CHAPTER 3

Covering for Maya's condition wasn't exactly in my job description, but it promised to be an interesting challenge. Could Maya and I really pull this off against the super-observant former Ace Attorney?

The charade began easily enough because that first day Phoenix was out of the office a lot and the next day started out similarly. I had a case and so Trucy and I went to interview our client at the detention center while Maya stayed in bed. Phoenix studied and then went out to run some errands, but it got harder when the three of us all got home at about the same time and found Maya cleaning. Cleaning of all things!

Maya puts things away, but she doesn't scrub things. That's Trucy or Vera's job. Phoenix does the toilet cause he's super particular about how clean his crapper is for some unknown reason. See, we all have our jobs. But please don't believe that cleaning falls to the girls because Phoenix and I are sexist. Trucy accuses me and her dad of that all the time, but it's really a matter of practicality. Phoenix and I just don't notice messes until Trucy or Vera point them out to us. And when we have attempted to clean our efforts are pooh-poohed as haphazard, incomplete, or just plain shoddy and after you've heard Trucy's tongue-cluck of disapproval for the first time you are far less likely to try to clean in future. But in all honesty the messiest of us is probably Maya. I'm convinced she could live in a sty. She does just enough housekeeping to make sure none of us get Listeria or something but not enough for any semblance of order or decency.

But there we were at the office and Maya was down on all fours scrubbing the front of the cabinets in the kitchenette.

"Maya? Are you feeling alright?" Phoenix asked her.

Since when does nesting start this early? Think of something, Apollo! Quick!

"Yeah, a…she was just helping me. I spilt my coffee all over the place…big mess. Anyways, Maya was just helping me get it all cleaned up so you could have a snack when you got back."

This didn't sound completely ridiculous, but I needed to work on my delivery. I was probably sweating like a pig and I was stumbling over the words like a lying eyewitness.

This is going to be tougher than I thought. Couldn't Maya act normal for a few more days?

Phoenix didn't seem to buy our explanation, but just said, "Well, thanks." And grabbed some crackers from the cupboard that he munched as he eyed the two of us suspiciously and shuffled off.

I shot Maya the what-the-hell-are-you-doing-look and she shrugged.

Damn hormones.

I turned around and almost bumped into Trucy, the other walking lie detector in our clan. I had forgotten all about her for a moment. She raised her eyebrow at Maya and me knowing that I had been lying not only because she knew I hadn't spilt any coffee but also because Trucy is even better at catching a liar than I am; she can do it unaccessorized.

"Polly, what's going on?" She leaned in to whisper to me.

"Nothin'."

"Liar."

"Even I'm allowed a few secrets."

"Not from me you're not." She smiled and I prayed that Trucy's strange power over me wouldn't take hold and make me blab.

"A man should be allowed some secrets." This was the dumbest thing I could say, but it never occurred to me how things might start looking.

"Polly, one should never have secrets with another man's wife…unless you're in a sitcom on TV." She rocked back and forth on her feet like she did whenever she said something she thought was terribly clever.

"We may as well be. You wear a costume everyday. Your mommy channels dead people and I've been caught with your magic panties in my pockets on multiple occasions. Face it, Truce, our life is one big comedy to whoever's watching."

"Except for the parts where people get brutally murdered or kidnapped and you were abandoned by your mother."

I exhaled. Why did it seem like my mother's abandonment of me was on my mind so much lately. Must be having a mom-to-be around. "Truce, quit your yammering. We have work to do. We gotta get over to that crime scene before Klema shows up."

"Klema? Klavier, Ema. That is hilarious, Polly! You gotta tell Daddy. It sounds like a disease. 'I can't come to work today. I got the Klema.'"

"It is a disease." I muttered knowing that Trucy and I would be forced to witness the two of them arguing and getting themselves all hot and bothered while we tried desperately to get some work done namely finding the missing murder weapon.

