Disclaimer: All the DDS characters belong to their creator.
Okay, I read up a bit on Jack the Ripper and criminal profiling.
20. Return of the Ripper
Nanami looked at the earnest young faces around him. He glanced to his colleagues, Katagiri and St Clair, for reassurance. He glanced once at the boy holding the thick folio cradled in his lap and frowned when he spotted a sliver of black lace outside the door. His niece was no doubt eavesdropping. He walked over to the door and shut it before turning to those present in the room.
"Amakusa, Renjo, Minami, Narusawa and Toyama," Nanami addressed all the class Q members sternly. "This case is too dangerous to justify your involvement, even if the police has agreed to accept our help. It is with great reluctance that you are allowed on this case. You are to carry out investigations in the field only under supervision by a DDS faculty. Ken Bartley, Junior Bartley's father has agreed to assist us via email. Class E's Junior Bartley will act as his representative." Junior waved from where he was seated. "He will now show us the information on the previous murders."
"The cases in New York my father was working on," Junior spread out the data on the table. "First victim, Elsie Goodman, aged 14, found 16th June in an alley off Bronx Street 7. Throat slit with multiple stab wounds to the lower abdomen. Next was Jennifer de Souza, aged 15, found two weeks later on 12th July in a disused lot in Queens. Also with a slit throat. This time, there was disembowelment and removal of a kidney. Next was Mandy O'Shannon. Found 17th July with a slit throat. No further mutilation. As in the Tokyo park case, the assailant was surprised by a pair of joggers. He escaped and killed 16-year-old Celesta Rodriguez as she was returning from work. Rodriguez was found the next morning by her younger brother in the alley behind her apartment with her liver, uterus and ovaries removed. Part of the liver was sent to the NYPD…"
Megumi looked away from the gruesome crime scene photos, shaken. Even Kinta looked pale. Nanami frowned in deep thought. This case promised to be difficult. Junior's steadiness surprised them. However, this might be a result of Junior acting as his father's contact with the NYPD over the last few years.
"With this taunting letter," Junior placed the letter on the table.
"Catch me if you can, officer. The rest of the liver tasted good filleted and doused with wasabi like toro and washed down with sake?" Kazuma frowned as he read the photocopy. "That is so sick… I'm never eating tuna sushi again…"
"The final and most gruesome murder was that of 12-year-old Kelly Yamamoto. An American citizen of Japanese descent, her corpse was found in an abandoned warehouse, six blocks from her home in the last week of July. The head was severed from the body. The body was gutted and the internal organs arranged around it. Kelly's schoolmates mentioned that the deceased was going out with an Asian gentleman. The joggers at the scene of the third murder also mentioned that the killer looked Asian to them. Shall we move onto the recent cases in Japan?"
"Please continue, Shino-san," Nanami grunted as he studied his students. Megumi was trying hard not to be sick. Kyu and Kazuma looked pale. Ryu was impassive. Kinta kept looking away, trying to keep his self-control. Katagiri Shino took over from Junior Bartley.
"First murder was that of Mitsuno Kaoru, aged 14. Her body was found with the heart missing. As in most of the New York murders, her lower body was bare and bore stab wounds. Her panties were also missing. Cause of death was a slit throat. The body was found in an alleyway a block from the American Counsel Building to Tokyo. There was no evidence of sexual assault in all cases despite the positioning of the bodies." Katagiri paused to let the information sink in before continuing.
"The next two cases were Mikami Yukiko, 13, and Kitamura Suzuno, 15. Mikami's throat was slit. The killer was surprised by Shiramine, who happened to be passing by. Kitamura was killed shortly afterwards based on the coroner's findings. Some of her internal organs and her eyes are missing. She was found in an alley near the park where Mikami was found…" A piercing shriek sounded. As one, they sprinted out to the adjoining classroom where they found a hysterical Koda Kagome.
Meiling was being violently sick into the waste basket. "I warned you we shouldn't have touched it! The package was left outside the principal's office…" A shaken Erik fought hard to control his stomach. On the floor in a pool of pungent liquid amidst shattered glass was a pair of eyeballs. St Clair picked up a note from the floor, failing to make sense of it, she handed it to Katagiri.
"Dear Principal Nanami of DDS. Please kindly accept this little token as a greeting from me…" Katagiri read the note. It was in neat Japanese. "There was nothing outside the office when we came in earlier. I guess Shiramine's off the hook in this case. Our killer is still out there. We better inform the police immediately."
