Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion.

Chapter 4: The Beginning of On-site Interviews

Seeing the thoughtful expression on Shinji's face, Rei wiggled her eyebrows. "The luminol solution-"

"I know," Shinji waved his hand. "The luminol solution is very sensitive to Hemoglobin. Even if you dilute it to zero point one percent of the original concentration, it can still have a reaction. It's practically impossible to wash the blood clean."

After a ponderous moment, Shinji continued. "Therefore…the suspect must've changed shoes. It couldn't be shoe covers, because this way, the shoeprints would be mushy, but the shoeprints we got from the site are all very clear."

"Moreover, if the suspect had time to change shoes, then most likely had the opportunity to change clothes as well. That's probably why the imagery analysis section couldn't find anything useful from the surveillance records."

"Right." Asuka followed with a nod. "Dr. Ayanami, can you please give me the site photos you took yesterday?"

"Of course," Rei replied and headed to her office. Moments later, she came back with a stack of pictures. "Here, the pictures we took beside the windows."

"Let me have a look," Asuka took the photos from Rei and began a careful examination. "Hm, there're more shoeprints on the wall, and they are all forefoot prints. There're two shoeprints on the windowsill, all forefoot prints. The arc of the shoes stepped right on the windowsill, so the heels didn't leave marks."

"As for the shoeprint patterns, it's obvious that he wore a pair of basketball shoes." Asuka rubbed her chin as she reached the point. "What do you make of it, Shinji?"

Perhaps she was just testing him since this was his first time participating in a murder investigation, but that didn't really matter to him. "Well, is it enough to interpret it as the suspect was infatuated with basketball shoes?"

Asuka didn't make any remarks, simply gestured him to continue.

"I mean, all the shoeprints we get are basketball shoes, including the shoes he changed into," Shinji replied. "Even if for the former two-sizes-larger, almost impossible to wear in daily life shoes, the suspect still chose basketball shoes. Perhaps it was an instinct of the suspect."

"Or the suspect could've been deliberately fooling us," Asuka followed.

Shinji nodded. "Nonetheless, I think we should pay more attention to this point later in the on-site interviews."

"Right."

"Well, there's another thing that stands out to my eyes," Shinji continued. "The shoeprints on the wall, or on the windowsill, aren't that high. The height of the windowsill is only about 1.2 meters, normally people could climb over it easily. It's unlikely to have so many shoeprints here, the suspect must've struggled a lot climbing over the window…" He pondered for a moment in a thoughtful expression. "Does this mean…the suspect's hands got hurt, or…just fat? But considering the infatuation with basketball shoes, it shouldn't be-"

"Who said fat people can't like basketball shoes?" Asuka cut him off.

"Well…" Shinji scratched his head, a sheepish expression showed up on his face.

"You pretty much got everything, the directions those footprints could lead us into." Rei smiled a small satisfied smile. "In general, Shinji, you do think fast. Even though these evidence isn't really hard to discover, you can notice them this quickly, it at least means you're capable."

"However, the flaws are also clear – lack of experience, yet you still like to jump to conclusions. This is not good; you need to pay more attention to it. We must stay objective and reasonable all the time, making speculations with logic, but not subjective guesses."

"Although Director Soryu also has a jumpy mind, she's different from you. She had a lot of experience. She doesn't make a lot of speculations, but when she makes one, under most cases it would be nine out of ten. Don't follow her example in your current stage."

"I see." Shinji nodded with seriousness. Perhaps since Rei was his cousin, she didn't need to hold back her criticism toward him, just like Asuka. And also because of this, Shinji would take her suggestions seriously as well.

"Alright," Asuka said, taking a glance at her wristwatch. "It's about time. I'll take Shinji to the site and start the interviews."

"Please proceed." Rei nodded. "Call me if you need us."

XXXXXX

It was already afternoon when Shinji and Asuka arrived at the murder site area. There was quite a traffic on the road, worsened by the rude drivers who cut in lines capriciously. Under that kind of condition, even if they used the siren, it couldn't help a lot, since no one could really get out of their way.

The two of them took another look at the convenience shop, asking the polices to not let anybody get close to the site, and headed to the hotpot restaurant nearby.

The people inside the store must've noticed them since they kept stealing glances at them, their chatting voices lowered as well.

"Hello," Asuka took the lead and made clear of her identity, though their job was already told by their uniforms. "We're the Criminal Investigation Branch of the Police Department, can we have a few words with you?"

Several people stopped their handiworks and looked at each other in silence. Hesitation could be seen clearly from their faces.

Even though they had been hearing one or two things from gossips and chatted eagerly about it, they were only doing it for fun and freshness. They didn't so much as know the truth about what had happened, not that they needed to.

Even if they could have been spreading rumors without even noticing, they couldn't care less.

