Ran nodded. "Yeah..." She agreed and shyly crawled under the blanket as well. The rain was still pouring and the wind still wailed. Ran and Shinichi closed their eyes and wanted to drift off to sleep. However, after a short while, a particular loud clap of thunder and a lightning really did make Ran jump; she instinctively edged closer to Shinichi and grabbed his arm.
"Ah...sorry..."
Shinichi sighed. "I told you, it's fine. Just don't worry and get some rest."
"Yeah, yeah...I know..."
He spoke relatively easy, but inside, Shinichi's heart was throbbing like crazy.
"Good night, Ran."
"Good night, Shinichi."
Chapter 11 - The Truth about the Woman in Red
Outside, the Woman in Red was shaking. Not because of the cold, the rain or the wind, no, not because of these things. The reason were the things she just saw. The same teenagers she spotted through one of the windows earlier. Back then, the dark haired girl with the unique haircut dressed the boy, she buttoned up his shirt and now, they were being so close to each other, kissing and going to bed, presumably to go even further, to get physical. The Woman tightened her grip around the knife she carried with her.
'That intimacy...the love...just...it's just like 15 years ago...' Images of that time flashed back to her mind.
"Oh, Takeno-san, it's so wonderful here!" She exclaimed.
"I knew you'd like it here. It's so peaceful and quiet...and away from all the trouble..."
She grabbed his collar. "Please...kiss me...take me!"
"Oh my, Shinobu, I didn't know you were that naughty..." He said, smiling.
They sank to the ground, when the door was kicked open.
"I KNEW IT!"
"What the...Komayo! No, wait, I can explain this..."
"Don't think you can fool me! I never should've trusted you!"
"Komayo, put that knife away, no, please, don't...!"
"DIEEEEEE!"
Afterwards, only blood, only red. Red everywhere, drowning out every other color.
The Woman in Red tried to shake off the memories, but they always came back to her. She bit her lip until she drew blood, calming her a bit. She stopped shaking and raised the knife.
'No...I wasn't able to kill that bitch in red today...and now this...no...no, they can't have what was taken away from me...they have no right...they don't deserve this romance, they must suffer like I had to...these two teenagers have to die!'
Meanwhile, a 4x4 police vehicle made its way towards the mansion. It didn't go very fast, because the bumpy road, that got even worse with the massive downpour, presentend a challenge for even the toughest of vehicles. Inside the 4x4, the two Nagano prefectural police inspectors Kansuke Yamato and Taka'aki 'Komei' Morofushi were talking to their chief by police radio, as the cellphone coverage was still down for this region.
"Alright, Yamato, now tell me: why are you two driving out there to a holiday villa, during the thunderstorm of the century no less?"
"Sir, the interrogation that Inspector Morofushi and I conducted earlier gave us reason to believe that activities in regards to the Red Woman Case are happening out there." Kansuke said, trying hard to be respectful, while driving on a road in very bad condition. He wanted to curse, but directing his anger at his chief seemed like a bad idea, even for the hot headed Kansuke.
"The Red Woman Case?" The chief wondered. "I thought you were just checking some minor details, so that the journalists can't clobber us during the press conference tomorrow. And now you're telling me, that you have reasons to believe that there are activities going on related to that case? Didn't we want to announce tomorrow, that the case was really already finished 15 years ago and that our assumption, that the Red Woman was still out there roaming the forest, was false? What could the man you interrogated possibly have said, to give you these kind of suspicions?"
The vehicle hit a deep pothole, making it jump a little. Kansuke couldn't surpress a curse this time; Morofushi noticed this and answered the chief in his stead. "Sir, the man we interrogated was the police officer, who discovered the murder 15 years ago. After a while, we got him to confess that he made an intentionally wrong report of the events of that day."
"What?!" The chief hissed.
"Yes, that was our first reaction as well. The police officer reported, that the Woman in Red tried to attack him back then and fled afterwards. However, the truth is, that the Woman threw the knife at him, causing him to trip and thus being unable to prevent her escape. We were suspicious of his report, because they weren't able to find the knife in the forest until 3 years later, when another girl went missing in the forest, the same incident where they discovered the skeleton of the Woman in Red in the swamp. We know now, that that skeleton really belongs to the Woman in Red, but we were asking ourselves, how it was possible that the knife was only found then and not during the search after the initial murder. Now we have our answer."
"But wait..." The chief said. "...if the Woman in Red threw the knife away in the mansion where she murdered her cheating husband, who picked it up and lost it in the forest three years later...? Don't tell me..."
