Busted

Sesshoumaru woke up at seven o'clock exactly the morning after the Saimyoshi attack, and went back to sleep from pure shock. When he awoke half an hour later he realized something was deeply wrong. After pondering the matter of his all-too-early awakening for another half hour he was at last able to put his finger on it: he'd gone to sleep at six the evening before, being severely exhausted from lying to cops all afternoon. Satisfied that there was a proper explanation for his waking up at a normal hour – meaning that the world hadn't gone completely insane or, stranger yet, he had developed a proper sleep pattern – he got up and decided to use the morning for work. (In other words, he was still a bit sleepy.)

When he arrived at the office at a quarter to nine to pick up a couple of things, he found Koga already there and messing up their files.

"Morning!" he called. Koga turned, gaped and dropped everything in his hands. (Fifteen yellow files, half a kilo of loose paper and three unpaid bills.)

"What the hell are you doing up at this hour?" he asked, looking stunned.

"Nothing special. Woke up pretty early and felt like getting a fresh start to the day," Sesshoumaru replied, acting as if his standard time for waking up was at break of dawn at the latest, and not around noon which was actually the case. "I could say the same about you," he continued. "Are you on desk duty again, two days in a row? And in that case you are early."

"Nah, it's Spiderman and Myoga today," Koga answered. He coughed awkwardly. "Me, I was just, er, looking up some facts. There's a case that looked pretty interesting, a break-in at this bank... I was just a bit curious."

A memory stirred in Sesshoumaru's mind, of firstly something Shippou had said the day before and secondly something from a year or two previous... "Wait," he said. "That's the thing with her... Ayame, right? Weren't you and her some kind of..."

"Yes," sighed Koga. "You guys have the memory of elephants, I swear."

"So what happened? I thought she..."

"Yes," said Koga, rather more sharply.

"And now you're trying to find evidence of her innocence on your own time? How sweet. I mean, after that most guys wouldn't even..."

"But I do," snapped Koga. "I'm not going to let an innocent girl go to jail."

"Alright." Sesshoumaru shrugged, and decided not to press further since Koga was already quite flustered enough. He watched his blushing colleague for a while as he started gathering up the scattered files again, and then crouched down to help. "Want a hand?" he asked. "With the case, I mean. Well, of course I'm going to help you pick this up as well, but..."

Koga looked up sharply. "Why?"

Sesshoumaru shrugged again. "Haven't got anything better to do. I'm meeting Jaken at ten thirty but until then I'm free. Do you want to go through it with me? I might be able to help."

Koga hesitated for a full five seconds, but then he smiled. "Alright," he said. "The thing is..."

Interrogation of one Ayame, wolf demon:

Inspector G: The interrogation is hereby begun, at 16:43. I am inspector G, hearing the prime suspect in what we like to call the Busted case, although unfortunately – as of yet – that refers to the bank and not the perpetrator. (chuckling) But anyway, here is the possible perpetrator right here with me. Say hi to the microphone, miss Ayame.

Ayame: Hi?

Inspector G: Great. Inspector here – check. Suspect here – check. Witness here... oh yeah, give a sign of life, Sergeant K.

Sergeant K: (grunt)

Inspector G: ...good. Yeah. Witness here – check. That's all, right?

Sergeant K: (grunt)

Inspector G: Right. Ayame, where were you on the night of November the twenty-fourth?

Ayame: After finishing work at ten I went home. I spent the night in my apartment, watching Notting Hill.

Inspector G: See, that's where we don't believe you. How can you remember so clearly what you were doing nine days ago? Most people would be more like, "Uh, I'm not sure... let me think... on the twenty-fifth I went to that show so the twenty-fourth I must have been... uh, wait..." But not you. No, you know exactly what you were doing, you don't hesitate at all and you even know the name of the freaking movie. How is that, miss Ayame?

Ayame: The first time you asked me these questions was the day after the break-in, the twenty-fifth. It was not hard for me to then recall what movie I had seen the day before. The reason I can give this answer now without even a trace of hesitation is that this is the sixteenth time I've been asked the question.

Inspector G: Oh, so you want to play it tough? Alright. We've checked with the TV company, and it seems that Notting Hill was indeed showing late that night. The question is – were you watching it? Which is the best part in the movie?

Ayame: The song "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone" and Hugh Grant's accompanying walk through the seasons.

