A/N: Was so glad to hear that my country, Canada will be getting a vaccine soon. Not sure what it'll be like for other countries, but my heart goes out to you. Hopefully, we all can get vaccinated and keep each other safe. Even though I'm an introvert, staying at home for months on end is taking its toll...

Chapter 13: Yanase Momoko

The four investigators returned to the Kamakura Police Station to find a rather hysterical woman berating the police officer at the front desk. She was in such a state of breathless excitement that her words fumbled over each other, making the task of understanding her quite difficult. The exchange between them continued for quite some time, even after the four investigators entered. The soothing and apologetic police officer, the exasperated and demanding woman...

"I insist upon seeing my daughter this instant," the woman demanded. "I am her mother. I have the right to!"

Finally spotting the newcomers, the police officer looked all too relieved to divert the woman's displeasure upon someone else. "Ma'am, here is Inspector Etou. He is in charge of the investigation, so perhaps you would rather—"

He didn't even finish his sentence before the woman turned towards the inspector with narrowed eyes. "Oh, you are the one in authority, are you? I wish to make myself clear to you because obviously this man," gesturing to the police officer, "cannot take a hint. I want to see my daughter, Chisaki."

Inspector Etou gave no response to this, but simply asked, "Your name in Yanase Momoko, correct?"

"Please call me by my maiden name, Ueda. I absolutely hate being in any sort of connection with my ex-husband nowadays," Momoko said.

"May I see your ID, Ueda-san?"

"Gladly."

As Inspector Etou examined the card she handed him, Momoko's glance drifted to the other three. Her eyes weighed heavily upon Kanami and Hiyori in particular. There was a faint recognition in those dark blue orbs. Not as conspicuously as Momoko, the two Tojis also did their own summing up of her. She was a creature of abnormal beauty with long limbs, and brown hair tied in a ponytail that fell almost to her feet. There was no doubt about it. Chisaki was the spitting image of her mother.

Handing Momoko back her ID, Inspector Etou said, "I will speak to the morgue attendant and medical examiner. Please wait for a moment, Ueda-san. Tanaka, take her to a sitting room, will you?"

A serious and grim procedure later, Momoko got her wish and the result was an entire box of tissues used up. Even when Hiyori offered her handkerchief, the woman did not stop and continued crying an ocean. Nobody tried to offer consoling lies of everything going to be alright. Ueda Momoko had just lost Chisaki forever. How could anything be alright? To have her daughter pass away before her...all of a sudden, she was not a mother anymore. Chisaki, her one and only child, was dead. Dead when she should have lived at least till her seventies.

"Her last words to me..." Momoko sniffed. "She was at my house at that time for a visit. We were planning another vacation together to Vancouver to celebrate her upcoming graduation. Chisaki was just so excited. And to think that was the last time I would ever see her! She was so radiant and whenever she was happy, her eyes always looked as though they themselves were laughing. It's just...too awful for words."

"You said another vacation...did you both go to Vancouver a lot?" Hiyori asked.

Momoko nodded, her voluble voice bursting forth, "Oh yes. Although one time we went, I was horribly scammed at the casino of the hotel we used to frequent. Awful—worst vacation there ever! From then on, Chisaki and I did not return to the Creek Stone Hotel ever again. Of course, we could only go to Vancouver during the summer. Winters are absolutely dreadful over there—either slushy snow or pouring rain. It's no wonder the locals call it the Wet Coast. But the scenery there is absolutely lovely—so many trees and such beautiful mountains! Certainly not like the concrete surroundings of Tokyo, where I live. My word, I should've liked to buy a summer home in Vancouver. Housing prices are absolutely ridiculous though."

It seemed that Momoko's crying spell was over as she was too busy yakking on and on to weep any more. However, everyone's attention was directed towards the door once it slammed open. Breathless, not from exhaustion but from rage, was Kentaro, his nostrils flaring like a bull's.

"What is this about you showing up here, you wretched woman?!" he exclaimed at his ex-wife.

Momoko sprang to her feet, her voice as dangerous as a snake's, "I could ask the same about you. You think I am that heartless to not care about my own daughter's death?"

"I don't give a damn about any of that! You're just sticking your nose where it's not wanted, as you always do. You have always been a bad influence to Chisaki what with your haggling over money, and you brought out the worst in her," Kentaro snapped. "And now you have the audacity to—to—"

"To what, Ken?" Momoko asked, with an acidic tongue.

Kentaro bristled at the old nickname. "Just stay out of this business. I don't want you even at the funeral."

"And why are you here, hm?" Momoko asked. "I never intended to bump into your troll-like face. So, don't even accuse me of meddling with your business."

All throughout this argument, the four investigators remained silent, watching with raised eyebrows and straight mouths. Kentaro shot his head towards Inspector Etou and Sergeant Tanaka.

"When can my daughter's body be prepared for the funeral?" he demanded.

"That is something we'll have to discuss with the medical examiner and morgue attendant, sir," was Inspector Etou's reply.

Giving a satisfied smile at the ponytailed woman in front of him, Kentaro said, "There! That is what I came here for."

His statement was answered with a nonchalant shrug. Unwilling to have to remain a second longer in Momoko's presence, the Yanase businessman stormed out of the room.

