A/N: At long last, our protagonists are going to get to work! There are mentions of unpleasantness in this chapter [e.g. homicide], but nothing terribly graphic.

Disclaimer: Characters are property of Tite Kubo; original characters [um, corpses] are entirely fictional, and any resemblance to persons living, dead, or animated is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

Compression, Chapter Seven


:*:*:


The ride in the compact car was long enough for the heat to kick in, a pleasant warmth circling his lower legs and tickling his nose.

Renji was just getting comfortable as they approached the tenement…and sleepy, though the soporific atmosphere would evaporate the moment the car door opened. He blinked, taking in the toys, bikes and litter strewn over the dirt yard; the alternating flashes of blue and red light from atop the police cruisers reminded him of 3-D films viewed without the glasses, casting eerie shadows down the blighted street.

The sedan pulled past the armored vans and squad cars, allowing the detectives out and continuing on in the unenviable task of finding a place to park. Renji's large, booted feet slapped along the uneven sidewalk, stepping over the crime-scene tape and striding toward the gated entrance.

They paused, trading their coats for jumpsuits, paper bonnets and plastic booties before going in, a measure to avoid crime scene contamination that Kuchiki-keibu adopted and lobbied for early in his career. It looked silly [at least to Renji] but had improved the quality of trace evidence collection enough to become the departmental standard.

After ascending a narrow flight of stairs, Renji entered the apartment, Byakuya a silent shadow to the rear. Bare beige walls and an ancient brown and orange shag carpet appeared intact; only the kicked-in front door betrayed the evening's conflict. The redhead noted the paucity of furniture - a folding table, a stained mattress and two sofa cushions - and the bare light bulbs illuminating the main room before approaching the S.W.A.T. commander guarding the interior hallway.

"Hey," Zaraki Kenpachi gruffed, looking unexpectedly regal in his Kevlar-clad uniform. His golden gaze peered down, inspecting them without expression. "You runnin' this one, kid?"

"Yeah," Renji affirmed without squirming, though he still had to crane his neck upwards to meet his former captain's eyes. "Looks pretty clean."

At that, Kenpachi grinned. "Damn straight; nabbed the sons-of-bitches without firin' a shot. The four musketeers are being processed as we speak; we found firearms but the drugs were cleared out, probably earlier this week."

"They were tipped off?" The redhead scribbled in his notebook as his eyes roamed.

"Dunno. I think these bastards get paranoid and move their stashes around regardless; these guys have at least three other safehouses in the city, besides the cooklabs, according to Narcotics."

"Anyone else living here?"

"Doubt it." Zaraki adjusted his collar. "Kitchen's empty, as are the closets and the smaller bedroom. The place is sublet, but we think the perps've been here since the summer."

"Other exits?"

"Not officially. No screens in the windows but no fire escapes either; the only exterior door's the front."

Renji nodded, pen slowing. "Who found the bodies?"

"Jiruga took out the door and cleared the room, didn't touch anythin' else; the closet was open when he went in. B'sides the two of us, no one else's been in or out."

The redheaded lieutenant nodded, grateful that the S.W.A.T. commander had personally guarded their evidence.

"Neighbors on both sides are across the street with uniforms; M.E.'s on their way. Anythin' else?"

"Nope. Thanks for everything, Zaraki-keibu."

"Yeah, yeah." Kenpachi waved them off, picking up his helmet. "Consider it a token of my appreciation for babysittin'."

The giant of a man stalked off, almost reaching the front door before pausing to look over a squared shoulder.

"Speakin' o'which, how'd she do?"

"She was flawless," Byakuya spoke for the first time since their arrival. "I believe Shiba-sensei caught most of it on video."

"Really?" The cragged planes of Zaraki's face converged into a smile. "Well, the little shit of an instructor might be worth somethin' after all. Goodnight, ladies."

Kenpachi sauntered into the entryway, sending the newly-arrived forensics team scattering like so many cockroaches caught by surprise. Renji limited himself to a smirk as he stepped through the hallway, nodding to the uniformed officer that stood before the last door on the left.

The makeshift sentry returned the nod as he stepped aside and past them, making for the exit as the redhead's gloved hand closed on the doorknob.

The master bedroom was tiny and as desolate as the outer portions of the apartment, its contents consisting of a weathered mattress below an unadorned window and four bodies lining another wall. Renji took a deep breath, barely acknowledging the cloying stench that hung thick in the air as he crossed the threshold.

Okay. I can do this.

"Own your space; you are responsible for the crime scene, and must move through it accordingly. Treat the members of your team with respect, but in no doubt to whom they answer to."

His eyes wanted to flutter closed, a desire he channeled into a slow blink as he took in the room for the first time.

