Case 463: -84 hours

Detective Naoto Shirogane sat quietly at her desk, her head resting on her arm, unable to keep herself awake any longer. Her pen, long since retired, still rested between her fingers with the stack of paperwork in front of her. She felt like she hadn't slept in days and couldn't be bothered to move. This time however, she had locked her office door before letting her blinds down to keep herself in the quiet. She told herself 'just a few minutes. Just a few minutes to close your eyes.' but that was almost two hours ago.

The bodies had stopped appearing after that day a few weeks ago. It had all happened in such a strong burst that the police department was glad they had stopped in order to get some decent investigation time in. But why had they stopped? If the murderer was so ready and willing to keep killing, then why just stop? Were they done? Was that all there was to it?

Naoto doubted that she had seen the last of their killer's handiwork. Someone with those powers didn't just stop once they had had a taste. They always came back for more. It was a frightening though that more bodies would show up eventually hanging from some sort of electronic equipment throughout the town.

When she felt a small snore escape her body her eyes opened and she leaned up to look down at the stack of papers before she continued with her report. A few more lines and she would close her eyes again. She looked over her report so far.

Victims so far: Miles and Nathan McDermott, Alexia Tal, Jacob Crane, Donovan Alister, and Sara Diegg.

Six victims.

Cod: Unknown

She felt herself nod off again and she leaned forward onto her hand to prop her head up as she wrote down her findings. No fingerprints, no signs of struggle, and no theft of personal belongings. Each victim carried light bruising on knees and elbows but not enough to determine CoD. Damage suggests fall from height of more than five feet. Autopsy report inconclusive. CSI report shows each victim was killed within hours of one another and Identification indicates victims were in different parts of the world before arriving in Inaba without traceable travel arrangements.

How long had she been at this? Two weeks? Seventeen days? It felt like forever. She sighed and put her pen down, reaching over for her coffee mug placed just within reach off to the side of her desk. She drew it to her mouth. Empty. Damn it.

She crossed her arms and slumped back in her chair, pulling her hat down over her eyes. Just a little longer. Maybe she could sleep the rest of the day and get through the night and come back tomorrow fresh for another start. No. No that wasn't who she was. That wasn't what she was here for.

She leaned forward in her chair and shook her head to clear the sleep, pulling her ponytail out from under her hat and pulling the elastic off of it to let it loose. Taking her hat off she shook out her hair letting her dark blue locks come down to her shoulders. Much better. She spread out her workload in front of her, dividing up her paperwork into separate piles for each victim, separating sheets she would need for photo copying when she went back out into the office. She moved the mouse of her computer the wake it up to the world map in front of her she had opened on a paint program. She circled the locations the victims were from in red. Miles McDermott, Phoenix. Nathan McDermott, Moscow. Alexia Tal, Washington. Jacob Crane, Montreal. Donovan Alister, London. Sara Diegg, Brazil.

Her eyes moved from spot to spot trying to see some kind of pattern. Who was killing these people? It seemed so random for there to be any connection these people shared. What was the murder doing? Showing off? She checked their work records once more.

Each victim had worked at a rather respectable job in one form of business from quality control for this major company to Jr. Vice president of another. Why these people? They worked for separate businesses across thousands of miles with no connection to one another. What made them so special? She looked down at the photos of the victims by their autopsy photographs taking in their features in the pale light the photos were taken in.

"Why are you all so special to someone? Why are you important enough to kill?"

The knock at her office door snapped her out of her stupor and she panicked when the knob was tried. But she had a moment to spare when she remembered it was locked.

"One moment please"

She pulled her hair behind her head and tied her ponytail up again before slipping her hat on and tucking it up underneath. She took a deep breath before she unlocked the door and opened it to one of the older officers. He was taller than her and she had to strain her neck slightly to look up to him.

"Detective Shirogane, the chief would like to speak to you"

She was a little slow on his words but she nodded eventually.

"Very well. Thank you"

The man took another moment to look down on her and eventually turned to walk off. Naoto cleared her throat and closed her door behind her. She would photocopy her papers on the way back from the chief's office. At least whatever he had to say would be over soon and she could get on with her investigation. She made a mental note to go back with Teddie and Yosu-

The realization made her groan out loud. She was supposed to go see a movie with them two weeks ago. It was no wonder she wasn't in the loop anymore. She had no time to enjoy her friends with this case. Damn it. She made another mental note to call them and apologize for standing them up. But she smiled on the inside knowing they would understand and forgive her if they hadn't already. She had great friends.

