Sorry, sorry, it's a tad long again. I am trying to keep myself short, I really am! (I actually cut quite a bit away that'll go into the next chapter now.)

There will be a few changes, as I mentioned - one of them is hitting us now. Since "Shortest Distance" came out, the MC's name had been changed to Narukami Yuu (Yuu Narukami in English of course). Seeing we'll have Dancing All Night release soon as the latest installment, and how more people may recognize that name over the formerly canon "Souji Seta", I decided to go for Yuu now.

Thanks, again, goes to zero-damage on reddit for sacrificing his time to read through the first draft.

Also thanks to Catherine for her feedback, hope you're continuing to have fun reading. ^^

July 9th, 2011

A robed Naoto stepped out of the shower, toweling off her hair. In her mind, she was assembling a small shopping list. Mundane as that activity was, running out of shampoo without having a replacement would be an inconvenience she could easily avoid. Besides, she should really replace the bottles of orange juice and green tea, which had gone untouched for the last two weeks and were certain to have spoiled by now. Possibly restocking on some other food options would be a good idea as well.

Yawning, Naoto stepped in front of the sink and stretched out. Slowly she rubbed the fog from the mirror with a corner of her towel. When she could see her reflection, she stopped, slowly pulling her hand back.

The girl she saw in the mirror looked a lot like a copy of the young couple whose picture was in her grandfather's study. Around her cheek bones, the tilt of her eyes, and the curve of her pale lips she very much was her mother. On the other hand, there was her strong jawline, the stark blue-gray of her eyes, and the colour and fall of her hair, which made her the very image of her father's daughter.

Even her grandfather could sometimes be seen in her. When she smiled, however rare that was.

Naoto gave her mirrored self a slow, apprising look. She carried not only the Shirogane name, she realized. She carried their mannerisms and even their looks. Yet there was no denying that she had left childhood behind. Her face had grown more angular, more defined. When had that transpired? Was it actually a sudden occurrence, or a process so slow and gradual that she simply had never taken notice and it just seemed sudden?

She sighed, turned, dropped her towel into the laundry basket, and re-fastened her robe. Foolish, unproductive thinking. Even if she looked less like a child, the actual worry was about looking too feminine, which would come after leaving childhood. Something that her morning routine now tried to battle each and every day.

By the time she stepped out of the bathroom, finished binding her chest, gotten dressed, combed her hair and finished that mental shopping list, she had become another person. A public version of the youngest member of the Shirogane legacy. Leaving her apartment, buttoning up her jacket, she cast one last glance in her bathroom mirror. Pulling on her cap, she transformed ever so slightly from her parent's daughter into Naoto Shirogane, the boy detective.

The rest of the day felt very slow, in the dreary, quiet way that comes with two days of non-stop rain.

After shopping at Junes, dropping off her groceries at home, and stopping by the Inaba police station to check up on any progress made by Adachi and Dojima (none, as expected), she decided to walk back to her apartment in the afternoon rain. The quiet that came with this kind of weather, combined with the deep earthen scent of petrichor, reminded her of afternoons spent alone in the garden of the estate. It was a familiar and comforting backdrop which allowed her to let her mind run freely.

The town looked bathed in monochrome. Thick clouds overhead prevented any colour from standing out, the only exceptions being the bright and seemingly out-of-place glare of the neon signs outside of some storefronts. Everything else kept a low profile today, turning the surroundings dark and chilly. She was actually wearing her spring coat again, even though it was early summer. Naoto saw no birds, no stray cats and hardly anyone else walking outside. It was like having her own little space, the white noise of rain patterning down on her umbrella sealing her away from the outside world.

On a whim she turned into the north end of the shopping district. This rain was growing to be so dense that even the street lights were diffused and weakened. The brightest light here came from the two soda vending machines outside of the Konishi's liquor store. Naoto stopped by the machines, pulled a Natural from the one of them and was about to turn away, when the machine played a small jingle. She turned to look at it and read "You've won a prize!". She shrugged, selected a second Natural and pocketed it.

As she turned back to continue southward; she saw a slice of bright yellow light reach into the street as the door at Tatsumi Textiles opened, and Kanji Tatsumi stepped out. He swept a small puff of dust into the still, mildly cold afternoon air. The swooshing his broom made seemed oddly muffled by the rain drumming on her umbrella, while being whispered back as an echo from the houses on the opposite side of the street.

