Chapter Six

Noboru hated working alone. So when Mamoru's replacement came along, he was relieved. That was until he had spent ten minutes with Haruka Teno.
The text Mamoru got read the following: COME HERE AND SAVE ME; NEW PARTNER IS A HELL UVA BITCH. EVEN U R NICER.
The second one read: GET UR ACT 2GETHER, GO TO THE CAPT. & BEG TO BE REINSTATED.
The third one was a lot simpler: WANKER.
It was the fourth one that caused him to get up for the first time in days.
"U OWE IT 2 USAGI."

For once, even Katsurou Hanzo looked troubled.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest as stared at the remains of the woman on the table and it was the first time Noboru had seen him affected by someone's death. So McCreepy had feelings after all, Noboru noticed. It was easier to focus on the coroner than on the dead woman. But as soon as Hanzo began to speak, Noboru knew that running away from the awful reality he lived in wasn't an option.
"She has suffered. Look at the burns on her arms. You can actually see the bones in places." He cleared his throat, and his voice was full of pity. "I don't think we will find any sedatives in her blood." Always reliable, Hanzo had delivered the bloodwork as soon as he returned from his sick leave. It had proved Mamoru's suspicion to be true; both Mizuno and Aino had been heavily sedated at the time of their death.
"At least she put up a hell of a fight," Noboru stated with a note of pride. As an afterthought, he added: "I'd be surprised if you wouldn't find some DNA on her." The two men looked at each other, both sickly pale under the merciless halogen lamps but with a glimmer of hope in their eyes. Maybe they could catch the killer before the next girl died.
Their conversation was interrupted by Haruka, who had strolled into the room as if she owned it, clearly having listened in on them from the doorway.
"That much is obvious. Of course we are going to find DNA on her, look at the state she is in. I can't believe that you don't even have a lead, Sanjoin. Three victims and nothing to go by? What have you done in the past weeks, blow-dry your hair?" Haruka Teno was not impressed, and she didn't hold back. The female inspector was dressed in her usual tough cop attire: a black tailored leather jacket, biker boots and some very expensive jeans. Rumour had it that she had a rather pretty and feminine girlfriend, but no one had seen that elusive creature as of yet. Probably because she's a figment of Teno's imagination, Noboru thought viciously. Haruka eyed him up and down and then spat:
"Mark my words, now that I'm on this case, things will get going. No more of that holing up in your office and talking about your private life, do you hear me?"
Noboru gritted his teeth, decided to emphatically not hear her and focused on the lesser of two evils, namely Katsurou. It was a measure of his dislike for the female Inspector that he would rather speak with the coroner than with her.
"Do you have any idea what she has been burnt with?"
"No, not yet. These burns don't look like anything I've ever seen before. I couldn't determine what the first two victims had been burnt with, but I might have a chance with this one."
"Tell me as soon as you know, okay?"
"I will. Give my regards to your partner."
"I'm standing right here, Hanzo," said Haruka with an annoyed voice. The coroner raised one white eyebrow and measured Haruka up and down. She bristled under his examination, and Noboru could practically see how the coroner's amused expression ruffled her feathers.
"I'm talking about his real partner."
Noboru barked a laugh, the sound resonating on the green tiles.
Haruka turned beet red and Noboru could have sworn that he saw Katsurou chuckle. Hell had just frozen over.

