Chapter two
o-oOo-o


They had been lucky that they had discovered the second victim before garbage collection took away the receipt that had been in the trash or they wouldn't have been able to make the connection to the one Himeragi had kept stuffed between other receipts in his wallet.

Now, Heiji and Shinichi stood in the office of the store manager, Miyamura Toshiro and two of his employees, explaining why the police were in his shop.

"I'm sorry," Miyamura said. "I can't remember ever seeing these men, but I can tell that they were no regulars here."

"Why are ya so sure about that?" Heiji asked. "Ya'r not workin' at the checkout yarself often, do ya? Maybe ya just missed them?"

"That's true," Miyamura conceded. "But all our regular customers own a discount-card and you could see the position here on the receipt." He tapped on the paper in front of him. They had brought a copy, showing both receipts to find out who had worked on these days.

"Maybe he didn't want a discount-card?" Shinichi pointed out. "Some people dislike such cards, because they don't want that their data gets collected for advertising or statistics."

Miyamura hummed in agreement. "Nonetheless, I'm sure that all our regulars have one, because we've had an incentive not long ago and our cashiers were hell-bent on giving out the cards to everyone. You could win a vacation on a cruise ship for two persons. Got them quite motivated."

"Alright," Heiji sighed and showed the pictures of the victims to the two employees, whose respective ID had been on the receipts. "How about ya? Do ya remember them?"

They both were young, working here part-time to make a little money at the side while they were studying for college. One of them, a thin, pimply guy was rather nervous and his unsteady eyes flickered from Heiji to his boss and to the floor and back to the pictures, before he shook his head.

The other one just gave them a rather bored 'No' and winced when Miyamura hit the back of his head for his disrespectful behavior.

Miyamura promised to give out the order to report immediately if there should be another customer buying the same things and they left the store without learning anything new.

On the street, when they were about to turn around the corner to where they had parked the car, they were held back by a yell from behind.

"Hey - Detective!"

They stopped and turned around to see the nervous young man running up to them.

He panted a bit, obviously not part of the track team back in school and needed a moment to collect himself.

"I-, I'm not sure if it is related to the case and I don't want any problems. Really, I can't afford to get an entry in my police file or get arrested or…" he babbled without inhaling even once and Heiji held up a hand.

"Calm down! One thin' at a time. I'm sure it's not that bad… well, whatever ya did. Ya didn't kill someone, did ya?" he clarified.

"No! Of course not!"

"Right, then please tell us what ya know, err…" he trailed off, noticing that he had forgotten the name of the boy.

"Sakamoto Kenji," the young man answered and hesitantly held out a business card. "You see, there is a class-reunion coming up and no girl wanted to go with me and, well…" he looked to the side, embarrassed, while Heiji read the card.

"Arisawa Sanyu. Escort." He looked at Shinichi with a smirk. "Well, what are the chances?"

Shinichi shot him a sullen glance, for the jab at their previous encounter with Arisawa.

"When- when I went to her to hire her, I bumped into one of the men from the photos. The younger one," Kenji explained.

Heiji put a hand on his chin. "That would be Himeragi." He pulled out the photo again to verify. "This was tha man ya've seen? When?"

Kenji nodded. "Yes, that's him. It was exactly three weeks ago. I remember, because I was so nervous going there, I needed two tries to make it to the door at all."

Heiji could imagine how the awkward young man had needed to gather all his courage to hire a woman to impress his former class-mates. Poor guy.

"Did you notice anything strange?" Shinichi asked.

"Uh…," Kenji looked up in thought, pressing one pointer finger to his lips. "Well, I think they were arguing before I arrived. The atmosphere was kind of tense and we collided because he wasn't paying attention. He didn't even apologize."

That was interesting.

Heiji pulled out a card with his name and number from the inner pocket of his jacket and reached it to Kenji. "Alright, thanks a lot, Sakamoto-san. If ya remember anythin' ya want ta tell us, call me."

The boy took the card and nodded, obviously relieved that the conversation was over.

"And I think ya should cancel yar date with Arisawa-san," Heiji added, amused by Kenji's beet-red face. "I'm sure ya'll find a nice girl at yar campus. And if not – Chin up! Ya don't have ta prove them anythin'."

Kenji just gaped at him for a moment before he stumbled out some thanks and turned to flee back into the hardware-shop.

Shinichi clapped a hand on Heiji's shoulder. "I didn't know that you were capable of giving advise like a dad," he laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, keep laughin'," Heiji grumbled. "I just felt sorry for him."

