Unbidden

The plastic gloves gave a delightful snap as Seto Kaiba slid his hands into them. He had a lot of work to do. The cops and earlier investigators might have found the skulls, the blade, and the pistol, but now it was his turn to do the detail work.

One of his co-workers had just finished putting her own gloves on as well. "Ready," the blonde asked mischievously. Her lavender eyes glinted with excitement.

Kaiba scowled. "You're too playful for your own good, Mai."

She huffed indignantly. "This coming from the one who enjoys playing with puppy dogs."

His scowl deepened. "You leave Jou out of this." He straitened himself and walked back over to the motel room. The place was still swarming with activity. The media had been forbidden to even look inside of the room, but it didn't stop the vultures from flocking about outside the perimeters of the crime area.

Carefully, he examined the entrance, hoping to capture some footprints that were left behind by the murderers. The carpet was still soaking with blood. He examined the grooves, the lay of the grains, and from all that he could tell, there was only traffic going into the room. The cops, luckily, had stepped off to the side, laying newspapers down to step on. This not only saved them from getting blood on the bottom of their shoes, but it also kept them from leaving footprints. Kaiba snapped a good picture of it with his camera. He could use the computer back at the lab to pick out the shades of the carpet. Any kind of tracing foil that they used would get saturated with blood, ruining the footprint.

"Did they find the door to this room," he asked the blonde next to him who, at the moment, was wrinkling her nose at the pungent odor.

"Yeah, propped it up next to the room," she replied.

"Good, print the handle." After her nod, he turned around and stepped back inside of the motel room once more.

Gods, it was worse than before. Stepping onto the newspaper, he was able to get in close proximity of the tattered bed. It, too, was covered in blood. Removing a cotton swab from a plastic bag, he took a sample of the bright red liquid that was drenching the foot board.

He noticed a splotch of what looked like blue liquid at the bottom of the bed. Oxygen depleted blood. Using another cotton swab, he took a sample of that, too.

Suddenly, his eyes were drawn to a spot that he couldn't believe he had missed. "Hey Mai," he called.

"Yeah," her voice came from the door.

"What do you suppose caused this?"

The blonde investigator poked her head back inside, looking at the spot he was pointing at. Her pretty little mouth went slack. "A piece of furniture that was removed?" She tried.

In the middle of the room, there was a large piece of the white carpet that was perfectly clean and devoid of any blood or other bodily fluids which, by no small feet, also covered the motel room.

Kaiba frowned. "And if it was a piece of furniture, what was it, and why was it removed? Did the cops say anything about it?"

Mai shook her head. "Not a word. Most of them could barely make it in here to begin with. The skulls had been at the front entrance, and the blade and pistol were found feet away from the supposed witnesses."

Again, Seto furrowed his brow in thought, frowning and concentrating. Something wasn't quite right about those two witnesses. He snapped a picture of the clean piece of carpet.

"Hey, what's this?" Mai stepped inside and pointed over towards some odd materials that were resting against a far wall.

"It looks like an easel," Kaiba remarked, stepping forward as well. Indeed, there was a painting easel leaning against the corner, blood-splattered paints and paint brushes right next to it.

"Now what do you suppose this is doing here?" Mai remarked, quirking an eyebrow. "A sick painter wanted to get a thrill? Might explain that spot on the carpet. Perhaps the artist wanted a sample of his work. It could have been there the whole time."

Seto shook his head. "Still doesn't explain the witnesses, and what they were doing in the heart of the mess."

Mai sighed, running a long, delicate hand through her honeyed tresses. "We need to get those two witnesses to talk if we want to figure this one out."

"Too much of a crime scene, too little evidence. I've never seen anything like it."

"Let's get back to the lab and look at those dental reports."

Kaiba nodded in concurrence, glad to be out of that hideous motel room.

************************

Anzu Mazaki frowned, looking at the report in front of her. The two skulls from that morning had been scanned, tested, and ran through the computer database with poor results.

The boss was not going to be happy with this.

"What do you have for me," a deep, raspy voice sounded behind her. Oh, right on cue. She steeled herself for the response.

"Well, one skull was too badly damaged to get dental checks done on it. The other wasn't in the record system."

Steel blue eyes looked at her harshly. "Are you telling me these people never went to the dentist?"

The brunette shook her head.

Kaiba sighed audibly. "For the love of God, this case is colder than a dead body! Get Bakura on the phone! I want his ingenious little head on a silver platter set in front of me no later than noon today!"

And he was gone. Anzu let out a breath of relief, scowling at her boss as she slouched back into her chair. Seto Kaiba had never had a case that was this cold the first day. At least it would be Bakura receiving his wrath. That little head reconstructor could handle his own in a heated debate with her hot-headed boss any day.

Doctor Ryo Bakura had a very special ability: he could take skulls and reconstruct the head to see what it would have looked like when the creature was alive. An expert in his field, if anybody could figure out who these skulls belonged to, it would be him.

Anzu, although a whiz at the computers and chemical tests, could not do that.

Picking up the phone, she dialed the number which had been pulled from the rather engorged file-a-fax in front of her.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Bakura? Anzu Mazaki, Crime Scene Investigations, Tokyo. I have a favor to ask of you."

**********************

Slow beginning, I know, but much more on the way. Up next, some rather disturbing interviews with the witnesses, and Bakura makes an appearance. . . .

Comments? Suggestions? Don't hesitate to ask and tell!