Well, here is chapter 13 as promised! Enjoy!
Homicide: The Death of Serena
By Crystaldove
Chapter 13
"What in the hell was that? I never though she could be so malicious. I should just fry her and be done with it!" Jupiter stated as her lightening rod tingled.
Mercury looked at her and shook her head. Moon's whereabouts may lie with her, so they needed her unharmed. "I'm sorry you had to witness that Tuxedo Mask."
"So it's true, Moon did resign?"
"Yes she did and since she turned in her communicator, we have been unable to contact her."
"That's why I was here, Central has also been unsuccessful in finding her." Venus stated as she looked out at the night sky.
"Central?"
"Yes Mercury, I was stationed at Central along with my partner, Artemis."
At that Luna looked up. She was the one that contacted Central and now Venus was telling them she was stationed there.
"We're you my contact then?"
"Yes Luna, I was your contact at Central."
"Where is Artemis?"
"He is at Central, waiting on my report. I need to get back there."
"Wait, we need to talk."
"Yes we do Mercury, meet me at the park tomorrow morning. We can speak privately there. I must be off now." Before the others could agree or object, Venus ran off into the night.
"I must be going as well. I'll see you around."
Mercury, Jupiter and Luna watched as Tuxedo Mask departed also. Once he was out of sight, the girls started back towards Juuban, their transformations falling as they did so.
"What do we do now? I'm agreeing with you, Miss H had issues with Serena, yet Raye is another case altogether. Her anger builds every time we speak either name. I think we need to lay off asking questions. If she has Serena, she could be taking out her anger from us on her."
Lita gasped, Amy was right. They needed to have a level head about this, especially with Raye leaning closer and closer to falling over the edge of sanity.
"You want to stay the night at my place? We can leave together to meet Venus tomorrow." Amy nodded and they continued to Lita's.
Tokyo Police Department- Homicide Division
10:15 pm
A lone figure sat at his desk taking notes. This was the worse kind of case to solve… homicide as a whole was a dirty business. However, when the homicide you are investigating is that of a child it makes things much worse. Monroe rubbed his eyes as he continued to make notes. He was narrowing down the suspects. When he started there were four:
Darien Chiba-Cleared of suspicion due to no motive. He actually cared for the victim just was unable to express his feelings for her.
Patricia Haruna- Cleared of suspicion, yet guilty of mental abuse stemming from years of harbored resentment against an individual with similar looks to the victim- currently under observation for clinical depression.
Raye Hino-History of resentment, mental and verbal abuse towards victim. Per witnesses was heard saying on more than one occasion that her 'life would be better without Serena in it'. Victim vanished shortly afterwards.
Ilene Tsukino-Victims mother- hated she had a daughter instead of a son. Admitted to favoring son over daughter by neglecting her basic parental obligations. Attitude states she is pleased her daughter could be no longer a member of the family.
Detective Monroe sighed, the fourth warrant laid neatly on his desk. The warrant he would have served the next morning; the warrant for Ilene Tsukino.
October 5
Azuba Rose Gardens
6:15 am
Mercury and Jupiter stood pensively waiting on Venus to arrive. Somewhere on the walk there, they met up with Luna however didn't fully acknowledge her presence. Shortly after their arrival, a white carbon copy of Luna stood below them before being joined by Venus.
"I'm glad you arrived. This is my partner, Artemis." The white cat bent slightly and spoke.
"It's good to finally meet you in person. I am glad, with the loss of Moon that you two still strive to fight against evil."
"Moon would still be fighting, if she was still here."
Venus looked at the downtrodden pair questionably. "What do you mean by that?"
"It would help if you knew who she is…was…"
"I think we should all reveal ourselves to each other."
They all agreed and in a flash of light, 3 teenaged girls stood facing each other.
"I'm Mina Aino. I moved here from London, England a few months ago."
She smiled at the two.
"My name is Amy Anderson-Mizuno, I attend Juuban Junior High. That's Lita Kino, she attends Juuban also. So did Sailor Moon. Her name was Serena Tsukino."
"Tsukino…the missing girl?"
"Yes, she resigned as Sailor Moon the night she disappeared." Amy and Lita filled Mina in on the past few weeks.
"LUNA, how could you be so cruel to the girl… If I had known, I would have taken your place as advisor and assigned you to Central!"
Luna's eyes widened as Artemis reprimanded her. Without anything to say in her own defense, she just kept her head down.
