"Seven Years earlier ago, flashback into the past, Lobby, next day"
'Hey, you there. Sir! Down on the hands! Floor on your head! Now now now!-'
'SHUTUP!!'
phoenix yelled, rubbing his ears, the man shuddered but regained his composure
'N-No unauthorized personnel aren't allowed in here!'
'But that would mean all unauthorized personnel are allowed dipshit!!'
phoenix yelled out, the man yelped as he was yanking the handcuff that was tired to a band around his neck
'Zoooooooooooooooooooink!? ...I just say it like it is sir! And it's usually wrong. Thrown out of the precinct... lost my friends, my girl and even my wallet'
he said miserably, phoenix blinked at him
'..aren't you that wired-ass cop from the lana skye case two years ago?'
he shook his head as he saluted
'No recollection of that, sir!'
phoenix blinked at him, that case was so crazy that it was literally impossible to forget
'you don't remember being stabbed by a person who was pretending to be a detective?!!'
'For me, "working on a case" is always in the present progressive tense, sir! There is no past! There is only now! Sir!'
Phoenix groaned in annoyance, he felt a migraine coming on already
'whatever, shut up, so what are you now the bailiff?'
'Yes sir! Court Baliff Mike Meekins at your service, sir!'
Phoenix sighed, this was gonna be a very long dreadful day
'I've asked to meet with the bailiff at this court who let the magician escape'
meekins eyes widen in fear
'Let me try to make this as absolutely clear as possible for you, sir! It was meeeeeeeeeeeee! Sir'
Phoenix stared at him
'you were a regular police officer once right?!!'
Meekins frowned as he sniffled
'...... Sometimes bad things happen to good people, sir'
Phoenix narrowed his eyes at him
"..he's acting off, their's more to this"
'you were in charge of security at the time of the vanishing?'
he asked carefully, studying his body language
'I'm. Dying. Over. Here! Oh! Ohh! It's a hard knock life, sir! Thrown out of the precinct... lost my friends, my girl and even my wallet'
'that's not what i asked!!, answer my question!!'
meekins shuddered but quickly regained his composure
'Why yes, I'd say it was around 2:00 PM when I heard a commotion in court. I opened the door to see what might be amiss. The door slams open! Slam! And some guy's face is right there in front of me! Face!'
'you saw someone suspicious coming your way?'
meekins nodded as he slammed his fist into his other hand
'Yes! And I, being a bailiff of little standing... I gave chase! I chased that silk hat all the way down the hall, sir!'
Phoenix pulled out his notebook and flipped to a certain page, showing it to meekins
'I have a diagram of the court building here...'
Meekins scanned through the book
'Ah ha! There's Courtroom No.7. That's where I was, sir! All by myself! Nary a friend to call my own!'
'And which way did Gramarye run after bursting through the courtroom door?'
'He went up, like this, and around the corner, like that! So I, with no delay... ...ran after him with no delay! When I turned the corner... ...I saw that magic man run into the defendant lobby! Swiftly, I ran! Following him, I threw myself boldly into the room! Why, I remember it like it was right here! Because it was! Lobby No. 2, sir!'
phoenix raised a brow at him, the room didn't look like a place where you could hide effectively
'You ran into this room?'
'Believe it or not, sir, I didn't believe it! Here! In this room! The magician! Gone! Vanished like a puff of smoke! Except there wasn't even any smoke! He was just... gone!'
Phoenix glared down at his notebook, trying to process all of this, magicians can only do so much, even a professional have their limits, this place was covered in cameras and police, the fact he managed to escape made phoenix very sure he had police or someone to help him out
'That's impossible'
'Yes, that! That word! Oh how many times have I said that word! Even the sound of it causes me indescribable pain! ...I'm dying... I'm dying over heeeeeeeeere!'
'shutup and fucking listen!!, it's impossible to just vanish into thin air! Did you fucking search the lobby?!!'
Meekins had an odd expression before answering into the mic
'...... I searched'
Phoenix glared at him
'Th-Th-There was n-n-n-nothing here at all. Sir! That's right! Nothing was here! Sir!'
'bullshit, your hiding something from me!'
meekins started to sweat nervously under his intense gaze
'h-huh?!,
'You've had quite a bit of time since then, tell me right fucking now, Has nothing occurred to you at all? Do you have any idea what trick he might have used to disappear like that?
meekins went quite, phoenix knew he was onto something
'spit it out motherfcuker, tell me everything!!'
he said with venom, meekins tugged at his neck again as he stuttered on his words
'...He-He-Hey! Who-Who-Who... What's with the atmosphere in here all of a sudden!?'
' listen to me right fucking now, I know You know something, and I'm going to find out what Gramarye vanished from this room, How'd he do it?'
'H-H-How, sir? Well, sir, I can't say as I... sir!--'
'Why the hell are you so nervous then?!, are you hiding something?!!'
he said with a low and threatening voice, meekins shuddered underneath his gaze as he cried out into the mic
'Well, sir, I, you see, at the time, sir, I was here, and... Listen! It was impossible!!! What could such a little girl possibly do, anyway!?'
phoenix stared at him
'..what?!
Meekins blinked as he flinched at his own screw up
'...Nyurk! Sir! Did... I just say something, sir?'
'you know damn well what you said!!,.There was someone else in the room, wasn't there?
