Author's Note: Okay, long, long break.  Finals and crap, but that's not an excuse.  We'll ignore the hiatus and pretend it never happened.  Instead, I'll try to get the chapters up quicker okay?

Thanks to mya (don't worry, I got both of your reviews), Lakshmi, Silver-Cherry, Final Fantasy Princess, Anime Angel Eri, Tenshi no Kijustu, WaterDragon, Brat-Girl, BlueBlossom, Kandace, Wintermute (yeah, I copped out on the witness. eh…), jen z, Alice, nightshadow (rather *cough*), kY, The Star Angel, angel, Caoilfhionn, CreatiStar, Lanky_Legz, sandreline.

Disclaimer:  *strained smile*  CCS is not mine.

The Hunt for a Cherry Blossom

Chapter 9:  The Last Call

April 1

My brain feels like it'll melt by the end of the night.  I'm hunched over affidavits, interrogation reports, photos, forensic findings.  Apparently, the millionaire's case isn't coming as quick as I'd wished.  There's hope though that tonight is the end of it, when I can finally chuck this whole thing into the filing cabinet.  It's been a bone grinding week and everything's slowly coming together, close to issuing warrants.  But I'm still unsatisfied that underneath all these pages, there's another case waiting for me, one that I haven't looked at for a while.  Worse yet, the witness is gone, upped and fled when the police started rounding up dealers.   Call it another consequence of my stupidity.  Meanwhile, the leads dead end, nothing remotely near a clue.  But then again, I can't really say that seeing as I haven't had anything resembling 15 undisturbed minutes to think about the Kinomoto case.

I let my eyes fall back down to the pile of papers, lines and lines of alibis and accusations.  And wonderful Yamakazi with his 'you owe me big' look has forced me to sift through these papers and start setting up a timetable.  Picking up the pen I tick in 10 PM with a 'victim seen at Barney's (bar on 51st).' I stifle a yawn as the wall clock ticks past eleven.

There's a sharp ring of the telephone from in front of me.  Throwing the papers to the floor, I dig underneath manila folders and photos to find the cordless.  It's on its third ring when I click it open.  "Yes?"

"Oh, hi."  The voice is hushed and careful.  I almost ask who it is before I remember her voice. 

Shit.  I completely forgot about her call this week.  All those precautions ready to be taken, tracers, recorders, all forgotten.  But I guess I'll get them next time…  "Oh, hi.  Is everything alright?"  She huffs a sigh and makes a sound like mmm-hmm.   "Is he gone?"

"No; he's up there, but I don't think he can hear me in the bathroom."  There's a gurgling noise in the background; she yelps in surprise.  "Gomen, accidentally flushed the toilet.  Heh heh." 

"Oh."  How would you respond to that?  Never mind.  "I want to ask a few questions."

"Sure.  That's why I'm calling you in the first place isn't it?"

"Can you describe your kidnapper any better this time?"  I reach to the linoleum and pick up a few scattered sheets of paper and a pencil. 

"No, his face is still in the dark, but there's some things about him that I've noticed.  Like he's always very neat, everything's where it should be."

"I'm not quite following."

"Well, just that all the meals come down the same way.  The milk is always in the upper left corner of the tray, and the sandwich is always exactly in the center, and the candle is always on the far right side."

"I see.  Any other examples?"

She pauses to think for a long time.  "Um, there were those times when he places the tray on the top step.  He'd stand up, look down at it and push it with his foot until it was exactly in the middle.  Just odd I thought at the time."

"Hmm.  Have you noticed anything that might tell you where you are?"

"No, not really.  I think one of the sounds is of a bell of some sort, but it might just be the doorbell.  I can't hear well down here.  But I did see this picture on the wall behind him.  The white wall had a big framed picture of a sailboat, in pencil or something like that."

I nod to myself as I jot this down.  "Anything else?"

"Um, no, not really."

"That's okay; we can't expect you to know everything.  This information is very valuable."  I tap the face of my notepaper with the tip of the pencil.  "Oh, do you have any enemies that might have wanted to kidnap you?"

"Enemies?  Like who?"

"Jyung?"

She laughs; she actually laughs.  "Jyung?  Why would he do a thing like this?"

