Dick Gumshoe

"Dick Gumshoe"

- Hey, lighten up, pals. I'm only kidding!

"Dick Gumshoe"

- We call a person who tells a lie a 'liar', right? So why don't we call a person who rings a bell a 'beller'? Or 'truer' for a guy who tells the truth! Oh man, I'm not gonna get any sleep tonight!

Dick Gumshoe was a homicide detective in Los Angeles during the careers of Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth. He often happened to take the same cases that Phoenix Wright did when Wright was a lawyer. He generally gathered evidence and occasionally helped Wright depending on the circumstances behind the case at hand. He also usually took the stand first during a trial to testify and give basic facts about a case. He usually helps Miles Edgeworth in his investigations.

Early life
"Dick Gumshoe"

- You know what I think about sometimes? What kind of life would I had if I hadn't joined the Homicide Division. [...] Me as a traffic cop. Me as a detention officer. Me as the Blue Badger...

Little is known of Gumshoe's early life other than that he knew Angel Starr when he was 16; he has mentioned that even then she was known as the "Cough-up Queen". He has mentioned vaguely to Phoenix Wright that only Starr could get him to talk about what had happened "that day". When Gumshoe mentioned this, Ema Skye wondered what the incident was, whilst Wright wondered if Gumshoe wore a trenchcoat even when he was 16.

It apparently has always been a dream of his to become a member of the police force. He made a working bug detector when he was young, which would be used in a police investigation years later. As an adult, he fulfilled his dream, joining the police force and then being promoted to the detective division in 2011.

Early career

 * Main articles: Turnabout Reminiscence and Turnabout Beginnings

"Mia Fey"

- I remember him making a show of confidence at first, but after five minutes, he breaks down and......you end up feeling sorry for the poor guy...

Gumshoe had a rough start to his detective career. On his first day on the job, he went to his old post instead of his new post. Prosecutor Byrne Faraday chastised him heavily for this. Nonetheless, he received a $5 paycheck as an annual bonus.

A week later, the Criminal Affairs Department sent him to his first big job at a hallway in the District Court. Detective Tyrell Badd assigned him to guard Defendant Lobby No. 2 while he had a talk with Calisto Yew inside Lobby No. 1. Something had apparently gone wrong during a trial, and Byrne was apparently arguing with defendant Mack Rell during the recess. Ten minutes later, Byrne's daughter Kay Faraday entered the hallway with $1, wanting to buy a $6 pack of two Swiss rolls from a vending machine in the hallway. Having only his paycheck, Gumshoe pooled his money with Kay's to buy the rolls. Kay kept one to give to her father while she shared the other one with Gumshoe. They sat on a bench right under a window to eat the roll, and at one point, Kay popped her balloon on a cactus plant on the windowsill to startle Gumshoe, who subsequently dropped his half of the roll. Kay told Gumshoe that she had promised her father that she wouldn't receive anything from strangers, so Gumshoe promised her not to tell anybody about her "crime".

Twenty minutes later, Badd and Yew suddenly ran toward Lobby No. 2, finding Gumshoe alone in the hallway. They told him that they had heard a gunshot and the three burst into Lobby No. 2 to find both the prosecutor and the defendant dead. Apparently, they had killed each other. Gumshoe rushed to Courtroom No. 3, where Rell's trial was supposed to resume, to inform everyone of what had happened.

Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, who was to debut in the trial in Byrne's place, was put in charge of the investigation. Gumshoe hadn't heard anything due to the soundproofed door, whereas the window to Lobby No. 1 had been opened. Gumshoe initially dismissed Edgeworth's competence, but Edgeworth quickly proved to be much better at his job than Gumshoe was. Gumshoe turned on a TV in the lobby, finding that it had been turned up to maximum volume. Badd chastised him for touching the crime scene.