When she reached the chiefs office she knocked on the heavy wood of the door. He was on the phone with the door open but she hadn't caught the end of his conversation being too busy thinking of other things. He leaned forward in his chair to put his phone down.

"Yea…yea he's here now. Ok. Ok I'll call you back…..thank you, Sir"

Naoto knew there were only a few people the chief called sir. Whoever it was made the chief physically uncomfortable. She could tell from the fake grin he put on his face. Bad news was coming.

"Detective Shirogane. Please, have a seat. And close the door would you?"

She entered the office, closing the door behind her before sitting in the chair in front of his desk. He stood from his seat and made his way over to her, sitting on the corner of his desk in front of her. She noted the stacks of papers on his desk and a large manila envelope before looking up to him. The smile was gone. This couldn't be good.

"Now detective, I want you to know right away that I tried to fight for you, ok?"

Her heart rate sped up, already assuming the worse.

"You aren't thinking of taking me off the case, are you?"

She moved to stand up but sat back down when he raised his hand to her.

"No no. No no no. You are still on the case. You are our best mind, detective."

"Then what's wrong?"

He was quiet for a moment, sucking on his teeth.

"I want to start this off by saying you are a brilliant police officer detective. You really are. Why you bother to stick around this place is beyond someone like me. A mind like yours deserves to be freelance like the rest of your family"

She was a little shocked he knew, and he could tell she was.

"Oh yes, I looked up on your family history. Shirogane lineage. A reputation to uphold, am I right?"

She nodded her head slightly as he smiled slightly before his face relaxed again.

"So I want you to know that I think you are one of the best if not the best we have ever had from a detective and a police officer. You are professional and astounding in your work. It never really ceases to impress me. "

"If I may speak freely, Sir?"

"Go ahead"

"If you would please get to the point"

The chief stared at her for a moment before clearing his throat and standing from his spot and making his way back behind his desk.

"I tried to fight them Detective. I really did. I explained to them your skills and your accomplishments to them but they would not listen. They insisted. "

She was more confused now than concerned.

"Am I being fired?"

The chief sucked on his teeth again.

"No. I am trying to convey something."

This was really burning her time up and began to aggravate her.

"I told them you don't work well with others other than Detective Dojima and they said that you will need to learn fast."

"Detective Dojima…"

"Won't be working on this case with you anymore"

She felt a little angry inside. She never really thought of Dojima as a partner….well maybe she did, but now he was being taken off the case?

"I told you detective. I tried to tell them"

"Well tell them again"

The chief was quiet for a moment before he leaned back in his chair.

"Detective, my superiors are having nightmares over their superiors coming down on them. Have you heard of the phrase 'Shit rolls downhill?' Well someone at the top was in a very long meeting with someone that I have never even heard existed until a few days ago. Then they came down on their subordinate and then they came down all the way down to me"

She bit down hard on her tongue.

"Go on…"

"We are bringing in a detective from the west to help you with the case"

"…another detective?"

"Yes"

He might as well have just punched her in the face. She didn't like working with others on official police business. It had been hard enough to involve Teddie and Yosuke in it and it had been even worse two years ago in the original case. But they were already on the case themselves. It was a different situation back then. More complicated. This was just ridiculous.

"I tried to fight for you detective. I really did. You are a very bright young man and you always get the job done."

She stood from her seat

"I respectfully refuse, Sir. I am perfectly capable of solving this case with the aid of Detective Dojima"

He understood why she was angry and tried to calm her down.

"This isn't about your capability, Shirogane. I understand how capable you are. You are a fine detective. You would have made your parents proud."

At the mention of her parents she slowly took her seat again, trying to control her emotions. He was a superior to her. She had orders to follow. She would have to learn to play well with others. She was quiet as she spoke, tilting her hat down over her eyes.

"Who are they?"

The chief opened the manila folder and read his name out.

"Sebastian Chastity."

She found it an odd name, almost made up. But she didn't know what to expect from those in the west.

