wouldn't be too upset. "Why do you have a dog this big?" Maya asked, ruffling Pess' fur.
"I prefer large dogs."
"Okay, but you live in a condo."
"Which doesn't affect my preference in dogs."
Maya huffed. "Big dogs need yards and fetch and walkies and stuff, everyone knows that."
"Walkies?" Miles repeated. "Well, I do hire a dog walker to take Pess out for two long walks each day. She's very good. Her company has excellent security screening." Maya shot him that same look as before, the one that had made him self-conscious about not filling that alcove with a dining table. "And I walk her myself on the weekends, of course."
"What about when you travel?"
"There's a sitting service, or she comes with me, and..." The wrapper crumpled in his hands and Miles turned toward Maya, glaring. "Do you have some problem with how I treat my dog?"
She froze. A half-eaten fry dangled from one corner of her mouth. Slowly, very slowly, Maya reached up and removed it. With the same care she set it on a discarded wrapper, still moving like he was a snake ready to strike. "No. I swear. I'm just trying to make awkward small talk and I didn't really want to talk about murder trials." She studied her hands. "Or Nick."
And there was precious little else for them to talk about. (Well. One thing, but he was glad he'd tidied up his Blu-Ray sets and tucked them neatly away.) "That is the issue, isn't it," Miles allowed. "We've spent all day thinking about Wright, and now we find ourselves pointlessly discussing anything else." Referring to the man by his surname made everything feel slightly more normal, like Phoenix—dammit—might call him at any moment and sigh about the new catastrophe Larry had caused, and whether Miles could put up bail.
"But that's wrong," Maya mumbled. "We shouldn't stop thinking about him. Not even for a second. I bet he can't stop thinking about whatever's going on."
A wet nose nudged against his hand and Miles instinctively began rubbing Pess' head. The familiar action centered him. "I can only speak for myself, but even as I take time to recharge, my resolve never weakens."
She considered that. "You mean that even though we're taking a break to eat and not go starving and nutso, we're still actually working on finding Nick."
"Yes, that's what I said." It still felt like a near thing that he'd be able to keep down what he'd eaten, and so Miles stood to put on water to boil. "Tea?" he asked as he filled the kettle. He needed tea, and a shower, and to bend the rules that night and let Pess sleep on his bed.
"Please." Maya was quiet as he busied himself with preparing their drinks. With her cup in hand, she murmured, "We didn't find anything today. We wasted the whole day, Mr. Edgeworth, and we didn't get any closer."
He let the warmth of the cup seep into his palms. "That's not true," Miles said. "We were able to discount many possible... distractions. That will help our focus tomorrow."
Maya looked at him flatly. "Running into a bunch of dead ends doesn't count."
Fine. "We found out that Lucy has an extremely unflattering nickname in that neighborhood," he offered. "That of the devil himself. And that everyone on that streets knows to stay away from 'the Rhodes kids.'"
"Okay, so what? Everyone knows that they're a bunch of jerks and keeps their distance." Maya took a swig of her tea and instantly looked to regret it.
With his mind coming into focus after that godawful day, and his stomach settling, Miles managed a thin smile. He'd missed this connection before now. "We just had our course of action set for tomorrow, Maya, because there is a very obvious question that now needs to be answered."
She blinked. "What?" she asked thickly, tongue still sore from her mouthful of hot tea.
"If everyone on that street does their best to stay away from the Rhodes family... then why did their neighbor testify that he offered to fix their car for free?" He let his smile grow as Maya sat up straighter. "Exactly. Something doesn't add up, and I intend to find out why. He is going to be our compass pointing straight to that girl... and Phoenix Wright."
"Okay!" Maya said, and pointed straight at Pess, who licked her outstretched finger. "Big dog—"
"Pess."
"Big Pess, we're going to save Nick!"
Pess barked, sharing her excitement, and Miles wondered if his neighbors would complain. The thought faded as quickly as it had come. Tonight, they could deal. "Time for bed. I'll get started on tracking down that neighbor, and with any luck, we'll have a lead waiting for us in the morning. We'll be well rested and ready to go."
"How are you going to be well rested if you're working on tracking him down?"
Miles pulled out his phone. "Detective Gumshoe can claim more thundering idiocy than the entirety of a Congressional session, but if you tell him you need something specific, he will find it."
"And he cares about Nick," Maya added. She hesitated. "We all do."
Miles hesitated, too, and dialed without arguing. The girl smiled in a way that made him feel more awkward than any discussion of dinner tables or dog walking, and Miles cleared his throat as he waited for Gumshoe to answer. "We passed the linen closet. There are sheets and blankets, you can make up a bed on the... yes, Detective. I have a very important job for you tonight."
Maya actually squeezed his arm as she left. She looked as surprised at her own actions as Miles felt, and it took him a beat to realize that Gumshoe was slobbering at the chance to prove himself. "Dylan Sanders. Find him."
"Sanders? The guy who testified about the car?"
"Yes. We have reason to believe he was much closer to the Rhodes family than he let on. If anyone knows where she's gone to, it will probably be him. However, his house is dark and he's not answering his phone, so we're not sure where he might be."
"All right, Mr. Edgeworth," Gumshoe said uncertainly. Miles couldn't blame him; he'd been asked to find a man in one of the largest cities on the planet, without a single lead. "Let me go ask Detective Starr if it's all right if I work on your idea, instead."
Miles waited patiently until Gumshoe returned. Given that Gumshoe hadn't jumped on the chance to provide him with all the information they'd uncovered at the studio, he doubted that there was much of anything to share, and so Angel's permission came as small surprise. "Excellent. And Detective... I am putting my complete and total trust in you for this task. Do you understand me?"
He could practically hear Gumshoe's eyes widen.
"Very good. Call me at seven AM with what you've discovered." Miles waited through the breathless promises. "We'll speak again then." He clicked off his phone, stared at the call duration until it blinked away, and rubbed eyes that he realized were burning. "I'm going to save him," he told Pess, whose tongue lolled out. It made her look like she was smiling.
Dry, aching eyes settled on the empty alcove that now looked lonely for a dinner table. Miles swallowed, then turned to the kitchen door. He could just hear Maya snapping out a blanket to release it from its neat folds. "Come on, girl," he told Pess. "You can sleep on the bed tonight."