Warning Tags: Chapter 5
Title: Warning Tags: Chapter 5
Characters: Matsumoto Jun, Ninomiya Kazunari, Sakurai Sho, Tegoshi Yuya, Kuroki Meisa, Kamenashi Kazuya, Aiba Masaki, Ikuta Toma, Kato Shigeaki
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5,590 words (yep, my longest chapter yet!)
Disclaimer: Purely fictional. Lapses of logic abound. Police procedure shot to heck. Not beta'd. Wondering if this will really have Sakumoto content...
Summary: Jun's lead in his investigation has hit a dead end. Literally.
Master Post
It took Tegoshi the better part of fifteen minutes to gain access to Shige’s machine, having undergone a number of reboots after the system had locked him out one incorrect guess after another. So when the screen had finally changed to show that his latest attempt was correct, Tegoshi had leapt up and done a little victory dance around the lounge before settling back in front of the laptop. Nikita WhatsYourSurname, eat your heart out! Thankfully, Shige was not overly paranoid and had the browser remember all his passwords, allowing him to access Shige’s e-mails without further complications. Selecting the Sent folder, he was about to enter Sakurai as a search term when his eyes caught sight of the latest e-mail that Shige had sent out this morning.
Ishitani Ryuichiro.
Tegoshi’s first reaction was to click on the e-mail at once, even as what seemed like a million different questions going off in his mind at once.
WHY was Shige writing about Ishitani Ryuichiro?
Had Shige found out that it had been Ishitani Ryuichiro who’d attacked him last night?
How had Shige found out?
The e-mail was lengthy. Tegoshi scanned the contents, noting a number of attachments. The first was Ishitani’s basic biographical information which included his educational background, residence and current place of work - his family’s private clinic, an institution that counted powerful politicians and other figures amongst its patients.
It was the next few attachments that Tegoshi found interesting - reports of a number of medical malpractice complaints that had been lodged against Ishitani. Tegoshi was about to question why he had not heard anything about malpractice claims but then realised that Shige’s message in the body of the e-mail had answered it for him.
Charges were dropped on each occasion. We need to investigate further.
Having experienced how the Dean of Students had always managed to look the other way each time Ishitani had placed him in life-threatening situations (all in the name of fun), Tegoshi could guess how the victims had changed their minds. But for EVERYONE of them to change their mind? Surely there had to be one or two that would not be swayed by money?
Perhaps he was being too naïve about the world but there was something fishy about the fact that all complaints had been withdrawn. He forwarded the mail to his own address, remembering to delete the sent copy to cover his tracks.
He was going to help Shige take Ishitani down.
* * *
“Jun?” It wasn’t until Nino tapped him on his shoulder that Jun’s mind returned to the here and now.
“Sorry,” Jun mumbled. Jameson was dead. The man he’d been chasing down had just been found killed.
“Well, this has been anti-climactic, to say the least,” Nino gestured towards Jameson’s body. “Have we been wrong about Jameson being the killer all along?”
“Is it possible? Yes. But Jameson’s time of death took place well after Satou’s so Detective Top of His Class’s original theory that Jameson is the “Talent Killer” is still plausible. I’ll need to take the body back to the lab to be absolutely certain but if I were to make an educated guess, I’d peg Jameson’s time of death around the early hours of yesterday - a day after Satou was killed.” The medical examiner turned to Jun, crossing his arms hostilely, “I suppose I should be grateful that you’re not throwing up.”
Jun had to wonder if the medical examiner wasn’t a living example of Severus Snape - it certainly would explain why he had to be such a complete jackass who seemed determined to see him fail. Even so, Jun refused to stoop to the jerk’s low, low level. “We should consider all the possibilities: one, someone did manage to kill Jameson, who was killing these women. Two, Jameson was merely being used by the killer as a front and when he got exposed, the killer no longer had any use for him. Three, Jameson is just another victim on the killer’s list.”
“Just what we need - a killer who’s playing mind games with us,” Nino shook his head before looking in the direction of the media hounds. “We better hope that this stays under wraps.”
Jun turned his attention to Jameson’s body, “how did Jameson die?”
“I’m going to go with shock,” the medical examiner offered.
“Shock?” Jun repeated. The medical examiner waved him closer to the body, yanking the blanker lower to reveal Jameson’s torso. Sonnuva… This time, he’d managed to get far away enough before he lost the fight to resist throwing up.
“Delicate lil’ fella, isn’t he?” Jun barely made out the medical examiner’s lazy drawl.
At least Nino was on his side, “was that absolutely necessary? It’s almost as if you WANT him to ruin the crime scene.”
“You want to baby the rookies, go ahead,” the medical examiner retorted, “but there’s no room for mistakes in a court of law. Each time your stupid rookie screws up on my crime scene, some criminal gets away with murder. Literally. If he can’t handle homicide, he should transfer to something more his speed. Maybe Public Relations. At least he can then put his only redeeming quality to use.”
“Everyone needs to start somewhere. You can’t keep punishing him because he’s new.”
“He needs to grow up quickly,” the medical examiner growled out. “I have my hands full as it is. The last thing I need is everyone wanting to play with the rookie because he possesses some damn ‘novelty appeal’.”
Jun stumbled back to re-join the conversation, “you said that Jameson died of shock.”
The medical examiner smirked, showing the barest sliver of being impressed, “see? He grew up. Didn’t throw up as much.”
“You said shock,” Jun had to remind himself to remain civil, a feat that was turning out to be quite the uphill battle at the moment.
“As you could see, or didn’t see,” the medical examiner indicated towards Jun’s own abdomen, “he was eviscerated. The M.O. is different - the three women who were allegedly Jameson’s victims died of messy stab wounds that were all over the place. This cut was done cleanly and professionally. My opinion is that whoever killed Jameson and whoever murdered those three ladies is not the same person. Jameson’s killer did however make sure that it was painful - just as it has been for Jameson’s alleged victims.”
“Intentionally?” Nino queried.
The medical examiner nodded, “I would believe so - someone with a reasonable knowledge of the human body. See the way Jameson was sliced open? A haphazard cut might have allowed Jameson to bleed to death quickly but his killer knew exactly how to draw out his death. Jameson was treated to a viewing of his intestines spilling out.”
Jun frowned, “then would you say that our killer is probably someone of the medical profession?”
“Very likely,” the medical examiner conceded.
“And it would seem that Jameson’s death was motivated by revenge,” Nino added, studying Jun. “You look like you are thinking of something. Or someone. What is it?”
“The boyfriend of Jameson’s first victim is an intern or something at a hospital. I’ve met with the boyfriend myself. He seemed quite collected but I don’t think there was anything off about him like Akanishi had suggested.” Jun flipped through an older notebook until he reached a particular page, showing it to Nino, “Akanishi’s notes on the case were amongst the items left in the case file,” he added hastily as Nino accepted the notebook and scanned the contents of the page in question.
“Kamenashi Kazuya. Asshole.” Nino looked back up at Jun with incredulity.
The medical examiner laughed, “that’s Akanishi for you!”
“I thought it was just some stupid comment that Akanishi put down,” Jun continued, “which was why I didn’t think much of it originally. But now I am beginning to understand-”
Nino shoved the notebook back into Jun’s hands, cutting him off, “there’s nothing to understand. This is a stupid comment. Jin probably didn’t like Kamenashi’s attitude. But,” he paused, looking thoughtful, “the fact that he’s an intern does make the boyfriend a potential suspect in Jameson’s murder.