Tokyo Police Department- Homicide Division
8:14
"Captain, I need to have this warrant served and this suspect escorted to the prescient."
"I thought you enjoyed serving warrants Monroe."
"Not when the suspect is the victims own mother…"
Tsukino Household
9:05
It was a quiet Saturday morning. Normally the home would be alive with sounds and aromas. Yet the last few weeks all that has been witnessed are continual agreements between Ilene and Ken. Not being able to stand his wife's' presence, Ken moved out a week ago. Sammy had been sent to his paternal grandmother's while things cooled off. Ilene kept insisting that her son be sent home, she feared his grandmother might try to turn him against his mother for what she did to Serena. Sammy arrived in time to see his father pack the last of his things in car and leave.
That was a week ago. Now Sammy sat in front of the TV as his mother doted on him like he was the only child. Sammy came home from school the other day and noticed a major change…
flashback
Sammy walked into the home, calling out to his mother a few times before he received a response coming from upstairs. He walked up, heading to his room to find it littered with boxes and Serena's things. He heard his mother in Serena's room and walked inside.
"Mom, what are you doing? Why are my things in Serena's room?"
She smiled and walked to him, kissing him on the head.
"Oh baby… its not like she's coming back."
She rubbed his head and walked out…leaving him stunned and afraid.
end flash
His memories of that day were interrupted by a knock at the door. He mutely went to answer it, seeing a uniformed cop, he called to him mom.
"Yes Samuel dear…what, what do you want?"
"Mrs. Tsukino, I need for you to join me down at the station."
Her eyes widened as she looked at her son. He just stared at her in disbelief before running outside.
"SAMUEL!"
"I'll send my partner to check on him, he can stay at a friend's home but I need you to join me. I have a warrant."
"This is absurd, you keep harassing me and causing turmoil for my baby! Why do you keep doing this?" She screamed as the officer had to escort her to the car. He said nothing as she as placed inside.
Sammy ran to his Mika's home and called his father. Angered yet expecting this, he asked if Sammy could stay there a few hours before he drove to the station.
Ilene sat alone in the interrogation room; she chose to seek council and the questions had to wait until their family lawyer arrived. During this time, Ken also arrived and wished to speak to the detective before questioning began.
"Detective Monroe…do you know where my baby girl is?"
"I'm sorry Mr. Tsukino; we are no closer to finding her. All of the people whom were last reported as seeing your daughter have disappeared. It's like someone has gotten rid of them. But I'm not giving up, you will now what happened to her."
Tears ran down his face. "My baby, she isn't coming back…she's dead…isn't she?"
This was the part of the job he hated. Jared ran his hand though his short, wavy hair and sighed.
"We haven't found anything to make us believe that she is alive, I'm sorry Mr. Tsukino but I don't think we will find her alive."
An anguished moan escaped his lips as he turned to regard the woman he married, the mother of his children…the woman he loved. He was allowed to watch the formal questioning behind a double mirror. Ilene sat there, looking around as if she was on vacation, not there for the suspicion of murdering her daughter. He wanted to jump through the glass and shake her, demanding that she tell him where their daughter was… instead, he slid down in a chair Jared provided to him. They both watched as the attorney spoke to Ilene for a few moments before signaling he was ready to begin.
"Mrs. Tsukino, you have been brought to the station today stemming on the whereabouts of your daughter Serena. I need to ask you a few additional questions. Do you understand?"
"Yes, just get this over with, Samuel is worried about me."
"Of course, we don't want your son to worry. Now, do you recall our conversation on October 3?"
"Yes, you told me Serena was dead."
"I told you that your daughter Serena 'might be' dead. Now for the benefit of your attorney, I would like him to listen to that conversation. Is that ok with you council?"
"Seeing that this is a formal statement my client is making versus an actual indictment, I will concede."
Det. Monroe proceeded to pull out a small tape recorder and pressed play.
flash
"Do you discipline your children?"
"I ground them; deny them certain privileges and stuff."
"How often?"
"How…often?"
"Yes, every once in a while, once or twice a month or so much that there could be a problem."
"Well Sammy maybe once every other month or so… but with Serena I uhh…guess it's um weekly."
"Weekly… is she delinquent?"
"No… it's her grades and her tardiness. She misses her curfew then whines excessively about people being unfair to her."
"Really?"
"Yes her grades are really pathetic."