"Yes." Kansuke said. "We think that the woman the first victim had an affair with, picked it up and is still roaming the forest, looking for vengeance. The murder was a terrifying sight; it made the officer who stumbled upon it lie in his official report and made him quit the force not too much later. It is quite possible, that the Woman who is now roaming the forest, has be traumatized even heavier; she might be completely mad."
"One has to be mad, to live out here in the forest like a tribal man..." Morofushi muttered under his breath, looking out the car window into the dark forest.
The chief didn't pick up on that comment. "Alright, so you suspect that the affair of the murder victim is the one who is roaming the forest, but why drive there now? You could conduct another search in the morning, with daylight, less rain and all."
"Sir, Detective Uehara is currently out there in one of these holiday mansions." Morofushi said. "There was another murder case out there. It appears that the people involved have connections to the Red Woman Case. We couldn't tell Detective Uehara that there is still someone dangerous roaming the forest, because the coverage went down. She and the detectives with her are completely unprepared for a sudden attack of that woman. Inspector Yamato and I are very concerned for the safety of our colleagues and the other people in that mansion."
"I see. Well, I still think it would much safer to wait until morning. The emergency services have only gotten so far with clearing the roads, if you two get stuck now or encounter another fallen tree, you might not be able to proceed any further and have to be rescued yourself." The chief replied.
"With all due respect, Sir, that's still MY call." Kansuke spat. "Detective Uehara is in my squad, I have the responsibility for her as her superior officer. It's bad enough, that it is only the two of us driving there! Atleast one squad car full of uniformed officers would be necessary to properly solve this...situation."
The chief chuckled in a threatening manner. "Don't be ridiculous, Yamato. You're not even sure if there is actually a situation going on there." The fake hint of amusement disappeared from his voice. "Besides, there is nothing I could do to send uniformed forces with you. Maybe you forgot that we have state of emergency due to a natural disaster at hand and even as chief of the first division of the criminal police, I don't really have room to negotiate or argue against the demands of the fire department and emergency services, not for just some suspicion of yours atleast. You two deal with whatever is going on out there alone or wait until tomorrow when the general situation is under control again. Your call, indeed. Kuroda out."
A crackle and some rustling signaled to Kansuke and Morofushi that their chief had cut the connection. Morofushi also flicked one switch, turning off their radio. A moment of silence passed, as Kansuke still focussed on the road.
"What do you think? About the chief?" Morofushi said.
"What do you mean, what about the chief?" Kansuke said, still looking on the road ahead.
"What do you think about his return? After his long coma?"
"Hmpf...what am I supposed to think about it?"
"I...I don't know..."
"Yeah...that's about right..."
"Huh?"
"I mean, I don't know what to think about his return, honestly. Something...seems off..."
Morofushi raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Kansuke groaned. "Look, Komei, this road isn't easy to navigate, can we talk about the chief tomorrow and focus on what's in front of us? Literally..."
"Yeah, sure. This seems really important to you..."
"Hmpf, of course it is. It's an important case, we've been working on it for so long now, I don't want anything to go wrong now. Not after we finally were about to close that chapter of our career..."
"Oh, yeah, but I meant something else..." Morofushi grinned. "You seemed really adamant about getting to our dear Yui..."
"Shut up. As I told the chief, I am responsible for Uehara; this is purely professional!"
"Of course, that's why you were determined like a mad men to get out there tonight, even with this big risk of us getting stuck."
Kansuke felt his anger rising up. His old friend was really ticking him off. "Oi, Komei, I told you that this isn't without risk, but you decided to come along anyway, you knew the risk. Now shut up, I need to concentrate."
"As you wish..." Morofushi suavely said, leaning back into his seat. As much as Kansuke didn't want to admit it, what he felt was more than professional responsibility for his police subordinate. She was a long time friend of his and getting her back into the police force was secretly one of his happiest days recently. Emphasis on secretly; he wouldn't admit that to anyone, of course.
'Yui...be safe!' Kansuke thought, while taking a difficult turn.
After what felt like an eternity, Kansuke and Morofushi finally reached the holiday mansion, Yui had reported to have a case in. The mansion was completely dark, which was about to be expected, since the power grid for this region was quite affected by the thunderstorm. Kansuke thanked the heavens that they didn't get stuck or encountered another uprooted tree.
