OCTOBER 5, 2013

...

In the three months since the murders began, the Tokyo Police department were still a long way away from finding Kazuno Tsuuda's "apprentice". All of the notes that Tré had written were organized and mapped out in Law's office, away from where the higher ups couldn't detect his and Zoro's side-job of looking for the girl. After Ayane had been saved, the department had celebrated, but one of their own was still missing, and the longer time passed, the more worried they became.

After the initial 24-hour mark after Ayane had been found, the killer, who had been nicknamed "The Cutter", had sent out clues to finding the other woman; each more gruesome than the last.

The most recent corpse had been bound with vines covered and strange purple plants that Ayane had later identified as the Passion flower; Tré's favorite. They weren't indigenous to Japan, and the only import/export unit in the country that had them was in Nagano, but the leads ended there.

Ace was shifting through the autopsy files of Kazuno, while Law read every single document containing the man's name. There were intern files from when he was a surgeon's assistant back in 1987, and notes the man had taken during the conferences in 1994, 2001, and 2008.

/That was the year he attacked Dr. Cordell./ Law thought, and he frowned as he flipped open a notebook containing the recommendations for Tsuuda to work for Tokyo General Hospital. /Wait./ Law frowned, staring at the photograph that been stapled to the file.

"Portgaz-ya."

Ace turned. "Hm? What did you find?"

"Who does think this looks like?" Law held up the picture. "Look at the two men on the bottom left. The doctor and intern."Ace's color drained faster than Law though possible, and as the other man opened his mouth to speak, a cheery "You've got mail!" came from the other side of the room.

Law slid over to the desk in the rolling chair and opened up his account. It was from someone called MorgueMaster and had the subject headline "Lab Report". He hesitated for second, not recognizing the username. He only had three contacts: SavvyDoc (Tré), MELead (the medical examiner main office), and FireFist (Ace). Normally he wouldn't download a file from an unknown sender, but the headline intrigued him.

Law opened it.

-Here are some pathology photos that I found that may be of interest to you.- Law downloaded the attached files, and abruptly called Ace over as a color photograph popped up.

"It's Tré!"

Ace all but sprinted to the computer.

The picture was of Tré, standing against the wall, shackled and chained like a dog. Her shirt was missing, her pants were torn in some places, and she had lost a shoe. Her hair was a tangled mess, and bruises dotted her skin, a strip of duct tape covered her mouth, but Ace could tell that if she could speak, she would have been screaming. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying and the surroundings gave no hint to her location.

There was a cardboard sign taped to her chest like a plaque: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOSS! was written in giant, curlicue letters with black ink.

White-hot rage swept through Law and he turned away from the screen, swearing violently. Ace was on his phone, dialing for one of the IT guys, and moments later a tall blond man came in.

"Yeah?"

Ace sighed and pointed at the PC. "Sabo, you have to find out where this email came from. Track the IP address, and get as much information as you can."

Sabo nodded grimly, "You got it, bro."

...

Ace called Zoro and explained what was going on while Law went through every school document during the years that Kazuno attended. The man graduated in 1997 from Meiji University, causing Law to look up the school and make a few phone calls.

"Ace." Said man turned to look at Law.

"What?"

Law grabbed his keys and pulled his hoodie over his head, "I have a theory, and I'm about to go confirm it. I'll call when I find out more."

"Do you really think its-"

"I don't know! But if it is, then we have to do something fast before Tré gets killed."

Ace nodded, wishing the other man luck as he left. This case was hard on everyone, but Law was taking it personally.

...

A Law walked into the lobby of Meiji University, he was dimly aware of the stares he got: guys looking at him like he was a weirdo (mostly because he was soaked from the rain and had an expression like he was going to tear the Earth apart), and the girls because he was obviously the hottest thing they'd ever seen. From the piercings, to the tattoos, to the glare, Trafalgar Law was a walking, breathing mass of "get-the-fuck-away-from-me-or-I-will-consume-your- soul".

He walked into an office labeled "student services", and at once the secretary appeared.

"Are you from TPD?"

Law nodded and the woman ushered him into a room and took a seat. "When you asked for the student files for the class that Mr. Tsuuda taught, I had to do some digging, but I've got the class roster for you." Law took the folder and looked through the pictures of the class. Underneath the names was the graduating motto of the medical school: "To Heal The World".

Law looked up, "When we spoke on the phone you said that the graduating class had 108 students, but this roster says there were 110 in attendance."

The secretary stopped smiling and shook her head sadly, "I still haven't gotten over what happened to that poor girl."

"What girl?"

"Tomoe Izayoi. She was working as a pediatric nurse in the city, for her elective course. The roads to the hospital were just awful then. She ran into a ditch and broke her neck in a thunder storm."

"And the other student, there was another one who didn't graduate."

Her eyes fell to her desk. "It happens every so often. A student drops out. We try to help, but there are just some problems you can't fix."

Law felt his pulse quicken. "What happened?"

"He had been assigned a female cadaver for his anatomy final, and he and his lab partners were to preterm a pelvic dissection, to expose the uterus and bladder. The organs were not to be removed, just laid bare." She shuddered. "The moments he got his hands on the scalpel, he lost control."

"How?"

"He carved them out. First he severed the bladder and left it lying between the cadaver's legs, and the. He hacked out the uterus. He didn't wear any gloves, like he wanted to feel the blood and organs in hands. That's how I found him. In one hand he was holding the dripping organ, and in the other..." Her voice trailed away, as though disturbed by this topic.

Law's voice was neutral. "He was masturbating."

"That's why he couldn't graduate! If he did that to a corpse, imagine what he'd do to a live patient!"

"And this student," Law felt his suspicions rise. "What was his name?"

"Robert Lucci."

...

Law ran out to car as fast as he could, grabbing his cell phone, activating the three-way call app and dialing Ace and Zoro. They answers almost immediately.

"I'm glad you called! We found out where the message came from!" Ace's voice was stressed and rapid. "It was sent from Tré's laptop!"

Law swore. "Portgaz, Roronoa, listen; I know who it is! L-" he saw him then, rising out of his back seat like a cobra, and the last thing Law acknowledged was the burning pain in his throat as the chloroform-soaked rag covered his mouth.