Greeting folks! I know there's people out there who've been eager for the next chapter. My apologies for the hold up, I'm in the middle of an internship so I've had plenty of non-free time. Well, enough about that, let's get straight to business.

O2: Hangman

His story didn't appear to be something that one would be able to just make up on a whim. He is either the culprit and took a considerable amount of time to iron out details of a false story or he told the truth. I remained neutral on what I thought was the true outcome of this and decided that it would be best to simply look at all the possibilities. Still, the end of his tale didn't quite add up with the rest of his story.

"So you left her to ensure the door was locked." I brought the conversation back to the end.

"Yeah."

"But when you came back, she was no longer in the room."

"Like I said. And there ain't no way she coulda gotten out without passing me too. S'weird."

"Tatsumi-san, you do realize stating such a thing only pushes suspicion further toward you. Had there been no way of her getting out without your notice, then the only way for her to disappear is for you to ensure it. As such, people don't simply disappear from the fourth story of a building and be found deceased in the streets several hours later."

"I ain't makin' this shit up! A'right! Y'asked for the story, I gave it. So jus' shuddup!"

Clearly he was getting aggravated over the conversation. His reaction was a natural response that I had grown accustomed to through the past suspects I encountered. I opened my mouth ready to continue on with my observations before the door opened up. Officer Satonaka poked her head in through the door.

"Uh… Shirogane-san? I was told by Dojima-san to retrieve you."

"Is there a problem?"

"Another case appeared this morning. I'm here to escort you to the scene."

My face remained a cool façade to mask my surprise. Dojima-san didn't enjoy the fact that I'm working on this case to begin with so the only reason he would ask for me is if he thought the two crimes were connected. I stood up from my chair at once, "Very well. Let us move out." I made my way towards the door, and disregarding the tall blonde completely until he called out for me to 'wait'. I glanced over my shoulder toward him, "Yes?"

"I uh… am I allowed to go home now?"

"You will be detained for at least twenty-four hours unless we find evidence that insists we keep you longer."

He cursed and looked more upset than angry at my answer. "Don't I get a phone call or sumthin?"

"Are you asking for an attorney now?"

"Hell no. I don't need that shit, I jus'… fuckit, nevermind."

I continued to stare in his direction until Officer Satonaka piped up once more. "Don't worry Tatsumi-san, I'll have an officer head to your place and inform her what is going on." She offered kindly. I felt one of my brows raise slightly upon hearing this.

"Uh… thanks." He turned his head to the side and his cheeks tinged with pink and I felt my other brow rise to match my other. I dismissed the notion for the time being and headed out.

I hated this. There ain't no reason for me to be here to begin with. I didn't do nothing wrong. Jus' when I try to do something nice for once, it bites me in the ass. And who the hell was that Shirogane person? That dude seemed too short to be a detective. Too pretty too. He was a pretty boy, or cute or sumthin'. Detectives are supposed to be tough and strong like Dojima-san, ain't they? It's not like that Shirogane person could take down someone with his puny size. Whatever.

It woulda been nice if they had at least left sumthin' to entertain me with if they were going to leave me in the room. Goddamnit, I can't even move around while being cuffed to the chair. A'right Tatsumi, a'right… jus' stay calm. They been gone for bout twenty minutes or sumthin', someone is bound to come and get ya soon. Preferably somewhere that isn't so damn quiet and white. Seriously, why the hell are all these rooms completely white? Someone needs to repaint this crap. Hmm… baby blue would prolly look nice. Yeah… maybe I should leave a note or sumthin' about it.

What the hell am I thinking!

As I felt my body surge to the right from the force of the term, I decided then and there that I would never be getting into another vehicle with Officer Satonaka so long as she's the one driving. It was appalling to think that the officers of this station would drive so hazardously. I understand getting to a scene quickly, but that didn't give an officer the right to disregard all rules of the road. It wasn't like the body we're going over to examine would be disappearing anytime soon.

My knuckles are white from the strain of my hold on the handle above the door as I continued to try and hold myself steady from the drive. This woman shouldn't be allowed to use any department equipment that has wheels, I'm sure of it. I'm also sure that Dojima-san chose her for this reason to be my escort. I decided then and there that I would get a map of the town, and drive myself to scenes from this day forth on my bike. I would at least survive.

