Chapter Nine

"Larry! What're you doing here in the defendant's lobby?"

"Shaddup! It's Laurice!"

"But in the prison, you told Iris is was Larry!"

"No I didn't!"

Staring intently at the defendant, Larry began to sketch her.

"Liar!" Phoenix looked rather angry. "We need to prepare for the trial right now! It's not the time to be doing sketches!"

"Hold on!" Larry said with his tongue out. "I'm…nearly…finished!"

He held up a picture of Iris embracing a picture of Larry.

"Oh my, Mr. Laurice…"

"See! My true love calls me Mr. Laurice!"

"Well…um…"

"Aw…she's so cute when she's shy."

"Is this guy seriously in denial?" Phoenix thought. He couldn't help but feel a little bad about his friend.

"Um…Mr. Laurice…" Iris blushed a little. "Maybe…"

"Say no more! I've got the wedding planned for Saturday! Just a…"

"Larry…my defendant also happens to be…my girlfriend now."

"Heh…heh…" Larry's face froze, although he continued laughing monotonously. Gradually, the lines in his face hardened. "Nick…Nick…come on Nick. NICK!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!"

"Please what? We have such a past together"

Iris smile, giggled, and looked down, apparently unable to face Larry.

"Larry, please get out. Seriously, the trial is about to start and I haven't even—"

"Hey Pal!"

"—discussed the case with my cli—er, Iris yet." Phoenix turned to her and held her cheeks, then turned back. "Larry…"

"You've got some nerve letting a detective wait out here this long!"

Everyone halted and stared at the detective.

"Errr…maybe I'm interrupting something…" He turned for the door.

"Ah! Detective Gumshoe, what is it?"

He turned back and hardened his face. "There's some new evidence, pal. The boys down at autopsy told us that the victim may have died from a cut wound that was inflicted from inside the neck."

"Huh???"

"It's just a guess, they're not really sure. I don't see how that could've happened though."

"What? From inside?" Phoenix thought about it. "Then…what Dahlia said was indeed true. Morgan must've committed suicide, while channeling her spirit."

"Still! Nick! I can't believe you stole her from me!"

Phoenix ignored Larry and went on speculating. "Was there anything found in her throat?"

The detective smiled. "Yeah, pal, there was this small wooden rectangle." He pulled out a small plastic bag with the wooden rectangle.

"Detective! How did you get your hands on that??"

"Well" he smiled mischievously. "I kind of stole it. I thought you might like it as an early birthday present."

"Well, thank you." Phoenix took the bag. "It certainly helps."

"Hey! I never said you could have it!"

Phoenix glared at him.

"All right, all right, just stop staring at me like that!"

"Thank you" he turned to Iris. "OK, well, leave it to me."

She didn't say anything, and ran over to the defendant's box with her hands over her heart.

"I guess if you must, you can cheer me on in the audience."

"No way! You're no friend of mine! You stole my true love from me!" Larry started to tear up. "Waaaaah! You're such a bully Nick!" he ran out of the room sobbing.

"Should I go after him?" Gumshoe asked.

"Nah, he'll get over it."

Phoenix walked into the defendant's lobby expecting a tough fight.

***

"Court will now reconvene for the trial of Iris Hawthorne."

"The prosecution is ready, your honor!" The balding Payne screeched.

"T-the defense is r-ready, your honor…" Phoenix was unnerved by the fact that they had used Payne again.

"Very well, your opening statement, Mr. Payne?"

"W-what? Oh right, before we begin, I'd like to bring some new information to light." He began. "It seems down at the autopsy division they're saying that the victim might have died from the cut wound from inside. Additionally," He continued, "It appears as If the defendant in question might have had an accomplice."

"W-who was the accomplice?" the judge asked.

"The one who wrote a letter to the defendant planning out the murder! None other than, Ms. Maya Fey!"

"Whaaaaaaaaat????" Phoenix was stunned. He had been told of this, but he was not expecting it to actually be presented in court.

"Very well. And you have a witness?"

"Yes, the boys at the forensics department can take care of that." Payne's high pitched voice cracked something in Phoenix's brain. "Maybe we should call one of them in?"

"Yes, certainly" The judge replied.

"Very well…heehee!"

***

"Witness! Name and occupation?"

The witness, dressed in a white coat top to bottom, with afro-like hair and wire-rimmed glasses, answered. "Er…my name is John Mallory" He scratched the back of his head. "I deal with handwriting identification and forgery."

"You can assert for us that it was Ms. Maya Fey that wrote the letter in question?"

"Yes sir, I can do that."

"Very well witness, begin your testimony."

***

"Well, the police found the note in the cell of the defendant. They brought it to us and we did some analysis. We matched the writing to everyone's on the computer database. It brought us to Ms. Maya Fey."