Where had he been? How long had he been back now? More pressing: How could she possibly have spent several weeks now not thinking about him? He was a key point to her Inaba investigation, yet she had lost several weeks by not trying to follow up sooner. She had allowed Grampa to distract her with other cases, to the point where her own investigation had suffered. Sudden annoyance swelled up in her. Here she was, wasting time with a stroll when she should run an investigation!

On impulse, she surged forward, wanting to pick up her trail right away. She crossed the street, her steps silenced by the steady patter of the rain. The younger Tatsumi had just turned, not seeing her, and re-entered the store. The door was pulled shut and the light that fell on the sidewalk from inside was cut off. Naoto slowed her steps just at the corner of the closed barber shop beside the Tatsumi's store.

No. She was rushing things. She had no plan on what to do next. The last she had done was gently probe for some information and she had barely managed to coax the young man out of his shell. If she were to just bulldoze right in, she might ruin her carefully laid groundwork. He seemed to spook easily and barging right in, possibly even putting him on the spot before his mother needed to be avoided.

As she still hesitated on what to do next, the door slid open again and Naoto shrank back behind the building. She heard Kanji Tatsumi say awkward farewells to two girls – one of them being the black-haired Amagi. Holding back her umbrella slightly, Naoto peered at them. Tatsumi was unable to keep eye contact with them, his gaze going right past both girls, his body slightly twisted away from them; but their conversation seemed friendly and warm. Reading the body language alone, the detective concluded the girls being close friends; their stance towards Kanji was one of familiarity.

What surprised her then was seeing none other than Rise Kujikawa skip out of the store, flinging her arms around the younger Tatsumi in a hug; then giving him a playful push as he went rigid as a board in response to her embrace. She could not hear what they were saying, but she did catch the three girls bursting into laughter together, which was repaid by him with a glower.

One of them, a short-haired girl, happily called out "Well, see you tomorrow, Kanji-kun!" before opening her umbrella and walking off with the other girls. The door was slid shut again and the street turned quiet as their steps started to be swallowed in the rain.

Crossing back from the other side, Naoto kept heading south, following them at a distance. This had been a most fortuitous moment for her. Being able to observe this brief encounter, she could start to formulate a new approach in her investigation. She should very carefully plan the next couple of days. Meet up with Tatsumi again. Hunt for new leads. Make sure she picked the case back up, now that she had taken her break.

If he had managed to make new friends at school, the change in his behavior was dramatic from a few weeks ago. He still didn't seem to be very talkative, but the way the four had just interacted promised a certain familiarity. In any case, his integration into the social networks of his peers would also provide her with more insight.

Something tried to grab her attention. A thought so thin that the moment she tried to grasp it, it turned into mist. She tried to reach for it a few times, then simply let it slip away and devised her new approach.

She had spent the evening revising her old notes on the murder cases here in Inaba. Sipping from a glass of fresh orange juice Naoto flicked through the copies of the files from the first murder.

She copied out the questions she still wanted to ask Kanji Tatsumi, adding new questions to the list, crossing out questions that were answered, or questions which seemed no longer as pressing. This included a number of new softball questions. His take on Rise "Risette" Kujikawa, for example. She had seen her mentioned in several yellow press magazines as she was shopping and found that the idol, apparently quite popular with her peers, was moving here permanently. She seemed to have taken some time to get settled in. After hearing a lot of chatter about her, she suddenly seemed to have vanished for a short while.

And then tonight, she saw her with two of the students who also had visited Tatsumi-san's store in May. Seemingly friendly with Kanji Tatsumi; possibly even involved with him.

As she flicked through her notes from her interview with the teenager, she found his dismissive reaction to the suggestion he might have friends. Clearly that either had changed or was changing right now. Or, of course, he had lied. He was very jumpy and nervous about her conversation with him back in May. But… No. That explanation imply seemed too unlikely. He did not show any deceitful behavior during their interactions so far.

Naoto also had dug out the map she had started to assemble at the police station and pinned it to the wall in her living room. She had pushed her table just underneath, placing her copied files and assorted notes on it. Having everything in reach, in case she needed to quickly check up on a factoid, falsehood or to confirm an actual piece of information.

