#this chapter is just maya getting mouthy with people

[thefandomcassandra]

hallowed be thy unknown Ch3: Haunted Turnabout 3: Pink Anemone, Evergreen Clematis, and Blackthorn

After court concluded, two faceless cops took Maya back to the detention center, not even bothering to uncuff her when she was in her cell. Waiting for Detective Gumshoe to come pick wasn't going to take long—according to the cops, who were kind enough to let her know—but she was going to have to wait. That gave her time to sort out her information and feelings—and for Phoenix to start chattering nonstop again, all of his courtroom seriousness gone.

"He's probably debriefing with Edgeworth," Phoenix posited about Detective Gumshoe. He was in rather high spirits—literally as well as figuratively—his mood matching Maya's. "We shouldn't have to wait terribly long but we will have to wait. Congratulations, by the way. Proud of you."

Maya quickly splashed her face with cold water to calm down a little. She could still hear her blood rushing through her ears. It sounded like the gallery muttering and murmuring in excitement and suspicion. Adrenaline made her fingers numb, her breath came in short bursts, and she felt...she felt...

She wasn't sure how she felt.

"Maya?" Phoenix floated closer to her. While she couldn't see him, bent over her cell's sink as she was, she could hear the concern in his voice. "Are you okay?"

"One second." She wanted to hurl. The rush was wearing off and it was turning into anxiety. She swallowed a handful of water and breathed some more. When she was feeling less on-edge, she turned the water off and stumbled over to the cot to sit down. A burst of air left her mouth, a sharp sigh. "Yeah, okay, I'm...better."

"Nerves?" Phoenix scanned her up and down, lips pursed in concern.

"Mmhmm. Finally hit me." Maya's hand went to her sash, only remembering that they'd taken her phone to process as evidence when she only touched her stomach. The wiretap too. "I can't believe I did that..."

"You did so, so good though!" It was weird, after seeing how serious Phoenix had been in court, to hear the cheerful man she met two days ago once more. "Between your logic and your objections, you had the court eating out of your hands. I only had to help with the more technical aspects!"

"Thanks for that." Maya looked out at the cop standing guard. A thought occurred to her. "Do...can we get copies of the court transcript and evidence and stuff?"

"Probably, but we should ask Gumshoe. He seems more willing to help than these mob-characters." The cops, of course, heard nothing.

"I feel bad for him, having to deal with April May and Prosecutor Edgeworth." He'd looked so uncomfortable when Maya had insisted he could corroborate the office phone being messed with. "Plus I didn't exactly let up on him during his testimony, not that admitting I stole evidence helped his case."

"Too late to feel guilt now!" That seemed cruel. Maya pouted at him. "C'mon now, Maya! Don't be like that!"

"You're mean." She didn't mean it. Talking with Phoenix like this felt...familiar. Comforting. Like talking with Mia.

Phoenix went to reply—judging by his smirk, probably in some kind of sarcastic or snarky way—but Detective Gumshoe finally arrived and the cop on guard opened her cell.

Maya stood up and walked over to him. "Hi Detective Gumshoe." She gave him a polite bow again.

"Miss Maya." Detective Gumshoe sounded upset. Not at her, thankfully, but certainly unhappy in general. "Despite your stealin' evidence from the Gatewater Hotel, you still got permission to investigate. Where to this time?" He must've gotten scolded for her misdeeds, the thought of which made her stomach turn with guilt.

"I'm surprised they only just penalized you in court, instead of throwing the evidence out wholecloth. You're at one of five at the moment, but having any wiggle room is good. And I just assumed they'd also make your time investigating more strict. Add an extra guard, what have you." Phoenix poked his head out of the cell, through the bars, and looked around. "It doesn't look like they sent anyone else to help him, so I guess we're sticking it out with only Gumshoe."

Maya fought the urge to roll her eyes. Instead she looked up at Detective Gumshoe with her best puppy-dog eyes. "Am I allowed to speak with other people in this detention center in the same way Lana and I talked? In the, uh, visitor's room?" She had to get April May to admit she was connected to him. She had to have concrete proof that he was involved.

"Uh...," Detective Gumshoe picked at the bandage on his cheek as he thought, "I don't think it's an issue? Nobody told me you couldn't. Miss Lana just said 'allow her to take part in investigatin' like she's a real attorney'. I'm pretty sure questionin' witnesses is part of the investigation."

Phoenix pulled himself back into the cell and stared at Maya, confused. Had he not figured out what she wanted to do? He had seemed so ahead of her until now, so this was interesting.

"Thank you." Genuinely, Detective Gumshoe was turning out to be a powerful ally in her fight to prove her innocence.

"Who all did you want to talk to anyway, pal?"

"April May." When she said that, Phoenix gasped. Now, it seemed, he understood. "I have some questions regarding her testimony today. I didn't get to ask them in court."

"Huh." Detective Gumshoe's brows furrowed. "I s'pose I can stand outside if you want? There's already gonna' be a guard in there anyway." He didn't want to be in the same room as her. She had, after all, hit on him and he hadn't liked it.

"If you want." Maya didn't blame him.

Without justifying her statement with a response, the detective started the trek to the visitor's room. He paused to whisper something to one of the cops guarding the detention center—who sent the message along the chain of command through their radio, probably—and then continued on. Maya didn't bother trying to make small-talk this time, content in the silence. It gave her time to figure out her plan of attack.

April May wouldn't be swayed without force. She was stubborn—Maya was too—and trying to cajole or coerce her would only get animosity in return. If Maya brought up her employer's name, if she revealed that she knew who and what April May's job was, then maybe...

