Kiba never liked going down into the station's forensics lab, it never smelled right. Not to mention the constant coughing of Lt. Gekko did not inspire much trust in the quality of the samples he kept. Moreover the lights were dimmed as well, something about the potential for light to corrupt evidence. Still, it was either this or report to the Chief, and Kiba didn't feel like dealing with the old man today.
"What's the news Hayate?" Kiba regretted his choice of words when he realized Hayate was leaning over a copy of the New York Times.
"Well we could talk about the Soviets moving towards an arms deal with the West. Or perhaps you'd rather talk about Contras and Sandinistas?" Hayate chuckled and got up from his stool. "You're here about your case right?"
"I know we sent in a lot of stuff the past day, anything sorted out yet?"
"There are a lot of little things we haven't gotten organized, but between us and the Medical Examiner's Office we have a few leads for you to investigate." Pulling a few file folders from the inbox, Hayate opened one and handed the other to Kiba.
"The victim is Patricia Goro. She's half-Japanese, grew up in the Tampa area, moved out here four years ago. Convicted of prostitution charges three years ago, paid the fine and hasn't had trouble with the law since."
"Which either means she got smart and cleaned up, or got smart and avoided the cops."
"That's up to you to investigate."
"Anything else?"
"We got the money given to the Hotel clerk from 'Mr. Yamada', we're checking those for matches… Medical report says that Patricia here died Epidural Hematoma, blunt force to the skull. Dr. Haruno also sent along special note of scratches on her left ring finger, suggesting that a ring was removed after she was killed."
"And the band's hotel room?"
"Yes, the band." Hayate smiled and walked over to the table behind him. Putting a glove on his hand, he lifted the sword and swung it around before placing it back down. "The sword is definitely what cut the bed in half. We got their fingerprints and identifications. 'Quick Eddy' Bloomfield, Richard 'Stone-man' Slate, and Michael Streisand are our three rock stars, their fingerprints are everywhere in both room 311 and 312. What we need though is a timetable. What happened, and when."
"That's only part of it Hayate. You forgot that the most important question to ask is why." Taking the files, Kiba waved as he walked out. "See you later."
Going through the files, Kiba pulled out Patricia's photograph. She was a good looking girl; interracial features like hers would be a selling point as Konoha's sex industry often played on fetishes. Running into Shino on the way to the holding cells, Kiba handed him the files and asked, "What did the Chief want?"
"Aside from a report on our case, which is only a day old, he told me he wanted to borrow my record of Phantom of the Opera."
With a laugh, Kiba stopped to check in with the station's jailer. Ibiki Morino was as tough as they came. He wasn't the most talkative man, but the scars on his face told stories. He once mentioned his mother in Ibiki's presence and the man carefully rubbed a scar across his left cheek and glowered.
"The band from last night still in?" Morino nodded and opened the door to the holding cells. "Glad to see you're in a good mood Ibiki."
"As good as always Detective." Morino was always careful to distinguish rank.
The three members of Gold Fox were awake and sober now. Kiba looked over to Shino, who nodded and approached the cell door. "Gentlemen, good morning. I am Detective Aburame and this is my partner Detective Inuzuka. We'd like to ask you a few questions about last night. To begin, I see you are all comfortable, do any of you have experience waking up in a holding cell before?"
A man with a gold shirt and a nightmare hairstyle from all the hairspray left in his brown locks cracked his knuckles and crossed his legs. "Hey man, we don't have to answer any questions from you. You going to read us our rights or you going to let us go?"
The other two members of the band chimed in their approval of their leader's comment. "You tell him Mick."
"That depends on which charge you'd like us to hold you on? Criminal Mischief isn't usually a big deal, though the Hotel might argue. On the other hand, first degree murder is a serious charge."
The band's cocky bravado quickly disintegrated. The word "murder" has that effect on people.
"Whoa whoa, what are you talking about?" The kid with smeared face makeup and red streaks in his blond hair questioned. This one though named 'Quick Eddy" was a little slow on the take-up.
"In addition to property damage to two hotel rooms, we have a dead body in one of those rooms."
Eddy turned to Rich, "Do you remember any of this man?"
"Not really man, last night is still kind of a blur."
Shino gave a side glance to Kiba. Aside from how bad they smelled, they smelled bad. There was no way they were 'on the level'. Pressing them in their current state would likely panic them, and a calm mind was so much better at recalled details than an anxious one. Unlocking the cell door, Kiba told the three young men to stand up and follow them to a meeting room where they would get them something to eat, legal counsel, and they'd have a nice long talk about the whole thing.
Two hours later, after a lot of questions and a visit from the sketch artist, the members of Gold Fox were dismissed and allowed to go home after a thorough search of their persons was taken. None of them had a telltale ring. After they were all gone, Shino had a rough timetable sketched out.
"Hotel records state that Gold Fox got their Hotel room at 11:30 p.m. The other members of their band had already gone home before then. Hotel staff took their instrument cases to the room, the sword being hidden in a case for a Double Bass Cello. Instead of going to their room, they went to the bar, where the bartender says they stayed for twenty minutes, buying several bottles and going back to their room.
"Mr and Mrs Yamada checked into the Hotel at 11:40 p.m. We're unsure about what happened. The shower was used at some point before the band arrived though. Gold Fox arrived back at their room at 11:50 p.m. and some minutes afterwards 'Mr. Yamada' went next door to complain about the noise of their partying. The band ignored him at first, but he knocked on their door an additional three times until they finally followed him next door, and trashed his Hotel room.
"By that point they were high on vodka and cocaine. They don't recall trashing the bathroom, but they also don't recall cutting the bed in half. Front desk says that at this time 'Mr. Yamada' checked out, at 12:10 a.m." Finishing the timetable, Shino took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
"Coroner's report on Patricia?" Kiba asked.
"Inconclusive. Typically they determine time of death from loss of body heat, but her body was left in a hot shower." Putting his glasses back on, Shino stood up and walked around the desk.
"So we're left with three possibilities: Gold Fox committed the murder."
"Unlikely, but not impossible." Shino commented.
"It was an accident; Patricia slipped in the shower and hit her head."
"Doesn't explain the scarf in her hand or the ring taken from her finger."
"Then our last possibility is that 'Mr. Yamada' is responsible for Patricia's death and manipulated the band into covering up the crime scene."
"Which means our prime suspect is this guy." Shino tapped the drawing from the sketch artist.
"Long silver hair, wide mouth, and uneven brown eyes. If this guy has any sense he'll get a haircut or dye his hair. And most likely we won't have a fingerprint match either." Kiba felt his irritation rise, but pushed it back down realizing it would be no help.
"We're going to have to work backwards then. Patricia likely had friends in her… profession."
"Hookers don't like talking to cops Shino."
"We'll make it clear we're only out to get this guy."
"You're the one who has a way with the ladies, so we'll give it a try. I'm going to see about getting in contact with her family."
"Kiba," Shino paused for a moment, "One other thing about my meeting with the Chief earlier. He was going to transfer this case to Homicide, but I convinced him to let us stay on for a few more days. But after that he's got a case he wants us to go undercover on. I thought it best to let you know now."
"Perfect, so if we want the collar we've got to get this done fast. I love pressure."
"Think of it as a challenge instead." Shino's flat delivery made it hard to tell if that was a joke or not, but Kiba decided to laugh anyways.