Gumshoe

“What happened, pal?”

I glanced over at Gumshoe, sighed, and shook my head. “I can’t tell. Internal bleeding, maybe?”

A dubious look came into his eye. “But...that isn’t what the autopsy report says.”

I was starting to get impatient. “So, pal, what does it say, then?!?”

“Oh. Ummm...” He peered at the file. “Weird.”

“Yesssss?”

“Died of blood loss from a stab wound to the stomach. Cuts inflicted post-mortem, most likely from rats.”

I shuddered. “This is why I hate the center of the city.”

“No kidding, pal. Let’s see, anything else...oh. Estimated time of death, 6:00 PM last Tuesday. Thursday today?”

“Yeah.”

“Two days ago. Hey, OBJECTION! Why didn’t you find this earlier?”

I glared at him. “Gumshoe, YOU’RE the police officer! Why should I have found it?!?”

“Yeah, but you always find the important murder cases before anyone else! Like you have some sort of...crime detector.”

“Us civilized sorts like to call these crime detectors...the TELEVISION.”

“Riiight. Sure. The television. Need to get one of those.”

“You don’t have one?”

“My salary is so low that I can’t afford to live in the carcass of a television at a garbage dump, much less watch one!”

I stared at him. “Okay?”

He gave me one of those oblivious, infamous what? grins that I’ve seen him administer so often before.

“Anyways. More to the point, if the victim...whatever his name is...if he were stabbed, then why are there no stab wounds anywhere in sight?”

Awkward silence.

“Hey, pal, watch it where that index finger is pointing when you do your little objections, huh?”

I looked up, confused, and immediately blushed a bit. Gumshoe had a large red mark on his chin from where I had poked him, quite viciously, it appeared. “Sorry. I kinda got caught up in the moment?”

“Yeah.”

“So. Has the police department thought about this contradiction yet?”

“Ummm...well, my special Gumshoe Investigation came up with something!”

I didn’t want to ask, I wouldn’t ask...oh, dang, he’s got out those puppy-dog eyes again. “What would that be, Gumshoe...”

“The murderer was magical, and he made the nasty stab wound go away so we would be confused and think the victim was sleeping!”

“...”

He still had that grin going.

“...”

My eyebrow was rising quickly, and the grin dimmed a bit.

“...”

It vanished. This was familiar procedure by now.

“Well, it was just an idea...” he stated defensively.

“Yes, Gumshoe. How about you help in your other special ways and tell me about the suspect and that ‘conclusive witness’ the police officers were babbling about.”

“But, you’re not even the defense attorney for the defendant yet...!”

Sighing deeply, I told him, “I like to be informed. Now, spill. And don’t give me that stern look like you won’t tell me anything, because if previous experience is any judge...”

“Well, I guess I can tell you something...”

An odd thought came to me at this time. Anyone observing would have thought us to be friends, with our near-rehearsed banter and the casual air as we looked at the dead body of our new victim. It was hard to believe that, just years before, we had been closer to enemies, if anything. But, over the years, this goodhearted idiot had grown on me.

That was before.


Edgeworth

Walking into the Prosecutor’s Office, I chose to ignore the incredulous stares being slung my way. A defense attorney, here? they whispered, attempting to be inconspicuous. Still more muttered about how horrible it was, that Edgeworth had fallen so low as to consort with his nemesis. I whistled as I walked along to block out the noise. No matter what they said, Edgeworth was my friend.

The words still felt alien on my tongue.

I reached the High Prosecutor’s office only to see my childhood acquaintance sitting on the floor of his old room, staring wistfully at the view from the large window that filled the room with light. Neither of us spoke as I quietly sat down next to him.

“I left so many things behind when I decided to go on that...self-discovery trip of mine.”

His melancholy voice sounded odd in the still air. I thought of speaking to make it sound less so, but I decided not to.

“My chess set, my desk, that framed coat...”

Right. I looked curiously over at his clothing and noted with surprise that he lacked his normal ruffled getup.

“But...what I found was more important than that, I think...wasn’t it?”

I finally chose to speak. “It was, Edgeworth. Don’t let any of those people tell you otherwise. The fact is, the truth is more important than anything.” I patted him on the shoulder awkwardly. His flinch became less noticeable as he got used to the fact that I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.

“I came back to this office to get all of these things...but I’m not even sure I want them anymore. They remind me too much of when...when I was so close to breaking that code of mine. I focused so much on things that didn’t matter because I hated criminals. And all the time, the worst criminal was me.”

I bit my lip. “Don’t reflect on it too much. Looking on the past like that can really mess up your present, you know? Come on. I promised that I’d take you to a good restaurant before you went back to studying.”

"I guess so..." He allowed me to pull him up to his feet.

"Let's go."

"Oh, Phoenix?"