She set her glass down and kept writing into her note book. Everything came back to her readily as she reviewed her notes. The need to tap the Amagi and Konishi families for information. Her hopes that Kanji Tatsumi had started to re-integrate himself at school. If she was lucky, he may have started picking up rumors that she could use to continue to fact-check on the case.

The surge of annoyance she had felt in the late afternoon had since settled. She realized that her distraction from the case had in fact helped her. She had thrown away many false leads she had dreamed up in her urge to find a solution and felt her head was so much clearer now. Ultimately, her goal was not to just solve the case. Her goal needed to be find the right solution. And that would not happen if she simply chased for an answer without any respect for the actual mystery.

Something else had emerged as she reviewed this case with fresh eyes. A rumor she had flat-out dismissed had taken a shape. A shape she was slightly worried about.

The Midnight Channel.

Kanji Tatsumi had apparently been seen by some teens on something they called the "Midnight Channel" – a rumor she was told by an attendant at the local Moel gas station weeks ago. This had happened only a few days after his unexplained disappearance.

She had also heard that Rise Kujikawa had been seen on that channel. She no longer recalled how she heard about this, but she did hear of it and she remembered faintly to also immediately dismiss it as a prank. Who ever heard of turned-off TVs showing a late night show? She rejected the very idea of it as ludicrous, and simply being the sort of urban legend that gets passed around by bored teenagers with too much time on their hands.

Had she been wrong in that thought? How could something so absurd be the truth – or connected to her cases? Or was there another, separate issue going on entirely?

Even if one discounted the midnight channel however – each of the victims had previously been on TV. NightLine had also reported about Tatsumi and Kujikawa. If the assumption could be made that the 'Midnight Channel' was someone falling asleep in front of the TV; if their subconscious combined the rumors of a person with what was shown on that broadcast, perhaps we're actually getting to the truth of the matter? And yet. Not everyone in NightLine had ended up murdered. That alone, combined with the Midnight Channel resulted in… nothing. Nothing at all.

Another consequence however could be that publicity on TV drew the murderers attention. If we require this as the signal for the murderer to become engaged and single out a target, that would mean, based purely on NightLine that both Kanji Tatsumi and Rise Kujikawa would still be in danger. Maybe only Kujikawa, Tatsumi seemed capable of fending off attackers, seeing his history of violence. Observing Kujikawa closely should be considered none the less. She would talk to Dojima in the morning regarding this theory.

By the time she caught herself staring at the map without seeing it and realized she should go to sleep, it was past two in the morning.

June 10th, 2011

Naoto sleepily reached for her mobile phone in the dim light of early morning. She had tried to ignore the first rings, hoping whoever it was would simply leave a message. She had been up late and getting up just past sunrise was not a part of that plan.

She flipped open the phone and hummed sleepily "Shirogane?" while pulling her blanket back over her shoulders.

"Up and at 'em, wonder boy."

"Dojima-san? What time is it?"

"My watch reads six twenty-two. I'll be at your apartment in… about fifteen minutes, so get your ass into gear." Before she could reply with a very groggy complaint, he rushed on. "We have another victim. I simply assumed you'd be interested in being there when I reach the scene…"

Jumping out of bed and already in her bathroom by the time he finished, she quipped "I'll be ready" and snapped her phone shut.

As irritable as Dojima-San could come across at times; when he was working, Naoto deeply respected his distanced, calm presence. She felt like a fully valued member of his team as she took notes, reviewed the injuries the victim had taken, and assisted in recovering evidence.

The weather played to their advantage. The ground had been like a sponge after two days of rain and finding the foot prints of the assailant who placed out the body was simply a matter of looking at the ground. No one could have missed these deeply sunken prints in the earth. Well. Maybe aside from Adachi-san. The mud from the terrain tracked up the water tower to where the victim had been hung dangling upside-down over the banister.

The victim was covered in defensive wounds and the attack must have been vicious. The head trauma was considerable and the location of the murder would certainly be found this time around – provided the attack had not happened while it still rained. Even so, the site was rife with traces, evidence and indications of a time line.

The had been here the best part of the morning so far, when Dojima caught her eye and indicated with a nod to pull back from the scene. She left side-by-side with him, Adachi-san trailing behind them.

Naoto stepped back behind the police lines with the other detectives and listened to them compare notes while she removed her thin latex gloves. Pocketing them, she pulled out her own note book and started to flip through the early pages. She wanted to see if anything could already strike her as comparable to the first two murders.