“Is there anything else we should know?” Jun asked, turning back to the medical examiner.
“Well, as you can imagine, Jameson’s killer didn’t perform the deed here on the docks. He killed him elsewhere and then dumped the body here, tying the body to that block over there.” The medical examiner paused to indicate towards a concrete block several metres away. “Transportation should have been messy but we haven’t found anything around the docks to indicate otherwise so quite possibly, the killer had an accomplice or two to help dump the body.”
Jun signalled for the responding officer to come forward. “Where’s the person who reported the body?”
The officer looked apologetic, “sorry, detective - unfortunately, she had to go home.”
Nino frowned, “you just let her go?”
“She’s seven and her father insisted. I did manage to interview her before her father took her home,” the officer added quickly, handing his notes to Jun who scanned through the information.
“If it helps you get over the fact that some poor little seven year-old has subjected her innocent eyes to a dead body, Detective, the body was found floating face down. The little one didn’t actually get the R18+ edition.” The medical examiner added, noting Jun’s sudden discomfort.
“The girl likes to come down here and fish every morning,” the officer explained, “it’s not a busy dock but people do come here to fish every day. I’ve also managed to get the patrol logs of the area,” he added, handing the book to Jun, “according to it, none of the officers reported anything suspicious last night.”
Jun nodded, looking up from the notes, “what about boats?”
“Detective?” The officer looked confused.
“It seems that these reports are for any activity by the docks in terms of people and cars. What about boats?”
Nino nodded, “a boat would make sense. Less conspicuous and a heck lot easier to just toss a body overboard.”
“That could explain why we can’t find traces of Jameson on the dock,” the medical examiner agreed.
“It’s a dock. Boats are going to be completely normal,” the officer explained. “But I’ll have check with the officers on patrol.”
“Please do,” Jun instructed, “and interview the ‘drunk arrested for public urination’ as well. He might have seen something.” The officer nodded, taking his leave.
“If you’re done with the questions, detectives, I will be taking the body with me,” the medical examiner spoke up. “As it is, carrying out an examination on a body that’s been dumped at sea is going to be more challenging than usual.” Agreeing that they had exhausted their options, both Nino and Jun said farewell to the medical examiner before leaving the scene.
As expected, Kuroki Meisa was ready and confronting them as they ducked under the police tape. “Any comment on whether or not a vigilante is on the loose?”
“Vigilante?” Jun echoed.
“Sure, that’s Jameson down there, isn’t it? Someone managed to get him before the police did. Perhaps I should share this piece of information with the rest of my-”
“Wait,” Nino called out, interrupting her.
Kuroki studied him as he leant forward, whispering something into her ear. Something that had Kuroki’s face go red in mere seconds. She leant away from him, smirk on her face completely replaced by fury. “You pig!” She raised a hand and slapped Nino across the face.
“Ow!” Nino’s cry of pain was exaggerated, and it secured the attention of everyone in the crowd. “Detective Matsumoto, did you witness that?”
Jun wasn’t sure what was going on. “You getting schooled?” He asked, studying the expressions on the rest of the crowd. “Yes, I did.”
“I just got attacked,” Nino corrected. “I was merely asking Ms Kuroki a question regarding our case here and she responded by attacking me,” Nino elaborated, pulling out a pair of handcuffs. “Assaulting an officer of the law AND defeating the ends of justice. I’m afraid we’ll have to take you in.”
Kuroki glared at Nino. “What are you, five? My lawyer will have your balls.” To Jun, it looked as if Kuroki was restraining herself from kicking the crap out of Nino. Quite frankly, Kuroki looked like the sort of woman who could very well send Nino to next week Friday.
Jun wanted to voice his protest - that this was unethical and un-police-like behaviour, but one look from Nino shut him up at once. “Just be grateful that we didn’t slap you with theft. Don’t make this more difficult for you than it already is, sweetheart,” Nino advised, slapping the cuffs on her wrists, leading her to their car. “Watch your head,” he advised, pushing her into the backseat of the car before closing the door.
Settling into the front seats, Nino inserted his key into the ignition to start the car when Kuroki spoke up again, “you know I’ll be out within a day.”
“True,” Nino admitted, “but that’s one day in which you don’t get to publish your poisonous words while we get to investigate our cases unhindered. I’m willing to live with that.”
“Just like how you are willing to live with deciding what Sakurai should know?”
Jun’s head snapped back to stare at Kuroki before turning back to Nino, who had paused his actions momentarily. Then, as if he heard nothing, Nino started the car and pulled off. Kuroki Meisa leant back in her seat, looking as if she’d won some decisive battle.
* * *
“Dammit.”
There was simply no other appropriate word to use at that point as Shige glared at the bottom of his screen where the details of the last activity on his account were displayed. The time that he’d last accessed his e-mail from his laptop at home certainly hadn’t been fifteen minutes ago.
There was only ONE valid explanation for it.
“Dammit, Tegoshi.” It was only mildly therapeutic. Reminding himself mentally to unclench his teeth, he practically yanked the phone off the cradle. “We have a problem.”
* * *
“What happened to you?” The receptionist asked, staring at his face.
Tegoshi smiled sheepishly, “had a run-in with my arch-nemesis.”
“No wonder your friend called in to say that you might not be coming into work today. Have you pressed charges?”
Tegoshi shook his head, “doubt it would have been of any use.”
“Well, I have excellent news that should cheer you up then - you’ve had a sudden influx of bookings. Five detectives came this morning to seek counselling.”
“Are you serious?”
The receptionist shrugged, “it’d be cruel to yank your chain in light of the recent beat down you received, don’t you think?”
“But five detectives all of a sudden-” It was almost as if someone had made counselling cool. At this rate, he wasn’t going to be able to afford Sakurai the attention- “Shit.”
The receptionist studied him curiously, “well you’re hard to please - just yesterday you were complaining about a lack of work and today, you think it’s too much.”
He’d forgotten to search for a link between Shige and Sakurai. He’d been so fired up about the Ishitani discovery that he’d left the apartment in a hurry. Tegoshi checked the clock - he’d tossed Shige’s key back in the mailbox but with some ingenuity, he might be able to fish the key out and access Shige’s e-mails again before-
“Excuse me?” Both he and the receptionist turned to the newcomer at the entrance to the office. It was the person who’d managed to talk Ishitani and his hoodlums into leaving him alone last night. The man smiled warmly at them both, “ah, I was hoping that I’d managed to find you here.” He revealed a neatly folded package, “you forgot your jacket last night and since you worked here, I figured to return it to you in person.”
“Thank you,” Tegoshi responded slowly, accepting his jacket. At least he was now able to get home without having to call for a locksmith to get into his own home. “Mr?”
The receptionist leapt to her feet, “this is Aiba Masaki!”
“The negotiator?” Tegoshi had heard of the man - the district’s most successful hostage negotiator who seemed to just “get” the hostage takers.
“Guilty as charged,” Aiba bowed slightly. “So you are the station’s new psychologist. How is the job treating you?”
“I have lots of time to kill,” Tegoshi confessed. “Sorry, I must sound like a whiny brat to you. I seem to have only problems and more problems.”
“It’s a bit hard to get officers to want to pour their hearts out to strangers,” Aiba admitted, “which is why you should get to know the station better. Bond with colleagues a little. You free this Saturday?”
“I’m not really up for drinking,” Tegoshi replied reluctantly.