The judge in charge of Rell's trial then accused Gumshoe of the murder. Yew cited Gumshoe's first encounter with Byrne as his motive. Gumshoe insisted that nothing suspicious had occurred, so Badd took him away for further questioning. The judge had been inside a washroom that had a window through which he could look into the hallway, and as Gumshoe had sat down on a bench with Kay to eat the Swiss roll, Gumshoe had slipped from the judge's view. However, Gumshoe refused to talk about what he had done with Kay. Nonetheless, as Edgeworth questioned the judge and then Gumshoe in the courtroom, he figured out what had happened. Kay was also in the courtroom, and Gumshoe tried to prevent everyone from talking about Byrne's death, but Kay already knew about it.

Edgeworth eventually found Yew out as the real killer as well as the Great Thief Yatagarasu, but she escaped from the courthouse. Badd apologized to Gumshoe for not believing in him. He praised him for his loyalty to Kay, and he told him never to lose that detective spirit. Gumshoe thanked Edgeworth for getting him off the hook, and he vowed to stick by his side from then on, much to Edgeworth's annoyance. They met again, five months later, during the investigation of the murder of fellow detective Valerie Hawthorne. The ensuing trial was one full of novices, including the defense attorney, Mia Fey. Thus, the duo of Edgeworth and Gumshoe was born.

Gumshoe also saw Jake Marshall as a mentor when he started out in the force. Marshall gave him a cactus plant to whom he could voice his problems. It is unknown if he still has the plant.

Meeting Phoenix Wright

 * Main article: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

"Maya Fey"

- Aah! It's that confused detective!

After three years on the force, Gumshoe investigated Mia Fey's murder, and arrested her sister upon finding a note apparently from Mia implicating her. Mia's student Phoenix Wright took Maya's defense and won against a previously undefeated Miles Edgeworth.

Gumshoe and Wright met again at Global Studios during an investigation of another murder. Gumshoe told Wright about a camera used to record the accused. Later, Wright was caught in a bad situation with the producer at Global Studios, who controlled a mob and was trying to silence him; Gumshoe rescued Wright from certain danger and arrested the mobsters. The producer was later found to be the real killer.

Gumshoe's next meeting with Wright was during the investigation of the murder of defense attorney Robert Hammond, with Edgeworth being the prime suspect. Gumshoe gave Wright directions to the Criminal Affairs Department, telling him that he would be there to help Wright. Indeed, Gumshoe loaned Wright a metal detector that proved helpful to Wright's investigation. Wright defended Edgeworth in court against Edgeworth's ruthless mentor Manfred von Karma, who gave Gumshoe a hard time for being biased for the defense. The trial was found to have been connected to the DL-6 Incident, and after a grueling struggle in court, Edgeworth was found innocent and von Karma was implicated as the killer in the DL-6 Incident. Gumshoe treated Wright and some of those involved in the case to a party and tried to get Edgeworth to express delight to no avail.

Wright, Edgeworth and Gumshoe met again in the investigation of the murder of detective Bruce Goodman. Involved in the case was a dancing panel of the Blue Badger, an upcoming police mascot, that Gumshoe had left in the police department's evidence room. This served both to obscure and to reveal critical evidence of a related incident that had occurred in the evidence room. Gumshoe assisted Wright in his investigation, as his role in the police investigation was limited to lowly jobs such as serving coffee. Gumshoe told Wright about the SL-9 Incident, which turned out to be the driving force behind everything that had occurred leading up to Goodman's murder. Wright eventually learned that Edgeworth was considering resignation, and he used this to convince Gumshoe to risk his job and open up the office of the chief of police, Damon Gant. Wright found what he needed, but Gant caught them and fired Gumshoe. Nonetheless, the defendant used Gumshoe to pass an evidence law book to Wright, which allowed Wright to come up with a plan to implicate Gant as the real killer. To celebrate, Gumshoe treated Wright to another party at a new restaurant. Gumshoe got his job back some time afterward.

Edgeworth disappeared soon after the Goodman murder case.

Under Franziska von Karma

 * Main article: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All

When Maya Fey was accused of murdering Turner Grey, Gumshoe was the detective who arrived on the scene to question the witnesses. According to him, the reason he was so quick to arrive was that he was already in the area. Gumshoe told the lawyer about Franziska von Karma, a prosecuting prodigy and daughter of Manfred von Karma, and to glean valuable information about the malpractice incident that was behind the situation. He was also in charge of questioning Maya about the murder, although he was apparently far from pleased with the situation, looking at Maya with "really sad eyes". Von Karma abused Gumshoe - and just about everyone else she met - with her whip. This did not help her in her first loss ever in court, however.