His friend now smiled placatingly. "I know, don't be mad." He took out his phone and looked at the time. It was already late in the evening. The perfect time to call an escort.

"Do ya want ta call her, Kudou? Seein' as she has taken a likin' ta ya?" Heiji held out the business card and wiggled his eyebrows. For that, he had to evade a swatting hand from Shinichi, who then took the card from Heiji and tried to reach her, but just got the mailbox.

Maybe she was already… err, working. He didn't leave a message. If she really had something to do with the deaths, he didn't want to give her any warning or time to prepare.

"I think we should call it a day then," Shinichi said and yawned. He had been up early to get the first bullet train to Osaka. "We'll drive to the address tomorrow, together with Hakuba-san."

Heiji just rolled his eyes. Joy.

"Stop pouting, Hattori."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

Shinichi sighed. While Hakuba wasn't his favorite partner when working cases, normally he was a decent guy. If he and Heiji just could get over their differences, he was sure they would get along well enough.

"Come on. My stuff is still at the Department and I have to book a room in a hotel," he urged, but Heiji didn't want to hear any of it.

"Hotel? No way – ya're stayin' with us while ya're here. Kazuha will kill me if I let ya sleep in some shady lodgin'."

"Shady lodging? Just what did you think where I wanted to book a room?" Really – after the countless tours with Heiji, Shinichi knew his way around here by now.

Heiji shrugged. "Knowing yar luck, ya'll end up in tha only hotel in Osaka with some murder tonight."

Fair enough.

So, Shinichi complied and followed Heiji to the car.

o-oOo-o
Tuesday, 7:45 am

Breakfast with the Hattoris was an experience, so to say.

The couple bickered and bantered just like back then when they had been teenagers and had still been in denial about their love for each other.

Shinichi mostly tried to stay off the radar and quietly drank his coffee while watching the show his hosts displayed. The small fight was because of some burnt fish or was it spilled tea – he didn't remember anymore and he doubted any of them did either.

"Heiji! Why don't ya ever listen to anythin' I say?" Kazuha shouted, her hands on her hips and her ponytail that by now lacked the yellow trademark ribbon she had worn as a teenager, bounced behind her. "As soon as there's a case, it's as if I'm just air for ya– and there's always a case!"

"I'm listenin' alright, Aho," Heiji shot right back. "Ya just won't stop talkin' all day and I have ta filter out tha important stuff from all tha jabberin'."

Kazuha looked like she would explode any moment. Wide eyed, red faced and breath held.

The eruption followed suit.

"WHAT?!"

Heiji finally seemed to realize that he overdid it with the teasing and backpaddled quickly. "Ah, no – I didn't mean it in a bad way. I- uh…"

Kazuha heaved out a sigh. He really looked apologetic in his own stupid way and as always, her anger evaporated as fast as it had come. It left behind a bit of disappointment, but she had known what she had signed up for when she'd said 'yes' to him. If she had wanted someone reasonable and empathic, she shouldn't have married this fool of a detective.

She looked over to Shinichi, who silently had watched their outburst but now had politely lowered his gaze into the depths of his coffee cup to give them some sort of privacy.

It was okay. He had seen them going at it for years now, and he was well aware that they didn't mean even half of the stuff they yelled at each other in the heat of the moment.

"Kudou-kun," she got his attention. "I really hope yar not givin' Ran-chan as much grief as this Aho here is givin' me."

He blinked a few times, unsure of what the correct answer was. "Err, no – of course not. I mean – if I can help it… I try?"

"Oi, oi, Kazuha," Heiji frowned. "It's ok if ya harass me, but stop botherin' Kudou, will ya?"

"Yeah, I get it," she said with an annoyed eye-roll and a dismissive wave of her hand. "He's yar best pal and so on and so forth. Really – if he wasn't a guy, ya would've married him instead of me."

Shinichi began to feel uncomfortable. This was a bit more than their usual quips. Ran also had gotten fed up with his antics more than once, and by now he knew the tell-tale signs when a serious conversation was due.

He got up. "Well, – thanks for the breakfast, Kazuha. I'll be going upstairs to get ready to leave for the department. We have to pick up Hakuba-san soon."

Heiji looked after him. "Traitor," he muttered under his breath. "Ya've been ready long before I even got up."

Sighing, he turned to his wife.

He knew he had overstepped some boundaries again. He just couldn't help it. The case wasn't an easy one and on top of that, he felt the pressure of his superiors regarding his promotion. He couldn't afford to screw this up.