"Last night, I went looking around in the office while you were sleeping." Phoenix, however, had no qualms about talking through the silence. "Namely, I started thinking about Mia's killer and what he could have gotten from her death. I found something interesting in her filing cabinet and, while I'm not sure we can take files without asking Gumshoe to sign off as it being evidence, I can probably grab that info to recite to you later, so we can have them on hand."

Them? Maya shot Phoenix a wordless look.

"Names, mostly. Don't worry about it now. Just focus on May and getting her to talk." They'd arrived at their destination anyway.

Detective Gumshoe held the door open for Maya to enter. "Miss May is waitin' for you. You got thirty minutes max."

"That's not a lot, but it should be enough."

Maya smiled at Detective Gumshoe. "Thanks. It shouldn't take that long."

"Don't do anythin' that'd get you in trouble, okay pal?" He sounded concerned.

"I won't." She entered the visitor's room, Phoenix by her side, and he closed the door behind her. On the opposite side of the glass—where Maya had sat the day before—April May glared at her with enough intensity to set her hair on fire. "Hello, April May. I was hoping to see you in stripes but you haven't been formally charged yet, have you?"

"They're still cuffing you, even as they let you wander around?" April May sneered at her. "Your connections are as shitty as your skincare routine."

"I'm allowed out because I'm building my case. It's not my fault your connections have severed ties." She was hoping that, by implying abandonment, she could expose a chink in her armor.

April May slammed her hands against the counter on her side of the glass. "How dare you?!" She yowled. "He would never—!"

"I know exactly the kind of man he is," Maya cut her off. "But if you play nice, if you give him up, then your sentence could get reduced."

Phoenix backed up her bluff. "Right now she's facing felony charges for wiretapping. If she gives him up, she might just wind up with just 'accessory with intent to harm' or something similar. Somewhat like murder to manslaughter, it's enough of a distinction to be worth it."

"Why would I? He has more power than you do, little murderer." Tough nut.

Fine. Maya could put more pressure on her. "Do you think he's going to save you? That was a public trial. I'll bet news has already spread. He likes to look good, after all..."

April May flinched and leaned back in her chair. "Y-you..."

"If she admits this here, she can have the guard act as witness. That means that, in court, she has proof she isn't just trying to save her skin." Phoenix gave her the ammo she needed to deliver the finishing blow.

"I know and you know. All I need is for you to admit it and the cop there can act as witness." Maya gestured at the guard, who stared at her with confusion plain on their face. "I'm going to fight him. I'm going to get him in court, I'm going to prove he did this, and I'm going to win. I'll disarm him. He won't have the ability to throw his weight around."

"He—"

"Be more aggressive. She's not going to listen." Phoenix was staring at April May now, just as intense as he had been in court. This was just his serious face, it seemed.

"You don't know who you're talking about!" April May went back on the defensive. "You're just talking out your ass! You'll get crushed into a fine purple paste!"

"I know exactly what kind of man Redd White is. So did my sister." The man's name felt like poison on Maya's tongue. Still, the way April May paled, her body going rigid with fear, was well worth the disgust. "She died because she had enough to ruin him and you helped with that. Do you want to be the sole accused?"

"I—"

"He will throw you under the bus." She wasn't backing down now. After her time in court, after all the arguing and objecting she did with Prosecutor Edgeworth, talking to this pink irritant was nothing in comparison. "You're a convenient scapegoat. You're nothing compared to him and his reputation is everything."

"You won't win!" She was still trying to fight, biting and clawing at the hand trying to help her. "He has so much of the court—"

"And if I try, I run a greater risk than if I just take the charges against me. Even so, I'm not backing down. I will get a full acquittal. I will prove he did it." Listen to me. Listen to what I'm saying. "If I lose, I lose big. If I win, you win too. Selling him out won't make you any more than you're already made."

"Do you really think that'll work?" Phoenix didn't seem to trust in Maya's persuasiveness but, really, it's not as if she has anything else going for.

"He—"

"If you don't talk, the best case scenario is that you take the fall for him and he spends money to shave time off your sentence so you get to slink back to him when it's all done. Worst case scenario is that you take the fall for him and he lets you." Maya shook her head, hoping that she was listening now. "If you do talk, the best case scenario is that he gets his and you can act as a corroborating witness, which reduces your sentence and changes it from your current felony to accessory to a felony. Worst case scenario is that you take the fall for him and he lets you. It's a zero-sum-game for you."

Their argument reached a fever pitch.

"He would never—"

"Fifteen years ago—"

"I did my job—"

"Mia had proof—"

"You can't prove—"

"The Thinker had—"

"Mr. White would kill me!" April May clapped her hands over her mouth, visibly horrified.

Phoenix let out a low, appreciative whistle. "Wow. The power of an argumentative little sister, I guess."

"Not if he's in jail." That wasn't a promise Maya could make with any surety but April May didn't need to know that. "If you admit to working for him, especially in regards to the wiretapping, then I can get him on the stand for this murder and get him convicted. A murder charge would put him in a federal prison while your charges might not even land you in a local cell for longer than a few months."

Phoenix shook his head. Her numbers were wrong but...well, a little creative truth-telling wouldn't hurt anyone but Redd White.

April May looked at the guard on her side of the visitor's room. The cop silently looked back at her from under the shadow of their cap's brim. Then she turned back to face Maya. "You...you're just as conniving as your sister, you know."

"Thank you."

April May sniffed. "It wasn't a compliment." Maya was aware of that but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that she was talking. "Fine. I did everything I did because of my boss, Redd White. Happy now?"

