The judge cleared his throat, banging the gavel down with a large “BANG”. “Now that we have heard the opening statements, the prosecution may call its first witness.” He said in his usual deep voice, nodding towards Edgeworth.

“Of course, Your Honor.” Miles said, pulling a list of names from his briefcase and glancing at it before declaring, “The prosecution calls Detective Gumshoe to the stand.” The green trench coated detective stood from his spot in the crowd and walked to the witness stand, where Edgeworth said to him, “Now, then, Detective. Please state the details of this murder.”

“You got it, pal.” Dick replied, beaming. “The murder occurred last night, the 14th, at around 7:39 PM. A woman was found shot in her office, slumped over her desk. From the autopsy, she had been dead for 15 minutes before we got a call from her brother, Seth Redheart, who had come to visit. We haven’t yet performed a ballistics test, but the gun we found at the scene was registered to the victim. The only fingerprints on it belonged to the defendant over there.”

Phoenix scratched his chin, unsure as to how to attack the detective’s testimony. He decided he’d be happy with pressing Gumshoe for more details. “So, you arrived at around 7:54 PM?”

“That’s right, pal.” He replied, scratching the back of his head. “We only took five minutes to get to the scene, so there was…” He stopped to think, counting on his fingers, “ten minutes between when she died and when the call came in.”

“What do you think could’ve happened in that gap?” Phoenix asked, curious as to why it took ten minutes to put the call in.

“I don’t know that, pal.” Gumshoe replied, later adding, if not awkwardly, “I guess… it took a while for the victim’s brother to get there? I’m not the person to ask, pal.”

“All right…” Phoenix reflected, making a mental note of the ten minute gap. He checked the autopsy report before asking, “The victim owned a gun? Wasn’t she just an English teacher?”

“Yeah, but recently she was being stalked by some shady character. That’s what the report said, anyway. She got a permit for a small handgun just in case the man decided to more than follow her.” Gumshoe conveyed, just as Edgeworth pulled out the report and handed it to the judge. “It’s all there in that report, pal.”

Phoenix double-checked it before Edgeworth broke the silence that had befallen the court. “I think the court understands the jist of things. Thank you, Detective, you can step down.” Gumshoe happily obliged, returning to his seat. “The prosecution now calls the defendant, Mr. Alex Daniels, to the stand.”

“Here we go.” Phoenix thought as Alex, a young yet tall man with cropped brown hair and sharp blue eyes, took to the stand.

Alex Daniels took to the stand, his fingers nervously tapping the desk as the prosecution addressed him. “Now, then. Name and occupation, if you please.”

“O-of course…” Alex muttered. Upon request of the judge, he spoke up, his voice a little shaky. “M-my name is A-Alex Daniels. I-I was just appointed as a p-prosecutor…”

Phoenix’s eyes widened at this, it was the first he had heard of this. “A prosecutor?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.” Alex replied, gulping.

“Ah, yes. I heard of you yesterday. I hear that you were the top of your class.” Edgeworth mused before shaking his head. “But, anyway. Please testify as to what you were doing on the night of the murder.”

“O-okay. I was on my way home from the prosecutor’s office when my cell phone rang. My wife... Sera… was calling to congratulate me, she said she had a surprise for me. But then I got caught in traffic because of an accident, and didn’t get home until 7:45 PM… that’s when I found her body, as well as the gun.”

“You say you didn’t get home until 7:45?” Edgeworth asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Y-yes, that’s right. Around that time, anyway.”

Edgeworth wagged his finger at Alex, “tut-tut-tut”-ing and saying calmly, “That is quite impossible. There were only two accidents, none near the prosecutor’s office!”

“Objection!” Phoenix yelled, pulling out a document from his case. “I have right here a radio broadcast’s recording. If you would allow me to play it, then I can prove that there was indeed an accident!.”

“Objection!” Edgeworth retorted, shaking his head. “How do you know what roads the defendant took? He hasn’t even mentioned them!” He slammed his fist on the desk, making Alex jump a little. “How did you get home, Mr. Daniels?”

“Well… I got on the expressway nearest the office, I think it was I-37.” Alex recalled, putting his finger sideways against his lips and looking off to the side in thought.

“Very well.” The judge interjected, turning to Phoenix. “You may now play the recording. If I-37 is not mentioned, then I am afraid I will have to overrule your objection.”

So, Phoenix played the recording. “Hey, hey! This is FM 95.3, bringing you the latest traffic updates! So far, we’ve only seen two wrecks on this beautiful Wednesday! There’s one on I-36, apparently someone couldn’t slow down fast enough before BOOM!” The court suddenly felt uneasy at the radio personality’s apparent joy at the idea of a car crash. “And the other’s on I-37, southbound! I guess a car plus a wall is a compact model! Well, that’s all for…” Phoenix turned off the recording, grinning like a schoolgirl. “You see? There was indeed a crash on I-37!” He was about to say something more before he noticed Edgeworth’s smug smile.

“Wright, Wright. Didn’t you know?” Edgeworth said triumphantly, wagging his finger again. “Witness! Where is your house in relation to the office?”

“It’s north-west of it… I took I-37 northbound.” Alex admitted, sighing.

“Oh, dammit.” Phoenix thought, his forehead beading with sweat. He glanced at the empty counsel next to him, wishing Maya were there.

“Well, it’s needless to say that this testimony doesn’t go into much detail about the murder itself…” Edgeworth trailed off, glancing at the list next to him. “The prosecution would like to call a witness that can disprove the defendant’s testimony and place him at the time of the murder.”