I decided to focus on something else to try and get my thoughts off the road and my plausible death in the very near future. The case thus far is always a good thing to occupy the mind. Kanji Tatsumi is a well-built man with a short temper. He had some sort of issue with the police in Inaba in the past, but none of the charges ever seemed to stick. He also appeared to have a problem with the police to begin with since he appeared to be rather upset with me when he thought I was an officer of Inaba. It also appears that he is embarrassed or ashamed about some woman he's living with.

"Who is she?" I suddenly questioned aloud despite the fact I had opted from the start that the odds of survival would be dire if I distract Officer Satonaka.

"Huh?"

"You said to Kanji Tatsumi that you would have someone go to his place to contact 'her'. Who is 'her'?"

"Oh that." She drew the last word out as if it were a sudden epiphany, "His mom."

"His… mother?" My confusion was obvious.

I noticed a slight curl of the officer's lips upon hearing my confusion, and soon she erupted into a small fit of giggles. "You wouldn't know it just by looking at him, but Kanji is a big momma's boy."

I stared for a long while as I tried to process this new bit of information in my mind. It was odd to say the least. It doesn't match his character from what I've read and experienced. "How can you be—"

"Sure?" She finished the question for me, "I knew him in high school."

"You two are friends?"

"No… not really. He was on a lower year back then I. Everyone knew Kanji, he was always skipping classes, and always causing trouble. When he was a first year, he beat up an entire biker gang."

"So he's violent."

"Well… yes… and no. I don't know. He beat them up because they were making so much noise in the late evenings that it kept his mom awake. So… he took out the gang so that his mother could sleep normally. He pretty much did the entire district a favor for that one since the police weren't doing anything."

"I…see." Although his heart was in the right place at the time, his means to getting the job done were in the wrong. He should have filed a complaint to the station. Then again, he was just starting high school, and adolescents tend to make the wrong decisions. They are rash, and either don't or can't think of the consequences for their actions.

"Yep! Oh we're here!" We came to a halt at the Inaba Station. Other police cars were already circled around the entire place; preventing people from getting in. Dojima-san was conversing with a few of the officers while smoking a cigarette, a trait I'm beginning to notice from him. I proceeded towards his direction, and when I drew close enough, he stopped his conversation and met me half way.

"Shirogane." He acknowledged.

"Dojima-san." I allowed a brief moment to pass between us before I questioned, "Is there another body?"

"Yeah. We haven't removed it yet. Follow me."

He led the way to the train station. When we arrived at the station, I figured that there would have been another victim from a gunshot like the last. Perhaps somewhere discreet like a bathroom. We passed the bathrooms, and my mind worked on the possible outcome that the victim might have been pushed down a flight of stairs to make it appear like an accident. There was no body at the stairs. When we drew closer to the train tracks, I immediately knew that the victim must have been pushed onto the tracks as a train rolled by; a gruesome messy death that I didn't entirely look forward to seeing. We stopped at the edge of the platform, and Dojima-san looked at me with a look of indifference.

"Ready?"

"Lead on."

He jumped onto the tracks and began walking down them. My brows drew together in confusion before I followed him. We ended up walking out of the station completely via the train tracks. I knew they must have shutdown the services for us to be walking the tracks but it didn't help with my confusion. My conclusion of a victim being pushed onto the tracks was disregarded as it would be impossible with the tracks elevated so high off the ground at this point. We drew closer to a group of officers and technicians that were circling around a section of the track. When I arrived, I wasn't sure what to make of it.

Although Dojima-san insured that they hadn't moved the body, that wasn't exactly true. They had moved the body so that I would be able to examine it. The fact of the matter is, the body had been hung by the neck, in a noose. It was a bizarre way to murder someone, and I couldn't even begin to fathom why someone would do such a thing. My eyes trailed across the body of the woman. The rope was still wrapped tightly around her neck. I pulled on a pair of latex gloves, and began to examine the body. What was brought to my attention was not the rope but the woman's hands, more specifically, her wrists. They were cut across horizontally.

"Some of the boys thought suicide." Dojima-san stated plainly.

"You don't think so." It wasn't a question. He wouldn't have called me if it was that simple.

"Notice something off?" He questioned carefully.