His words having retriggered a memory in her mind, Kanami asked Momoko, "Could you tell us more about this 'gambling problem', Ueda-san?"

"I'm guessing Ken told you about that," Momoko snorted.

Not wanting to offend her, Sergeant Tanaka said, delicately, "Well, he may have mentioned something like that..."

Momoko wasn't looking at him. It was as though she hadn't heard him at all. She was too busy staring at Kanami, so much so that the Minoseki Toji felt rather awkward and looked down, abashedly.

"You're Etou Kanami, correct? The famed Toji detective," Momoko stated, then after a pause, "I've heard about you."

'Who hasn't?' Hiyori and Inspector Etou thought, fighting the urge to roll their eyes.

Her eyes still seriously fixed on Kanami, the ponytailed woman sighed, "Guess I better come clean. That 'gambling problem' was really just a cover-up story I'd keep on telling Ken."

"A cover-up story?" Sergeant Tanaka repeated.

"To hide my true activities." At that moment, Momoko became less like the slightly ridiculous character she was when the four investigators first met her. Her personality changed into something more natural. She pulled out a business card from her purse and handed it over to them to scrutinize. In simple font was printed:

Ueda Momoko

Private Investigator of Shimoda Detective Agency

Tokyo, Japan

Inspector Etou and Sergeant Tanaka recognized the name. It was one of the best private detective agencies in the country.

"Ken never knew about my true occupation. But anyway, I've been going to all those casinos cause of a case. I've been investigating a murder linked to a fraud scandal. This has been going on for two years. One of my colleagues, Shimoda Hikari—she was the daughter of my boss actually—was killed when investigating the fraud business. There were no fingerprints on the database that matched with the one found at the scene of her murder."

"A murder linked to a fraud, you say..." Inspector Etou murmured.

"Yes, through a supposed company known as Royal Chen Finances."

"WHAT?!"

Quickly wheeling her bags into the Narita Airport, Rui Qin hastily made her way towards the check-in area. Things were going well for her so far. Nobody had suspected. She would've preferred leaving straight away after the police finished their business on The Royal Diana. However, flights back to Shanghai were fully booked and she, unfortunately, had to spend the night in her luxury apartment. That night was awful—whenever she'd hear the sound of police sirens, her heart would race.

"Now, I will be safe. Finally, I can leave," Rui Qin said to herself.

Seemed like she spoke too soon. Coming full-speed down the street were at least five police cars with their sirens wailing.

'Shit!' Rui Qin internally cursed.

She could do nothing but hope they wouldn't notice her as she tried to blend in with the crowd of people. It was no use.

"Going somewhere, Ms. Chen?" came Inspector Etou's voice.

"Chen Rui Qin, I am arresting you for fraud and on suspicion for the murder of Yanase Chisaki," Superintendent Mizobata said, slapping a pair of cold metal handcuffs around Rui Qin's wrists.

"What the fuck?! I didn't do anything involved with that murder shit, you pig-faced bastards!" Rui Qin cursed, not caring about how everyone within earshot was looking at them.

"Take her out of here," Superintendent Mizobata gruffly ordered one of his men.

With skepticism, Hiyori looked at the superintendent. "So, you really think she's the murder culprit?"

"Well, we don't know for sure if she went outside for a smoke as she so claimed. And if she did, it would've been all the easier for her to hurdle Chisaki-sama overboard," was the reply.

Equally unsure as her girlfriend, Kanami wondered aloud, "And yet, why would she have had a reason to murder Chisaki-sama? There has been no indication of the two of them getting into conflict."

Superintendent Mizobata let out a laugh. "Bad history, of course! Chen Rui Qin was a money lender through not-so-moral means. Perhaps Chisaki-sama got wind of how Chen Rui Qin's business was reliant on dirty money."

Shaking her head, Kanami replied, "No, if Chisaki-sama knew Ms. Chen was giving out money illegally, she wouldn't report her—she'd ask for a loan herself."

"Perhaps Chisaki-sama blackmailed Ms. Chen with that knowledge then," Sergeant Tanaka suggested. "I mean, she had no trouble and qualms when she'd threaten Kaito-sama."

"It can't be as easy as that," Kanami said.

"Unable to accept an easy solution?" Hiyori asked.

"Do you?"

Hiyori's lips pressed together. "Not this one, no."

Kanami smiled at her girlfriend, the same grin Hiyori always found mildly irritating.

Heading back to the police cars with his colleagues, Inspector Etou said, "Then, maybe Chen Rui Qin was also afraid that Chisaki-sama would expose the murder of Ueda-san's colleague, Shimoda Hikari. Question is, how would she have known if she did?"

"I feel that what you said is only half the truth...there's something bugging me," Hiyori murmured. "I don't know what."

"Well, I'm declaring the case closed," Superintendent Mizobata said. "Unless something comes up later, perhaps at the inquest, this investigation is over."

There was no objection to this. What more could be said? It wouldn't be until a week later when another terrible event would reveal there was something much darker to Yanase Chisaki's murder...

A/N: Not looking forward to my exams next week... BTW, the Creek Stone Hotel is not a real hotel in Vancouver, but I will say that it's based on one where a real casino scam did take place.