Alright, I get it. Miles sure is SLOW. Rofl
-drops of jelly
Standard Disclaimer Applies.
Eighth Turnabout
Miles Edgeworth pulled over at the Detention Center, where the mastermind was currently in questioning, as told to him by Ema.
"I appreciate your efforts in coming all the way here, but I simply won't allow you to push yourselves any further." Ema Skye went out of the car.
"Ema, please, we have to clear a lot of things up." Edgeworth pleaded.
"Who cares if we've turned into walking zombies?! I'm going to pulp the information out of that fool." Franziska said.
"Edgeworth, you don't look good, and you aren't looking any better Franziska." Phoenix Wright walked towards their car. It turns out he was investigating ever since he brought the boss to detention.
"Phoenix Wright!" Franziska's face glowed with relief seeing his face.
"You're the one who got stabbed and kidnapped, so look who's talking, Wright." Edgeworth said.
"I'm alright now. The wound wasn't deep and I'm in better shape than any of you, now go home and get some rest." Phoenix ordered.
"You fool, if I had my whip, I'd..." Franziska grumbled.
"On one condition, Wright." Edgeworth sighed, glaring at him.
"Miles Edgeworth!" Franziska's face had a jaw-dropped expression.
"I'll fill you in of course, and Ms. Lana Skye's handling the case in your absence in the meantime. She'll pass everything onto you tomorrow." Phoenix said.
"... Good enough." Edgeworth looked away, sulking.
"Mr. Edgeworth, I'll take over and drive you guys back!" Detective Gumshoe ran over to them panting.
"Who's back there with the questioning team, Detective Gumshoe?" Ema asked.
"Oh, I left Officer Meekins with them." He laughed.
"What? I'm coming over then, later guys." She waved to the group and ran towards the entrance.
"Don't worry Edgeworth. We'll get to the bottom of this in due time. For now, build your strength for tomorrow's trial, even if you're not handling the prosecution." Phoenix said.
"I see. I'll follow your words today Wright." He moved to the back seats with Franziska while Gumshoe took over the driver's seat.
"Take care of yourself too, Franziska." He smiled gently at her.
"Hmph, you're fond of not practicing while you preach, aren't you, Phoenix Wright?" she smirked at him as if to condemn him.
"Huh? No way! I mean, yeah I did get stabbed or whatever but..."
"No excuses fool!" she pointed at him smugly.
She doesn't even have a whip! What the heck?! He thought.
"You better get your own share of rest, Phoenix Wright. If I catch you faltering even just a little in tomorrow's trial, you'll get a good serving of whipping even if you're stronger after eight years!" she snapped.
"Yes I will Franziska." He nodded as he looked at both of them with eyes full of concern.
"See you later pal." Gumshoe gave a quick salute then drove off.
"Alright... Let's get down to business." Phoenix Wright paced back to the entrance.
I have uncovered a number of facts from my investigation, and from Apollo's:
The boss's name is Stephen Fergusson, a man who had involvement with mafia activity five years ago. He was kicked out for backfiring in several black market deals.
Five years ago Dr. Lanette Steelbird and a group of other professionals were responsible for his arrest after being exposed trying to make a black market deal by selling body organs illegally circulated. He escaped from prison just this year.
The victims of the serial killings matched the names of the professionals targeted.
Crime Scene Report, care of Criminal Affairs, received from Apollo Justice
Fergusson set up the evidence to pinpoint Dr. Lanette Steelbird by leaving the following evidences at each of the crime scenes:
Crime Scene A – A fruit knife covered in blood bearing Lanette's fingerprints, victim - Lawyer
Crime Scene B – A footprint of Lanette on the victim's rubber suit, victim – Electric Engineer, died of electrocution
Crime Scene C – Lanette's steel baseball bat with her fingerprints, it was stained with blood, victim – Cardiologist, died of severe head trauma
Crime Scene D – A lighter belonging to Lanette, of course, with her fingerprints, victim – Businessman, died of cremation (is that the right term? Pardon me.)
Crime Scene E – A gun registered under Dr. Steelbird, fired twice, ballistic marks match bullets found in victims' hearts, bears no prints, victim – two doctors
Crime Scene F – No such place. No sixth crime was committed.
There were too many cases on this. But he was prepared to take them all on for Dr. Steelbird's acquittal.
There was the motive, and there were the methods of murder.
Now that's left is to piece together everything. Phoenix Wright knows that Fergusson couldn't have done all these alone to frame Lanette. He had an accomplice.
