heleentje

LOS ANGELES Paseo Del Mar was closed for traffic several hours yesterday morning after keen-eyed drivers spotted a body off the side of the road. The body, later identified as that of 36-year-old Cyan Sammons, showed signs of extensive trauma. Police are investigating the case. Detective Ema Skye, 27, stated that the Los Angeles Police Department is not investigating the possibility of murder.

“It was an accident,” Skye told gathered members of the press. “Now let us do our job.”

Sammons, a scientist working for the Los Angeles branch of entertainment giant Industrial Illusions, was last seen leaving her home yesterday morning. Coworkers stated she never arrived at work.

Paseo Del Mar has been opened for traffic again.

March 7 2028 - 6:23 am

Los Angeles Police Department - Homicide Division

Ema Skye was not having a good day. That summed up most of her days as of late, but this one was proving to be particularly taxing. She’d been up for twenty-two hours now, with only a fifteen-minute nap somewhere around three, and her coffee had gone cold. Again. She was too tired even for proper caffeine intake and that, she reflected, had to be an absolute low in her career.

The file in front of her wasn’t providing her with any answers either. The first picture showed Cyan Sammons, an attractive, African-American woman who, judging by the slight wrinkles around her eyes, had seen one too many stressful days as well. The second picture showed Cyan Sammons again, and this time she had far bigger problems than a few wrinkles. Most of the right side of her body had disappeared. The resulting mess should have been far bloodier, but the picture showed a remarkable lack of blood.

“And we’re sure she hasn’t just washed up on shore?” Ema asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Aya Ghanem, a bio-zoologist who’d come over just for this case, shook her head.

“No signs of water damage,” she said. The bags under her eyes had gotten a lot more more pronounced in the last hour. “And this wasn’t done by a shark. It’s way too big.”

“Maybe it was a crane accident?” Ema suggested hopefully. She’d made her bed yesterday morning. The sheets should still smell of fabric softener. It sounded so enticing now.

“No can do. Those are teeth marks. An animal did this, but there’s no animal that can take out half a person in just one bite. We’re looking at something with a mouth that’s at least three feet wide.”

Ema shuddered. She didn’t want to think of such a creature. She most definitely didn’t want to think of such a creature roaming the streets of Los Angeles.

“A killer whale could’ve done it, but she hasn’t been anywhere near the ocean,” Aya said. She slumped back in her chair. “I give up, Ema. It must’ve been an animal that did this, but there’s no animal on the planet that’s capable of this, let alone in Los Angeles. Short of asking Ms. Sammons herself, there’s no way we’ll ever know.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.” Ema stared moodily at her cold coffee. She was out of Snackoos too, and the vending machines in the hallway would only be refilled on Friday. “Either we have an undiscovered animal here, or a very creative murderer.”

“Occam’s razor,” Aya muttered.

“What?”

“Go for the easiest explanation.”

Ema stretched her arms. “So, murder?” she said. That didn’t exactly make it easier for her. That meant she’d be dealing with a murder investigation instead of an accidental death, and that’d mean court and trials and testifying.

“Yeah. I can’t think of any animal that could’ve done this, but I’m pretty sure there are enough people crazy enough to do it. What does the autopsy say?”

Ema found the relevant file, even though she already knew its contents by heart and knew Aya did too. “No head trauma, no gunshot wounds, no foreign substances in the blood. Everything points at that bite thing being the cause of death.” She closed it with more violence than strictly necessary. “Right, I’m filing this as a murder investigation and then I’m going home and sleeping until tomorrow. Let the interns deal with it.”

“Good plan.” Aya got up slowly. “I’m going home. Don’t wake me up unless there’s another murder.”

“That’ll be the person I killed for waking me up.” Ema shared a tired grin with the zoologist and picked up all the evidence related to the case. “I’ll see you around. Here’s hoping we’ll get this solved without too much fuss.”

March 7 2028 - 4:39 pm

Chief Prosecutor’s Office

“No. Absolutely not.” Miles Edgeworth said. The officer on the other side of the room flinched.

“Mr. Edgeworth-”

“I refuse to assign a prosecutor for a murder trial if the police department is not even sure the victim was murdered. I expect a more thorough investigation.”

“Detective Skye said-”

Edgeworth sighed. “I’m sure Detective Skye has done everything she could, but I can’t start a murder trial with just this. What proof do we have that this wasn’t an accident?”