"20 years old, graduated from university two years ago with honors in criminology. Apparently he was bumped ahead in his academic career several times. Graduated with a 4.1 GPA."

Naoto understood the grade point average only went up to 4.0 in the west. Perhaps he answered bonus questions correctly a well.

"...and his record is…impressive to say the least."

Naoto could taste venom in her mouth, wanting to spit but she swallowed hard instead.

The chief folded the file up and slid it across his desk towards her. She just stared at it, chewing at her tongue.

"He arrives in three days via train. I want you there to pick him up and take him to where he is staying. Get him settled."

She didn't look up as she spoke.

"And where will he be staying?"

"We will be giving him residence at one of our own officers' house. My superiors offered a trade so we are sending one of our officers in Detective Chastitie's place. It's not very appropriate if you ask me, but Detective Chastity, according to my superiors, was more than happy with it. Our man heads out tomorrow."

"I don't like this"

"Neither do I, detective. I'm not asking you to like it though. I'm asking you to do it. He will arrive, you will solve the case together quickly, and he will be gone. And you can get back to whatever it is that you do."

She was quiet for a few moments

"….when?"

"4:15pm. Train station"

Eventually she reached for the envelope and opened it up to the three sheets of paper inside. There was no photograph.

"There is no photograph."

"The damn thing won't come up on the e-mail's or the fax. Whatever program was used to send the picture won't send it through properly. It just keeps coming up in this blurry image."

"So…you expect me to walk up to strangers and figure out who this detective is at random?"

The chief shook his head.

"I expect you to do whatever it is that you do to get this man to his place of residence and get him to work the next day to solve this case. I don't want him here anymore than you do."

She sighed and closed the folder before standing up.

"Will that be all, Sir?"

"It will detective."

She bowed her head slightly and turned to leave his office.

"And detective"

She turned to look at him.

"Please try to play nice"

"I'm afraid I can offer no promises, Sir"

She closed the door behind her and made her way back to her office. On her way back, her eyes met with Dojima's as he refilled his coffee mug. He nodded to her. He either didn't know or wasn't going to show his disappointment. The only person she was ok with working alongside was now out of the picture.

When she returned to her office she closed her door behind her, locking it again. She set the file down on the desk and took a moment to breathe deep before she grabbed her hat and threw it hard against the wall, it plopped on the ground. She wanted to break something but she liked her things. She wanted to scream but instead drew the fleshy part of her palm into her mouth and bit down on it till it hurt. She wasn't a child. She could handle this with Dojima. She could handle this alone if she needed.

No. She knew that wasn't true. She let her hand fall from her mouth and went to go pick her hat up, knocking it against her leg before putting it back on her head. Disgruntled and angry, she flopped down in her chair, pulling herself back up to her desk. She couldn't use this detective. This wasn't a normal means of work. If someone with her powers was involved it would take someone like her to help. And she was certain he couldn't help with that.

She leaned forward in her seat and held her head in her hands for a few minutes until she finally opened the folder to read over his work history, training, education, and skill set, and make an attempt at profiling the man.

Name: Sebastian Chastity

Age: 20

Hair: black

Eyes: Green

She looked over his medical records. He had a substantial buildup of scar tissue on his spine from a car accident on a case three years prior. It had taken him a year and a half to get back on his feet which was quite a short amount of time to be up and back on the force after an accident which almost severed his spine. He was lucky. At the same time, the scar tissue was now intertwined around his spinal column offering more protection from spinal injuries. She wondered if he would have to have surgery later in life to prevent it from damaging his skeleton.

His body of work was extensive for someone his age. As she flipped through the pages of his dossier, she found herself quickly taking interest in this detective. Half of Canada, one third America, England, Rome, Switzerland, New-Zealand, China, Korea, and West Africa were only a few of the places he had been dispatched to for a case. She actually felt kind of envious of his work.

She set the pages back down in the folder and closed it, taking a moment to stare at it in thought before her eyes grazed across her computer. She moved the mouse to wake it up, opening a search engine and typing his name into the box. Several of his case files popped up, but the images that had been taken of him were all blurry. Even when she opened the image only section, she was greeted by only blurry images of a young man.

She tapped her fingers along the wood of her desk, staring at one of the images.

"We shall see, detective…"

Case 463 : - 81 hours