“Not all members of the police hit the bars in their free time,” Aiba explained. “The rest of us are a bit more wholesome. Well, except Nino, of course.” He pulled out a business card, handing it to Tegoshi, “my contact details. Meet us at 09h00 this Saturday at the Academy’s football field.”
“Football?”
“Don’t worry, I’m pretty bad myself,” Aiba laughed.
Tegoshi smiled back, realising why Aiba was so damn good at his job. He had a gift for lowering defences and getting people to like him quickly. “Then you should prepare to get your butt kicked on Saturday.”
* * *
“Ishitani Private Clinic,” Nino read as they approached the building. “Huh, imagine coming here again.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“We came to visit Sho when he was hospitalised. This place is generally known for its high-profile cases,” Nino explained, flashing his badge to the receptionist. “Detectives Ninomiya and Matsumoto.”
The receptionist looked harassed. “I wasn’t aware that there would be more of you coming. The director is still tied up with your colleague.”
Nino and Jun exchanged confused glances. Nino turned back to the receptionist. “I’m sorry - our colleague?”
Now the receptionist turned exasperated. “Don’t the police have better things to do than come in trickles to harass us? Your colleague, Inspector Sakurai, is already here and meeting with the hospital director.”
Sho was here? “We’re here for a different case,” Jun explained quickly. “We would like to speak with a Doctor Kamenashi Kazuya?”
“I will have to check,” the receptionist frowned, consulting her computer screen. “According to this, he’s-”
“He’s currently busy with an extremely delicate procedure in the operating theatre,” a voice interrupted. Both detectives turned to see an older man in a doctor’s coat approach them, accompanied by Sho. “My clinic is wasting precious time dealing with your ad hoc queries, Inspector. Perhaps your department needs to consolidate these meetings better.”
Sho bowed, “I apologise, Director Ishitani - but Detectives Ninomiya and Matsumoto are from homicide. We focus on different crimes and as such, it would be impossible to work together. It is just unfortunate that our cases happen to require the clinic’s co-operation for two different cases.”
Ishitani harrumphed, clearly unappeased. “As I said earlier, Kamenashi is busy at the moment - perhaps I can assist you?”
“I believe that only Dr Kamenashi would be in a position to assist us with our investigation at this stage,” Jun responded.
“So this is about his girlfriend who was killed earlier then?” Ishitani asked. “The newspaper this morning said that the police had finally identified the killer. I’d say it was about time that you stopped the monster. No offence, but Kazuya was devastated when his girlfriend was found like that.”
“Devastated enough to want to take revenge if he thought he knew who the killer was?” Nino asked.
Ishitani looked livid and scandalised. “How dare-”
“I was angry, yes,” a new voice added, joining in the conversation. “Hello, Detective Matsumoto. We meet again.”
“Ka-Kamenashi!” Ishitani seemed to pale at his appearance.
Nino lowered his voice so that only Jun could hear him, “looks like the extremely delicate procedure finished early. He must be a freaking genius.”
“Dr Kamenashi, we’re hoping you have the time to answer a few questions,” Jun explained.
“You don’t have to answer anything without our lawyer-” Ishitani insisted.
“It’s okay, Director. I have nothing to hide,” Kazuya responded. “What do you want to know, Detectives?”
Jun pulled out a photograph, “do you know this man?”
Kamenashi adjusted his frames, concentrating on the photograph. “Until this morning’s newspaper, no. If your next question is whether I killed a man the newspapers are claiming to be my girlfriend’s killer, Detective, the answer to that is also no. I have a little more common sense than to believe everything gossip rags print.”
Jun nodded, tucking the photo away. “All the same, we’d like to establish your alibis for the past few days.”
Kamenashi nodded, “that’s not a problem - Tuesday, I was here at the clinic, finishing off the last of my shift. You can check with the clinic’s administrator regarding my schedule for the day. You then caught me at home on my day off on Wednesday, where I caught up on my sleep for most of the day. My neighbour will attest to my stepping out my apartment around six in the evening to restock my fridge. I then returned to work today. All this can be corroborated with my neighbour and with the receptionist here.”
“We’ll do exactly that. One last question though - what is your specialty?” Jun added.
“I’ve just completed my first year of residency in general surgery. Still have a long way to go.”
“Kamenashi is one of our brightest prospects here at the clinic. I certainly hope you will stop wasting his time with these pointless questions when he could be saving lives.” Ishitani remarked testily. “Just like how my son saved yours, Inspector, not so long ago.”
Nino looked furious. “You did not just say-”
Thankfully, Sho stepped in, placing himself physically between Ishitani and Nino to cut him off. “And I am very grateful, Director Ishitani,” Sho bowed, “especially to your son.” Jun almost missed how Sho’s voice had seemed been stripped of all its usual warmth in delivering those last few words, his attention on the frown that crossed Kamenashi’s face for the briefest of seconds. “But,” Sho then fixed Ishitani with a firm, no-nonsense look. “You should be aware that bandying past favours about will only cast a poor light over how this investigation is being conducted, leading to the suggestion that Ishitani Private Clinic does have something to hide.”
The director sputtered a little, forcing himself to stand up to Sho. “I…I understand.”
Sho’s smile returned. “Then I am glad we’re in agreement, Director.” He turned to Nino and Jun, “now I believe that we are all done here. Gentlemen?”
“For now,” Nino agreed. Jun nodded in acquiescence.
“Then we shall take our leave. Director Ishitani, Dr Kamenashi. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
Ishitani’s eyes continued to follow the backs of the inspector and two detectives, speaking up once they were out of earshot, “ungrateful bastard.”
Kamenashi turned to the director, looking worried. “Director?”
Ishitani turned back to Kamenashi, offering a polite, if not forced smile, “nothing to concern yourself with, Dr Kamenashi. We will do whatever is in our power to protect you. Go back to work.” He turned to the receptionist. “Page Ryuichiro and have him meet me in my office. Right now.”
* * *
Nino was the first to break the silence once the trio stepped out the clinic. “What a douche of a director. The way that director automatically tried to cover everything up just pisses me off. What the heck is with that? Why else would you need to behave all defensively unless you have something to hide?”
“Well, Ishitani Private Clinic is pretty politically-connected. They’re probably afraid of the fallout of any negative publicity.” Sho suggested.
“Well, I can’t believe we chose this stupid clinic to send you to when you fainted.” Nino continued to complain.
Sho looked indignant. “I didn’t faint. I passed out.”
“To-MAY-to, to-MAR-to,” Nino shrugged. “Same difference.”
“The difference is that the one makes me look like a wuss in front of the rookie,” Sho complained. “How do you expect me to come across as heroic and mentor-like when my so-called friends are going out of their way to paint me as a full-of-fail dork?”
Nino patted Sho on the hand, “there, there - I’m sure Jun here regards you as his role-model. We all think of you as the captain anyway.”
“Of what, the Failboat?”
“You’re no fun when you finish off our barbs. Say,” Nino began, face turning serious. “Why ARE you here?”
“You know very well that I can’t discuss it with you.”
"Well, here's the thing: your reputation as the Organised Crime wunderkind precedes you. The fact that you are here suggests that those infamous political ties Ishitani Private Clinic boasts of may just include figures from the underground."
“I can neither confirm nor deny your speculations,” Sho replied.
“An unwillingness to share information amongst agencies was one of the leading reasons for failing to stop 9/11,” Nino pointed out.