This accomplice turned out to be a woman called, Cecile, Dr. Steelbird's step mother. According to Ema Skye's report, Cecile's motive was to take Lanette out to claim the family fortune and inheritance for Lanette all to herself.
"Ema, all this evidence, where is it?" Phoenix asked Ema upon entering.
"They're all going to be submitted in court. Would you like me to prepare you some copies?" Ema put on her rose-tinted glasses and smiled.
"Thank you!" he smiled cheerfully.
"Mr. Wright!!!!!" Apollo rushed and flung the door to the room they were in open.
"Oh, hello Apollo." Phoenix greeted him.
"MR. WRIIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHHT!" Apollo shouted, surprised and glad to see him alive and ran over.
"How's the investigation going?" Phoenix laughed.
"I found something interesting, let's go back to the office first, I left Trucy alone." Apollo said.
"Alright then. Ema, I'll come back later. Thanks for your help." Phoenix turned to her.
"Okay, drop by later for the evidence." She smiled.
Wright and Co. Law Offices
June 6 7:15 pm
"I found this on the latest scene." Apollo handed Phoenix a maroon-coloured cellphone with a Steel Samurai strap.
"Edgeworth's cell phone?" Phoenix took it and slid it open.
"A conversation was recorded in there." Apollo's face grew serious.
"... I see." Phoenix listened to the recording.
Nothing could be heard the first twenty minutes, just a little sound of rusting, footsteps and text messaging.
The thing unique about this model is that one can record things while making use of the other functions of the phone. His phone was originally an mp3 player and recorder unit, but Edgeworth didn't make use of those additional features much until that day.
After the twenty minutes, a thud was heard and Edgeworth's little voice was heard, as if he was struggling. Then after a minute of silence, he heard a woman's voice.
"That'll teach that boy to mess with me. Let's dispose of this guy, that other prosecutor and that attorney at my house."
"Madame Cecile,... your house? That might throw some suspicion on you." One thug said.
"Nah, they'll suspect that wretched Dr. Steelbird as always. If not for her being alive and free, I would have had all that inheritance to myself." She grumbled.
"I'll let the boss know about their deaths and who handled it." He pulled out his phone.
"You don't need to tell him they're in my house. I want it to be a surprise for him. A perfect close to a perfect chain of murders. Heck, I never cared about those victims. I just want Lanette out of my way." She laughed.
"Yes, 'maam." The thug began to dial.
The automatic timer of the phone's recording function had cut off after.
"Lucky they didn't discover his phone." Apollo sighed.
"This is our ace." Phoenix smiled widely.
"Good luck for tomorrow's trial, Mr. Wright." Apollo's eyes shined in excitement.
"I won't be alone. You're going to be on the defense box with me." He laughed.
"!...... Really?!" Apollo was surprised. It wasn't going to be the first time he and Phoenix were going to be in the same defense box, but he couldn't avoid being nervous over this wacked up case and being against Prosecutor Edgeworth.
"Yes. And don't worry, of course Klavier Gavin will be on the prosecution team as well." Phoenix continued.
"... Okay." He sighed.
"What was that sigh for?" Phoenix laughed and hit Apollo's back.
Franziska's House
June 6 7:00 pm
"Just come inside, Miles Edgeworth!" Franziska, holding on to Detective Gumshoe, called out to Miles who was standing outside beside the police car in that semi-cold weather. It was generally summer, but nights were as cold.
"... We could have gone to my house." He spat out the words.
"What, and get ambushed again? No thank you, fool." She sighed, annoyed yet intrigued.
"Sir, it's better for you to stay here, besides the police are still around your house." Gumshoe grinned.
"Alright. Just for tonight." He slowly walked into her house.
Franziska switched on the lights and asked Gumshoe to help her over to the cabinet at one side of her living room.
She opened the cabinet and took out a fancy-looking cane with a blue jewel on it. It was presumed that it belonged to her late father, Manfred von Karma.
"Good... with this, I can walk by myself temporarily." She tried to walk with the cane.
Gumshoe and Edgeworth were trying to stifle a laugh, while denying in their head that their faces were turning beet red.
"Why are you looking at me like that you foolishly foolish fools!?!" she angrily cried.
"Well, seeing that you're able to scream like that, I'd presume you're feeling better." Edgeworth remarked.
"Then, I'd better get going. Hope you guys will have a good rest. See you tomorrow at court. The session starts at night too, unusually." Gumshoe scratched his head.
