EPISODE 16

PART V

"You may enter."

"Hello. Are you Miles Edgeworth?" The man asking was Edgeworth's age or perhaps a little younger with dark curly hair that seemed to wish to go a million different directions at one time.

"Yes, I am Prosecutor Edgeworth. What can I do for you?"

"Hi, I'm Josh Walker. I'm a defense attorney. I just moved here from Borginia and I was told you would be a good person to speak to in order to help me get my bearings. I hope you don't mind helping the other team, so to speak."

"No, that's fine."

Defense Attorney Walker had blue eyes and a friendly smile. He wore a grey pinstripe suit and brown shoes that didn't go well with a grey pinstripe suit.

"I'm a little nervous about having trials here. You and Ms. von Karma are legendary."

Miles smirked, but not for the reasons Walker might have suspected. For the last few weeks since his break-up with Franziska, Edgeworth had been going out of his way to hear and think about his sister as little as possible, but here this earnest man made her a topic of conversation right away.

"So what specifically can I do to help you get acclamated to our courts?"

Generally, this kind of thing was done by paralegals, but Miles wasn't above helping someone out and he liked Mr. Walker immediately. He had a way about him that Edgeworth found comforting.

"Well, if you could help me figure out where I'm supposed to file my paperwork that would be really helpful."

"You do have an assistant to help you with all that, don't you?"

"Not yet. I'm conducting interviews tomorrow. I hope I can find someone competent. You don't know anyone who might be interested do you?"

"Not off the top of my head, but if I think of anybody I could call you."

"That would be great." Defense Attorney Walker opened his briefcase and handed Prosecutor Edgeworth a business card.

"That has my office and cell number if you ever need to get in touch with me. I really appreciate this. It'll be nice knowing someone instead of just walking into my first trial being a stranger."

"Yes, no need to be a stranger here. How about I show you around and introduce you to some people? We could have lunch in the café. Can you spare the time?"

"Sure! I've got all night to look over these resumes. You can never learn anything from a damned resume anyways."

Edgeworth showed Walker around and they shared a little bit about themselves, nothing too personal, just what schools they graduated from, how long they'd been practicing, the usual lawyer type banter.

It wasn't until lunch that Miles asked Walker something that was nagging at him.

"You're from Borginia, right? Why don't you have an accent?"

"Oh, I just moved here from there, but I'm originally from the States. That's why I came to see you. I heard you're also a stranger in a strange land, so to speak."

"Yes. I moved here years ago after my father was killed. Then I became a prosecutor and I worked in California for a while and then I moved back here. I have dual citizenship." Miles found something intriguing about this man. He feared that his interest was bordering on attraction, but he blamed that on the loneliness of having so recently lost the love of his life. Miles knew he was very lonely without Franziska in his life.

"So what on earth made you move from the US to Borginia? Most people don't even know it exists let alone be able to pinpoint it on a map."

"Oh, my boyfriend was from there. We met in college."

Miles swallowed. The man was gay. All these years he'd had to guess people's sexual orientation and here for once someone just said it. No apologies, no shame, no "don't tell anyone." Walker matter-of-factly talked about his boyfriend without batting an eye at what preconceived notions, biases or prejudices it might elicit. Miles admired that. I wish I could be like that, well really I wish Franziska hadn't slept with some other guy so I could still be with the love of my life, but really what does it matter? We're over.

"Is your boyfriend an attorney, too?"

"No, he's a writer, but we're not together anymore. That's why I moved here. I needed some space. Borginia is an awfully small country. I swear my ex is related to half the people who live there."

Josh laughed. His laugh was infectious and Miles found himself laughing, too, though he wasn't entirely sure why. This is nice, Miles thought. He felt like he had found a friend, a kindred spirit, another stranger in a strange land indeed.