“I sincerely doubt that Jun’s murder investigation has ties to what I am investigating, Nino.” Sho turned to Jun, “You, on the other hand, look like the Cheshire Cat - something you want to share with the rest of the class?”
Jun nodded, “Kamenashi is most likely hiding something.”
“How do you figure that?” Nino asked, leaning against a pillar and pulling a stick of gum out irritably.
Jun looked back at his two listeners triumphantly. “Kamenashi knew that Jameson had been killed. We said no such thing. Why would he assume that?”
It was enough to restore Nino’s good mood, “not bad, rookie! What’s next?”
“I was thinking of returning to the station to go through the crime scene photos,” Jun began, “the photos should be ready by now. Secondly, I’ll have to canvas Kamenashi’s neighbourhood and see if his story about being home on Wednesday checks out. Third, the medical examiner’s report might yield additional information.”
“Which means returning to the station,” Nino remarked, noting a pair of nurses coming their way. He winked at them, reducing the one into a giggling mess. “I think I’ll investigate some more while you go get the car.”
“Okay, James Bond,” Sho sighed good naturedly, “let’s go and leave the master to do his thing, Jun. Did you park your car down in the garage as well?” Jun nodded dumbly, following Sho into the elevator in silence. The last time Sho and he had talked, he’d be in the middle of agreeing to going out for dinner, an agreement that could hardly be finalised with Ohno interrupting with a new case.
It would only be polite to decline, seeing that he was now suddenly swamped with two open murder cases hanging over his head. Even so, Jun was certain that bringing up the topic of dinner at such a point was the sort of thing only selfish pricks did. “About my case…” Jun began.
“Hmm?” Sho turned to face him.
“You’ve been of great help on my first day. Do you have any other suggestions?”
Sho shook his head, “not really. I know close to nothing of your case. You may however want to request phone records for Kamenashi. He’s a doctor and is most likely to have his phone with him wherever he goes. That may help pinpoint where he was at all times. Speak to Yokoyama at Digital Forensics - he’s the one I normally ask for help when it comes to tracking e-mails and other computer-related things.”
“Yokoyama,” Jun repeated, scribbling the name down. “Got it, thanks.” They’d reached his car by now. “Um, I’ll see you around, then.” He opened the door to the driver’s seat,
“Jun…” He turned back, looking at Sho expectantly. “It seems to me that you’re doing splendidly at finding your feet with homicide. Keep it up.”
“Sure. Thanks again.” Jun sank into the driver’s seat, feeling a slight twinge of disappointment as he watched Sho’s retreating back in the rear-view mirror.
* * *
“Package for Detective Matsumoto?”
Toma looked up from his report to see some of the crime scene technicians standing at the doorway. “He’s out. I’ll take it for him.” The technician handed him a form which he signed, receiving a manila envelope in return.
He waited until the technician had left before he tossed it on Jun’s desk, misjudging the distance completely and sending it flying off the desk even as the contents of the envelope spilled out in all directions.
Toma cursed inwardly as he hurried over to the floor, snatching the photographs up. Some idiot had clearly forgotten to seal the envelope properly. He-
He paused as his hand hovered over the photograph of a shot of a particularly disturbing corpse, showing how the man had been cut open. Sure enough, there were subtle differences but the underlying M.O. was too similar for it to be a mere coincidence. He was sure of it - the killer who’d managed to get away on his first case was back. Son of a bitch had re-
“Yo, Ikuta!” Toma looked up, finding Nino and Jun staring back down at him. “Geez, you’re sure clumsy today. Are those the photos for Jun’s new case today?” Toma nodded slowly, as Jun helped him to pick up the rest of the photos.
“Toma?” Jun was trying to take the photo in his hand.
“Yeah, sorry,” Toma mumbled, letting go.
“It’s pretty gory,” Nino admitted, “But we think we’ve got a pretty good suspect - one of Jameson’s victim’s boyfriend. Doctor’s got the right skillset to pull this off.”
“It’s all pure speculation at this point,” Jun cautioned.
“Yuuko thinks he’s intense enough,” Nino pointed out.
“Yuuko?” Toma turned to Jun for clarification on the identity of the new expert.
“A nurse at the hospital where the boyfriend works,” Jun offered.
“Ah,” Toma looked as if he understood fully - perhaps the benefits of having worked with Nino long enough.
“I’m meeting with Yuuko and her friend for dinner tonight. You coming? We might be able to dig up more dirt on Kamenashi.”
Toma raised an eyebrow, looking at Nino sceptically. “To think that you say it like you believe you are actually working.”
“Jun?”
Jun shook his head, “no thank you, I’d like to go through some of the evidence today while it’s still fresh on my mind.”
“Suit yourself - but remember, you can’t think about work 24/7. It’s a one-way ticket to being driven insane. Let’s go, Toma.”
Toma protested loudly as Nino dragged him off, complaining that he had not agreed to whoring himself. Jun could only smile as he settled into his chair, bracing himself for a long evening alone.
* * *
This was a stupid, stupid move. Tegoshi decided for himself as he fought to stifle a yawn. It had been a long, long day - one that had been stretched out even further due to the long drawn out consultations with a number of detectives pouring their hearts out suddenly. He was quite certain that there was no need for that bonding session with the station’s staff on Saturday at this rate.
After his last appointment had ended, Tegoshi had decided to go stake out Ishitani by watching the man’s actions from across the street. It was cold and he was getting somewhat hungry. Perhaps this is not the way to go about helping Shige. He thought to himself. Scratch that, this really isn’t the way to go about helping Shige put Ishitani behind bars. He was more likely to be arrested for stalking. And there was just no way that Shige was going to put his career on the line to vouch for him.
It was a little past eleven when the lights to Ishitani’s private office turned off. By then, Tegoshi was tired, cold, hungry and grumpy. Sometime during the long stakeout, he had changed his mind and decided on confronting Ishitani instead, the integrity of Shige’s investigation be damned.
Rushing across the street, narrowly avoiding a few cars, he scurried down to the garage where Ishitani’s car was parked, noticing the back of Ishitani’s hulking form. “H-” Tegoshi’s voice was cut off as he realised that another figure was waiting for Ishitani, a figure who’d just plunged a knife into Ishitani.
Oh shit! Eyes widening, Tegoshi dove behind a pillar, praying that Ishitani’s assailant hadn’t seen him. But then he realised that footsteps were growing louder. Ishitani’s attacker was walking TOWARD him. Tegoshi bolted off at once, realising too late that in his panic, he was heading away from the exits.
Tegoshi swore internally, the sound of footsteps ringing impossibly loudly in his ears. This was bullshit. This sort of crap was supposed to happen only in crappy C-grade horror flicks. Why the hell was this happening to him? Shige. Shige would know what to do. He dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone, hitting Shige’s number on speed dial.
It rang. PickUpPickUpPickUp. Wait. Tegoshi frowned as he pulled away his phone in confusion. He could still hear a phone ringing. Here. In the parking lot. He stepped backwards, scanning the parking lot for signs of danger and crashed into someone. He tried spinning around to catch a glimpse of the person he’d collided into, too late as pain exploded in his head, the world turning completely black.
* * *
Apologies for the delay. I seem to be introducing more and more characters to the cast with each chapter. Don’t worry as Sho and Jun still form the centre of the story (the rest of the characters will play roles in unfolding the story).
Thank you to everyone for suggesting that I post my updates to communities. I was originally planning on waiting until the story was completed but here goes.