Gumshoe next met Wright when Maggey Byrde was put on trial for the murder of Dustin Prince. Gumshoe had developed a crush on Byrde ever since she joined the force and so was reluctant to testify against her. Whilst being cross-examined by Wright, he would happily agree with him when a point was made that could help clear Byrde of the crime, although he was quickly chastised for this by Winston Payne. When the Judge pointed out that Gumshoe had a crush on Byrde, the detective quickly and embarrassedly denied it. Eventually Wright was able to clear Byrde and to uncover the true murderer.

During Wright's next investigation, he noticed that von Karma always seemed to find Gumshoe and whip him some more to make sure he didn't aid her "enemy," after hearing a strange beeping noise. During the investigation, Gumshoe got into contact with Edgeworth, who was in another country, and he told him to conduct a surprise search of a witness's room. This allowed Wright to implicate the witness as the real killer. Edgeworth later told Gumshoe that he would be returning soon.

Gumshoe met Wright again during an annual Hero of Heroes Grand Prix. Maya Fey was kidnapped, and actor Juan Corrida was killed. The kidnapper, assassin Shelly de Killer, demanded that Wright get an acquittal for the accused, rival actor Matt Engarde. Gumshoe assisted Wright in his investigation, but von Karma showed up again; she was the prosecutor for the case. Von Karma revealed that she had planted a tracking device on Gumshoe to track his movements. Wright returned to the precinct for Gumshoe's assistance, but the detective was once again caught by von Karma and subsequently fired for being a "traitor." At that moment, Edgeworth had returned to the precinct to greet Wright and von Karma, both of whom were unhappy about his return.

De Killer shot von Karma on the shoulder before the trial, and a newly returned Edgeworth took her place. Gumshoe took the stand, but after the cross-examination, Edgeworth got tired of Gumshoe's incompetence and dismissed him. Now out of a job, Gumshoe was prompted to assist Wright fully in his investigation, giving him the bug detector he had made in his childhood, which led Wright to realize that Engarde really was guilty; he had hired de Killer to kill Corrida and recorded the killing to get leverage on de Killer for later. De Killer eventually gave away his location by accident and a police chase ensued with Gumshoe at the helm (apparently with his job back) while Wright and Edgeworth stalled for time in court. Gumshoe found some evidence but crashed his car on the way to the courtroom, so von Karma took the evidence to deliver it herself. Wright was able to use the evidence to inform de Killer of the recording of the murder, which caused de Killer to target Engarde as his next victim as punishment for the betrayal. Engarde was found guilty. Gumshoe treated Wright to a party to celebrate.

Wright's ally

 * Main article: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

A mysterious thief calling himself Mask☆DeMasque began to appear, stealing valuable artifacts and foiling Gumshoe's efforts to catch him. The fifth heist was of the Kurain Sacred Urn, a relic from Maya Fey's home village. This got Phoenix Wright involved in the case. Gumshoe then brought Ron DeLite, who claimed to be the thief. In the ensuing case, Wright acquitted DeLite of the heist as well as a murder.

Some months later, Wright defended Maggey Byrde again in a murder trial, but he did such a shoddy job that Byrde was convicted. An angry Gumshoe confronted Wright, but it turned out that Wright had never even heard of the case; the Wright that had taken the case was a fake. Wright appealed the case, but Gumshoe was obligated by his position to testify for the prosecution. It turned out that this time, Gumshoe's testimony was quite solid, and Wright couldn't tear through it as he did on a normal basis. This upset Byrde, who called Gumshoe a traitor. When Wright informed the detective of this, he broke into tears and banged his head against a nearby wall. Wanting to make it up to her, Gumshoe later made a lunch box of sausage weenies for Wright to deliver to Byrde, but Byrde refused it.