"Mmhmm?" I was preoccupied with holding the heavy door open.

"How is it that you can take me to a good restaurant when all of your cases are pro bono?"

I scowled. "Don't go all condescending on me, Little Worthy. Just because a restaurant isn't expensive doesn't mean it can't be good."

"So where are we going?" he asked wryly.

"Eldoon's Noodles. Now come on."

I pulled him out, smirking as I processed the horrified noises coming from the man behind me. It served him right.

I didn't know it then, but that would be one of the last times I would ever see my childhood friend. The last time he would ever want to see me, that is.

But at the time, I was only focused on cheering up my melancholy friend.

That was before.

Feys

I dragged myself into my office, fully and completely exhausted. Plopping my useless body onto a chair, I sighed deeply.

"Long day, huh?"

"Yeah." I didn't need to look to identify the voice; it was one that I heard almost every day, after all. Maya Fey, my assistant, with her perky voice, sounded much less sympathetic than one would expect from a colleague. I didn't expect it any other way, though--a Maya without optimism was like a cheeseburger without the burger.

"Did you get that case with the girl with the contradictory wounds?"

"No. Grossberg was already there when I reached the Detention Center."

"I'm sure you'll get another case soon."

"Maybe."

"Oh, by the way, I think Pearly is washing the toilets. Want to get her so we can go to the burger joint?"

I stared at her in mock horror. "Maya! Dinnertime was an hour ago, and I can tell from the plates on my desk that you ate."

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a point here?"

"Do you ever stop eating?"

"Only right now, and I assure you that that could quickly be remedied if we went to go get burgers, Nick."

I rolled my eyes. "As flawless as your logic is..."

"Yay! Thanks, Nick! I'll get on my shoes!"

I looked past her in a daze. Hurricane Maya has passed through.

Sighing once more, I decided I couldn't really do anything about it. When Maya got on her shoes, she wasn't going to take them off again until she got some burgers.

"Pearls?" I queried, wincing slightly as my back rebelled against standing.

"Oh, hi, Mr. Nick. The toilets are clean!" She gave me an angelic smile.

"Patent that smile and you could make millions, kid." Take in the other, and you could lose millions on burgers. "We're going to go eat some hamburgers. Would you like to come with?"

She hopped excitedly. "Of course, Mr. Nick!"

I smiled at her. "Go and get on your coat. It's a bit cold."

"Okay!"

I watched her skip off to the coat rack, smiling internally now. And we even avoided the 'you must be getting burgers even though you're tired because you're Mystic Maya's...special someone!' speech. Wonderful.

My thoughts were interrupted by an annoyed yell from the other side of the room. "Nick, come ON! The burgers won't wait for you, you know!"

"Oh, yes, they will. I'm the one with the wallet."

Upon hearing a wicked little giggle, my eyes narrowed. "Maya...you didn't..."

"Wow, we really do need another case," she observed critically.

"MAYA! Give it back!"

"Only if you're out the door in ten seconds." She waved the unfortunate wallet in the air teasingly. "Come and get it."

Growling, I ran out the door to the office and snatched my wallet. "Now the burgers will wait for me," I sniffed.

Maya laughed mischievously. "But now no one will believe you're a lawyer."

"MAYA!"

She raced off to the stairs, Pearl struggling to keep up. "First to the burger place gets to be a defense attorney!"

"Like you can choose!"

I ran. The anger was a facade, really-- Maya and Pearls were my lifelines. I would tolerate all of their incessant teasing to the end of the world.

That was before.

???
I was walking through a barren wasteland, holding a sheet of paper torn from a notebook in my hand. I stared at it, wondering how it got there.

Memory suddenly flooded back, and my eyes widened in horror. I hadn't...had I?

I had.

Lightning began to flash, illuminating the path I was walking on, outlining every single detail with horrific accuracy.

Trucy. Zak Gramarye. Two golden revolvers. A clown head. Magnifi. The young prosecutor, Klavier. My attorney's badge. Drew Misham, pronouncing to the courtroom that the evidence I had presented was made by him. The judge.

And all of the people I had once known, looking at me with eyes so hurt that it made me want to die.

Images kept flashing. I begged it to stop, let me end this, I was sorry, so sorry, it was all my fault, but there was no mercy.

The lightning lit up the paper in my hand, and in one moment, I ripped it into a million little pieces and threw them into the air, and they fluttered down like snow, covering my fallen body...

"DADDY! Wake up, sleepyhead, and stop talking so loud! And look! I made it snow, Daddy, really I did, and--"

I groaned. "Trucy?"

"Yep! It's me, your favorite daughter and young professional! I MADE IT SNOW! Looklooklooklook--"

I was too tired for this. "Snow? Here? I don't think so..."

My voice trailed off as I looked around the office. It was covered with a light dusting of powdered sugar.

