Chapter 3: First Small Leads

After almost thirty more minutes of driving, the man stopped the car and turned to look at Michiru once more. The aqua haired girl sat huddled on the backseat, shaking with fear and avoiding her capturers eyes. "We're here." The killer informed her, his voice cold and without any emotion. Finally, Michiru looked up at him, tears shimmering in her eyes. "Please." She whispered, her voice unsteady with fear, "please…let me go." The man just kept looking at her, an insane glint suddenly filling his eyes. He shook his head and started to grin. "No. I can't let you go. No. No. He tells me not to. I need to get revenge on her…no. I can't let you go." Michirus eyes widened on what he said, and slowly, she asked: "Who…who tells you to?" The man's grin widened, and he answered her question: "My son. He died. She killed him, you know. They said that she had to. But they lied. She killed him because she hated me. And because she wanted to hurt me. They said that she had to. They lied. They did. They still lie. They say that I'm insane. Newspapers write that I'm insane. I'm not. Nothing happened to her. She killed him, and nothing happened to her. They even were proud of her. Gave her extra money for killing him. They are insane. Not me. Not me." A cold shiver ran down Michirus spine while the killer spoke, his voice clearly showing how insane he really was. Still, she needed to ask one more question…although she already knew what the answer would be. "Who killed your son?" The man's eyes filled with hate, and his voice shook with rage when he answered. "Your girlfriend. Tenoh."

 "What do we have?" Haruka asked, staring at the director of the forensic unit impatiently. The middle-aged man sighed and shrugged. "Not much, Haruka. The normal stuff…hair, some tiny fabrics…no fingerprints, as always…oh, but wait. Something is new…we found a small amount of earth and some leaves close to the victim. Could be from a park or a forest." Haruka bent down to look at the computer screen the grey haired man worked on, frowning. "Do you think that he lives in the forest?" the blonde finally asked, her gaze falling back on the director. Who just shrugged in return and replied: "I have no clue. It's your job to find that out. We just find the leads." Haruka sighed and ran one hand through her hair. "Yeah, yeah, I know that…thanks anyway." She said her goodbye to the guy and left, walking down the hallways of the police station deep in thought. It would make sense if he lived in the forest. The young detective mused, staring at her feet as she walked. His victims could scream as much as they want there, no one would hear them…but why do we find them all in the city then? Does he take them there to kill them? Or does he kill them in the forest, and take them into the city when they are dead? No, too much blood at the crime sights for that to be realistic…except maybe if he…Suddenly, Harukas head shot up, and her eyes widened. "Except maybe if he keeps the blood in some kind of bin and empties it over the victim in the city." The blonde whispered, earning strange looks from two passing police men. Before any of them had a chance to ask her what was wrong, the blonde had spun around and ran down the hallway, desperate to reach the chemical department of the police as fast as possible.

"Please repeat that." The chemist, a young brunette woman named Fujiko, spoke, staring at Haruka with a deep frown. "I want you to find out if the blood we found at the crime scenes of the 24 hours killer was spilled before they were put there." Haruka repeated, leaning against the desk of the young chemist while she spoke. "The forensic unit found some earth and a few leaves at the last crime scene, and that brought us to the thought if maybe the killer lives in the forest…but since we always find the victims in the city, I was wondering if maybe he kills them in his home, keeps the blood in a bin or something and empties it over them after he put them down in the city." "It's almost impossible to find that out." Fujiko informed Haruka, who groaned and covered her eyes. Her hand came down again though when the young chemist softly chuckled. "Hey, no need to get desperate. I said almost. Give me one hour and we know." Haruka checked her watch – seventeen hours left – and nodded. "Okay. See you in an hour." With that, she left the chemistry lab, while Fujiko started to work on the analysis.

Michiru stumbled and fell to the ground hard as her kidnapper pushed her into the small room, letting out a small whimper at the impact. Slowly, she sat up, looking at her surroundings. The man had taken her into a small hut in the forest that was located in the outskirts of Tokyo (A/N: Ok, ok, maybe there isn't a forest like that in reality. But I need one, so there ^_~), and now simply commanded her to sit still in the corner while he tied her ankles together to keep her from running off. Upon looking around, the aqua haired girl saw that the walls of the hut were covered with photos, showing the man who had kidnapped her, and another guy, a lot younger than her kidnapper, but awfully resembling his looks. Obviously his son, whom Haruka had killed…if Michiru wanted to believe what the killer told her. Then, her eyes fell on a cut-out of the Tokyo News, the headline nearly jumping into her eyes. "Police Detective Haruka Tenoh kills bank robber Hiroshi Nagana and rescues the five hostages!" Michirus eyes widened when she realized what that meant. Haruka indeed had killed her kidnapper's son…and now he was out for revenge. And if Haruka wouldn't be able to find her fast enough, he would get it.