When correlating the first two victims with this one, stark differences came to light immediately. The clearly visible footprints. The deviation in the victim's gender. The severe injuries sustained by the victim. Even the locale was different – not a single house was anywhere near this water tower; no road, either. Only a small footpath lead here from the road, too narrow for a car. Where the first two victims had no physical marks, this victim was found with numerous defensive wounds. Leading up to the water tower, Naoto had pointed out drag marks. None had been noted near the previous two victims. Had they been missed or had the first two been carried? She scribbled down 'Compare weight of victims'.

Watching the coroners taking away the body, she drummed her pen on her note book. Why these differences? What had happened to make the murderer change his MO? Was he rushed? Did he fear someone saw him? Had his preparations gone wrong? What made his appearance any different? And… and why did she feel so confused when looking at him?

He didn't look familiar at all. Somehow that was important. She felt like she should know him, but did not. What did that mean?

"Shirogane?"

Wait… wait! She had not seen this man in the news at all. He had not been spoken of at the station when she visited yesterday; she had not read about him or heard anyone at Junes mention him – and NightLine generally was mentioned somewhere the day after the broadcast. She flipped back in her book and looked at the name. Morooka, Kinshiro. No, the name meant nothing to her. Nothing at all…

Her theory from last night, that the murderer would be influenced by seeing his or her victims on TV or them having a certain amount of local interest returned to the forefront of her mind. She made another note. 'Confirm recent movements of Morooka'

"Hey, Shirogane?"

She looked up from her notes and turned her attention to Dojima. "Yes, detective?"

"We've been here for four hours now. I'm headed back to the station to start the paperwork. The rest will be wrapped up by the investigations unit. Want a ride back with me?"

"Yes, that would… Actually, Dojima-san, would you agree to take me near the shopping district? I would very much like to check on something."

Naoto hopped out of the car, thanked Dojima and marched right up to Marukyu tofu. Being a regular here, she had been content with just talking to the elderly owner, but she should try to talk to Rise Kujikawa now. The morning had been too busy to talk to Dojima-san about her theory regarding Kujikawa being in danger, but she wanted to at least lay some groundwork. Her disappearance was, now that she had time to think on it, very much like the sudden vanishing of Kanji Tatsumi.

That was what had bothered her all evening without being able to put the feeling into coherent thought. They seemed to have had a similar experience or occurrence – and now they were on very friendly terms. Not only that, but the same second-year high schoolers that had tried to contact Kanji Tatsumi now seemed involved with her.

And now a teacher from the local school had been found murdered. Without being on TV first. Without having gone missing first. These two trails kept crossing and then separating again. Was she imagining a possible connection of the two? Or was she simply tired? The night had been too late and too short.

Taking the steps up to the store in one long stride, Naoto looked around the shop. "Pardon my intrusion?" From a back room, Marukyu-san walked in, wiping her hands on her apron. "Oh, the dapper young man. Welcome to Marukyu Tofu. How are you?"

Naoto tapped her cap, all her automatic habits kicking in at once. Her voice dropped, her back straightened, her shoulders came forward. "Marukyu-san. It is good to see you, I am well. I was wondering if your granddaughter, Rise Kujikawa, was here at this time."

"Oh, are you another fan of hers? I'm very sorry, dear -"

Naoto held up both hands. "I assure you, my request is not of any frivolous nature. I wish to speak to her regarding an investigation I am assisting the local police with. She is not in any kind of trouble" she hastily added as the older woman raised a shocked hand to her mouth, "but she might be able to help me clarify some matters."

"I see. Oh my, an investigation. Well, she actually isn't in right now. I believe she went to finish up her paperwork at school. She'll be staying here for a longer while, so she is enrolling while staying with me."

"How unfortunate…" Naoto frowned, her thoughts already racing. If Kujikawa started going to school here, she would certainly start becoming 'involved' in whichever was happening here. The coincidences were too convenient to actually point to anything else at this time. Maybe, if she could interject at an earlier stage, she could get a better insight into what was going on. Unless she, like Kanji Tatsumi, was already too deeply embroiled.

"Can I help you in any way perhaps?" Marukyu-san offered.

"No. No, but I thank you for your offer, Ma'm. I might stop by at a later time to see Kujikawa-san. I am very sorry to have bothered you."