"Do you assist her with her work, or enlisted a tutor?"
"Why should I help her, that's what these teachers are getting paid for?"
"Oh so you don't see anything wrong with that, what about Sammy?"
"He's doing fine. I check his work for him when he's done."
"So you 'help' him?"
"No, I just check…"
"And let him know if it's incorrect…in other words you only help your son. What is it about her tardiness?"
"She never responds to her alarm clock, so I have to yell at her everyday around 7:50"
"7:50… school for her starts at 8:30. It's a 20 minute walk from here…no wonder she is always late. What about Sammy."
"I wake him up around 7:15. He is so stubborn so I have to shake him in between gathering his clothes. Oh my little Samuel, he is so adorable when he's sleeping."
"And Serena gets an alarm clock…Mrs. Tsukino you do realize what 'you' have committed?"
"What are you saying?"
"You've neglected your daughter by denying her the same caring woman that dotes on her brother. From what you have admitted, you shower love and attention on Sammy and treat her worse than a common beggar."
"No I haven't!"
"Really? Do you realize that her 'antics' as you called them could have been a shout for attention. Some children misbehave on purpose; negative attention is better than receiving any at all. I spoke with several classmates and with that teacher Miss Haruna earlier this afternoon. Did you know Serena is constantly belittled…by her teacher no less? That she refuses to do her job, as you said, in assisting your daughter in areas she doesn't understand. I had surveillance placed in her classroom without her knowledge and found that her 'teaching' consists of reading out of the textbook will little or no examples of the work. So most children refer to tutoring or going to the juku to learn what they should have during normal school hours. And her means of discipline depends on if she has a date or not, which is usually the case then she takes out her lack of commitment on her students…mostly your daughter."
"I had no idea."
"You didn't, I'm not surprised, and you don't pay Serena ANY attention. You said that people were being unfair to her, perhaps…she did tell you and you accused her of whining and being lazy perhaps?"
"I uh didn't…"
"Of course not Mrs. Tsukino a person would have to be plain stupid not to notice the anguish their child was feeling; but then you didn't know."
end flash
"Yes, I remember that conversation. And that is true. Serena never applied herself."
"Why didn't you help her?"
"I told you, girls are viewed as inferior, especially in my family. I tried so hard to please my parents yet the only time I was acknowledged was when I let my father down. I let him down when Serena was born. He wanted a grandson, someone worthy of carrying on the family business someone he could be proud of."
"And how did he react when Serena was born?"
"He told me that he expected as much, seeing that I never did anything that pleased him."
"I see and how does he feel now?"
She looked at him confused, blinking several times before answering. "Feel about what?"
"How does your father feel about his granddaughter missing?"
"Oh that… well the last time we spoke, he asked about Sammy and how he was doing in school. I forgot to mention Serena."
Detective Monroe looked behind Ilene to Ken, he could almost she the shock and unbelief etched on his features. Even Ilene's attorney looked baffled.
"Ilene, you didn't tell you father about Serena?"
"Why should I? It's not like he will miss her or anything. Although, that might make up for the disappointment I have given him… now he only has Samuel to dote on. Do you have a phone, I need to call him?"
Monroe looked at her attorney, noticing the mortified look on his face before nodding to his subordinate. In the observation room Ken broke down in tears as he banged on the mirrored partisan. "Book her." Monroe said with contempt as his deputy stood. "Ilene Tsukino, you are under arrest in the connection of the disappearance of your daughter, Serena Tsukino…"
"Arrest me, you must be absurd! I didn't have anything to do with that girls' murder! My son and husband need me…" She shouted as her Miranda rights were read.
"My son and I don't need anything from you!" The chaos in the room was silenced as Ken stepped into the doors. "I never thought I could feel hatred for anyone, no less for my own wife… but things change. You took my baby girl from me…"
"I didn't do anything, I didn't kill that girl!"
"That girl…that girl is our daughter!" He screamed as he ran to her, grabbing her by her collar and lifting her up. "If I had known you hated the child you gave 'birth' to so much, I would have left you long ago. It may be too late for Serena but I will save Sammy from you…mommy dearest!"
The officers restrained him as they cuffed Ilene and led her to processing. Monroe followed the deputies as Ken spoke to their family attorney.
"Detective, so the mother killed the Tsukino girl?"
"I'm not sure yet Itochi, if anything she can be charged with parental neglect. She is a menace to children everywhere!"
End chapter