"Your friend Sasaki said he was after you.  Daidouji said she saw a bruise on your arm after an argument you had with him."

"So he was after me for a date.  And he got a little too pushy, and he grabbed me too hard, but it wasn't anything big.  He's just a jerk.  Besides, I don't think my kidnapper's him.  Jyung's just not the type to do something like this."

Well that's one suspect off the list, more like the only suspect.  "Is there anyone else you can think of that may have done this to you?"

"Not really. No one.  And I'm almost sure I've never met the guy before…"

This just isn't my day.  "Oh."

She hears the disappointment in my voice.  "I'm guessing there aren't many leads huh?"

"Frankly, no.  From what you're saying this doesn't make sense."

"But what if this doesn't make sense to us, but makes sense to the kidnapper?"

I have no idea what she's talking about.  "You lost me."

"I mean…I'm not explaining too well am I?  Um…  I meant what if the guy's crazy or something…it'd make sense to kidnap me in his mind, but not in ours right?"

"It's possible; it's definitely possible."  The more I think about it, the more it seems the answer, but my instincts tell me not to jump to conclusions.  "I think it's worth investigating."

"Yeah…"  She trails off as we leap into an awkward stalemate.  "Um…"  She brightens.  "Guess what?"

I roll my eyes.  "What?"

"It's my birthday today."

"Oh, happy birthday." 

"Well, don't sound too enthusiastic."

"Sorry; it's just I find by the time you're over 21 you shouldn't celebrate birthdays anymore.  Besides, you're sitting in the basement of Kami-sama knows who."

"Well, doesn't that make me feel like dancing?  You're no fun, all grown up and stuff.  I'm 25 now and still…"  There's a quick beep on the line; I look over to my call waiting.  No one.  "Oh crap, it's my battery.  It's…"  The line disconnects.

I stare at the phone for a minute before realizing that the only link between us is severed.  I don't know quite what to think.  She might call back, she might not.  And I haven't gotten anything really useful out of it.  The phone rings again and I snatch it from its rest.  "Sakura?"

Yamakazi's voice comes from the other end.  "Who?"

"Uh, no one.  What went wrong now?"

"Pessimist.  Just checking up.  How's the time schedule going?"

I groan, looking with annoyance at the disturbed papers all over the floor.  "Getting there, probably another hour or so."

"Just don't forget."

"I won't.  I'd be finished now if it weren't for interruptions."  I cough implyingly but he remains painfully oblivious.

"You know the Chief's planning to put in overtime pay?"  I make some acknowledging sound, a cross between a grunt and 'ah.'  "I told Naoko it was time we got extra money but she started talking about the case again.  Sometimes I wonder if she's even capable of having fun."  I repeat the sound again at the pause.  "Are you listening to me Syaoran?"  Silence.  "Remember you promised to take all of my weekend shifts right?"  Another grunt finds its way into the phone. "And all my midnight shifts too right?" 

I look up from the reports.  "Hmm?  Sorry; I've didn't hear that last part."

"Oh, no problem.  You just promised to take all my weekend and midnight shifts."

"What?  I didn't do anything of the sort."

He laughs and somehow I'm sure he's rolling his eyes.  "Yeah, yeah, whatever.  You can get back to your work.  We'll work something out in the morning.  Maybe something that involves public humiliation…"  He hangs up

I find myself saying 'the hell we will' into the dial tone.  Sometimes I wonder what goes on in his head.  But I can only shake myself awake and start picking up the reports.  I look longingly at the broken coffee machine, jumping up to rip through my cabinets for freeze dried caffeine. 

______________________________________

The morning's a horrible display of nervous tension, the murmur of officers right outside the precinct doors.  The fruits of my labour, the timetables have been sent down to the court pending warrants.  Chief Mizuki's silhouette paces across her distorted glass screen back and forth, probably for the four hundredth time in the past two hours.  "Ohayo."  I look up at Yamakazi's beaming face, full of early morning cheer.

"What's going on?  You look like the cat that swallowed the canary."

He grins even harder, taking a candy bar from his shirt pocket and munching loudly.  With his mouth overflowing of nougat, I struggle to hear his words.  "Mmm…this…case."