Inspector G: WRONG! The ending of course! It has humour, romance and Julia Roberts' trademark ear-to-ear-smile. Can't get any better than that! That clinches it – you didn't see it, i.e. you are a liar, i.e. you were the one who let the robbers into the Midnight Bank. Suck on that.

Ayame: What?

The Midnight Bank for Safe Deposits prided themselves on being a high class, high status and high security bank. Actually, add one more: high level of discreteness. Someone who for some reason or other didn't want to leave his real name did not have to do so. Every customer had his or her account handled through their own private bank accountant, meaning they never had to come into contact with more than one person of the staff. The staff, meanwhile, was through high wages and fat bonuses encouraged to keep a low profile, and most importantly keep their mouth firmly shut about anything and everything they might notice about their customers. Thus the Midnight Bank was a favourite amongst thieves, swindlers and all those other people who make a living out of breaking the law, and as such it was important that they keep a very good reputation.

A full-blown police investigation was not the sort of attention the Midnight Bank was looking for, as Ayame had had explained to her by a very flustered and very, very pissed off bank manager.

What had happened on the twenty-fourth of November was as follows:

...actually, no one really knew. On the twenty-fifth of November the safe of Ayame's customer number eight – given name N. O. Webber – was found open and depressingly empty. Theft was suspected right from the start, firstly because no customer at the Midnight Bank would be so stupid as to leave their safe open, even if it was empty, and secondly because there was a note pinned to the wall above saying "Haha, suckers! Security my ass!"

N. O. Webber had already sued the bank for compensation. The bank manager had decided, not surprisingly, to settle matters outside the court. He had been forced to pay an outrageous sum of money and the bank's budget was now pretty much shot (as he had also see fit to inform Ayame, very loudly).

So far, everything was crystal clear – random robbery. Then the complications started.

Not a single alarm had been triggered in the building, and the Midnight Bank collected alarms like people collect stamps, or ex-girlfriends. There was no sign of forced entry anywhere, not even on the safe itself. For all the police could tell, it seemed as if someone had simply let the robbers into the bank.

"...And guess who had the late night shift on the twenty-fourth?" asked Koga.

"Employing Sherlockian methods," said Sesshoumaru seriously, "I would say we are looking at a female demon, probably wolf, of uncertain age. She will insist on wearing her hair in pigtails and will have had a relationship with..."

"Yes, yes," Koga interrupted, frowning in annoyance. "Ayame. Now, you need seven different passwords to get into one of the safes at the Midnight Bank, and they're not easy. Cracking a Midnight Bank safe is a job for someone who's either a genius, or a nutcase. (Incidentally, don't those two often go hand in hand? Never mind.) However, the accountant in charge of the safe has all of them. So you see, for the police it's simple: she let the thieves in, gave them the passwords and let them take whatever they wanted, then locked up afterwards and went home happily. Only she stopped for a bit to wipe all the security cameras." He sighed, shoving his hands through his hair. "Her story is that she did her shift, went home at ten and then watched Notting Hill from ten fifty until the film ended – she doesn't know when that was, exactly, but around two and a half hours later. She went to sleep and woke up the next morning to find the apartment full of plods."

"In other words, she doesn't have an alibi," said Sesshoumaru. "Tough one."

"Uh-huh. So, you got any pointers?"

Sesshoumaru sat for a while in silence, pondering the problem. "Tell you what," he said finally, taking a pen from the jar on the desk and scribbling a number on a piece of paper, "call this guy and say you're from the YSA. Explain what you're doing and ask him if he knows anyone with a contract for the Midnight Bank – if he doesn't, ask him to nose about a bit, but discreetly. And you better be quick about it, because otherwise he'll have gone to bed already and I speak from experience when I say that that guy is virtually impossible to wake up once he's fallen asleep." He stood up and glanced at his watch (and thus completely missed the funny look Koga gave him at the words "I speak from experience"). "Me, I'll be off to check a couple of things out at this bank." He paused, and then looked kindly at his colleague. "Try not to think too much about this now, OK? And... have you been to see her?"

"No," mumbled Koga. "I tried yesterday, but they wanted official documents and shit before they'd let me visit, and then one of the guys there recognized me..."

"The one you called an inbred pig?"

"No, the one whose nose I used as a handle to smash his face into a beer glass."