Since Mamoru had been pulled off the case, his Chief Inspector had decided that they should have daily progress meetings. At 12 o'clock each day, which was in so far problematic as that Noboru was chronically late. Mamoru had always taken care of them being on time, and since Noboru tried to spent as little time with Haruka as possible, he was a glorious half an hour late. Fortunately, this meant that Haruka Teno had been there, given the Chief Inspector her report and left. Now Noboru and the Chief Inspector sat in the cafeteria instead of the office and were quietly talking about Noboru's most recent findings. He had spent the morning trying to dig up information about the last victim and tried not to give too much thought to what might have happened to the victims' hearts. God, he hoped they weren't looking for a cannibal. It was the one thing he couldn't handle; people eating each other. Shuddering, he focused on his Chief Inspector and began to relate the little he had found about the last victim.
"The name is Kino, Makoto. She was 26 years old, worked as a waitress. Her parents died in a car crash when she was still a child. There is no other family."
"Do you know how she is connected to the other victims?"
Noboru gave the Chief Inspector the framed photograph he found at the crime scene.
"She was friends with them. They didn't meet as often now as they did when they were teenagers, but Kino's colleagues at the café confirmed that Mizuno came by regularly and so did Usagi before she died. They also mentioned a visit or two by Aino. Caused quite a stir, you can imagine, international popstar walking in a regular café to hang out with a waitress."
The Chief Inspector looked thoughtful.
"I remember Usagi's funeral, but I don't recall having seen the brunette there."
"That's Makoto Kino. And I asked Mamoru and he was positive that neither Aino nor Kino had been there. It was only Mizuno."
"You will need to find out why. Ask Chiba about Mizuno's and Usagi's friendship. And then come back and report to me, I want to know how he is doing."
"Sir, with all respect, he needs to work. He's going crazy without it." If Mamoru would at least get hammered, Noboru would feel lots better. Instead his partner sat on his couch, staring holes into his wedding picture and occasionally touching the copies of the case files Noboru had dumped on Chiba's door mat table immediately after the suspension.
"He's got work, loads of it, just not on this case. He's too involved, and even mentioning his wife sends him into depression. So don't let me catch you telling him anything about the case, do you hear me? No, Sanjoin, you'll work with Teno and that's my final word on the matter."
"She's a bitch."
"I'll pretend you haven't said that."
Shooting his superior a menacing glare that caused the older man to smirk, Noboru got up and walked out of the now crowded cafeteria and called Mamoru, consequences be damned.

"Beer?" It was the first time they met after Noboru had to confess his doubts about the circumstances of Usagi's death, and the tall man felt that the awkwardness that clung to their conversation could only be banished by lots of alcohol. If pressed, Noboru would actually admit that a good scotch on the rocks was his solution to a great many of life's foils.
"How about something stronger?" asked Mamoru while shedding out of his wet coat and hanging it over the back of a chair. Of course, Noboru didn't own a clothes tree. Give or take one or two future girlfriends, this fact might change, but unless a woman dragged Noboru to go furniture shopping, he wouldn't. He was fine with a bed, a dining table, two chairs, a couch and his huge TV. What else did a man need, really?
Just as Mamoru put his shoes under the radiator, he heard his partner's voice calling out to him from the kitchen.
"Whiskey or vodka?"
Before Mamoru got to answer, Noboru appeared and put both on the table and went back into the kitchen to fetch some glasses.
"Hey, I don't have any clean glasses, do you mind drinking from mugs?"
Bracing himself, Mamoru jumped in. "I slept with Setsuna Meioh the night before we found Ami." It was easier to admit it when Noboru's back was turned to him, Mamoru thought, he didn't want to see his friend's expression. Instead, he noticed a small ficus shoved in a corner. It didn't have a single leaf on it, and had probably not been watered since whatever girlfriend had dragged it into the flat had been given the boot. God forbid Noboru should ever get a pet, it would starve within days.
The murderer of all things domestic returned with two almost non-chipped mugs, an apple, a very dirty ashtray and a shrewd look on his face.
"Yeah, I figured as much."
Mamoru did a double take and stared at his partner. "You did? How?"
Noboru bit into the apple, grinned and mumbled something that sounded like giantscratches and your neck, which caused Mamoru to sink deeper into his black turtle neck."You're not upset?"
Chewing, Noboru quipped, "why? Because you got laid before I did or because you slept with a suspect?"
Mamoru flinched, but Noboru reached over the table and patted his shoulder awkwardly while munching on his apple. "Come on, 's not that bad."
"So we're good?"
"Yeah, we're good, mate. Enough with the girl talk, we have a case to solve and by God, we will do, even if it is only to get Teno off my back. She told me the other day that she should drive the car because I was clearly to stupid to adhere to the most basic rules of traffic. I'm an excellent driver, fucking perfection behind a wheel!" They spent the next twenty minutes verbally ripping Haruka Teno to shreds, united again in their dislike of her.

