Chapter Text
Mia’s head spun as she tried to sort out exactly what was going on, as the Judge repeatedly banging his gavel for order.
“I understand that the prosecution’s claim has caused quite a stir, but really!” he huffed. “Witness. I believe your testimony on this matter will be needed after all.”
Should she call for a recess? But that would just look more suspicious…
Christine looked whiter than a sheet. “I - I - “ She seemed to steel herself.
“Your Honor, I refuse to testify.”
More gasps and mutters. Phoenix looked frantic, and Mia didn’t even want to imagine what her expression must look like.
“I plead the fifth,” Christine continued.
The Judge frowned. “Mrs. Criminale…in refusing to self-incriminate, you realize that you are acknowledging the possibility that you yourself could be the perpetrator?”
“Yes, Your Honor. I know,” Christine replied softly.
Why. Why was she doing this!
“In that case, witness, I doubt that there is any reason for you to remain on the stand,” the Judge responded, turned to Edgeworth.
Somehow, he looked more frustrated than before, but he nodded tersely. “No further questions, Your Honor.”
Helplessly, Phoenix responded in kind.
“I’m sorry, Chief!” he whispered as he returned to the table.
Mia shook her head. “There wasn’t much you could do, Phoenix. Clearly, that woman isn’t who she claims to be.”
“But why would she lie?”
“I don’t know yet,” Mia admitted. “But you can be damn sure we’ll find out.”
“But the only person left to testify is Criminale himself! You don’t think he - “
“Your Honor!” Edgeworth said abruptly. “The prosecution has a witness to call to the stand.”
The Judge nodded. “Yes, I think it’s time that the Mr. Criminale - “
“Hold it!” Edgeworth shook his head. “I am not speaking of the defendant.”
What?
“Explain yourself, Mr. Edgeworth,” the Judge demanded.
“I have just received word that a witness from the scene of the crime itself would like to testify!” Edgeworth declared.
Phoenix groaned beside her. “Isn’t one surprise witness enough?”
Mia frowned. “Prosecutor Edgeworth. If such a witness exists, why have we heard nothing of them until now?” she demanded.
Edgeworth tapped his head. “This witness was previously unwilling to disclose his identity. He sent left an anonymous tip for the police department, which is how Detective Trusmy was alerted to the crime.”
Mia frowned. “What made him change his mind?”
”I believe you will be able to ask him yourself soon, Ms. Fey,” Edgeworth responded, inclining his head towards the door.
***
Phoenix’s breath catches as the witness enters, and Mia harshly elbows him.
“Mia,” he says, voice soft and fragile. “He’s just a kid.”
And that’s just what she can’t ignore, isn’t it? The boy looking down at his shoes, so tiny his head barely peeks out from behind the stand, doesn’t look like some scheming monster, out to ruin Criminale’s life. He just looks scared.
”Appearances can be deceiving,” Mia says firmly. “Remember, Dahlia was only fourteen when she started…” Her voice trails off, and she wonders just who she’s trying to convince.
She’s pulled from her thoughts by a sight she never thought she would lay eyes on - Edgeworth, taken off guard. He’s staring at the boy with a deep sorrow that rivals, even surpasses Phoenix’s.
“…Bailiff. Please provide the witness with a stool,” the Judge says awkwardly.
In a few minutes, the child is raised to a more visible position, and Mia finally gets a good look at him. He has short black hair with bangs that practically cover half his face, and is dressed in a suit, with a tiny black bow tie. His outfit, the way he stands with his hands clasped in front of him, not to mention the haunted look on his eyes, all seem more fitting for a funeral than a trial.
“Will the witness please state his name, and grade in school?” Edgeworth asks, gentler than Mia has ever heard him.
The boy looks up, and his voice is quiet but clear. “My name is Leo V. Ness. I’m a third grader.”
“On the 18th of March, you witnessed the murder of two men at the Nomat Hotel?” Leo slowly nods. “Please testify to the court about what you saw.”
Leo takes a deep breath, and he starts to talk.
***
This is bad. Mia really shouldn’t have let her guard down so early.
