CHAPTER 11: A New Case

"WHAT?" Suzume and Heiji shouted. Both were sitting in a restaurant across from the women they met. The women was Numajiri Miiko, age 45 and is a successful businesswomen.

"So," Suzume said, putting her hand to her chin and sitting back, "let me get this straight. Your daughter, Numajiri Mae, was at home alone because you had work. By the time you got home this afternoon you found she was gone and a letter was stuck to your door. The letter stated that they had your daughter and if you don't follow the instructions they give you, they'd kill her. So they called your cell and said to stand in hall at the shopping center until they contacted you again and told you were they wanted you to take the cash. Correct?"

"Yes," Miiko said. She pulled out her cell-phone and gave it to Suzume. On there was a picture of a girl in front, tide up to a chair with bruises covering her. She was sitting in front a few fishing poles and a few other items that you would find in a normal closet. "I got that once I got here, but that was all…"

Heiji looked over Suzume's shoulder and then looked at Suzume. She looked serious, more serious then she's ever been. Her eyes were narrow and she was scanning over the picture, intensely.

There must be something! she thought as she scanned over the picture. But for some reason, nothing stood out to her. But right when she spotted something in background, the phone started ringing.

Miiko snatched the phone and answered it. "Hello?" she said.

"Mom?" a voice said through tears.

"Mae!" Miiko said, almost in tears. "Hon, where are you?"

"I-I don't know!" the girl said. "I can hear a bunch of voices, but I don't know what they're saying! And footsteps!"

Voices and footsteps? Suzume and Heiji thought.

"Hon, how are you contacting me now?" Miiko said.

"One of the men left his phone in here, so I decided to use it," the girl said. "Mom, they said they were going to kill me either way, even if they did get the cash! I'm scared!"

Suzume's eyes widened, along with Heiji's. Although, Suzume has dealt with this situation before, but with different circumstances.

"They said when the clock gets to three, they were going to put a bullet through my head!" The girl was crying even more.

Suzume grabbed Heiji's hand and looked at his watch. 1:58 p.m. so that gave them and hour and two minutes to find the girl.

"Mae?" Miiko said. Mae wasn't there anymore, in fact all that was there was dial tone. The little girl was gone from the phone line.

Miiko whipped her face of the tears and closed the phone, putting it on the table.

"The men probable caught her using the phone," Suzume said, crossing her arms. "She'll be fine, for now that is…"

Miiko looked at Suzume, tears welling up in her eyes. "Please!" she said. "Please find my daughter!"

Suzume gave a small smile to calm the women down. "No worries, we'll find your daughter before anything happens to her."

The women smiled. "Thank you."

After awhile, Heiji and Suzume were back walking down the halls. Heiji had his hands behind his head and he kept looking out of the corner of his eyes at Suzume. Suzume was looking at the picture of the girl on Miiko's cell-phone. Suzume's eyes were narrowed and she was very focused.

"So," Heiji said, looking up at the ceiling, "the only leads we have are the picture and what the girl was hearing. Voices and footsteps. Where could she-"

"She's here…" Suzume said, still scanning over the picture. "The voices and footsteps she heard were from those here, in the shopping center. Earlier I heard the intercom in the call."

"But, where in here is she?" Heiji glanced back down at Suzume.

"That," she said, looking up at Heiji and smiling, "I don't know!"

Heiji's expression turned blank. He couldn't believe she just said that. Suzume looked back at the picture and looked at the things around the girl. Fishing poles, jerseys, a snow board and boxes.

"She's in a sports store," Suzume said, turning the phone to the side. She was looking at the boxes, but she couldn't read the name on them.

"That really narrows things down," Heiji said, sarcastically. "There are around twenty sports stores in this place."

Suzume closed the phone and stuck it in her pocket. She then thought for a moment. The place would most likely be closed today… They wouldn't want people to figure out that they were holding a little girl in their closet, so it must be closed, no doubt about it! But which stores are- Suzume stopped thinking when she remembered when her and Heiji were on the third floor. The sports store Suzume wanted to go in was closed.

"That must be it!" Suzume shouted.

Heiji jumped at the sudden out burst but when he looked at Suzume, she was gone. Suzume was already bolting down the hall and went running down the stairs. Heiji ran after her, or at least tried.

Suzume was standing outside the sports store, out of breath. It seemed that she had lost Heiji in her sudden run. Suzume was trying to catch her breath, but it didn't seem to want to be caught.

Suzume moved her arm and a pain shot up her arm. She looked down and saw the deep cut on her arm, which was deeper then she thought. It was slowly bleeding and it seemed to not stop.

