Disclaimer: It would probably be fun to own the ghost of Kebarihyon, hmm? ;) Eh, anyway, characters not mine, blah blah and so on...
Also, I don't know much about forensic science except for what Google search decided to throw at me, so I apologize for any discrepancies. However, since I have built my plot around the information that I gleaned from online resources, I won't be making any changes, or else the plot will fall apart. =.=" So, err... Just assume that the 'facts' in this story are really so. Ehehe...he.. *sweatdrop*
~*Act One, Scene One: Duplicity*~
"Ne ne, Kanata, how do I look?"
"Like the ghost of Kebarihyon."
"WHAAT!"
She did look like the ghost of Kebarihyon right now, no offence meant. A bloody and brutal death usually tended to do that to people.
Kanata stared at what had until recently been a smiling flirting young woman of twenty six years of age. How strange that she was lying so still now… He could never have imagined Miyu Kouzuki ever being still. Or silent.
"Miyu, shut up."
"—en, she said that Yokimori-sensei was secretly going out with Chiaki ever since they met at the an—"
"Miyu, SHUT UP!"
Behind him, he could hear Santa retching. The guy had no stomach for the gruesome. It made Kanata wonder as to why Santa joined Crime Investigation in the first place.
Ignoring the gagging sounds from behind, Kanata pulled out his little black book and carefully began jotting down a description of her dead body. Whoever had killed her had spared no mercy towards her pretty face. The entire right side of her face had been bludgeoned in, the caked blood and clumps of her hair morphing her face into a nightmare. The left side of her face and the rest of the body were bloated and blue – saturated with excess moisture, the cause for which was as yet unknown. Her left eye, one of a pair of those uniquely emerald eyes, had been gouged out, leaving a ghastly hollow socket behind.
Kanata narrowed his eyes in distaste. It was a sad example of a cruel death.
The tip-tap of heels alerted him to the rapid approach of Dr. Tenchi, and he turned to face her with a charming smile on his face.
"Hello, Doctor. So what have you got for me?"
Nanami Tenchi eyed the man before her coolly, not in the least bothered by his snide tone or handsome looks. "Saionji-san." She nodded in acknowledgement, before sweeping past him and around the examination table to a desk in the corner. She placed her clipboard next to her laptop and checked her schedule before turning around and marching back out of the room.
"If you want to hear what I have to say, detective, then come along. I don't have the time to loiter." She threw back off-handedly.
Kanata raised his eyebrows at her retreating back before he shrugged and followed.
"So… spill your stuff."
Dr. Tenchi rolled her eyes before 'spilling'. "From the looseness of muscles and low core temperature, I would estimate time of death to be around 35 to 48 hours. Of course, I would have to run entomological tests on the body before I can confirm. That is going to take some time."
"What about the DNA test?"
"I have already taken samples. The test is underway, the results should be ready in four days."
"Fair enough. What about the cause of death?"
"Cause of death – cerebral hemorrhage, presumably due to severe injuries inflicted by a blunt weapon. The body had been submerged in water subsequent to death."
"Submerged?"
"Yes, they found her body in the bathtub."
"Bathtub? Was she wearing clothes?"
Dr. Tenchi paused in her brisk stride and turned to frown at him. "She was. And you should know this already. Didn't they tell you at the crime scene?"
"Nope. Haven't been there yet."
She gave him an incredulous look. "You came to look at the body before visiting the crime scene?"
"Yep."
"Against the protocol?"
Kanata shrugged, then supplied charmingly, "Yes, my dear Doctor. Just felt like visiting an old friend first."
"An old friend? Me?"
He smiled at her puzzled expression and reflected with amusement that yes, Dr. Tenchi really wasn't the type to read Glamor.
...
Kanata parked his car on the corner of Hoshino Street in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo, home to the glitterati of Tokyo Film Industry, and walked up to the second house up the street.
So this was where she had lived until recently…
"Uwaaah! I want a biiiig house with an orange roof and a garden full of colors! There will be daisies and roses and daffodils and tulips! And all around the driveway, there will be a million sakura trees!"
The house in front of him was a sprawling white mansion with a grey slate roof and grey window panes. A short grey concrete driveway extended from the heavy black wrought iron gates to the grey mosaic steps of the house. On either sides of the driveway, a line of Zelkova trees stretched out their mostly bare branches, thinly veiling the sunlight in a light tinge of green.
At least, she struck home about the big part. How easily Fate overrides wishes…
The entire front of the house was currently swathed in a tangle of yellow tapes. Several policemen dressed in their blue uniforms secured the place against trespassers, and a mass of sniffers, officers and forensic experts scurried about sweeping the area.
Kanata made his way up the concrete driveway, flashing his badge at anyone who tried to accost him, Santa only a step behind him. An officer only slightly older than him greeted them at the top of the steps to the porch.
"Detective Saionji and Detective Kurosu? My pleasure. I am Inspector Hikarigaoka, in-charge of this case. I was informed that you two would be coming."
They shook hands, Kanata sizing up the slimly-built blue-eyed blond inspector. Smart, shrewd and really perceptive. That would be a problem, he thought with a sigh. He knew the type; they always tended to believe they were much better than anyone else and always made it a point to be obnoxiously in the way of any investigation best left in the hands of a qualified detective. Being able to work with him hanging around would be tough.