The Judge fell silent for a few seconds, and then asked the witness. "Your computers have a database on everyone's handwriting?"

"Naturally, we archive it quite like fingerprints and DNA. We take handwriting samples of everyone that's ever been arrested."

"That's no surprise then, Maya's been arrested plenty of times" Phoenix thought.

"And how does it match?"

"Well, different writing styles are subconsciously expressed on paper. Even if the person in question was trying to fake his or her handwriting, unless they have had a lot of training, we'd be able to detect it."

"Hmm…I'll take your word for it." The Judge shifted his look to the defense bench. "Mr. Wright, your cross-examination please.

Phoenix stared at the court-record for a moment, trying to pick apart the testimony. However, it seemed pretty solid to him. "Damn it" he whispered. "I'll have to start by pressing some more information out of him." He turned to the witness. "Tell me, Mr. Mallory, the note was found in the cell of the defendant, correct?"

"Err, well, I don't know. I don't do field work."

"Well, that went well" Phoenix thought. Then he shifted to the next question. "OK, about the analysis, since there are thousands and thousands of people in this city, is it possible that you might have made a mistake of some sort?"

"It's not very likely. These things are subtle, and contain millions of unseen variables. For example, the subject could have lay his or her hand at a 30 degree angle or so, or maybe likes to connect p's and h's. It will take several days to explain everything."

"But what about the possibility?"

"I guess there's a slight possibility, I mean, we didn't exactly find fingerprints or other clues of identification of the subject's on the letter. However, the handwriting mat—"

"Hold it!" Phoenix loudly ejected. "Did you say Maya's fingerprints weren't found?"

"Yeah, neither were the defendant's. In fact, it seems the only person who left fingerprints were the victim's."

"So, what you're saying is the victim touched the letter, but there's no evidence that the defendant or her alleged accomplice did?"

"OBJECTION!" Payne screeched "Yes, but her handwriting matches, and the letter was found in the defendant's cell. It's still decisive evidence!"

"OBJECTION!" Phoenix yelled "I think this fact somewhat more significant than you're trying to mask it to be."

"You're bluffing!"

"I may be" Phoenix thought, "but I've been backed into a corner here." He turned to the court-record."You see, if anyone touched this letter, then there should be fingerprints."

"What if they just wore gloves?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Payne, that may have been the case for Ms. Maya, but not for Ms. Iris. You see, she was in a cell, without a change of clothes. Therefore, we are led to assume that if she read the note to carry out the so called 'plan', then she must've left her fingerprints on the letter!"

"OBJECTION! What if the defendant used makeshift gloves! Like if she had used her clothes to pick up the letter?"

"OBJECTION! Mr. Payne, does that seem likely to you? I'm certain the letter wasn't just delivered like that! If it took you a day to find it, it means it was hidden, and that for some reason, it wasn't supposed to be seen! Therefore, when it arrived, the contents must have been concealed. Now, why would anyone pick up a letter like that?"

"If she were expecting a letter from someone—"

"OBJECTION! Then why not tell her right then and there?"

"Aaaah-Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The courtroom chattered

"Order! Order! Order!" The judge pounded his gavel "I see. It certainly seems strange now that Mr. Wright brings these points to light."

"Nevertheless!" Payne was sweating now "We have other evidence! The defendant escaped her cell with this key!" He waved it around showing the court. "Her fingerprints are all over it, albeit a little smeared! It seems she was trying to cover up her crime! This gives her a chance to pick up some gloves and—"

"OBJECTION!" Phoenix smiled. "Still, Mr. Payne, you haven't answered why she would pick up the letter with gloves!"

"OBJECTION! It doesn't matter why! It just matters that she escaped and—"

"OBJECTION! This court-record tells me that the victim's fingerprints were on the key as well." He banged his desk with both hands. "Why is that?"

Payne gulped. He was silent with his objections.

"What if it was the victim that escaped the cell?"

"OBJECTION! That's nonsense!!!!"

"Why is it? Both set of fingerprints were found! It is just as likely that the defendant escaped and framed the victim as it is vice versa!"

"OBJECTION! Mr. Wright, the witness from yesterday—"

"Is a bumbling idiot" he thought

"—swore under oath that it was Ms. Iris that sed—"

"Which brings us to a new subject. What if the victim channeled someone?"

"…what??!?!?!?!"

"The victim's name is Morgan Fey. Historically, the Feys have been known for spiritual abilities." Phoenix paused and stared at the entire court. "Ladies and Gentlemen! I propose that the victim channeled someone to look like the defendant! Someone by the name of Dahlia Hawthorne, the defendant's twin sister!"

The courtroom chattered.

"Order! Order! I will have order!" The Judge pounded his gavel on the table repeatedly. "What is the meaning of this Mr. Wright?"

