Author's Notes:  Well, here's the truth.  This is the last day of spring break for me and I've spent today writing this chapter.  My schedule for the next three weeks is pretty much lab report, prelim, prelim, prelim, lab report and prelim.  Oh and daily Japanese homework in between.  So it's not going to be pretty.  I will update when I can, but looking at my track record, I think I'd rather not say a definite date or else I'll break the promise by about two months…

Thanks to starquestor, Meruru-chan, Aleris, Ash Night, Final Fantasy Princess (hmm…well, Sakura's definitely going to be back in the story, but at the end, which isn't that far off, I guess), Ophelia Winters, reveileb maerdyad (oh no, the plot twist has to be based on us knowing the bomber), kitty neko, :), Grinning Contrivance, Ongaku, wouldntyouliketoknow (there will be, but I'm still considering whether it'll be sap or hints.  Both have their validity), lozza-pilgrim (hehehe, um so I'm not forgiven am I?  Right now, it's more like winging it than expertly set out), japanfan, The Great One, Rosie (she's um…there.), girl_sport17 (wow, your butt must hurt…), Kirika (oh it's real; all you need is one slip up), bishounen lovah, Silly*Niecy, Yuki (lots of questions…uh, the weapons are basically random for me, for the kidnapper, who knows?  Past and present meet up um…1 to 2 chapters from this point.  Oh yeah, he's gonna be frustrated, you just wait.), Kyae, Aisukii (I'm really sorry, but that's way past now.  Happy belated birthday though…), Ti'ana, cherryblossomsakaru2111, A-chan (oops…what was that again?), michelle, kamikaze, nightshadow, kurayami and hikari, shazaoblossom, Liying, Pochacco (quite a list…very interesting thoughts), s jus me, Sweet Cherry Blossom.

The Hunt For A Cherry Blossom

Chapter 16:  Prime Suspect

The last twenty-four hours have been faster than any day in my life.  It's barely morning and I haven't slept, and there's a bomber in a cell about twenty feet away from my desk.  Ueda Satoru.  Sounds like an ordinary name, ordinary guy too.  We just about took a fleet of cars when we got his address.  Battered his door down, slid through his house, donned our bulletproof vests.  And there he was watching TV, just lying back on the couch watching a game show. 

He looked up at us, at me with my gun drawn.  Fear.  He was afraid of us, shrank back from us as we approached him, pled his innocence as we bound his hands.  We almost thought we got the wrong guy, that is until we opened up his den.  Walls covered with newspaper clipping, pinned so neatly with four white thumbtacks in every corner.  A separate bulletin board for the letters and clues.  A fold out table in the middle of room.  A pair of architect triangles and a T square.  A row of pencil, a yellow raft upon the dark blue blotter.  The bureau near the window held carefully arranged tangles of wires, boxes of screws, large polished metal casing.  It was insanely professional.

Everything disappeared in my memory after that.  I remember reading him his rights.  Then we searched his house carefully, but couldn't find Sakura.  There was no basement and each room we entered looked virtually unlived in.  He must've had her somewhere else.

I hadn't really gotten a good look at him till we got back to the precinct after going through his house and things.  Federal agents and police officers were swarming the place.  It was just a momentary glimpse of him as they led him to meet with a lawyer.  He was in his thirties, dark hair somewhat short, face slightly padded with flesh.  It was a plain face, fearful, but intelligent.  It made me shiver that someone so normal looking could have caused such violence.

The night disappeared too.  Sakura had still not been found and I spend the hours carefully going through Ueda's papers, looking for the barest hint of where he hid her.  A storage space, a relative's address, a boat…  But there was nothing more than bills and junk mail.  Long arguments with credit card companies and banks in the morning had failed to produce anything of a lead.  No charges, no deposits.  He'd hidden Sakura amazingly well.

I'm still going through the last of his credit card statements when a loud squeal echoes outside.  Instantaneously, Touya bursts through the precinct doors and I know this was going to get ugly.  I run towards him and barely manage to reach him and hold him back before he reaches the door leading to the cells.