Apparently, Leo had been staying at the hotel on a class field trip, and had been unable to sleep the night of the crime. He had wandered the halls looking for a bathroom on the second floor, when he heard raised voices coming from around the corner. Frightened, he had hid, plastering himself against the wall.
“What exactly did you overhear?” Edgeworth inquired. Leo hesitated.
“I’m sorry Mr. Prosecutor, but I don’t remember. It reminded me a little of when Mom and Dad get angry with each other so - I just blocked it out.”
Criminale scoffed loudly, but Edgeworth nodded and continued, unfazed. “Understandable. But you didn’t just overhear this fight, did you? You also saw it.”
Leo nodded. “I was stuck there for a long time, and eventually I realized I had to get out eventually. I heard them get louder, and I covered my ears - but then it got all quiet all of a sudden. So I peeked my head around the corner, and I saw - “
He choked and cut himself off.
“What did you see, Leo?” Phoenix prompted gently. It wasn’t time for the defense to speak, and Leo wasn’t even Phoenix’s witness to cross, but Mia stayed silent.
“…that man,” Leo said, so quietly everyone in the courtroom has to lean forward to hear him. “That man beside you. He had something shiny in his hand, and he was waving it at these other two men. Their backs were too me, so I couldn’t really see what they looked like. But that man, Criminale, he said they had gone too far, and that there was no use screaming because no one would come to help them now. And he stepped forward and slashed,” Leo punctuated the last word with a sudden slashing motion of his own, and fell silent.
…
“The prosecution rests, Your Honor,” Edgeworth said.
“Now wait just one moment!” Criminale roared. Phoenix looked at him in shock, and held a finger to his lips. Criminale thoroughly ignored him and soldiered on.
“Why should anyone trust this ’anonymous, secret CHILD witness’? We all know how these little brats lie for attention!”
Mia stalked over and grabbed Criminale’s arm, currently pointing an accusing finger at the witness stand, and yanked him down with it.
“Shut up and let us do our job,” she hissed.
Edgeworth shook his head and sneered. “Regardless of the defendant’s personal opinions on children,” he drawled. “What Leo has witnessed is clear.”
“Well, there’s no way of proving “what he witnessed” is reliable! Tell me, does this boy have anyone to backup his story?” Criminale demands.
“Naturally not,” Edgeworth sneered. “He was the only witness.”
This is ridiculous. Mia makes her decision, and catches Phoenix’s eye. A wordless understanding passes between them, and he motions for the bailiff.
“Permission to remove Criminale from the court room, and take a short recess, Your Honor,” Mia says clearly.
“Permission granted,” the Judge nods.
”Objection!” Edgeworth intercedes. “The defense will not slither out of its position so easily. There is no reason to pause the trial simply because Ms. Fey is incapable of controlling her client!”
Mia flushed.
“…perhaps you are correct, Mr. Edgeworth. The defendant will cease interrupting!” The Judge replies, frowning. “His time to testify will come.” He turned to the court stenographer. “Please strike the defendant‘s outburst from the record.”
Mia fixed Criminale with a death glare, which seemed to shut him up for the moment, although she caught him sneering as she turned away.
“Leo,” she begins. “You say you weren’t watching the whole time…”
***
Mia’s used to seizing one tiny phrase, the smallest misstep in a witness’ testimony and pulling on that thread until their whole story unravels like a poorly made sweater. Unfortunately, her tried and true strategy hits a dead end with Leo.
“You closed your eyes?” she questions.
“Only for a moment!” Leo says defensively. “Only right after he went to stab the first man.”
“Objection!” Edgeworth shakes his head. “Really, Ms. Fey, this is ridiculous. The defendant was seen attacking the victim. A blink of an eye later, he lies dead on the ground. What more evidence do you need?”
“And anyway, I saw the moment he stabbed the second man…” Leo says quietly, the words sounding as if they’re being pulled from somewhere deep and broken within him. Yet again, Mia feels both incredibly stupid and incredibly heartless.
She’s getting tired of that.
Criminale, who’s been blessedly quiet up until this point, finally bursts. “And how do we know he’s not guilty himself?”
Mia debates between strangling and gagging him.
