I'm getting terrible ideas...
- Chapter 2 -
Akane
What should be my next move? Unit one's main priority is to locate and retrieve Mr. Ginoza but exactly how can I do that? 'Let's play a game' written in blood and a dead dog in the kitchen are the only clues that we have at the moment.
Was the message on the fitted sheet written with Mr. Ginoza's own blood or that of his dog? If it is with Mr. Ginoza's blood, is there already a chance that he's already dead? No, no Akane don't think like that, he can't be dead, he just can't be. I can't lose my composure, not in front of the enforcers!
So far the forensic bots have found nothing that can help us get any further into locating Mr. Ginoza, Kagari and Ms. Kunizuka have been going around the building asking questions to the residence of the complex for anything that could have been suspicious but nothing came of it yet. Mr. Kougami and Mr. Masaoka have been searching the condo for anything that could explain how the culprit got inside and how he manage to abduct a man without anyone seeing anything but still nothing.
I'm feeling like an idiot standing here, just starring at Mr. Ginoza's home. He doesn't have any hologram system set up in here which I find odd; I would have thought he'd be more into technology than that. Everything is old fashion decorated in nineteenth-twentieth century French Country Provincial style décor.
The walls are largely decorated in green Victorian wallpaper and neutral tones, accented by reds. The flooring of the condo is a dark brown reddish hardwood floor that has clear signs of wear at certain places. The windows are dressed with red curtains giving the room a warm feel to it matching the red, white and gold Persian/oriental-style rug in the living room and to top it are a couch and a chair that are both off-white, and an off-white marble-topped wooden coffee table right in the middle of the elegant rug.
On the walls are a bunch of frames with old coins, they're practically everywhere. In the living area, in the kitchen, there were even some in his bedroom. Most of these coins, I don't even know exactly how old they are or where they originate from.
In the corner of the living area there is a stylish divider to block the immediate view of his exercise area that consists mostly of weight-lifting equipment. His dining table is of an old French country style wood. Everything in Mr. Ginoza's home is not at all how I had expected it would be. They say you can tell a lot about someone by looking through their home; Mr. Ginoza's style is soft, neutral and sophisticated meaning that he is a soft hearted person who enjoys the simpler things in life but not without having an interest in antiques. There are some pieces of furniture that I am sure is almost two hundred years old and in perfect shape too.
I never did try to understand Mr. Ginoza or even try to get to know him as a person, if I did… Maybe I'd be in a better position to help him…
"How can someone commit a crime and then just disappear like that? It just doesn't make any sense…" I ask as Mr. Kougami walks by catching his attention.
"It's not that they disappeared, they're just good at hiding their traces." He answers as lights a cigarette.
"Mr. Kougami nothing here shows any signs that there was a break-in in the first place. If it had not been for the dead dog in the kitchen we never could have been able to tell that a crime had even occurred here. Nothing adds up, why Mr. Ginoza? Why not someone else?" I ask trying to make out the logic of the clues that we do know but nothing is making much sense to me. True that Mr. Ginoza is one of the MWPSB's senior inspector in the CID but he isn't the only one either so why him? Does this criminal wish to send a message to us in using one of our own but why?
"Now you're asking the right questions Akane." Mr. Kougami replies with a smile on his face like he figured something out that I still haven't.
"That's what this criminal wants you to think; it's a form to lure inspectors off the right track in order to give himself the time he needs to do his kills in his own sick and twisted ways. These types of lunatics are the ones who feel an obligation to kill with their specific signatures. Those signatures are what we use to identify serial killers, those signatures give them a sexual release that they can't get with just a simple kill and my guesses, his must take some time to do, hence the game." He explains but still, it doesn't answer my question as to why Mr. Ginoza…
"But why Mr. Ginoza? That's what I don't get Mr. Kougami. What's the message is he sending to the MWPSB?" I ask as I follow Mr. Kougami back into the kitchen where the deceased animal still lied on the floor.
"It's not a message, well none that I can make of anyhow. I'd say it's more of a way to taunt us than an actual message. It's a simple mind game nothing more, the criminal only wants you to think it means something just so you'll waste time on it giving him more time." He quickly replied followed by a drag on his cigarette before continuing, exhaling the smoke. "First we return to the MWPSB, we go to Shion and get her to run a search through the database for any deceased in the last year with the same characteristic as Gino and that will be our lead to go on."
"Characteristics?"
