Exile: I'm back. I really do need to stop making stories and do the ones I already have running, huh? Enjoy!
Ryuukei: Exile only owns Raikou, Kat, various victims, the plotbunny, and me. Thank God she doesn't own DGM or any mentioned serial killers.
Exile: *whimpers* I'm glad I don't own those serial killers too. They're scarier than the Earl.
Los Angeles Zoo, read Rei's smartphone screen. There was a fire there. Meet the beansprout and Lenalee. Drop by my office first. She narrowed her eyes at the address, "The zoo?" Hearing her, Kat snatched the phone and laughed.
"Ha, crime really can happen anywhere! We gonna go now?" she questioned. Rei sighed, snatching the phone back and looking hard at the time.
"Get cracking already. We have to wait for Raikou. Turns out he's part of the program too. I already told him that today's our shift during Crim. He said that he'll meet us here in Lot 19." Rei snapped. "We're probably going to carpool with him since I know that you can't crack nuts and drive at the same time, Kat."
"Is this a bad time?" Raikou's voice was heard as he approached the duo. "You sound mad…Pham."
"Call me Rei. I know we've been in the same classed for a while, but I haven't properly introduced myself. Ryuukei Pham," she replied, holding out a hand which he shook. Jabbing her thumb over her shoulder to point at the Russian girl that was cracking hazelnuts in the backseat, she said "That's Kat, Ekaterina Ivanov. I'm just telling you know, she has an obsession with nuts. When there's nothing for her hands to do she'll start cracking nuts. I swear, she's insane," Rei explained with a scowl. Raikou nodded, grinning a bit at the odd fact.
"You already know my name, its Ikazuchi Raikou. I heard in ForenSci today; you're that Kanda Yuu's sister?" he questioned. Rei couldn't help but mentally groan at the question.
"Yeah. That one, the one that bagged the DGM case, the deputy Chief of Black Order Morgue LA, the guy that is asked to write scripts for crime movies, the guy that's an absolute prick to his adopted family," Rei retorted, muttering the last line under her breath so that Raikou didn't hear. "Anyway, what should we do? Carpool or separate?"
"I live here in some apartments nearby. You two?" he responded. Kat looked up from the bowl of nuts that she had been busy cracking.
"We share an apartment near 5th and Molino," she deigned to reply, and then went back to shelling a particularly stubborn walnut. "Carpool it is. Can you drive?" At this, Raikou winced.
"Yeah I can, but I can't parallel parking for my life. It was a miracle when I passed my test," he complained. Rei shook her head and opened the car door, getting into the driver's seat.
"Unless you have a death wish, get in and buckle up." she said resignedly. "And you talk to me when we get on the highway, you die." Raikou saw Kat noticeably shiver at the threat and decided that the Viet was probably going to crash them if someone broke her concentration.
The car trip was rather uneventful except for Kat's incessant, random chatter that was largely about different nuts and their properties. "Did you know that the four types of macadamias are poisonous to dogs?" she rambled as Rei finally pulled in to the Black Order parking lot. Raikou was sure that his head would explode at the sheer overload of unnecessary information.
"Kat. We're here." Rei interposed with a grimace, snapping her fingers in front of her friend to catch her attention. "We need to check in with my brother."
"Do you think he'll sign an autograph?" Raikou joked, earning a hard glare as he got out of the car, "I mean, he's a famous investigator!"
"I don't do autographs," Kanda walked up and cut in, startling the trio and making Rei jump. "You're late."
"Holy frag grenades! Don't do that again!" she yelped, getting a derisive laugh from her older brother and Kat. "Shut it! Anyway, you didn't give us a time."
"Really? Well, either way, you're late." Kanda replied, ignoring her protest. "Get in the morgue, grab an intern badge, and get to the zoo. Beansprout's going to fill you in." Hhe strode off without another word, leaving Rei fuming behind.
"Dolt, imbecile, prick, blockhead…" Rei cursed under her breath as the trio made a mad dash into the morgue, and knocked over one certain lab technician.
"Woah, woah, Rei, slow down!" Lavi cried as the paperwork he had been carrying scattered everywhere. Recognizing the voice, Kat spun on her heel and threw herself at the redhead.
"Hi, Lavi," Rei snarled, bending down to pick up the papers. "Kat, greet your cousin later. I'm going to…" the rest was lost as she muttered more insults and death threats directed at her brother under her breath. "Is this our badge?" she asked, holding up a silvery piece of metal. Lavi nodded, patting Kat's head and standing up with a grimace.
"Komui wanted something flashy "for the first interns" and had those made." Lavi quoted. "I'm assuming that it's you three, so I sort of pity you. What did Kanda do this time?"
"Kanda was Kanda." was her half snarl-reply. "Why? What's going on?"
"Arsonist and a murderer going around. We want to catch the guy before he becomes a serial killer," he explained.
"Is there like a, requirement for a murderer to be considered a serial killer?" Raikou asked in confusion. Lavi nodded, examining him.
"Yeah. Typically it's a killer that has killed 3 or more victims, with a time gap between the murders. It looks like this guy did 2 in one night, though. And…there's a bunch of other stuff I'd rather not say because…" Lavi explained. "Who are you? I know Rei and Kat, but you're a new face."
