Chapter 9—Things Start to Come Together

May 5, 2016

Miles cautiously inched his car into a parking space. The roar of the traffic on Interstate 5 invaded his ears the instant he got out. When he opened the passenger-side front door, Pess hopped out and sat down, waiting for Miles to attach the leash to his collar.

Pess was the result of Miles's first experiment in having a pet. He felt a tad lonely when he first moved to the US to begin prosecuting, so he adopted Pess from a shelter to have a companion. His previous owner had moved to the UK and didn't want him to go through quarantine, so he left Pess at the shelter. Though Pess was generally a good companion from the start, Miles took special care to train him to exhibit more preferable behaviors, such as sitting still in the car, obeying vocal commands, and waiting for him to attach a leash to his collar. Ever since then, the young black Eurasier had been Miles's close friend and bridge to nature.

A few days ago, he had received a call from Mia. Her manner of speaking told him that the information she intended to share was sensitive. Specifically, she had started the topic asking about Chief Gant's health. When Miles got suspicious of her reason for asking, she just said that his White hair seemed unhealthy to her and that she wanted to know if it was the stress of his job that caused it. She then asked if Miles had ever been to De Anza Cove. Simply put, she wanted to meet Miles at De Anza Cove to talk about a connection between Gant and White.

The meeting point was a fair distance from where Miles had parked. He had decided ahead of time that he would arrive fifteen minutes early so that he could walk to De Anza Cove with Pess—they both needed the exercise. Upon attaching the leash and locking the car, Miles looked to Pess.

"Let's go," he said. Pess started walking. After the leash was no longer touching the ground in any area, Miles walked in the same direction. De Anza Cove was a small section of Mission Bay Park, a large park on the coast a short drive north of downtown. The legendary Sea World was much better known than the park that almost completely surrounded it. Miles had no fondness of theme parks; they were too noisy, too messy, too crowded, and the majority of the attractions did not appeal to him. The Skytower was the only part of the theme park he could see, though, pointing up to the heavens, a pod on the outside of the tower climbing up to the top and then back to the ground while rotating, giving everyone inside a view of the surrounding area.

"Sit," Miles said when they approached an intersection. Miles caught up and waited alongside his canine friend for the signal to change and let them cross. A car pulled up to the red light. The windows were down and some infernal rap was blaring. Pess's ears moved, trying to muffle the sound of what some so laughably called music.

A moment later, a second car, also with the windows down, came to the light and stopped next to the rap driver. Miles could hear The Battle of Poltava out that car's windows. The first driver turned up his volume. The second driver responded in kind. The rap driver turned up his volume again until Poltava was almost completely drowned out. A moment later, Poltava reached an incredibly loud portion, almost entirely overpowering the rap. The rap driver, defeated, turned his volume down and closed his windows. Miles looked over, amused. He noticed that the second driver appeared to be laughing as he lowered his own volume.

After the two drivers drove off, the signal changed, allowing Miles and Pess to cross.

"Let's go," he said. Pess started walking, Miles following. The remainder of the walk was relatively uneventful. Someone asked to pet Pess and was allowed a little time to do so, a veritable armada of gulls circled over a picnicking family, and a slacking patrolman on duty became rigid upon noticing Miles.

When they arrived at the arranged meeting spot, Mia was not there, which was understandable—he was a bit early, after all. He took a seat at a picnic table and commanded Pess to lie down in the grass next to the table, putting the loop of the leash around his left wrist. After a minute of passing the time by watching the gulls scavenge through the litter, he noticed Mia approaching. He set the indifferent expression on his face in stone. He failed to see why so many men on the force considered her obnoxious breasts to be attractive.

Thank God it's too cold for immodest outfits, Miles thought as she got closer. Though many men considered her beautiful, Miles found her body almost repulsive. Still, she was on his side, and that was all that really mattered in this situation.

"Who's your friend?" Mia asked once she got within earshot, indicating Pess.