"Appearance. Typical serial killers will stick to victims with similar appearances like hair color, skin tone, height, weight, gender, and so on." He simply answers. It makes sense but why would murderer stick to specific appearances but at this point does it really matter as to why a killer would prefer certain traits in his victims? I don't think so but I really don't understand these kinds of things… Actually I just don't get why people would kill, we live in a better world now so there shouldn't be so much violence and yet there still are in abundance…
"Profiling the criminal, I get it." I acknowledge but I can't help but feel ridiculous; like I'm the one being babied every time there's a case. It's like I can't follow Mr. Kougami, he's always one… No two steps ahead of me. Most of the time I feel like he's the one guiding the unit, doing the role of the inspector and I'm the one who follows like the enforcer. I know it should be the other way around…
It's not that I don't get along well with the enforcers, I like them all and I respect their opinions on the cases but I've got no idea where I'm going. I feel lost when we start investigating a case, I never know where to start. It's only when things are in motion that I seem to be fitting in but that's only because I follow. I don't lead and I need to be able to lead.
"So Mr. Kougami do you think that whoever did this has already killed before?" I ask which the answer should be rather obvious.
Mr. Kougami gives me a nod before taking another drag on his cigarette, blowing out the smoke and I can't help but wave my hands to disperse it away. "I do, he's too good at hiding his traces for being his first abduction…"
"The residences don't know anything, none was even aware that a crime had even occurred." Kagari states removing his hologram costume followed by Ms. Kunizuka. "How do you take a six feet tall man out of a building without being notice and not to mention this fucker had to carry dead weight and even when Gino isn't dead weight he's not lite alright. He's fucking heavy, I don't get where he packs that weight." He adds
"If you lifted weights, you'd be heavier too." Ms. Kunizuka shoots back at Kagari and surprisingly no argument started. Anyway, I give out the orders that we were to return to the MWPSB as Mr. Kougami had suggested earlier but I wished that I was as confident as I sounded. What would Mr. Ginoza do in such a situation? Knowing him he'd probably ignore Mr. Kougami altogether or would he…?
A heavy hand on my shoulder takes me out of my thoughts as I look up to meet Mr. Masaoka's eyes. "Stressing yourself won't help solve the case; it will only cause you to make mistakes. Take it easy, one step at a time little missy and hope for the best outcome." He says before lifting his hand and walks away with the other enforcers and I follow.
How is it that Mr. Masaoka can be so calm in this type of situation, his son is the one whose life is on the line and yet he hasn't lost his cool, not even in the slightest?
XXX
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Ms. Karanomori lit a thin cigarette, casually blowing the smoke out of her mouth as she hits a few keys on her keyboard making several windows open and closing others.
"I ran a thorough search in the database fitting Gino's characteristics and five matches came up and what a coincidence all of them are cold files too." She states in her casual calm tone.
"Is it enough to assume that their deaths were caused by the same murderer?" I ask looking at the screen with the five deceased males, all with dark haired, pale skin and green eyes which is rather creepy. Other than those similar features, none of these males share the same facial structure as Mr. Ginoza nor does any of them wear glasses and their height do not even come close either. The tallest of these five men was five feet and eight inches so does that mean the murderer only cares for those three traits in his victims?
"Normally it wouldn't be. However, their cause of death is the same though." Ms. Karanomori states as she swivels her chair to look at us. "Their deaths were caused by exsanguination that led to a haemorrhagic shock but there was one thing that came out as odd with all of the cases though." She explains, taking another short drag of her cigarette and blew out a puff of grey smoke before pressing a few keys making several images of the victims show up on screen.
I honestly can't believe what I'm seeing as I cover my mouth to control the urge to vomit at the pictures of the dead bodies that were photographed at their respective crime scene at the time. All five males are as white as snow, their pigmentation is completely gone!
"The bodies were completely drained of their blood. A human body that loses more than forty percent is fatal. The heart exhausts itself and it just simply stops pumping altogether so at death the human body should still have blood in their veins." She further explains. "All we know is that these victims got their blood completely drained dry, how it was done exactly remains unclear and much to debate but this is why the corps' skin turned completely white." She adds.
"Fuck that's going to be Gino if we don't catch this fucker?" Kagari asks, his tone not hiding his frustration killing the unbearable silence that had found its way into the lab.