He isn't happy to see me.  In fact he elbows me right in the stomach.  "Where is he?  Where's Sakura?!"

"We don't know yet."  I curse the media for leaking the information and clamp down on Touya's shoulder to keep his arms tied to his side.  "They're still interrogating him."

"You've had him since yesterday.  Get him to talk already!"

I strain to push him back away.  Other officers are looking at us, hovering and ready to intervene.  I caution them away as I try to subdue Touya myself.  His height certainly isn't helping me complete the task.  "We're doing the best we can; his lawyer isn't giving us much."

"Lawyer?  He shouldn't get a lawyer.  You should force it out of him."

I snort and hiss as my muscles begin to sore.  "At gunpoint you mean?"

"If that's what it takes."

I move him back a few more inches when his weight seems to disappear.  I stumble forward and right myself before I fall.  When I get my bearing straight, he's twisting unsuccessfully in Fujitaka and Yukito's grip.  I try to straighten my clothes and give him a warning glare.  "If you don't stop yourself, I may be forced to arrest you."

My words seem to calm him as he slows struggling.  Warily the two men behind him let go of his arms.  "You'd better find her."  His tone is wearily serious.

"We will."  I glare a little at the other officer and the station slowly returns to itself and people start moving again.  I motion the three men towards my desk.  "Since you're down here, I'll fill you in on what we have."

It's only a matter of few minutes to clue them in; I don't know much either.  Stupid bureaucratic red tape...  All I need is one interview but they're still negotiating with the lawyer.  I sigh and push the credit statements and bank deposits toward them.  It's completely illegal what I'm doing but it's something I need to do.  They look too hopeful, too desperate.  "I shouldn't give you these, but perhaps you can find a hint of somewhere he could have put her.  No detail is too small."

They look at me collectively for a moment before Fujitaka frowns a little, picking up the first sheet.  "You're not supposed to give these to us are you?"

"No."

There's silence between us as the precinct goes along its business in the background.  He finally nods and carefully slips the papers in the folds of his jacket.  "Thank you."

"Forget it.  I'll call if there's anything new."

As they're walking through the doors I can see Yamazaki in the corner of my eye.  "Something up?"

"You shouldn't have given them evidence."

I tense and turn away from him.  "That's not your business."

"…true.  I came to tell you that they told me to tell you that you can have your interview with Ueda."

"Now?"

"Yeah, his lawyer finally got a deal and is letting him talk to us."

It's all I need before I'm banging on the door to the interrogation room.  It's a different room that people think.  No one sided mirror, no steel backed chairs.  In fact it's more of a conference room.  A suited man sits at the end of the oval table and nods his head at my entrance.  Next to him is Ueda, looking as normal as ever.  The lawyer consults a file and looks up at me, appraising me.  "You are Detective Syaoran Li?"

"Yes."

"You're in charge of Sakura's case?"

I turn to Ueda, his mouth still open since talking.  I nod stiffly and bristle slightly.  There was something in his words.  Interest?  Smugness?  Something untraceable.  He isn't as meek as we thought he was.

I come back to reality in time to hear the lawyer begin speaking again.  His voice is clipped, professional, even the slightest bit weary.  "As you know, this interview has been granted through a deal that my client has made with the government.  We understand that you hope to gain information to the whereabouts of Kinomoto Sakura, a woman that you believe my client has abducted.  As per the deal, my client will not answer any questions directed towards the bombing incidents and other such criminal matters that are not directly related to Kinomoto Sakura.  Do you understand?"

Did I understand?  Of course I did.  The government basically just fucked me over.  How am I supposed to get everything out of him when he can't answer some of my major questions?  And he knows it's an obstacle to me, watching me with his impassive face.  Yes, very smug.  "I understand."

"Then you may proceed."  The older man whispers something to Ueda who nods back.

I pull out my beaten up little pad, long since abandoned.  There's still a page dated all the way back to Jyung.  Screw the build-up; there's only 1 thing I need to know.  All the rest, his motivation, all that shit can wait.  "Where is she?"

