Sleepwalker, Chapter 1
To begin working as a policeman had been quite natural to Kurogane. He was easily bored, liked challenges and wanted a job that required strength and courage. And after getting fired from his dream job, he had got himself a place in the local police force right away. It had been something of a disappointment. While his colleagues were happy to have ended up in such a calm area, the fierce young man almost wished for something to happen, as most exiting thing ever to cross his road seemed to be shoplifting. Therefore he was quite surprised as he one night got a call about a murder in one of the more rundown parts of the district.
The young police woman who called him sounded shaken, but Kurogane simply dismissed this as inexperience, a murder was a murder and for someone who was only used to running after fourteen years old girls with their pocket stuffed with stolen candy, it was probably a shock. The high amount of other policemen as he arrived didn't really surprise him either as they had probably all received a call from the upset girl.
Due to the man who greeted him as he stepped out of his car, it had been two kids who had found the body as they had entered the old magazine without permission;
"Probably to smoke marijuana," his older colleague stated as he glared towards the other end of the street where two pale teens were being questioned, "the girl had three joints in her pocket…"
Kurogane didn't even care to answer, he had had his share of rebellious teenagers already; after all; they were probably the ones that so though that he had any job at all…
"So," he said, "what else? Cause of death? Murder weapon? Identity paper?"
The other shook his head.
"Go ahead and take a look," he said, "but it's damn bloody in there…"
It was bloody. More bloody than anything else Kurogane had ever seen.
The victim was a man in his thirties, tall and lank, with brown hair and big, green eyes that stared blindly at the ceiling above. He had been rather well dressed, even if that was hard to decide since he was completely covered in quickly coagulating blood.
The cut could have been done with a knife, at least with one of those big hunting knifes, and he had taken it right beneath his ribs. It would seem like he had sooner been bleeding to death than gotten any vital part destroyed at once, but still it didn't look like he had been struggling. He might have been unconscious, Kurogane thought, drunk or drugged, or too shocked to try running away.
"Is this the only floor?" he asked the boy who was doing the photographing.
The monotonous sounds of the camera stopped for a moment as the youngster looked up.
"No," he said, "there's some kind of cellar, the door is over there."
He pointed at the other side of the hall.
"Hey!?" Kurogane shouted to the man who had met him before, "have anyone searched through the cellars?"
The man looked surprised.
"I didn't even see the door," he said, "you sure it's not just a second entrance?"
The photographer sighed.
"I've been here before," he said, "after a drug raid, there's a big damn cellar under here."
"I'll go take a look…" Kurogane said as he began walking towards the door.
"Be careful," the older man said, "you don't know what might be hiding down there!"
Kurogane was about to ask him why he didn't followed him and guarded his back then, but decided that he sooner worked alone than having some one he couldn't trust behind, that old coward would probably screw up as soon as it began to get dangerous anyway…
The door creaked like a horror movie sound effect as it swung open and the light down the stair was dim. The only lamp was on, which was either a good or a bad sign depending on how you saw the situation…
Kurogane went down the stairs slowly, unable to stop the squeaks that followed each step he took. The smell down here was terrible, water sickness and rotten organic materials, and the faintest sweetness of fresh blood. So slight that only someone familiar to it would recognize it.
The cellar didn't look that big at the first glance, but there were a number of doors and storerooms with cage doors and it was in one of those storerooms that Kurogane suddenly saw something that made him halt and draw breath. In the corner of the little space a small figure sat hunched, looking silently at Kurogane with the bluest eyes he had ever seen. He was small, lean and fair and would probably have been very attractive if he wasn't so dirty.
But all Kurogane saw right then were the unmistakable stains of blood at his left chin…