Characters: Matsumoto Jun, Ninomiya Kazunari, Sakurai Sho, Tegoshi Yuya, Kuroki Meisa, Kamenashi Kazuya, Aiba Masaki, Ikuta Toma, Kato Shigeaki
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5,590 words (yep, my longest chapter yet!)
Disclaimer: Purely fictional. Lapses of logic abound. Police procedure shot to heck. Not beta'd. Wondering if this will really have Sakumoto content...
Summary: Jun's lead in his investigation has hit a dead end. Literally.
Master Post
It took Tegoshi the better part of fifteen minutes to gain access to Shige’s machine, having undergone a number of reboots after the system had locked him out one incorrect guess after another. So when the screen had finally changed to show that his latest attempt was correct, Tegoshi had leapt up and done a little victory dance around the lounge before settling back in front of the laptop. Nikita WhatsYourSurname, eat your heart out! Thankfully, Shige was not overly paranoid and had the browser remember all his passwords, allowing him to access Shige’s e-mails without further complications. Selecting the Sent folder, he was about to enter Sakurai as a search term when his eyes caught sight of the latest e-mail that Shige had sent out this morning.
Ishitani Ryuichiro.
Tegoshi’s first reaction was to click on the e-mail at once, even as what seemed like a million different questions going off in his mind at once.
WHY was Shige writing about Ishitani Ryuichiro?
Had Shige found out that it had been Ishitani Ryuichiro who’d attacked him last night?
How had Shige found out?
The e-mail was lengthy. Tegoshi scanned the contents, noting a number of attachments. The first was Ishitani’s basic biographical information which included his educational background, residence and current place of work - his family’s private clinic, an institution that counted powerful politicians and other figures amongst its patients.
It was the next few attachments that Tegoshi found interesting - reports of a number of medical malpractice complaints that had been lodged against Ishitani. Tegoshi was about to question why he had not heard anything about malpractice claims but then realised that Shige’s message in the body of the e-mail had answered it for him.
Charges were dropped on each occasion. We need to investigate further.
Having experienced how the Dean of Students had always managed to look the other way each time Ishitani had placed him in life-threatening situations (all in the name of fun), Tegoshi could guess how the victims had changed their minds. But for EVERYONE of them to change their mind? Surely there had to be one or two that would not be swayed by money?
Perhaps he was being too naïve about the world but there was something fishy about the fact that all complaints had been withdrawn. He forwarded the mail to his own address, remembering to delete the sent copy to cover his tracks.
He was going to help Shige take Ishitani down.
* * *
“Jun?” It wasn’t until Nino tapped him on his shoulder that Jun’s mind returned to the here and now.
“Sorry,” Jun mumbled. Jameson was dead. The man he’d been chasing down had just been found killed.
“Well, this has been anti-climactic, to say the least,” Nino gestured towards Jameson’s body. “Have we been wrong about Jameson being the killer all along?”
“Is it possible? Yes. But Jameson’s time of death took place well after Satou’s so Detective Top of His Class’s original theory that Jameson is the “Talent Killer” is still plausible. I’ll need to take the body back to the lab to be absolutely certain but if I were to make an educated guess, I’d peg Jameson’s time of death around the early hours of yesterday - a day after Satou was killed.” The medical examiner turned to Jun, crossing his arms hostilely, “I suppose I should be grateful that you’re not throwing up.”
Jun had to wonder if the medical examiner wasn’t a living example of Severus Snape - it certainly would explain why he had to be such a complete jackass who seemed determined to see him fail. Even so, Jun refused to stoop to the jerk’s low, low level. “We should consider all the possibilities: one, someone did manage to kill Jameson, who was killing these women. Two, Jameson was merely being used by the killer as a front and when he got exposed, the killer no longer had any use for him. Three, Jameson is just another victim on the killer’s list.”
“Just what we need - a killer who’s playing mind games with us,” Nino shook his head before looking in the direction of the media hounds. “We better hope that this stays under wraps.”
Jun turned his attention to Jameson’s body, “how did Jameson die?”
“I’m going to go with shock,” the medical examiner offered.
“Shock?” Jun repeated. The medical examiner waved him closer to the body, yanking the blanker lower to reveal Jameson’s torso. Sonnuva… This time, he’d managed to get far away enough before he lost the fight to resist throwing up.
“Delicate lil’ fella, isn’t he?” Jun barely made out the medical examiner’s lazy drawl.
At least Nino was on his side, “was that absolutely necessary? It’s almost as if you WANT him to ruin the crime scene.”
“You want to baby the rookies, go ahead,” the medical examiner retorted, “but there’s no room for mistakes in a court of law. Each time your stupid rookie screws up on my crime scene, some criminal gets away with murder. Literally. If he can’t handle homicide, he should transfer to something more his speed. Maybe Public Relations. At least he can then put his only redeeming quality to use.”
“Everyone needs to start somewhere. You can’t keep punishing him because he’s new.”
“He needs to grow up quickly,” the medical examiner growled out. “I have my hands full as it is. The last thing I need is everyone wanting to play with the rookie because he possesses some damn ‘novelty appeal’.”
Jun stumbled back to re-join the conversation, “you said that Jameson died of shock.”
The medical examiner smirked, showing the barest sliver of being impressed, “see? He grew up. Didn’t throw up as much.”
“You said shock,” Jun had to remind himself to remain civil, a feat that was turning out to be quite the uphill battle at the moment.
“As you could see, or didn’t see,” the medical examiner indicated towards Jun’s own abdomen, “he was eviscerated. The M.O. is different - the three women who were allegedly Jameson’s victims died of messy stab wounds that were all over the place. This cut was done cleanly and professionally. My opinion is that whoever killed Jameson and whoever murdered those three ladies is not the same person. Jameson’s killer did however make sure that it was painful - just as it has been for Jameson’s alleged victims.”
“Intentionally?” Nino queried.
The medical examiner nodded, “I would believe so - someone with a reasonable knowledge of the human body. See the way Jameson was sliced open? A haphazard cut might have allowed Jameson to bleed to death quickly but his killer knew exactly how to draw out his death. Jameson was treated to a viewing of his intestines spilling out.”
Jun frowned, “then would you say that our killer is probably someone of the medical profession?”
“Very likely,” the medical examiner conceded.
“And it would seem that Jameson’s death was motivated by revenge,” Nino added, studying Jun. “You look like you are thinking of something. Or someone. What is it?”
“The boyfriend of Jameson’s first victim is an intern or something at a hospital. I’ve met with the boyfriend myself. He seemed quite collected but I don’t think there was anything off about him like Akanishi had suggested.” Jun flipped through an older notebook until he reached a particular page, showing it to Nino, “Akanishi’s notes on the case were amongst the items left in the case file,” he added hastily as Nino accepted the notebook and scanned the contents of the page in question.
“Kamenashi Kazuya. Asshole.” Nino looked back up at Jun with incredulity.
The medical examiner laughed, “that’s Akanishi for you!”
“I thought it was just some stupid comment that Akanishi put down,” Jun continued, “which was why I didn’t think much of it originally. But now I am beginning to understand-”
Nino shoved the notebook back into Jun’s hands, cutting him off, “there’s nothing to understand. This is a stupid comment. Jin probably didn’t like Kamenashi’s attitude. But,” he paused, looking thoughtful, “the fact that he’s an intern does make the boyfriend a potential suspect in Jameson’s murder.