He shrugged mentally and smirked. Why refuse a challenge? If it's gotta be a ride, might as well be a heck of one!
Hikarigaoka was moving already, into the living room and through a door into a long hallway, holding up a small notebook and detailing everything he knew about the case till date. "The alarm was raised by her manager yesterday evening when Ms. Kouzuki failed to appear on the sets of her latest movie in production for two days in a row. According to her manager, Aya Konishi, Ms. Kouzuki was last seen on Wednesday night."
"Two days? Aren't celebrities reported missing if they fail to be seen by paparazzi every five hours?"
Hikarigaoka paused and turned to look at Kanata, unsure if he was joking or not. "No, I don't think it happens that way."
Kanata nodded pleasantly and motioned for him to go on.
The inspector frowned slightly, before returning his attention to his notes and continuing. "The filming had gone on quite late on Wednesday night, and they had been served dinner on the set itself. In the middle of dinner, Ms. Kouzuki had received a call and had excused herself to attend to it. She was seen talking quite urgently on the phone, with plenty of gestures – which, reportedly, isn't unusual for her —"
Still the same, huh? That klutz.
"—before she hurriedly announced that she was heading home for the day. The time was 10:20 pm roughly, give or take a few crucial minutes. We can't be sure, no one checked their watch.
"Her housekeeper, Mr. Shikada, reportedly received a call from her at precisely 10:53 pm that night."
"Precisely?" Kanata interjected. "That's strange. He made a note of the time?"
"According to other sources, he is a very meticulous person and keeps track of times and places quite methodically."
"Huh, imagine that, how convenient." The dryness in Kanata's voice couldn't be more apparent. "Who are these other sources?"
"The gardener and the driver."
"I see." Two people who seldom had cause to enter the house or meet the housekeeper, one tending to the gardens and one to the garage.
Hikarigaoka took this as his cue to go on. Coughing once to clear his throat, he continued. "She had called ahead to say that she wanted all the staff and security out of the house. She demanded the house be perfectly empty by the time she returned, and that everyone could help themselves to a vacation till she informed them to come back."
Kanata raised an eyebrow at this. Curiouser and curiouser.
"According to Mr. Shikada, it was quite a strange request, but nevertheless, they complied. The last one to leave was Mr. Shikada himself. He locked the house – Ms. Kouzuki had a separate set of keys with herself – and left at precisely 11:29 pm. He left alone, there were no witnesses to observe."
Of course, Kanata thought. No one ever observes the meticulous man who spends every moment observing others. How clichéd.
"He didn't hear from Ms. Kouzuki for the next two days. Neither did her manager. When Ms. Kouzuki failed to report for filming on Thursday, Konishi-san called her on her cell phone, then on her house phone and finally visited the house herself, but didn't receive any response. She left several messages for Ms. Kouzuki and let the matter rest for the day. On Friday, that is yesterday, when Ms. Kouzuki was still absent, her manager once again came to this house and once again did not get any response. By evening yesterday, Konishi-san grew quite worried and alerted the police. I was dispatched here promptly, and we broke open the door and entered to find her body in the bath."
"Broke open the door?"
"Yes, the doors were fast shut from the inside. No signs of prior tampering or breaking-in from the outside."
"What about the windows? Balconies?"
"All doors and windows locked from inside. The housekeeper, Mr. Shikada, ensured all was secured around the house before he left."
Suddenly, Santa made his presence known. "What about the chimney?"
The inspector blinked at this sudden input, then frowned and turned towards the wide-eyed detective with his lips pressed tightly together. "This is not a children's fairytale, Detective Kurosu. I would appreciate it if you didn't make light of the case."
Santa flushed and turned his head down. "'t was just an idea…" he mumbled under his breath.
Kanata cast an amused glance at his partner. The guy was learning some tricks of trade, hmm? Turning his attention to the inspector, he asked, "Well, what about the chimney? It is a plausible way in, after all."
Hikarigaoka drew his brows together, obviously displeased with the line of questioning. Nevertheless, he replied, "Not at all. It's too narrow for a person to pass through. They would have to be smaller in girth than 24 inches to be able to crawl through."
"24 inches, huh? Sounds like the body could have crawled in – before bloating up with water, that is."
Two pairs of wide eyes pinned him down, Santa looking horrified and the inspector looking ridiculed.
Kanata raised an eyebrow, before shrugging carelessly. "It was just an observation. After all, the actress' medical profile states that she was quite thin and underweight."
"If you're done listing the impossibilities, Detective Saionji, would you like to take a look at the bath where the body was found?"
Kanata looked into the inspector's irritated scowl, feeling a satisfied smirk tug at his lips. If the blond officer was going to make it difficult for him, he was only too happy to return the favor. "Sure," he motioned with a gracious sweep of his arm, "lead the way, officer."
Remember the ghost of Kebarihyon? From episode 45 of the anime, where Miyu and Kanata are pulled into Ruu's interactive Cinderella book? Aww... That was my favorite favorite favorite episode... *Goes all googly eyed* ^o^ ^o^ ^o^
Anyways, please review, and let me know if I am boring you with the long dialogues... =.="