"Yep." Maya stood up. "Have a good day, April May."

"I know you're upset because your nosey older sister died but that's not all, is it?" Maya stopped dead in her tracks, almost to the door out of the visitor's room. "Fifteen years ago, you said? I bet you haven't seen her since then. I wonder if you'd even recognize her?"

"Maya?" Phoenix's concern was, once again, audible.

Maya kept her mouth shut. She wasn't going to rise to April May's goading. She wasn't going to show how badly hearing that hurt.

Her pain must've shown in her posture, however, because April May laughed. It was cruel, nothing like the sweet lies in the courtroom, all razor-blades against her skin. "You were so little and all you had was your big sis. And now you have nobody! At least we're similar in that regard, aren't we? Both in jail and both all alone."

"That's not true." Somehow, against all odds, Maya kept her voice calm and clear. What she was saying was the objective truth. "I'm not alone." Then she opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her as carefully as she could.

It rattled in the frame.

Detective Gumshoe seemed to immediately sense something was wrong. "Are you okay, pal?"

"...no, but I got what I wanted." She didn't have it in her to feed Detective Gumshoe a pretty lie. He was nice to her, was honest with her, and she liked him.

"You need a minute?" He didn't press, either.

She took a deep breath. In. Out. Calm. "I should be okay soon."

Judging by the way he was frowning, he didn't believe her.

Neither did Phoenix, it seemed. "You can take a break. You don't have to be on all the time. You're still alive so you need rest from time-to-time."

"Can we...can we go?" She didn't want to rest. She didn't want to talk about it. All the courtroom energy had turned into anger. All her anger became sorrow. She wasn't fragile anymore but she was hollow again.

Detective Gumshoe looked conflicted. In the end, duty won out against his own nature. "Where to?"

"Bluecorp."

He flinched. "B-Bluecorp? Are you sure?"

Phoenix and Maya both watched him carefully, concerned by his reaction. "Yeah. April May gave up her boss and I want to pay my respects. Maybe even send my complaints up the corporate ladder." And serve him a subpoena.

"I don't think that's a good idea though!" Why was Gumshoe so bothered by this? "Like, even Mister Edgeworth doesn't go to Bluecorp. Says it's 'a den of snakes and smoke and mirrors'. The one time I saw him walkin' out, he looked fit to drive his car twenty over the limit for stress relief."

Phoenix looked like he was trying to imagine Prosecutor Edgeworth speeding. A fond smile played at his lips, laughter seeping out.

"I can handle it. I have you, don't I?" Maya tried to spin his anxieties to something more positive. "It's my lead, right? April May confessed to who ordered her to tap Mia's phone. It's not like he can do anything if I show up and inform him that he's going to show up on the stand tomorrow, can he?"

"That's not how a subpoena works." Phoenix wasn't being condescending, but Maya was still a little raw from her shouting match with April May, so she bristled and he backtracked to explain himself. "We don't have the authority to draft up the legal documentation, first off, and we haven't gone through the proper channels. Unlike evidence, we can't just squirrel White into the courtroom and slap him in the witness stand like a weird magic trick. That's even assuming he'll even come willingly. He might have to be served the writ on threat of incarceration and if he has the pull I think he does, we're going to have to fight to see him where we want him."

As Phoenix explained how things worked, Maya kept her smile even. Apparently, Detective Gumshoe didn't even realize it had faltered in the first place because he rolled his neck and gestured for Maya to start walking. "Alright. But don't say I didn't warn you, okay pal?"

"Of course." Besides, it's not as if Bluecorp was her only destination for the day. First she had to see a man about her sister, but Detective Gumshoe didn't need to know about that yet.

She could ask when they were closer.

Bluecorp was a twenty minute walk or a five minute car ride. Detective Gumshoe's clunky car, however, didn't want to start and the poor man ripped the emergency break out in his attempt to diagnose the problem, so they just gave up and took to the trip by foot. This was, for Maya, a good thing because she was used to walking most everywhere and also the route they were taking put them past Grossberg's office. How convenient!

Detective Gumshoe took the walk as time to complain a little bit about the repercussions of the day's trial. His low voice filled the space and let Maya recharge her social batteries as she listened to his woes about Prosecutor Edgeworth.

"He wasn't rude—never is, really—but he did get snippy and yell at me about the breakfast I left you. Said it was a waste and it'd be comin' out of my paycheck. I wanted to argue, right? But in the end, I couldn't even talk back." He sighed heavily and leaned back as he walked, hands in his jacket pockets. "I just wonder if he understands we're doin' our best?"

"Probably not. He seems like a guy who'd leave an old woman behind when crossing the road."

That got her a glare that melted into puppy-dog-eyes from the detective, who seemed affronted on Prosecutor Edgeworth's behalf for some reason. "He's a good man! He's just...rough around the edges."

"Like a cactus."

"You don't get him! Nobody does but me." That earned an incredulous giggle fit from Phoenix, who tumbled in the air from the force of trying to hold it back.

Thankfully for both of them, Maya realized where they were. "Hey, Detective Gumshoe?"

"Yeah?"

"Since it's on our way, can we stop at the office here? My sister worked here and I wanted to talk to the man who owns it." As with every other time she told an untruth, there was honesty coating her true intentions. Yes, she wanted to talk to Marvin Grossberg. She wanted to give him an earful, to use all the pent-up frustration that had built up again after talking with April May in the detention center. She wanted to be more calm when she finally confronted Mia's killer.

