Disclaimer: see previous chapters
Author's Notes: Thank you so much for the lovely reviews, I really appreciate them all. Special thanks to Eloni for helping me out with this one. And sorry this update was long in coming. I hope that it's at least enjoyable. Happy Readings.
…
She was finally still, her skin warm and pink, her soft breaths wafting across his cheek.
He watched her closely, noting the delicacy of her features, the frailness of her bones, and he wondered how it was that she could bear going through first hand what he had just witnessed. He needed to think, needed to reassess the situation, and he disentangled himself from her soft body, a fact that he tried not to linger on too much, and slipped from the bed.
Ichigo paced her room as the hours passed, wondering for the umpteenth time that afternoon whether he should try and wake her or not. His blood had run cold when she had told him about the murderer killing again, but without any other information to go on, there really wasn't much he could do save having Shinji check with dispatch about any calls of a murdered woman coming through.
He leaned over the bed and checked Orihime's pulse again. He didn't quite understand what had happened last night; the image of her sitting so utterly still had freaked him out, reminding him of a statue. He couldn't ignore the fact that something had taken place, something horrible enough to cause such a heart wrenching reaction from her, but exactly what, he couldn't say. Was it possible for anyone to witness a murder without being at the scene of the crime?
Her pulse was slow and steady, reassuring Ichigo that she wasn't going to die on him any moment now, but her being asleep for over 12 hours without moving was still bothering him. Cursing silently, he grabbed his cell phone and dialed his father's number, not wanting to but having no choice in the matter. His father answered on the fourth ring, his annoyingly cheerful voice sounding through the line.
"Ichigooooooo. My young boy is finally calling his loving father who he treats badly by never calling on a usu-"
"Yeah, yeah, Dad. Listen, I need some help. A person of interest to the case I'm working has been sleeping for over 12 hours, not moving once at all during that time. She had a bit of a scare last night and I'm wondering if I should take her to see a doctor or something."
"A person of interest, huh? Were you that scare last night?"
Ichigo pulled the phone away from his ear to stare at it incredulously for a moment before yelling into it. "You dirty old man! I didn't do anything to her, I found her like that!"
"Ichigo, Ichigo, there comes a time in a man's life when he needs-"
"Would you shut up? I didn't do anything to her! I'm calling you because I'm concerned and need your help!"
"It's alright, Ichigo, its alright! I'm your loving father, I accept you the way you are!"
"If you don't shut up, I'm gonna hang up on you, moron!"
"Such cruel, cruel words. To your dear father who raised you and loved you-"
"I'm hanging up now."
"OK, OK. If her breathing is fine and her pulse steady, I would think that it's her body sleeping off the reaction from a trauma. Though maybe it'd be a good idea to wake her and check to see if she's feeling alright."
"Right, thanks."
"No problems. Don't forget that our family get together is coming up soon! Yuzu has been planning quite a lot for it!"
"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya. Later, Dad."
Ichigo shook his head as he placed his cell phone on Orihime's side table. Talking to his father certainly was draining. Taking his advice, he leaned over the bed again, grasping Orihime's shoulders and shaking her gently as he cajoled her to wake up repeatedly. After a few shakes, she started to come around, stretching languidly, pulling the thin bed sheet tight against her naked breasts. Ichigo stared wide-eyed at the shadowy peaks beneath the sheet before wrenching his gaze to her face, concentrating on it as he tried to cool his rising ardor. It was hardly the time to think of that, he scolded himself.
She came awake slowly, rubbing at her eyes tiredly as she opened her eyes a slit to look at her surroundings. The sight of a half naked Ichigo leaning over her in the bed had her shrieking loudly, sitting up quickly in bed, yanking at her covers and pulling them up to her neck. "I-Ichigo? What are you doing in here?"
He'd jerked back in the nick of time, avoiding a headbutt from Orihime's sudden movement. He gave a sheepish smile, his hand rubbing the back of his head. "I was making sure you were OK. You scared me quite a bit when you called me last night."
Orihime looked at him confusedly, glancing at her bedside alarm clock, the red glowing digits telling her that it was four in the afternoon. "Last night? Have I been asleep this whole time?"
Ichigo watched her for a minute. "Do you remember what happened last night?"
She sat for a moment, frowning in thought. With sudden clarity, the vision from last night played in her mind, and she shook at the images, a hand going up to cover her mouth at the rush of bile in her throat. Ichigo sat down on the bed, placing a concerned hand on her shoulder. "What do you see?"
