Justice legal system academy's deadly killing game (Ace Attorney)

chapter 29: Shall we investigate?

*Phoenix's POV*

    I squinted at the top of the stage where the spotlights were, out of the corner of my eyes I could see a ladder near the stage. "I'm going to check the spotlights. Something about them seems suspicious to me." I  whispered to Miles, he nodded at me and people started to leave the Gym in hoping to find some sort of clues related to Franziska's murder.

 I grabbed the ladder and placed it on the stage. I needed to know what went wrong with them tonight. I climbed the ladder with minimal words of caution from Miles. Once I reached the top of it I noted that there was a long metal pole , it was as long as the stage and there were multiple ropes tied to it. The  ropes weren't that long, in fact they were incredibly short. They were tied to each spotlight individually, I continued to examine the long metal pole until something suspicious caught my eye.

 Along the pole there was an empty spot where a rope and a spotlight should have been. In its place instead was a dark spot, it was pitch black and it left the mark on the pole. I made note of the missing spotlight, the strange mark on the pole and the lengths of the ropes that hold up the spotlights. I couldn't find anything else that was suspicious so I began my descent of the ladder.

  On my way down I could hear two people  arguing. 'Who could Miles be arguing with this time?' I thought to myself as I hopped off the ladder. I could see Miles arguing with our headmaster. "What do you mean get the autopsy report right this time? Listen pal I don't know what you think you're doing disrespecting me and everything I do for you guys but there was no problem with the autopsy last time!!" I could hear Magmakuma practically screeching at my investigation partner.

 "All I simply said was that last time you made a mistake with her age, Ms. Dahlia Hawthorne most certainly wasn't 20 years of age." Miles pointed at the bear, Magmakuma growled at him. I turned and looked at Ema and Maya who were guarding the crime scene. They had been watching this argument unfold for several minutes now. "Alright FINE, I'll change the autopsy report this time. Geez you prosecutors are so picky." Magmakuma grumbled as he disappeared from our sights. Miles sighed and the two girls went back to guarding the crime scene. 

"What did you manage to find on your end?" He asked me. I told him about the short ropes that hold each spotlight in its place and the weird black mark in the place of an empty spot where the rope should have been.  "Hmmm, is it possible this mark smelt of anything?" He asked me, and I thought about it. "Well now that you mention it, it kind of smelt like something was burnt." I mentioned. He tapped his arm as if he was in thought. "It is quite possible that the mark was caused by a fire." 

My eyes widened. "A fire? Wouldn't we have noticed it though?" I asked him. "Not if it was small enough." He replied, I sighed. "What about the autopsy report?" I asked him, he smirked at me and wagged his finger at me. "That you can check for yourself, it is in your handbook after all." He said to me smugly, I laughed at his response and hastily opened up my handbook to view the autopsy report Magmakuma had put together for us. 

Magmakuma's autopsy report #2

Victim's name: Franziska Von Karma 
Deceased 
Height:5'4
Cause of death: Blood loss
Time death: ?

The victim is Franziska Von Karma, she was a Prosecutor who started at the very young age of 13. She was the Ultimate Prosecuting prodigy. The time of death unknown , the cause of death is blood loss. Along with the fatal injuries she also appears to have burns on her wrist. No further information 

    I made note of the possibility of a fire and the autopsy report. "Still the same as ever, it's very.......Vague." I said, Miles sighed. "While that may be true at the very least we have the cause of death this time." I nodded with a smile on my face. 'Yeah but we still haven't found a murder weapon yet." I sighed, grimly. "We must keep investigating, we will find it eventually. At the moment however we should investigate her body." Miles wore a look that told me he really couldn't do it.