Soft Light and Shadows
Chapter 1: Parts of the Process
by: IMBSA
IMBSA: Yay! New chappie! ::smiles::
Disclaimer: I don't own this. Please don't claim that I do, thus earning my eternal enmity.
A picture of a rough looking man flashed onto the screen in the STN-J briefing room. "Miyagi Kenichi, age 31, and a witch descendent." Amon began, gesturing to the picture. "He was found dead this morning around midnight. Miyagi was thrown out of the third story apartment shown here." An unassuming, middle class apartment complex appeared on the screen. The out side was beige and black steel fire escapes lined the walls. A window above one of the third story escapes was circled in red, but that wasn't the weirdest part. The window had been broken completely. Not a pane of glass was left in the frame. "Directly below the circled window, Miyagi was found on top of a car he crushed by falling on it. The damage to his body seemed to be only caused by the car, but forensics place his death to be at least two minutes prior to his collision with the vehicle. Moreover, there seems to be no cause of death. He is in perfect health."
"Yeah, if you forget the fact that he's dead." Sakaki said.
Ignoring him, Karasuma asked, "Any witnesses?"
"One," Amon replied. "A Ms. Valerie Brooks. She claims that he was waiting for and assaulted her in her apartment. She was knocked down and blacked out. Ms. Brooks awoke to find the broken window and no sign of her attacker. She also claims that she never saw his face."
"Uh-huh. Sure." Sakaki replied in a skeptical tone.
"It's perfectly understandable." Dojima chided him. "She was probably scared."
"Do they believe her?" Robin asked.
"So they say." Amon replied. "But the police have turned the case over to us nonetheless. She was the last person to see Miyagi alive, so she is the prime suspect."
"Does she have any roommates?" Dojima inquired.
"No." Amon answered her. "She lives there alone."
"Yeah, and we all know what happened after she 'blacked out'." Sakaki added, reiterating his dubious opinion.
"Will you stop that?" Dojima hissed, shooting a venomous look in his direction. "She was the one who got attacked first!"
"True," Amon responded, cutting the argument off before it got nasty. "But we need to keep all possibilities open."
"Besides," Michael added, "Sakaki's view may not be that far from the truth. We've had our fair share of appearances deceiving."
"I can't believe you guys," a disgruntled Dojima muttered, crossing her arms and pouting. As if that had ever gotten her anything with the team.
"Michael, get on your databases and find what you can on Valerie Brooks. See what connection, if any, there is between Miyagi and her." Amon began, getting into his role of de-facto leader. "Karasuma, Sakaki, go and talk to Ms. Brooks. She's at the Memorial Hospital for a concussion, in addition to minor lacerations, and abrasions. She wasn't harmed in any other way. Stop by her apartment as well and see what you can find. Dojima, Robin, you're coming with me to see the body."
Karasuma and Sakaki decided to visit the crime scene first, to get a better understanding of what went on and so they would be able to visualize the setting. After bypassing the guards and the usual crime scene yellow tape, they set to looking around, stepping over a few stray pieces of glass. Sakaki paused in front of the former window, a breeze stirring his hair.
"Jeez. The window's...really gone. It's just...gone." Sakaki remarked in disbelief. Indeed, there was just a hole where the window and its sill would be. Not one part of the window remained.
"One of the reasons it was handed to us." Karasuma replied as she walked around, looking at everything, touching a few trinkets here and there. Most felt happy. The sound of a cat mewing startled the two of them. Sakaki looked down and saw a black cat rubbing itself on his jeans.
He made a noise of disdain and muttered, "Get away from me, cat," as he saw the tufts of fur it left on his Levis.
"I think it likes you." Karasuma quipped with a smile.
"Yeah, well, I don't want it to like me! Do you know how hard it'll be to get this off?!"
"It's a sweet cat." Karasuma replied, kneeling down to pet it and scratched the scruff of its neck. The cat purred in delight. Deciding to get back to work after petting the cat a couple of times, she scratched the scruff of the cat's neck one last time before standing back up, continuing her rounds. She halted in front of a picture. It was a pleasant summer photo; two teenagers, one a dark haired boy and the other probably a younger Valerie smiled at the camera, both dripping wet. Picking it up, Karasuma was immediately assaulted by many mixed emotions: first happiness, and then a deep despair. Then came disbelief, anger, and finally an overwhelming desire to protect. Stumbling at the overload of her senses, Karasuma almost dropped the picture. Finally righting herself, she turned to Sakaki, who was still trying to rid himself of the cat.
Sakaki noticed her looking at him and asked, "What?" Wordlessly, she held up the picture.
IMBSA: Thanks to the big 1 person who reviewed. o.O Yeah. I can tell I am so loved. ::sighs:: Ah well. Thanks for reviewing, AnimeReviewer790! I love you! (Not that way!!!)