Sorry for the late update, but this chapter is extra long, 1,949 words! One more chapter left and an epilogue and this story will be complete! Hope you guys like this chapter! :)

Chapter 11: Sinais de Vida

"So Ema, what are we going to do first?" Trucy asked, looking up at Ema seriously.

"I don't know. The fop is my boss; I have to go ask him. "

"You're so lucky to have Klavier as your boss!" Trucy said happily.

"Pffft, that's what everyone thinks but it's not!" Ema huffed, pulling open the door of the prosecutor's office. "Sure, the fop is nice. I hear horror stories from other people about how awful their bosses are. Klavier is not mean, I'll give him that, But he's just so glimmerous! And foppish, and annoying!" Ema exclaimed, she and Trucy then got into the elevator and she pressed the button for floor number eight. The elevator ride was completely silent.

The elevator dinged and Ema and Trucy got off and went to Klavier's office. Ema barged into the office and Trucy followed suit. Klavier was at his desk and quickly slammed his laptop shut.

"Fräulein, do you not know how to knock?"

"Of course I know how to knock, I just didn't feel like knocking." She said and started to fiddle with the ends of her hair. "So fop, what am I supposed to do first?Should I-"

"Fräulein Detektiv, I believe you should start working on this, nein?" Klavier put a thick packet of papers in front of Ema and grinned.

"You better be kidding," Ema said harshly.

"Oh, but I'm not," Klavier smiled.

"B-But, I have her with me!" Ema gestured to Trucy. "No way is she going to want to watch me fill out paperwork all day!"

"Please, Mr. Gavin! Let us investigate! Please?" Trucy practically begged. Klavier looked from Ema to Trucy and frowned slightly.

"...Alright, but I'm going with both of you." Klavier said and picked up his keys.

"But why? Don't you have more imp-"

"Na-ah, I've been with you on routine investigations before. I'll even be out of your way. I'll just be..." Klavier paused slightly and glanced at Trucy quickly, "overseeing everything." Ema glared at Klavier and sighed.

"Fine."

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Apollo was never one to wake up early, but here he was, eating breakfast at 6:30 n the morning. He wanted to get to Thalassa's house by the time Ema and Trucy got there. After he finished his breakfast , he left his apartment and flagged down a taxi. In the taxi, Apollo's phone started to ring. He answered it without even looking at the screen.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Herr Forehead."

"Prosecutor Gavin. What are you calling for?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line, then, "Listen, I'm going to oversee Ema and Trucy's 'investigation.' So you don't have to-"

"No no, I'm still going. As I said before, I want to find her."

"...Fine."

"Great, I'll see you there."

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When Klavier, Ema, and Trucy arrived at Thalassa's house, Trucy immediately ran out of the car as soon as it was parked; Klavier and Ema followed suit.

"Polly!" Trucy shouted and ran to Apollo, who was already there. "Polly, I knew you would come!"

"What is he doing here?" Ema mumbled under her breath.

"I'm not sure if you know, but Apollo and Trucy are half siblings," Klavier told her, snapping his fingers slowly.

"Really. Well, that doesn't mean he needs to... Oh." She suddenly smiled, "This is good, this is very good, actually." She smiled again, took out her bag of snackoos, and walked into the house.

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Two hours later, no new information on the perpetrator has been found.

"This is ridiculous!" Ema shouted, frustrated.

"What's wrong?" Apollo asked, leaning forward.

"What's wrong is that I can't get any results on the blood, like it's corrupt. It was probably sprayed with ammonia, which is a common thing for murderers and kidnappers to do to cover up their tracks," Ema's brow furrowed. "I've never seen it done to a- a victim's blood before."

"Maybe the kidnapper got hurt and decided to play it safe," Klavier suggested.

"...Oh. I hadn't thought of that."

"Well, it isn't that big of a deal, ja? I mean, we all know that that blood," Klavier jutted his chin toward the massive puddle of blood staining the varnished floor; "belongs to Lamiroir- I mean... Fräulein Gramarye. Why did you even want to see who the blood belonged to?"

"I-I don't know. I guess I just wanted to... never mind," Ema sighed and looked around the room.

"...Well, did you find any fingerprints?" Apollo spoke up, receiving a glare from Klavier.

"No, not one. So either our perp wiped everything of fingerprints or wore gloves, wiping off any existing fingerprints."

"I think he wore gloves," Apollo said, smirking.

"Duh."

Trucy raised her hand tentatively. "I found some fingerprints..."

"What!? Why didn't you tell me?" Ema demanded.

Trucy crossed her arms. "Well I tried to tell you, but you told me that you were doing something important."

"Oh." Stupid me, Ema thought. "Well, give it to me and I'll fingerprint it!" Ema's eyes lit up when Trucy handed her a flower vase. "See, look at that! A beautiful, shining fingerprint! Just give me a minute," Ema smiled a real, genuine smile and began to dust one of the fingerprints with powder. After a moment, Ema frowned. Uh oh...

"What's wrong?" Trucy asked.

"Oh, uh... it's nothing really." Ema forced a smile. "It's just Lamiroir's fingerprints so we didn't find anything new about the kidnappers."

"Aw, that's too bad," Trucy said sadly. "Well, come on Polly; let's keep looking for clues to find the kidnapper!" Trucy and Apollo went back to something they were looking at earlier.

"Hey, fop! Get over here!" Ema whispered and walked outside and Klavier followed her.

