The Phantom Turnabout
Day 1 – Investigation
Phoenix's POV
June 20th
Fey Manor
Channeling Chamber
"You're kidding, right? The murder happened here?" I said, looking around the dimly lit room.
"Ye—EEP!" Maya squeaked as a shadow suddenly loomed over us.
"YOU! What are you doing here, pal?" the all too familiar voice of Detective Dick Gumshoe boomed.
"Um, I live here?" Maya said, peeking out from behind me.
"And I'm on this case," I said.
"Oh," Gumshoe said, his face falling. "You're that Fenton kid's attorney?" I could tell from the tone of his voice, and that sad puppy dog look on his face that he didn't like the idea of a fifteen year old taking the fall for this.
"Yes. And I need evidence if I'm going to get his acquitted," I said, hoping Gumshoe would throw me a bone.
"Well, good luck. So far, all the evidence has been pointing to him doing it," he said.
"Like what?" Maya asked.
"He was found in this room, holding the murder weapon, with the victim's blood on his clothes," Gumshoe said. I felt sweat spring up onto my forehead. True, I've won cases more hopeless then this, but all those times before, I had never been defending a kid.
"And let me guess. There's no evidence to suggest he didn't do it?" I said, hoping against hope.
"Well, other than him winding up with a concussion, no," Gumshoe said.
"His head injury happened during the murder?" I asked.
"Yeah. He was fine at dinner, but he had that injury when I found him," Maya said. I turned to her.
"You found him?" I said, surprised. Maya nodded.
"Yeah, around nine, nine-thirty. I was the one who called the cops, and the ambulance for Danny," she explained. I nodded before looking back at Gumshoe.
"Well, Detective, do you mind if we look around?" I asked. Gumshoe looked at me, a little flabbergasted.
"Why do you even ask? I'll say no, and you'll still do it," he asked. I grinned brightly at him.
"Thanks Detective!" I said, moving more into the room, ignoring the sigh from him.
On the alter, right under the mirror, was a splotch of blood. In the middle of the room was another blood stain, this one much bigger.
"That's where Danny was when I came in," Maya said, looking at the alter, before looking down at the blood spot in the middle of the room. "And where Jade was," she added softly. I wrapped an arm around her, knowing that despite the brave face, she was really upset. She had lost her mother, older sister, now her cousin, and nearly her own life too many times to count.
Maya looked up at me and smiled.
"What's wrong, Nick?" she asked. I studied her face before smiling.
"Nothing, Maya. Just making sure seeing a dead body didn't spook you," I said. She actually recoiled at the thought.
"After as many as I've seen, working with you? Get real!" she said, walking forward and looking around. I shook my head with a small smile at that, looking around more. Something on the ground near the alter caught my eye, and I walked over.
Wood chips, looking like they splintered off of a larger piece of wood, and covered in blood.
"Detective," I called, looking back at the big man. He came over.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Do you know whose blood this is?" I asked, holding up one of the pieces of wood. Gumshoe frowned.
"No," he said before looking over his shoulder. "Hey! You! Get over here, pal!" he called. One of the forensic officers immediately came over.
"Yes sir?" he asked.
"I need you to run a test on this. See who the blood belongs to. And be quick about it!" Gumshoe said.
"Yes sir!" the officer replied, taking the pieces and rushing off. We didn't have to wait long before he was finished.
"I have the results, sir!" the officer said, coming back over to us. "The blood belongs to Daniel Fenton. We also found a few strands of black hair, and only Fenton had black hair who was in the room at the time of the murder," the officer explained. I nodded, thinking about Jade. Her hair was the same shade as Pearls.
Oh god. Pearls.
"Thank you, officer," I said, quickly adding the chips of wood to the Court Record before turning to Maya. "How's Pearls, but the way?" I asked. Maya's face fell.
"She's… really upset," Maya said, looking down. I nodded.
"Right," I sighed, wishing Trucy was home to distract the young Spirit Medium in training. Maya shook her head and looked past me, noticing something.
"Hey, what's that?" she asked. I turned and looked to where she was pointing. Now that I saw it, I wondered how I ever missed it.