“Is there anything else we should know?” Jun asked, turning back to the medical examiner.
“Well, as you can imagine, Jameson’s killer didn’t perform the deed here on the docks. He killed him elsewhere and then dumped the body here, tying the body to that block over there.” The medical examiner paused to indicate towards a concrete block several metres away. “Transportation should have been messy but we haven’t found anything around the docks to indicate otherwise so quite possibly, the killer had an accomplice or two to help dump the body.”
Jun signalled for the responding officer to come forward. “Where’s the person who reported the body?”
The officer looked apologetic, “sorry, detective - unfortunately, she had to go home.”
Nino frowned, “you just let her go?”
“She’s seven and her father insisted. I did manage to interview her before her father took her home,” the officer added quickly, handing his notes to Jun who scanned through the information.
“If it helps you get over the fact that some poor little seven year-old has subjected her innocent eyes to a dead body, Detective, the body was found floating face down. The little one didn’t actually get the R18+ edition.” The medical examiner added, noting Jun’s sudden discomfort.
“The girl likes to come down here and fish every morning,” the officer explained, “it’s not a busy dock but people do come here to fish every day. I’ve also managed to get the patrol logs of the area,” he added, handing the book to Jun, “according to it, none of the officers reported anything suspicious last night.”
Jun nodded, looking up from the notes, “what about boats?”
“Detective?” The officer looked confused.
“It seems that these reports are for any activity by the docks in terms of people and cars. What about boats?”
Nino nodded, “a boat would make sense. Less conspicuous and a heck lot easier to just toss a body overboard.”
“That could explain why we can’t find traces of Jameson on the dock,” the medical examiner agreed.
“It’s a dock. Boats are going to be completely normal,” the officer explained. “But I’ll have check with the officers on patrol.”
“Please do,” Jun instructed, “and interview the ‘drunk arrested for public urination’ as well. He might have seen something.” The officer nodded, taking his leave.
“If you’re done with the questions, detectives, I will be taking the body with me,” the medical examiner spoke up. “As it is, carrying out an examination on a body that’s been dumped at sea is going to be more challenging than usual.” Agreeing that they had exhausted their options, both Nino and Jun said farewell to the medical examiner before leaving the scene.
As expected, Kuroki Meisa was ready and confronting them as they ducked under the police tape. “Any comment on whether or not a vigilante is on the loose?”
“Vigilante?” Jun echoed.
“Sure, that’s Jameson down there, isn’t it? Someone managed to get him before the police did. Perhaps I should share this piece of information with the rest of my-”
“Wait,” Nino called out, interrupting her.
Kuroki studied him as he leant forward, whispering something into her ear. Something that had Kuroki’s face go red in mere seconds. She leant away from him, smirk on her face completely replaced by fury. “You pig!” She raised a hand and slapped Nino across the face.
“Ow!” Nino’s cry of pain was exaggerated, and it secured the attention of everyone in the crowd. “Detective Matsumoto, did you witness that?”
Jun wasn’t sure what was going on. “You getting schooled?” He asked, studying the expressions on the rest of the crowd. “Yes, I did.”
“I just got attacked,” Nino corrected. “I was merely asking Ms Kuroki a question regarding our case here and she responded by attacking me,” Nino elaborated, pulling out a pair of handcuffs. “Assaulting an officer of the law AND defeating the ends of justice. I’m afraid we’ll have to take you in.”
Kuroki glared at Nino. “What are you, five? My lawyer will have your balls.” To Jun, it looked as if Kuroki was restraining herself from kicking the crap out of Nino. Quite frankly, Kuroki looked like the sort of woman who could very well send Nino to next week Friday.
Jun wanted to voice his protest - that this was unethical and un-police-like behaviour, but one look from Nino shut him up at once. “Just be grateful that we didn’t slap you with theft. Don’t make this more difficult for you than it already is, sweetheart,” Nino advised, slapping the cuffs on her wrists, leading her to their car. “Watch your head,” he advised, pushing her into the backseat of the car before closing the door.
Settling into the front seats, Nino inserted his key into the ignition to start the car when Kuroki spoke up again, “you know I’ll be out within a day.”
“True,” Nino admitted, “but that’s one day in which you don’t get to publish your poisonous words while we get to investigate our cases unhindered. I’m willing to live with that.”
“Just like how you are willing to live with deciding what Sakurai should know?”
Jun’s head snapped back to stare at Kuroki before turning back to Nino, who had paused his actions momentarily. Then, as if he heard nothing, Nino started the car and pulled off. Kuroki Meisa leant back in her seat, looking as if she’d won some decisive battle.
* * *
“Dammit.”
There was simply no other appropriate word to use at that point as Shige glared at the bottom of his screen where the details of the last activity on his account were displayed. The time that he’d last accessed his e-mail from his laptop at home certainly hadn’t been fifteen minutes ago.
There was only ONE valid explanation for it.
“Dammit, Tegoshi.” It was only mildly therapeutic. Reminding himself mentally to unclench his teeth, he practically yanked the phone off the cradle. “We have a problem.”
* * *
“What happened to you?” The receptionist asked, staring at his face.
Tegoshi smiled sheepishly, “had a run-in with my arch-nemesis.”
“No wonder your friend called in to say that you might not be coming into work today. Have you pressed charges?”
Tegoshi shook his head, “doubt it would have been of any use.”
“Well, I have excellent news that should cheer you up then - you’ve had a sudden influx of bookings. Five detectives came this morning to seek counselling.”
“Are you serious?”
The receptionist shrugged, “it’d be cruel to yank your chain in light of the recent beat down you received, don’t you think?”
“But five detectives all of a sudden-” It was almost as if someone had made counselling cool. At this rate, he wasn’t going to be able to afford Sakurai the attention- “Shit.”
The receptionist studied him curiously, “well you’re hard to please - just yesterday you were complaining about a lack of work and today, you think it’s too much.”
He’d forgotten to search for a link between Shige and Sakurai. He’d been so fired up about the Ishitani discovery that he’d left the apartment in a hurry. Tegoshi checked the clock - he’d tossed Shige’s key back in the mailbox but with some ingenuity, he might be able to fish the key out and access Shige’s e-mails again before-
“Excuse me?” Both he and the receptionist turned to the newcomer at the entrance to the office. It was the person who’d managed to talk Ishitani and his hoodlums into leaving him alone last night. The man smiled warmly at them both, “ah, I was hoping that I’d managed to find you here.” He revealed a neatly folded package, “you forgot your jacket last night and since you worked here, I figured to return it to you in person.”
“Thank you,” Tegoshi responded slowly, accepting his jacket. At least he was now able to get home without having to call for a locksmith to get into his own home. “Mr?”
The receptionist leapt to her feet, “this is Aiba Masaki!”
“The negotiator?” Tegoshi had heard of the man - the district’s most successful hostage negotiator who seemed to just “get” the hostage takers.
“Guilty as charged,” Aiba bowed slightly. “So you are the station’s new psychologist. How is the job treating you?”
“I have lots of time to kill,” Tegoshi confessed. “Sorry, I must sound like a whiny brat to you. I seem to have only problems and more problems.”
“It’s a bit hard to get officers to want to pour their hearts out to strangers,” Aiba admitted, “which is why you should get to know the station better. Bond with colleagues a little. You free this Saturday?”
“I’m not really up for drinking,” Tegoshi replied reluctantly.