"Cross the tape with your eyes open, mind quiet and your mouth shut. Your first duty is to observe objectively, taking in all of what you see, hear, smell and taste; do not take any notes during this primary survey or you will focus more on the words than on your subject."

After exploring an empty closet, Renji paced the perimeter of the bed, noting the shallow, circular depression in the carpet nearby as he moved towards the window. He let his gaze move over the sill, the paint chipping from the aluminum frame, and the embattled shrubs in the yard below as he let the familiar words wash over him.

"Move from the least to most disturbing features of the scene. If you focus immediately on the obvious, on the gore, you might miss important details hiding in innocuous places."

He'd heard the speech dozens of times, but it wasn't until that moment that Renji realized he'd committed his captain's advice to memory. He stole a quick glance behind him; Byakuya's tranquil gaze flicked only briefly in his direction before returning to the window, lingering there as if admiring a piece of art. Renji bit his tongue; between the monologue in his mind and his inspector's placid manner, they might as well have been on a museum tour.

Duly cataloging that rogue notion, the tattooed lieutenant came to a stop at the 'main exhibit.' The four corpses had been propped up, leaning against each other and the wall and legs strewn haphazardly over the carpet. The younger two of the quartet had slumped and slid partway down the wall, staining the ecru paint a rusty brown on the way to the floor. A portly fellow and a wiry, heavily tattooed older man remained well positioned nearer the door.

"Make your own observations before conferring with the medical examiner or with the forensics team; their areas of expertise may differ and their input is useful, but your viewpoint is every bit as valid and ought not to be summarily discarded if there is a conflict."

Renji smiled despite himself and his surroundings. He'd been astonished the first time he'd been lectured so- the very last thing the brand-new homicide detective had expected were words of encouragement…of confidence…of faith. And from Kuchiki freaking Byakuya, no less.

Settling into a crouch, the redhead inspected the bodies more closely.

I knew I would learn a lot, but I expected to be cut down and humiliated in the process. Kuchiki-keibu doesn't sugarcoat anything, but he isn't cruel or vindictive like I'd expected he'd be; his criticisms are many but fair, but the praise…

Renji stood, shaking the warm fuzzies off before they blossomed into something both regrettable and poorly timed. As he straightened, a slim shadow darkened the doorway and pushed its gleaming glasses up with a sigh.

"Hey, Uryuu."

A serious young man stepped into the small room, setting his bag down and bowing his head slightly to the "good evening, Ishida-sensei," that wafted over from the quiet captain by the window. Renji retreated to give the medical examiner space as he caught sight of the black bowtie beneath the jumpsuit.

"Wow, what were you up to?"

The redhead imagined the sound of all gravitas being sucked out of the room, a whoosh that might also have been blood rushing through his ears…or the combined death-ray glares of the other men in the room.

"A thwarted attempt at a pleasant evening," Ishida grumbled, shifting in his tuxedo as he retrieved a smaller case from the duffel bag by his feet. "The only consolation being that I could sneak out right as the encore began."

"Shame, that." Renji abandoned further attempts at conversation as Uryuu went to check the first victim's core temperature. Meeting calm gray eyes briefly, he turned back to the closet opposite the bodies to begin the secondary survey.

"As you evaluate things for a second time, allow your findings to form and shape hypotheses. Be succinct yet thorough as you make your notes; the time to edit and eliminate will come later, when you have sound reasons for doing so."

Extending a hand, he tapped along the back and soffit and finding no loose or hidden panels within; Renji then patted down and lifted the mattress, spare coins and a sheet of fabric softener his only finds. Byakuya finally abandoned the window, padding over to stand silently by the door as the younger men continued their work.

A few minutes later, Uryuu began collecting his instruments and Renji flipped to the beginning of his notebook.

"When you are ready, Abarai."

Ishida spared the redhead a glance, a brief twitch of his eyebrows the only mirth that escaped before he turned back to his charges.

"From the look of the carpet and the nearby electrical outlet, there was a small appliance, probably a stereo or alarm clock, by the bed there," he pointed with a nitrile-gloved finger to a round indentation in the shag. "I'm not sure why they removed it; no blood n'gore made it anywhere near there."

The inspector nodded.

"Closet's been empty for a while: no hangers, dust on the shelf is pretty thick but undisturbed, no impressions in the rug."

Renji pivoted and gestured to the four dead men on the floor.

"They were moved here. There isn't any splatter, just the smear you'd expect from the way they were positioned post-mortem. I'm also gonna go out on a limb and say that those two," he indicated the younger men furthest from the door, "were either killed much later, kept in a cooler place for a while, or both."

"Probably right on both counts," Ishida volunteered as he pointed to mottled skin on one of the younger victim's backs. "Judging by the amount of livor and lack of rigor, these two were shot hours after the older men, even factoring in their smaller size and proximity to the window."

