Chapter Text
Phoenix got the call a few minutes after 10 pm. He’d just wished Trucy a good night and settled down in front of the TV to unwind a bit after a long day of investigating, so the shrill ringing of his cell phone caught him a little off guard. He fumbled for it on the side table, nearly sending it over the edge but recovering just in time. “Phoenix Wright here-” he said, but the booming voice on the other end abruptly cut him off.
“Hey pal! No time for that now!” Phoenix blinked. Gumshoe’s tone was urgent, just this side of panicked. Immediately all thoughts of his relaxing evening in front of the TV faded away. “Did you happen to see Mr. Edgeworth today?”
Uh-oh. Phoenix very firmly did not think of any other similar conversations he’d had when he answered, “Uh, no, sorry. I haven’t seen him in a few days actually.” He took a breath, trying not to jump to conclusions, and asked a question he’d really rather not. “Why?”
“Mr. Edgeworth, he’s… he’s missing! He was working late at the office, so his car’s still here, but Mr. Debeste entered his office and he wasn’t there. We searched the rest of the building, his apartment, everywhere, but he’s just gone!”
Well, they always said lawyers shouldn’t ask questions they didn’t already know the answers to. Phoenix immediately thought of a long, lonely year and a poorly worded letter, and the truths he still wasn’t sure he knew regarding said letter, and wondered if he did know the answer to this question after all. For once, he hoped he was wrong.
On the other end of the line, Gumshoe was saying something. Phoenix tuned back in to catch “-been asking anyone who might have seen him recently if they have any idea where he might be. I’ll fill you in on the details later if the investigation uncovers anything, but let me know if you think of any leads, pal.”
“Wait!” Phoenix said before he could stop himself. “Did he… leave a note?”
Gumshoe was quiet for a beat, long enough that Phoenix wondered if the Detective had hung up after all. When the answer finally came, Gumshoe sounded just as dejected as Phoenix felt, and Phoenix remembered he hadn’t been the only one Edgeworth had left behind that year. “No note this time.”
Alright. That was... well, he didn’t know. It didn’t mean anything definitive, but it still made the weight on Phoenix’s chest ease just a bit. It was something. For everything else, he’d just have to wait and see.
~~~
The day that followed brought with it even worse news. Though the police department had searched high and low, they had come up short on meaningful clues. They’d found, as Gumshoe had told him in what Phoenix was sure was a breach of proper protocol but was thankful for nonetheless, only two things out of place in Edgeworth’s office that night. The first was a letter, laying open on Edgeworth’s desk. Its contents were cryptic, if not directly incriminating. They were as follows:
Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth,
I hope this letter finds you well. It has been quite a while, hasn’t it? That burning desire to uncover the truth, that fiery determination I once witnessed, does it still possess you? Do you still refute the claim that the truth can be whatever we make of it?
I suspect you will find the truth to be surprisingly malleable after tonight.
I’ve enclosed a gift for you, as you might have already discovered. I do hope you enjoy your trip. If all goes well, we’ll be seeing each other quite soon.
It lacked a return address, unsurprisingly, but it was being checked for fingerprints, which would be cross checked with everyone in the database. Additionally, there’d been some sort of strange, powdery residue on the letter and inside the envelope, which was still undergoing analysis. Phoenix shuddered to think what it might have been, though at least the letter’s presence indicated that there was indeed someone behind Edgeworth’s disappearance – likely someone that had access to the Prosecutor’s office, at that. If it had been some sort of drug, the sender had to have been quite certain they’d be able to retrieve Edgeworth from the office afterwards. And it would have been hard enough to get an unconscious body out of the building without having to worry about gaining access in the first place.
The other clue gave them much less to go off of, but it was certainly an irregularity. Gumshoe had relayed the story with no small amount of embarrassment, though whether that was on his own behalf or that of the other detectives Phoenix wasn’t quite sure. Somehow at least five separate investigators had missed the presence of another living being in Edgeworth’s office – that was to say, the gray cat Gumshoe himself had been the one to find curled protectively on top of one of the bookshelves. Gumshoe’s discovery must have startled the thing, because his attempts to get it down had only ended in hissing and a set of scratch marks down the detective’s arm.