“I- Chairman Pegasus from Industrial Illusions contacted the police department earlier today and insisted that everything possible be done to find Ms. Sammons’ murderer.”

“And so we’re obeying the wishes of the first millionaire who throws money our way. Yes, I see how the justice system is working just fine.”

The officer flinched and opened his mouth, undoubtedly to launch into the same tired explanation again, when the door to his office opened. Trucy Wright appeared, followed by a very harassed-looking Apollo Justice.

“Mr. Edgeworth, daddy wanted to know if you-”

“I’m so sorry, prosecutor Edgeworth. I tried to stop her but-”

Edgeworth closed his eyes. “Just a minute here, Trucy. Tell your father the case files he’s looking for are in his mailbox and have been there since before the weekend.”

“That wasn’t what he-!” Trucy said, but Apollo ushered her out of the office before she could finish her sentence. He could hear them arguing in the hallway.

“If you can come up with a stronger case than this, I’ll consider taking it to court,” he told the officer, who had been edging towards the door. “Not a second earlier.”

“But short of talking to the victim-”

“Not a second earlier.”

“Yes, Mr. Edgeworth.” The officer fled the room. Edgeworth followed him and peered around the door.

“You can come in now.”

Trucy bounded into the office. Apollo took a while to follow. Unlike Trucy, who’d made it a habit to pop in at the most unexpected moments, Edgeworth didn’t think he’d ever seen the junior lawyer in the prosecutor’s office before. Most definitely not in his own office.

“Daddy actually already found the files, and he told me to tell you to have more faith in him,” Trucy said. Edgeworth raised an eyebrow.

“That’s an improvement. What is it he wanted to know?”

“Mystic Maya and Pearls are arriving tonight. Do you want to come pick them up with us?”

Maya and Pearl Fey? He’d seen Pearl during Athena Cykes’ trial, but it had been a while since he’d seen Wright’s old assistant. Last he’d heard, Maya Fey’s duties as Master of the Kurain Channeling Tradition kept her firmly ensconced in Kurain.

“I’m afraid I’m busy, Trucy. I’ll try to come by the office when I have time.” He found himself genuinely regretting not being able to go. It had been several years since he’d last seen Maya Fey.

“Oh, too bad,” said Trucy. Apollo was not paying attention. “Daddy said that she was bringing the art book for the tenth anniversary special of the Steel Samurai.”

Damn you, Wright. “I’ll try to pass by when I have time,” Edgeworth repeated. “The police department is trying to get me to declare a trial.”

That got Apollo’s attention. “Trial? What about?” he asked, and belatedly added, “Prosecutor Edgeworth?”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Mr. Justice. There is no murder weapon, no defendant, no motive. The only reason it hasn’t been ruled as an accident yet is because the police department can’t figure out how Ms. Sammons died.”

“How did she die?” Apollo asked.

“The records say that she died of massive trauma and blood loss after being bitten by an animal.”

Apollo frowned. “So then what’s the problem? Ah, apart from Ms. Sammons being dead, of course, but-”

Edgeworth took pity on him. “There’s no animal in the world that could’ve taken out half a person with just one bite. That’s why the police suspects homicide.”

“Half a person?” Apollo turned distinctly green, and Trucy covered her mouth. “How is that even possible? Who does such a thing?”

“Ah, so you do believe our culprit was human, Mr. Justice?” Edgeworth said. He smiled. “Unfortunately, we have no idea, and short of asking the late Ms. Sammons herself, I fear we have no proof.”

“We can do that!”

Edgeworth whirled on Trucy, belatedly realizing just what exactly he’d said. “Trucy, no.”

“Mystic Maya will be here tonight anyway, so we can ask her to channel Ms. Sammons, right? Then we can ask her what happened!”

“Such evidence will not be declared admissible in court,” Edgeworth said, rubbing his forehead. “Maya Fey knows that very well. Whatever we learn from channeling the victim won’t be reliable testimony.”

“What’s more reliable than the victim herself?” Trucy insisted. Edgeworth bit back his instinctual reply to that. His father hadn’t known. His father had been trying to protect him and his testimony had made the whole system untrustworthy.

“Maybe the victim didn’t know what happened either,” he tried. “Maybe she was drugged,” No traces of foreign substances found, “or killed before that thing took a bite out of her.”

