Ace Attorney: Council of Crime

Part 2 (Drew)

I walked into Joe's office and sighed. The man himself looked up from his paperwork. Joe's hair was slightly spiky and went well with his dark brown eyes, which expressed concern. He wore the typical all black thing, though he had been acting off for a few days now. Ever since one of those Kuranin murders was announced a few days ago...

"Drew?" he asked, frowning gently. "Are you okay? You don't look happy."

I took my seat next to me and pushed my earpiece into my ear, hoping it would mask my unhappiness. The past two days had been the worst days of my life...

"Drew?" Joe repeated, rolling his chair closer to me.

With no input from my mind or heart, a gentle sob escaped my lips. Tears flowed freely from my eyes, despite how much I tried to halt them. My endeavors were worthless, however. "D-dead..." I choked out, another wave of tears spilling from my eyes. "L-last night... Maia f-found the b-body..."

"Who's dead?" Joe demanded, wrapping an arm around my shaking shoulders. "Drew..."

"It was all over the news..." I said, my voice hushed. "Carlos Self... Murdered just a day after his wife..."

Joe gasped. "You weren't here yesterday... Because..."

"My mom was..." I dared not finish my sentence. I didn't need to, for Joe had already caught onto my drift.

"The Kuranin..." Joe murmured. "What do they want...?!"

I let myself cry more openly, unable to hold back my tears. My parents were really gone... I'd have to take in Maia and Raegan to take care of since they couldn't go to an orphanage... I wouldn't let them... The only reason I was here was because they were in questioning all day with the police...

"I don't know..." I whispered. "Both of them... Gone... Two days..."

"Timothy..." Joe muttered, turning away from me. "We have to find who's behind this."

"W-who's Timothy...?" I stammered, almost afraid of what he would say.

Joe hugged my shoulders a little bit tighter. "My nephew... He was murdered a few days ago, too..." he explained.

I gasped and hugged my boss back. Normally, that was a sign of disrespect in a place like Interpol, but times like these... I just couldn't help myself. It was hard to resist the urge to do something like that when death was involved, especially of somebody related to Joe.

Joe hugged me a few seconds before pushing me away. He wiped away my tears with his hand and stared deeply into my eyes. "We're going to get to the bottom of this. Me and you. Got it?" His gaze was rock hard, even more so than it had been during that huge security breach a few years ago. The incident where Griffin lost his shot at being on the field. I guess losing somebody close to him did that to his soul...

I sniffled. "I-I thought you put X on that case..." I choked out. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stand looking at my father's corpse being on the investigation for it... I didn't want to test it, truth be told. Hearing about the murder was hard enough while still grieving over the loss of my mom...

"It's his first case. He's still going to need training," Joe told me firmly. His spirit was indomitable at this point, so I knew arguing with him was pointless.

Keeping this in mind, I nodded. "O-okay..." I stuttered, holding back yet another river of tears that threatened to give the world a dissatisfying greeting. Joe could tell, so he took my hand in his and squeezed it. I looked at his hand with a tiny smile. He could always cheer me up when I needed it...

Joe led me down the hallway to where X was. He was talking to some sort of creeper bear, the one I had seen lurking around the office more than a little frequently.

"He's sad over somebody close to him dying!" the bear chorused. "Is that sufficient, Master Buddy?"

"What's this about?" Joe demanded, crossing his arms unhappily.

X looked up from his conversation with the animatronic to gasp. "O-oh! M! N!" he exclaimed in shock. "I didn't see you there!"

"Clearly," Joe said flatly. "About the Kuranin investigation..."

"I've already looked up witnesses to all of the cases! I'm going to start with the Mario Tsumi killing from a few days ago," X told him.

I sighed in relief. We weren't going after my parents first... Thank goodness... It would hurt me too much inside to face something like that so soon...

"We're going to join you in your investigation," Joe declared. "You're still a rookie, so you'll need help. N?"

I looked up. Joe always called me N around people so my real name wouldn't get out. I kind of liked how calling each other by first names was our little thing. Little things like that make me happy in times like these. "Yes?" I asked.

"Go find F. She's going to join us on this case," Joe told me. "She should be in her office."

I nodded. "Right away," I said, turning on my heel. Maybe working would distract myself from Mom and Dad's recent deaths. I hoped that this would work out...

I walked aimlessly to F's office, where she sat facing her computer, a stern expression painting her face. I looked over her pink hair, which cascaded down her back. Her coffee colored eyes looked as solemn as they always did, the scar over her right eye making her look even more scary then she already did. I stared at F's green tank top and black tights. It was ironic how somebody so dark and evil looking could wear bright green...

As if hearing me, F spoke my name without even looking away from the computer. "N?" she questioned.

Unfazed by such action, due to having been though it tens of times, I approached her. "M wants you on the Kuranin case. We're leaving in ten minutes," I told her.

F nodded and packed up her stuff into a simply satchel that hung over her shoulder. "Or we could go now."

I nodded and led her back to Joe and X. Might as well get this over with sooner rather than later...

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dREW SON IS HURTING I DON'T LIKE THIS

BUT YEAH MUCH (VIRTUAL) DESPAIR IS IN THIS BOOK

CRI

-Digital