However, when they were facing interrogation from criminal polices, they couldn't help but have concerns and worries, even fear.

On the one hand, perhaps one or two bad instances left a bad reputation on the whole CIB. No one knew whether it was intentional or not. On the other hand, maybe those people didn't want to say anything due to the fear of the murderer taking revenge on them?

Now that Shinji knew what was the 'hardship' Asuka had been keeping mentioning all the time.

If he and Asuka switched places, he felt he couldn't come up with anything else other than what Asuka already said. And if both sides completely fell into silence, the environment would be embarrassing at best, overwhelming at worst.

If initiatives were not to be taken, the interviews would be hard to expand – it's the same for both interviews and interrogations.

Asuka simply made a quick scan around those people, then chose a woman who looked like in her fifties, and started. "Hello Ma'am, could you please tell me do you know what took place in this convenience store?"

Shinji's eyes lit up as he realized Asuka's technique. If you ask several people, it's very likely they would all stay quiet. But if you choose a specific person with a question that has a clear direction, usually that person couldn't evade your questions anymore – they at least have to say 'I don't know'.

As expected, that woman soon began showing signs of panic, only spoke up after a long moment of hesitation. "Um…this…incident, has nothing to do with me. I know nothing, don't ask me."

"Relax, I know it has nothing to do with you." Asuka hastily said. "We're only here to ask a few questions and gather more information, that's it. You don't need to feel nervous."

After some formalistic placating, the woman seemed to relax a bit. Asuka caught the opportunity and threw out the treat. "I mean, if you could provide useful information, we can offer you a bonus."

"Bonus?" The woman raised her eyebrows as she heard the word. She then waved her hand dismissively, "I'll pass. What do you want to know, anyway? I really don't know anything…"

"It's okay, just tell us what you know." Asuka quickly followed. In her eyes, the wry expression on the people's faces certainly faded a lot, which was a good sign. "Say, at what time do you start working every day?"

"Eh?" The woman blinked, totally not expecting her to ask a question that seemed so irrelevant. Still, it wasn't a hard question. "Normally between eight and nine a.m., I have to prepare the lunch."

"Very early, I suppose your business is running well?"

"It's…alright," the woman seemed to relax even more. "Usually our seats are full, sometimes people have to wait outside for a seat."

Asuka smirked and asked several more daily-life questions that seemed to have nothing to do with the case, while in reality, they served essential roles. For example, the opening hours decided whether or not they could've seen the suspect, while reputation and popularity affected the possibility of the suspect having meals in this particular restaurant, which in turn decided whether or not the CCTV could've picked the suspect's image.

There were much more questions like this. While providing helpful information, they could also put those people's guards down.

Seeing the time was about right, Asuka finally threw out the first question that had something to do with the actual case. "The shopkeeper of Nagisa Convenience store, are you acquainted with him?"

"Can't say I do," the woman said. "We barely talk, only at times when I have to get some cash, I'll go there. Occasionally he would bring people to my place to eat, and I'll give him a discount. He'll reciprocate by giving me the manufacture's price when I buy stuff in his shop as well." After pausing for a moment, the woman finally lost control over her curiosity. "Say, I heard someone died in that shop. Was it him? Or the apprentice he hired?"

Asuka wiggled her eyebrows. If the woman showed her curiosity, it also meant she almost completely let her guard down. This way, as long as the questions weren't too sensitive, she wouldn't refuse to answer.

However, Asuka didn't answer her question but brought up a new one of her own. "Apprentice?"

"Yeah, a girl," the woman said. "She's not usually here, though. She's a college student, paid hourly."

Asuka nodded, silently taking note of this person. "Do you remember what does she look like?"

"Yeah," the woman gave a nod. "Well…the dead wasn't this girl, was it?"

"No," Asuka shook her head. Before she could say anything, though, the woman asked excitedly, "not her? Then it must be the guy, right? So the murderer was the girl? It can't be, their relationship wasn't that bad…"

Asuka's lips twitched. She didn't expect her to take the active initiative after putting down her guard, much less starting to ask questions to the criminal polices. "How did you know that someone died in the convenience store, anyway?"

"Nah, it's just that people here are all talking about it," the woman waved her hand. Perhaps Asuka, who was a woman as well, had some innate ability to calm people down, the woman wholly shoved away her worries. "The pet store, right there, on the right-hand side, its shopkeeper saw it all. He said the person suffered a brutal death, his head popped off, blood splashed everywhere…officer, did he…really die like that?"

Asuka's lips twitched again. Knowing how crowded the place was last night – most of the people were only there to join the fun – she knew there would be some kind of rumor spreading between civilians.

However, Asuka didn't expect it to become something like this.

She also didn't expect those who spread and accepted the rumors never really gave such a flawed rumor a serious thought.

Asuka didn't say anything, though. She simply took note of the clue, preparing to ask the shopkeeper of the pet store later.