"What do you need, Fräulein?" Klavier asked.

"I want to know what are Trucy's fingerprints doing on that vase?!"

Klavier raised an eyebrow, "How am I supposed to know? I do not know anything about that."

"Are you sure? Because I think you do; I know it. This has something to do with that phone call last night, doesn't it?"

"...You have to promise not to tell Herr Wright anything."

"Oh yeah, I'm totally not going to tell him that his daughter's fingerprints are on a crime scene. Never even thought of that!"

"You do not understand, Trucy is being framed." Klavier then explained everything all the way to the letter Apollo received.

"Well I-" Ema began but was cut off by Trucy running out of the house.

"Ema, look what me and Polly found!" Trucy shoved a cell phone into Ema's hands. The screen on the cell phone was so cracked that there was barely an glass left. The phone didn't turn on either, but Ema looked happy at the find.

"Trucy, this is great!"

"It is?" Apollo asked as he came out of the house.

"Yeah! I mean, yes the LED screen is broked and won't turn on; but all the data inside is safe. We just need to upload everything to a computer. Oh, and we can fingerprint the phone too! Seriously Trucy, this is a great find." Ema smiled.

"We should go down to the station and have forensics take a look at it, ja?" Klavier said.

"Oh yeah, I guess..."

"Wait a minute, I don't want to bother you guys but I'm really, really hungry," said Trucy.

"Did you not eat breakfast?" Apollo asked..

"No, I didn't have time."

"Well, there's this burger joint that's right next to the station. We can drop the phone off and eat there while forensics are analyzing the evidence. Does that sound good, Fräulein Trucy?"

"Yeah, that's perfect!"

"Alright, let me just go get the car." Klavier began to walk away.

"Mr. Gavin, can I come with you?" Trucy asked happily.

Klavier turned around, "Why not? They both began to walk away leaving Apollo and Ema alone.

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"Hey, look! What's Daddy doing here?" Trucy asked, pointing at the window of Burger Mania.

"Where? I don't see Mr. Wright anywhere... Oh... Where's his hat?" Apollo asked, squinting at Phoenix with spiky hair and different attire.

"I dunno, hey, maybe he's on a date!" Trucy opened the door to the restaurant and ran over to the booth Phoenix was sitting in.

"Of course he's not on a date! At a burger joint? That is totally un-romantic," Ema muttered under her breath.

"I don't think you know Mr. Wright as well as you think you do," Apollo told Ema.

"Hi Daddy!" Trucy exclaimed as she slid into the booth across from him.

"T-Trucy? What are you doing here?" Phoenix asked, surprised.

Trucy gestured toward the door that Apollo, Ema, and Klavier were now walking through. "We finished investigating and just came by here for some food while the evidence is being analyzed. What are you doing here; you look like you're waiting for someone! Are you on a date?" asked Trucy excitedly.

"No, Trucy," Phoenix chuckled.

"Hey Trucy, aren't you going to order? You're the reason why we're here in the first place!" Ema said, causing Trucy to quickly get out of her seat.

"Yes, of course!...Aren't you going to order?" Trucy questioned when Ema sat down in the seat that she was just sitting in.

"No, I'm not really hungry," Ema replied. "I need to talk to Mr. Wright anyway."

"Oh, OK!"

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Klavier and Apollo were waiting next to the counter for their food when they saw Trucy walk up to the back of the line.

"Hey Trucy," shouted Apollo, "where's Ema?"

"She's talking to Daddy!" Trucy shouted back.

"Uh oh..." Apollo muttered under his breath.

"What's wrong, Herr Forehead?" Klavier said while grabbing a few napkins from the dispenser in front of him.

"I think Ema is showing Mr. Wright that paper..."

"What paper?" Klavier asked as he tried to cram the extra napkins he pulled out back into the dispenser.

"You know the one. The letter I got yesterday."

Klavier immediately stopped what he was doing. "You mean to say, that she has the letter with her?"

Apollo nodded. "She asked for it while you and Trucy went to go get the car. She said she was just going to try and fingerprint it but..." Apollo trailed off and tried to look at where Phoenix and Ema were sitting but the top of the booth was too high to see anything. Just then Trucy came up to them.

"Hi, guys!"

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Apollo, Trucy, and Klavier brought their trays to the table that just Ema was sitting at.

"Where's Daddy?" Trucy asked as she sat down.

"He said that he had to call someone. He should be back in a minute." Sure enough, Phoenix walked through the door of Burger Mania and he did not look happy.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" Trucy asked, concerned.

"Don't worry about it; it's nothing," Phoenix replied , sending a glare at Apollo as he sat down.

"Oh yeah," Ema said as she stole one of Apollo's fries. "I forgot to tell you guys that Mr. Wright is going to be joining us on out investigation."

"Fräulein," Klavier spoke up as he took a large bite out of his burger; "is this really necessary? We already have a large enough-"

"I said that Mr. Wright will be joining us!" Ema exclaimed as she banged her hand on the table. Suddenly, her cell phone let out a cheerful beep! "Ooh, that must be the results of the cell phone!" Ema dug out her own phone from her bag to read the text. "Good news, the fingerprints and the phone itself belong to the same person!"

"Great! Who is it?" Apollo asked.

"Someone named Gilbert Smythe."

Trucy paled at the mention of his name. "Gilbert Smythe? That can't be right!" She exclaimed.

"Why not?" Apollo asked.

"B-Because! That's Uncle Valant's real name!"