Phoenix had no idea Edgeworth had a cat, which seemed like a strange thing for Edgeworth to have kept from him – even stranger when Gumshoe confirmed that he’d never heard of Edgeworth having another pet after Pess either. But while they hadn’t yet been able to get the cat down, Gumshoe had been close enough to see that it looked too well taken care of to be a stray that had gotten inside somehow. About the only other guess Phoenix could hazard is that it might have been the gift the letter was referring to, though even he knew that suggesting a cat was unknowingly delivered to the Prosecutor’s Office wasn’t going to fly in court.
Phoenix had spent the rest of his morning trying to put together what little clues he’d been given into something resembling a lead, to little success. He’d delegated his current cases to Apollo and Athena, trusting their abilities to defend just as well, if not better, than he could, leaving all his current attention on Edgeworth’s disappearance. But he felt like he was missing too much information, and there was just too much that didn’t make sense.
Of course, that hadn’t stopped media outlets from spreading around every insane, contrived theory on the mysterious disappearance of the Chief Prosecutor they could come up with. They ranged from relatively plausible conspiracy theories, to theories of revenge and kidnapping that made Phoenix shudder to think of the state of his friend, all the way to the completely ridiculous. He was pretty sure they could safely rule out ‘aliens descended from the sky and headed straight for the LA Prosecutor’s Office’.
…Mostly sure. Like, 90%.
It was in the middle of yet another news anchor discussing Edgeworth’s disappearance that Trucy stumbled blearily into the living room, then abruptly came to a halt. Phoenix scrambled for the remote, but his reaction time wasn’t the finest it had ever been, and by the time he switched the report off Trucy was wide-eyed and one of her hands splayed against her chest.
“Uncle Edgeworth is kidnapped?!” she cried, already looking a little teary. Phoenix really didn’t know when she’d started calling him Uncle Edgeworth, only that after he’d come to a few of her shows she’d all but reverse-adopted him. Phoenix supposed he shouldn’t be surprised, considering how it had hardly taken Trucy a matter of minutes to latch onto himself all those years ago.
Trucy’s lower lip wobbled, and right, there was damage control to be done. “No, Truce,” he reassured, “they don’t know that. He’s…” he hesitated, wondering how much it was appropriate to share. But he didn’t want to lie to his daughter, and he was sure she’d hear the story soon enough one way or another. “He’s missing right now, though. Since last night.”
“O-oh…” Trucy’s gaze fell to the ground, but only for a moment; just as quickly it shot back up, eyes lit with newfound determination. “Then we’ve gotta find him Daddy! We’ll go investigate, right? With the two of us on the case, we’ll find Uncle Edgeworth in no time at all!”
For the first time since getting the call last night, Phoenix smiled. That’s my girl. And Trucy was no stranger to investigations, especially since Apollo had come around. He relayed Gumshoe’s information about the letter and the cat, watching Trucy’s face light up at the mention of the animal.
“Oh Daddy, we have to go help! That poor cat’s probably terrified. Animals love me, I’m sure I’ll be able to get him down.”
Phoenix told himself it was Trucy’s insistence that had him agreeing to head over to the Prosecutor’s office, and not his own thrumming need to do something. For a few blocks, he almost believed it.
~~~
The Gumshoe that greeted them in Edgeworth’s office was a far cry from the one Phoenix was used to. Gumshoe looked dejected and worried, not to mention exhausted; if the bags and the redness of his eyes were anything to go off of, he hadn’t gotten much sleep. Phoenix sucked in a concerned breath at the sight of the scratch marks on his arm, red and angry.
“S’alright, pal,” Gumshoe waved off his worry, “the poor thing’s just scared. I don’t blame it, especially if it saw whoever took Mr. Edgeworth…”
“You think someone took him then?” Phoenix asked, trying not to let the sudden sense of dread overwhelm him.
Gumshoe frowned, a little uncertain. “It’s the best lead we’ve got considering the letter, but even then we can’t say for sure. There aren’t any signs of struggle, save a knocked over chair, and there’s nothing to indicate forced entry either. All the windows were locked, and there’s way too many prints on the doorknob to get anything useful off it.”
