3
Stellan's pov
"Are you still mad about having to wake up early?" Hiroshi asked smugly, knowing full well that this case was intriguing enough to peak my interests even in the unholy hour of seven sixteen.
"I'll agree with you on the part of this being an interesting case, and I was never mad, though using my boredom for their own benefit is very cruel of the police, seeing as there really isn't anything that would have gone missing with security as thigh as this. I could have slept for a few more hours." I said giving the place another look.
The apartment was a mess, and that was being generous.
It was a typical 2KD apartment, quite average, almost as if the occupants didn't want to attract any more notice then they had to. Still, from my observation only the things that were secured to the floor had not been moved. All of the littered furniture looked like it had been thrown by the victim, which was highly unlikely, judging from her physical appearance: she was a college student, in her second year studying classic literature, from what I could gather from the books and the essay papers scattered on the floor. Her build was frail; she most likely stayed in reading as opposed to going out. So throwing, a bookshelf, which seemed to have been nailed to the wall beforehand, seemed like an impossible feat for her.
I extended ma hand for Hiroshi, to give me the police report.
"Done with you observations already?" he mocked holding the papers out of my current reach. Hiroshi is tall for a Japanese person but I inherited my father's height and there for am 14 cm taller than him, making it extremely easy for me to reach over and grab the documents if I wanted to. But at the moment I was too tired to teal with his antics, to think, that he calls himself the responsible one.
So I just started "Amano Yumiko, college student most likely studying in Kyoto Women's University, the department of Japanese arts and literature. 22 years old. Lived alone, didn't have a boyfriend, most likely only had a hand full of people she hung out with, four at best. Disliked bugs, was well mannered and had a traditional upbringing." I turned to Hiroshi again "is that enough, or would you like me to tell you her entire history before giving me access to what the police have managed to find out, it's not like you would be able to use this information to go out with her, seeing as she is most definitely dead."
The papers landed on my out stretched hand. I went straight to the photos they had taken of the fingerprints.
"Find what you were looking for?" Hiroshi asked stepping closer to see the photo too.
"Yes, and no" I answered.
"Care to explain?" my partner prompted when I stayed quiet.
"Not here, where people could hear the truth" I mulled over the facts that I knew, but there were still too many holes, for my liking.
"Anyway to you think they will let me in to the autopsy room" I rouse my voice to a normal conversation volume as I started walking towards the front door.
"I don't think that they want to see you anywhere near that place, seeing what you did the last time you where there" my best friend said half laughing.
"I really don't see what the problem was, wouldn't you want to know if your fiancé was cheating on you?" I asked remembering the slap I got from pointing out the truth to one of the pathologist on duty.
Hiroshi hummed „you know she was suposed to get marryed the weak after the incident, you brought shame on her and her family" he had an anwser for the womans behavior.
„This isn't Mulan and that marrage would have only endded in her suicside" I retorted.
„Oh?" Hiroshi raised a brow.
„Her fiancé had valiant tendencies, he was already showing her his true colors, but the girl couldn't do anything because of her family's financial situation, so she was under a lot of stress already and the duties of a crime pathologist and the heir she would have been expected to bear. I'm sure she would have jumped off a building before the end of the year." I reasoned as we sat in the car. Since Raven had asked me to pick up her art supplies on my way back I had opted to come with a car rather than my bike.
"Jump of a building? Not hanging?" Hiroshi questioned.
"She most likely would have wanted to get it over with as fast and painless as possible, seeing as she didn't seem to handle pain well. So she would have chosen to jump, thinking it the best option" I concluded.
"Then she should have thanked you instead of giving you her handprint" the wave manipulator finally understood.
"In her situation that was impossible, she had to act like a clueless victim, or the lawsuit wouldn't have worked" I smiled thinking of the little arrangement I had come to with the fiancé's father.
"I know that face, what did you get out of all of that?" Hiroshi pocked my cheek.
"Nothing that would interest you" I had intended to put an end to the topic, but my partner wouldn't have it "I swear, Stellan, one of these days you are going to get yourself into a big mess with your law bending."
"There is nothing wrong with securing mine, and my sister's future. I haven't done anything illegal. I'm only making sure that I have all the recourses I might need." I really didn't understand the problem. I write all my contracts so there aren't any loopholes for any of my associates to use against me.