"No bother, dearie, you're such a polite young man. Why, I am sure you'll be growing up to be a proper Gentleman even, unlike most kids these days."

Fearing a well-intentioned monologue from the shop owner, and feeling a blush creep up, Naoto tucked down her cap a bit and muttered a quick goodbye.

Leaving the store, she spotted the group of students, minus one Rise Kujikawa, walk up to the tofu store. With this arrival it became clear that information obtained from the starlet had to be considered contaminated. She did not mean to frown, but her eyebrows drew down and her voice, still balancing on the practiced deeper tones, sounded frosty even to her own ears as the teens stopped in front of her.

"Are you here to ingratiate yourselves with Rise Kujikawa now?"

Naoto's eyes wandered over the group. The Amagi girl. Junes' branch managers' son. The short-haired girl. A very lender blonde boy. And, standing in the back, shoulders hunched down, Kanji Tatsumi. Were all her sources muddled already? Had she waited too long?

The Junes-boy suddenly did a double-take on her and then burst out "Hey! Aren't you that guy we saw with Kanji?"

Turning to catch him in a stare, Naoto simply dipped her head in a tight nod. "Precisely. I don't believe we've met since then-In fact, I don't believe I've ever introduced myself. My name is Naoto Shirogane." Tired. She was simply tired and perhaps a little on edge due to lack of sleep.

One of them let out a soft noise, like a choke or gasp for air. She kept her eyes on the teen in front of her. He shifted his feet. Good. The intent was to make him uncomfortable. If any of the others recognized her name, only the better.

"I'm investigating the multiple murders that have occurred here. Mind if I ask you a few questions on the subject?" She carried on without actually waiting for any kind of confirmation. "The latest victim, Kinshiro Morooka...He was a teacher at the school you all attend, correct?"

The short haired girl was the one who replied. "S-So what?"

Naoto turned her head slightly, her gaze first lingering on the shaggy-haired boy, then her eyes flicked to the girl. She did a small nervous bounce. Uneasy as well. Promising.

"The public is focused on the fact that he is associated with the second victim's school...But in truth, that's irrelevant. What intrigues me is the inconsistency. This Morooka...has never appeared on television. What do you make of that?"

And there it was. The unease of the group was so thick she thought she could reach out and touch it. Glances were exchanged, feet tapped nervously, arms were crossed. The only two who did not seem to show agitation were the silver-haired young man and, oddly, Tatsumi.

Tatsumi, who got nervous simply being looked at most of the time, simply looked slightly confused. Maybe he had not yet been involved with the matter long enough or deeply enough to know all the details. If that was indeed the case, she could easily re-affiliate herself with him and tap him as a source the way she had started some weeks ago. Also, Kujikawa was not yet with them. Another good sign.

Not as good as their reaction now however.

"H-How are we supposed to know?" snapped the boy. She needed to find out the names of these teens and investigate their backgrounds.

"Well, we'll leave it at that." Naoto smiled knowingly. They were hiding something. Time to push them off balance just that touch more. "I'll be keeping an eye on you all," With this, she left, walking straight past them, headed straight to the station. She had more paperwork to prepare now.

July 11th, 2011

Okay, so she did smirk.

Naoto had waited at the Junes food court, her back to a wall, a newspaper open. When the teens started to arrive, she fixed each of them in their minds. Hanamura. Satonaka. Amagi. Narukami. A very slender blonde boy. The only name she could find on the blonde boy was "Teddie". Their voices were low, but still carried well enough to catch the gist of what was going on.

It seemed they spoke in some sort of code about certain locations or occurrences, possibly knowing that they could be overheard at such a public place. What "T.V." could be short for was a bit of a puzzle. They could not mean actually entering a television set. But they did speak of the rumored Midnight Channel. Her deduction that somehow the late night show NightLine was involved seemed to hold water.

However… Dojima had been rather clear this morning. They felt she no longer was needed now. They had a suspect and would start connecting the dots leading to them. Well, the way the scene was utterly littered with evidence, even someone like Adachi-san should have been able to find something. She had still decided to keep an eye on things, until they were fully wrapped up. The case still held some holes in the trail of evidence and she needed to know what happened on the first two murders.

She folded up the paper and got up to deliver the good news.