Phoenix nodded, a little more hopeful that his friend might have been okay, even if he hadn’t left of his own volition. “You mind if we look around then? I know it’s unusual, but…”
“It’s fine, forensics is just finishing up here anyway. Anything for Mr. Edgeworth, pal. If you find anything, let me know.” Phoenix tried to offer the detective a reassuring smile, but he was pretty sure it looked more like a grimace. He just couldn’t quite muster up the enthusiasm.
Trucy had been unusually quiet behind him, and when he glanced back to check on her she was staring forlornly at the office. “Uncle Edgeworth…” she sighed quietly. “Let’s… let’s see what we can find.”
Phoenix began with the desk, and the letter that rested on its surface. It was handwritten, the letters looking a little jagged at the edges and reminding him a bit of the logos for those old metal bands – a somewhat distinct writing style, which might help with a handwriting analysis if they knew who to compare it to. The sides of the page were a little crumpled, and Phoenix wondered if Edgeworth’s hands had pressed the wrinkles into the page. Whatever powder had been detected earlier seemed to have been removed by forensics for testing, which was just as well, as he didn’t want Trucy exposed to anything that might have been dangerous. The letter’s contents didn’t give him much to go on either. Phoenix was sure there were no shortage of people who believed they could bend the truth to their whims, especially in the dark age of law. Anyone who thought like that might have held a grudge against Edgeworth for all his work to root out corruption in the legal world.
Phoenix stepped carefully around the overturned desk chair, frowning. It wasn’t like Edgeworth to leave anything out of place, as the rest of the office’s pristine condition could attest to, so the chair stuck out like a sore thumb. It suggested Edgeworth either hadn’t had time or wasn’t able to right the chair before he’d left the office.
He was drawn out of his contemplation by Trucy tugging gently at his arm. “Daddy, who’s that?” she asked, pointing towards a young man who looked to be doing an investigation of his own by the windows. He wasn’t wearing the typical police attire, instead sporting a blue suit and a garishly bright red coat pulled over it. And he was… crying?
“Ah, are you okay?” Phoenix asked, half reaching out a hand to the man before he whirled to face them and oh yes, those were definitely tears. Phoenix was not equipped to deal with this today.
The man fiddled with some sort of baton he wielded in his gloved hands. “N-no! Mr. Edgeworth is gone and I can’t find any trace of him! I should have known something was wrong when he wasn’t here last night – Mr. Edgeworth always works late and he said he’d be here late last night if I wanted to talk about the Herring case but even though the lights were on he wasn’t here and-”
“Whoa, slow down,” Phoenix begged, raising a stalling hand. He’d mentioned being the one to discover Edgeworth’s empty office, and if that was true… “You must be Prosecutor Debeste, right?”
“Oh!” The Prosecutor’s hair seemed to stand straight up in surprise. “Yes, that’s me. Sebastian is just fine.”
“I’m Phoenix Wright. I’m… an old friend of Edgeworth’s.”
Sebastian deflated a little. “I’m sorry, Mr. Wright. I should have said something sooner when Mr. Edgeworth wasn’t in the office, but I didn’t think to be concerned until they said his car was still here. To think Mr. Edgeworth might have been abdicated…”
Does he mean abducted? Phoenix wondered, though he figured the prosecutor looked emotional enough without Phoenix pointing out his mistake.
Unfortunately, Trucy did not share this line of thinking. “Uh, I think you mean abducted,” she pointed out, her eyes scrunched a little at the corners.
Sebastian did that full body expression of shock again, then looked a little sheepish. “Thanks,” he mumbled, “I still get a little mixed up when I’m anxious…”
This really wasn’t who Phoenix had expected Edgeworth would have been making time to discuss cases with after hours. Edgeworth enjoyed ‘correcting’ Phoenix’s ideas in court, sure, but never with the patient tone Phoenix imagined Sebastian would have warranted. “Actually, could I ask you a few questions about the room when you found it? You said the lights were still on, right?”
Sebastian nodded, fiddling with the baton in his hands again. “Yes, the lights were still on, and the door was closed, but unlocked. The chair was tipped over too, just like it is now. And that awful letter was there on the desk… but I don’t know anything about that.”
When he mentioned the letter, Trucy nudged Phoenix discreetly. He nodded in response; the Magatama in his pocket had warmed and a psyche lock had popped up. But Phoenix was pretty sure he didn’t know enough about the letter to push for more information yet, so he’d just have to keep the psyche lock in mind for now.