It was Mamoru who changed the subject, grounding them again.
"Why were you so convinced that Nigoshi is innocent?"
"Intuition."
"Nothing more?"
"Dunno, feels like I know him. Doesn't make any sense, but there it is."
"He has a ruthless streak. I see that he can't be our murderer now, but there is something wrong with this guy."
Noboru laughed without humour.
"That's precisely the way I feel about Setsuna Meioh. She has alibis for each murder, which is annoying. She wasn't even in the country when Kino was killed, but I don't trust her." Hanzo had been able to date Kino's murder back to early October. Minako Aino and Setsuna Meioh had been in London at the time, trying to break the European market. It hadn't been successful then, but now people all over the world listened to Aino's songs. She would have been filthy rich by now, had she only lived to make use of it.
"So both your suspect and mine are innocent. Where does that leave us?"
"At the beginning. Aino's lover. We still haven't found him. And for the record, I don't like Nigoshi. He would stab his own brother in the back without hesitating for a second. He's a right little wanker." Noboru finished his apple, put the core into the ashtray and filled two glasses with whiskey. Mamoru took his and downed it before answering.
"If you want to start at the beginning, we need to go back even further. We need to find out more about why these girls were friends, how Usagi fits into this and whether or not she was our first victim."
"That's precisely what the chief told me to do."
"What about Teno?"
"Let Teno find Aino's lover. We will work on this. Together."
And then it felt like that moment on the bridge again, the two of them against the rest of the world. Their resolution was grim, but firm.

Offering Mamoru a cigarette, Noboru spoke.
"And I think there is something else we need to do. Before the murders, we only knew that Usagi and Ami had been friends, that wasn't a secret. But the friendship to Aino and Kino, that was the big surprise. So what if there are other people involved in this we haven't found yet? Potential victims, you know? I don't think we're at the bottom of this yet, feels as if there is far more to come." Mamoru had noticed years ago that Noboru's gut instint was something to be trusted. In this context, it send shivers down the widower's spine.
"Who are you thinking about?"
"Dunno. One of the waitresses mentioned another girl Makoto used to hang around with. Approximately the same age, dark hair, posh." Noboru put the picture of the four girls on the table, he had taken to carrying it around with him as a constant reminder of all the things he had yet to do. "Who took this picture? When was it taken? If we find that out, we might be able to save someone's life."
Toying with his empty glass, Mamoru examined the picture more closely. Usagi was still young in it, a teenager. Fuck, she had been so pretty when she wore her hair like that. Teasing her about her hair style had been his attempt to flirt with her, only that she hadn't appreciated it at all. It was only when they accidentally met at Motoki's that they started to get along. Well, started to fall in love, really. He cleared his throat.
"Usagi stopped wearing her hair like that on her eighteenth birthday. But it was after her sixteenth, because that's when I gave her that necklace." He pointed to a small silver heart dangling from Usagi's neck.
"You take the picture to Usagi's and Ami's parents, see what they know, and I'll talk to Aino's family again, 'kay? And wear a bloody scarf when you go to the Tsukinos, you look like a randy teenager. I told you Meioh was mean." Without thinking, Mamoru grabbed the apple core from the ashtray and threw it at Noboru's head. His partner laughed, his eternally good nature once again on display.