Hasitly parking the vehicle in front of the mansion, Kansuke got out of the car as fast as he could, which wasn't easy because his leg was still injured and he had to use a crutch. They threw over their police issued rain capes; they still got pretty wet, but Kansuke had other things in mind. He limped over to the red colored front door and started banging at it. "OI! UEHARA, ARE YOU THERE?! ANSWER THE DOOR!" He shouted against the storm. "OIII! UEHARA! ANSWER ME!"
"Maybe they solved the case and made their way back before the storm got too bad?" Morofushi asked.
"IDIOT! Their squad car is still here, look there!" Kansuke pointed to the car.
"Calm down, it was hard to see in the dark..."
"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! I'M BUSTING DOWN THIS DOOR NOW!" Kansuke screamed and already got himself into position to ram the door, when the two of them heard a voice from the other side of the door.
"Kan-chan? Is that you?" It was Yui's voice.
"Yes, Yui it's me! Open up!"
The heard the clicking of a key turning inside a lock and a moment later the door opened. Kansuke and Morofushi wanted to head inside, but someone shined them in the eyes with flashlights. "Ahh, so bright..." Kansuke mumbled, raising one hand before his face to shield his eye.
"Kan-chan, it's really you. Oh, and Inspector Morofushi too! Come in." Yui said. She lowered the flashlight, allowing the two inspectors to see. Yui stood in the hallway, two teenage girls, a dark-skinned man, a woman with dark hair and an ununiformed police officer were behind her. Yui lead them all to the dining room, providing light with several candle stands. She ordered her ununiformed colleague to head back to the room where Sumika was kept cuffed to a bed, to assist their other colleague in watching over her. After that, Yui reported to Kansuke and Morofushi about the case here, who the culprit was and how she did it. She also introduced the two inspectors to Sera, Sonoko, Tamami and Jinsuke. Someone felt off to Yui, like she forgot something, but the sudden appearance of her senior colleagues made her not pursuing that feeling.
"Anyway, Kan-chan, what brings the two of you here during the middle of a thunderstorm? That was pretty dangerous, wasn't it?" Yui asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes. Yes, it was. But there has been development in the case we're pursuing, and that has a relation to you and this mansion." Morofushi said.
"Yeah, Komei's right. You know that we interrogated that police officer from 15 years ago, yeah? He told us, that he misreported something about that incident back then, because of his own trauma. The Woman in Red, she didn't chase him off, she threw her knife at him, causing him to trip and making him unable to pursue." Kansuke explained.
"W-wait a minute!" Yui exclaimed. "Does that mean...?"
Sera nodded grimly. "Yeah, that's the only logical explanation then..."
Sonoko, Jinsuke and Tamami looked at the police officers and the high school detectives questioningly. "Erm, sorry to ask this..." Sonoko said. "But...we can't quite follow your minds..."
Kansuke groaned. "Alright, I'll spell it out for you. Listen carefully, we all need to be on the same level to understand the situation we're in correctly. You listening?"
The three unknowing people nodded.
Kansuke took a deep breath. "Okay, so...this whole thing starts 15 years ago. The businessman Takeno-san is cheating on his wife. He brings his affair up here, to a holiday mansion just like this one; they want to enjoy their time together here. However, his wife, Komayo Takeno, finds out about it and follows them to the mansion. When she sees the two of them getting down to business, she goes into rage and kills her husband with a large kitchen knife. When a nearby officer hears the commotion, he enters the mansion and sees Komayo Takeno, with her white coat being turned into a completely red one, due to all the blood. This earned Komayo Takeno the nickname 'Woman in Red'.
Three years later, so twelve years ago from today, Jinsuke-san and his group comes into these woods. From what you told me right now, about the case that occured here today and about the relationships between you, I understand, that your friend Satoko wanted to play a prank on you and dressed up as the Woman in Red and got lost in the forest, only to later be found dead in a swamp. In the same swamp, we found the skeleton of the original Woman in Red, Komayo Takeno, who apparently died 15 years ago, on the same day as she committed her horrible deed. Beside the swamp, we found the knife, which she used to kill her husband. After the death of Komayo Takeno's mother recently, we were able to confirm, that the skeleton indeed was that of the original Woman in Red.
So far, so good. Now, here's where things get a bit messy. You see, I was wondering: if Komayo Takeno died at the same day, she committed the murder, why didn't we find the knife during our initial search of the forest? Why did we only find it three years later, when Satoko died? That's why we interrogated the officer who witnessed the original murder. And then he spilled it: he reported, that the Woman in Red attacked him and fled into the woods. But the truth was, that she threw the knife at him, leaving him unable to pursue because he fell and because of the shock. Komayo Takeno ran into the woods without the knife and died in the swamp, on that exact same day. Now how did the knife get to swamp then, where we found it three years later?