"You...wanna' take a detour?" He seemed confused. "For personal reasons?"

"Mmhmm." She took a moment to determine how she was going to explain her reasoning, then opted for the truth. Detective Gumshoe deserved that much. "Aside from him having been my sister's employer once, he also was going to be my attorney but he refused. I wasn't given any kind of reason past he was busy, but since we're in the area I thought I could actually find out why."

"Maya," Phoenix warned, "Don't be rash." She wasn't. She was being calculated. She had given this lots of thought and, since she had the chance, she was going to personally inform Marvin Grossberg that she thought he was backstabbing scum.

Thankfully, Detective Gumshoe was fine with it. "So long as it don't take too much time, I can say it was a 'necessary detour' if anyone asks."

"And if anyone asks me, it really was a necessary detour." Maya beamed. It was nice to have one person—the person watching her as she did her work—on her side. "While I'm thinking about it: is there any way for me to get a copy of the trial's transcript and a list of the evidence? I want to look over everything for tomorrow."

"Yeah, no problem pal. I can ask one of the bailiffs to get you your papers and some kinda' envelope or folder or somethin'."

"Thanks." Maya turned towards Grossberg Law Offices. "It's this building." Detective Gumshoe held the door open for her and the three of them entered in file.

Phoenix eyed the reception area with disdain. "Man has a whole building to himself and he decorates it like this? Mia always liked to say a good office was comfortable for the client, not a way to show off your wealth. I see where she got that opinion from now."

Grossberg Law Offices was a gaudy place. The reception desk was a fine, polished dark wood, the computer and phone sitting on it state-of-the-line. While nobody was sitting in the velvet-lined chair at the moment, the door leading into the man's office was closed, a light shining through the frosted glass.

Maya, unwilling to let anything like a closed door or no warm welcome stop her, threw the door to Grossberg's personal office wide open—to Detective Gumshoe's horrified protest and Phoenix's worry that she might get in trouble again. Nobody was there and there were several files and papers scattered on his very lavish desk.

As she strode across the empty office, Phoenix following close behind, Detective Gumshoe finally asserted himself. "Miss Maya, you can't! If you go rummagin' around in someone else's office, that's a crime! I can't let you!"

That gave her pause. He was right.

"I'll look, you just stand there. You're waiting for Grossberg, right?" Phoenix offered, floating towards the papers on the desk.

"You're right. I'm sorry I didn't explain myself." Maya bowed in apology. "I wasn't going to go searching through his things. I just wanted to be here when he came back. It's lunchtime and he should be back in a little bit."

"Is he expectin' you?"

Now she was going to boldly lie to him. "Yeah. I called him, remember?" Hopefully he didn't remember how upset she was when she was walking to questioning after the fact. That seemed to mollify him enough that he stood at attention by the closed door, uncomfortable but not willing to drag her away just yet.

Maya sat down on the leather chair by the door—wincing as the springs pressed against her thighs—and stared around the office, pretending as if she wasn't just waiting on Phoenix to finish his investigating. Large bookshelves filled with fancy books and curios that looked like they were all for show. A nice desk and a leather chair for the man himself. A carpet the size of the room in full, crimson and gold pattern hypnotizing even if it was thin and only surface-level padding. A large, pale patch of wall with a set of hooks where something might have once been hung.

That last thing was weird, but not worth commenting on just yet.

What was worth commenting on was how pale Phoenix was getting as he read the papers left out under the lamplight on his desk. Maya didn't think ghosts could get pale with no blood to lose. His mouth worked around the words, then he locked eyes with Maya. She raised her eyebrows and he pointed at the pages. "Do you know about the DL-6 Incident? It's the case-file number for the trial where the police used a spirit medium in an attempt to get a post-mortem testimony. Misty Fey, your mother, was called to channel the victim."

Maya's blood turned to ice. She understood why Phoenix started looking ill.

"There are two photos here. The first one, your mother, makes sense. The other one is of Redd White."

Her blood turned to fire. She wanted to scream. Why did Grossberg know that Redd White had a connection to that incident? What had he done?!

"Some of the other information on this document are paperwork-type things but one thing stands out to me above all else," Phoenix, unlike Maya, was keeping his cool somehow, "is that the attorney defending the accused in question was someone employed here. Which would explain the paperwork and the incident being filed here, but why...why is Misty Fey's photo here? Her involvement wasn't made public until after the trial concluded, after White leaked it to the press. Why would he have a photo of White attached to this file, when he should have something more like the attorney who was on the case? What is he..."

Redd White leaked her mother's involvement with that case to the press. Marvin Grossberg would have known everything about the case if he was the employer of the attorney defending the accused. Marvin Grossberg knew that her mother was involved with this case. Marvin Grossberg—

Before Maya could complete that thought, the office door opened and a very startled Grossberg paused in the doorway. His eyes flicked between Detective Gumshoe beside him and Maya in the chair. Sweat dripped down his face and left dark marks on his brown suit. He took a step back as if he was going to try and flee.

Maya stood up and faced him. "Hello, Grossberg-san!" Maya hoped that he had gotten her message. She hoped that he had feared she would come to his offices to inform him of how much she appreciated his loyalty. She hoped that every bit of venom she was spitting hit their mark because now she had a new reason to hate him. "I thought you were too busy to take my case!"

"Ah!" Grossberg's voice caught and pitched. He was frightened. Good. "H-hello Maya. It seems as though my schedule was, ehrm, more clear than I believed. Though I heard my acting as your attorney was unnecessary in the end, as you take after your sister in the court. A terror, she was."