The next day, Mamoru went to visit his in-laws.
He put on another black turtle-neck sweater (he had several of those) to hide the new marks left by Setsuna. He had dropped by her place after leaving Noboru's the evening before, and while Mamoru was certain that he wasn't in love, her company kept him busy at night. It did limit his choice of clothing considerably though because a man his age couldn't walk around town covered from head to toe in love bites and scratches, but it was well worth it. After meeting Setsuna, Mamoru was so exhausted that he slept like the dead. No dreams, no memories, no anything. The guilty conscience came during the day, for instance in this very moment as he rung the Tsukino's bell. Their house looked just as it had the first time he had picked Usagi up for a date. Two orderly flowerpots on each side of the door, white curtains in the windows. He remembered that she had worn a pink dress with little white polka dots on it, and her hand had been soft and small in his own. Before he could lose himself further in the memories, the door opened and he was eye to eye with his father-in-law. He had aged a lot, Mamoru noticed. Kenji's hair was now almost completely white.

Kenji and Ikuko hadn't seen much of him in the past year, but they had always liked Mamoru, so he was welcomed with open arms despite the early hour and not announcing his visit beforehand. Their living-room held many framed pictures of their children and it was clear that their dead daughter was just as much a part of their life as their living son. It suddenly occurred to Mamoru that he had no idea what Shingo was doing these days. The last he remembered was Usagi telling him that Shingo had decided to become an engineer shortly before she died. Mamoru sat down in the orange armchair that had been part of the Tsukino's house for ages. Kenji and Ikuko sat down on the couch opposite him.
"Kenji, Ikuko... I have some bad news." Ikuko gripped Kenji's hand instinctively. The way Mamoru opened the conversation evoked memories of the night a police officer had accompanied their son-in-law to their house, bearing the news of the fire and their beloved child's death.
"What happened?" The white haired man asked, fear for his son flickering in his eyes.
"Ami Mizuno was murdered last week."
Kenji looked at his wife, incomprehension on his features. He clearly didn't remember who Ami Mizuno was. Ikuko closed her eyes, her lips forming a tight line in face. With deep reluctance, Mamoru forced himself to continue, now chiefly addressing his mother-in-law. "That's not all. Before she died, I met Ami Mizuno on Minako Aino's funeral. Did you know that Usagi and Minako had been friends?"
The clock in the kitchen was ticking. The sound of cars driving was barely audible in the pristine living-room. Not one of the picture frames on the walls was coated in dust.
It was Kenji who spoke.
"The pop singer? No, we had no idea, did we, Ikuko?" His wife had stood up and retrieved a picture showing Usagi and Ami in high school. Each of the girls held a pink ice lolly, but it was only Usagi who had managed to spill something on the bow of her uniform. "Ikuko?"
Her voice was soft when she spoke. In fact, Mamoru had only ever heard her raise it at her daughter and it seemed that this vigour had died with Usagi.
"They met because they shared a tutor. Minako was very lively, I was always worried that she would distract Usagi even more from school. You know how Usagi was, she loved to have fun and do silly things. I can't even count how often she brought bad reports home, but people liked her. Loved her, even. I think Minako was the same way, only less gullible and more calculating. Even when she was still young, she knew how to work her charm. I even spoke to her mother about it once, Mrs. Aino promised to talk to Minako, but I don't think she did. But Usagi never cared, she adored Minako. They were like sisters."
Mamoru smiled tersely. "Usagi never mentioned Minako Aino to me."
Kenji looked back and forth between is wife and his son-in-law.
"Our daughter knew a pop star?"
"No, dear. Our daughter knew Minako Aino, a school girl. Just like she knew Ami Mizuno, a school girl, not Ami Mizuno, the little genius." She handed the picture to her husband, and Kenji's eyes widened. Now he knew who Ami Mizuno was. Ikuko patted her husband's hand absent-mindedly before turning to Mamoru again. "How is Mrs. Mizuno taking the news? Can you give me her current address? I'd love to bring her some food. Not that it matters, food, in the face of such a tragedy, but well... it might help her to know people care. Ami was such a sweet girl."
Nodding, Mamoru took his notepad from the pocket of his green jacket and wrote Mrs. Mizuno's address down. He added her phone number for good measure, figuring that Ikuko would use it well. Kenji got up and left the room, only to return a minute later with his briefcase in hand.
"I have to go to work. Mamoru, if you feel that there is something I can help with, let me know, but I think that Ikuko knows more about Ami than I do." The two men shook hands, and Kenji left. Ikuko smiled, "I keep telling him that it's time to retire, but you know how he is. So stubborn. I think Usagi got it from him." The mother and the husband sunk into silence, taking another endless moment to wish that things would have happened differently. Eventually, Ikuko got up and walked into the kitchen, beckoning Mamoru to follow her.