~xxxx~

But it wasn't until day five when my pact with Maya really got tested.

Phoenix and I were sitting in lawn chairs up on the roof trying to soak in some sun while studying property law, though honestly we weren't making good progress. The glare from the sun was too great and we both found laws governing ownership of property to be some of the dullest material one has to study as a lawyer. And you have to study a lot of boring stuff as an attorney.

Phoenix had seemed distracted and hadn't been doing a very good job answering the questions and he was getting frustrated. I'd never seen him like this. He was cursing himself for every answer he got wrong and muttering under his breath about how he didn't even want to be a lawyer again and why was Maya making him do this.

Nervously, I set the flashcards aside and closed my eyes pretending that I suddenly felt the urge to get a tan.

Because, uh, I'm a bathing beauty at heart...ah that's it. Yeah.

"Apollo, can I ask you something?"

I opened one eye. "Sure. What's up?"

"It's about Maya."

Oh, here it comes. Maya better not kill me. I told her I wouldn't lie to him and I won't. He's like my best friend…well other than Truce, of course.

Phoenix leaned toward me and said, "Has she seemed different to you lately?"

"No. Why?"

Did I answer too quickly?

"Well, not even a week ago she was all over me," he blushed and his words sped up out of embarrassment. "And now she suddenly seems really tired and I think she's losing weight. I'm worried about her. Maybe all those years of burgers and salty noodles are catching up to her. Maybe I should try to get her to go to the doctor…"

He seemed really troubled. I felt sorry for the guy, but I figured he could survive one more week of uncertainty.

I don't buy this whole "I don't want to be an attorney again" BS. He's just scared shitless about trying and failing.

"Maya has been sleeping a lot lately, but I don't think it's anything to worry about."

"I don't know. It isn't like her to be so…" Serene? Peaceful?

"Lethargic," he said.

Oh, come on man! How can you not have noticed? She's got the glow now. I had no idea what all this talk about pregnant woman "glowing" was. I thought it was a skin condition or something, but I get it now. It's how happy she is, like internally happy. She's going around with this little hint of a smile on her lips like she's got a special little secret. Think about it, Phoenix. You can work this out. I know you can, buddy.

"Or maybe it's her thyroid." Or maybe you can't. How can you be so freaking brilliant and so completely stupid at the same time, Phoenix? Can you explain that to me sometime? I'd love to know.

"She keeps saying she has a headache…"

Jesus, Maya! With all your creativity you couldn't come up with a more original excuse?

"Well, it's been really hot in the office and I'm sure she's stressed about the exam almost as much as you are."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right. She's always felt guilty she wasn't there the day I lost my badge. She thinks that if I'd had help that day I might have been a little more cautious about what I was doing."

The whole situation made me feel sad. Here was Phoenix whose innocence in the creation of forged evidence had been proven but he still had to retake the exam and go through the entire application process to once again become an attorney and then there was Maya haunted by guilt that she hadn't been there to support him the day the shit had hit the fan. Both of them knowing that it was quite possible the scenario would have played out differently had they been together. But Vera had taught me that chasing "what-ifs" only leads to heartache. Her life was a case study in the importance of living in the present and once you've taken responsibility for the past to not dwell on it too much. You can't change the past. No one can.

"Phoenix, what were you thinking about that day in court before you presented the diary page? You've told me before that you were feeling distracted and I get worried…what if I-"

"You're not me, Apollo."

"I know that, but I want to learn from you. I mean isn't that the whole point of having a mentor?"

He chuckled. "I suppose so, but which one of us is it with the flashcards and which one of us is it stumbling through the answers."

"Very funny, Phoenix. You know that taking the exam is merely a formality. The fact I have a badge doesn't somehow make me better than you."

He looked at me as though he wasn't sure and then said, "Apollo, I don't think you'll make my mistake. Now let's get back to some hot property law action!"

Way to dodge my question there, Oh Great Mentor of Mine.