It was half past five and I had not even thought about starting the next morning. I was still working on the case from the previous day and there was no lead or anything to push this thing forward. I rolled my chair away from my computer desk and stood up for a brief moment to go grab another cup of coffee. There was an eerie presence in the empty office space. My footsteps echoed throughout the building as I made my way towards the break room. On my way there I passed the case board. This board was filled with open missing person cases. Every detective was assigned their own case unless the cases overlapped with evidence or suspects. There were four people missing in my case, all of them children, and all related to each other in every angle and corner of the case. However, that was all I knew. Whoever abducted them left no evidence or trail behind. My cell ringed, and I pulled it out of my back pocket to see that it was my girl calling.
"Hey babe," I started, "I'm running a bit behind right now on this case…"
"Ikuto." She said my name once and I knew that tone of voice. She was going to end it with me. They all did. "I can't keep up with your schedule and your late nights and…."
I tuned her out and let her finish babbling. This was the third girl I lost within the past year because of my "busy work schedule". I don't blame them, but I'm more pissed that they were "committed" even though they knew about my hectic lifestyle.
"Bye." I clicked the off button on the phone and placed it back into my pocket. I continued to make my way into the break room and found one single pot of coffee already brewed fresh.
"You really need to think about who you date before you date them, Ikuto." One of my very few friends, Kukai Souma, greeted me in the room.
"You heard all of that?" I grabbed the pot handle and listened to the sound of coffee mocking me with he's right as I poured it into my mug.
"Yeah," Kukai sighed, "But seriously, stop dating the first girl that calls your name."
"Whatever." I blew at the steam that the coffee produced and then took a sip. The contents tasted earthy and burned the roof of my mouth as I forced it down, burning the rest of my tongue and esophagus.
"Tsukiyomi." Chief Iwagaki ordered, "See me in my office."
"Great…" I mumbled and took my cup and body straight over to the chief's office. It was much larger than my small cubicle and it was precisely decorated with the interest of intimidating anyone who step foot into the 12x12 room.
"Have a seat." He ushered to the chair in front of his desk. I refused and let him continue with the reason of me being here. "You know how important this missing children's case is, correct?"
"I understand." I nodded and took another sip. Of course I knew. The four female children were all taken in broad daylight at different locations, but according to some witnesses at the same time of 1500 hours. The parents of the children were all wealthy business owners who had high morals, values and believed in everything in helping their community. I knew that the stakes were high when working with this case, and I knew the importance and the risks of taking this case.
"Then why haven't they been found?" The chief folded his arms and gave me an intense stare.
"There haven't been any leads since last night at 1800 hours." I defended my position, "I have been working on this case since it reached my desk, I just haven't found anything to go off of since the field detectives gave me the evidence."
He must have heard the defensiveness in my voice because he stood up and slammed both of his bulky fists on the desks and shouted, "Then find them, damn it!"
I wasn't startled by his anger or his threat and without saying another word I turned back towards my desk.
"Geez," Kukai snickered, "What was that about?"
"Shut it." I spat and slumped right back down at my desk. I reviewed each file once more.
First Name: Ran
Last Name: Ano
Parent(s): Amano Ano
Characteristics: pink hair, pink eyes, 47.7", 49.5lbs, 7yo
Last wearing: Pink cheerleading dress with a red visor and pink pom poms
Last seen: By witnesses at 1500 hours at local kid's park. Same park as Yakumo- possible together
Suspects: … …
First Name: Miki
Last Name: Mayumi
Parent(s): Itoh and Murai Mayumi
Characteristics: blue hair, blue eyes, 49.5", 50.5lbs, 8yo
Last wearing: light blue long-sleeved shirt, black vest, dark blue shorts, and black shoes with a light blue bag
Last seen: By witnesses at 1500 hours at school playground.
Suspects: … …
First Name: Su
Last Name: Emu
Parent(s): Kida and Kibe Emu
Characteristics: yellow-green hair, emerald eyes, 47.9", 50.7lbs, 7yo
Last wearing: frilly green dress with green shoes and a white apron
Last seen: By witnesses at 1500 hours at outside of family's bakery.
Suspects: … …
First Name: Dia
Last Name: Yakumo
Parent(s): Kawabata Yakumo
Characteristics: orange hair, gold eyes, 48.0", 51.0lbs, 8yo
Last wearing: two piece yellow dress with white headband and white boots
Last seen: By witnesses at 1500 hours at local kid's park. Same park as Ano- possibly together
Suspects: … …
"Nothing…" I sighed and tossed the files aside. I placed my head in my hands and leaned against the desk. I let out a "damn it" with a groan. My cell ringed again in my back pocket. I was expecting it to be my now ex, but when I checked the number it was unknown. I picked it up, "Tsukiyomi."
"I found the girls." Click.
"What the fuck?!" I dropped my phone in shock and then cursed at the unknown number. Quickly, I dashed over to Kukai's desk and yelled frantically, "Can you get this number?!"
"Woah dude, chill out." Kukai took the phone hesitantly and then hooked it up to his computer. Kukai asked as he ran some diagnostics and computer software stuff that I couldn't even begin to explain it, "What's the deal?"
"I think someone found the girls." My eyes raced through the codes and numbers that appeared on his computer to see if there were any that I recognized.
"You mean…?" He started but I cut him off.
"Yes, yes," I was frantic, "Now tell me you can get that number."
CLASSIFIED.
"What the…?" Kukai retried the scan, but another CLASSIFIED appeared on his screen, "Who the hell were you talking to?"
"Why is the number classified?" I growled.
"I don't know." Kukai panicked himself, "I've never had this happen before." He pressed a few more keys and then pictures appeared on screen, "Dude, what the fuck are those?"
My mouth slowly dropped as I saw pictures of each girl locked up in a cell, tied, and beaten. "What the…?" I blinked and then checked my phone. There were no new messages.
"It has to be the person that called you." Kukai tried to find an explanation, "They must have hacked your phone."
"But, where are they?" My attention was solely focused on the missing girls.
"It looks like they're in a cellar somewhere, but I can't tell where." Kukai even tried to edit the image to find some sort of identification of where the location of the kids.
One last message came in, and this time it was a text from what was I assume the same unknown number, "They're not going to hurt them. But I can't say how long they'll stay."
Another picture came in, this time it was a from the internet. It was an evangelical angel watching over some small cherubs.
"What the hell is going on, dude?" Kukai was scared, and frankly, so was I.