“Not all members of the police hit the bars in their free time,” Aiba explained. “The rest of us are a bit more wholesome. Well, except Nino, of course.” He pulled out a business card, handing it to Tegoshi, “my contact details. Meet us at 09h00 this Saturday at the Academy’s football field.”
“Football?”
“Don’t worry, I’m pretty bad myself,” Aiba laughed.
Tegoshi smiled back, realising why Aiba was so damn good at his job. He had a gift for lowering defences and getting people to like him quickly. “Then you should prepare to get your butt kicked on Saturday.”
* * *
“Ishitani Private Clinic,” Nino read as they approached the building. “Huh, imagine coming here again.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“We came to visit Sho when he was hospitalised. This place is generally known for its high-profile cases,” Nino explained, flashing his badge to the receptionist. “Detectives Ninomiya and Matsumoto.”
The receptionist looked harassed. “I wasn’t aware that there would be more of you coming. The director is still tied up with your colleague.”
Nino and Jun exchanged confused glances. Nino turned back to the receptionist. “I’m sorry - our colleague?”
Now the receptionist turned exasperated. “Don’t the police have better things to do than come in trickles to harass us? Your colleague, Inspector Sakurai, is already here and meeting with the hospital director.”
Sho was here? “We’re here for a different case,” Jun explained quickly. “We would like to speak with a Doctor Kamenashi Kazuya?”
“I will have to check,” the receptionist frowned, consulting her computer screen. “According to this, he’s-”
“He’s currently busy with an extremely delicate procedure in the operating theatre,” a voice interrupted. Both detectives turned to see an older man in a doctor’s coat approach them, accompanied by Sho. “My clinic is wasting precious time dealing with your ad hoc queries, Inspector. Perhaps your department needs to consolidate these meetings better.”
Sho bowed, “I apologise, Director Ishitani - but Detectives Ninomiya and Matsumoto are from homicide. We focus on different crimes and as such, it would be impossible to work together. It is just unfortunate that our cases happen to require the clinic’s co-operation for two different cases.”
Ishitani harrumphed, clearly unappeased. “As I said earlier, Kamenashi is busy at the moment - perhaps I can assist you?”
“I believe that only Dr Kamenashi would be in a position to assist us with our investigation at this stage,” Jun responded.
“So this is about his girlfriend who was killed earlier then?” Ishitani asked. “The newspaper this morning said that the police had finally identified the killer. I’d say it was about time that you stopped the monster. No offence, but Kazuya was devastated when his girlfriend was found like that.”
“Devastated enough to want to take revenge if he thought he knew who the killer was?” Nino asked.
Ishitani looked livid and scandalised. “How dare-”
“I was angry, yes,” a new voice added, joining in the conversation. “Hello, Detective Matsumoto. We meet again.”
“Ka-Kamenashi!” Ishitani seemed to pale at his appearance.
Nino lowered his voice so that only Jun could hear him, “looks like the extremely delicate procedure finished early. He must be a freaking genius.”
“Dr Kamenashi, we’re hoping you have the time to answer a few questions,” Jun explained.
“You don’t have to answer anything without our lawyer-” Ishitani insisted.
“It’s okay, Director. I have nothing to hide,” Kazuya responded. “What do you want to know, Detectives?”
Jun pulled out a photograph, “do you know this man?”
Kamenashi adjusted his frames, concentrating on the photograph. “Until this morning’s newspaper, no. If your next question is whether I killed a man the newspapers are claiming to be my girlfriend’s killer, Detective, the answer to that is also no. I have a little more common sense than to believe everything gossip rags print.”
Jun nodded, tucking the photo away. “All the same, we’d like to establish your alibis for the past few days.”
Kamenashi nodded, “that’s not a problem - Tuesday, I was here at the clinic, finishing off the last of my shift. You can check with the clinic’s administrator regarding my schedule for the day. You then caught me at home on my day off on Wednesday, where I caught up on my sleep for most of the day. My neighbour will attest to my stepping out my apartment around six in the evening to restock my fridge. I then returned to work today. All this can be corroborated with my neighbour and with the receptionist here.”
“We’ll do exactly that. One last question though - what is your specialty?” Jun added.
“I’ve just completed my first year of residency in general surgery. Still have a long way to go.”
“Kamenashi is one of our brightest prospects here at the clinic. I certainly hope you will stop wasting his time with these pointless questions when he could be saving lives.” Ishitani remarked testily. “Just like how my son saved yours, Inspector, not so long ago.”
Nino looked furious. “You did not just say-”
Thankfully, Sho stepped in, placing himself physically between Ishitani and Nino to cut him off. “And I am very grateful, Director Ishitani,” Sho bowed, “especially to your son.” Jun almost missed how Sho’s voice had seemed been stripped of all its usual warmth in delivering those last few words, his attention on the frown that crossed Kamenashi’s face for the briefest of seconds. “But,” Sho then fixed Ishitani with a firm, no-nonsense look. “You should be aware that bandying past favours about will only cast a poor light over how this investigation is being conducted, leading to the suggestion that Ishitani Private Clinic does have something to hide.”
The director sputtered a little, forcing himself to stand up to Sho. “I…I understand.”
Sho’s smile returned. “Then I am glad we’re in agreement, Director.” He turned to Nino and Jun, “now I believe that we are all done here. Gentlemen?”
“For now,” Nino agreed. Jun nodded in acquiescence.
“Then we shall take our leave. Director Ishitani, Dr Kamenashi. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
Ishitani’s eyes continued to follow the backs of the inspector and two detectives, speaking up once they were out of earshot, “ungrateful bastard.”
Kamenashi turned to the director, looking worried. “Director?”
Ishitani turned back to Kamenashi, offering a polite, if not forced smile, “nothing to concern yourself with, Dr Kamenashi. We will do whatever is in our power to protect you. Go back to work.” He turned to the receptionist. “Page Ryuichiro and have him meet me in my office. Right now.”
* * *
Nino was the first to break the silence once the trio stepped out the clinic. “What a douche of a director. The way that director automatically tried to cover everything up just pisses me off. What the heck is with that? Why else would you need to behave all defensively unless you have something to hide?”
“Well, Ishitani Private Clinic is pretty politically-connected. They’re probably afraid of the fallout of any negative publicity.” Sho suggested.
“Well, I can’t believe we chose this stupid clinic to send you to when you fainted.” Nino continued to complain.
Sho looked indignant. “I didn’t faint. I passed out.”
“To-MAY-to, to-MAR-to,” Nino shrugged. “Same difference.”
“The difference is that the one makes me look like a wuss in front of the rookie,” Sho complained. “How do you expect me to come across as heroic and mentor-like when my so-called friends are going out of their way to paint me as a full-of-fail dork?”
Nino patted Sho on the hand, “there, there - I’m sure Jun here regards you as his role-model. We all think of you as the captain anyway.”
“Of what, the Failboat?”
“You’re no fun when you finish off our barbs. Say,” Nino began, face turning serious. “Why ARE you here?”
“You know very well that I can’t discuss it with you.”
"Well, here's the thing: your reputation as the Organised Crime wunderkind precedes you. The fact that you are here suggests that those infamous political ties Ishitani Private Clinic boasts of may just include figures from the underground."
“I can neither confirm nor deny your speculations,” Sho replied.
“An unwillingness to share information amongst agencies was one of the leading reasons for failing to stop 9/11,” Nino pointed out.
