The Tangled Web

The Tangled Web

Chapter Three

By Bottou-chan

A/N: In honor of Chris' birthday, which was the 16th. :o)

Back at HQ, Chief Nakashita surveyed the report.

"We have a positive ID?" he asked, flipping through the pages. There was a set of photographs appended. Several were of the body, as it had been found. Others were of the body at the morgue. There were five of Joker and Neon, standing together, oblivious to the fact that their photo had been snapped.

"Almost conclusively," answered Officer Kawazu. "We strongly believe that he's Sakumu of the Uranua gang, but are waiting for the dental records to confirm it."

Chief Nakashita nodded. "And you're under the impression that these two are guilty?"

"They're highly suspicious," said Officer Makiyama. "Their stories didn't match at all. They couldn't even get each other's names right."

"They contradicted each other on the purpose for their expedition, not to mention, their relationship with each other," agreed Officer Kawazu. "The woman said it was a romantic stroll while their boss conducted business… the man said they were given the day off and that the girl was unquestionably dating their employer."

"Those were some of the most glaring points," reported Officer Makiyama. "There were a few other minor details they didn't have straight, either."

Chief Nakashita nodded. "Understood," he said. With a wry smile, he added, "I want you to follow-up on them."

******

There was an emergency meeting at the Uruha Mansion that evening. Kurei was not present, although he had made it more than clear that if the police found traces of anything in the search they would inevitably make, neither Neon nor Joker would survive to be tried in court.

Madougu, cloning tanks, Mokuren's laboratory, Shiju… anything.

It was a hefty task, and they were worried.

It would take the police a few days to accumulate an idea of what they wanted to find, but they would undoubtedly come soon.

"Not only do we have to hide the evidence of our activities," said Neon, "But we also need to pull together some sort of story that would explain why we lied in our answers to their questions."

Mikoto had her feet on the table. "How about we're a peace-loving cult in the mountains?" she asked sarcastically. "We raise canaries to channel our prayers to heaven, and buy guinea pigs from pet stores to set them free. We indulge in free love, which is why Neon forgot which man she was attached to."

Mokuren snickered. "Perhaps your little fantasy came true. You and Neon really are such secret lovers that you forgot all about it."

"Duly noted," said Raiha, frowning. "Joker — I don't suppose you could pass as anyone besides yourself? I mean, they don't have your fingerprints or anything, do they?"

Joker shook his head. "I don't know if it's attached to my criminal record or not," he said regretfully. "But they fingerprint everyone when you get your driver's license made, and it would be easy for them to connect one and the other. But fortunately, my driver's license photo—like all driver's license photos—looks nothing like me at all. And that would be the only actual picture they'd have access to of me… if they have any photo at all."

"It shouldn't be very hard to hide the cloning tanks and the madougu," said Aki thoughtfully. "After all, the mansion's so big that if we block off a whole floor of rooms, you can't even tell. I'd have to agree that getting the story straight is the hard part."

Miki nodded. Usually, her junior status kept her from speaking her mind during these meetings, but her genuine concern for Neon prompted her to participate. "And we don't want such an outlandish story that they become even more suspicious," she agreed. "We want them to come in, poke around, understand why the apparently contradictory stories are both true, and then leave and look for the real murderer elsewhere."

"Since Neon and Joker are their only leads, that's going to be hard to do," objected Genjuro. He didn't care much for either of them, and it was well-known that he'd shed no tears if they left. "They'll hang on stubbornly to their clues, and force them to fit their theory, and ignore anything that doesn't match." He seemed amused. "It would be ironic if you two were both jailed for a murder you didn't commit, seeing how many you've escaped with."

Joker was already irked, and didn't need that sort of talk coming around. He already felt stupid enough that he and Neon hadn't worked out their stories beforehand, although the presence of others had understandably hampered any communication. He stood up and was on the verge of telling Genjuro exactly what he could do with his opinions, when he was jerked back down into his seat by a sharp tug on his shirttail by Raiha.

"Of course, that's been taken into consideration," said Raiha smoothly. "We need two separate task forces. One to investigate who performed the hit, and one to convince the officers that no one here did."

After much debate and decision, a number of Uruha were dispatched to work on that angle as soon as possible, while the remainder sat and battled out the details of their story.