The Memory of Murder
By E.M. Megs
Chapter 14 – Innocence
She found the evidence she was looking for on the fifth day of the week Takikara had given her. Haruhi had gone over every piece of logged evidence that they had for both the Takahashis' murders and Kyoya's suicide with a fine tooth comb and finally she had found it. It was a spread of inconsistencies between the two scenes that led her to it.
First of all was the print of Kyoya's shoe on the Takahashi's floor. There was only one single distinct print. Not even a trace of any others. That in itself was odd. Normally when someone walked through a liquid, it left a couple distinct tread marks that gradually faded in later prints as the substance was walked off. This single print was the only one in the entire apartment.
Further when she'd gone to shuffle through hers and Kyoya's closet to fish out the shoe in question, she discovered that not only was one of them missing but a whole new set of shoes had appeared. When she checked it against his bank records, she found that he'd bought the new pair two days before the Takahashis were murdered. It was something that slipped below her radar because his new shoes had been similar enough to his old ones that she hadn't even noticed.
Second was a finger print on one of the threats that was most certainly not hers or Kyoya's. She'd run every finger print on the papers through the system and all had been a match either to her, Kyoya, or someone they knew except this one. And that one fingerprint belonged to one Raine Che.
Third was the fact that Kyoya's weapon had absolutely no missing bullets besides the one that had killed him and that the weapon itself hadn't registered any shots in the department's system besides that single one. She'd hit herself for not checking the 'shots fired' section of their weapons log sooner. Of course the weapon would have automatically reported it if he'd shot the Takahashis.
Fourth was the knowledge that Chiyoko Takahashi had been employed as a lawyer for the Ches not long after her husband's employment expired. The curious thing was that her contract had been terminated a mere week before her death.
Fifth was the news that Raine and Kitsu Che, two of the defense witnesses for Mayumi's murder, had been convicted of several accounts of corporate fraud only a year ago. The files on the trial had yielded little else besides the vague mention of two yakuza members vouching for them and the names Yoshio Ohtori and Chiyoko Takahashi appearing in the proceedings. The files on the Ches themselves held little else but apparently their corporation, and therefore their fortune, had taken a heavy hit due to the conviction. They also had a disconcerting association with the two yakuza members that had vouched for them, their names appearing on the witness lists of at least four different trials involving them.
When Haruhi asked Yoshio about it, the man had hedged around her and merely said, "The Ches were corporate threats from the beginning." Haruhi took that to mean that Yoshio had had a heavy hand in their downfall. That didn't explain why they didn't appear on his list of enemies though.
Sometimes it felt like everyone knew something that she didn't. It was only after she'd practically lectured the Ohtori patriarch about obstructing an investigation much less one on his own son did he cave. "The Ches are friendly enemies of mine," he admitted quietly. "I attempted to get them convicted for the fraud back in my younger days when Kyoya was only 8 or 9. They retaliated by attempting the uncover a business venture of mine that did not exist, or at least they couldn't prove that it did." A vampire-like smirk lighted his face. "We've been at each others' throats ever since."
She had nodded, satisfied and left him.
Haruhi could just see the hierarchy of events forming right before her eyes. The hierarchy that went from the attempted fraud conviction that was retaliated by an attempt at uncovering a shady business venture to heavier handed retaliations with the help of yakuza associations. Then came Ray's employment and Mayumi's murder, explaining the money transferred into the man account. The failed trial necessitated by the defense of Chiyoko as his lawyer and the witness of both Ches. At last came the successful conviction of corporate fraud during which Chiyoko had either been a witness or a lawyer and Yoshio had pushed the trial forward. Chiyoko and Ray were murdered because of their lack of usefulness and Kyoya was framed for it as revenge for Yoshio's involvement.
In the end it was just a 30-year feud that had resulted in three murders and a suicide.
A good part of it was speculation, of course, but it could just be enough to prove Kyoya innocent.
The final jab in her case against the Ches and in proving Kyoya's innocence was a phone call that Kyoya had made to Tamaki the night that the Takahashi's were murdered. Haruhi had felt strange going through her fiance's phone records but she convinced herself that it was necessary to prove him innocent of the entire thing. She'd followed up on it by asking Tamaki to recall their conversation. Tamaki had had one thing to say: "He was at his mother's grave and he was distraught. He kept saying that he didn't know what to do and that it felt like everything was happening again. I'm not sure if he ever told you, Haruhi, but he never properly dealt with his mom's death and he didn't want to worry you. I'm fairly certain that that was the night I picked him up from the shrine and let him stay with me." It was an alibi. A godsend. The biggest breakthrough yet.
She wrote it all out so that it made more logical sense and then took it to Takikara. If anything the stolen shoe, single fired bullet, and phone call to Tamaki would put probable doubt on the case against Kyoya. Combined with the threats, the Ohtori-Che feud, Raine's fingerprint on one of the notes, and the mysterious termination of Chiyoko's employment with the Ches, it was also possible that it would spur an investigation into the Ches as the murders, direct or indirect, of both the Takahashis and Mayumi.
She knew that Takikara was stubborn and would unwilling to reopen three closed cases, but Haruhi had resolved to make her anyway.
Haruhi waited while the Sheriff read over everything that she'd found and then she nodded, tossing the small file onto her desk and leaning back to regard her. She said nothing for what felt like eternity to Haruhi but was probably not more than a minute and then:
"Well done, Fujioka. I'll call the DA."
She let out a sigh of relief and thanked her profusely.
~o~
A/N: YAAAAY SHE DID IT. And I finally wrote this chapter out. I was initially avoiding it because I wasn't sure what to do with it and then I was avoiding it because I didn't have any idea what I had originally intended. So that explains the year and a half hiatus a little maybe?
I am letting out a sigh of relief for this project being nearly complete as well. Maybe for once I'll actually not have any projects going? We'll see how well that works out.
Kudos to SonLisa, mtnikolle, FandomNut, and raveninthehorizon.