MISPER

The Other One

''According to the papers, Persona owns a silver van, kei car. His registration plate is 580 46-49, Tokyo. He bought it right after he came out of prison five years ago. We also found out that he doesn't have a credit card. He doesn't have any official income. So we can't track that down. We suppose he is given the money on hand by those he… sells the babies to. There must be an agent involved, because with Personas appearance… It's hard to believe anyone would make any kind of business with him.'' Misaki reported, while sipping her coffee.

She never drank coffee.

But she did drink it now because it has been a long week, and they still haven't found Mikan Sakura.

Tsubasa had black rings under his eyes that proved his nightly research. He had been staring at the computer screen that was searching for Persona's car. He had a GPS in it, but he changed its identification number, and now Tsubasa and other hackers were trying to figure out the number. They had started last night, but until today, they have not figured it out.

It could be any number.

Natsume looked even worse than the others. He threw himself into the search and hardly ever slept. He also had the misfortune to tell Yuka what had happened. He had done it right away, and he was surprized that Yuka did not freak out.

''When she did not come as usual, I knew something was wrong. I was just waiting for you to tell me.'' She explained with a soft voice, her expression blank. She was staring through the window, not really seeing anything. It was as if she closed herself up from the world, not letting anyone near. Natsume had tried to talk to her, but she was not there with her mind. The nurses told him to be patient and just give her time to adjust. She went through a lot. And losing her daughter… That was something she would hardly get over with.

And now, more than a week later, Natsume did not allow his mind to wander. He had to find her.

''Right… What about connections?'' he asked his college inspector Ruka Nogi. The blonde went through some papers. ''We suppose Persona had a burner phone. We checked Mikan Sakura's calls and there was a prepaid number that sent her a message. It was 'look outside, moma.', at 10.11 am. We're working on tracking down the number in case he makes another phone call.''

''I'm already on it!'' Tsubasa exclaimed, typing over the keyboard with two other computer experts. They quickly found a number that Persona often called.

''Who's that?''

''It's…'' Mochu, one of the hackers started, reading frantically. ''…Reo Mouri. A former adoption agent. He's now a successful real estate wholesaler. Has quite a fortune. He and Persona are the same age, so I guess they know each other from before.''

Natsume nodded. ''Background?''

''Nothing. Squeaky clean. No fines, no speeding tickets, nothing. He even parks perfectly. And… Oh! He and Persona had been classmates in high school, it seems. Went to the same one. Mouri is also married with a certain Luna Koizumi, a very… young girl – at least for him.''

Natsume grabbed his jacket, it was getting cold outside. ''Misaki with me, the others continue.''

''Right.''

Misaki quickly put her jacket on and followed Natsume. They drove to the given address, without announcing their arrival. As they arrived, they gaped in surprize. Reo Mouri's home was a huge hotel room, affordable for only a few very wealthy people. And Reo owned the place.

They walked into the hotel, showed their badges, and took the elevator up to the last floor. They ringed the bell as they arrived in front of the door. They waited a few seconds befor the door was answered by a beautiful blonde girl with red lips and dark eyes. She was no older than twenty and looked like a fit model. It was Luna Koizumi. She smiled in all her pink glory at the visitors.

''Hello, how can I help you?'' she knew that if the receptionist let them up, they must be important people.

''Good afternoon, Miss Koizumi. We're from the NPA and we'd like to speak with your husband.'' Natsume started and watched as the woman's expression turned from surprize to cold politeness. ''Of course.''

She let them in and made them sit in the dining room. While waiting for her husband to arrive, Natsume and Misaki looked around. It was a huge apartment; bigger than a house. Its dining room was bigger than Natsume's and Misaki's apartment together.

''Good afternoon, officers.'' Greeted Reo Mouri as he walked into the room. He was a good looking man, but older than his wife, who discreetly went into another room. Reo shook hans with both of them and sat in front of them, a charming smile on his face. ''How can I help you?''

''We'd like to ask you a few questions regarding one of our current cases. Do you know Persona?'' Natsume asked directly and watched Reo's reactions. The man did not even blink. ''Yes. I know Persona. What about him?''

''Are you in contact with him?''

