AN: Sorry about the long bouts of no update. Slowly but surely, I'm getting my writing mojo back. Just another week or to and my move into my new home should be over and done with. Here's to a single life...albeit with rambunctious toddlers. I love my boys. And I mean my sons as well not just AxA.
Chapter 15:
Death knew him well. He'd spent many years providing services befitting its mistress. He neither fear death nor ponder the mystery of it. Death is death: a finality of life that waits for every creature great or small. So it is of little wonder Suoh finds himself knocking at death's door once more as a visitor.
Beside him, Kenji, one of Asami-sama's competent enforcers, volunteers to join him on this task. The old mortician and the pretty Pathologist Asami-sama kept on as permanent retainers were waiting for him with the decease. There would be two other, to whom Suoh rarely calls upon, will complete his team. No doubt the duo would be either en route to the crime scene or has already started the hunt as Suoh and Kenji makes their way to the morgue.
They had no time to waste if the situation was to be contained. There would be no crime tape around the site; no police bureaucracy blocking their way, no pesky reporter making a spectacle of the decease even. Accordingly, there would be no lengthy investigation by Tokyo's finest homicide detectives. In fact, there would be no case to speak of. Suoh made sure of it.
An internal investigation will be handled by him personally. Pictures were already taken by medics upon the scene and the dead body was transported post haste. The cleanup crew would have been notified by his other team members as soon as they finish their analysis. All other casualties were sent to a private clinic to receive medical help while awaiting his inquiry. However, unlike most detectives he's encountered, Suoh prefers to interview the dead first. From his years of experience, they tend to be more honest with their testimony.
The silent trek down towards the morgue section of the old funeral home was the same 150 steps in length. He counted at every single visit; the habit sooths him.
His partner's low erratic breathing disrupts his current count. Suoh spares him a sideward glance. It would seem though, Kenji like most people, fidgets with unease the closer he reaches those double doors as if it was the gates of hell itself. Suoh ponders whether to inform the young enforcer that those gates open anywhere, at any time and for any one. He gives a mental shake of his head and dismisses the notion. Chitchat and comfort was never his forte. Besides, the longer Kenji stays employed by Asami-sama, he'll learn that lesson on his own. It was the truth of the matter in their line of work. Suoh takes this as fact and returns to counting.
At 150, the dull metal lined doors of the morgue were pushed open. The cold interior sends a familiar shiver down his spine. Suoh sends a curious glance at Kenji and notices the enforcer closing his eyes with such intensity that wrinkled the surrounding, previously smooth skin into deep set trenches. Although the duration was brief, it was all it took for his partner to set his game face into place. Kenji's mental lapse has shortened once more by a half second.
It wasn't a big feat by any means, but eventually the enforcer will no longer wear a mask and those smooth baby cheeks would be lined by wrinkles. That face he wears will then be set in stone along with the rest of him. It is a metamorphic state in which a person in their profession must reach in order to survive. That day has already emerged for Suoh years ago, however he vows to embrace death with a smile, or a smirk at the least if he could manage his facial muscles at such a time.
He made no effort to conceal any wayward emotions. There was none. The decease died in the line of duty. It was commendable, an honorable death. Before he proceeds into the room, Suoh gave the old mortician and reputable doctor a nod in greeting before he directs his attention to the dead security guard.
Ignoring the surprise from Kenji, Suoh performs a deep bow of respect before he approaches the metal table on which the cadaver lay.
He hadn't meant to disrupt the proceedings but something didn't seem right.
It was barely pass nine in the evening, but it would seem rigor mortis has already set in. That shouldn't have been the case. It had only been no more than an hour since the body had been found. Normally, it would take a total of three hours before the body's muscles start to contract and stiffen.
With a clinical eye, Suoh inspects the body from head to toe with an once-over before he zooms in particular sections. His suspicions intensify as the minutes lap by.
The doctor exchanges a puzzled look with the old mortician. This behavior was most unprecedented from their normal routine. She knew the man to be a stickler for procedures.
She cocked her head to the side and commented offhandedly, "He is staring at the corpse quite intently isn't he? Rather peculiar."
Under daily circumstances, the homely professor would have died from mortification in speaking her mind with such ease especially in spite of knowing with whom she is employed by. However, she felt unusually safe in the company of her peers. The old mortician made her feel right at home. He reminded her of her old grandfather, always calm and soft spoken. However odd, it was the presence of Suoh-san at every investigation that made her relax and truly felt confident in her skills.