Shinji, on the other hand, couldn't help but mumble internally. "If he actually went to the site, then how come he didn't even know who the victim was?"

Of course, he was smart enough to not let his thoughts slip through his mouth to disrupt Asuka's interviews.

After putting in so much effort, they finally got the woman to feel comfortable enough to talk to them. If he was to make the climate cold again by saying stupid things, he would never forgive himself.

Right after that, Asuka spoke up again, "well, have you seen any suspicious people wandering around recently?"

"Suspicious people…" the woman pondered for a moment. "Not really."

"Heard any strange noises yesterday?"

"No." The woman shook her head.

Just at this moment, the young man standing beside her stood up and spoke, "Officer, I have something to say."

"Oh?" Asuka immediately looked over.

"Nagisa-kun – the shopkeeper of that store, I saw him last night. It was rather late, and way later than his usual closing time. Around twelve, I think? He was talking on the phone to someone. When he saw me, he hanged up and closed the door."

"No strange noises?"

"Not at all." The young man said.

"Fine." Asuka sighed, but didn't give up and asked several more questions. Though she couldn't really get anything new anymore. She then asked the shopkeeper of the restaurant to provide the footage of the CCTV and the electronic payment record before exiting the store.

After exiting the door and gaining a considerable amount of distance, Shinji finally spoke up, "Asuka, I think the call Kaworu received is definitely fishy."

"I know," Asuka said. "That fact that he stayed up so late must have something to do with that call as well. I'll soon go to the telecom service provider and ask them to check the call records."

"Alright," Shinji nodded. "How about the part-time worker he hired?"

"We'll have to ask her as well," Asuka said as she stopped in front of the pet shop. "Maybe she knows something, but now isn't the time. We'd better finish our interviews first, we can't lose focus." With soft movements, Asuka pushed the door open. "Say, how about you'll be the one asking questions?"

"Sure."

Even though his reply took no time to come out, Asuka still caught a hint of nervousness in it. "Relax," Asuka said, putting walking into the store. "Everyone has a first time for everything. Trust me, it's gonna get better if you endure the initial pain."

Shinji was about to say "well, duh," but caught himself before he could even get the first syllabus out since he noticed the implied meaning of her words from the mischievous grin on her face. "You did it on purpose, didn't you?" He gave her an exasperated look.

Asuka huffed, "it's just personal experience." She pushed Shinji forward to the people, not caring about how unprofessional they acted. "Now it's your time to shine!"

Shinji stumbled forward, trying hard to regain balance. Their movements drew nearly everyone in the room's attention; a young girl came up to them with a curious face. "Um, hello? How can I help you? Do you want something?"

Shinji hastily waved his hand and pulled his police ID out from his pocket, making clear his identity. "Hello, I am from Criminal-"

"Erm, cops?" The girl raised eyebrows. "Hold on a second, I'll call the boss to speak to you."

With that, she turned around and shouted to the inside room, "boss! The cops are here!"

Shinji shrugged and started to inspect the room.

This store didn't actually sell pets; calling it a pet accessories store would better fit the description. The inside area was rather large, dazzling pet goods - including leashes, bags, flight cases, pet food, cans, and toys – sat neatly on the shelves.

There were also several cages that looked special – they had nameplates suspended on them and gods and cats locked inside them, a large sign that read 'adoption' hanged on the wall.

"Officer, are you here to ask about the case yesterday?" The girls' voice dragged Shinji back to reality. "Um, did someone actually die?"

"Yeah," Shinji replied with a nod. "The details are still undergoing inspection, and that's also what we're here for. May I ask-"

"No no, don't ask me, I know nothing," the girl hurriedly waved her hand. "I did hear some rumors at sixes and sevens, but I can't know whether they are real or not. Our boss is gonna be here soon, anyway. You can ask him about it, he was there watching yesterday, maybe know something. You have to wait for a little while, though, since he's doing a sterilization operation on a cat."

She didn't look nervous at all, unlike the people in the restaurant who showed a great amount of vigilance. Perhaps since she had to deal with a lot of different people every day, she actually looked more open than Shinji.

"Um, no," Shinji replied. "I'm not here to ask about the case, nor the victim."

"Oh?" Her voice gained a hint of curiosity.

"Were you in the pet shop the whole yesterday?"

"Yes," the girl nodded. "We work from 9 am to 9 pm and live here, just in the back of the shop."

"Then, did you hear any strange noises in the early morning? Like, around 12 to 2 am?"

"Yeah," the girl replied, immediately catching Shinji's attention. "It was around 1 am, I think? I was up to the restroom and heard something…odd," she tilted her head, giving it a serious thought, then shook her head again. "Well, can't remember the details, only that the noise wasn't big. It was pretty late, so I didn't really pay much attention to it."