"Swallow.  Then speak.  Just an idea."

He closes his mouth and gulps loudly, throat taking down a mouthful of chocolate.  "I said, I'm finally done with this case."

I remain as unimpassioned as ever.  "So what?  I'm done with this case too.  You don't see me grinning like an idiot."

He gives me a half glare.  "Quiet you.  I don't need your rain cloud." 

I scowl darkly.  "Whatever; it's only one case."

He points his finger at me striking his 'oh yeah' pose.  "You wouldn't understand; you haven't been through the two hour 'why this case is so important speech' and the 'it's your duty to work till morning' lecture.  But then he smiles suddenly.  "But it's all over now, all over."

A part of me wonders if there's something in his morning coffee.  "Yeah, wonderful."  I keep digging around my desk landing on the pitifully little scribbled sheet I took last night.  "Hey, where are the wanted criminals profiles?"  I look up to find Yamakazi's nowhere in sight, true to his here-one-minute, gone-the-next fashion.  "And, I'm talking to myself.  Great."

A throat-clearing cough.  "Yeah, that's a sign that you need a vacation." 

I turn even more around cursing the cheapness of the department to make us sit in non-swivel chairs.  I drop my mouth open as Naoko regards me clad in a Hawaiian shirt of all things.  Hawaiian?  It's like seeing a nun in a monkey suit.  "Uh…nice choice of clothes."

She gives a strained smile, signifying her outrageously good mood.  "Shut up; I'm on vacation as of this morning.  A month of glorious rest." 

Lucky bitch.  "Oh; I suppose you're going to Hawaii?"

"Nah; just somewhere tropical.  Close.  Haven't decided yet.  Sun, sea and screwdrivers.  Perfect."  She gives a short 'ta' before striding to her desk.

I take a long look around just to make sure this is my world and I haven't suddenly found myself in some alternate universe.  But everything's more or less as it was yesterday.  A courier walks through the door, dropping a few folded slips of paper onto the operators' desk.  Loud shuffling footsteps sound as a dozen officers swing through the door into their cars.  The warrants are here.  I allow myself a triumphant smile before forcing myself to get onto my new or rather old case.  Now where's the profile binder?

_________________________________________________

The lamplight is dim in the night, records room empty around me.  Each page brings me no closer.  Suspects are always possible but are they probable?  As it's going, I've got no likely suspects, and a page full of maybes.   I suppose there is consolation that I get overtime now.  Yeah, right.  I scan through the various headings, none seemingly quite right.  Letter bombers, serial rapists, stalkers…  I jot down the names of the more 'crazy' (a psychiatrist probably just had a heart attack) ones, ready to go looking for their case folders.  Maybe I can take a quick hour nap or something.  I let my head slump against the desk.  Someone shakes me wake into mid-morning chaos, somewhere off the bustle of officers and journalists.  I groan a sleepy "What?"

The reporter grabs my arm, dragging me down the hallways, throwing me in front of the black unblinking eye of a camera.  "Officer Li, what do you have to say about the mysterious letter?"

Blink.  "Wha…?"  Another hand pulls me from my interrogation and pulls me into Chief Mizuki's office.  Maybe this is just some horrible side effect of coffee withdrawal.  I pinch myself.  Nope, still awake.  "What's…?"

Kaho seats me in the seat opposite her, taking her own cushion.  "Syaoran; this may be an important clue, but I don't want you to talk to journalists just yet.  It could still be a fake."

Or maybe this is some strange part of an alien abduction.  "What's a fake?"

She pulls a disbelieving look.  "You really don't know?"

"Know what?"

"The letter."

"I got that; the reporter was asking about it.  What is this 'mysterious letter'?"

"I can't believe you haven't heard.  Where have you been all morning?"

"Records room…asleep."  I refuse to make eye contact.

If she weren't so composed, she may have just slipped out of her seat.  "Just read this."  She hastily thrusts me an evidence bag with a sheet of white paper inside.

I skim the letter briefly and I'm suddenly awake, slumber haze gone.  I read it again in case my eyes were deceiving me, but it's still the same.  "Holy crap,"  I breathe.

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Author's Notes:  So you'll get to know what the letter's about next chapter, though I'm sure you can guess it already…