"And yet I have to come see you to be congratulated?" Her bared teeth were not a smile. "All the time Mia spent in your care and I have to be the one to reach out after her death?"

"Miss Maya—" Detective Gumshoe called out, not physically holding her back, though he seemed moments away from doing just that.

"Maya, please be careful!" Even Phoenix was demanding she step back and take a breath.

Fine. She could be calm. She could be clever. She could be like Mia.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. "Grossberg-san, do you know something interesting?"

"Wh-what?" Her calming down seemed to take some of the edge and fear away from his voice but he wasn't moving from his place in the doorway. He wanted to be able to flee at a moment's notice in case she chose to resort to violence. A good and logical fear.

"Mia told me to come to you for help. She told me 'Grossberg-san will take care of you in court if I can't.' She trusted you." Maya walked towards his desk and, glancing down enough to make sure she knew which photo was which, pressed an accusatory finger to the photo of Redd White. "And she never knew the truth, did she?"

Grossberg's color changed, first ruddy, then fish flesh. He understood what she was trying to say. He knew he was caught. "N-now let's not be hasty!"

"How much did he pay you? How much did my mother's name make you? How valuable was her existence to you?"

Detective Gumshoe seemed to be lost. "What does your mother—"

"Fifteen years ago, you ruined our lives. Twelve years later, my sister worked for you, and you said nothing to her. How much of your office even belongs to you, Grossberg-san?" She stalked toward him, not yet at a point where she would lay hands on him, but she was shaking. Furious. He could see it in her face, in her posture. "And now, yesterday, you refused to help me when I needed it. You have done nothing but ruin the Fey family's life and all for money!"

"Please understand—!"

"No! You understand!" Money. It was money. It was this man's fault, his greed, that led to this. "It was me and Mia for almost my entire life! I can't remember what my mother looks like and it's because you wanted wealth! You're a greedy fool! You're the reason why Mia's dead!" Her vision swam. Was she crying? She couldn't tell. She wanted Grossberg to understand what he had done. She wanted him to pay.

Maya staggered towards Grossberg but Detective Gumshoe finally stopped her in her tracks with one arm across her chest. She didn't even look away from Grossberg, just shouted at him from where she was being held.

"This is your fault! I hope you know that! I hope you suffer for it!"

"Miss Maya, please..." Detective Gumshoe's voice, low and quiet, rumbled through her chest at the point where his arm kept her back.

"Maya, I know you're angry but you can't do this," Phoenix was in her ear, trying to calm her down.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry but—"

"But nothing!" Maya screamed at him. He wasn't going to try and wiggle his way out of this. He was going to understand what he had done. "You're corrupt! Mia was trying to take him to court and I'm trying the same but on murder this time! Help me! Prove you cared about Mia, even a little!"

"I...can't." Even under her vicious assault, even with all the guilt she was piling on him, Grossberg didn't give in. He slumped in on himself, battered beneath her verbal barrage. "You have to understand what kind of position I'm in at this moment, Maya."

"Does he have something on you or is it just that you sold my mother out?" Grossberg's silence spoke volumes. Maya sneered and rattled her cuffs in his direction. "I hope you get everything you deserve, Grossberg-san. I hope you get what's coming to you!"

It was at this point that Detective Gumshoe had enough. He nodded his head at Grossberg. "Do you mind?" The man stepped back out of the door to the side and the detective switched his grip on Maya to walk her out of the office. "C'mon, Miss Maya. Let's go. We got places to be, don't we?"

Maya couldn't speak for the fury and disgust clogging her chest up. All fight left her and she allowed Detective Gumshoe to herd her outside. What was the point anyway? Trying to take her anger out on the middle man didn't matter because she needed to bag the big one. Plus she was just tired now. Being mad took all her energy.

Phoenix floated next to her the whole time, endlessly telling her it was alright. His chatter, like always, was calming. Waves of quiet affirmation helped soothed her.

"Miss Maya..." Detective Gumshoe didn't seem to know what to say for a moment before he pulled something from inside his jacket pocket and offered it to her. It was a travel pack of tissues. "Wipe up and blow your nose, okay? We don't have to go to Bluecorp right away, do we?"

Maya took the pack—it was one of those themed ones, the Steel Samurai staring at her from the plastic packaging—and pulled a tissue out to blow her nose as she stood on the sidewalk. She felt raw, like an open wound. She wanted to just give up but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

Phoenix hovered around her shoulder. "Are you good? How long do we need to wait? Do you want me to go beforehand?"

Deep breaths, even and careful. Maya blew her nose again, crumpling the second tissue in her fist with the first. It was only then that she realized how close she'd come to physically assaulting Grossberg. She could've gone to jail for doing that, especially in front of a cop—no matter how nice Detective Gumshoe was, he was a cop. She wouldn't be able to defend herself for assault if she'd assaulted someone and Prosecutor Edgeworth would absolutely get her on that. Not to mention she would lose investigative privileges.

The handcuffs felt heavy around her wrists. They reminded her how tenuous her position was.

Deep breath in, deep breath out. Maya handed the pack of tissues back to Detective Gumshoe and scrubbed at her face with the back of her hand, the crumpled ones still in her fist. "Thanks."

Detective Gumshoe held his hand out for the used tissues too. Maya looked up at him, confused. "So I can throw them away. You don't have both hands all the time, do you, pal?" Right. She gave him the tissues and watched as he put them in an inside pocket of his jacket. Yuck. "I might not know what you were yellin' at Mister Grossberg about, but you seemed really upset. First time I saw you like that and all. Seemed unusual...didn't like it. Sorry for manhandlin' you and all but you needed to get outside to clear your head." From another pocket—not the one he put the tissues in, thankfully—he produced a wrapped sucker and offered it to her.