Shinji's eyes fell. The noise she heard was very likely to be caused by the murderer. Unfortunately, since her mind must've been fuzzy that time, she couldn't provide any valuable clues. He turned his eyes, thinking of what questions he could ask the girl before the boss would come.

If she stayed in the shop all days, then, perhaps she could notice some clues subconsciously. Intuition was also telling him that he could get something out of the girl.

Of course, no one knew whether it was intuition or hallucination. After all, it was the first murder case he solved, and it was also related to his friend. Aside from the tension and excitement, being oversensitive was normal as well.

Suddenly an idea flashed into his mind as Shinji thought about what Asuka did just then. "Say, you also have pet adoption here?"

"Right," the girl responded.

Right after, Shinji seemed to be aware of something and immediately asked, "are those pet babies sent here by other customers?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"The customers must have lots of trust in you that they send the babies of their pets here," Shinji explained. "So I assume most of them are frequent customers?"

"Yeah, most of them are." The girl nodded again. "Except those who came here for adoption. And even for these people, most of them would still have to come back for health checks and vaccinations."

"In other words, these customers, you should be familiar with their faces, right?"

"Pretty much."

"If that's the case," Shinji's eyes lit up. "Have you seen any unfamiliar faces wandering around recently?"

"Unfamiliar faces?" The girl had a rather short reaction arc, immediately understood Shinji's meanings, and asked back, "You mean the suspect, right?"

Then, without even letting him reply, the girl continued, "can't say I've seen any. I almost spend all of my time inside the shop, don't pay too much attention to the outside. Besides, this community is so large, every day there would be people getting in and out, unfamiliar faces aren't really odd sights."

"I indeed met several unfamiliar customers, they were all here to adopt puppies and kittens. Their behaviors look good to me, at least."

"I can't say things for sure, of course. If you wanna inspect, I can give you a copy of the CCTV footage. Besides, we have the telephone numbers of every customer, I can give you a copy of that as well, if you have formal documents, of course."

Shinji didn't reply, seemed to be slightly baffled – as inexperienced as he was, not only the questions he asked went in vain, but also the initiative went to the girl as well.

She's…not that easy, Shinji took a mental note.

Seeing the difficult situation Shinji was thrown into, Asuka sighed and took a step forward, wanting to take the job from here.

However, before she could even open her mouth, Asuka could hear Shinji start again, "okay, thank you for your cooperation. As for the documents, rest assured, we have the warrants with us."

When Shinji said that, his voice wasn't nervous or embarrassed – quite the opposite, it was stony, even cold by some degree, making Asuka slightly surprised. Therefore, she decided to not interrupt and listen in.

The girl became dazed for a moment as well, only after several seconds she finally made a slight nod.

"Another thing, are you by any chance familiar with the shopkeeper of the convenience store?"

"Can't say I do, why ask?"

"Nothing," Shinji smiled a professional and formal smile, "I just want to learn about the victim in a systematic way, and in turn speculate the cause of his death. How much do you know him? Care to share with us?"

That idiot actually made a comeback, Asuka thought with a note of pride. Though, is he trying to…pressure the girl? Did he notice something strange?

The girl's face seemed to stiffen slightly, a sharp contrast to her normal calm composure. "I don't really know him. It's just that I had to buy stuff from his store, so that we met each other." After throwing out the prerequisite, the girl continued. "Personally… he's rather enthusiastic, likes to smile, and generous."

Shinji nodded and continued his information gathering. "I heard K-Nagisa hired a college student as a part-time worker, do you know it?"

"Yeah, I do, Kaworu-kun treats her well," the girl replied immediately. Though her eyes widened instantly after the words came out of her mouth.

Shinji didn't seem to notice anything, though. "How much do you know of her?"

The girl seemed to relax a bit, "We are…we know each other," she answered. "She likes small animals. When she had time, she would come to our shop and have fun with the pets. Her name is Hikari, seems like she's a teacher at a kindergarten."

Shinji took notes, his questions flowed out naturally, "did they…have a fight recently?"

"Not really. There were occasional arguments, but that's it. Kaworu-kun treats her nicely enough."

Asuka threw a glance at Shinji with a thoughtful expression as she heard the girl's words. She smelled the fishiness as well, but she was curious about how Shinji could notice it earlier than she did.

Just at the moment, the most-inside door slid open, revealing a man in his middle age. He threw the yellow one-time use gloves into the trans can and walked outside the glass quarantine room. "Excuse me, officer! I was doing a sterilization operation to a kitten." He then turned his eyes to the girl, "um…Mana? Call the customer. The operation is complete, he can get his cat back after the observation period."

XXXXXX

AN: Sorry for the very long update, I just have too much to deal with as a college student. Thanks for the reviews from: skyf0x, SheriffJohnStone, Nonameasushin, calborghete, and fonte20nit!