"His name's Pess," Miles responded.

"Can I pet him?"

"Be my guest."

Mia reached down from her side of the table and stroked Pess's back. He looked up briefly to see who was petting him, then relaxed again.

"Shall we get down to business?" Miles asked.

"Sure," Mia replied. She put her elbows on the table and leaned toward Miles. "I didn't find anything conclusive about Lana, but one of White's people sold some information to me. On a defense attorney's pay, it wasn't cheap, either. You see, Chief Gant has a long history of forging evidence."

"Excuse me?" Miles interrupted. "The Chief is not in charge of evidence."

"When he was a detective, he would forge evidence. The tendency died down once he started working with Lana, but one of White's people found out about the forgeries. Ever since then, Gant has been working for White, paying him money, protecting his employees, and more."

So Dzhugashvili was on to something, Miles thought.

"Why would the Chief forge evidence?" he asked. "I know he's selfish, but that seems too risky for him. He's always careful to have all his bases covered."

"No one ever found decisive evidence. Well, okay, White found some, but my point is that no one has ever been able to prove that Gant forged evidence. He was careful not to leave a trail."

"Lana would have caught him when she was working with him."

"Which is why he stopped after they started working together. He came pretty close to being ruined by White, but somehow, he managed to get back on White's good side after SL-9."

"Let me guess: you think White got a hold of Lana at that point."

"Yes. If Lana is under White's control, then she has to allow forged evide—"

"Stop right there, Ms. Fey. Lana would never do such a thing, even if she was being blackmailed."

"What if it was to protect Ema? She did say that Ema was in danger."

"I'll believe it when she says it herself."

"I'm not saying Lana is forging evidence, but given what White is having Gant do, it is possible."

"Until you find proof that Lana is involved in the forgeries, please don't suggest it again. I don't want to hear such terrible words about her from anyone. She knows the importance of only presenting the truth, and I trust her." Miles noticed Mia's pupils had wandered upwards. "Do you have something more to say, Ms. Fey? Perhaps about how I prosecute?" She seemed to jerk back. "I do not interfere with evidence; I am simply the person who presents it. Unless you have anything else to say, this conversation is over."

"One last topic," Mia said. "Do you know anyone named Phoenix Wright?"

Miles's mood changed. It had been almost fifteen years since they last saw each other. Back then, he had wanted to be a defense attorney like his father. Nothing but a childish dream of a misguided cause. The only kind of person worse than a criminal was the kind that tried to get one off the hook. What would Wright think of Miles now?

It doesn't matter, he thought. My path is right before my eyes, and I have no reason to look back or hesitate.

"You know him, don't you?" Mia asked.

"We were friends in elementary school. I forget how we became friends, though. We went our separate ways after my father died. A better question is how do you know him?"

"He's working for my law firm. He passed the bar exam a couple of days ago. I'll probably let him start defending in a few months." She smiled. "Who knows? Maybe you'll meet in court."

"If he thinks I'm the same person I was in grade school, he would probably be better off not seeing me again."

"What do you mean?"

Miles glared at her, although not as harshly as he usually did. "Ms. Fey, I appreciate what you are doing for me and Lana, but that does not give you any right to pry into a past I would rather forget."

"Sorry…"

Miles turned to Pess and stood up. Pess felt the leash moving and did the same.

"Let's go," Miles said to Pess. Then to Mia, "Thank you for the information."

Without another word, Miles and Pess walked back to the parking lot to leave. So Wright was a defense attorney. He most likely wanted to find out why Miles had changed. During the time they were friends in elementary school, Wright had a tendency to pry into other people's secrets when he thought that the secrets were hurting them. He usually ended up just making the situation worse, though. No doubt Wright would push endlessly for Miles to tell him all about his father's death and why he became a prosecutor. Someone as naïve as him would never understand; it would have been better for him if he avoided the world of law altogether.