"Ah. Well, I think it'd be good if you don't go see her right now, so it was probably for the best." He saw Koga open his mouth and held up his hand, stopping any protest the wolf demon might want to make before he'd had time to form the sentence. "We don't want her to get associated with the YSA on a personal level right now. That way we can investigate into the matter without drawing overmuch attention to ourselves. Alright?"

"Alright," muttered Koga.

"Good." Sesshoumaru smiled at the other man. "We'll sort this out, don't worry. Go ahead and call that number. I'll call on you later to chat. Bye for now."

"Bye," said Koga glumly. He sat and stared as nothing for a while as the other demon left the office, then with a sigh he picked up the phone and started dialling the number he'd been given.

Sesshoumaru looked at his watch again as he unlocked his car. The time was nine thirty; in other words, he had an hour before he was due to meet Jaken. That was not enough time to visit the bank.

On the other hand... Jaken would surely understand if he chose to put Ayame's case as top priority right now. Yes, of course. Certainly... Sesshoumaru grinned, realizing that he was only looking for an excuse to skip the tedious paperwork he and Jaken would bore their way through that morning.

They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The fast road to hell is paved with good deeds done only for the sake of getting out of something else.

...Aw, whatever. If he had to go anywhere after he died, Sesshoumaru preferred hell anyway. For one thing, there'd probably be more people he knew there.

Sota was getting ready for bed when the phone rang. He had had a long night with a rather difficult job at a museum, and was looking forward to a nice long snooze. He had no work that night, either, which was very nice since he hadn't had a decent chance to sleep for some time...

He first considered not answering his cell phone, but then decided that he might as well. It could be someone with a contract – god knew he needed a couple of more jobs to make ends meet that month. He'd gotten lousy deals on the last few. He pressed the answering button on his phone and stifled a yawn.

"Sota Higurashi," he said.

"Really?" said the voice on the other end of the line; not exactly a usual opening phrase. "I mean, are you Kagome's brother?"

"Yeah, exactly." Sota grinned. "Who are you?"

"Oh, sorry. Koga, from the YSA. I'm a colleague of your sister's."

"Cool. How's she doing?"

"We got an e-mail yesterday saying they'd try their luck in Venice next. No results in Spain, apparently."

"Sucks," said Sota, feeling that his conversation was a bit monosyllabic. "So what are you calling for, then? Not just an update, I'm guessing."

"No, you're right." There was a pause, then Koga spoke again, hesitantly. "Thing is, I really had no idea who I was calling. I was just given this number and told to ask you... do you know of anyone with a contract for the Midnight Bank? I don't even know what that means, but..."

"Isn't that the really, really high security bank? Friend of crooks everywhere?" Sota frowned. "There's been a break-in? Really?"

"Yeah. And... well, there's this person who's suspected of being an accomplice, and she' my… I don't... I mean, we don't think that she..."

"Got it," said Sota, tactfully saving Koga from having to explain himself further. "The reason whoever it was told you to talk to me is that I'm a Thief. I know what goes on in the underworld, so to speak. I'll ask around and see if can find out who did this. But you know – if it was done by anyone in the union – yeah, there is a trade union for Thieves – word would have gotten round that they were attempting it. I mean, you have to be really good to get into that place. I did my final exam there and was caught at the third alarm."

"What? But..."

"Oh, they didn't call the cops or anything. They volunteered to have us there. (They are just on the border of illegal and legal, you know, and probably closer to the former…) It was just before they changed the security system completely, so we were allowed to play around with the old one. They said it was always good to test it in practice. I think they got some helpful pointers on what to improve." He paused. "Personally, though, I think they just like to rub our face in the fact that we can never get into that place."

Koga laughed. "That fits in well with what I know about it," he said. "So how did it go? The test, I mean."

"Oh, I passed with distinction. Most people didn't get past the first alarm. One guy even lost out before he could make it to the actual building. They have bloody vicious guard dogs."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Koga. "Well, thanks for the help."

"Not that I could tell you much. I promise to give you a call if I get hold of who did it. But unfortunately, I think this'll be a freelance job."

"Yeah, they're not making it easy for us, are they." Koga sighed. "Well, it was nice talking to you. Sleep tight."

"You too," yawned Sota. He hung up, went to bad and was asleep before he'd crawled under the covers.