Suzume forgot about her cut and decided to walk into the shop (she had already picked the lock). Suzume looked around and heard voices in the back. She stood next to the door and listened.

Suzume listened to the pointless conversation the men were having about sports. Suzume shifted her position, ready to break down the door, but to her surprise she ended up knocking a bunch of things over.

CRAP! she thought, looking at the broken glass on the ground.

"What was that?" a man said. The other man shrugged. "Go check it out!"

The second man did as he was told and walked out of the backroom. Suzume was hiding behind the opened door, hoping she won't get caught, but she did when the man shut the door.

"What the-" before he could finish, she jump kicked him in the jaw. The man went flying to the floor and was knocked out almost immediately.

Wow…. Suzume thought, standing over the man. I thought he would at least put up more of a fight….

"Ishida? What's going on?" the other man shouted from within the backroom.

Suzume opened the door and walked in. "Ishida?" she said. "Wow…. Thought you would at least try and hide your names."

The little girl sat behind the man, tide in duck tape. "Who are you?" the hat man said. The same man that stole the purse earlier.

Suzume gave a smile which had many evil intentions behind it. "Just an innocent bystander, trying to help out."

The man gritted his teeth and pulled out his gun. But before he could shoot it, Suzume kicked it out of his hand. She then kicked the man in the side and sent him flying into the wall. His head hit the wall and he crumbled to the ground.

Suzume ran to the little girl, getting the piece of duck tape off her mouth. "Don't worry," Suzume said, "I'm a detective sent by your mother."

The little girl smiled through her tears.

The man near the wall sat up, his head bleeding. His gun was next to him and e grabbed it. "You little brat," he said, standing up and pointing it at Suzume.

Suzume broke the last piece of duck tape holding the little girl. "Run," Suzume said.

The little girl got up and ran out. "Oh not you don't!" the man shouted, pointing his gun at the little girl.

Suzume blocked the gun and the girl as the girl ran out the door. Suzume kicked the gun out of the man's hand again, but the man didn't fall for the same trick. This time, he punch Suzume in the stomach, sending her to her knees.

"Shouldn't try the same trick, brat," he said bitterly. "You let my payment get away, and now you have to pay for it."

Suzume looked up with a grin. "How much you want?" she asked through a small laugh.

The man kicked her across the face and sent her to the floor. "Don't get cocky!" he shouted.

Suzume propped up on her elbow and whipped her mouth, blood was now on her hand from her split lip. "Hasn't anyone ever told not to hit a girl?" she said with the same cocky smile on her face.

She threw her leg up and kicked the man again in the jaw. But all he did was stumble on his feet. Suzume jumped to her feet and tried kicking him again, but he caught her leg. "Nice try, girly," he said. He then twisted her leg and made her go to the floor again. The man then kicked her in the face and she was lying on the ground with her eyes closed.

The man looked at the door and was surprised at what he saw. He put up his hands and gritted his teeth.

Suzume opened her eyes and sat up. There she saw a police officer, pointing his gun at the hated man. He had short black hair and was kind of big.

Suzume stood to her feet, a little wobbly, as the police officer cuffed the man and walked him out of the back room, not even saying anything to her.

Suzume walked out of the backroom and looked around. She saw the police standing outside. She also saw Heiji talking to one of them like they were best friends.

Suzume put her hand on the door frame to try keeping her balance. She looked up and looked at Heiji and the officer. Heiji glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Suzume standing there. And it seemed that he had stopped his conversation with the officer (Otaki) and now they were looking at her.

Inspector Otaki laughed to himself. He then hit Heiji on the back and said, "Thanks again, Hei-chan." He then walked off and went to questioning Miiko and Mae

Suzume walked out the front door and stood at the door, watching as the police walked off with the two thief's. Her jaw was hurting along with almost every other part of her body. Suzume sat on the floor, not really caring where she was, and shut her eyes.

"Ya alright?" a voice said.

Suzume opened her eyes and saw Heiji, squatting in front of her. "Yeah," Suzume said. Suzume stood up with Heiji.

"Liar," Heiji said.

Suzume put her head to her forehead. "Fine," she said, "I'm tired and I wish there wasn't so much noise…"

"There is no noise…" Heiji raised an eyebrow at Suzume. Something wasn't right.

Suzume gave a small grin and said, "Really…? Then why…" she then stopped talking and collapsed into Heiji. The last thing she heard before she became unconscious was Heiji shouting for an ambulance.