“So what would be your best guess as to what happened, then?” Phoenix asked. It was one part prodding to see if Sebastian would give him something useful about the letter, and one part honest curiosity, since the clues hadn’t given him any sudden insight into the truth of this case either.
Sebastian furrowed his brow. “Well, the strangest thing in the room has to be the sudden appearance of that cat. I’m pretty sure Mr. Edgeworth never had a cat before. So… maybe he was kidnapped by the cat!” Phoenix must have had quite the look on his face, because Sebastian winced. “You’re giving me that look Mr. Edgeworth uses when I’m totally off-base…”
“Well, we’ll… keep looking.” It was a little hard to picture Edgeworth being patient with this guy, if he was being honest. He usually had no time for people who made such leaps in logic, as Phoenix himself could attest to, given Edgeworth’s unimpressed stares when Phoenix had been less than logical in the courtroom. But for all the ridiculousness of Sebastian’s theory, it did remind Phoenix of the cat’s presence. Maybe they should check that out next.
Said cat was currently perched at the top of one of Edgeworth’s bookshelves, just as Gumshoe had described, giving a low growl whenever someone passed too close. His long fur was fluffed up, especially the patch of lighter white on his chest, and he almost looked like he was glaring down at them. It… reminded him a little bit of Edgeworth, if he was being honest.
“Here, kitty-kitty!” Trucy called, waving up at it and smiling despite the cat’s hostility.
“Er, Truce, be careful,” Phoenix reminded her, remembering the scratches on Gumshoe’s arm. But apparently he didn’t need to worry when it came to Trucy and animals; the cat’s growls had died down to a low rumble, mostly directed at Phoenix himself. In fact, he appeared to be glaring daggers right at Phoenix.
“Come on down, we won’t hurt you!” Trucy promised. “Daddy might look scary, but it’s just his spiky hair.”
“H-hey!” Phoenix yelped, touching a hand to his hair self-consciously. “It’s not that bad…”
To Phoenix’s surprise, the cat did seem to be relenting. Actually, he almost looked like he was smirking. Now even the cat’s making fun of me! The cat rose to his paws cautiously, peering over the side of the bookshelf, then abruptly launched himself down to the floor, landing a little shakily but safely nonetheless.
The cat headed across the office with purpose, and in another fluid leap landed on top of Edgeworth’s desk. He took a few more steps towards the letter, but before he could reach it and tamper with the crime scene Trucy swept him off the desk in her arms. “Careful,” she chided, “you don’t want to disturb that. We need it to find Uncle Edgeworth!” The cat gave a yowl of protest and a little wiggle in her arms, but otherwise seemed resigned to his fate.
“Oh hey, you got him down! Good work, pal.” Gumshoe offered Trucy a wide smile.
“Yeah, but now what do we do with him?” Phoenix asked.
“Ah, usually if there’s a pet left behind at a crime scene we house them at the pound for a few days-” The cat gave a sudden, angry hiss of displeasure. “-but seeing as it might be Mr. Edgeworth’s cat, and when he gets back none of us want to be the one to tell him we put his cat in the pound…” Gumshoe looked pointedly at Phoenix as he trailed off.
Oh no. No way was he going to be the one responsible for this cat! “What about one of those fancy kennels?” he tried.
“With all those pay cuts, I don’t really have the money for one of those… or Mr. Edgeworth’s credit card. But that’s why I was hoping you could take care of him for a few days!”
Phoenix opened his mouth to protest, but he was cut off by Trucy, who was all but bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement. “Oh Daddy can we please? I’ll take care of him! He can even help me out with my magic tricks – The Amazing Trucy and her magical feline sidekick, Mr. Fluffypants!” The cat in her arms looked distinctly unamused. Phoenix had his own misgivings.
…But Edgeworth was his friend. He couldn’t just let some stranger watch his cat. And Trucy was looking more upbeat than she had been since she’d heard the news of Edgeworth’s disappearance this morning.
Plus, when they found Edgeworth again, the prosecutor would owe him one pretty huge favor. Maybe he’d get to eat something other than Eldoon’s salty noodles for once.
“…Fine, fine, we’ll take the cat.”