As she approached the table, she heard Satonaka say "Well, we'll do what we can, for King Moron's sake too! At this rate, you have to figure that the killer has something to do with the school, right? So why don't we split up and-"

"That won't be necessary." I am cool. I am collected. Let me show you how this is handled by someone who has the maturity you still lack.

She heard Tatsumi stutter a faint "Y- You…"

Whatever he had meant to say, she would not give him the chance. "There is no need to examine the case of Mister Morooka any further." She placed a hand on her hip, squaring up before them. "Apparently, the police have found a suspect. It would be best to let them handle the case from here."

It was Satonaka again who jumped in. She seemed to also not handle any kind of silence well. "They found a suspect...!? Who is it!?"

"It isn't public knowledge yet, but he isn't a student of your high school. It seems they are quite confident that this boy is the killer.. Soon, this case will be solved, and your town will once again be its peaceful, rustic self." She would not smile. As much as she felt like being condescending to these teens; as much as she wanted to show them how actual police work was done, she kept herself in check.

Hanamura stared at the table for a moment, then looked her squarely in the eye. "All right...So why come tell us? That's confidential info, right? Why run right here and spill it?"

She turned her head to face him. That had been an unusually sharp observation on his part. "Your 'game' will soon reach its end. I felt I should at least let you know that." Okay, so maybe a little bit condescending. It was the truth however. They should not have meddled. Police work is not the place for curious children or teenagers who think they can outwit professionals.

"It's not a game to us." Narukami, who had been quiet most of the conversation so far, did not look at her as he said this.

"You don't deny, then, that you have involved yourselves in the matter?" This time, no one rose to her bait. "Well, no matter. I have no reason to say anything further." Naoto turned, ready to leave. Should she find them interfering any further, she could-

Something pounded behind her, and as she turned around, Kujikawa was standing, her hands pressed hard against the table. "Aren't you the one who thinks of this as a game?" she snapped. "All you're doing is solving mysteries, playing at detective!"

The young detective felt herself being stunned into silence at the outburst.

Kujikawa wasn't finished. "You're the one who's playing a game here!"

"Rise's right," Hanamura cut in. "The second victim, Saki Konishi. You know her? "

Naoto nodded. "I've seen her files." Where did that line of reasoning come into play?

"So? How does that matter? You didn't know her and you don't know any of us - because if you did, you'd know this wasn't a game." Hanamura tried his best glare on the young detective. Not really intimidating. Observing the interview of a high-stakes drug dealer was much more unnerving, but it was a good attempt at appearing disquiet.

She pondered her reply for a moment. "A game."She tipped her chin down a little to try and hide her expression. This was not the first time she had been told this, and yet the words still stung a little. "That may be quite true."

Working by following in the footsteps of four generations, she could be seen as playing at the vocation of her parents and grandfather. But there had been others who underestimated her in the past; many of which now quite likely cursed their blasé attitude from a jail cell.

"Ah, I get it." In an instant, Hanamura's glare shifted to a self-statesfied smirk. "What, did they get rid of you now they've got their man? Is that why you came here? " He leaned back and stared at the young detective, arms folded. "You were lonely?"

Ah, we have reached the stage of ad hominem. Any interrogation reached this moment, where the interviewed locked up, feeling they found a way out – generally by uttering personal attacks. The one chosen by Hanamura was a very well-known one to Naoto and she did not rise to it. "Detectives normally aren't involved with arrests," she stated plainly. "And we never harbor any special emotions regarding a case, either."

"Uh - so they d-dropped you?" Tatsumi stammered, staring firmly at the table. Still unable to look at me. That was another promising continuation for her. If he felt even slightly intimidated by her, she could build on his discomfort.

Still, he had been the most placid and almost kind in his reply. She felt like snapping another cool retort, but changed her mind to not damage any potential future conversations at this point. A slightly more open response was needed. One that would show her mature bearing as well as her control over the situation.

"It is rather unfortunate that people are only attentive so long as our services are required - but I'm accustomed to it."

No one replied to this. Tatsumi flashed her a short look – was that pity in his eyes? – but no one else mustered any kind of response.

She could have left earlier. Should have, really. Maybe she had already said too much just then. "Well, I'll be going now."

Turning, Naoto marched out of the food court, not hearing a single word spoken as she left. She knew Grampa had sent some more case files for her to review. While she could turn her main attention on that, she still would remain here to see the case come to a complete close.