Wright tracked down his fake, Furio Tigre, a loan shark who was desperate to pay a huge debt to a powerful mob boss. Wright was caught in a potential fight with his fake, but Gumshoe came to his rescue again. In court, Wright gave Gumshoe a medicine bottle to test for fingerprints, but by the time Gumshoe had verified Tigre's fingerprints, the evidence was no longer relevant. Nevertheless, through a bluff, Wright got Tigre to implicate himself as the real killer. Byrde eventually forgave Gumshoe as well and accepted a second box of weenies he gave her.

In Feburary of 2019, Wright was caught up in a plot to murder Maya Fey, which resulted in the murder of Elise Deauxnim. Wright tried to cross a burning Dusky Bridge to save Fey, but he fell into a river and was hospitalized, so he called Edgeworth to defend the accused, Iris, in his stead. Gumshoe accompanied Edgeworth in his investigation, much to the latter's dismay. However, the detective gave Edgeworth plenty of information about the murder and noted before Edgeworth did that a witness was lying.

When Wright took over the investigation again, Gumshoe took to repairing Dusky Bridge in order to attempt to rescue Fey (an aerial extraction was impossible). Once that was done, he immediately informed Wright and was about to escort him, but was whipped by von Karma, and curled up in the corner of the room. Unfortunately, Maya Fey was nowhere to be found. When von Karma and Wright exited the Inner Temple, Gumshoe entered the nearby garden and found bloody writing on the lantern there, reading, "Maya." He muttered to himself whether he should wash "that" off. Curious, von Karma and Wright entered the garden, and Gumshoe gave them useful information about the garden being the true crime scene. Later, on Edgeworth's command, Gumshoe was searching for the true murder weapon. He gave Wright a metal detector to use, which found that Deauxnim's staff concealed a sword.

Iris was eventually found not guilty of the crime, and Gumshoe threw another party for Wright at Trés Bien. After those events, Byrde bought Gumshoe a brand new coat, and commented on how his old coat made him look more "detective-like."

Edgeworth's partner

 * Main article: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

Edgeworth went on a month-long overseas trip after the events at Eagle Mountain, but the return trip landed him in a murder investigation on his flight. The Criminal Affairs Department was immediately on the case as soon as the plane landed. Gumshoe met Edgeworth and von Karma and at Hope Springs Airport, finding out from the ladder that the murder victim had been an Interpol agent, explaining the quick response. Gumshoe then aided Edgeworth in his investigation.

Following the resolution of that case, Ernest Amano, an old family friend of Edgeworth's, called to say that his son Lance Amano had been kidnapped for ransom. Gumshoe spotted for Edgeworth as he entered Gatewater Land to deliver Ernest's ransom money. However, Edgeworth was forced into the haunted house attraction, and Gumshoe lost sight of him. Edgeworth was subsequently kidnapped himself, though he managed to escape. Gumshoe called the police for backup, but an Interpol agent, Shi-Long Lang, arrived on the scene with an "army" of 101 subordinates and took over the kidnapping investigation. The Criminal Affairs Department was obliged to cooperate with Interpol, so Gumshoe could not be at Edgeworth's side when he started his own investigation. Kay Faraday, who had tracked Edgeworth down after seven years to help her find Calisto Yew, filled Gumshoe's role. Nonetheless, Gumshoe was able to sneak over to Edgeworth periodically to tell him about Interpol's investigation, leading Edgeworth to a witness at the stadium and a discarded Bad Badger suit at the main gate ahead of Lang, eventually leading to the resolution of the case.

That night, detective Buddy Faith was murdered in Edgeworth's office. Gumshoe arrived on the scene to assist Edgeworth, who had been threatened by a gunman as he was entering the office, in the ensuing investigation. Another prosecutor, Faith's investigative partner Jacques Portsman, briefly accused both Edgeworth and Gumshoe of the murder, and then he accused Maggey Byrde, who was working as a security guard in the Prosecutor's Building and had the master key. Edgeworth eventually concluded that Portsman was the killer. Portsman claimed that he had been at the Criminal Affairs Department when Edgeworth had had his encounter with the gunman, and Gumshoe confirmed this alibi. Edgeworth responded that the gunman was a different person. Edgeworth then had Gumshoe search Portsman for evidence that he was attempting to steal, and Gumshoe found a video tape of the on him, which was stained with Faith's blood. Portsman was subsequently arrested for the murder.