She lost count of how many cases over the years in which her professional opinion has been sought out and appreciated. She knew the bulk of her work would never be documented or call under duress to testify at court. She didn't mind at all. In fact, she felt elated in the opportunity to hone her skills (especially the unorthodox methods) outside of the classroom and laboratories.
The Pathologist was about to make another observation when she was startled a few breaths after her initial comment.
"Shut your trap you heartless bitch. I'll teach you for disrespectin'—!"
That harsh voice belonging to the young man that accompanied Suoh-san surprised her. Too comfortable in her setting, she hadn't noticed the new addition lurking by the door. Her heart dropped to her stomach when the enforcer advance upon her at a speed she couldn't escape even if she had advance warning. Her feet wouldn't budge; shaking as they were, it would have been fruitless. Bracing herself, the professor clenched her eyes shut and anticipated the wide arc of his backhand.
Seconds ticked by and the blow never landed.
Her heart thunder with renew life. The professor bravely opens one eye then the other, scarcely believing the scene before her.
Suoh-san had silently moved from the table to intercept. The bodyguard had the enforcer's offending hand trapped in a half nelson while the other arm twisted behind the man's back.
Despite how flush his face was turning, the young man had the good sense not to struggle. After a full minute, Suoh-san releases the arm from the man's back and moved his free hand to caress the enforcer's throat. The underling tenses and swallows in trepidation. His Adam apple bobs up and down with the movement. He didn't know what to expect from his superior. This was the second time he's worked directly under Asami-sama's left hand man. However, in spite of having the stoic man's reputation preceding him, Kenji found the real thing to be much more intimating especially when all that strength was directed at him, personally. Yet, the young enforcer would have never guessed that the normally taciturn security officer was capable of such a threat in so many words without raising his voice above a whisper.
"You will refrain from further violence on Dr. Takahashi. Go back to your post like a good guard dog and listen. Perhaps you will learn something useful. However, if I hear another bark from you, I'll personally rip out your tongue. Do you understand me, Kenji-kun?"
The deep baritone held not a trace of anger, but the threat was clear. The young man made another visible swallow then nodded as best he could. Suoh gave the man's throat a brief squeeze before releasing him from the hold. He then turns his hulking size fully to face the professor and gives a deep bow.
When he is set upright, the professor took a step back from the intensity of his gaze. Her heart leapt forward and her face flushes a becoming pink. She knew she had to say something in spite of how scared she still felt and summons up courage to speak. Her voice sounded squeaky to her own ears.
"M— my a— apologies, K—Kenji-san. I— it was insensitive of me to address the decease…as such. I….. forget sometimes…. Perhaps on purpose in order to do my job. Again I'm sorry."
Kenji turns away slightly, his posture clearly showing signs that he was uncomfortable with her words or perhaps he was embarrassed by the public reprimand from his own superior. He only gave her a curt nod in response before returning to his post by the door.
Relieved by the defuse tension somewhat, Dr. Takahashi sent a nervous glance towards Kenji-san before addressing her savior directly after she cleared her throat out for good measure.
"Suoh-san, earlier on, I notice that you were studying the decease quite closely. Have you notice something worth mentioning?"
The hesitation on his face was clear and the professor began to feel excitement overtaking her prior fear. She was hoping this wouldn't be another cut and dry case. Normally the scenarios prior to the death of the subject were never mention to the Pathologist in any textbook investigation. After all, her observations were subjective to a degree and no prosecutor wishes to taint the evidence with emotions like anger or sympathy. However in working with Suoh-san, most times he would fill her in on the gruesome details once she finishes her examination. Oddly, she fondly looks forward to those times if only to confirm her hypothesis. She enjoyed it to such an extent, that she even mentioned this to Asami-sama as a special perk for her cooperation. And so she awaits Suoh-san's reply with baited breath.
"Yes, but I will voice my comments after your initial examination doctor. This need not be a thorough autopsy. I only wish to know the immediate cause of death and any outliers you may notice."
She gave him a firm nod and signals the old mortician to begin preparation.
Donning her usual white lab coat over her simple cream blouse and black pencil skirt, Dr. Takahashi brushes her long unruly curls back and tries her best to contain them with a black band. She then pulls on a pair of extra small latex gloves then puts the clear plastic, splatter shield mask over her face. She gave another nod to her colleague when she notices he's ready with his typical clipboard on hand.
Without further delay, she began. Her voice, though meek, it steep with pure authority on the subject.