''Of course. He's a good friend of mine. We know each other from high school. Is he in trouble?''

''Don't you watch the news?'' Misaki asked, not able to hold herself back.

Reo blinked and smiled. ''I only watch the part about politics and economy.''

''Persona is a wanted person. We are trying to find him. We need to know everything about him and we need you to contact him.'' Natsume explained.

''In all honesty… Persona has always been… a little odd. But that's to understand; his family situation had been messy. He was an orphan, moving from one family to another – I guess you already know that; but what you most probably don't know – because he never told anyone – is that he had been abused by his last family. His stepfather was a choleric, who was quick to raise his hand; his stepmother on the other hand…''

Misaki wrote down everything.

''She was ill; mentally ill. I'm not sure what was going on, but whenever we hung out… He had these tendencies to be violent.'' Reo explained.

''How come you two are good friends?''

''He saved my life once. Back in high school I was an asshole and a gob. I messed around with the wrong people and he was the one who saved me – fought against a bunch of people and made a name of himself. He had me under his wing. Since then we're friends.''

''Did you know what he was doing all this time?'' Natsume asked.

Reo looked at him in confusion. ''Well, I knew he did stupid things that brought him to prison, but I don't know what he's doing now.''

''Even though you two are good friends, you don't know what he's doing?''

''I'm sorry. But I really don't.'' Reo's concern was fake, Natsume knew that, but he could not do much about it. He did what he came here for. The bug was already on Reo's phone – Misaki put it there while they were waiting.

The inspector's stood up. ''Thank you for your time, Mr Mouri. If Persona contacts you, please let us know.''

Reo smiled. ''Of course.''

As Natsume and Misaki walked out, Natsume fished out his phone. ''Got a line?''

''We do.'' Came Tsubasa's reply. ''We'll track him down as soon as he calls.''

''Good.'' He ended the call, and made another one. ''Serina, anything new from the victims?'' he asked their pathologist.

''Yes. I found a sample of soil on their bones that did not belong to the place where they had been buried. It was rich and not as contaminated as in the city. It's Podzoil, which is typical for Hokkaido or north Honshu. I'd say someplace north from Tokyo.'' She explained and Natsume blinked at the good news. ''Seriously? Thanks. Send me the e-results, please.''

''Already done.''

''Right.'' He ended the call and took a look at the results on his phone. He put the information into his searching app and out came a few possible locations they could start with.

He once again made a phone call. ''Ruka, send your team to the locations you got on e-mail. Ask another team to help.''

''On it.'' They ended the call.

Natsume looked at Misaki as they sat into his car. She was already on her phone, glancing his way and nodding. ''-right. We're on our way. What are they saying?''

Natsume quickly realized that she was talking about a conversation between Persona and Reo.

He sped up.

As they arrived at the station, the conversation was already over, but they had it on tape.

''Well?'' Natsume asked impatiently. Tsubasa grinned, his eyes redder than before from the lack of sleep. ''You'll love it.''

''So he called him right after we walked out? Did he do that on purpose? He can't be seriously that naive…'' Natsume muttered, but shut up once Tsubasa pressed play on the computer and the program replayed them the conversation between Persona and Reo.

''The police was here.'' Was the first thing Reo said when Persona picked up.

''Aha.''

''What are you doing?''

''No worries. Everything's fine.'' Came Persona's deep voice.

''Where the hell are you? How long should I wait?'' asked Reo impatiently, annoyance clear in his voice.

''Patience. Soon. It's not time yet.''

''Can't you speed up things?''

''Remember what happened last time I did that?''

''…All right. Just… Be more careful.''

Persona chuckled, a creepy and dark laugh that caused goose bumps to appear all over Natsume's body. ''When am I not?''

''Persona… There's no need to kill her. Just do what you have to do and move on. No games.'' Reo finally verbalized what they all wanted to hear and Natsume clenched his fists in both anger and victory to have found Persona's co-worker.

''… We'll se about that. Bye.'' And he ended the call.

Everyone around the computer was silent. Then, Misaki looked at Natsume and he looked at her, then at Tsubasa. He grinned lazily – the first smile after Mikan had disappeared. ''Shall we visit him again?''

Misaki grinned. ''My pleasure.''