"The defense proposes that the Victim masterminded her own death and framed my client!"

The courtroom chattered again.

"Order! Order! Bailiff! Restrain anyone that does not obey!" He pounded his gavel, and unfortunately, it broke. "Bailiff! Never mind! Fetch me a new gavel!"

Phoenix put his finger to his mouth. "Mr. Payne, you said that the key used in question was the master key, correct?"

Payne said nothing.

"Doesn't that mean the holder of the key could have opened the doors to the defendant's cell?"

"OBJECTION!"

"Objection denied" was the Judge's response. "I would very much like to hear Mr. Wright's theory."

Payne gulped in horror. The Judge was on the defense's side.

"And the cut on the arm, the one superficial to the death of the victim. What if that was put there to mislead us? After all, the victim could have gone to the victim's cell and planted the alleged murder weapon there, as well as the note, without notice as the defendant was asleep at the time!! Then leading a trail of blood back to her own cell, leaving the key in the defendant's cell, and committing suicide."

"OBJECTION!" Payne shrieked. "With what murder—"

"You said it yourself that the cut wound could have been made from inside the throat!" Phoenix took out the wooden box. On it he noticed a large button, and pressed it lightly. A blade came out. "This was found in the throat of the defendant! It is clearly a knife!"

"OBJECTION! But why was it not found in the initial investigation?"

Phoenix demonstrated and struck his desk with the Knife's blade. It slid back in. "The victim was found face down! As she fell, the blade slid back in!"

"OBJECTION! What about the witness' testimony from yesterday?"

"Remember that when channeling the spirit medium's body morphs into the shape of that of the spirit. If she was channeling Dahlia, who is the twin sister of the defendant, then she would look like Iris!" Phoenix smiled confidently. "I have evidence from a recorded conversation at the detention center yesterday!"

"Aaaah-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Hmmm…" The Judge had received a new gavel. "I see. The case is clear to me now. There is no more room for misinterpretation of the facts. I find the defendant…Ms. Iris Hawthorne, No—"

"HOLD IT!" It was Payne. "But the letter! The forgery has not yet been explained!"

The Judge blinked. "It most certainly hasn't. I'm afraid without an explanation, I cannot render judgement. Mr. Wright?"

"Ah, your honor, the defense proposes a special witness."

"What???" Payne squealed?

"I see, and who is this special witness?"

"None other than, Ms. Pearl Fey! She was the one who had received instructions from the victim to seek out a master forger to…"

"That will not be necessary Mr. Wright. Mr. Payne" he turned to the red-faced prosecutor. "I expected more out of you. I am disappointed." Then he turned back and faced Iris. "I am pleased to announce at this time, that the verdict will be NOT GUILTY"

"Yes! I did it!" Phoenix thought.

"Additionally" the Judge continued, "I believe Ms. Maya Fey's name will also be cleared. And, a special request from Mr. Wright," Iris waited on her toes in the defendant's box. "Your parole will start today."

"Feenie!" She shouted across the room. Everyone in the courtroom stared at her. She looked down and seemed to die of embarrassment.

"Court is Adjourned! That is all! Oh, and Mr. Payne, you owe me twenty dollars for the Gavel!"

***

"Feenie!" She jumped into his arms, again. "I loved your performance!"

"Heh heh, it was nothing, Iris!"

"Hey pal! So, you did it again! You won an impossible case!"

"Wright…" someone had appeared. A man in a purple suit with a white frill around his neck. "I am surprised yet again. You've managed to execute the unfeasible."

"Edgeworth, so you returned huh?"

"Yes, and I dragged this unfortunate misfit with me." He pulled out Larry.

"I'm sorry Nick! I'm sorry!"

"It's OK, just…stop crying."

"This delinquent was trying to break Ms. Maya Fey out of her cell." Edgeworth commented.

"WHAT?" Phoenix dropped Iris

"I'm sorry! Sorry! WAaAAAAAAaaaAAAaAH!"

"Nevertheless, he was arrested and will be sentenced to at least six months for vandalizing police property."

"I-is that r-really necessary?"

"Yes" Edgeworth turned for the door. "I hope to see you in Court, Wright" He dragged a sobbing Larry with him.

"Hmm…"

"NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!"

It was Maya

"Maya! So, you're out of prison?"

"Yep!" she nodded. "It was all thanks to you! Mr. Edgeworth even drove me here!"

"Glad to hear he's so caring."

"So, is that your new girlfriend?" Maya teased.

"Well, er"

Iris giggled.

"Why don't we celebrate back at the office huh? I'm sure all of you are starved!"

"Hey, Pal, make me something other than noodles. I'm sick of the stuff."

"I want burgers!"

"Feenie, do you still want some of my omelets? I made some this morning."

Phoenix laughed.