Non-challenge: A Policeman's Tale (Day 59)
Title: A Policeman's Tale (Day 59)
Author: ytak
Word count: 1027
Rating (chapter): T (PG-13)
Rating (whole story): T (PG-13)
Comments: One more chapter to go...
Other chapters can be read through here or here.
Day 59
The day dawned as a beautiful winter's day can. A faint wisp of clouds scuttled across the winter blue sky, the temperature was crisp but not overly cold and there was the occasional birdsong.
It was all lost on Takagi as he groggily pulled on his shoes. Sleep had been evasive last night and what sleep he did have had been filled with dreams.
No nightmares, to his surprise, considering what he learned yesterday afternoon. He knew that he and Sato had only been give the barest of information but what he learned, well, he knew he would be looking over his shoulder for a while.
Right now, he felt like he was living on borrowed time simply because of the Imai case. If only because he was investigating it and it seemed to be linked.
I need to stop this! he thought angrily to himself, It won't help matters. Look at Sato-san! She's just more determined than ever not to be beat by it!
He stood up and resolved not be frightened. A little fear was a reasonable caution. It just might keep my alive. But if I'm too scared to act when I need to, that is far, far worse!
His resolve helped him clear his mind and head off to work for the day.
--
Not being fearful was harder than Takagi thought it would be. As the day progressed, the urge to look over his shoulder was nearly overwhelming. And he found himself constantly wondering what he could do to secure his workplace. But he had the realization that it was not as secure as he thought it was. With the right planning, supplies, and skills, it would not be hard for someone to take what they wanted. In fact, it could be downright easy. The locks were, as he heard it once put, enough to keep an honest person out.
I wonder if that how those case files dealing with Mouri were taken before? Wait, weren't those the ones I pulled for Inspector Megure? Shit. How is it all linked? How far back does it go? The inspector probably wouldn't have told us anything if he didn't trust us. Does that mean that he'll give us more related to it?
He was glad when Meugre assigned him to go out on a call with Chiba. It helped stop the swirl of thoughts from completely overwhelming him.
The case turned out to be an instance of feuding neighbors trying to make self inflicted injuries look like they came from the other party. Chiba and Takagi wrapped up the case quickly and cited each of the neighbors. It had not taken long to find the holes in their stories. It had almost been amusing causing them to trip up and confess to what they did. Takagi was glad it had been easy to do.
He had given a look and the lies rapidly came to light as their stories came apart under his gaze.
To Takagi's relief and disappointment, there were no other cases on call for them. He yawned and leaned against the passenger window as Chiba navigated the downtown traffic.
"You don't look you got any sleep last night," Chiba observed. "That's probably why they caved so fast."
"Huh?" Takagi said, looking over at Chiba, "What do you mean?"
Chiba chuckled, "Have you had a good look at yourself in a mirror? You have circles under your eyes. That look you gave was quite fear inspiring."
Takagi groaned, "I didn't mean for that to happen. I really didn't sleep well."
"Having love problems?" Chiba asked, teasing.
Takagi shot him a dirty look, "I…just couldn't sleep. Weird dreams."
"That's the look I was talking about," Chiba said, cringing at the intensity of it. He quickly turned his attention back to the road, "You eat something that didn't agree with you? Last time I did that, I had some bizarre dreams," Chiba said.
Takagi made a non-committal answer that could be interpreted as a 'yes.'
A few minutes of silence passed while Chiba navigated traffic. "If you decide to talk about what is really bothering you, you can talk to me," Chiba volunteered out of the blue. "Whatever it is, I can tell its bothering you."
"It's…work related. I can't talk about it," Takagi flatly said. "Stupid case," he muttered under his breath.
Chiba winced. "That's rough. Anyone you can talk to?"
"Yeah," Takagi said after thinking about it a moment. If I really have to, I can talk to Inspector Megure. But Sato-san is more accessible.
Chiba kept up light chatter the way back to the station, occasionally redirecting his thoughts back to the case they just dealt with. Takagi mostly sat and listened but added the occasional thought about the case.
When Sato finally had a chance to talk to him later in the day, she asked, "Did you get any sleep last night?"
Despite his attempt to squash the urge to glare at her, he could not completely keep it off his face. He was relieved to see that it did not deter or drive her away. Instead, Sato gave him an ironic smile. "Don't feel bad," she quietly said, "I had a bad night, too. My mother kept giving me funny looks and asking what was wrong. Guess I was kind of twitchy."
"Kind of takes away your sense of security," Takagi stated, keeping his voice down. Sato nodded in agreement.
"Well, I'd better get back to work," she said, "The never-ending stream of paperwork must be attended to."
She's not kidding either. Everything in triplicate! he thought, eying the additional paperwork on his desk from the case earlier in the day. Though they had wrapped the case up quickly, every little detail had to be written down on the correct form. Witnesses think they have it bad with the accounts they have to fill out but that's nothing compared to this! he thought looking at his stack of forms.
Despite his mental complaints, Takagi was happy to focus on something normal. Unconsciously, he knew that sticking to his everyday routine would help. And nothing was more routine than paperwork.