I pressed my lips together as I continued to examine the woman's wrists. "Her wrists were cut when she was already dead." When someone is alive and receives a cut, scrape, or any type of incision, the blood clots in an attempt to seal the wound. There was no such clotting on this woman's wrists.

"Which means…" He pressed my conclusion forward.

"The murderer must have waited for her to die before raising her body up, and cutting her wrists before hanging her once more."

"Right."

"Why would someone do that?" It wasn't really a question directed at Dojima-san; more like just thinking aloud.

He lit another cigarette and took a drag, "You're the ace detective."

I wasn't sure if he was teasing me or not, but something told me that Dojima-san was already working out his own conclusion or already had. He was making a point by keeping his thoughts to himself and forcing me to figure everything out. He was still upset over my involvement, and he wanted to prove a point. Very well, so be it.

"Who is she?"

"Her name is Ai Ebihara. Came from a well to do family after her father made a fortune in land investment."

"Any connection to the first victim?"

"None at the moment."

I hadn't stayed much longer than that. I would need to research more information on the latest victim before I come-up with any possibilities. I needed to head back to the station, and question Tatsumi once more to see if he knew anything about Ai Ebihara. Perhaps the connection to the two victims was through him. The only one able to give me a ride back to the station was Officer Satonaka. Fortunately, as there was no emergency, she followed the rules of the road and thus the ride was much more comfortable.

"Man… Ai Ebihara." She said while driving.

"You knew her?"

"High school."

"Friends?"

At that question, the officer laughed at the question, "Not even remotely. Did you know, she had actually slapped me once because some guy she had an interest in liked me. I mean… what's up with that? I didn't even like the guy, much less knew him for the most part. It was just so strange."

I turned my gaze back to the road in front of me before another question came to mind, "Did you know the first victim?"

"Well… only through Yosuke. He was dating her and he was… or is one of my closest friends despite how much we butt heads."

"You seem to know a lot of people involved in this case officer Satonaka."

"Inaba is a small town. It's the one's that nobody knows that are the suspicious ones."

I simply nodded and fell into silence once more. A foreboding feeling began to pass over me as we drew closer to the station. I shook it off as nerves. Two murders in less then twenty-four hours tends to do that to a person, even a detective used to such things.

When we got to the station, the feeling didn't disappear as I hoped, and I continued to make my way towards the interrogation room where I had left Kanji Tatsumi. When I arrived, much to my confusion, the man was missing. I continued to stare at the empty seat for several long moments until I was interrupted.

"Looking for Tatsumi?" I whirled around to face a man dressed in a suit. He wore a lopsided smile while his gaze carried the curiousness of his question. "We moved him to room twelve B."

"And you are…?"

"Don't know me? I'm Adachi. I work with Dojima-san."

"You said twelve B?"

"Yep. Oh! But you might have to wait. His lawyer is talking to him at the moment although it was kind of sudden from what I understood. He never even made a phone call. Oh well…" The last part was spoken mainly to himself but I managed to catch it. I gave my thanks, and after receiving some quick directions, I made my way in the direction.

My unease grew with each step. My instincts were telling me that something wasn't right. This entire case only had one suspect and that was a man who seemed far too obvious to place the blame on in my book. I didn't like it. There was also something else that bothered me; it was the fact that Kanji Tatsumi brought in a lawyer. What was it he said during our conversation?

"Ain't got one. Don't want one. Ain't done nothin' wrong."

His main concern had been worrying his mother about his disappearance. The fact that Kanji Tatsumi called a lawyer after being so adamant about not needing one is entirely… odd.

"He never even made a phone call."

My body seemed to work on its own as something seemed to click into place in my mind. The files I carried dropped on the floor as I took a near sprint down the halls of the station. Uniforms flew pass my peripherals as they moved to the sides and out of the way. In my mind I'm under the belief that I'm fooling myself and overreacting to the possible scenario that played into my thoughts, but my instincts told me that I needed reassurance.

It was because of my instincts that I was able to reach room 12B, found Kanji Tatsumi sprawled across the floor, and saw no one else inside the room. I rushed to his side, and I checked his pulse: it was sporadic. My gaze immediately scanned the room to find anything that could lead to a clue. The male's body started convulsing on the spot, and it was then that I made note of an empty syringe that had been left behind. Was it fatal mistake – or perhaps a sign of confidence? I didn't have time to work out my thoughts on the matter.