Chapter 4—A Mess

July 2, 2015

"Mr. White is not happy about this, Ms. Skye," Chief Gant said, stating the obvious.

"What was I supposed to do?" Lana countered. "Force Dzhugashvili to present the file? We're lucky he didn't raise a big stink over it. I even had someone send the file to Grossberg so he could present it, just as you asked me to. He just barely avoided getting disbarred for it."

"Really? What happened?"

"The instant Grossberg presented the forged file, Dzhugashvili called its legitimacy into question and called various members of the investigation team to the stand. Their testimony proved that the file was a fake. Grossberg was held in contempt of court and the trial ended with a guilty verdict. Dzhugashvili confronted me about the file again and told me he had even more reason to believe the forgery was an inside job now. After all, forged evidence that was given to him by someone within the department would not just magically appear in Grossberg's office."

"He needs to trust people more. I want you to fire him."

"I'm not done, Chief. When he told me about the forgery, he said that he was almost certain that you were behind it. He also said that he will not hesitate to bring this matter before the commissioners if he learns about another forgery. If he does that, you and I are both in a huge mess."

"Why does he think I'm the one behind the forgery?"

"His wife told him that you were the one who tried to cover it up. Before you fire her, think about it. If either one of them is dismissed without a good reason other than being a threat, we'll soon go down with them."

"I suppose you're right," Gant said with a bit of a sigh.

"Now that he suspects you, he'll probably keep a close eye on you. If you're going to try to keep me under your control, you'll need to be a lot more cautious."

"Ms. Skye, are you trying to counterattack?"

"Not at all. I have just as much to lose from this as you do. However, I think we'll have to avoid tampering with any case that the Dzhugashvilis handle from now on; they'll spot the forgery in an instant."

"You're right about that. Still, I owe Mr. White an explanation."

"Tell him the prosecutor on the case spotted the forgery on his own."

"And you think he'll buy that?" Gant asked, partially laughing, partially worried about what White would do to him. Lana made a mental note to remember that moment when her tormentor showed fear.

"I don't know exactly what hold he has over you, but you're not one to set off a mine unless you're sure you won't get caught in the blast. I'm sure he knows he has as much control over you as you have over me."

"That doesn't change what happened. He'll probably think we've turned on him."

"What do you mean 'we?' He has no direct hold on me."

"But I do. You're the one who got us into this mess, so find a way to get out of it."

"How am I the one responsible? You're the one who requested the forgery and then asked me to send it to Grossberg when Dzhugashvili refused to use it."

The telephone rang. Gant picked it up.

"Police Chief Gant," he said into the receiver. There was a pause. "I was just discussing the matter with the Chief Prosecutor." "No, Dzhugashvili spotted the forgery completely on his own." "Why would I betray you? If I betrayed you, I'd be ruined." "No, please don't." "I can't get rid of them." "Because they know the forgery was an inside job! If I get rid of them, they'll expose everything, including your involvement in this!" "They're too smart for you. They've probably got a plan." "No, I'm not protecting them! I've got even more to lose than you do if our involvement's publicized!" "Look, I had the evidence sent to Grossberg so he could use it to win the case!" "I know that!" "I told you, Dzhugashvili did this all on his own!" "Thank you, Mr. White."

Gant hung up. He was covered in sweat. Lana felt herself smiling.

"What are you smiling at?" he demanded.

"It's nice to see the torturer become the tortured every now and then," she answered.

"Cursed man! Why does he do this to me?!"

"The same reason you're blackmailing me—personal gain."

I'd sure like to know what sort of hold White has over Gant, Lana thought.

"You can leave, Skye. White let us off with a warning."

"Gladly," Lana answered.

Lana was about to get into her car when Jake stopped her.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"Depends on what about and how long," Lana answered.

"What happened to you? You used to be the nicest gal I knew, n' now you're colder 'n a desert night in the middle o' January."

"Nothing happened. People change, Officer Marshall."

"You better not be thinkin' I'll buy that. There's no way you'd change so much just like that."

"What do you want me to say? 'I changed because I spent too much time with Mr. Edgeworth?'"

"Never said you were spendin' too much time with the boy. I'm thinkin' he's the reason you changed, though. He dumped you, didn't he?"

"How I behave at work has nothing do with my feelings for Mr. Edgeworth."

"'Tain't just work, Lana. My Madonna says you've been like this everywhere."

"One: please don't refer to me by my first name when I'm on the clock. Two: don't pry into my personal life. It's nothing you should care about."

Jake said something in response, but Lana didn't pay attention. Instead, she just got into her car and walked off.