"Thank you Detective Gumshoe." Miles nodded in acknowledgement as he walked out the door.
"Hmph. You don't look fine at all Miles Edgeworth. Stop pretending and get to bed." She glared at him, while he was sitting on the couch.
"I guess I have to get better first." His face showed pain and frustration as he got up and found the guest room. Before he closed the door when he got in, Franziska caught up to him.
"I'll bring some dinner over." She said, timidly.
"Will you be fine? Your foot..." he eyed her injury.
"......Stop worrying about me like that! I'm not a child anymore. You sicken me Miles Edgeworth!" she stormed, limping away with her cane.
Miles heaved a sigh and waited obediently inside the room, but collapsed on the bed.
O-o-O
"Miles Edgeworth..." Franziska, seated on the bed tried to shake him awake.
"Uhm... Sorry." He woke up.
"You have to fill your stomach. You took medicine earlier without eating a bite. How did you survive!?" she gave him a tray containing some congee and a cup of hot chocolate.
He had difficulty in eating. He had grown too weak. Franziska couldn't stand it any longer and took the plate and began to feed him spoon by spoon.
"Franziska..." he blushed after swallowing a spoon of the dish.
She was confused where that blush had come from, his fever, or...
"You're really pathetic you know." She pouted and gave him another spoon.
He traced a little smile on his lips and leaned on her shoulder, not on the pillow.
"H-h-hey, what's wrong?" her face was flushed even more.
"Thank you, Franziska." He said gently.
"It's just a congee dish... And I can't make you starve!" she became defensive.
"You saved me earlier... From... that gunshot." He whispered into her ear. His hot breath tickled her, but sent chills down her spine. Unknowingly, he was slowly breaking apart all her defences.
"Prosecutor Gavin did. He diverted that shot, not I." She said, slowly.
"If you hadn't pushed me onto the bed, we both would have been done for." He said.
".............. Quiet!" she blushed so much thinking about that comment just now. The word 'bed' drove her crazy, she shoved the next spoon of congee into his mouth.
He didn't notice the pain anymore. His senses were going numb.
"Sorry!" she turned her head away.
He finished the dish and drank the hot chocolate and took some medicine. Then he became strong enough to get up, but not without trembling, and went inside the bathroom to have a bath.
Franziska was trying to cool herself down. She hated this feeling. It had come to haunt her again after over ten years – her crush on him. She really couldn't remember when she was starting to become nervous when he was near again, was it this recent case? Will this feeling vanish once the case is over and they go back to their everyday lives?
Her blood hadn't settled yet, but Miles Edgeworth came out of the bathroom and crawled back into bed.
"Will you be okay? I'm going to bed now too." She took the tray.
"Help me sleep." Miles was weakened alright, but he was still insomniac.
"... Fine, I'll get the 2009 Constitution Encyclopedia." She pulled out a book from a shelf in the room.
She began to read to him, trying her best to bore him to sleep.
"It's funny, isn't it... It's the other way around this time." He smirked, his eyes slowly closing.
"What?" she turned to him.
"Nothing." He eyes shut and he drifted off into slumber.
She was about to exit his room when she suddenly heard his faint voice:
"Ich liebe dich..."
She was stopped in her tracks. That was the last straw.
She dropped the tray in surprise and walked over to his bed and sat next to his body, laid down on the bed.
"I... must be dreaming... Or you must be dreaming, Miles Edgeworth." She muttered.
He opened his grey-hazel eyes slowly and looked into hers.
"You fool..." tears began to build up in her eyes as she nearly collapsed, but fell on the bed.
"... I thought I was the weak one tonight." Miles Edgeworth held down her shoulder.
She gave him a long hard look, still doing a reality-check.
He technically didn't give her time. He pressed his lips onto hers, tenderly and laid-back. He had an ounce of regret in that kiss. He was scared to share off his fever to her, but she responded duly. She kissed him back and embraced his feverish body.
.... That's what came across her mind in a short span of time after she hear him say those three German words. But to her dismay, that was just her imagination.
Yes, he did say those three German words, but she didn't have the courage and pretended not to hear, closing the door gently behind her.
The evidence is set, the defense is ready, all's left is for the prosecution to recover and get ready as well.
...Until that next day, the trial, where the real battle begins.
To be continued...
Ahh... Too bad, Edgeworth. You have to do better than that LOL. I hope you enjoyed that chapter! Please review!
-drops of jelly