"Ikazuchi Raikou, I'm in Rei's Crim and ForenSci courses." he supplied helpfully. Lavi got a knowing smile on his face.
"I'm Lavi Bookman, secondary head of the lab department. I should probably warn you though, that Yuu doesn't show it but he's rather protective of Rei when it comes to guys," he said cheerfully, and Rei paled at the name used to refer to her brother. Explosion in 1, 2, 3.
"Idiotic rabbit! What did I say about my first name?" Kanda's voice yelled from his office.
"Saw that coming. And finish explaining about serial killers, could you?" Rei asked. "Raikou deserves that wonderful lecture on the definition of a serial killer," she said as she and Kat slowly backed away towards the doors. I still am traumatized from that lecture, she thought, recalling the memories of the speech when she had been 15.
"A serial killer is classified into two categories, organized and disorganized. Organized serial killers are ones like Ted Bundy, who would use things to lure a target into his control zone, like wearing a cast on his arm and asking someone to help him put groceries in his car, and then knocking them out with blunt force trauma. They plan out murders, stake out the victims, and have control over where they kill the victim. Also, they'll act like a normal, sane person with many having a spouse and children. They're the person that everyone has a hard time believing was really the serial killer. Most serial killer women are organized. Also, they have a rather high IQ, around 113." Lavi began. Rei and Kat had fled to the car while Raikou was rooted in front of the eccentric lab tech, unable to move due to his imagination and Lavi's ability in describing things.
"Then you've got the disorganized serial killers, average IQs around 93.5, such as the infamous Vampire of Sacramento, Richard Chase. He was actually in the asylum for a few years. Want to know how he got his name?" Raikou shook his head, petrified, but Lavi ignored it and went on. "He sucked his victims' blood, practiced necrophilia, and drank animal blood. One time, he killed a cow, drank the blood, and when a scared little girl saw him smeared with blood, the police found a bucket full of the cow's blood in the trunk of his car. And I swear, the guy was like an animal, he'd urinate and defecate on walls of his asylum room and his victims' homes. Oh, and these crimes are usually crimes of passion. Either that or the bloke's insane, schizo, or demented. And there's more!" Lavi elaborated.
"How do you know all of this?" Raikou stammered, wishing he had fled to the car with the girls. Lavi just offered him a wide grin.
"My grandfather was a historian, and he specialized in crime history. Whenever I complained about being bored he shoved me in the library and had me read a bunch of stuff," the cheeky 32-year-old replied. "Anyway, want to know anything else about these messed-up individuals? Oh, one guy claimed that his neighbor's dog was transmitting him messages from a divine being to kill his victims." Raikou started edging away towards the doors.
"I…better go now before Rei drives off." the poor teen said, running towards the car in panic. "My head…I'm traumatized." he whimpered in the backseat a while later, shivering.
"Now we're on the same level." Rei retorted. "I dealt with that when I was fifteen." Kat nodded as well, cracking another hazelnut and making Raikou flinch at the gunshot-like sound. "Oh, man up. We're here. I see Allen and Lenalee now. Hi guys!"
The duo was standing in front of the zoo, quietly conversing on the other side of the police cordon that had plenty of complaints from tourists that wanted to enter the zoo. The yellow tape was already in place, but people were flocking in front of the zoo, pushing to try to get through. It took Allen coming up and flashing his Black Order Investigation insignia to get their attention.
"Everyone, please, listen up!" he tried politely after breaking away from the conversation he had been holding with Lenalee, who was going inside. When he didn't get the desired attention, someone handed the irate man a bullhorn. "Listen up!" the crowd quieted significantly at his roar. "This is a crime scene. Someone has been murdered. Please go on with your ordinary lives and let the Black Order do our job!" In a few minutes, the grumbling citizens dispersed, most mumbling about how inefficient the police force was. Allen rubbed his face in exasperation.
"Hi, Allen." Rei greeted, wincing at the dark expression he wore. Allen perked up, seeing a familiar face.
"Why are you here, Rei?" Allen asked, eyeing the two behind the girl that slightly irked him due to being taller.
"I thought my brother told you. We're the new interns that are part of that program Komui decided to make," she explained. "You remember Kat, right? And this is Raikou. We all go to Cal State Long Beach."
"BaKanda didn't say a thing." Allen replied, quickly losing his cool at the new information. "You're supposed to help us with this case?"
"Yeah." Rei said nervously, "All of us." She swore that there was a loud crack as Allen Walker's reason snapped.
"…Don't do anything stupid, okay?" he snapped, making the trio nod rapidly to appease him. He spun on his heel, and the other three followed in the zoo. "Victim's name was Hitoshirezu Mizu. Japanese, blue dyed hair, blue eyes, 5' 4'', and was a zookeeper here. Not anymore." Allen informed them as he walked down the paths. "She's fish food now," he said ominously as he opened the door to the aquarium. Kat almost dropped the nutcracker she had been swinging around, hands going to cover her mouth and eyes widening. Raikou flinched at the sight of the dead body, and Ryuukei walked up to Lenalee, who was examining the corpse.