“Of course, Mr. Edgeworth.” The judge nodded, making Phoenix feel all the more abject.

“The prosecution calls Mr. Seth Redheart, the victim’s brother, to the stand.”

Seth Redheart took the stand, smiling cruelly. His slick, black hair was pulled back except for a large strand, which fell over his left eye – it reminded Phoenix of another witness, one who had given him a nice lump on the head before. He wondered if this one would be as much trouble, too.

“Witness, please state your name and occupation.” Edgeworth asked in monotone, obviously getting ever more bored with the repetitive question.

“Of course. My name is Seth Redheart, and I currently work as a security guard.” Seth said, reaching up and flicking at his long strand of hair. He began to twirl it with his finger, reminding Phoenix of yet another witness from a previous case. “I’m also the victim’s brother, which makes the defendant my brother-in-law.”

“I have a question,” the judge asked, looking at Seth’s uniform curiously. “Do you also work for the KB firm?”

“That is correct.” Seth replied, “I do indeed work for that firm. However, I do have dreams of working for Bluecorp.”

“Bluecorp?” Phoenix asked. “Didn’t it go out of business after Redd White was charged with murder?”

“Tut tut tut, Mr. Attorney.” Seth said, shaking his head. His hair flew exactly like Wellington’s, which made Wright a little uneasy. “Of course it was. I have a dream of one day taking it over in his place.” He grinned, turning to the prosecution. “Now, what is it you needed me for?”

“Ah, yes. If you would, please testify to when you discovered your sister’s body.” Edgeworth said before raising an eyebrow at Phoenix, who seemed a bit uneasy. He made a mental note of it – it was usually a bad sign.

“Oh, of course.” Seth said before his testimony began. “Now, let’s see… I was at my house at around 7:30, and decided to visit my little sister and her husband. When I got there, it was about 7:45. I was going to go in, but I was a little… uneasy, so I didn’t.”

“So you got there at 7:45… about five minutes after the victim was shot. Very well, Mr. Wright. You may now cross-examine the witness.” The judge nodded, seeming as if he were contemplating something.

And thus, the cross-examination began. “So, you decided to visit your sister? Any reason in particular?” Phoenix asked, glancing from Alex to Seth. The witness shook his head – god damn it, there goes the hair again – and said,

“She’s my sister? What reason would I NOT have to visit her?” Seth retorted, smirking.

“Just answer the question, Mr. Redheart!”

“Oh, fine. If you must know, I missed her. Since she got married, she moved into Alex’s house, and I was getting lonely.” He explained, twirling his hair again. “After all, I’m not used to the house being so quiet.”

“So, the victim used to live with you?” Phoenix asked, which was replied with a “naturally,” and also an “Objection!” form Edgeworth.

“I hardly see the relevance from this line of questioning, Mr. Wright.” He said, wagging his finger. Phoenix, a bit annoyed at his friend’s constant finger-wagging, thought for a minute, trying to come up with an excuse. Luckily, Seth came to the rescue.

“Oh, I don’t mind, really. I would welcome any and all questions Mr. Attorney has.” He said, chuckling. There was something about it that drilled a warning into Phoenix’s brain, possibly because most of his witnesses had been so ‘kind’ before.

“All right, then. Let’s move on.” Phoenix said, coming to his next question. “So it took you fifteen minutes to get there? Did you drive, or walk?”

“I drove, naturally. It was raining yesterday, after all – I didn’t feel like getting my uniform wet.”

“You were still in uniform?” Phoenix asked, scratching his chin in thought. “Even when you were home?”

“Yes. I’ve rather grown into it, that and the fact that I had just gotten home from duty.”

“So, what then, witness?” Edgeworth asked, cutting off Phoenix’s next question.

“Then, when I stepped out of my car and went to the front door, I noticed it was open. I peeked inside, but saw nothing. I was going to go in…”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Well, I had heard about my sister’s little encounter. I wondered if it was him, and I figured he might’ve been armed, so I waited outside to jump him. But when no one came for a few minutes, I went inside… Alex was standing near her body, gun in hand!”

“Objection! Your testimony clearly contradicts the defendant’s!” Phoenix yelled, pointing at Seth. “You say you got there at 7:45, the same time as the defendant. But you say you didn’t see anyone else? I find that highly unlikely!”

“Objection!” Edgeworth retorted, slamming his hand against the desk. “It’s possible that Alex could’ve gone inside at that time!”

“But if they arrived at the same time, Seth would’ve seen Alex going in from his car!” Phoenix argued, making Edgeworth flinch. “What say you, Mr. Redheart?”

“Gah…” Seth started to sweat, grating his teeth together behind his lips – Phoenix saw his jaw moving back and forth. “I… hmm…” He started twirling his hair again, then shook his head. “Of course I saw Mr. Daniels. But he went in the back door, near the garage. I didn’t think it odd, considering he was my sister’s husband, after all.”

“The back door…? Why not use the front door, which was open anyway?”

“I can’t explain that. I’m not the defendant, after all. Perhaps he’s used to taking the back door.” Seth mused, shrugging.

“So, you saw the defendant go into the back door, and saw the front door open?” The judge asked, blinking slowly. “I’m… hmm… I find that a little odd. Could you testify as to when you saw the defendant?”

“O-of course, Your Honor.” Seth stuttered. Phoenix’s little alert in his mind went off, telling him to pay close attention to what he would say. “I swear, there’s some sort of fast-paced song playing in the courtroom…” He thought as he focused on Seth, wondering what other lies lay ahead…