Court-Records: An Ace Attorney Fansite

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The Toxic Turnabout

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Phoenix Wright hummed under his breath as he descended the stairs to the morgue.

The nurse had been about to give him a blood test when his phone had rang, and Apollo’s frantic plea for help had got him out of a close encounter with a long needle. Having young apprentices sure did come in handy!

Apollo had sounded strained on the phone, like he was about to have a panic attack. That was the same feeling he always used to get in court. Actually, he still had that feeling every time he took on a new case. He needed to fetch a diamond from the morgue; apparently it was something to do with Athena’s latest case.

On the door to the morgue was a humorous sign saying ‘Healnone hospital’ and he stopped a moment to admire it before stepping inside. Despite many years of experience in law and his seven years of association with dodgy characters at the Borscht Bowl Club, he hadn’t visited this particular morgue before.

The cleanliness of the place surprised him and it had a pleasant, silent atmosphere compared to the busy wards upstairs. It made him wonder why the hospital had received so many complaints, until he opened a drawer in the desk and found a fake eyeball.

The pathologists here must have a warped sense of humour, he thought, staring at the eyeball. The eyeball stared back.

Still humming, he shut the drawer and walked around, on the lookout for the diamond. His phone started ringing, he checked the caller ID and sighed. Apollo, again. The young attorney’s passion was commendable, but did he have to be so uptight about his cases? It wasn’t like he was in danger at a hospital, for goodness’ sake. He silenced his phone and put it away.

***

“He’s not answering.” Apollo said, over the noise of the siren. Ema had managed to get them a police car to travel in and they’d already broken most of the rules in the Highway code on their way to the hospital.

“You don’t think something’s happened to him, do you?” asked Athena anxiously. “I can’t believe this is happening! Mr Druges could be at the morgue by now and he’s committed at least one murder.”

The car zoomed around a corner and they all clutched the armrests of their seats. Doctor Bludden Guts had been silent the whole way, guilt written across his features. It seemed like he blamed himself and for good reason, if he’d have just told them about the diamond beforehand, it would have changed the course of the trial.

“We still don’t know the facts of the case,” Ema reminded her. “Where did the diamond even come from? Uncut stones like this one are pretty rare and Miss City wasn’t a rich woman.”

“Let’s save the investigation for when Druges is back in police custody.” Apollo said, his stomach churning with anxiety. “I have a bad feeling about all this.”

***

Phoenix had searched most of the surfaces before he spotted it on the floor, gleaming in the light. It looked more like a silver nugget than a real diamond, but after touching it, he knew it was the real thing.

This is probably worth more than my whole legal firm. I wonder what Maya would say if she were here? She’d probably ask me how many burgers it would buy.
He tucked the diamond into his breast pocket and walked towards the door, but a noise on the stairwell stopped him in his tracks.

Oh, great, here comes a doctor. How am I going to explain this?
The door swung open and he could immediately see that the man outside wasn’t a doctor. He was sweating buckets and his clothes were scruffy, however, the main evidence that he wasn’t one of the hospital’s employees was the gun in his right hand.

“Put the diamond on the floor,” he said, his voice shaking with nerves.

Trying not to let his own fear get the better of him, Phoenix looked into the man’s eyes and a jolt of recognition ran through his mind.

“You don’t want to do this, Mr Druges,” he said. The time he’d spent helping Athena to prepare for her case had finally paid off. The man’s eyes flickered with uncertainty. “Holding a hostage at gunpoint could get you the death sentence.”

“The diamond, now!” Druges shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. The quiet man who they had interviewed in the detention centre was gone, replaced by a raving lunatic.

Phoenix reached slowly for his pocket, but at the same time, he heard footsteps on the staircase; someone was running towards them.

Druges evidently heard it too because he panicked. In slow motion, Phoenix watched as the man’s finger pulled the trigger. He didn’t have time to duck before the bullet buried itself in his chest.

***

Ema was the first one into the room and she didn’t hesitate in snatching the gun from the escaped criminal’s hand. Mr Druges’ gaze was fixed disbelievingly on the floor, where Phoenix was lying, unconscious, in a pool of blood. She had no trouble securing handcuffs around his wrists

“No!” Athena cried, entering the room a few seconds later with the force of a hurricane. “Boss, are you alright? Talk to me!”

“Get help!” Apollo yelled. Athena was the fastest runner out of all of them and she nodded grimly, racing out of the door. “Doctor Gutts, what are you doing? Get over here and save him! He’s bleeding out!”

Doctor Gutts was hovering by the door, just staring at Phoenix with a sickly look on his already pale face.

“I promised myself I’d never treat a live patient again,” he replied. “I can’t risk it…”

Apollo grabbed him by his cloak and dragged him over to Phoenix’s body. Then, he grabbed some material from the desk and passed it to Gutts, forcing him to examine the wound.

The doctor’s hands shook as he peeled away the bloody material and started applying pressure.

“The bullet has to come out now,” said Gutts, his breaths coming thick and fast. It looked like he was about to have a panic attack. “I- I need surgical tweezers.”

Grabbing one from a tray of instruments, Apollo returned to where the doctor was kneeling. The terrified way that Gutts was looking at the blood made the lawyer shiver. Could Doctor Gutts really be a vampire?

“Relax!” Apollo told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Take a deep breath and remember your training. They taught you to do this stuff in medical school, didn’t they?”

“I’ve had a lot of experience,” the doctor told him, taking the scalpel. “I used to work in the emergency room in this hospital, until I made a terrible mistake.”

Talking seemed to be calming him down and he cut away part of Phoenix’s suit, before gently placing the tweezers into his wound.

“There was a car accident,” he continued. “One female patient was brought in, she was barely breathing and I could have saved her, if I hadn’t had too much to drink that evening. A nurse tried to stop me treating her, but I wouldn’t listen. She died on the operating table that night and I was transferred to the morgue, where I wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else.”

The tweezers drew out the bullet and the doctor immediately replaced the material over the wound.

“I still visit her grave.” Gutts said, a tear falling from the corner of one eye. “I leave flowers on the first day of every month, but it’s not enough. I’ll never be able to undo what I did that day.”

The door opened and Athena arrived with a contingent of doctors and nurses. Apollo expected Gutts to leave as soon as possible, but instead, he remained applying pressure to the wound and telling the other doctors what he’d done.

“Is he going to be alright?” Athena asked urgently. They both looked at Phoenix’s body, still motionless on the ground.

Then, Apollo’s ringtone went off.

“It’s Trucy,” he said, feeling sick to his stomach. “What do we tell her?”

“The truth.” Athena replied simply. The phone had stopped ringing, so he tapped out a text and sent it.

***

Trucy Wright looked at the message on her phone and she started running.