"H-he killed her. S-someone should find her, she's just lying there, she's-"
He rubbed his hand along her shoulder, keeping his touch light, trying to ease her distress. He didn't want her to go into hysterics, not when he could get some valuable information as to the whereabouts of the body. "Shh, it's OK, calm down. Lets start from the beginning. Can you see any distinctive features of the house or the road that would help us locate her?"
She bit her lip, her gaze going inward as she shifted through the images of the vision. Her brow furrowed as she spoke. "Its dark. I can't really see anything. He parks a few blocks away and walks to her house."
"Can you see the houses? Is it a nice neighbourhood or is it run-down?"
"It's a nice neighbourhood."
"Good, that's a start. The house of the victim, do you notice anything distinctive?"
"Um, there's a…a huge tree oak in the front yard."
"Anything else?"
"N-no. Though he keeps thinking the word 'chase'."
"OK, focus in on the unsub now. Can you see what he's doing?"
"There's, ah, a tall wooden fence around the house and he goes straight for the side gate. He runs at the fence, his gloved hands reaching the top of the fence, and he manages to get a foot into the lattice design that covers the top part of the fence. He climbs over, and because he's dressed in black, no one notices him in the evening light."
"Then what happens?"
"He goes around the back, breaks in the window of the backdoor and opens it, entering the house. O-oh God, he's heading to the bedroom, and he has a knife. He tells her he's here to bring her freedom and… and she screams. She fights him but he's too strong and he… he—"
"Its OK," Ichigo assured her, silencing her as he drew her into his embrace, awkwardly patting her back. "Don't think about it anymore, we'll find her."
When she calmed, Ichigo gently pulled away, reaching for his phone, calling Shinji to update him on the new information that he'd received. Orihime pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs under the covers, watching Ichigo as he spoke to his partner. She could tell from the frown that crossed his face that the information she had given them wasn't helping them much in their investigation.
"I'm sorry," she blurted out when Ichigo ended his call. "I haven't been much help to you so far."
"Considering how much luck we've had in this case already, you've been a lot of help already."
"But you still need something more substantial to go on, right?"
Ichigo shrugged, "Don't stress about it. You've given us a few avenues to search so we're not at a complete loss."
"So what now?"
Ichigo stood up, moving to where his shoes still lay at the threshold. "I gotta head back to the precinct and go over these new facts with Shinji, chase down these leads you've given us and hopefully find this woman. Are you going to be OK?"
Orihime blushed, clutching the sheet tighter to her body. "Yes. And thank you for coming over. I don't know why I called you, it was so rude of me to do so and—"
"Its OK," Ichigo interrupted, giving her a small smile. "I'm glad I could be here to help, it's never good to do things alone. Call me whenever you get any visions."
She smiled at that. "I will."
…
"While you were out playing hooky with Orihime, I think I've come across something interesting."
Ichigo scowled in his partner's direction, adjusting his tie, having put on the spare shirt and tie he always left in his locker. "For your information, the woman was distressed and needed my help."
"Mmhmm. Well, regardless, I thought the 'chase' info that Orihime gave us was interesting, so I looked up both street names and first and last names of people within the area, since we would expect a serial killer to work within range of his last kill, and managed to find sixteen males and females with the name Chase and one street name."
"That's still a lot of ground to cover. We can't exactly go knocking on every single door. Is there a way we could narrow our search down?"
"Well, we could probably cross out a few names by looking at the bank details. Orihime said that it was a nice neighbourhood, and if the unsub sticks with victims that fit Jolene Mags' profile, then they would be well-off."
"OK. Lets check in with Ishida, see what four-eyes can find for us."
The two men headed through the bullpen towards the computer techs, finding Ishida typing furiously away at his computer. Ichigo cleared his throat, drawing his attention. "Need your help."
Ishida pushed his glasses up. "It will cost you. I don't do free work for anyone, especially not you, Kurosaki."
Ichigo scowled before placing the list of names down on his desk. "Fine, whatever. We need bank statements of all the people on this list."
Ishida looked at the list thoughtfully before his fingers flew across the keyboard, several windows opening with various figures displayed across them. Moments later, Ishida was printing out the statements, handing it to them before turning back to his computer, rudely dismissing them. Ichigo and Shinji rolled their eyes before heading back to their desks, going through the papers.
"So we can cross out six names from the list, though that still leaves us with eight names, not including the people living on Chase Street."
Ichigo frowned. "I guess we could split the names and do background checks for priors and the likes."
Shinji nodded. "OK, how about I take the top half and you—"
The shrill ring of his desk phone interrupted his speech, and he quickly answered the phone, listening to the other side before hanging the phone up, swearing under his breath.
"Its been called in. They've found her."