“But if that’s the case,” Apollo Justice said, and his face spoke of deep concentration and a determination Edgeworth did not like one bit, “then there should be an actual killer. Say… say she was shot, and the bullet that killed her was in the missing half of her body. Then she could tell us who shot her, right? I mean,” he opened his eyes, “I think this might actually be a homicide, Mr. Edgeworth. If such a creature doesn’t exist, then there was something about that missing half of her body that counted as evidence. It’s up to us to find it, isn’t it?”

If he’d had a desk, he would’ve slammed it.

“So I can count on you taking this case when we find a culprit?” Edgeworth asked. Apollo stilled, momentum broken.

“Eh?” He exchanged a look with Trucy. “I guess… if they’re innocent… But we shouldn’t be arresting innocent people.”

“Quite true.” Edgeworth absent-mindedly grabbed the files the officer had left behind. On the first page was a letter from the chairman of Industrial Illusions. The man had been the first to insist that a thorough investigation take place. But channeling Ms. Sammons? Surely that was a step too far. He might trust Maya Fey, but the Kurain channeling tradition had already made enough of a mess of the system. Now that they’d finally gotten the public to trust the court system again, he was not in any hurry to jeopardize that.

“We could do it unofficially,” Trucy said. Her eyes had taken on the same determined look as Apollo’s earlier. “No one’d have to know, right? We just ask Mystic Maya this evening and if it’s not important, we can forget all about it.”

“Nothing I say is going to stop you, is it?”

Apollo looked away guiltily. Trucy had no such compunctions; she just replied with a cheery, “Nope!”

Like a dog who’d smelled prey, the lot of them. Edgeworth shook his head. “Do what you want,” he said. “If it’s important, I’m sure I’ll hear about it. Ema Skye has all the files you need.”

“Okay!” Trucy turned on her heels. She’d almost made it to the door when she looked back. “Oh, Mr. Edgeworth, are you coming with us to pick up Mystic Maya tonight or not?”

Edgeworth looked at his deck, which wasn’t as cluttered as it could have been. If he really made an effort, he’d be done before seven. But he had no intention of sticking around while the Wrights held their little Ouija session. Nothing good had ever come from it.

“I’m sorry, Trucy, I have too much work to do. Let me know what you find.”

If they found anything. He sincerely found himself hoping they wouldn’t. Ms. Sammons’ case was bad enough if it were just an accident. He had no intention of finding out what kind of person would be cruel enough to commit a murder like this.

March 7 2028 10:11 pm

Wright Anything Agency

Maya screamed.

Phoenix jumped up, as did Athena next to him. Pearl stopped them both with a wave of her hand.

“Happens sometimes,” she whispered.

Maya - or the spirit inhabiting her body - fell silent abruptly and looked around, her now-brown eyes wide and panicked. The crowded room, too small for all the people gathered inside it, definitely wasn’t helping the late Cyan Sammons calm down.

“Ms. Sammons?” Pearl asked.

“Where the hell am I?” The voice was Maya’s, but at the same time, it was lower, harsher. Even Maya’s face had become slightly sharper, the skin darker, with slight wrinkles around her eyes.

“You’re at the Wright Anything Agency,” Pearl replied, easily falling into her role as mediator. “My name is Pearl Fey. We wanted to ask you a few questions.”

Cyan Sammons studied Maya’s hands. “I’m dead, aren’t I?” she said.

“I am very sorry for you,” Pearl said. “We are trying to find out what happened. Currently you are being channeled by Mystic Maya Fey, the Master of the Kurain Channeling tradition.”

“So I’m a spirit now?” Cyan muttered. “Guess that’s not surprising.”

If only all people took the news of being dead so well, Phoenix reflected. It would make his job so much easier. Maya had quite readily agreed to channel Ms. Sammons, and Ema had even come over, after shouting at Apollo for waking her up. It had involved a few threats that Phoenix hadn’t caught, but Apollo had been very insistent on pouring his own drinks all evening.

“Do you remember what happened?” Phoenix asked. Cyan brushed a lock of Maya’s hair behind her ear and bit her lip.

“I left home to go to work,” she said slowly. “I know I made it a few blocks from home, but after that it’s all kind of a blur.”

Ema grabbed a handful of Snackoos and munched on them thoughtfully. “Did you go to Paseo Del Mar?” she asked. It came out as a mumble. Cyan Sammons looked briefly disgusted.

“No, why would I even go there? I stopped the car… Oh yeah! There was a dragon.”