The next day, the Yatagarasu sent a calling card to the joint Allebahstian and Babahlese embassy building, threatening to steal dirty secrets from them. In response, Interpol and the Criminal Affairs Department sent some officers, including Gumshoe, to the building for security purposes during a goodwill event. The Yatagarasu started two fires in the Babahlese Embassy, and Gumshoe helped with the firefighting effort. He then got lost in the building, but he heard a scream from Kay Faraday and tracked the scream down to the secretariat's office, while Shi-Long Lang's assistant Shih-na exited a room next to the office and entered the office to apprehend Faraday. Inside the room was the body of the secretariat, Manny Coachen, and Faraday was accused of the murder. Gumshoe suspected that Edgeworth was nearby and stalled for time until Edgeworth arrived on the scene.

Edgeworth showed that the murder weapon had come from the Allebahstian Embassy, and the investigation moved there. Gumshoe and Faraday stayed behind to investigate Babahl, though they had no progress. Ambassador Colias Palaeno gave Gumshoe a lantern fueled by whitcrystal oil, which he gave to Edgeworth when he returned. By the time Edgeworth returned, he had obtained some old woman's garments, which he handed to Gumshoe to give back to their owner. Another individual had apparently been killed in Allebahst, and he had a note on him instructing him to steal a statue from the Allebahstian ambassador, Quercus Alba. Edgeworth also had Gumshoe run a handwriting analysis on the other murder victim's note, which confirmed that Coachen had written it. Edgeworth then told Gumshoe to gather all the information that he could about the secretariat's office as it had been before the fire, which helped with his complete investigation of the office. Edgeworth found that the fireplace in the office had a revolving back wall, and he told Gumshoe to crawl through it to see what would happen to someone trying to escape through the fireplace. This clue allowed him to expose Shih-na as Calisto Yew, with Gumshoe finding the coat that she had discarded. A subsequent confrontation between Yew, Faraday and Tyrell Badd, who had been looking for Yew himself, revealed that, in fact, Yew, Badd and Byrne Faraday had all been the Yatagarasu. Gumshoe was devastated to have to arrest his former superior and inspirational figure.

The investigation then led to Quercus Alba as the killer in both cases. Edgeworth claimed that Alba had hidden Coachen's body inside a cart, which had gone to Allebahst, and then he had smuggled the cart to Babahl through a reservoir connected to both embassies. Gumshoe investigated Babahl to find said cart in Babahl, confirming Edgeworth's theory. As Lang had Alba's ambassadorship removed, and after a long argument in which Edgeworth confirmed the motive and the real crime scene, Alba was arrested and brought to court. Gumshoe participated in the festivities after Alba's trial, and then Kay Faraday told him that she wouldn't steal his supporting role from him.

Wright's last case

 * Main article: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Gumshoe's last known meeting with Wright was on April of 2019, when he testified against Zak Gramarye. He seemed determined to best Wright this time, but Wright blew through his testimony as usual. However, Wright was found to have presented forged evidence and was disbarred.

Personality


"Miles Edgeworth"

- (...Gumshoe indeed! Like gum on your shoe, he's impossible to get rid of!)

"Phoenix Wright"

- (You fail to grasp the concept of "questioning", detective. [...] You fail to grasp the concept of "shooting people is bad", detective.)

Dick Gumshoe has a strong loyalty to Miles Edgeworth. From the day they met, Edgeworth has cut his pay and threatened to fire him, but overall they have a strong working relationship, with Gumshoe usually assisting Edgeworth in his field investigations side by side.

Gumshoe is very sensitive, often leading to his feelings getting easily hurt, but he is also a very optimistic and hard-working person. He has a habit of jumping to conclusions and doing things a more sensible person wouldn't. Gumshoe has been known to act on a whim, such as buying a fishing rod that he has never used. Despite this he has been shown to be courageous and dependable, saving Wright and Fey from gangsters on one occasion and tirelessly trying to save Maya from a kidnapper on another occasion.