Which explains why the older two are holding their poses better, Renji mused as he took in their stiffened limbs again. Rigor's already kicked in, and the warmer temperatures further into the room may have accelerated that a bit.

"As for likely cause of death," the medical examiner went on, "all four have gunshot wounds to the chest, close proximity from a small caliber weapon. The head wounds were inflicted post-mortem, also small caliber. The two nearest the door were probably killed between nine and twelve hours ago, the others two to four. That's it for preliminary findings."

The forensics team appeared at the door, setting their equipment down gingerly as they rolled a gurney in.

"Anything you need, doc?"

"That will be all." Ishida looked over his shoulder. "Don't you have anybody to interview?"

Renji grinned. "A cast of thousands is more like it. Take it easy."

Striding confidently from the room, he caught a look of - contentment? - from his superior officer, yet he didn't dare to speak or think or breathe until they had examined the rest of the dwelling and were almost outside.

Not bad for a junior detective; all the other Lieutenants have to sit back and wait for forensics and the M.E. to decipher the crime scene for them, and the rest of the Captains don't seem to mind. Kuchiki-keibu hates to rely on others…it makes him a little OCD, and more than a little demanding…but his attention to detail is part of what makes him so fucking brilliant.

Why he chose to take on a clown like me as his subordinate, I may never know.

Peeling the jumpsuit and prophylactics from his person, he gazed expectantly at the older man.

"Any more thoughts, Abarai?"

Truth be told, Byakuya's silence was making him more nervous than usual, despite its necessity; how else was he to learn? He won't always be here to tell me the right answers, Renji thought with more than a hint of sadness, though I can't imagine doing this without him.

He shook his red locks out, ignoring the curious look he received.

Focus, dammit.

"Someone went through a lot of trouble to make sure those bodies were found. What makes most sense to me is that some inexperienced thug known to the group got paid to whack a few guys, shoot them again later with a different weapon, plant the bodies and the gun on site here, then put in the call to get the others busted…and maybe frame them for murder?"

"It seems likely," Byakuya mused as he retrieved his coat.

"Ahh, good." Renji winced, wishing he didn't sound so damned relieved at the other's endorsement.

"Anything else?"

The short-lived relief evaporated, and the redhead's heart sank slightly. He only prompts me like this when I'm missing something.

"Just tell me," came the resigned sigh. He bent over to remove his shoe covers.

Cool fingers seized his chin, and Renji nearly toppled over in shock.

Since when do you touch anyone?

"Stop sulking," Byakuya commanded softly, angling up the other's face until their eyes met. "For your first case as primary detective, you are doing well. Do not let a single comment from me or anyone else derail your confidence so easily."

Renji's eyes widened. He heard the words but couldn't put them together in a way that made sense.

"As the more experienced detective, it is expected that I notice details that you might overlook. It is unrealistic to expect to do this job by yourself; hence, we work in pairs. Do you understand?"

Byakuya released the muscular jaw, stepping back as Renji nodded. They watched each other for a moment before the older man spoke again.

"Do you have a theory as to how the bodies were transported?"

The redhead took a moment to think. He's seen no blood anywhere else in, or leading to, the apartment, nor any obvious disturbance in the ugly shag carpet to indicate that they were dragged into the master bedroom.

"Um…not yet," the lieutenant admitted as he stood upright.

"There were linear marks on the outside surface of the window frame."

"Oh, yeah," Renji muttered absently, staring at the boot covers crushed in his hand.

"It appeared, to me, that someone recently leaned a ladder against the sill, dislodging paint there and along the edge of the outer pane."

"As they snuck out the window and closed it from the outside?" The redhead tossed the refuse away, reaching for his coat as his brow furrowed. "The apartment complex's maintenance shed's barely twenty-five yards from the back of the flat, and I saw a few ladders stored in there; I bet that jackass locked the door from the inside, schlepped the bodies up the ladder, probably with help, and went out again while the other geniuses thought he was asleep or stoned or something."

"With that level of sophistication," Byakuya murmured drolly, "the suspect…or suspects may not be content to leave well enough alone."

Inked eyebrows twitched as he read between the lines of his superior's statement. "How stupid would you have to be to stay and watch the cops come?"

"Judging from their treatment of the corpses… if they felt the police would be fooled by their efforts, they might also think us inept at interviewing witnesses or securing the scene."

"Mmh." Renji bit his lip lightly. "So, how'dya wanna handle this, Captain?"

"As primary detective handling this case, I believe that decision rests with you."

By now, Renji's earlier embarrassment had been dwindled down enough to be manageable; as the gears of his mind turned, he could feel a wicked twinkle come in to his eye.

"Well, then," the redhead grinned, zipping up his jacket. "It's time for bust number two."


:*:*:


A/N: Until next time...