8. Modus Operandi
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"We'll be taking this case," Xigbar said. Xemnas had been ready for this. He stepped aside with nothing more than a glare in Xigbar's direction.
"So what do I do now?" he asked.
"You get to hand over the files," Xigbar answered.
"Please," Xaldin added.
"As soon as we're back at the precinct," Xemnas muttered. "What does this have to do with Ansem?"
Xaldin shook his head, and Xigbar followed suit.
"Sorry, that's confidential."
Xemnas seized the skinny man's arm and pulled him aside.
"Enough of all this ridiculous secrecy," he hissed so Xaldin couldn't hear. "Braig, we've known each other for twenty-three years now. Please."
"We figure that Ansem made a breakthrough on the doctor killer. The guy got spooked and offed him."
Xemnas frowned, teeth worrying at his lip.
"How could they know that Ansem was getting close?" he murmured. "Do you think it was one of us?"
"We hope not, but it looks that way. Either that, or someone leaked information."
"But only Ansem and I were on that case, and he never mentioned anything about a breakthrough to me."
"I don't know, Xeha. There's a lot we don't know. It's not a perfect hypothesis. Ienzo said you guys have been looking for a common factor among the victims," he added, raising his voice for the benefit of the others. Xemnas still frowned, but he shook his head and played along.
"Yes, but we haven't gotten anywhere."
He leaned close again.
"Keep me informed," he muttered, then turned away.
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"Hey. Rookie."
Sora jerked out of his half-doze in time to intercept a flying disc. Braig had thrown it.
"Study that. You're gonna help us catch a murderer."
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The serial killer was only known as "the doctor killer." He had, Sora read, murdered six times, or seven with Ansem. His M.O. was always the same, with one or two flourishes presumably added for effect. Each victim was found dead in the morning, strangled with a rope. The murder weapon was never left behind. The killer never left any fingerprints or significant traces of DNA. He erased himself from the door records and was never caught on tape.
The victims were three doctors, two of which were police-employed, and three psychologists, one police-employed. The killings had begun three years ago with the death of the police. The two other psychologists had been killed later, their dates of death apparently random. There were no commonalities among them, or at least none had yet been found.
Sora studied the files at home, perusing them into the night. Finally, his wild fantasy that he would be the one to discover the link between the killings gave way to fatigue, and he fell asleep at his desk.
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It seemed like the only thing anyone was doing at the precinct. Braig and Dilan were consulting with Ienzo, all three bent over endless appointment records. Xehanort was hoarding Ansem's laptop, exploring his files.
Finally, Sora gave up and went to meet Tron. According to Jack, Tron was state-of-the-art, the best technology the precinct had outside of forensics. It startled him at first to hear the computer say his name, but once he got used to it, Tron made for some fascinating conversation. So engrossed was Sora that he didn't notice the time's passing until Tron mentioned it.
"Oh," the rookie said. "Wow, I should go. I'm supposed to meet Riku for ice cream."
"Take care, Sora."
"Bye, Tron!"
Sora was just about to clock out when a phone rang. He looked around, but the others had all gone elsewhere while he wasn't looking. He picked up the phone.
"Yeah?"
"Sora, that you? It's Deym. I'm just… uh… checking the phone. Yeah, that's it, we had an outage, is all. Listen, is Braig there?"
Sora glanced around.
"Um, nope." He wasn't falling for Deym's lousy story. "What's up, Deym?"
"Um… could you come up here and help us out? If you see Braig or Dilan, bring them along. See you in a sec."
The line went dead. Perplexed, Sora hung up. He checked in Ansem's… now Braig's… office and found both detectives inside.
"Oh, uh, Deym said he needed you upstairs," he reported.
"I thought I heard something," Dilan said.
"Bet he blew up the water heater again, or something," Braig agreed, grinning. "Not like we'd hear. I swear, these floors are so thick we would miss a gunshot."
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"Told you so."
Braig inspected the hole in the window, then the wall where the bullet had lodged itself. He turned to see a shaky but mostly unharmed Ienzo being helped into a chair by Elaeus. The only injury the small man had sustained were some small cuts where bits of wood had struck his face.
"That was close, eh, Ienzo?"
Ienzo was staring out across the street, where a curtain fluttered in an open window.
"It isn't funny, Braig. He knows," he muttered. "He knows that we know that he did it."
"Dammit!" Braig swore, striking the wall. "How does this keep getting out to him?"
"He's one of us," Elaeus rumbled. "He has to be."
"But Dil and I haven't been keeping you all posted, or anything!"
No one said anything for a minute. Then Sora said, "So… what if he didn't know? What if this was another of his random attacks, and Ienzo was just the next on the list?"
"No, that's not how he works. He would have waited to use his normal M.O.," Dilan said. "This guy is nothing if not patient. He wanted Ienzo dead, and he wanted it now."
They were interrupted when Ias entered.
"I searched the apartment," he told them. "The door was hacked. The residents aren't home. No weapon, no fingerprints. Nothing."
"Didn't neighbors hear the shot?"
"Yes, and came running. By the time they got there, he was gone."
Braig swore again.
"Ienzo," he said at last. "Have you talked about the case to anyone in the precinct?"
"No," the psychologist stated. "All I did today and yesterday were evaluations. Routine examinations of the officers."
A/N: And as always, feel free to guess!