Shi sat, staring up at the overcast sky as she waited. Adachi was busy ordering their food, having dragged her to Junes. People moved past, gossiping about the deaths. She sat up, her back beginning to ache, and looked at the crowds. One thing that caught her eye was the three high school students who walked past. There were two boys, one with silver hair and the other a brunette. The third was a girl with short brown hair. She watched them head towards the electronic department just as Adachi returned.
"What are you looking at?" He asked. She shook her head.
"It's nothing." She murmured. He placed the tray he was carrying down on the table before sitting down opposite her. She glanced at what he had brought for them before grabbing her order and taking a bite. He continued to watch her. "Ok, I'm just thinking. Why did the killer go after Saki Konishi and the reporter? Did they have personal ties? Is there something we're missing?" She sighed and put her food down. "The only connection we can see between them is Namatame. But he's got an alibi."
"Maybe the alibi is fake?" Adachi said. Shi shook her head.
"We checked that. It all fits. The alibi is secure." Shi sighed. "I'm at a complete loss as of what to do." She ran her hand through her hair. "But the worst part of it is I have not only the victims' families hounding me for information but the chief, the press and my own family as well." She shook her head and forced a smile. "But you needn't concern yourself with that." She said.
"What do you mean your own family? Why is it their concern?" He asked, putting down his food. Shi sighed.
"Ever since it appeared on the news that I was the pathologist on this case, my family have thought about one thing. If they appear sweet and caring, I will give them information on the case before it is released to the news. They're some of the biggest gossips around so this is a dream for them." She explained. "Of course, as is expected of me, I have kept mum upon the subject. Which really annoys them and leaves me open to abuse." She sighed again before shaking her head. "Like I said, you needn't concern yourself with it. Some new story will emerge and they'll gossip about that." She stretched before pausing.
"What is it?" Adachi asked. Shi suddenly slapped herself on the forehead.
"I'm such an idiot!" She said. She laughed and turned to him. "If Saki Konishi has similar bruising on her like our previous victim, I can check for possible DNA!" She spun to face him. "We need to get back to the station." She quickly turned and headed out of the food court, Adachi chasing after her.
As they entered the station, Dojima walked past. "Where have you two been?" He asked as Shi sped past him, pulling her white coat on.
"Searching for a breakthrough." She said as she headed into the morgue, Adachi and Dojima both following. They watched as she opened the fridge which contained Saki. "Damn, the bruising hasn't developed yet." Shi murmured. She shut the fridge and moved over to a bench before pulling a paper bag towards her. She examined the paper on the bag and picked up some scissors.
"Shi-san, what are you doing?" Dojima sighed, his patience obviously wearing thin. She glanced up at him.
"You want to get home? Well, I'm nearly done, I just need to collect this sample." She explained, cutting the bag and slipping on a pair of gloves before carefully removing a blouse from the bag. "This blouse belonged to our reporter friend. I'm swabbing it for DNA. We have our victim but if I find some that doesn't match her DNA, I may have our killer." She explained. She swabbed the upper arms of the blouse sleeves before re-sealing the tube with tape and writing on it. "I'll set this up for amplification then continue on it once that's complete." She said. Her eyes sparkled with the delight of a possible counter to the suspect. "I may have you now you son of a bitch." She murmured.
Dojima watched her move around her lab. "You really think we may have him?" He asked.
"We may have an opportunity. Obviously I can't tell you who the killer is. I can only give you a likelihood of it being a specific person." She explained. "But it's a start." She said. She moved over to a separate lab and began to work on the samples. She ran around like a child in a sweet shop, donning all the gear she needed to keep the samples as pure as possible. She quickly separated out any cells that may have been left on the blouse and began to move to separate the DNA from the cells. After she had done all of that, she moved to amplify it. As she inserted it into the PCR machine, she sighed. This part usually took a while. She moved to make sure she had prepared the remaining parts for her analysis. They watched her as she ran around the lab, trying to get what may be their only piece of evidence. As the quantification of the DNA finished, she quickly completed the final steps before running the sample.
Once she had completed that, she removed the gel that she had ran the samples on and moved them to a new machine. She shut the door and viewed the computer next to it before selecting a file from nearby. As she looked between the two, Adachi and Dojima looked at the computer monitor. To them, it just looked like a series of light blobs on a dark background. A sigh emerged from Shi as she set the image to print off her computer. She walked over to a white board nearby.
"This is our known DNA sample. The sample from our victim." She said, pinning the photo of the DNA from the file to the board. "And this is what I just got from the blouse." She added, pinning the second photo to the board. The two images matched. Shi looked defeated, staring sadly at the two images. Dojima sighed softly.
"So our victim's DNA is the only one present?" He asked. She nodded sadly. All that work for nothing. She moved through to her office as Dojima shook his head and walked away, most likely heading home. Adachi watched him before going into the office to see Shi sitting with her head in her hands. She seemed so distraught by this.
"Hey, it's not so bad." Adachi said softly. "Ok, so you didn't get DNA. But at least you realised it." He added, trying to cheer her up.
"It's not that it failed that's the problem." She said. "It's that two people have been murdered, and we have nothing to say to reassure the public of their safety. We have nothing, I have nothing." A knock made her look up as Dojima walked into her office.
"Listen, I know it's difficult but you need to take a break Shi. Why not come and see Nanako?" He asked. Shi looked at her desk again before nodding. Dojima turned to Adachi.
"You should come along as well." He added. Shi got to her feet and followed Dojima out of her office and out of the morgue. She was glad he had suggested this. She was growing tired of looking at the dead today.