Reina held the phone to her ear. Of course, not even being outside the courtroom was enough to grant her a little peace and quiet. At least the defense lawyer was gone, unable to eavesdrop.
"Sorry, Detective. I don't plan on being dragged around like a dog on a leash. It was the prosecutor's decision to look at the footage. If you ask me, if he really is who everyone says he is, then he wouldn't need a second look."
The phone buzzed in Reina's hand, but she just rolled her eyes. Even hornets were not this irritating.
"Listen, if he really wants me over he can call me himself. He can pull rank all he wants, but this is his case and his story. I don't care what anyone thinks of me, but you had better hope he understands this delay looks worse for him than me."
The central security room of the Ivory Motel was dusty and cramped, but still had three functional monitors, a case of hard copies, and a central computer to link everything together. It was not hard for the user to navigate, but that did not help his mood at all.
Miles Edgeworth scowled. The footage was exactly what he did not want to see. True enough, Valant Gramyere had checked into the Ivory Motel. But two hours either, someone else had, too. It was an odd person dressed as a mime, wearing a long wig and makeup painted on the face that it looked like a mask. The black-and-white ensemble the stranger wore was loose, making it hard to discern the shape of their body. A large corduroy bag was slung over the shoulder.
Edgeworth toggled, hoping that things would not proceed as he feared. But of course, the mime went up the closest staircase, down the second-floor hallway, and into Room 232. Manny Coachen's room was right next door, 233.
If he were a younger man, Edgeworth would have cursed aloud. He knew the cookie-cutter layout of each room. The defense could argue that the mime was the true criminal, and that they had used the air vent to reach the other room. He would counterargue that without support, one would not be able to reach the hole unless one used the bed or some other support.
He could easily bring up the difficulty of moving through such a cramped space, but the defense could note, accurately, that any person with a normal build could squeeze through as long as the head could go past the entrance. And they would then say that maybe the stranger could have subdued Manny Coachen and dressed up to frame him.
That would be an improbable proposal even for the defense, considering that their client had a hidden gun for self-defense. And yet...
Edgeworth sighed. It was not entirely out of the question, either...
The prosecutor stood where he was, silent as a crypt. It was just him, Miles Edgeworth, and the video. The video, etched into the computer. He was not a technician by trade, but he had been in enough cases to have a working knowledge of systems like this one.
It would be easy. He could move his hands again, rest his fingers on the keys, cut out what he needed. But he could not move any part of his body. He found himself dulled to the sights and senses of the office.
Despite knowing such a thing was impossible, he saw Manfred von Karma before him. He saw the old, sneering man lift a single finger and wag it at him. It was the trademark gesture of the deceased prosecutor, the one who had taught him so much and yet subjected him to so many degradations. Edgeworth knew that if von Karma was in this position, he would not hesitate to take the initiative.
Then there was another change. Kay Faraday seemed to materalize, but with a deep frown instead of her typical happy smile. The hand of "von Karma" tightened into a fist at her presence.
Edgeworth closed his eyes, and then opened them once more. The apparitions were gone. He forced himself to move, stepping back away from the video recorder. He sighed.
"Hey, Prosecutor Edgeworth!"
Edgeworth, seeped as he was in his temptations, very nearly jumped as the voice cut through the air. He turned to see Detective Kay Faraday coming through the doorway. Reina was following her, and by the witness' facial expression it would not have surprised Edgeworth if Detective Faraday had dragged her all the way here.
"I see you've gotten an early view..what say the three of us look everything over?." The young detective winked. Reina winced. Edgeworth nodded his head and barely suppressed a smirk.
"Excellent idea."
-A multi-chapter story; Chapter 32; story idea by CRed1988 and writing by Jerviss.