The only possible answer is: the woman, with whom Komayo Takeno's husband had an affair, picked it up. She was the only one with the opportunity to do so. Her name is Shinobu Kagawa and she's the one still roaming this forest. The reports about mansions, where someone broke in and lived in it, are the result of her survival tactic here in the forest. She doesn't know that the original woman is dead. Most likely, she roams these woods, still on the search for the one who killed the man she loved. Because she doesn't know and probably because of madness, she attacked Satoko three years later and chased her into the swamp. That's why we found the knife then, she lost it while she saw Satoko drown in the swamp. She chased her, because Satoko was dressed up like the Woman in Red, like Komayo Takeno.
And now today, you said, that the culprit of your murder case here, Sumika Kawana, dressed up as the Woman in Red, to provoke Satoko's accomplice into blowing his cover. If Shinobu Kagawa saw that, she may strike here, at this mansion and try to kill her, just like she tried to kill Satoko twelve years ago."
Kansuke inhaled deeply and threw head back, clearing his throat. "Alright, everybody got that?" His question earned him various nods. "Good, good. Now, you said Sumika was cuffed to a bed in of the guest rooms here?"
Yui nodded. "Yeah, the best form of custody we have right now. But don't worry for her, two armed officers are with her. A woman, who lived here in the forest for 15 years can't fight against that, not with just a knife, if she even got one as a replacement for the one she lost."
Morofushi waggled his finger. "I wouldn't underestimate a mad person in rage. The adrenaline rush can multiply her strenght massively and she might have higher pain tolerance. Even two armed men shouldn't let their guards down."
"You're right, but still..." Yui said. "These two are trained officers. They know what to do."
"One more thing." Sonoko said. "If I really didn't imagine things and that shadow of a person I saw through a window earlier was really this Shinobu Kagawa, why did she wear completely red too? Shouldn't she hate that color, if she wants to kill the Woman in Red?"
Kansuke shrugged. "Who knows? As I said, she's probably gone completely insane from witnessing such a horrible crime, not to speak of the damage that 15 years of isolation out here have done to her mind. Maybe she wanted to become what she hated, because she was the reason for the murder in the first place, so she hated herself or whatever...look, these are things the shrinks can deal with, once we lock this woman up, alright?"
Sonoko nodded, closing down that subject. Morofushi rested his head onto his folded hands. "Alright, let's wait for the rain to stop and stay safe here in the dining room. When we're all gathered here, the threat becomes basically non-existant. Sleeping may be a bit more uncomfortable, but one night should be worth the safety. Detective Yui, would you be so friendly to fetch your culprit and your two officers? We can keep this Sumika person in custody in this room just as well."
Yui nodded and went into the corridor to her colleagues. Morofushi yawned. "Well, well, once everyone is gathered up here, we can finally relax a bit."
Kansuke, who had closed his eye for a little while, threw it wide open and slammed his hands down onto the table. "Wait a minute?! Everyone? Didn't Yu-...Uehara say that the daughter of that dimwitted private detective was here as well? You two girls! You're her classmates, right? Where is she?!"
"Huh, what do you mean...Oh!" Sonoko and Sera looked around, when they realized something. Shinichi and Ran weren't in the room. Everyone had gotten out of bed when Kansuke banged against the door. They apparently didn't. "Mabye they didn't hear and are still sleeping?" Sera asked.
"Heh, sleeping...I bet these two did other things that got them all exhausted..." Sonoko said teasingly, completely missing the mood of the situation.
"GET YOUR MIND STRAIGHT!" Sera screamed. "Don't even think about such things, let alone tell me of all people about it, that's just not right...anyway, we have to get them, it's not safe...!" Sera grabbed Sonoko's arm and dragged her to the room where Ran and Shinichi were sleeping in.
Kansuke sighed and looked at Morofushi. "High school girls..." He said, earning him a small grin from his old friend.
"Ow! Don't pull so hard." Sonoko hissed. "No need to be so harsh..." She rubbed her arm.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry..." Sera said and knocked on the door. "Hey, Kudo, Ran-chan, are you awake? Hey, wakey, wakey..." She knocked a few more times, but received no answer, not even a quiet rustling of blankets or anything. The only sound they heard was the rain and the storm, which for some reason was audibly louder than anywhere else in the mansion.