“Leo is a child, he likely doesn’t even trust his own memories,” Edgeworth snaps. His voice hitches at the tail end of the sentence. For a moment, he looks just as haunted as Leo.
Phoenix gasps at her side. “Oh, Miles…” he murmurs.
Mia stares at him. “What is it, Phoenix?”
He shakes his head, gesturing for her to focus. Later, he mouths.
“Nevertheless,” Edgeworth continues. “Like every other witness in his court room, Leo is under oath. Tell me, Your Honor,” he says, turning directly towards the Judge’s bench. “What is more probable? That an eight-year-old boy overpowered and killed two grown men, reported his own crime, and then put together such a detailed false narrative for his testimony like a criminal mastermind? Or that he speaks the truth, and the perpetrator was the man seen committing the act itself?”
“Objection!” Mia shouts. “No one is seriously accusing Leo of committing murder, Edgeworth, but that doesn’t mean that my client is guilty! Might I remind you that Mrs. Criminale is currently under suspicion as well?”
Edgeworth shook his head. ”Leo clearly described seeing a man stab the victims, Ms. Fey. Furthermore, your client,” he spat the words as if they were venom, “had obtained the murder weapon himself one week before the crime was committed!”
Gasps fill the gallery. Phoenix stands up, and Mia glances at him gratefully. Much like State v. Wright, this whole trial has been building up to something - something unlike anything else they’ve ever faced.
It’s only right that they face it together.
“What evidence do you have of this, Prosecutor Edgeworth? The scalpel in question was melted down,” Phoenix reminds him.
“Perhaps, but the remains, however deformed, as well as Leo’s testimony, all point to the weapon having been held a certain way - a way in which it would have been impossible to avoid wounding oneself, as the blade would have scraped the killer’s palm.”
“Objection,” Mia responds calmly. “Criminale works as a car mechanic - it’s hardly incriminating evidence for him to have a few nicks on his hands.”
Edgeworth smiles and shakes his head. “You are correct, Ms. Fey, in that the cuts themselves wouldn’t be enough evidence - but you misunderstand me. What else does this grip reveal?”
“…that the murderer didn’t work in the medical field,” Mia responds slowly. “If it was a doctor, they would know how to hold a scalpel properly.”
Edgeworth nods. “Which means whoever the killer was, he had to get his hands on a scalpel, without working at a hospital. I scoured the inventory records of every major hospital in L. A. - how long could that have taken him? Mia thought incredulously - “and noted down every one that reported a missing scalpel in the month before the crime. With Detective Gumshoe’s assistance, I combed through security footage until I found this,” he holds out a tape. “Within this recording, you’ll find the defendant sneaking a scalpel into his sleeve at Hotti Clinic at 6:44 pm on February 27th.”
“Objection!” Mia started. That had been pure instinct, Edgeworth looked at her, one eyebrow raised, and suddenly it dawned on her.
“February 27th, you said, Prosecutor Edgeworth?” He nodded. Mia shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s impossible. The man in this video must be a look-alike, Your Honor, because as this check shows,” she pulled the record from her papers with a flourish. “Mr. Criminale was at dinner in Nevada, four hours away at the time!”
The gallery burst out into confused mutters.
Edgeworth narrowed his eyes. “…I take it you are submitting that check to the court record, Ms. Fey?” She nodded. “I would like to take a look at it, first.”
“Of course.”
Suddenly, Mia felt uneasy. What was wrong with her? She had remembered this crucial bit of evidence - that should be all that mattered. But why was there a voice in her nagging at her to turn around her thinking around? What was she still missing?
Acting again on impulse, she cleared her throat. “Your Honor! As the prosecution and defense both have new evidence to review, and it seems this witness’ cross-examination has come to an end,” she nodded at Leo, who looked quietly relieved, “I propose that we take a short recess at this time.”
The Judge nods. “Yes, that seems appropriate. If the prosecution has no objections?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
“None, Your Honor,” Edgeworth responds.
Mia frowns, and turns to Phoenix. “Can you review that tape?” He nods. “Good,” she says, sweeping out of the courtroom. “I need to make a phone call.”