"Sakura you mean?"  He smiles a little, casual almost, just like the way he uses her name.  "Haven't a clue."

"What do you mean?"

He shrugs, indifferent once again.  "I never had her, but I'm quite flattered that the police think that I did."

I fume and direct myself to the lawyer.  "Tell your client that telling lies will not help him in any way."

The lawyer is unperturbed.  He turns his dark eyes on me.  "I can assure you that this is what he has told me to be the truth."

I turn back to Ueda.  "And if you didn't take her who did?"

"I don't know, someone quite clever to have led the police on for so long I expect."

"I don't know what kind of fucking game you're playing, but you can be prosecuted for murder if we don't find her."

He smiles a little.  "Then I should be hoping you find her soon, ne?"  He pauses, straightens himself in the chair, talking slowly.  "Let's say, hypothetically, I had her.  Say stashed away somewhere, maybe in an isolated, abandoned area, with no one around to here her, no one to help her.  Only me there to feed her, check on her.  And now that I'm here, locked in a cell in Tomoeda, how long think she'll live without food, without water.  A week?"  His smugness returns in full force.  "Two?"  Another pause.  "Or perhaps she's already dead..."

It's no use evoking some calming exercise or any type of moderating thought.  I reach across the table and grip his collar tight, pulling him out of his seat.  There's a moment of fear on his face and it fuels me to yank him across the table.  "You fucking bastard.  I'm not playing your mind games."

The lawyer has his hands around my wrists, trying to tug me away.  "Detective Li, any violence that show my client may end up in disciplinary action against you.  We wouldn't want the police force to lose a good officer would we?"

I let go of Ueda and shove him back into seat.  "Are you going to tell me the truth?"

He looks me dead in the eye for a second and then across the room.  "I've told you everything "

"Fine."  There're dozens of other questions, but I can't focus on them.  He wouldn't answer them anyway, just be infuriatingly vague and self satisfied.  I yank open the door and stop on the threshold when I hear his voice.

"I do hope you find Sakura."

I grind my teeth and slam the door.  What the fuck am I supposed to do now?

I collide with someone as I round the corner.  Mizuki stumbles backwards a little and I help her keep her balance.  "Sorry."

"Not a problem."  She motions towards her office.  "I was looking for you.  I need to talk to you."  Her tone gives nothing away and I follow behind her as she leads the way.

We sit in her office, me in the chair across from her cluttered desk.  For once, it seems she doesn't look like she's near the edge.  "What's wrong?"

She sighs and moves a stack of files so she can look me in the face.  "You know that finding the Kinomoto girl is still a very important case, but we've put too many of the officers on the Ueda case that we're backed up here."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that since we've got him, we have to get back to our normal routine.  We've got murders, thefts, other missing persons cases that have been waiting for us for months and we need to get on them.  And it means that you're going to have to work the Kinomoto case alone."

"Alone?!"  I slam my hand down on the desk for effect.  "Does no one give a damn that she's going to die if we can't find her soon?"

Mizuki frowns at my outburst.  "Syaoran, she may be dead already."

"She's not!"  I angrily lean back in the chair.  Technically, she could be dead, maybe already dead for months…  "She's not dead."

"That may be so, Syaoran.  I'm willing to help you as much as I can, but I draw the line at focusing our entire force on a single case."

"But alone?"

"We have him in custody, Syaoran.  I have faith that you can get him to talk or at least figure out where she is."

Faith?  What I need is a god damned warrant the beat the truth out of Ueda without that stuck up lawyer spitting out legal shit at me.  What I need is a fucking lead.  She doesn't look like she'll change her mind and I angrily get up.  "Right."  I rip the door open and stalk out the door.  How the hell am I supposed to solve this case alone?  Where the hell are you Sakura?

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Notes:  Heh, well another chapter out.  Next chapter:  interview with Ueda part 2 and some more Syaoran angst.  We should be back to present the chapter after next.