Professor Layton and the Angel's Prophecy

The Turnabout Demon - Part Three

-Fourteen Months Ago -

--The Previous Day--

Their next destination was the Los Angeles Police department, so once they bid farewell to Natalie – the web of fear once more infesting her mind Hershel had noted – they bustled off there quickly. Phoenix remarked upon their arrival of how familiar this place was, yet how strange it was to have to expose another corrupt officer of the law, after Damon Gant. Once inside, they asked for Gumshoe, and were pointed in the direction of the restrooms. After pushing through into the men's, and then the ladies, they finally found Gumshoe, hunched over a toilet, plunger in hand, looking as miserable as a rainy day.

"Wright buddy!" he beamed, standing to embrace the attorney before remembering what he was holding.

"Hey Gumshoe," Phoenix chuckled, eyeing the apron the Detective was wearing. "I see you're... What are you doing?"

"Oh this?" the Detective laughed weakly. "Chief Brand thought the toilets needed a scrubbing."

"That's what cleaners are for," Phoenix commented, scratching the side of his head.

"Yeah, I know bud. I guess I got the short end of the stick."

Luke, a feisty rage festering inside, stepped forward then, finger waggling in protest.

"The Chief has no right to make you clean toilets! You are an officer of the law, and you should be out there solving crimes!"

Luke crossed his arms, huffing and protruding his chest.

"Oh I agree with you, little man," Gumshoe sighed. "There's nothing to be done about it though."

Phoenix stepped closer to his friend, his voice ominously low.

"Come on, tell me Gumshoe. What's going on?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Hershel approached the two, face as stern and sharp as a jagged cliff.

"I know what the matter is. Brand is aware that Gumshoe knows too much. He is demeaning him, burying him underneath busywork to push him away from challenging him. This is a display of his power. He has made the Detective too afraid to even stand up against him."

Gumshoe shrank then, head held low.

"Is that true?" Phoenix asked, resting a hand on Gumshoe's shoulder. The Detective said nothing, and remained silent. Luke looked to Alexandros, the boy who stood behind them all, defeated and depressed, and then to the Detective. There was enough moping he had decided, not aware that he was suffering just the same. Only he had been around the Professor enough to gain the courage to stand up against injustice.

"You need to be brave," Luke urged. "You need to stand up against Brand, otherwise he'll keep pushing you around forever."

"Luke is right," Phoenix muttered. "You can't allow that. But there is something you can do."

Gumshoe finally looked up, meeting his friend's eyes. He saw a reflection in them, the pitiful man he was.

Phoenix continued.

"You can fight. In tomorrow's trial, you can testify. I know you're afraid, but you've done it before. You know you can do it. Only then will this insanity end and you can go on with your life." A long pause, and then Phoenix let out a long sigh before speaking once more, in a lighter tone. "What do you say?"

Still, Phoenix was met with a hesitant gaze.

"You've seen how much I've grown Gumshoe. You've seen me win cases were it looked impossible. I beat Gant, and always it seems that there is nothing I can use. Well it's different this time."