"Knocked out with a garrote, and then taken here and drowned." Lenalee said tersely, examining the line in the victim's neck and the bloated state of the body. Rei stepped back from the stench. "Probably been in there for at least 4 hours."
"Oh the irony." Raikou muttered to Kat. "Hitoshirezu Mizu literally translates to "hidden water" in Japanese." Allen perked his ear.
"What? Say that again. It could be connected." Allen snapped, making Raikou back up.
"Hidden water." the younger man said nervously, shocked by the change in Allen's demeanor.
"Lenalee, how was the body found?" the investigator asked. Lenalee straightened up, consulting the papers.
"Hidden in the water flow tanks, and then a while later it managed to flow out to this penguin exhibit. What alerted us was the fire that was set off about 4 hours ago. It was confined to the storage rooms." she said.
"Any zookeepers around?" Allen asked quickly. She shook her head.
"A few, but they all have solid alibis on camera. Furthermore, Mizu's shift was at 12, which would start around now. She was probably taken here and murdered. We found a discarded zookeeper's uniform in the storage room as well, but it's too badly charred to get anything off of it. The culprit knew the zoo by the back of his or her hand, though, since Mizu does not show up on any security cameras." Lenalee explained.
"Do we have access to the footage?" Rei injected hurriedly. "Mizu was probably easily recognized by other staff by her hair, so they could've just jammed a hat or wig on her, right?"
"Nope. No matter how good a wig is, there will be traces," the pathologist replied. "Any other ideas?"
"Gigantic bag?" Kat suggested. "Like a duffel or something maybe?"
"That wouldn't work either."
"Sutures," Raikou said with a horrified expression. "Kat's idea, it would have worked if they cut her up, right?" he whispered. Lenalee knelt down next to Mizu's corpse again, noticing the haphazard stitches attaching the appendages to her body that the intern had noticed.
"This color…they intentionally wanted us to see them." she muttered. "I didn't notice earlier, I just came in a minute or two before you four did, and the black thread goes with the black shirt she is wearing."
"So they smuggled in the corpse, sewed it back up, and then dumped her in the tanks. But why?" Allen asked.
"To disguise that she was killed with the garrote, Allen." Lenalee said softly. "And by immersing the corpse in water, they obliterated any fingerprints or trace evidences that could've been left. If we run a scan, her windpipe is most likely broken, and this jugular vein has been cut through. Murder weapon was probably piano wire or some similar cord. And also…how did they make the body appear to be whole, when these stitches are so far apart?"
"An adhesive using blood." Allen said. "Even if she was in the water for only four hours, she was probably killed before Miranda. Maybe even a day or two before. By hardening her blood between the stitches, they created an adhesive that wouldn't get liquefied by the water. The gaps was probably coated with the adhesive immediately after death, and the culprit wet it here, sewed up Mizu, and left her to be found later. We're dealing with a very organized killer. Also, putting the corpse in the water messed up rigor mortis." Raikou shuddered, remembering the things he had just learned a little while earlier.
"So you're going to be doing her autopsy, Lenalee?" Kat asked, and the pathologist nodded, standing up.
"Yes. Allen, I've noted that livor mortis is indicating that the blood settled when the body was lying on the left side." Lenalee said. "But certain parts of the body surrounding the left side is splotchy, indicating that the body was moved several times before livor mortis could fully set in." Allen nodded rapidly.
"Okay. Well, how about you and Kat go back to the Order to do the autopsy. I remember when we first met that you wanted to go into forensic pathology. And Rei and Raikou will go with me to the remains of Timekeeper. I went through those files that BaKanda gave me and…we should just go back to the scene." he said decisively. "Lenalee and I came in her car, so I guess that you two will take me to Timekeeper. And no, I am never driving in a squad car again." Allen said to the mouthed phrases of "police car" that Raikou and Ryuukei had traded. Raikou shrugged.
"Then can you pay for the gas?" Rei replied with a blank face. Allen made a face, breaking a little of the tension in the air. "So wait, what's Timekeeper?"
"A clock shop turned into a murder and arson scene. What I'm really starting to get curious though…is how the fires started? Daisya didn't tell us any details in his report." Allen explained. Now it was Lenalee's turn to make a wry expression.
"I guess we'll have to figure that key out ourselves," she muttered, leaving the exhibit with the team carrying the corpse, Kat tagging behind. Frowning, Allen gestured to the interns he was left with to lead the way.
"At least you're not like your brother," Allen quipped sharply to Rei, who just buried her face in her hands, muttering death threats at Kanda the whole car trip.
Exile: And there's Lavi and victim number two, Mizu! I do own her, bless her poor murdered corpse. Oh, I love Overprotective!Kanda, it's just as awesome as Overprotective!Cross. But neither will have a chance to really appear in this fic. I got traumatized on researching on Crim, Criminology for short.
Serial killers are scary *wail* I was so badly traumatized after researching that all I read for 2 days STRAIGHT was Yullen doujinshi to heal that mental scar. I still think it's traumatizing. *whimper*
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