Even if Kazuha had a temper, she would understand if he explained properly.

Time to grovel a bit.

o-oOo-o

Heiji still wasn't in the best of moods even if the conversation with Kazuha had ended quite peacefully. That he would have to deal with Hakuba didn't help any, but Arisawa was a suspect and Hakuba needed to talk to her directly to be able to get a good reading of her.

They had filled him in on the way to Arisawa's apartment, and since then he had sat in silence in the back of the car. Heiji wondered if the prospect of meeting an escort was troubling him and his reserved character or if he was already piecing together whatever clues he got from the scarce information they had so far.

So, now they all stood in front of Arisawa's door and waited for her to answer the bell.

A few moments later, she opened for them and her eyes grew wide in surprise when she recognized Shinichi and Heiji.

"Why, hello - welcome," she greeted with a smile and bowed. "I didn't expect to see you two so soon, and with company nonetheless."

The men bowed as well and when Heiji was about to explain why they were here, she waved them in. "We can talk inside. No need to hold a conversation out in the corridor."

They followed her into the small but tidy apartment. The dark furniture weren't new though well-cared for and decorated in a modern style. Red, grey and white were the dominant colors in the room.

"Please, have a seat," Arisawa invited them. "Would you like something to drink? Tea? Coffee?"

"No, thank you," Shinichi declined politely. "We would like to come straight to the reason of our visit."

She raised one delicate eyebrow and sat down herself. "As you wish. I have the feeling that you are not here because of my occupation."

"Not directly, no," Heiji confirmed, taking the lead of the conversation. "Actually," he took out his badge and showed it to her. "We're from tha Osaka Police Department and we would like ta ask ya some questions regardin' an ongoin' murder investigation."

"Police Department? Murder?" she asked astonished and looked over to Shinichi and Hakuba as if she waited for one of them to tell her that it was just a bad joke.

Shinichi nodded. "Yes, please let me introduce us properly this time."

He gestured at the other two. "These are Detective Hattori Heiji and Detective Hakuba Saguru from the Police Department. My name is Kudou Shinichi, I work as a private investigator. Sorry, that we have to bother you, but we have been told that you had contact with one of the victims, so we would like you to give us some information if possible."

She paled a bit. "Well, I knew your names sounded somewhat familiar, but... One - one of the victims? Who? Of how many victims do we speak here?"

"Two so far." Heiji leaned forward. "And we hope ta get tha murderer before there'll be another one." He pulled out Himeragi's photo again that was already a bit worn on the edges from being carried in the Detective's pocket. "Do ya know him?"

She looked at the photo and inhaled deeply. "Yes, I know him. I, he... sorry..." She swallowed hard and bit her lips in distress before she collected herself enough to go on. The men waited patiently.

"He is... was a client. A regular one. We often went out to have dinner in a restaurant or sometimes I accompanied him to an event - nothing special. Just routine work for me. He was nice, well - most of the time."

'And here we go,' Shinichi thought. 'Seems like we'll get to know Mr. Nice-guy's ugly side now.'

After another deep breath, she continued. "On your last date, he made unwanted advances at me and when I told him no, he wouldn't listen." She slung her arms around her upper body as if to protect herself from the memories.

Heiji didn't want to ask, but he had to. "Did he-?"

"No!" Arisawa cut in before he could finish the sentence. "No, he didn't. I think he would have, but I was able to stop him. You see - as a female escort you have to know how to defend yourself. I have several weapons hidden here in the apartment and I always carry a small stun-gun with me. It's even registered, so I'm allowed to have it. I also trained some self-defense, but that only gets you so far if your opponent is a much stronger man."

A bitter smile played at Arisawa's lips. "After that, I told him to leave immediately and to never come back. I even refused the last payment. I just wanted him to go away. I don't know what he did after that."

"I'm sorry, but I have ta ask ya. Where have ya been in tha night from Monday to Tuesday last week?"

"I understand," she said quietly. "I've been here the whole night. With a client."

"Can ya give us tha name, so we can verify that?"

"Sorry, no – the names of my clients are confidential. No one would come to me ever again if I talked about such things."

Heiji hummed in thought. "Ya're aware that this decision gives ya a shaky alibi at best?"

She nodded with thin lips, looking down at her hands in her lap.