"Maybe they don't want to disturbed during their honeymoon?" Sonoko asked.
"STOP IT! That's not funny...!" Sera screeched.
Sonoko tilted her head and looked at the female detective. "Are you alright, Sera-san? You're acting kinda strange..."
Sera stared back at Sonoko, before she hesitantly nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just...I don't know, I think this whole situation got me more riled up than I thought..."
Sonoko didn't look quite convinced, but she didn't press the matter any further. There were still no sounds of someone getting in their room. "Well, I guess we'll have to enter then." Sonoko proceeded to slowly open the door. "Shinichi-kun? Ran? Sera-san and I are coming in now..." When the two girls entered the room they paled.
"They're not here?!"
"What happened in this room?!"
Hearing the girls exclaim that, Kansuke and Morofushi immediately got up from the dining table and ran over to the room. "Don't tell me..."
Sera, Morofushi and Kansuke went into crime scene investigation mode immediately.
Observation: The four-paneled window was open, one panel smashed in, the shattered pieces of glass were on the inside. Muddy shoe prints were all over the floor.
Conclusion: The window was smashed from the outside, the one who did it opened the window lock afterwards and barged in that way. The shoe prints look like they are from boots.
Observation: The mattress had one deep, but narrow hole in it, the blanket was on the middle of the floor, multiple slits in it.
Conclusion: The person who smashed the window carried a long knife and used it to stab the mattress and slice up the blanket.
Observation: No blood, no bodies.
Conclusion: Good.
Observation: No Shinichi, no Ran; no person who broke in either.
Conclusion: Bad. Very bad.
"W-what the hell..." Sera stuttered.
"Looks like we are too late." Morofushi somberly said.
"Komei! Take Yui and go around the mansion. See if there are any traces on the outside!" Kansuke ordered. Morofushi nodded and went out of the room.
Sonoko looked terrified. "S-Sera-san, what happened in here...?"
Sera looked more calm, but her expression was grim. It looked like she used her professionality to protect herself from the fear of her friends being in danger. "I don't know...well, I mean, I have an idea, but it's just a guess. From what we see, someone broke in from the outside through the window, there was a fight and now we're here. And Ran-chan and Kudo are not..."
"Sounds about right..." Kansuke said, who already stepped closer to the window. "Hm...there appears to be a piece of cloth stuck here on the glass remains of the window. Looks like it is from...a pyjama I'd guess."
"What?!" Sera also came closer now and reached the same conclusion as she saw the piece of cloth. "If that's here at the broken window...does that mean..."
"Yeah..." Kansuke nodded.
Outside, flashlights came closer to window. Yui and Morofushi had come around the mansion and were now lighting the area outside the window.
"Hm, looks like..." Morofushi started. "There are shoe prints of boots, the same as inside, coming towards the window and leading away from it, back into the woods. And there are also barefoot prints out here...only from one person and only going into the woods as well."
Yui paled. "Don't tell me...that Shinichi-kun and Ran-chan..."
Morofushi nodded. "Yeah...they are out there...chased by that mad woman..."
A/N: Whew, a lot of explanations in this one. I'm quite aware that there are quite a few overlaps between the two explantory talks, but I thought it was kind of necessary. Researching for this adaption of the Red Woman case, made me realize that I never quite got the whole story in the manga, partially, because the final revealation about who is roaming the forest and what exactly happened is kind of rushed in the last file for that case, like only two pages. So, here we have a more extensive explanation. Thankfully with people like Sonoko in the story, I have characters who need an explanation as badly as we readers maybe do, so I hope all that explanation didn't appear as too hamfisted or too tacked on. By the way, in my old plan for this fic, this chapter was supposed to be the epilogue already, but plans change I guess.
Anyway, yeah, Ran and Shinichi are absent from this chapter. Alright, who of you noticed during reading that they were missing before Kansuke pointed it out? Hopefully, I managed to get a moment of sudden realization out of you. If not, I hope you still got something out of this chapter, because otherwise it may seem a bit dry.
So, what happened? Why is the room in the state it is? Are Shinichi and Ran really in the forest and are they well? Don't worry, I'll explain in the next chapter, so stay tuned for that. Until then, don't forget to leave a review, to tell me what you think about the chapter and about this story in general. It really helps me during many aspects of the writing process. Anyway, see you next time!
~04.07.2015