"Subject's name is Uchiya Renzo. Age: 24. Height: 174 cm. Weight: 68 kg. Blood type: O positive. Time of death: approximately twenty hundred hours. Note on initial observation. Open wound on the jugular, left torso below the breast pocket, both palms and right outer thigh. Blood splatter on clothes indicates from own wounds as well as from another source. Possibly, may belong to a bystander and or the perp at close range."
She pauses and gasps upon her discovery. The professor immediately scans and began disrobing the body. After a few moments, she managed, with the grateful help of Suoh-san after seeing her struggle, to disrobe the cadaver down to his boxers.
"Upon closer examination, rigor mortis has already set in an hour after death which indicates the decease may have exposure to elevated temperature during and or after time of death. Further review indicates a fatal blow to the jugular, defensive wounds on both palms, blunt stabs to the mid section, and precise lacerations that are less than finger width apart at knee lev—"
Something caught her eye. It was very faint, but each time she moved slightly from her point of observation, a sheen of light would reflect off it. Her brows furrowed. She then uses one hand in a pincher's grasp to widen the open slit instead and her eyes immediately brighten.
Dr. Takahashi hastily reached for a ceramic tweezers and a small vial before she returns her focus to her discovery. Very carefully, she plucked what seem like a jagged edge sliver of something covered partially in blood off the opening she was examining and drop it in the vial. She then absently hands it over to the mortician who placed it through a metal stand with circular slot behind him.
"As I was saying, there are two precise lacerations behind both knees. Upon closer inspection, it is confirmed that the tendons were indeed cleanly severed with something exceptionally sharp. Possibly a multiple scalpel-like instrument or razor sharp claws. Closer examination of what first thought was defensive wounds at wrist level indicates similar precision. There appears to be some dark residue on the decease's right hand. Will be testing for GSR momentarily."
The doctor absently nods her thanks to the old mortician when he hands her a single piece of adhesive lifter. She immediately dabs at the dark residue and hands the stub back to be analyzed later. Next, Dr. Takahashi takes up a dental pick, and then routinely scrapes beneath the fingernails of the corpse over a small white piece of waxen paper in order to collect them into another small vial.
With both vials placed side by side in their respective holder, she removes her gloves and tosses them in the bio-toxic waste bin before she dons on a fresh pair and removes her splash guard head piece. She then took an opaque small bottle marked H20 and squirt some into both vials before picking up both in each hand and swirl the contents around. When she stopped, both vials appears a varying degree of red.
Dr. Takahashi's frown returns when she peer closer at the contents within. Immediately she place the vials back in their stand and pull out a small strip of see through plastic as well as a plastic bag mark Hexagon OBTI Kit. Then using a needle nose tweezers, she grasp the floating sliver from one vial and place it on the plastic strip and hand it over once again to the old mortician for analysis. Next, she opened up the kit and took out what looks like a pregnancy stick and small eye dropper bottle. With practice ease, Dr. Takahashi suctioned up a dollop of red liquid in the other vial with the dropper and release it onto the sample well of the stick. Immediately a single blue line appears. She waited for several more minutes, however nothing happened.
With her frown still in place, she moves towards the two microscopes already prepped for her usage with the slides in place. She peered through one, nods absently at her discovery before she moves on to the second one and takes a moment longer.
"Mori-san, could you please search through the decease's garments and see if you can find any unusual hairs or fibers? Thank you."
After a few minutes, the old mortician returns with a few adhesive lifters and places them within her peripheral. For good reason it seems, Dr. Takahashi efficiently swaps them out without even taking her eyes away from the microscopes eye piece. After dialing up a few magnifications and swapping the other slides easily, she turns around to address Suoh with a puzzle look on her face.
"Being this as my initial evaluation, I can deduce the following: the victim indeed fired his gun and the lacerations I can confirm are neither from a metal instrument or claws. In fact, I can vouch that they are in fact made from razor sharp human nails to be precise."
That odd statement hung in the air until Kenji voiced the unanimous reaction from the three men.
"What!?"
Quite frankly unperturbed by her own statement, Dr. Takahashi points excitedly.
"Look through there if you will."
Despite the invitation, Kenji waited for his superior's nod of approval before he vacated his post to sate his curiosity. When the enforcer lift his head to mirror the doctor's previous look of puzzlement, Suoh quietly stepped up to the microscope as well. However, upon finishing he only gave her a nod to continue.
"I found that piece of nail lodged in bone. The cut in the knee was deeper than I thought. Also, judging by the directional vector of the cut as well as the additional shallow cuts accompanying the lethal one—If indeed the killer used his fingers—I would say the perp was right handed and used these two fingers like so."