Laying on the floor was a green liquid, glowing with a soft green light that kind of reminded me of the Magatama.
"I don't know," I said, kneeling down to look at it closer. It was near the spots of blood from Danny's head. Carefully ripping a piece of paper from the notebook that made up my Court Record, I scooped some of the liquid onto it and folded it. "But I intend to find out," I said. Maya nodded. "So, which hospital did Danny go to?" I asked, looking at her. She smiled weakly at me.
"Hotti Clinic," she replied. I groaned, remembering "Dr. Hotti".
"At least Danny's a boy," I said, remembering the good doctor's perverted tendencies.
June 20th
Hotti Clinic
Reception
I walked into the clinic, looking around.
"Why are we here?" Maya asked, sticking close to me. She too, remembered the perverted doctor.
"I want to get the medical report for Danny from last night. Maybe it'll shed some light on what he was doing right before he was hit in the head," I explained.
"Oh. And if it doesn't?" Maya asked.
"Then I don't know what to do," I said, walking over to the reception desk. A young nurse looked up from where she was typing on the computer.
"Hi," I said with my best smile. The bored look seemed to grow even border, and she blew a bubble with the gum she was chewing.
(Um… isn't that unsanitary?)
"Look, I'm a Defense Attorney, and I'm working a murder case," I said, showing her my badge. The nurse continued to look unimpressed. I sighed, knowing this was going nowhere.
"I need a file. There was a young man here last night. Daniel Fenton?" I said.
"No," the nurse said, going back to her computer. I felt Maya bristle next to me, but thankfully, she didn't say anything.
"Come on, why not?" I demanded, slamming my hands down on the counter. She looked back up, the underwhelmed look still in place on her face.
"Patient confidentiality," she said without missing a beat. I frowned deeply.
"Look, I—" I started.
"Mr. Wright?"
I turned and found myself facing Mrs. Fenton.
"Mrs. Fenton. How are you?" I asked.
"Alright. I came to get the prescription for Danny's pain meds. He keeps complaining about his head, and the guards said he can take the medicine so long as it's prescribed. What are you doing here?"
"I need to get a copy of Danny's medical records, mainly for last night. I feel it'll really help my investigation. But I can't get them due to patient confidentiality," I explained. Mrs. Fenton smiled weakly.
"Seems I can help in your investigation," she said, walking over to the nurse. A few minutes later, she turned to me and handed me a file. It was much thicker than I expected.
"I only needed the record from last night," I said. Mrs. Fenton blinked before shrugging.
"Oh well. Take it all. The more the better, right?" she said. I smiled.
"Well, okay. Thanks, Mrs. Fenton," I said, slipping the file into my bag. "Take care now," I said before turning to Maya.
"Let's head out."
June 20th
Wright Anything Agency
I sat at my desk, leaning back in the chair as I read the files in front of me. Danny's medical records were actually a little alarming.
In the past year, he's had more injuries, from sprains to cuts and bruises, all staring with one major accident in his parents' lab where he was electrocuted. (How'd he survive that one?) However, like the concussion he sustained last night, all of these injuries healed faster than the doctors expected.
Something told me that the ones in the medical records were only the ones his parents saw and dragged him to the doctors for.
"Maya, you know Danny better than me. Does he seem… I don't know, troubled?" I asked, putting the file down and looking over at my assistant. She was sitting at Athena's neat desk (Athena doesn't believe in keeping physical reports when she could look at it all on Widget), eating her third McDonalds hamburger. I got her Taco Bell once, and she nearly needed a defense lawyer again. Now I stuck to McDonalds.
"Hm," she said, chewing her hamburger thoughtfully. "Yeah, he was troubled alright, but at the same time, he wasn't. He spent a lot of time to himself, but… he also acted like a normal kid." She sighed. "I don't really know how to explain it," she finally said.
"Yeah, I noticed," I replied dryly, looking back at the file again. The amount of injuries was questionable, but even more so was how Danny would heal from them faster than the doctors expected.
The image of Danny, surrounded by chains and Psych-Locks, flashed before my eyes, and I picked the file up again.
"Does that have anything to do with this?" I asked myself softly, staring at the black font on the white paper.