Recap: I'm Syaoran, a private eye, and I'm helping the Kinomotos find their daughter, Sakura. Who I must admit, looks pretty cute in the photo I was given. I met Tomoyo, Sakura's best friend, at the 'Ruby Moon' and interrogated her. She's outlived her usefulness, so I guess I'll have to get rid of her…

Warning: Some foul language.

The Last Case

Chapter 3

The click from my silenced automatic resounded throughout the apartment.

"Bang! You're dead." I grinned.

"That is so not funny, Li!" Tomoyo pouted in front of me.

"Sorry, dear. I had to make sure you weren't hiding anything else from me." I apologized sincerely and leaned forward to give her a peck on her smooth forehead.

"So you're searching for Sakura?" Tomoyo said, her voice barely a whisper. "I thought that we had lost her." Tears threatened to erupt from her luscious eyes at any moment.

"Yeah," I embraced her, allowing her to rest her head against my chest. I was such a sucker for vulnerable women.

"I want to help…" She whimpered into my undershirt.

"You've already been a great help, Tomoyo! You saved me the trouble of questioning many people in the club who probably won't have recognized Sakura anyway."

"Thanks, Li. I just wish…there was something more I could do instead of simply praying for Sakura's safety." Her grip on my undershirt tightened and I could feel tears soak into the fabric.

"Why don't we get dressed and I'll let you see the case file while we have breakfast." I suggested, hoping to calm the distraught girl in front of me.

"Really?" Tomoyo looked up at me with eyes so filled with gratitude that I felt bad for putting her through the interrogation at gunpoint and pretending to kill her.

"Yeah, sometimes an outsider's viewpoint is useful. We all have our prejudices, so you might spot something that I missed." I reassured her.

On second thought, I realized it was actually a good idea. Tomoyo had been Sakura's best friend so she might notice some of Sakura's quirks were absent from the crime scenes. I had learnt that what seemed normal to me might not be normal to everyone else.


After we had dressed appropriately, I directed her to sit opposite me by the window.

Passing her a photo, I said "Instead of Sakura's note, the Kinomotos found this at their doorstep. It's a strange ransom note because it doesn't require the Kinomotos to drop off any money, but simply states that they would not be able to see their daughter again."

I saw Tomoyo's eyes widen in surprise. "This can't be…" I could barely hear her voice.

"What's wrong, Tomoyo?" Her face was white as a sheet.

"This handwriting…I'll recognize it anywhere." Tomoyo paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "It's Yamazaki's."

That bastard! "You sure?"

"I could swear upon it. He's been my classmate since middle school." Tomoyo frowned. "I don't believe he'll do such a thing to Sakura. His fiancé is her good friend."

"Are you sure you can't think of any reason why he might want to kidnap her?" I questioned and saw her frown deepen.

I noticed then that a red dot was trailing up her neck, across her cheek and to her right temple.

"Duck!" I barely had time to yell, as I tackled her to the floor, not a moment too soon. My windowpane shattered on the impact of the high-speed bullet, which buried itself barely a centimeter away from my stomach.

Shit! I rolled to the side and loaded my automatic. Risking a peek out the broken window, I saw that the sniper had already disappeared from sight.

"That was a close one." I said as clamly as possible, kneeling down to embrace the trembling figure still curled up on the ground.

"It's dangerous here. We should get going." I said softly, lifting Tomoyo off the ground and allowing her to lean on my shoulder for support.

Someone had tried to kill her! Yamazaki probably followed me home yesterday and asked the sniper to kill her before she could reveal anything. I was lucky that I had not questioned her near the window.

Yamazaki was going to pay for this…

For now, I needed a safe house to conduct my investigation from and to keep Tomoyo in. I decided I would impose on my client's hospitality. It was their fault, after all, that I couldn't stay in my apartment anymore.

After seating Tomoyo on the sofa, I quickly went to my phone and dialed the number given to me by Fujitaka. "Pick up…pick up…" I growled impatiently.

"Hello, this is Nadeshiko Kinomoto. How may I help you?" A melodious voice sounded over the line. This must be Fujitaka's wife.

"Hi, this is Syaoran Li. I'm one of the private investigators your husband hired. I've found an important witness, but an attempt has just been made on her life. I was wondering if you could protect her with your resources."

There was silence on the other line for a while. She hung up on me!

"I've spoken with my husband Syaoran, both you and Tomoyo have been invited to stay with us at our house." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is it safe there?"

"We have our personal security to protect her." Nadeshiko reassured me.

"Good. Just be warned, the enemy is quite resourceful too. I'll be there as soon as possible." I said hurriedly. "Your address is 1 Tomoeda Drive?"

"It is. I look forward to meeting you Syaoran." Nadeshiko actually seemed excited. I wonder if she understands how serious our circumstances are.

"We're leaving Tomoyo." I told the distraught women who was sitting on my sofa. Taking her hand, I led her out of the apartment and into my car.

No sooner had I driven out of the apartment complex that I saw a black Lexus with tinted windows pull up behind me from the adjacent complex.

These guys were persistent…I recognized that the black Lexus following me belonged to the Syndicate. Damn! I hate messing with these guys.

Why would the Syndicate want to make sure Sakura was never found? It was no wonder that the police were unavailable.

Pulling out all the tricks in my book, I tried to shake my tail off. Being professionals, though, they too had a few tricks up their sleeve and always managed to attach themselves again even if I lost them for a short period of time.

Becoming desperate, I swerved into a side street and accelerated to escape. On hindsight, that was the worse decision I could have made.

TBC…


A/N: So am I getting better? I hope so…Each chapter may be pretty short, but I plan to jam-pack it with excitement. Pls give me some constructive feedback to improve my writing. I would really appreciate it.