A Victim for Six Years

Chapter seventeen: Back to Square One

After hearing our story, Grossberg sat at his desk for a while, drumming his fingers on the desk. He was thinking. I looked at Maya. She looked at me and shrugged. It felt like forever (But was actually about two minutes) before Grossberg spoke again.

"I honestly have no idea what your father could have meant by those words, Miss Edgeworth. You were probably correct with the guess that 'Samurai' referred to the 'Turnabout Samurai' case back in 2016. As for 'direct', I have no idea. Maybe you should talk to Mr. Wright to see if he can think of any ties to that word. It was a good idea to go to Miss Oldbag, your father may have been saying that she has a direct tie to the case, or if she was part of the Turnabout Samurai case, she may know something that we're overlooking, but sadly, I'm not sure I can be of much help. I had no connection whatsoever to that case."

"But you were able to help us with the DL-6 incident when Edgeworth almost sent himself to jail because he thought he killed his own father!!!" Maya protested sadly.

"I was involved with that case, Miss Fey." Grossberg answered. "If you'll recall, I made the biggest mistake of my life by telling Mr. White that the police used your mother to channel Gregory Edgeworth, and Mr. White told the public that your family was a bunch of frauds because of my simple mistake."

"It's not all your fault, Mr. Grossberg." Maya assured him with a sigh. "If Manfred Von Karma hadn't shot Mr. Edgeworth, then the case wouldn't exist. Gregory was unconscious when he died, so he had to take a guess about who killed him. Mr. Yogi was the most probable, so that's who he went with."

"I'm so sorry that I couldn't be more help." Grossberg said. We felt stumped, but at least we had a few clues. We stood there for a few minutes, thinking about where to go next, when Maya's phone rang. Flipping it open, she put it to her ear.

"You've reached Maya Fey, how can I help you?" Huh, usually people answer with just "hello" for a cell phone call. Talk about professional.

I couldn't make out many words from whoever was on the other end, but I did hear the words hospital, worse, and Edgeworth. Three words that I personally don't think should ever go together.

Maya's eyes widened. She looked at me before saying, "Are you sure? We visited him about half an hour ago, and he was doing better."

I could hear the answer more clearly than before. "Maya, I'm here with him, now. The doctors said that his neck is worse than they thought. It damaged more blood veins than they thought, and he seems to be bleeding faster than they can inspect his wound. I need you to bring Piper here, now." Maya looked at me again, answering,

"Sure thing. We'll be there in two minutes at the latest."

"Please hurry."

Maya hung up. Apparently Grossberg had heard some as well, because he looked concerned.

"Miss Fey," He began. "May I ask what's going on?"

Maya looked at both of us with pain in her eyes. "That was Nick." She said softly. "Mr. Edgeworth is in trouble. He has worse injuries than the doctors originally thought. They could be fatal. I need to take Piper back to Nick." She turned around and looked over her shoulder, saying, "thanks for all your help, Mr. Grossberg. It really means a lot. We'll keep you updated on the case."

He nodded, and turned to me. "Pleasure meeting you, Miss Edgeworth. I wish your father the best."

I nod. "Thanks, Mr. Grossberg. We'll come to you again if we need any help with the case that you may be able to provide." He nodded, and we walked out of his office.

Maya dropped me off at the hospital, where Phoenix should be waiting for me in the waiting room, while Maya left to visit with Pearl for a spirit channeling lesson.

Phoenix was in the waiting room when I came into the hospital. He looked tired and worried. Seeing me, he plastered on a fake smile.

"Piper!" He said, trying his best to sound optimistic. "Thank goodness you're here! Your father...isn't at his best."

"So I've heard." I answer. "Is he gonna be okay?"

Phoenix scratched behind his head. "I'm...not sure. The doctors said earlier that he would be fine, but that was before the seriousness of his injury was discovered. They didn't find out that your father had a fatal injury until about fifteen minutes after you and Maya left. They let me in since I was a defense attorney, as some specific people can come after hours to visit, investigate, and such. When I came here, they explained the situation. Your father had begun to cough up blood, and that was when the doctors knew that something was up. He's been unresponsive for the past fifteen minutes. Still has a pulse, but he's kind of unconscious. He's not breathing as strong as he had been, and they think that he may need to go into immediate surgery to keep him alive."

"And the surgery...what are the chances of it being successful?" I ask, almost dreading the answer.

Phoenix looked at the floor, and said, "since it's such short notice, they're guessing around a 34% chance of it being successful."

"So...there's a 66% chance that...my father's going to die?" I ask, my voice shaking.

Phoenix didn't answer, he just continued to look at the floor. "The doctors want you to come see him."

"Because it may be the last time I see him." I say. Phoenix still didn't respond, and didn't dare look me in the eye, but he nodded slowly.

Trying to keep myself together, I nodded. "Okay. I want to see him."

Phoenix led me into my father's room, where it seemed to be chaos. Doctors and nurses running everywhere, about fifty or so machines, some that I've seen before and others that looked like they could have come from 50 years in the future, and in the middle of it all, my father in his hospital bed, next to him a huge heart monitor that had pulses so tiny that they were almost a straight line. Phoenix led me through all of the doctors and other people running around and closer to my father, so that in about thirty seconds, we were right beside his bed.

His skin was a pasty white, and his eyes and mouth were closed, a breathing mask over his mouth and nose, fogging up a bit with each breath he took. His hair was hanging in front of his face, and he looked like he was sleeping, peaceful and relaxed. I put my hand on his, which was slowly getting cold. I didn't want to see him like this. I wanted him to be here, with me, Phoenix, Maya, Franziska, Larry, Gumshoe, and everyone else. He couldn't leave me like this. I wished once again that it was me who was in the hospital bed, clinging onto my life, so that he would be okay. I honestly didn't know what to think. Maya said that we had to have hope that he would be okay, but it seemed that even Phoenix, who I'd always known to persist, was ready to give up hope.

"Daddy." I said, choking on my words. I knew that it was pretty immature of me to be calling him that at my age, but who cares about maturity when it seems that your whole world is falling apart?

We stayed there for about forty-five minutes before my father had to go in for surgery. Looking over my shoulder as Phoenix and I walked away from the room, I could feel the tears running down my face. I didn't care that I was showing Phoenix my weakness. I didn't even care if he judged me for it. It felt right. My tears kept coming, but no amount of how much I cried could change anything. Feelings and hopes can't save a human life.

I stayed with Phoenix that night, sleeping in Trucy's old bed from when she used to live with her adoptive father. I didn't see the living room light go off until about 2 A.M. We had the trial again, tomorrow, and Phoenix needed some sleep if he wanted to be able to think clearly. But I understood why he hadn't gone to bed, yet. He was waiting for a call from the hospital. They would let us know how my father was, but they had to wait overnight for him to recover. They promised to let us know when he woke up.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for Phoenix, as well. He lost his best friend, Mia Fey, only six years ago. And now, he may lose another one. He and my father had been friends since third grade, but only resumed their friendship recently, six years ago. They've been pretty close ever since. I've already lost my mother, and I don't want to lose my father, too. But Phoenix saved my father's life, and I can't imagine how it must feel to save him like that, and then lose him to something that you can't help with.