Anton POV

If you'd have asked me what my first case would be after becoming a Detective, I'd have probably said it would be something simple, a real open and shut case. Suffice to say, I wouldn't have guessed it would be something like THIS!

And yet here I was, in the passenger seat of a cop car, speeding down the road shortly after receiving a call from a distressed witness! The witness had been staying at the Gatewater Hotel when she'd rung to report a murder at the neighbouring Fey & Co Law Offices!

Fey... the name seemed familiar. Back when I was still in training, I was asked to attend a trial and explain the nature of the murder. I believe the defence attorney in that case was called Fey, though I don't remember exactly.

"Hey Ant, pal, you in there?" That would be the voice of Gumshoe, Dick Gumshoe to be exact. Fellow detective, my partner and best friend. As long as I'd been with the Police, Gumshoe had looked out for me.

Image of Dick Gumshoe:

I shook off my previous train of thought before responding. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine, nothing to worry about." Gumshoe chuckled at this, "Yeah, that's the spirit. We go in there, grab the killer, find what evidence we can and we're all good."

As much as I appreciated his confidence, I had to point out. "You do know the killer may have already fled by this point right?" Gumshoe's expression switched to one of embarrassment. "Eh, yeah, maybe..." He trailed off before blurting out "BUT! If we're quick, we may just catch them! And even if we don't, they're bound to have left a tonne of clues!"

With that, he slammed on the accelerator, before we knew it, we reached the scene of the supposed murder. Getting out of the car, I took note, pointing to the nearby building. "There, that's the Gatewater Hotel right? Where the witness claims to have seen the murder?"

Gumshoe replied "Yep, we know this is the spot. Let's get in there!" All I did was nod in response as we rushed towards the office. Without a moment's hesitation, Gumshoe kicked the door down and announced "FREEZE! POLICE!" I added "Everybody stay where you are!"

Instantly, we noticed two figures stood in front of us. A man who looked somewhat familiar and a girl perhaps a year or two younger than me. Gumshoe spoke first, introducing. "Alright, I'm Detective Dick Gumshoe, see? This here's my assistant, Anton Gant!"

My eyes widened as I exclaimed "Assistant?!" Gumshoe cleared his throat correcting himself "Sorry! Partner, I meant partner!" He shook his head before explaining "We received a report from the building across the way, see. Got someone saying they witnessed a murder."

I looked between the pair in front of us, before asking "You two wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Gumshoe continued "Anyway, like my partner here said, I don't want either of you moving one inch, 'kay?"

The pair nodded and me and Gumshoe took this chance to enter the next room of the office. As soon as we got a look at our surroundings, we could tell something had happened.

The office was in disarray, objects were knocked over, shattered glass littered the floor. And as if THAT wasn't enough of a tip-off, the body of the victim was still slumped against the wall by the window.

This was my first time seeing a body so I genuinely felt unnerved. I covered my mouth as I asked "So, this was Fey?" Gumshoe nodded "Yeah, Mia Fey, Hell of a Defence Attorney. I've seen her in trials before." 

Image of Mia Fey:

Again, now that I heard the name, I remembered Mia myself. From THAT trial. Despite me being a trainee at the time, I'd been asked to cover last-minute by my father. Mia obviously knew I was nervous and tried to be patient. I was saddening to see her like this.

Though there was work to be done, me and Gumshoe scanned the crime scene and right away I noticed something off. By Mia's hand was a scrap of paper, I knelt down to pick it up, at first glance it looked to be a receipt. However as I turned it over my eyes widened. Written on the back, presumably in blood was a single word.

'MAYA'.

I held the scrap up and called "Hey Gumshoe! Take a look at this!" Gumshoe rushed over, he took the receipt from me, took one look at it and asked in shock. "What is THIS?!" Before I could answer, he rushed out of the door to the first room again.

I followed after him as he exclaimed to the pair "Excuse me!" The girl let out an "Eek!" As Gumshoe held up the receipt and asked "This word 'Maya' mean anything to you?" While I could have guessed, it did shock me slightly when the girl answered. "T-that's my name..."

Image of Maya Fey:

As soon as she said those words, Gumshoe leapt into action. "WHAT?! The victim drew this here note with her own blood, see? With her dying breath, she wrote her killer's name!" The girl 'Maya' tried to protest, however Gumshoe cut her off "Case closed! You're coming down to the precinct ma'am!"

In all honesty, I didn't feel certain this girl was the killer, so I stepped in, saying "Gumshoe. Let's not be too hasty. We still need to investigate the crime scene properly. We don't know for certain that-." Just like he did with Maya, Gumshoe cut me off. 

He gestured to the other guy and spoke "Then once we get to the precinct, you focus on questioning this spikey haired guy." I just sighed, two things I'd learned from working with Gumshoe. One, address him by his surname, two, sometimes it was best just to play along with his ideas. 

I just hoped this wouldn't lead us down a dead-end...

Timeskip...

The ride back to the precinct was a silent one, unlike our ride here. Of course, with two potential suspects in the back-seats, it was kind of awkward. Honestly, I felt really bad for this Maya, she looked so upset. Of course, being accused of murder would do that to you.

Now I was in one of the interrogation rooms, sitting across from the spikey-haired man. I wasted no time asking the question. "What's your name." To which the man answered "Phoenix Wright, Defence Attorney and Mia's assistant."

Image of Phoenix Wright:

Phoenix Wright... another familiar name. If I'm not mistaken, that same case I met Mia at, Phoenix was the defendant. My, how the tables had turned. I stared at Phoenix for a moment before stating.

"Look, I'm going to get straight to the point sir. I expect an honest answer." I paused for a moment before asking "Tell me EVERYTHING you know about the murder? Where were you? How did you end up coming across the body? Who is that Maya girl you were with?"

Phoenix answered each question, one after the other. "First off, I just told you I'm Mia's assistant. I came to her office to find her dead. You've got to believe me." I folded my arms, asking "And Maya? Who's she?"

While the answer made sense, it still did make my eyebrows raise as Phoenix answered. "She's Mia's sister. I only met her for the first time last night." I nodded, humming to myself. I'd gotten answers, but they weren't exactly helpful.

Did I believe Phoenix's story? Perhaps not, however, unlike Maya, as-is there wasn't a slither of evidence to tie him to the murder. We were ordered to let him go the following morning. 

It was that morning that the investigation formally began. The answers I'd gotten last night were of no use, seems Gumshoe was in the same boat, other than the note, nothing seemed to tie Maya to the murder of her sister.

Seems we'd have to put work in to get to the bottom of this case...

Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter, the first of this book. It's been a while since I wrote anything for a story. I'm still testing the waters with writing as a whole. I really hope you enjoyed and as always, thank you for reading.