Maya took it and tucked it in her sash. "For later," she told him, so as to not hurt his feelings.

"Are you gonna' be okay to keep goin'?"

She looked up at him, unsure of how to really articulate what she wanted. She wanted to continue. She wanted to confront that man. She wanted to get revenge. She wanted to lay down and cry. She wanted to go home.

She wanted her sister.

"Yeah," she lied. "I'm feeling better now."

Bluecorp was a large building in downtown, easily three floors, all of them owned by the same man. The receptionist on the ground floor didn't seem to appreciate a large man and a girl in handcuffs walking in to her very nice place of employment, judging by the drawn sneer she gave Maya.

"We're here to see White-san." Maya wasn't going to afford anyone in this place any courtesy past mere formality. They didn't deserve it. "It's about his employee, April May."

"What has Miss May done?" The receptionist talked past Maya right to Detective Gumshoe.

"Been arrested."

Detective Gumshoe stepped between her and the receptionist, physically pushing her back a bit. "Nothin' too bad. She's just waitin' to be tried is all. Miss Maya wanted to talk to her boss about, uh..."

Maya felt his hesitation. "His involvement with the crime."

"Yeah, that!"

The receptionist looked Detective Gumshoe up and down, eyes catching on Maya, then examined her nails. "Mister White is busy at the moment, unfortunately. I can pen you in for sometime in the next week, if you like."

Phoenix, who had been watching the proceedings, finally spoke up. "Use your family name."

Right. "Tell him a Fey is here for him."

That gave the receptionist pause. She pursed her lips, then pressed a button on the internal line. "Mister White?"

"Proceed!"

"There's a...Fey here for you." The way the receptionist enunciated her family name made it sound almost like a slur. Maya grimaced.

A long pause devoured the air in the reception area. Then he spoke again. "She may enter posthumously!"

"After...death?" Phoenix stared at the internal line as if the man on the other side would explain himself.

The receptionist waited for her employer to hang up the line before she bothered addressing the people in the room with her. "You're allowed up. Third floor. Do behave."

"Will do." Detective Gumshoe, thoroughly baffled, looked to Maya but she was already walking into the elevator. "Hey, wait, hold up pal!"

It wasn't as if she was going to move on without him. He was her guard—keeping her from running away, keeping her in line—but he was also there to guard her. She felt safe with Detective Gumshoe around. She trusted him and wanted him there for the confrontation that was to come.

"Why did he let you in by name?" Detective Gumshoe didn't press himself against the wall this time. It seemed like he remembered what she said in the Gatewater and took it to heart. "Does it have somethin' to do with what you said to that Grossberg fella?"

"Something like that." How much did Maya let him in on? He was working for Prosecutor Edgeworth, after all, but...he was nice to her. He comforted her.

"Your call." Phoenix floated upward quickly enough to keep inside the elevator.

The large detective didn't press her for details, even if he could tell she was withholding information.

The elevator opened up to a short hallway and a large set of double doors with Redd White's name across them in cast-metal script, fancy swooping letters a gaudy reminder of the ego of its occupant. Maya didn't even give pause as she raised her cuffed hands and tore them open.

The room Redd White called an 'office' was the size of a large hotel suite. It was furnished in a similar fashion to Grossberg's own: all costly items to show off his wealth, all uncomfortable and impractical to use for their intended purposes. Between the gold-plated desk whose legs were burly men supporting the ugly surface of the thing and the large, ugly painting taking up a large portion of the wall, every inch of the place was gaudy and stank of overcompensation. Even the large, smiling man sitting in the dead center of the room, waiting for them.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visitationing, little girl?" Redd White's words sent shivers of anger down Maya's spine. She grit her teeth and stared at the man, trying to keep her expression as flat as possible. "I was under the impression you were interred."

"Didn't your receptionist say? Mayoi Fey, at your service White-san." Maya bowed, deep, sarcastically. "I came to talk to you about your employee and my sister."

"And why should I while away my time in your suspicious presence?" Redd White examined his nails, idly pretending as if Maya—or Detective Gumshoe—weren't there. "What my employee does with her spare time doesn't reflect on my workings in the slightest. Not legally, that is."

"No." He was right, judging by the dismissive noise Phoenix made. "Not legally. But someone from the court is going to come by for a chat."

"And?"

"He's pleasant." Phoenix was looking carefully at the painting on the back wall.

Detective Gumshoe remained silent, unsure of how to even engage with this conversation—even if his posture indicated that he wasn't going to let it go as south as her talk with Grossberg did.

"And?" Maya tried her best to remain calm. "You are going to be served a subpoena. You are going to be in court tomorrow, testifying! We have proof you were with April May when she committed her felonious wiretapping and when she witnessed the moment my sister was killed. You are obligated to come into court and talk about what happened and—"

"Little girl." Redd White stood up, towering over her. Maya found herself frozen stiff beneath his long shadow. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Redd White." She fought the quiver in her voice. "Of Bluecorp."

"So why do you think that I would in any way be 'obligated' to do anything? A person of my magnamosity does not 'have' to do anything!" He took a step closer to her.

"You will! It's the law!" The words were hardly out of her mouth when Redd White's ringed hand cracked across her cheek, blasting her vision with white spots. Her hearing rang and she clutched at her face in surprise and pain.