She and Jake had dated about two years ago, and it lasted for a year. In reality, it was little more than a mutual physical attraction. However, she did not realize it at the time. She had Angel Starr to thank for uncovering the truth, though. Starr was able to lure Jake into a rather passionate affair with her. Lana herself had been insistent on limiting just how passionate her relationship with Jake was, so it was only natural that he sought another outlet.

Lana thought she really loved him, but when she happened to overhear Starr mentioning Jake when showing off her never-decreasing list of boyfriends, she interrogated Jake. He was pretty good at lying, but there was more than enough evidence that he was in an affair with Starr. That was the end of their relationship. Lana concluded from how quickly she got past her feelings for Jake that those feelings were not actually love.

Almost the entire department reacted to the breakup—except for Miles. When he was on the clock, Miles focused on only his work; he cared nothing about what went on among the ranks unless it was relevant to a case he was handling. Gumshoe seemed attached to him, though, and Lana learned through him that Miles was not necessarily a bad person—he just had a passion for his work. Sure enough, he and Lana became good friends after Gumshoe proposed that they meet on their own time.

Jake had tried a few times to win Lana back, but when she fell in love with Miles, the attempts stopped rather abruptly. Besides, Jake had his Angel. Even if those two were willing to share their lovers, Lana was not.

Lana managed to return home without anyone noticing—save Katara, who almost always tried to go outside whenever the front door was opened. The only other place accessible to her was the balcony, which had a screen put up around it to prevent accidents. Ema was lying on her stomach on the living room floor, reading her chemistry textbook with the usual enthusiasm. Her pink-shaded glasses were over her eyes, which were eagerly looking at a diagram of a large molecule (large for a molecule, anyway). Her headphones were over her ears, which explained why she didn't hear the door open.

Katara, having yet again failed to escape, walked over to Ema and curled up on top of the textbook in the usual Burmese fashion.

"Hey!" Ema cried, pretending to be upset at the cat's behavior. "I was reading that, you know." The cat didn't move. She just looked up at Ema as if to say "Why pay attention to that when you can pay attention to me?" Ema lifted Katara up and placed her aside, noticing Lana.

"Oh! Lana, you're home!" Every part of her face seemed to smile. It had been long enough for her to know not to hug her older sister anymore, but she still smiled. Had it just been Miles Lana had to close herself off to, the SL-9 Incident would not have made her life so torturous. Building a wall between herself and her sister, though, was living Hell. Ema had an innocence about her that was impossible for adults to not notice, from her childish eyes to her adorable voice to her bright smile. Whenever Lana had company over, they would comment on how cute Ema was.

Oftentimes, Lana felt more like Ema's mother than her sister. For almost ten years, Lana had been handling all the tasks their parents handled: cooking, cleaning, driving, paying taxes, buying food and clothes, taking care of the cats (even though there was only one when their parents were alive), and, of course, raising Ema. Lana had had to mature faster than most Americans her age. In a matter of months, she had to learn how to keep their house running. Ultimately, they had to move to a condo, though. Lana was competent, but she was just a secretary when their parents died—not nearly a high enough income to pay the property taxes on the house they once lived in and keep herself and Ema happy and healthy.

"I've been trying to figure out how electric Pokémon use electricity," Ema started, repeatedly staring at the cat next to her, "but Katara keeps getting in the way."

Naturally, Lana thought. Ever since she was introduced to the show, Ema had been determined to scientifically explain how Pokémon were capable of using their attacks. She had gotten an A+ on a school project that explained how Fire Pokémon could breathe fire. It was mainly theoretical, but it made sense. That report was her pride and joy. A copy of it was in the bookshelf, easy to spot since it was the only binder on the shelf. Lana had been incredibly proud—not to mention amazed—at all the effort she had put into it.

"Have you done your homework already?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, it's all done," Ema replied.

"Prove it." It was uncommon, but when Ema was really excited about something, she would lie about doing her homework. She seemed rather eager to study electric attacks, so it was feasible that she had lied.

Ema got up and walked over to her backpack, taking out her binder and showing the assignment list. Then she proceeded to show Lana all of the assignments on the list—complete.

"There's your proof, Sis," Ema said, a slight smirk on her face from having disproved Lana's suspicion. She put the binder back, returned to the textbook (after getting Katara off of it again), and resumed work on her "studies."

Lana shrugged and walked over to the bookshelf, taking out a book to read. Soon enough, Barbara came and curled up on Lana's lap. The day had calmed down, and it stayed a quiet one. After what had happened at work, Lana was relieved that no other dangers awaited her. Living in the shadow of a terrible secret had a way of making one value the peaceful, boring days in which nothing significant happened.