“I sincerely doubt that Jun’s murder investigation has ties to what I am investigating, Nino.” Sho turned to Jun, “You, on the other hand, look like the Cheshire Cat - something you want to share with the rest of the class?”
Jun nodded, “Kamenashi is most likely hiding something.”
“How do you figure that?” Nino asked, leaning against a pillar and pulling a stick of gum out irritably.
Jun looked back at his two listeners triumphantly. “Kamenashi knew that Jameson had been killed. We said no such thing. Why would he assume that?”
It was enough to restore Nino’s good mood, “not bad, rookie! What’s next?”
“I was thinking of returning to the station to go through the crime scene photos,” Jun began, “the photos should be ready by now. Secondly, I’ll have to canvas Kamenashi’s neighbourhood and see if his story about being home on Wednesday checks out. Third, the medical examiner’s report might yield additional information.”
“Which means returning to the station,” Nino remarked, noting a pair of nurses coming their way. He winked at them, reducing the one into a giggling mess. “I think I’ll investigate some more while you go get the car.”
“Okay, James Bond,” Sho sighed good naturedly, “let’s go and leave the master to do his thing, Jun. Did you park your car down in the garage as well?” Jun nodded dumbly, following Sho into the elevator in silence. The last time Sho and he had talked, he’d be in the middle of agreeing to going out for dinner, an agreement that could hardly be finalised with Ohno interrupting with a new case.
It would only be polite to decline, seeing that he was now suddenly swamped with two open murder cases hanging over his head. Even so, Jun was certain that bringing up the topic of dinner at such a point was the sort of thing only selfish pricks did. “About my case…” Jun began.
“Hmm?” Sho turned to face him.
“You’ve been of great help on my first day. Do you have any other suggestions?”
Sho shook his head, “not really. I know close to nothing of your case. You may however want to request phone records for Kamenashi. He’s a doctor and is most likely to have his phone with him wherever he goes. That may help pinpoint where he was at all times. Speak to Yokoyama at Digital Forensics - he’s the one I normally ask for help when it comes to tracking e-mails and other computer-related things.”
“Yokoyama,” Jun repeated, scribbling the name down. “Got it, thanks.” They’d reached his car by now. “Um, I’ll see you around, then.” He opened the door to the driver’s seat,
“Jun…” He turned back, looking at Sho expectantly. “It seems to me that you’re doing splendidly at finding your feet with homicide. Keep it up.”
“Sure. Thanks again.” Jun sank into the driver’s seat, feeling a slight twinge of disappointment as he watched Sho’s retreating back in the rear-view mirror.
* * *
“Package for Detective Matsumoto?”
Toma looked up from his report to see some of the crime scene technicians standing at the doorway. “He’s out. I’ll take it for him.” The technician handed him a form which he signed, receiving a manila envelope in return.
He waited until the technician had left before he tossed it on Jun’s desk, misjudging the distance completely and sending it flying off the desk even as the contents of the envelope spilled out in all directions.
Toma cursed inwardly as he hurried over to the floor, snatching the photographs up. Some idiot had clearly forgotten to seal the envelope properly. He-
He paused as his hand hovered over the photograph of a shot of a particularly disturbing corpse, showing how the man had been cut open. Sure enough, there were subtle differences but the underlying M.O. was too similar for it to be a mere coincidence. He was sure of it - the killer who’d managed to get away on his first case was back. Son of a bitch had re-
“Yo, Ikuta!” Toma looked up, finding Nino and Jun staring back down at him. “Geez, you’re sure clumsy today. Are those the photos for Jun’s new case today?” Toma nodded slowly, as Jun helped him to pick up the rest of the photos.
“Toma?” Jun was trying to take the photo in his hand.
“Yeah, sorry,” Toma mumbled, letting go.
“It’s pretty gory,” Nino admitted, “But we think we’ve got a pretty good suspect - one of Jameson’s victim’s boyfriend. Doctor’s got the right skillset to pull this off.”
“It’s all pure speculation at this point,” Jun cautioned.
“Yuuko thinks he’s intense enough,” Nino pointed out.
“Yuuko?” Toma turned to Jun for clarification on the identity of the new expert.
“A nurse at the hospital where the boyfriend works,” Jun offered.
“Ah,” Toma looked as if he understood fully - perhaps the benefits of having worked with Nino long enough.
“I’m meeting with Yuuko and her friend for dinner tonight. You coming? We might be able to dig up more dirt on Kamenashi.”
Toma raised an eyebrow, looking at Nino sceptically. “To think that you say it like you believe you are actually working.”
“Jun?”
Jun shook his head, “no thank you, I’d like to go through some of the evidence today while it’s still fresh on my mind.”
“Suit yourself - but remember, you can’t think about work 24/7. It’s a one-way ticket to being driven insane. Let’s go, Toma.”
Toma protested loudly as Nino dragged him off, complaining that he had not agreed to whoring himself. Jun could only smile as he settled into his chair, bracing himself for a long evening alone.
* * *
This was a stupid, stupid move. Tegoshi decided for himself as he fought to stifle a yawn. It had been a long, long day - one that had been stretched out even further due to the long drawn out consultations with a number of detectives pouring their hearts out suddenly. He was quite certain that there was no need for that bonding session with the station’s staff on Saturday at this rate.
After his last appointment had ended, Tegoshi had decided to go stake out Ishitani by watching the man’s actions from across the street. It was cold and he was getting somewhat hungry. Perhaps this is not the way to go about helping Shige. He thought to himself. Scratch that, this really isn’t the way to go about helping Shige put Ishitani behind bars. He was more likely to be arrested for stalking. And there was just no way that Shige was going to put his career on the line to vouch for him.
It was a little past eleven when the lights to Ishitani’s private office turned off. By then, Tegoshi was tired, cold, hungry and grumpy. Sometime during the long stakeout, he had changed his mind and decided on confronting Ishitani instead, the integrity of Shige’s investigation be damned.
Rushing across the street, narrowly avoiding a few cars, he scurried down to the garage where Ishitani’s car was parked, noticing the back of Ishitani’s hulking form. “H-” Tegoshi’s voice was cut off as he realised that another figure was waiting for Ishitani, a figure who’d just plunged a knife into Ishitani.
Oh shit! Eyes widening, Tegoshi dove behind a pillar, praying that Ishitani’s assailant hadn’t seen him. But then he realised that footsteps were growing louder. Ishitani’s attacker was walking TOWARD him. Tegoshi bolted off at once, realising too late that in his panic, he was heading away from the exits.
Tegoshi swore internally, the sound of footsteps ringing impossibly loudly in his ears. This was bullshit. This sort of crap was supposed to happen only in crappy C-grade horror flicks. Why the hell was this happening to him? Shige. Shige would know what to do. He dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone, hitting Shige’s number on speed dial.
It rang. PickUpPickUpPickUp. Wait. Tegoshi frowned as he pulled away his phone in confusion. He could still hear a phone ringing. Here. In the parking lot. He stepped backwards, scanning the parking lot for signs of danger and crashed into someone. He tried spinning around to catch a glimpse of the person he’d collided into, too late as pain exploded in his head, the world turning completely black.
* * *
Apologies for the delay. I seem to be introducing more and more characters to the cast with each chapter. Don’t worry as Sho and Jun still form the centre of the story (the rest of the characters will play roles in unfolding the story).
Thank you to everyone for suggesting that I post my updates to communities. I was originally planning on waiting until the story was completed but here goes.