"Allow me to repeat myself: I am not 'obligated' to do anything. That's a lesson your tenacious sister failed to understand." Even though he wasn't speaking loudly, she felt pinned and assaulted by his growling, grinning words.

"Hey now pal!" Maya's vision was eclipsed by the olive green of Detective Gumshoe's jacket as he stood between Redd White and her, shielding her from him. "You can't do that!"

"And what is your personage, unkept man?" Redd White leaned back a little and adjusted the lapels of his suit, straightening his outfit and flashing a bright, insincere smile. The rings that cut into Maya's skin glittered in the fluorescent light of his office.

"Detective Dick Gumshoe, homicide division, current guard of Miss Maya, sir!" Even with his deference to Redd White, Detective Gumshoe's posture didn't change one bit. He remained defensively between Maya and Redd White, arms outstretched as if to take the next blow for her.

(Unseen to anyone but her, Phoenix hovered near her injured cheek, not touching it but observing the wound, furiously cursing the man under his breath.)

"So you're nobody then." Redd White's posture remained lax, uncaring. "Just some detective. If you continue to impede me in this manner, I will be having words with the Chief of Police about your continued employment with them."

Detective Gumshoe sputtered. His arms fell as he folded beneath the uncaring glare of Redd White. While he didn't step aside so much as wilt enough that Redd White could fix Maya with his cold gaze once more, his protection faltered.

Maya blinked angry and pained tears out of her eyes.

"Was that so hard?" Redd White sat back down in his chair and crossed one leg over the other as casually as could be. "The little girl keeps her mouth shut, the big man keeps his hands to himself, and my effervescent self remains unaffected, happy as always. Everyone wins."

"Not everyone." Phoenix's string of swears and worried concern parted for a moment, a single clear thought surfaces in an ocean of unbroken noise.

Maya grabbed ahold of that thought as a lifesaver. Not everyone wins in this case. Only Redd White. Detective Gumshoe tried to protect her. He was on her side. She could push a little more. And she was in the detention center instead of her home. All Redd White could do while she was incarcerated was hit her again. A little pain would be worth the truth, worth stroking the flame of justice in her chest.

"You bought information from Marvin Grossberg fifteen years ago." Maya's accusation was clear and direct. No room for misinterpretation.

Redd White tilted his head to look down his nose at her. "And?"

"Classified information about a case being handled by an attorney working for his office." These were facts.

"Again: and? Time is money and you're currently wasting mine."

"I introduced myself as Mayoi Fey when I came in. Your receptionist buzzed me in as a Fey." The kicker. "You bought information from Grossberg about my mother, Misty Fey's, classified involvement with a case and leaked it to the press. And, until the moment of her death, my sister was trying to prove that fact."

"What of it?" He seemed largely unfazed, even as Phoenix latched onto every word she said like it was all important.

He seemed to understand the point she was making. "Grossberg...the lawsuit she was preparing for...the Thinker. That's why!"

"That's why you killed her! She had proof and you stole it!" Even as she shouted and pointed an accusatory finger at him, it felt different than when she was arguing in court. In court, she found, the back and forth between lawyer and witness or lawyer and lawyer was a game between the two parties on a level playing field. Here she was firing volleys at a man in a fortress, knowing full well he had an artillery at the ready. It was a siege she was going to lose. Even so, she wouldn't be giving up. She couldn't.

"So?" The room fell still and silent. Redd White idly polished his rings against his jacket.

"S-so?! So you're not denying it?!" How brazen could he be!

"Why should I?" He leaned forward in his chair and gave Maya a self-assured, predatory smile. "Who will believe you?"

"Detective Gumshoe is—"

"He is one detective. I am in no way threatened by his presentice." Redd White waved idly at Detective Gumshoe as he leaned back again. "And he knows what will happen if he goes against me." The threat about getting him fired.

"You can't possibly think you can just get away with this!" The pain in her cheek forgotten, Maya pushed past Detective Gumshoe to get closer to Redd White so she could shout at him.

"You said earlier that my company, Bluecorp, bought information off of one Grossberg fifteen years ago. That is because I trade in information. So why do you think one poultry testimony against my grand self would carry any weight in comparison?"

"Because this isn't the press, it's the court! The court relies on evidence, not intangible information!"

"And what is more evidence than money and power? What is more likely to sway the judge, the gallery, the prosecution, than information? Is evidence not information?" Redd White's tone was self-assured and completely unbothered by her accusations in the slightest. In fact, he almost seemed amused by her attempt. "The only people who would fight for you are dead. You've lost before you even began. Why would you fight so hard?"

"Because I know you did it. And I'm going to see you in court tomorrow. I will prove it to everyone and you won't be able to worm your way out of it."

Again, a flash of bright light and sharp sound. Again, a brilliant streak of pain. This time he drew blood. Maya blinked tears from her eyes and sneered at Redd White as he leaned over her.

"You want me in court so bad? Wish granted. I look forward to testamenting on the stand tomorrow." Redd White waved a hand—the same one he had just backhanded her with—for her to leave. "Now get out of my office."

Maya didn't break eye-contact as she backed her way to the doors. Detective Gumshoe eventually turned to herd her out the office, keeping himself between the two of them, even as he looked defeated. Phoenix floated behind him, casting glances back at the wall behind Redd White.

Only once the double doors leading into Redd White's office swung closed did Maya finally turn away and let everything catch up with her at once.

'The only people who would fight for you are dead.' That wasn't false but it hurt almost as much as where he struck her. Phoenix was on her side, actively fighting with her and he was a ghost. Mia would have fought for her and she was dead and gone.