Gumshoe has a penchant for getting involved in complicated murders, and he uses his powers of persuasion to get himself assigned to those cases. Unfortunately for him, Gumshoe is often bumbling and incompetent, and he has had his pay cut many times by several of his superiors, such that he lives on instant noodles and off-brand products, though he tries to diversify his diet when he can. He still maintains a good working relationship with most of the police force, and he uses it to prevent himself from losing his job. There may be hidden depths to his bumbling nature, as he was easily able to identify Charley's species and was able to construct a usable bug detector from scratch.

Gumshoe's relationship with Wright and Fey is a strange one. On one hand he has helped them solve cases and even temporarily joined the Wright & Co. Law Offices as resident cook. However, on other occasions (notably his last known meeting with Wright) he boasted to Wright that there was no way Wright could win the case since Gumshoe's evidence was too strong.

Gumshoe apparently takes care of the police dog, a Shiba Inu breed named Missile. Despite Franziska von Karma's doubts about the dog's abilities, Missile has done his job well by finding overlooked evidence in a fireplace. Missile appears to have a great liking for Samurai Dogs and therefore, it may not be a coincidence that the aforementioned evidence was also in the same place as some Samurai Dogs.

Gumshoe is responsible for the ticker tape confetti seen at the end of Wright's and Edgeworth's victories in court.

Gumshoe likes steak lunches and sausage weenies, commenting at one point that he could live on weenies.

Relationship with Maggey Byrde
"Dick Gumshoe"

- Don't worry about it! In the name of love, a man will soil himself silly!

Gumshoe has had a major crush on Maggey Byrde ever since she joined the force. She, in turn, was grateful for his teaching during her training. She was fired after a murder incident in which she was accused; she became a waitress soon afterward, but Gumshoe kept in contact. When Byrde was accused of murder a second time, he stood by her even though she believed he had betrayed her. Through his efforts, he managed to help to turn the case around, and she soon forgave him.

They became a couple soon afterward, and Byrde bought Gumshoe a new trenchcoat.

Name

 * "Dick" and "Gumshoe" are slang terms for a private eye. "Dick" is usually used in a negative sense for a detective, but it is also a nickname for "Richard", possibly suggesting that his real name is "Richard Gumshoe". Richard, if one can assume it to be his real name, could be a reference to Richard Diamond, Private Detective, who shares many traits with Gumshoe. "Gumshoe" is often used to denote very new and inexperienced private detectives. It is also possible that his name is a reference to Dick Tracy, a famous detective character in American cinema, although the two are quite different in terms of personality.


 * Itonokogiri (糸鋸) roughly means "a fretsaw" and Keisuke (圭介) is the name of a musician.


 * "Dick Tektiv" is a play on words from "detective" (which has the same typography and meaning in French and English).

Development

 * While most recurring characters gained new sprite animations throughout the Phoenix Wright trilogy, Gumshoe lost one. In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Gumshoe would occasionally scratch the back of his head. This animation did not appear in any subsequent game until Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. Also, in the same game, Gumshoe gained a new sprite, where he would flinch as if struck by something, usually by Franziska's whip.

Style of speech
"Maya Fey"

- We're on this case too, pal!

"Dick Gumshoe"

- Huh!? Hey! You can't just go saying "pal" like that! That's MY endearing character trait!''

"Maya Fey"

- I'd say he's a character alright...

Gumshoe has two distinct styles of speech depending on the games' regional version. In the English version, Gumshoe ends a lot of his sentences with "Pal". In the Japanese version, Itonoko uses slang in which he slurs the ends of his sentences (i.e. "nan desu ka?" becomes "nansska?").

In the German version of the game, Gumshoe calls Wright "Junge" (the German word for "Boy") instead of "Pal" and in the French Version, he uses "mon gars" (literally "my dude"); however, the meaning of these is roughly the same. In the Italian translation, he is extremely informal and calls every one "amico" or "amica" (literally friend).