Author's Notes: I was thinking about this at work the other day and decided to go with it as a one-shot. Hope you like it. The song, though, isn't specific beyond what key it's in.
Mysteries in the Key of G
January 18, 2003
She was nervous. She was always nervous, when it came to playing in front of a crowd.
It was her piano recital. She had practiced many weeks for it. With the help of her teacher, Chisato-sensei, she was ready to perform.
She'd rather solve a mystery right now.
She loved solving mysteries. She was the fifth generation member of the Shirogane family. It was her duty. Or it would be some day. Especially since…
The accident that took her parents from her.
She wasn't crying. Her crying was nearly 3 years ago, when her Grampa told her her Mom and Dad weren't coming home from a case in London. She shed all her tears then.
Now, all she had was her Grandpa, and his secretary, Yakushiji.
She started to play.
She had chosen a piece known for its complexity and yet, its simplicity. She had chosen it because she wanted to show that this piece is one that can be played by a seven-year old.
She didn't like the idea of the piano at first. She wasn't like most girls. She wanted to grow up as an awesome, hard-boiled detective. However her Grampa insisted. Something about something her Mother had wanted for her.
However, Grampa wasn't here, he was in San Francisco, trying to solve a complex case regarding missing funds. She wished she could have gone. Or at least he could have left tomorrow.
At least, Yakushiji was there. And Chisato-sensei. And her husband…A newly minted second-grade Detective named Dojima Ryotaro. She could tell from here he was reluctant to be here. But he did it as a favor to his wife. He seemed the type of man when she met him, that he would do anything for his wife. Her last name was never used of course. Chisato-sensei insisted on only speaking the child's first name.
She wasn't fooled. Chisato-sensei was trying out names for a child she wanted to have.
However, with his five o'clock shadow and his gruff exterior. He seemed to be the perfect hard-boiled detective.
Her fingers play over the keys deftly. She had practiced and practiced and practiced. "Practice makes perfect," Chisato-sensei had said.
She didn't know all the details of Grampa's case, but she had overheard enough on the phone conversations her Grampa had with Yakushiji. Apparently 2 business partners were having trust issues. However, some funds suddenly disappeared during an online bank transaction.
She played more, reaching one of the early fortissimo crescendos, in the song. Even if she was reluctant to play when she started out, she had learned to enjoy the piano. It had allowed her to concentrate and then when she practiced a song enough, she could use part of her focus on it, while using the rest to solve a mystery.
She felt a song in the key of G was most conducive to her multitasking. She couldn't explain it, but something about that key allowed her to reach equilibrium, so she could play and solve mysteries.
She chuckled to herself inwardly. The Americans would use the concept to create a TV show. She was reaching one of the slower, softer parts of the song. She showed no nervousness, no hesitation. Even though if it weren't for the key of G from this song, the butterflies in her stomach would mate and reproduce and then she would panic.
That's why she had to multitask. To avoid embarrassing not only her, but Chisato-sensei, and more importantly, the Shirogane name.
She wanted to take up the mantle of that name. As a detective.
If only she'd get an opportunity.
She was working the keys faster, now. It had just passed the middle of the song.
The business partners, who had trust issues, knew neither would betray the other in the fashion that had occurred. So they had hired her Grampa to solve the case. Only thing was, was that the press could not know.
However, the fact of the matter was, by the time she had gotten 60% through the song, she had by this time had determined the Modus Operandi.
Now all she had to do was finish the song…
And solve the mystery.
It would be a race for which one was first.
The key to any mystery is, "Who benefits?"
Not the partners. They would stand to lose. They would also be publicly humiliated.
She knew whoever did the malfeasance, was not intent on public humiliation. They would have played that card already by leaking it to the police, or media, or both.
No, this was personal. This was a game, she concluded. That's why the card had not yet been played. They wanted a theatric denouement to reveal what they had done.
And "they" was just not a play at gender ambiguity. This was a three-person operation.
For a transaction to go through at the Cayman bank being used electronically, one partner had to use his password to gain access, the other to approve it. All their transactions were logged on 3 separate records.
She was getting near the end, the song starting to rise. Her hands moved even faster now. In anticipation.
They had set up years ago that neither partner knew the other's password. This was when they trusted each other implicitly.
However, that was not to say they could not entrust others. In the event of death or serious injury, the partner who opened the account entrusted it to his Executive Assistant. The other, who finalized all transactions, entrusted it to the Chief Financial Officer.
However, as she started moving towards the end of the song, she had concluded that only one component was an "inside job." That of the Information Technology Supervisor. She had longed to have been treated in a more mature fashion. Not that she was sexually harassed, but rather, that she was treated like she was a little kid. The logs disappearing except for the general one showing an opening and closing transaction would bear this out.
Her playing was reaching a crescendo that was signaling she was near the end. Her performance had not encountered any errors to date, but the finish was the hardest, she had hit it perfectly only twice before.
She had concluded, by after looking outside the business and into the personal lives of the men on the Internet, that the job had been done by the son of the Chief Financial Officer, who was smitten by the young trophy wife of the partner who would open the transactions. She was already bored with her beau and wanted to feel age-dominant in a relationship. Molding this boy was perfect for her.
They then approached the I.T. Supervisor and asked for her help in wiping all but the general transaction record. Once the partnership dissolved, thanks to a prenuptial agreement she had insisted on, the partner's wife would receive any proceeds that were in a trust that had been created, minus an amount of $10 million.
She had researched the public terms of that trust. It was estimated to be at $80 million.
Once the partnership dissolved, divorce papers would no doubt be served. The CFO's son would get a hot new girlfriend and revenge on his father, who wasn't there for him enough. The wife would get a cool $30 million (as another $10 million would go to the IT supervisor, and no doubt half the remainder would be tied up in legal settlements.) And the IT Supervisor would have her revenge by humiliating 2 men who underestimated her.
She had reached the finish, for both.
And the song ended on a perfect note.
She gained rousing applause.
In a short time, the case ended on a perfect note as well.
Exactly how she had figured it.
In the key of G.