Gumshoe was trying his best.

Her face hurt. Maya could feel something trickling down her cheek. Tears? Blood? Both, probably.

She couldn't bring it in herself to move. Her legs had locked up, her breathing seized, and she began to shake. The adrenaline and anger that had been keeping her going for as long as it had was finally flushing itself out of her system and all that was left was exhaustion and terror.

Maya barely felt it when Gumshoe scooped her up and carried her into the elevator, nor did she notice much of the trip out of the building. Only when he found a bench outside and put her down on it, gently wiping blood away from her face with tissues, did she finally come back to herself. Her senses returned in waves, muffled at first but slowly clearing.

Gumshoe was quietly apologizing to her as he dabbed at the second place where Redd White had struck her. "Sorry, pal. I wish I could've done more but..."

"You tried though." He jumped when she spoke up, as if he hadn't expected to hear her again so soon. "I appreciate it."

"He hit you." Gumshoe pointed out. "Twice. And I let him."

"Your job wasn't to protect me, but to keep an eye on me. And I wouldn't want you to lose your job over...him." It's not as if she hadn't provoked him in the first place. And, like was said, she had nobody living to rely on. Gumshoe was the closest thing she had. She didn't want to lose that. "Plus you're taking care of me now. That's enough."

"It's just...this isn't the first time I've seen things like...this." Gumshoe frowned and fished an adhesive bandage out of his jacket pockets, carefully opening it and peeling the backing off to apply it to her face. "And you're young. It's...you didn't do it."

Now, confronted with the truth, he believed her. He was reasonable. He was kind.

"I didn't do it."

Gumshoe carefully applied the large adhesive bandage to her cheek and smoothed it out under his calloused fingers. "And he—Mister Edgeworth—won't do what he says. I know he won't! He won't be so easily bought!"

"If you say so." Maya didn't believe him. "But it doesn't matter. I've got him."

"He said he got the judge—"

"I've got him on the stand." This was the important thing. She had him where she wanted him, where she could prove he was involved.

"He said—"

"Gumshoe!" The larger man startled like a frightened animal but she gave him her most reassuring smile. "It's fine. Thank you for trying to help me. Don't put your job on the line though. I'm the one on the block and I'm going to do my best to put him there in my place." What else could she do but try? It's not like Redd White coming to court would change the fact that she was on trial for Mia's murder.

Gumshoe fell silent. Phoenix sat on the other side of Maya, equally quiet. The air was cold and sharp against her struck cheek and tear-streaked eyes. It bit at her throat and lungs, grounding her.

"You done for the day?" Gumshoe eventually asked.

"...yeah." Where else could she go?

"You like ramen?" He stood up and offered her his hand so she didn't have to try and stand on her own. She took it, appreciative of his assistance as her wobbly legs nearly buckled under her own weight.

"I won't say no to any type of food, if you couldn't tell." He didn't seem to understand she was making a joke at her expense because he gave her a blinding smile of sheer delight and excitement.

"Then do I got a treat for you, pal! As an apology, of a sort..." He began to walk down the street, her hand in his still. "This place is the best around, been runnin' for generations even! My old boss took me and I'll take you because, frankly pal, I heard the detention center food isn't that good." It super wasn't, for what little she had consumed.

"If it's the ramen stand I'm thinking of, you're in for a good meal." It was the first thing that Phoenix had said since they left Bluecorp. He had gone so silent that Maya had felt the absence of his constant chatter like a missing tooth. And now that he was back, she was surprised at how much she missed him.

(How quickly he had become a comforting and grounding presence in her life.)

"...thanks." What else could she say?

"Any time, pal."

It was, as Phoenix said, some of the best ramen she'd ever had. Stomach full and warm, Maya soon forgot about the pain and humiliation of being smacked around and yelled at. By the time that she was taken back to the detention center, sleep was ravenously nipping at her heels.

Gumshoe, true to his word, made sure she had a copy of the transcript of the court and pictures and prints of the evidence in a plain folder for her to review at her leisure. She didn't have the energy to do it now, of course, but she had them. She had them.

"You can't do things like that, Maya." Maya looked up from where she was laying on her cot, lollipop in mouth.

"Huh?"

"Aggravating dangerous people. Running your mouth like that. Starting fights." Phoenix was reclined floating, eyebrows pinched and furrowed, sharply accenting his concern on his face. "You were hurt." His voice caught, peaking with unshed tears and frustration.

Maya sat up so she could be eye-level with him again, rolling the lollipop in her mouth so she could speak better. "Phoenix..."

"Don't 'Phoenix' me! I can't do anything like this! It was such a good thing Gumshoe was there! Otherwise..." His eyes swam, worried, imagining what could have happened. Probably imagining a second murder at the hands of Redd White.

"I—" He was right, however. He was right. Maya slumped back down. "Yeah..." Her cheek, the one under the bandage Gumshoe had given her, throbbed with the memory of the blow. What else could she say to that?

"Maya, please promise me you'll be careful." Something in Phoenix's face drew her attention. Something...personal and agonized. Something more than just the memory of Mia's death at Redd White's hands. "I— promise me."

Could she promise that without lying to him? Could she reasonably say she wouldn't be chasing the truth down at the expense of her well-being? Probably not, so she was going to have to be a liar for a little bit longer. "I promise." She curled up on the cot and turned so her back was to Phoenix. She didn't want him to see her face as she fought with her emotions.

Lying to the first person who believed in her, the one person who was consistently on her side. It would all be worth it in the end, if only to see Redd White in jail but...

It still didn't feel good.