"The killer is probably Asian with a good command of written Japanese, including kanji," Ryu deduced. "He also had access to DDS campus, possibly as a visitor. Maki-sensei's holding a public lecture on forensics today." Maki sensei's forensic lectures were highly popular among medical students and professionals. "Our killer probably has some medical knowledge of the human body too."
"He is also fluent in English and lived in New York for a while before coming to Tokyo," Kinta added. "How did he know his victims? Were they all random? Did they attend the same schools? Play the same sports?" Go to the same dentist or something?
"Online chats?" Megumi suggested. "I mean, they do have such sites online for teens to hook up. My sis tried to get a boyfriend that way once… They can be quite appealing…"
"Megumi! What's wrong with going out with me?" Kyu moaned in mock horror. A nervous laugh ran through the group. "Sorry, Kyu, I was just curious about it," Megumi blushed.
"You know, she may have a point. All the New York victims were normal schoolgirls, except for Rodriguez who had quit school. Goodman attended an elite girls' college, the same one Yamamoto attended. De Souza and O'Shannon attended public schools in the Bronx region, different ones. No common interests between them. We could assume Rodriguez, like Kitamura, was a crime of opportunity. In the Rodriguez case, traces of human skin were recovered from under her nails, indicating that she had put up a bit of a fight," Junior prattled on.
"So it is possible for DNA matching?" Meiling burst in. "Only if we have a suspect," Ryu corrected. "The New York and Tokyo murders are done by the same creep. What is Class E doing here?"
"You don't expect us to leave the case in the hands of the less than trustworthy Bartleys, do you?" Erik smirked at Junior. "As a medium, I have to do something too," Kagome added calmly. "Justice has to be sought for those who have gone into the dark before their time."
"So do we do a séance or something?" Erik couldn't resist a jibe. "OW!" Kagome stomped on his foot. "We do have a suspect list, don't we? Maki-sensei's public lectures require registration," Kagome suggested. "You got a point!" Kauzma immediately set to work on his laptop. "There are about eighty, including foreigners."
"The suspect would have been in New York for the period of the murders there. Will that narrow the list?" Kyu asked.
Hours later…
"Five potential suspects," Ryu announced as he returned with the information. "One, Francis Kim, 25, medical student from Manhattan University. Currently on exchange to Tokyo University. Two, Roger Matsuyama , 40, surgeon, recently returned from New York. Three, Umewara Emiko, 38, paediatrician from Tokyo Women's and Children's Hospital, in New York on training during the murders there. Four, Ikeda Shintaro, 29, medical student from Tokyo Medical University. Lastly, Yamada Gen, 32, medical aide, newly employed by DDS as Maki-sensei's assistant. Of course, the person who left the eyeballs could have entered the campus by different means…"
"Well, something is better than nothing," St Clair-sensei remarked.
"Are there any previous offences, I mean, complaints of molestation filed against any of them?" Megumi asked. "I read somewhere that serial killers of this type normally have some minor previous offences."
"Why, yes. Two of our suspects have been accused of inappropriate conduct with a patient. The surgeon was accused three years ago of molesting a female patient. He was acquitted. The medical student Ikeda was accused of assaulting a nurse during his houseman-ship. No further information could be obtained on the remaining suspects on this account," Ryu replied.
"Whoever is responsible for this… may he burn in hell," Junior announced grimly. Hours of studying the horrific details of the case were affecting all of them.
"Let's call a pizza with lots of ham and pineapples," Meiling suggested. "Not hungry," Kinta complained. Kinta's normally hearty appetite was gone. Junior fished out a peanut and sunflower seed bar and began gnawing on it. Erik shrugged and took the phone from Meiling, placing an order for Chinese takeaway. Kagome sucked daintily at a lollipop. St Clair sipped at her third cup of coffee. Kazuma frowned. Something was wrong. That person shouldn't be doing that.
"What's up, Kazuma?" Kyu's voice cut in.
"Nothing," Kazuma cleaned his glasses. There may be a perfectly logical explanation for that. After all, that person had been a tremendous help, so far. It was monstrous to think that that person could be a Pluto member.
Author's Notes:
Yes, I am drawing my inspiration from the most infamous serial killer and unsolved crime in history. Speculations have long been bandied about regarding the true identity of Jack the Ripper. Suspects named include doctors, policemen and even a member of the British royalty of the era. However, no arrests were made and the Ripper's killing spree apparently ceased as suddenly as it had started. The five known victims were all prostitutes from the impoverished East End of Victorian London.
Kazuma suspects someone of being not who he claims to be.