"Trucy." My voice was dangerous.

She took one look at me. "Eeek!" She began to run away from me, laughing loudly as her little legs tottered in the general direction of the door.

Moaning, I reminded myself for the thousandth time that I didn't spank children.

"Oh, Daddy?" Trucy's bright little voice was unmistakable.

"Yes?"

"You have grey hair and a phone call." She gazed at me gravely.

"Phone call, fine. Grey hair..."

"Because it snowed on you, Daddy!" Her giggles pealed throughout the small office.

"Who from?"

"Ummm...it was a girl. She said that she and a pearl wanted to talk to you. But I said pearls can't talk, and she laughed a bit and said that this was a special pearl that could talk, and I asked her if it was magic, and she said maybe, and I said that I was a magician, and she asked me if Nick lived here, and I said no, just my daddy, but people don't call him Daddy usually, they just call him Phoenix, and--"

I stopped her before she could recount the entire conversation. Wearily I asked, dreading the answer, "Does she want me to call back?"

"Yep!" Her happy grin appeared to almost light up the room. "Is she gonna be my new mommy, Daddy? Is she, is she, is she? 'Cause I don't have a mommy, and I think it'd be nice, really, and she seemed like a nice person and she has magic pearls, so she should be my mommy, I think."

I continued to listen to her chatter, but within my mind was racing. Should I call her back? No...I can't. I can't stand the pain it would cause her if she knew why I was avoiding her, that I presented false evidence in court...she would hate me. But what if she didn't? But she would. But...

Still pondering, I queried, "Have you had breakfast yet, Trucy?"

"Uh-huh. I had pancakes with snow on top!" She gave another bright grin in my direction. "It was good! And not cold at all. Mr. Hat liked it too!"

It had been a month since I had been stripped of my badge, and I was still adjusting to living with a kid. It was pretty hard.

Sometimes, when I felt especially lonely, I wished that I could contact all of my friends...Gumshoe, Edgeworth, Pearls...and Maya. That I could explain why I did, why I didn't fight back and tell them it wasn't me. But then the new voice that had developed in my head since I had stopped defense would sneer at me and tell me that they would hate me if I tried to talk to them, that they wouldn't understand.

I always thought somehow that they were better than that.

But I still didn't want to take any risks.

That was my now.

Gumshoe

I looked at the guy's wallet and checked his ID, yawning. It was an early morning for me. No rest for the law, right? But this whole thing was more than ridiculous. The department had been giving me the worst assignments possible. Even this one wasn't a good, perplexin' murder. Nah, just a close-and-shut gunshot case, and the suspect's prints were on the gun, too. Didn't look good for the guy. If Nick were here, he'd turn it all around, I bet. He always did it. Pretty good guy, for the defense. Liked him, I thought nostalgically. In fact, it hadn't been long before that trial when he was investigatin' a case, right? Girl with the wrong wounds? The prosecution won that one, I think. Bet if Nick were there, too, instead of that old guy, what's his name, Gross-som'n, that woulda changed. Made Payne all glowy inside, though, winnin' for once. Got a new suit to celebrate. It's blinding everyone, telling ya, with that bright yellow snakeskin or whatever it's supposed to be...
I snapped out of it as my boss came up to me. "Find anything, Gumshoe?"
"Nah, not really, boss. Pretty simple. Looks good for the prosection. We already got the prints on the gun, plus the guy's footprints are on the scene. Witness saw suspect fleeing, too. I don' think defense can worm their way outta it. Unless it were Wright... Shaking my head, I said, "Nope, nothing short of a guy like Wright could get out, sir."
My boss stiffened and said just as stiffly, "We don't talk about him anymore, remember? Close up the investigation and deliver all the evidence to the precinct. Without going out for food this time. You'll be testifying in court in two day's time." With that, he turned and left.
Gosh, he needs to get that bee outta his boot, loosen up a little. Not like Wright turned out to be De Killer or something. Just a little scrap of paper that wasn't exactly real.
I knew I was downplaying it to make myself feel better, though. I didn't know how someone who seemed to be as good a guy as that could forge somethin' like that. Gosh, he coulda just let the guy go to jail or something, didn't need to go the way of the von Karmas or whatever. But, he did. I needed to remind myself of that.
At least he didn' get a whip like that Franziska girl. I was trying to laugh it off again. Now, you stop that, Gumshoe! He did it, plain and simple. Don't need to go all defensive on him, pal.
Sometimes it didn't even seem real that he did it, though. I thought I knew him for long enough that I knew he wouldn't do something like that. I had tried to call him a couple of times, too. He never responded, though, and maybe that was all the admission of guilt I needed...
"Well, I should prolly get back to my building with the evidence, pal," I said affectionately to the dead body lying on the ground. "You hang tight."

I really did need that sleep.