Dr. Takahashi raised her index and mid finger upwards, then slightly separated to demonstrate the cutting motion.
"This would also could explain the blunt stabs to the mid section."
She then pointed at the decease's abdomen to further illustrate her point.
"My first initial thought was that it was two separate weapons that may have cause these and the lacerations. However, given the width and diameter of the puncture wounds—"
She again raises her right hand with the two fingers extended and demonstrate the stabbing motion; her small fingers would have fit perfectly within the larger holes.
"This also would explain the nearby bruise discoloration from the remaining knuckles as the perp's hand was thrust to the hilt. However this is not what puzzles me."
Dr. Takahashi took a moment to collect her thoughts, as if struggling to fit her observation into something feasible. Once more she gives a nod to herself in making a resolution before he pushes her glasses back in place despite it not having noticeably slipped at all.
"What puzzles me, is that the blood along with some epithelial tissue found beneath the victim's nails are not human."
"What!?" "Are you sure?"
Dr. Takahashi ignored Kenji's second outburst to address Suoh's much more telling reaction.
"Yes. Quite positive. The foreign fibers found on the victim's clothing are dismissible, however, the silver follicles in which I thought were human hair is indeed from an animal."
"What does that even mean? That he has a pet cat or something? Or ran into a large rat? And how can you even tell?"
This time, the doctor did turn towards Kenji and answer his rhetorical, albeit sarcastic, question quite seriously.
"It means when Mori-san checked for any signs of transfer, only animal fur was found and no humans. As for the pet cat theory, no species of silver breeds have this particular shade or length. Thus ruling out the rat as well. Also, human hair tends to be coarser and exhibits certain traits due to aging or dye products. I may be able to get some DNA analysis on the species in question."
"Again what does the animal part even mean?"
Suoh can see that Kenji was more than visibly affected by this than he ought to. In judging from the enforcers previous threat to Dr. Takahashi and his initial voluntary service, it all made sense now. Perhaps he should have Kenji remove from the hunt. Sentiments can cloud one's judgment. Suoh couldn't afford the enforcer to make any rash decisions. Takaba-kun's wellbeing depended upon his ability to remain calm and collected. Kenji will not do.
With his mind made up, Suoh gestured for enforcer to come with him and they withdraw to a corner.
"Kenji-kun, how long have you known Uchiya Renzo?"
Surprise then guilt splash quickly within the enforcer's eyes before the other controlled his response. At any other given time, Suoh would have been proud.
"And Toyo Ueno?"
The stiffening of Kenji's jaw was his answer.
"I want you off the case—"
"I can't Suoh-sama! Please! Ucchi was dating my sister. I was the one that got Ucchi and Toyo the job. I need to do something or I can't live with myself."
Kenji dropped to his knees and bow deeply to his superior, pleading his case.
"Suoh-sama, please!"
The tension was high in the room, Dr. Takahashi and Mori-san could only stare in awe at the scene. It was heartwarming , Kenji's plea. Silently they pray the ever stoic Suoh-san would relent and grant his subordinate his wish.
At that precise moment, the instant buzz of a phone on silent was enough to disrupt the tension.
Suoh made the move to retrieve his mobile device from his inner breast pocket and engage in listening to the frantic call on the other end. After a long duration, he began his instructions.
"Secure his hands behind his back with metal cuffs as well as his feet immediately. Gag his mouth as well."
Pause.
"Yes, now do you keep any talisman with you?"
A shorter pause this time.
"Yes, the type of talisman you would receive from a Shinto shrine on New Years would do. Gather as much as possible from your team. Unfold and affix them on the follow key locations—water or saliva would do. Now the locations: forehead, upper sternum, heart, two centimeters above his belly button, both wrist and ankles. Affix any remainder on his joints. I want him immobilized and ready for transport upon my arrival."
"They caught him?"
Kenji's excited interjection received a slight, very miniscule frown from Suoh and the enforcer immediately clamp his mouth shut. With his measuring eyes never taken away from his subordinate, Suoh punched another call directly to his associates.
"We found him collapsed five blocks north of the incident."
Another heartbeat later.
" Yes, he's unconscious. I've instructed them to secure him and use whatever talisman they can find. I will meet you there."
"Suoh-san, what is going on?"
Luckily for Dr. Takahashi or quite possibly, fortunately for Kenji, Suoh relented his stare to address her instead.
"I will inform you as soon as I am able. Kenji-kun, let's go."
The pathologist and the old mortician watch the duo set off at a much quicker pace. Both shook their heads then a smile dawn on the doctor's face. It looks like Kenji got his wish after all.