He watched her prepare some tea, and before he knew it, he had a sandwich in front of him. It seemed easier to talk in the kitchen, for there were no framed pictures of Usagi on the walls. Here it was all about recipes and flowers, and Mamoru wished that he was able to remember his own mother better.
"Mamoru, how about you eat and I tell you what I can about Usagi and Minako."
He nodded, and spent the next two hours listening to Ikuko recount all the little things Usagi doubtlessly thought her mother had no idea about. Minako had visited the Tsukino's house frequently, and it had only stopped when Usagi met Mamoru and the two began dating. Ami had been a constant presence, regardless of Mamoru's role in Usagi's life. But Usagi and Minako had been in touch over the years, and had grown closer again after the wedding. Mamoru pulled the picture of the four girls from his pockets and handed it to Ikuko.
"Do you know the brunette?"
"Makoto Kino." Not a moment of hesitation. "Mamoru, did something happen to Makoto?"
"We found her on Sunday. She was killed in the same manner as Minako Aino and Ami. Ikuko, do you know when and where this picture was taken? Was Usagi close to Makoto? Was it only the four of them or was there another girl?" Ikuko ran a finger over the picture.
"The girls went on a holiday to the seaside when they were sixteen. I was very much against it, felt that they were too young to travel alone and unsupervised, but Usagi sent Ami to convince me and she did. Wait a minute, please." She left the room and Mamoru heard the familiar creak of the stairs. When Ikuko returned, she carried a photo album with her. Putting it between the two of them on the kitchen table, she opened it and Mamoru scooted closer. The first picture was one of Usagi and Ami, the former throwing her arms around the shy girl with exorbitant affection. More pictures in the same vein followed, all four girls appeared sooner or later; hugging, laughing, doing silly things for the camera. After a few pages, an unknown face appeared.
"Who's that?"
"That's Rei. Rei Hino."

Something pushed itself against Mamoru's legs and when he saw down and saw Luna, Usagi's cat, a small piece of the puzzle fell into place. Aino's cat, the one she had adopted and that had disappeared without a trace. "Ikuko, when did you get Luna?" Ikuko bent down and picked the black cat up, putting it on her lap.
"Oh, it must have been ages ago. She's very old, but still astonishingly healthy. Usagi brought her home when she was 14, found the poor mitten on the street where some wild boys had tormented it." Just as Mamoru was busy processing this piece of information and wondering what it meant that the girls had adopted pets at the same time, Ikuko laughed.
"But I think I'm just as bad as my daughter. About a week ago, a white cat strolled around the house. It did wear a name tag, and I put up posters all over the neighbourhood, but no one has claimed him, so I think I'll keep the little one. Really, there's no difference feeding two instead of one, is there?"
Too much of a coincidence, Mamoru thought, eyeing Luna with sudden apprehension.
"What's the cat's name?"
"Artemis. Sounds nice together, doesn't it? Luna and Artemis."

At the same time, Haruka Teno released the pictures of Minako Aino and Kaitou Ace. She picked only the relatively harmless ones and kept the ones featuring the blow job firmly under wraps, but the press went wild anyway. The blonde Inspector knew that it wouldn't be long before someone delivered her Ace on a silver plate. That would teach Chiba and Sanjoin a thing or two about proper police work.

End of Chapter Six.