I can't tell what the others are thinking, how are they feeling. All of them are so good at keeping a poker face, especially Mr. Masaoka. He's just silently listening to what Ms. Karanomori has been telling us, observing each photo carefully. I can't even imagine what must be going through his head right now, is he imagining his son in those pictures? I just don't know…
"This guy's pattern is obvious." Mr. Kougami suddenly blurts out as he walks closer to the monitor. "The first victim's body was found dumped in an alley on January fifteen and if we go to the second victim. His body was found on a bench in a public park on March fifteen and if we jump to the third, his body was discovered in a cemetery entrance on May fifteen. Fourth victim near a public fountain hologram on July fifteen and our last victim was found on September fifteen near a museum."
A smile grew on his face as he sits down on the couch never removing his eyes off the screen. "Today is October fifteen; we've got until November fifteen to find Gino, giving us exactly thirty days to solve this case. If we don't we'll be looking at body number six and a thirty day race to figure out who exactly is the next target." He adds.
Although we have a time period for us to find Mr. Ginoza it still doesn't get us any closer into finding him. All we know is whoever is causing these murders drains his victim's blood and he has a thing for the number fifteen…
"That must be how he manages to abduct his victims. He stalks his victims a month before attacking; getting to know everything they do, down to their schedules, everything. Kind of sick you ask me." I voice out.
Is a month long enough to befriend someone? If this individual befriended Mr. Ginoza during the time he was stalking him and learning everything he needs to know about him, it would explain how this criminal entered Mr. Ginoza's home so easily in the first place.
Thinking back at his dog Dime, Mr. Kougami said that Dime was the type of dog to bark at the slightest noise that was not familiar to him and apparently as Dime grew older he also became more protective of Mr. Ginoza to the point he would attack anyone he did not know if they came to close to him.
If I place into account that this criminal did in fact break into Mr. Ginoza's home, Dime would have not only barked but he would have attacked the intruder and without a doubt we would have seen some form of damage in the condo but we didn't and from what Mr. Kougami told me, Mr. Ginoza is also apparently a very lite sleeper so he would have been easily woken up and therefor he could have defended himself and signs of a struggled again would have been noted but there wasn't anything to note in particular.
Dime didn't bark because he did not feel like he needed too and he didn't attack either so all signs shows that he knew the attacker but it still doesn't exactly answer how he was able to pull it off though. If the attacker was already inside and he decided to attack Mr. Ginoza in that moment then why didn't Dime defend him?
"If this person killed five people already how did he avoid the street scanners for so long? His Psycho-Pass must be incredibly high right now." Ms. Kunizuka states, something I had forgotten to even consider.
"Let's just assume at this point that he's good at avoiding the street scanners." Mr. Kougami quickly answers which he has a point.
"Inspector we should visit the past crime scenes of the other victims. I can't help but feel like division three might have missed something there. All these bodies just disposed in complete view, the killer wants the bodies to be found." I agree with Mr. Masaoka on this one, it would be the best bet we have right now.
"I get the vibe that this criminal's message is how and where he places his victims. I agree with pops that visiting those crime scenes is a good idea." Agrees Mr. Kougami.
"Two crime scenes are not that close to the others, actually they are in complete opposite of the city and the others have a fair distance away from each other and with one inspector down, we can't split up the unit. It will take a lot of time, time we just don't have right now." Ms. Kunizuka points out.
Just when we start to get a momentum, we are hit with another problem if only the enforcers could be given a temporarily leave on their own to investigate. I'm confident in all of them that they won't try to run away. Mr. Masaoka, Mr. Kougami, Kagari and Ms. Kunizuka all want to find Mr. Ginoza as soon as possible and to get him back safely but I know the chief would never allow it.
"We'll just have to do our best and work fast-"
"That won't be necessary inspector. My unit will cover the crime scene in the cemetery and near the museum." Inspector Aoyanagi… I've never had the opportunity to actually talk to her up close before, I didn't even noticed when she came in…
"Cat got your tongue inspector?" She asks.
It took me a few seconds to process it all; I'm just a little speechless and taken by surprise. I never thought that anyone would offer assistance.
"All the help we can get is greatly appreciated inspector Aoyanagi!" I quickly bow in gratitude and thank her more times than I should but finally for the first time since this whole nightmare started, I feel as if I'm catching a break. I just feel relieved.
"Alright then, we'll be taking the further away scenes and leaving the nearer ones for your team. Even if the enforcers scatter a bit to those locations it won't matter since you will still be in the vicinity and besides, you won't have any worries with this bunch." She adds with a confident tone.
I don't know why inspector Aoyanagi decided to help but right now I'm just thankful, being new in this position isn't easy… Even though Mr. Ginoza is crabby and irritable, I still view his seniority and his experience valuable. I can't fail, failure isn't an option, I need my partner back.
I'm getting so many terrible ideas...