'Sir! I'm going to have to invoke my right to remain in a state of not talking!'
Phoenix grunted in annoyance, but he already knew it was, and he wasn't happy that an innocent eight year old little girl was tricked into this whole madness
'Sir, I, sir, I, sir, I, sir, I siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiurgle. I've never seen that girl until just the other day--'
'I'm not buying your bulllshit lies, it was an eight year old girl wasn't it'
meekins went silent, before he sighed sadly
'..sir'
phoenix took out his notepad and began to take notes
'Sir, that day. She was here, in the room, sir. But he wasn't!!!'
Phoenix gave him a dirty, angry look
'you chased her into this room, not him?!!'
he cried out angrily, meekins raised his hands in defense
'Sir... In my days as a police officer -- literally days -- I learned a thing or two. OK, just one thing. But it was how not to mistake a girl for a 7-foot-tall magician!'
Phoenix blinked at him
'you have to think I'm fcuking stupid to believe that anyone would mistake a eight year old little girl for a fucking grown adult man, But, you saw something, and therein lies the trick. I think you know what it was Meekins! Tell me, does this trick look familiar!?'
he asked as he showed him a picture of Mr hat, meekins nearly fell over in shock
'Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha- What's that?'
'That girl's favorite trick, "The Amazing Mr. Hat". She uses it in her show down at the Wonder Bar'
meekins went radio silent
'Have you been to the Wonder Bar?'
'...... So. It wasn't a waking dream, was it, sir?, That night, on stage, I saw a vision! Except... it wasn't a vision. It was a hat. An Amazing Mr. Hat! He really exists!!'
phoenix blinked but let meekins go on
'I remember it clearly! Though the details are a little vague. Zak Gramarye exited the courtroom... ...I gave chase and cornered him in the corner room, sir!'
'Zak Gramarye! Don't even think you can escape Meekins! Down on your hands! Floor on your head!!! ...... H-Hello?'
Trucy smiled up at the man
'Something the matter, mister?'
Meekins awkwardly scratched his head
'Er... no. That is... Sir! I'm currently chasing a suspect, sir! Zak Gramarye... Do you know him!?'
'Oh, I love Zak Gramarye! His magic is the best! I'm his biggest fan!'
Meekins nodded
'I see... That's why you're wearing that costume you're wearing. Anyway! That very same Zak came into this room!'
'But no one's been in here except me...'
Meekins yanked the band around his neck as he scanned the area
'...B-But he has to be in here somewhere! Under the sofa! In the trash can! Behind the painting! Under the rug!'
Phoenix stared at him with a neutral expression, a million thoughts going through his head
'So... Trucy was his accomplice'
'Imagine my astonished surprise when, one week later... ...I just happen to walk into a bar and see... him!!!'
'Mr. Hat'
he clarified
'I couldn't believe my own eyes! For a while, I thought it had all been a long dream...But it wasn't the magician who disappeared... it was Mr. Hat'
meekins sniffled sadly, phoenix sighed mentally as he closed up his notepad
'okay so let me get this straight, what happened that day is that You were standing by the door, and out came gramarye, but the little girl got in on the act, and she was standing in front of Lobby No. 2. Along with Mr. Hat'
'Ah, and that's the beauty of it, isn't it...?'
Phoenix just moved on from that
'and while you are standing in shock, the magician rounds the corner and, most likely, runs through the closest door into Lobby No. 1. and You turn the corner, in rather and at that very moment, the little girl runs into Lobby No. 2! Then, all she has to do is tuck away the Amazing Mr. Hat'
he finished off, meekins frowned as he looked down at the floor
'Sir, I... ...I only lost sight of him for the briefest of moments! Then, I saw that cape! Zak Gramarye's red cape fluttering like a... cape! ...... ...Astounding, sir! All my days of posing queries and making inquiries and chasing quarries... wasted! It was as if I could see them melting away like... ...an ice cream cone left by the side of the road to die!!! Or the scattered remains of a messily eaten chocolate parfait!!!'
Phoenix frowned as he offered whatever sympathy he had
'i'm sorry, you'd suffered on account of this case'
Meekins shillouted to him
'It... It's an honor, sir!!! I've apologized to people many, many times! Sometimes more than once! But this is the first time anyone's ever apologized to meeeeeeeeeeeeee!'
Phoenix now actually felt a lot more sympathy now, he knows that feeling, ..never being apologized to after being wronged and hurt
'I let the defendant escape, that's the stone cold truth! Just another step on my way from singing the blues to wearing the blues! Someday, sir, I'll be standing side-by-side with the great Detective Guamshoooooooooooe!'
phoenix blinked at him as he gave him a ticket for trucy's next show, at first he was very against the idea of trucy performing at a bar full of drunk people, but after having been promised extra security, personal supervision and a temporary job position as a pianist. (which he only took to watch over trucy more carefully) trucy's persistence, he let her perform as before at the bar, not without watching over her carefully of course, by becoming a pianist
'This is a free ticket to the show at the Wonder Bar. If you want--
Meekins eyes widen as his eyes started to water even more
'It... It's an honor, sir!!! Sir! I can't count the number of things I've had taken from me, sir! But no one's ever given me anything for freeeeeeee! Right! I'll see you in court next time then, sir!'
'...yeah'
he said as he watched meekins walk away, ...back to court...