Phoenix blinked. Once, then once more, and when Cyan Sammons did not seem inclined to offer any further information, he said, “A dragon.”

“Yes, it was… Yeah, Sapphire Dragon, I’m pretty sure. I didn’t work on the card art but it’s kind of an old one, isn’t it? Very recognizable.”

Phoenix glanced at Apollo, who was frowning at his bracelet as if its lack of activity was a personal insult. The magatama wasn’t picking up anything either. Cyan Sammons believed what she was saying.

“Ms. Sammons,” Ema picked up, in full detective mode now. “You worked for Industrial Illusions, which is a card game company, am I right? Do you mean that the dragon that killed you was one of their cards?”

“Yes, of course. It’s weird, though. I didn’t expect a Sapphire Dragon to be here on earth.”

You expected it to be anything other than a piece of cardboard?

“She can’t be serious,” Athena whispered. Cyan straightened up, her angry expression utterly out of place on Maya’s face.

“I am very serious, young lady. I know what killed me, and it was a Sapphire Dragon. I may not be able to see them myself, but I have been working with interdimensional technology for long enough to know about spirits.”

“Ms. Sammons, did the dragon have any reason to kill you?” Pearl asked. In the background, Apollo choked and started coughing. Trucy absently patted him on the back.

“No, they’re peaceful creatures. Chairman Pegasus and Coral said they don’t attack unless threatened.” Cyan Sammons frowned. “I guess… But why would anyone want to kill me?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Ema said. “What do you remember about the location?”

Cyan Sammons bit her lip. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, it was dark. One minute I was in my car, the next, dragon.”

Pearl unfolded her legs. “Is there anything else you remember, Ms. Sammons? It could be important.”

“I’m sorry, I only know it was a Sapphire Dragon because I could see it shimmer. It was Longxin’s favorite card, actually.”

“Longxin?” Apollo asked.

“Longxin Huang, my lab partner. We used to argue about it.” Cyan Sammons smiled softly. “I always preferred Diamond Dragon.” Her smiled turned wistful. “I hope she’s okay.”

“I’m sure she is,” said Pearl. “We can check up on her for you, if you want.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Cyan Sammons said. “Well, if that’s all?”

“Yes, thank you.” Ema said. Pearl nodded and touched Maya’s hand. Immediately, a change came over her. Her eyes changed back to their normal color, and she took a deep breath.

“That’s still a bit weird,” Maya muttered. “Well? What’d you find out? What happened to her?”

Ema got up and dusted off her pants. “Pretty sure that was completely useless. Seriously, a dragon? Who’s gonna believe that? That’s so unscientific.”

Phoenix agreed. She had to have been in shock when she was killed, because there was no way a monster from a card game could ever come to life.

“She said it was a spirit, Mystic Maya,” Pearl said quickly. Maya frowned.

“Dead?”

“No, I don’t think so. Just a spirit.”

Ema looked at her bag of Snackoos, declared it empty with a disgusted sigh, and got up. “I guess I’ll just tell the police to stop looking. There’s no way we can make a case out of that. Have you ever even heard of dragons?”

“No, wait.” Maya got up along with her. “She might be telling the truth.”

“My bracelet didn’t react, so maybe she thought she was, but…” Apollo trailed off. Maya shook her head. She grinned.

“Well-kept secret here, Nick. There are more spirits than just those of the dead.”

“There are?”

“Yep. But I’m not very familiar with them.” She bit her lip like Cyan Sammons had done. “Oh, I know! I’m just going to make a call. I should have someone who can tell you about them. I just hope he’s somewhere on the continent right now. Come on, Pearly!”

And with that, she grabbed Pearl’s hand and dragged her into the hallway with her. “Be back in a minute!” she shouted over her shoulder. “Should have your witness here by tomorrow!”

“But there’s not even a trial,” Athena said.

“And there’s not gonna be.” Ema put on her coat, just as Phoenix’s phone started ringing. He fumbled with it and managed to press the answer button before the call went to voice mail.

“Phoenix Wright, defense attorne-”

“Wright, it’s me.” Miles Edgeworth said.

“Edgeworth? It’s almost eleven, something wrong?”

On the other side of the line, Edgeworth sighed deeply. “It’s the Sammons case. You can tell your protégés they’ve got a court appointment tomorrow. The police have made an arrest.”

The room fell silent around him. “Really? Who?” Phoenix asked.

“Longxin Huang. The victim’s former lab partner.”