Sesshoumaru had spent a pretty pointless half hour at the Midnight Bank, going through the complicated alarm systems with a guy who looked like he thought it was actually interesting – a view that was not shared by the one he was guiding. He had also found the time to sniff around N. O. Webber's vault, storing the scents he found there in his nose memory. But there was a limited amount of information to be found in the bank, so he left after avoiding the alarm system guy's invitation to come and look at some other fascinating devices their bank had acquired over the years. He wondered what to do next. If he drove like Inu-yasha he'd probably make it to Jaken only a bit late… but on the other hand, why bother?

Sesshoumaru grinned to himself and went to see Ayame.

The guards were easily taken care of. At the request "Papers?" Sesshoumaru merely produced a letter to the sergeant in charge, and was half a minute later waved on by one very flushed policeman. The assisting sergeant – a very curious young man – managed to read something of the letter over his superior's shoulder, caught the phrase "I have so much dirt on you I could use it to plant a flowerbed" and tactfully refrained from reading the rest. Sesshoumaru strode on down the corridor as if he owned it.

Ayame was sitting in a small interrogation room when he arrived. She looked up at him, wearing a faintly puzzled expression.

"You're not my lawyer," she said.

"Correct," said Sesshoumaru, sitting down at the table, opposite her. "I am something much better than a lawyer. I am someone who's going to help you prove your innocence."

"I thought that was what lawyers did."

"That is what lawyers say they do. However, they are really only after your money and don't really care what happens to you."

"So what do you want?"

"Your undying love. Nothing more."

"This conversation started to go downhill from the 'Correct'."

"Correct," said Sesshoumaru, and smiled. "Alright, to be serious, then: I'm Sesshoumaru, hi. I work with someone I think you know. Koga."

"Oh, you're from the YSA?" Ayame looked delighted. "Ah, so that's where I recognize you from! How are you?"

"Good, thank you for asking."

"And the rest of the guys?"

"Good, mainly." Sesshoumaru paused. "Although there is a certain someone who is damn close to taking up smoking again because he is fretting over another certain someone's possible involvement in a much covered crime."

"Oh, really? Who?"

"Don't you even try that innocent face on me."

"Guess you're right," sighed Ayame. "That only ever really worked on Koga." She paused, and then shrugged. "So, did he send you to me?"

"Not directly. I had a minute to spare and decided to nip by. We are investigating to find evidence of your innocence in the matter, though... if nothing else to calm Koga down." Sesshoumaru smiled. "He is really worried about you, you know."

"Really," said Ayame, looking faintly pleased.

"So!" Sesshoumaru clapped his hands together. "I've been reading through transcripts of the interrogations you've participated in, and I've read your own description of the evening. Notting Hill, huh? What a coincidence – I was watching that too. What did you think of what happened right after the part where he asked her out on a date and suddenly realized it was his sister's birthday?"

"You mean when they went to the birthday party? Oh, it was hilarious. When that guy – "

"No, not the birthday party," Sesshoumaru interrupted. "Before that."

Ayame frowned. "I don't know what you mean."

Sesshoumaru was no longer smiling. "I'm talking about the five minute break because of technical difficulties at the TV station," he said.

There was a long, stifled silence. Ayame opened her mouth once, twice, and finally settled on staring into the table silently. After what must have been several minutes, Sesshoumaru spoke again. "I thought you seemed a little too calm during the interrogations. Almost as if you'd put your story together in advance. It was a good one, I'll grant you – perfect for being the innocent, wrongfully accused civilian, prey to the heartless authorities. You might still be able to pull it off in court. I'm not going to tell. But I want to know the truth, myself." He put his hands on the table that separated them and leaned forwards, staring at her until she looked back at him. "I've been to the Midnight Bank. Your scent is all over the place, not only by your own clients' vaults but by others, too. So I'd like to hear your story. What did you really do on the night of November the twenty-fourth?"

Ayame told him.

"Ah," said Sesshoumaru.

……………………………

And let's say hello to Ayame, everyone! (Hello Ayame.) First time she enters my writing.

Hope you're still enjoying the story (now that the plot thickens. Ooh, I love that phrase). If so, or if not, comments are always appreciated!

On a side note, now the Christmas rush has started. Yay! For me it's especially noticeable since the days at the café become even more stressed – everybody's out Christmas shopping, and many end (or begin) their day with a coffee. So they come to us, and we work our asses off! Which on the one hand means hard days, but on the other means lots of money for Christmas presents. So I guess it evens out.

Good luck with your Christmas shopping! Until the next chapter... :)