"Aren't we supposed to be on the side of law?" he didn't give in.
"I am a privet detective not a police officer, so I have no obligation to the people of this country, only to my kin. That's you, Meg and Ray if you were wondering"
"So what you are saying is that you would break the law for us?" he asked skeptically.
"No, I would find a way to get around the law for you, I have no need for breaking it, besides, you know it's against my code." He only nodded, thinking about the subject.
"Just don't do anything that would hurt Raven" he said after a while.
"You know better than anyone what that would do to me"
Raven's pov
"Good morning Megan" I said entering the kitchen.
"Good morning my la-" Meg started but I cut her of
"No, Megan we have talked about this, it's fine to call me by my first name and without titles" I said sitting down.
She just gave me one of her sheepish smile "Yes, of course" she gave a little bow.
I sighed.
"You have known me since I was a toddler and yet I still have to have this conversation with you every morning"
She only shrugged "I owe your family"
I shook my head "you have been taking care of the house for ten years, I think that we are at your debt, not the other way around" I grinned "I mean if you had left Stel in charge, there wouldn't be a house anymore"
Megan nodded "your brother dose tend to get carried away when he's studying something"
"And when isn't he scrutinizeing something" I added. Our library had tripled in sizes and it had been a considerably big collection back when I was ten.
"Now Meg, don't take this the wrong way, it's not I don't like you being here, but why did you stay? I mean you are smart you could have gone to college, could have had a nice baying job and maybe even gotten a boyfriend, if you found anyone good enough for you" I asked the question that had been bugging me ever since I found out she hadn't gone forward with her education in favor to taking care of our place.
"I never intended to go to collage" she confessed "I mean your father bayed me enough, I have a nice room, free meals, and I really don't think there is anyone out there who is good enough for me unless he is my soulfinder" she smirked "and besides, I have lived here for so long it's my home now and I won't leave unless you kick me out"
"You know I would never do that" I reassured her.
"Oh I almost forgot to tell you" she turned to me with a cup of coffee. She had picked up on the way I like it very fast.
"The dojo will be done by the afternoon, they are just adding the last touches that you and Stellan asked for, and then they will give it a good cleaning to get all the building dust out" she said and took a seat opposite me, with a cup of tea. Megan usually got up earlier than us, she would take care of the housekeeping and at times she also coked. We had offered to help, but she said to bugger off and let her and the other maids to their job, after all apparently that's what we were baying them for. It still felt kind of weird to employ people to clean and take care of the garden, but we would never be able to do it by the two of us.
"Oh that's great, it's been a long time since me and Stel had a good match" I grinned taking a bite from my omelet.
"With you two in there, the building will come crumbling down before the floors can dry" Megan mused, most likely remembering how we used to train with our brothers. Now we were mostly working on perfecting our gifts and keeping up our martial arts skills. Megan said she had never learned martial arts any more than basic self-defense, but Hiroshi comes along most times to make sure that we don't go overboard.
Thinking of my brother I looked at the clock – it was almost noon – so I inquired "did Stellan mention when he would be back?"
"He said, that he would be back around two and Hiroshi would be coming by for lunch" she rolled her eyes at our idea of lunch. Meg never understood how we could sleep until noon, but in here defense she usually went to sleep at a much more reasonable time than me and Stel did. Since both of us are our own bosses we tended to work touring nighttime.
"And how did you sleep?" she got back to our regular morning talk.
"Much better than I have in a while" I assured her.
Meg's gift is controlling the mood around her, so she had tried to help with my nightmares but it turned out that my memories were too strong for her to compress. In conclusion I had made her worry as well.
"That's good to hear, I was starting to worry about the amount of bedding you destroyed" she said turning her worry towards me into a joke, because she understands my desire to keep my family from worrying. I had gotten a scolding from her on that subject after the kidnapping insistent when I was seven. So I only smiled and nodded.
Finishing my food I stood and put my plates in the snick "I think I'm going to go down to the beach to do some sketching" I told Megan in case someone came searching for me. Which wasn't likely but I filled her in, just in case.
"Sure thing" she smiled, clad for my livelier behavior "I'll let Stellan know when he returns"