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Return to Me
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Chiyo sighed heavily as she thumbed through the copious notes, photographs and newspaper clippings related to both incidents. If only they'd let her look at the case file, she might have more information. Witness accounts. Anything to give her the answers she so desperately wanted but instead, she was reduced to collecting information available to the general public.
"It's not much," she sighed sheepishly as she pushed the small piles toward Ryo, "But it's all I could get my hands on since it happened."
Ryo nodded appreciatively as he began to look through the papers before he furrowed his brow and looked up at her, "Remind me. These cases were closed but what is your theory as to what happened?"
"From what I know, Father was investigating a mob ring here," Chiyo began slowly as she averted her eyes to stay at her small cup of coffee, "I'm assuming that's why they killed him. I got close once to finding information. I was careless. Just out of the academy thinking I could change the world. So I started going to notorious bars where I knew these people would gather and I began asking questions. A few months later….my brother died in an accident. A hit and run that they blamed on drunk driving. Never found who did that either. But to me the message was clear. Leave the case alone or suffer the consequences."
"If the message was clear, then why pursue it," Ryo asked in a concerned voice as his eyes softened, "Your father and brother surely wouldn't want you to die trying to solve it."
"That's just it," Chiyo huffed as her hands incrementally tightened around her cup, "I can't live with myself unless I avenge them. Whoever did this needs to pay."
Nodding in understanding, Ryo lowered his eyes back onto the paperwork in front of him before slowly sliding out one of the newspaper clippings. The story wasn't very long, maybe a few short paragraphs obviously buried in the middle of the paper where they hoped no one would read it and understandably so now that he read over it. The headline spoke volumes.
'Police Officer Killed in Mob Hit.'
"Have you talked to this reporter?" Ryo asked quietly as he skimmed over the story, "He seems to have some type of knowledge about…"
"I would but he, uh, disappeared shortly after that story was published," Chiyo admitted with a grimace, "Anyone who might have information seems to become impossible to find. Whatever Father was close to uncovering was big."
"And yet you still want to open this can of worms," Ryo sighed – giving her an apologetic grimace, "Is it really worth it?"
"If you don't want to help then fine," Chiyo huffed in frustration as she reached over to collect the small piles, "I'll find a way to do it on…"
"No you misunderstand," Ryo cried out desperately as he stilled her hand, "I want to help you. I'm just concerned. I don't want anything to happen to you."
"I can handle myself, thank you very much," Chiyo hissed as she tried to remove her hand from his vice grip before freezing when he whispered back, "I have no doubt. You seem like quite the fearsome opponent."
Giving him a small smirk, Chiyo relaxed incrementally and withdrew her hand before placing it in her lap, "It's been so many years I doubt I'll run into problems anyway. You said the man you hire is the best at what he does?"
"The very best," Ryo assured her, "From what I've heard, he's gone against hardened criminals before and he's still around to tell the tale. He'll find answers. At the very least, something to give you some closure."
Nodding once, Chiyo gave him a shy smile before studying him as his attention returned once again to the documents. For a womanizer, he truly seemed to be the gentleman. Maybe…maybe she'd been too harsh on him initially. He hadn't – after all- pushed her into anything and seemed to be respectful as to her wish to remain uninvolved. He seemed genuinely concerned about her safety too. Perhaps that woman was just jealous. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to give him a chance.
As soon as that thought crossed her mind, his foot came up to brush lightly against her own – an obvious attempt to play footsie. Groaning inwardly, her foot quickly retreated as she narrowed her eyes at him when he looked up to give her a sheepish, somewhat seductive smile.
Or maybe he was exactly who she thought he was.
Still, she could tolerate him long enough to get some answers.
He just needed to keep his extremities to his damn self.