Chapter 3- A Leap in the Dark
Adrian Andrews was in the middle of a funny anecdote about how she had landed her newest contract when they were interrupted by Franziska's mobile ringing. Her heart sank as she took her phone out of her handbag to have a look at the screen– the attorney wasn't on call tonight, but that had never stopped the prosecutors' office, the police station, or even Interpol from contacting her at all sort of inconvenient times, and Adrian knew her well enough to say that she would never reject a work-related call or refuse to report in, for that matter. Their evening together was running the risk of getting cut short…
"I'm sorry," Franziska said apologetically. "It's the office. I have to answer…"
Adrian took a sip of her wine. She was never particularly interested in whatever Franziska discussed with her colleagues. She only hoped that it was nothing important and the conversation wouldn't last. If they were lucky, it would be a matter of seconds.
"Yes, what is it?" Franziska asked coldly. "Well, the harm is done. I was enjoying dinner."
She let out an exasperated sigh. "Please make it brief. What happened? Can't this wait until tomorrow?"
"Miles Edgeworth? No, he isn't with me. I haven't seen him for months, actually." The familiar name caught Adrian's attention. She tore her gaze away from her plate to look at the prosecutor. Franziska looked as confused as she sounded, and her frown only seemed to deepen with the seconds.
"No, I don't know where he might be… Why are you calling me to ask such foolishly foolish questions?" There was a lengthy pause, then she cried out, "What do you mean 'disappeared'?" Her face had suddenly turned alarmingly pale, the hand that wasn't holding the phone clenching into a tight fist around her napkin.
"No, I had no idea and, yes, I can guarantee that he isn't in Germany. Have the police been informed?"
"I don't care that he has done something like this before. That has nothing do with anything! What have you been waiting for? Just call them already, you foolish-" Her voice had risen again, and several of the diners shot glares in their direction.
The person on the other end of the line was apparently growing agitated, and, for the first time, Adrian overhead a few words of what was being spoken.
"… calm… Ms. von Karma… done… let you know… learn anything."
"Please do." She hung up.
For a moment, Franziska purposely avoided meeting Adrian's gaze. She was staring intently at the immaculate tablecloth, elbow on the table and slender fingers resting on her forehead. Then she looked up, but Adrian could tell that she wasn't really seeing her.
"Franziska… are you alright?" she asked hesitantly.
"Naturally," she snapped, and Adrian instantly knew that she wasn't. When feeling under pressure, aggression had always been Franziska's default response. Something really bad had happened – Adrian had gathered as much – something involving Mr. Edgeworth 'disappearing'. However, since Franziska seemed unwilling to talk about it, she didn't dare bring it up again.
"You were saying…?" Franziska prompted her, and she had no choice but to go on with her story, even though none of them was in the mood to laugh anymore.
"If you would excuse me, I'll be back in a moment…" Franziska said after a few minutes.
"Are you going to call the police?"
The woman nodded and left the table – it was twenty to nine.
The wait was never-ending. Five minutes stretched into ten, then into a quarter of an hour… A dignified waiter came to inquire about whether he should bring the dessert menu, and Adrian had to turn him down. When the clock on the wall in front of her chimed the hour of nine, she finally stood up.
With Franziska gone for so long, she was beginning to worry, and, alone with herself, with nothing to do but pondering it over, her unsure natural was taking over. She remembered her friend heading for the general direction of the lobby and was suddenly assailed with terrible doubts – had she decided to leave her there and go looking for Mr. Edgeworth? Or had Adrian done something wrong? Had she said something that had offended the prosecutor so terribly that she couldn't stand another minute in her presence? Was the phone call an excuse to leave and go home?
On her way to the front desk she threw a glance at the coat rack – but Franziska's black jacket was still hanging neatly in place. Unconvinced, she went and checked the ladies' bathroom just in case, but, unsurprisingly, Franziska wasn't in there.
"Excuse me," Adrian addressed the reception employee. "I'm looking for my friend. She left our table almost half an hour ago and she isn't back yet… Do you remember her? A woman in her early twenties with light blue hair…"
The man motioned to a nearby French window.
"I think I saw your friend pacing about there. She was on the phone… but that was quite a while ago."
"Thank you…"
She looked through the glass panel. The door led onto a well-lit veranda, occupied with many tables and chairs, all carefully covered-up with plastic tarpaulin while waiting for the sunny days. At one corner of the terrace, a staircase led down to the ground level and into the gardens. Beyond the light of the wall-attached lamps, Adrian could make out the dark shapes of trees. Naturally, the place was deserted.
"With all due respect, madam, are you sure your friend hasn't already left?"
"Positive."
She approached the door.
"Pardon me for interfering in your business, madam, but I honestly doubt your friend would have gone to have a night stroll in such a dreadful weather. It's been raining cats and dogs all evening."
"Fine, I think I'll just have a quick look, though."
"As you wish…"
He bowed, and, hesitantly, Adrian stepped out onto the porch. She could hear the astounding clatter of the rain on the roof of the veranda. She moved closer to the balustrade and looked down at the park that spread below. No one in sight, obviously… She was about to give up and reenter the restaurant when she suddenly caught sight of something – the small wooden portal that guarded the top of the stair was ajar. Somebody must have forgotten to close it, she rationalized, but still… Could Franziska, against all odds, have gone down to the garden? Confused, Adrian walked down a few steps, then stopped for a moment.
"Franziska?" she called. She was greeted by nothing but silence.
Halfway down, she suddenly felt that she was making a fool of herself, wandering out of the restaurant and into the night like that. Franziska had probably gone back inside and, by some sort of bad timing, they had inadvertently managed to miss each other. She imagined the prosecutor back to the dining table, surprised at not finding her there.
Adrian turned on her heels and began to climb back, but her foot suddenly got caught in something and she tripped, all but spraining her ankle in the process. Wincing, she glanced down and saw that there was some sort of thin rope in a coil on the dimly lit floor. The space of a moment, she wondered whatever reason the staff of the restaurant could possibly have for letting such a useless and dangerous thing lying about there. But it only lasted a second. Because then, Adrian understood, and then, she gasped out. Upon closer examination it had turned out that the thing wasn't a cord at all, it was a whip.
She was so frightened suddenly that she could hardly think. In fact there were only two things that ran through Adrian's mind at the time. One of them was that the one she searched for had indeed been there; the other, that she could think of nothing in the world that would prompt that person to willingly abandon her precious whip.
Adrian probably shouldn't have acted that way, so impulsively, so recklessly. She was out of her mind with worry and thought that she was doing for the best, but if she had known what she was about to face, she might have thought twice before rushing down the steps and into the darkness.