A boy of late teens, entered the room. The bespectacled, smart looking boy was greeted by the Arachne and the Centaur.
"Good morning Ma'am. I'm Conan Kudo, the detective whom you've summoned." the boy bowed in humility.
A smile graced Centorea's lips, it's not a quotidian thing to witness such humility in the younger generation.
Rachnera looked unaffected by the humble gesture; she directly came to the point, "So you're the guy who was hired to keep an eye on the deceased Erika?"
"Yes, Ma'am. I was assigned the job by my employer. Though we really don't know the whereabouts of the client." Conan replied.
"Fine, we'll come to that a bit later, but why you're employed in such a risky job in such a young age? You're not even in your twenties." Rachnera inquired.
"Well I need my pocket money Ma'am. I'm a poor kid, living on my own and pursuing a law degree. But my scholarship isn't enough to cover my living expenses, so that's why I took up this part time job. Even though you say that it's dangerous but I would beg to differ. Generally the cases we get only deal with cheating spouses or dishonest business partners. Once in a blue moon we get cases of thievery or robbery." Conan stopped to take a breath.
"Fair enough, now tell me about this mysterious client more."Rachnera ordered the young man.
"Yes, Ma'am. The request came to us by post around a month ago. The advance was also sent. There was no address of the sender or any name. The photo of the deceased Kobold was also in it, the sender instructed us to give a detailed and thorough report about her daily life, but here came the tricky part, after gathering the necessary data we had to put all the details inside a letter-box beside the Hotaru Mall, in Kanagawa prefecture." Conan casually replied.
"Why didn't you contact the Police? If the sender was so suspicious, you guys should have refused the case." Centorea looked a bit surprised.
"Ma'am, they offered us twice than our rate. Boss couldn't refuse it ." Conan replied.
"Fine, but how the money was sent? Given your charges, the amount is somewhere near to Fifty thousand Yens." Rachnera asked glaring into the icy blue eyes of the young boy.
"Ma'am, they already transferred the amount into the company's main account." Conan answered.
"Fair enough, let's hear more about that letterbox, near Hotaru mall, shall we?" Rachnera seemed a bit pissed with Conan's casual approach.
"Yes, Ma'am. That letter-box was mounted by a private person. It's not Post Office's. It was just a plain green letterbox affixed to the light post just in front of the main entrance of the Mall. But it was very peculiar, it was affixed a bit lower." Conan showed the estimated height , by taking his hands towards his upper belly.
The detective duo let the boy go for now. They knew they won't get any more from this smart kid.
"Centorea, contact the IT guys and ask them to pull out all the transactions of the Q-detective agency, which amounts around 50 thousand yens. Meanwhile I, need to have a stroll." Rachnera stretched a bit and then got up from the desk.
"Hmm, I guess you would be visiting the Mall, to check up on that box theory?" Centorea also got up.
"Yes and don't forget to press the IT guys, they're a bunch of slackers." Rachnera went out.
"Hmmm…so this is the Hotaru Mall. Ah here it is. Green colour, he was right it's very low for a letterbox. What are these, looks like the the wooden door was bruised by something, ah it was locked at some point of time, but now there isn't any."
Rachnera pulled out her phone, "Forensics department, please send someone to Hotaru Mall, Kanagawa. I'm also at the spot, I've gotten a new clue."
"I'm sorry, Rachnera. I can't find any prints on this but I got something rather insignificant. It's a tiny amount of grease." Ai the Cyclops of the Forensic team responded.
Rachnera cupped her own chin, "Grease, grease?I saw it somewhere in this case, where? Where?"
"Hey, Rachnera I'm leaving, there's nothing in it." Ai said to the thinking Arachne.
Suddenly an idea came to her mind, her six eyes beamed with a piercing glare "Hey, Ai, did Erika, the victim had grease on herself?"
"Now that you mention it, she had some grease on her right paw, but why?" Ai looked surprised.
"If I'm thinking correctly Centorea would find nothing from the IT guys, if that person is the culprit then the tracks would be cleverly covered." ". Just dumb curiosity." The Arachne answered the disbelieving Cyclops.
"Rachnera, we got nothing. The transactions were done from an account in Swiss bank and we can't go further, Swiss bank isn't bound to cooperate with Tokyo Metropolitan Police." No sooner Rachnera had arrived when Centorea announced this.
"Centorea forget about that transaction, just bring a plan of the Kurusu household and the name of Meroune's doctor." Rachnera looked damn serious.
As both the Liminal cops unfurled the big paper sheet, the rest of the department looked at them curiously.
"So Meroune's pool room has a direct link with the swear." Rachnera marked the spot on the photocopy of the original plan.
Centorea still was unaware of her partner's thought process. "But she has a solid alibi. She's mermaid ,she just can't go out at her will."
Rachnera smiled, "She can, but if I'm right she already has paid the highest price for her foolishness."
(In Dr. Okayado's Chamber)
"Meroune, you have contracted a very persistent disease. It's a bad virus and can be lethal for mermaids, but don't worry I guess this shot will make you feel better." The Doctor bandaged the ulcer on Meroune's Mermaid tail.
"Sensei, how much time do I have at my disposal?" Meroune's face looked devoid of any emotions.
Dr. Okayado looked a bit flustered, "No no, it just complicated, nothing serious, you'll recover within no time." The doctor hid his anxiety by leaving Meroune to get the required things for the shot.