After a help seeking glance to Shinichi, who just shrugged, Heiji raked a hand through his hair with a sigh. He had hoped to get a bit more, but they couldn't force her to reveal who had accompanied her that night and though she still was a suspect, they didn't have any evidence that would allow them to arrest her. He asked about the second victim and got the same answer for the alibi and she said she didn't even know him.

Very frustrating.

They told her to stay in town, bid their goodbyes and went back to the car to drive back to the department.

Heiji made eye contact over the rearview mirror after they were a few streets away from the apartment. "Ya were awfully quite in there, Hakuba."

"I just tried to pin down her personality, but it was difficult to see behind the façade she has built up for her role as an escort. I think it has become second nature to her. So much that she doesn't even realize she is acting at all. She was forthcoming enough, though."

"What do you think of her story about the last date with Himeragi?"

"It's hard to say for sure, but I don't think she got out as unscathed as she wants us to believe. Her denial was very quick as if she couldn't even stand hearing the word 'rape' and her eyes flickered to the upper right corner for a moment, what could indicate a lie, but that doesn't automatically mean that she didn't tell the truth. It's a widespread notion that you can read your opposites mind if you watch their eye-movements, but depending on upbringing, cultural environment and personal habits, the movements can have other meanings instead of the common ones."

"Okay," Shinichi concluded. "So, she held back something, probably the extant of Himeragi's assault, but most likely because she was too embarrassed to talk about it and just wanted to forget about it. That means we are stuck."

"At least regardin' Arisawa, I'm afraid that's right," Heiji confirmed. "Hakuba, what do you have about the culprit's profile so far?"

"The victims were both male, both a bit withdrawn, what fits Himeragi hiring an escort. I wouldn't be too surprised if Tatsuda did the same at some point, but so far we didn't find any connection in this direction."

"I just don't get how someone would want ta pay for a woman ta play his girlfriend. Is it really so bad not havin' one?" Heiji frowned.

Shinichi gave a short laugh. "Well, not everyone can have a cute childhood-friend to rely on, Hattori. And those men are socially awkward. They would never manage to talk to a woman they meet at a party – mostly because they wouldn't go to a party to begin with."

"That's correct," Hakuba stated. "For them it is an opportunity to get in contact with the other gender without risking rejection. They also both were very active on the internet. Another save base for communication, even with the advantage of anonymity. Oh, by the way – our IT finished the inspection of the victims computers. The red browser-window was the result of a small website that does nothing else than send a pop-up that askes the questions just like in the urban legend and in the end shows the red screen."

"That is all?" Heiji asked disappointed. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but at least a bit, well – more. "Were they able to trace back the IP address?"

"Yes, but unfortunately the website was built with a common online provider and everything just led back to an internet café in Shibuya."

"Damn!"

Again a dead end. Why would someone build a site like this and why would the victims visit it just before their deaths? It didn't make sense.

"At least we can assume that the website indeed was built by our culprit, because there was no other traffic on the site. Actually, it is almost impossible to find the site if you don't know the address. In short that means that our culprit knows at least the basics about IT and for some reason made his victim look at this site right before murdering them. Also, I think that we are searching for someone small or at least with not too much strength – I would even say a female," Hakuba stated.

That surprised Heiji. "Why do ya think that?"

"Well, male culprits who kill other men tend to be more brutal. Here we have a clean, deep cut, what doesn't require much strength and no signs of fighting. And if forensics are right, the victims both cut their throats themselves so that the culprit didn't even have to touch them. Men like to show off, to be superior. There should have been struggling, bruises."

"And the mess they made? All the blood on the walls…" Shinichi shuddered a bit at the thought of how the culprit must have taken the paint-brush, dunked it in the growing puddle of blood and splattered it all over the walls repeatedly.

"It indicates a strong longing for vengeance – also a very female trait."

"Okay – so ya're tryin' ta tell me that a woman went there, made them look at the website and somehow the victims then committed suicide for whatever reason and then she began to give tha walls a new paintjob?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Maybe she had something to hold over their heads," Shinichi mused. "Some kind of dirt they didn't want to be made known."

"Like how they paid for company and maybe even… more?" This case made Heiji feel really uncomfortable. Not that he felt good with other cases, but so far he didn't have any concerning escorts of well – prostitutes.

"But if someone told ya ta kill yarself or he would spill yar secrets, would ya do it? What's tha meanin' in keeping yar secret when ya're dead instead? Unless ya try ta protect someone else."

"Right," Shinichi sighed. "And there are no wives or kids, who would be the first to protect. Maybe we should speak with the colleagues for a second time and see if there really wasn't something wrong at work."


TBC